Making anime was nothing like writing a novel, but as a general rule, the story determined the floor and the details determined the ceiling.
Whether a story was good or bad had a direct relationship with the screenwriter. The details, however, were the director's domain.
Of course, since directors held a higher position than screenwriters, a weak story was not always the screenwriter's fault. Sometimes a director would decide the screenwriter's script was not good enough and rewrite it according to his own vision.
Where these directors got the mysterious confidence to believe their revised scripts were better than the originals was anyone's guess. All anyone knew for certain was that scripts rewritten by directors flopped more often than not.
Series director was typically promoted from the position of episode director, a role responsible for content management that was often referred to as the "single-episode director."
There were two paths to becoming an episode director. One was to rise from production assistant to episode director, and the other was to transition from key animator to episode director.
Episode directors who came from the production assistant track tended to have a stronger sense of the bigger picture, while those from the key animator track tended to focus more on fine details.
Series director had an enormous number of responsibilities and was involved in virtually every aspect of production.
A great director carried a strong personal style, attracted a dedicated following, and could elevate an anime to legendary status. Shinbo Akiyuki, one of Yuta's personal favorites, was a prime example.
A terrible director, on the other hand, could effortlessly destroy a highly anticipated work.
Sometimes the first season of an anime was phenomenal while the second season was unwatchable, and the culprit was almost always a change in directors.
The contrast between the first and second seasons of the beloved series Kemono Friends was a textbook case.
Yuta would have loved to take on the director's role for Clannad himself, but he simply did not have the time or energy. Even with the original as a reference, directing the show would have been an enormous challenge for him.
This was something better left to a professional director.
Starfall lacked the connections to attract talent on its own. If Yuta had to search for a director by himself, forget finding a reliable one; even finding a mediocre one could take who knew how long.
With Aoi stepping in, the situation was entirely different. Finding a reliable director should not be difficult for her. Sure enough, a few days later, Aoi arrived at Starfall with a director in tow.
"This is Director Wasabi, the director of First Love Island." Aoi made the introduction.
Genma Wasabi had directed multiple titles and specialized in school, slice-of-life, and bishoujo genres.
He was not exactly a top-tier director, but he had a respectable reputation in the industry. In the bishoujo space in particular, he was considered one of the go-to directors.
Yuta had not expected Aoi to secure someone of this caliber. He immediately bowed. "Director Wasabi, I look forward to working with you."
"Likewise." Genma Wasabi returned the bow.
However, his demeanor seemed rather cold. Yuta could not detect even a hint of enthusiasm from the man.
It was possible he had only agreed to come to Starfall as a favor to Aoi.
Given the circumstances, a certain coolness was understandable.
Or perhaps the man was simply aloof by nature.
Either way, it was not a major issue. As long as he did his job properly, that was all that mattered.
Although Genma was an outside hire, he would be stationed at Starfall for the entire duration of Clannad's production, so the studio needed to reserve a workstation for him.
That was easy enough since Starfall had empty desks everywhere.
Yuta simply assigned him the desk that had belonged to the director of Heartbeat House.
Aoi had only come to introduce Genma Wasabi to the Starfall team.
Once the two men were acquainted, she excused herself and left.
That evening, Yuta wanted to organize a welcome party for Genma, but he declined, citing that he was not feeling well.
Whether he was truly unwell, Yuta could not say. What he did know was that the entire following morning, Genma was nowhere to be seen.
It was not until a little past one in the afternoon, nearly two o'clock, that Genma finally appeared at Starfall.
"Director, why didn't you come in this morning?" Rika asked on behalf of the Starfall staff.
"This morning? What would I come in the morning for?" Genma frowned.
"At Starfall, we start work at ten in the morning." Rika explained.
"Then change it to the afternoon. Every other studio starts at two in the afternoon. Why on earth do you people start at ten in the morning?" Genma looked genuinely baffled.
"But that's not..."
Rika wanted to say that everyone was already used to the ten o'clock schedule and that there was no reason the entire company should have to accommodate one person.
Before she could finish, however, Genma had already walked off to his workstation.
In a company of only twenty-some people, everyone had heard the exchange between Rika and Genma.
All eyes turned to Rika.
She wore an expression of utter helplessness and quickly pointed toward the president's office, her meaning was clear that they should check with the president first.
Yuta had not expected Genma to be this unreasonable, actually demanding that Starfall change its work hours to accommodate him.
Combined with Genma's attitude up to this point, an uneasy feeling began to settle in.
This director might not be as reliable as he had hoped.
He waved his hand, motioning for Rika to step out for a moment.
Once she was out of the office, Yuta immediately called Aoi.
The call connected, and he got straight to the point.
"Miss Fuji, are you sure this Director Wasabi is reliable?"
"What happened?" Aoi asked, sounding puzzled.
"Starfall starts work at ten in the morning. He did not show up until two in the afternoon, and now he wants us to change our entire schedule to match his." Yuta told her exactly what had happened.
Aoi was quiet for a moment before replying. "Then just change it. Starting at two in the afternoon is the norm for animation studios anyway."
"This is not about whether to change the schedule or not!"
"President Shido, I understand how you feel. But there are not many capable directors who are willing to accept an invitation from Starfall. Considering that, he is the best fit available. So as long as it is not a matter of principle, please try to bear with it."
"Understood."
Yuta hung up, then called Rika back in and gave her instructions. "Let everyone know that starting tomorrow, Starfall will switch to a two o'clock afternoon start time. The workday will end at ten-thirty at night."
Previously, the schedule had been ten in the morning to eight at night.
That accounted for a ninety-minute lunch break at noon and a thirty-minute break in the evening. If they shifted the start time to two in the afternoon, the corresponding end time would be ten-thirty at night.
Rika had not expected Yuta to actually go through with changing the work hours. She looked at him with visible surprise and said, "President, is this really the right call?"
"Let's see how things play out." Yuta sighed.
He could only hope there would not be any more trouble after this.
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