It was past eight in the evening when Lin Zhiyan returned home and began considering the first animation project L.S Production would undertake after its establishment.
Nanase Mayumi was just one of many who had agreed to leave IG with him.
Others included Sekiguchi Kanami, Ishii Momoko, and Takeuchi Oriya.
Sekiguchi Kanami goes without saying.
Takeuchi Oriya had joined IG in 1996, and his first Keyframe role was in Tenpai Okamura's Medabots in 1999. After being "baptized" by Akiyuki Shinbo's Li works under the pseudonym Minamisawa Juhachi in 2003, he grew into an animation supervisor for mainstream series. As he became increasingly active in the animation industry, he gradually became a renowned animation master, even directing Yuri Seijin Naoko.
However, in this timeline, influenced by Lin Zhiyan, Takeuchi Oriya became a Key Animator in 1997. Though he hadn't yet served as an animation supervisor, he already possessed the skill level of one.
Ishii Momoko hadn't originally come from IG but from M.S.C. This company had been co-founded by former IG producer Matsui Masaichi and Sekiguchi Kanami, who had left IG at Kenji Horikawa's urging. However, in this timeline, while M.S.C. still exists, it has no connection to Sekiguchi Kanami.
Perhaps due to the butterfly effect, Ishii Momoko didn't join M.S.C. as she did in the other timeline, but instead joined IG, and is now about to leave with Lin Zhiyan.
With Sekiguchi Kanami and Ishii Momoko, the future "dual pillars of animation" at PA, both being poached by Lin Zhiyan, it's hard not to wonder if PA will ever rise to prominence in this timeline.
However, Lin Zhiyan couldn't be bothered with such concerns.
What does the fate of another timeline have to do with this one?
The team he's taking from IG isn't enough to form the foundation of an animation studio.
Once L.S. is established, he'll gradually poach more talent from other companies. He'll also recruit a new batch of graduates during the March graduation season, nurturing them as newcomers.
Combined with Lin Zhiyan's network built over the years and Nanase Mayumi's two years of experience as a Production Assistant, they'll have enough resources to produce an animation.
But, as Ishikawa Mitsugu pointed out, those willing to follow him are those who trust him wholeheartedly. Regardless of future projects, their first animation must be a resounding success. Only then can he prove to them that leaving IG was the right choice.
Moreover, Lin Zhiyan planned to fund the animation himself. If it failed, he risked losing everything.
Even just to avoid bankruptcy, the first animation had to be chosen carefully.
Original or plagiarized—that question didn't even need consideration.
Making money isn't shameful.
Having a memory cheat but refusing to use it, insisting on creating something original, was like choosing to play on Hell difficulty when Easy Mode was available. It was unnecessary and pretentious.
The real question was what to plagiarize.
It was January 2000. Animations from before this date were out of the question. For those after, he should at least choose from 2002 onward. Animation production cycles are long, and planning begins long before actual production.
An animation from 2002 likely had its planning phase in 2000 or 2001. To avoid conflicts with existing projects, selecting something from 2003 or later would be safer.
Starting from 2003, which animations achieved massive success...
After much deliberation, Lin Zhiyan finally settled on a title: Death Note.
In the original timeline, the prototype story for Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, was published as a one-shot in the 36th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in August 2003. The story won first place in the reader poll, leading to the serialization of the full Death Note series beginning in December 2003.
The manga concluded in May 2006. That same year, two live-action films were released, and the anime adaptation produced by Madhouse premiered in October.
Although the anime's popularity didn't rival that of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya or Code Geass released that same year, it still sold an average of 15,000 Blu-ray volumes per release. The two live-action films grossed ¥2.8 billion and ¥5.2 billion at the box office, respectively, and received overwhelmingly positive reviews.
The manga itself was a classic, even though it didn't end at the point where it arguably should have.
Undoubtedly, the anime was a resounding success.
Moreover, its main appeal lay in its suspense, mystery, and intellectual battles. It lacked complex action sequences, fight scenes, or the need for expensive special effects, making it relatively cost-effective to produce.
Creating this kind of animation was a good fit for a newly established company.
The original anime had 37 episodes plus two special episodes, but that was due to the limitations of the manga source material.
Now that Lin Zhiyan was aiming to produce the anime before the manga even began serialization, he didn't need to adhere to the original's constraints. This meant he wouldn't need such a long series.
He decided to cut all the plot points after L's death, leaving 25 episodes. But that wouldn't be enough.
The ending needed to be adapted and expanded slightly, so the final count would be 26 episodes, making it a perfect half-year series.
With the concept settled, the next step was to create a detailed proposal.
He turned on his home computer, opened a Word document, and began typing furiously.
Title: Death Note
Synopsis: High school student Yagami Light finds a Death Note dropped by the shinigami Ryuk. He begins writing the names of criminals in the notebook to kill them, aiming to create a new world without crime...
Total Episodes: 26
Broadcast Period: October 2000 - March 2001
Production Budget: 260 million yen (tentative)
Production Team: To be determined
Once the animation's content was confirmed, drafting the proposal was relatively straightforward and didn't take much time.
Of course, this was only a preliminary draft. A planning meeting would still be needed to discuss and refine the proposal.
Normally, after completing the proposal, the next steps would be to secure investment and form a Production Committee. But that's only if funding is an issue.
Lin Zhiyan had the money and no intention of forming a full Production Committee—at most, a semi-Production Committee. In this situation, he didn't need to worry about whether the proposal would be approved or how to fund the animation production.
He could just start writing the script.
In his original timeline, adapting a manga made scriptwriting relatively easy due to the existing source material. For a completely original work, it might have taken half a year just to complete the script.
But Lin Zhiyan found writing the script effortless. Not half a year—not even half a month. Only the final two episodes required a bit more effort.
Episodes 1 through 24 could be copied verbatim. It wasn't even writing, just typing out the animation's content from his mind. Under these circumstances, his speed was phenomenal.
Before midnight, he not only completed the animation proposal draft but also successfully finished the script for the first episode.
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