L.S Production, Conference Room.
Lin Zhiyan called a meeting with several Key Animators, including Sekiguchi Kanami, Takeuchi Oriya, and Ishii Momoko.
The sudden meeting, without prior notice, left the assembled Key Animators feeling puzzled.
Lin Zhiyan cut straight to the chase, "I want to commission someone to draw the Death Note manga on behalf of the company. The copyright will belong to the company, but the artist's name will be credited. Furthermore, we'll pay 10% above the market rate for the commission. Would anyone be interested in applying?"
Promoting original anime has always been a major challenge, which is one of the reasons why most animation companies are reluctant to undertake original anime projects.
Adaptations, on the other hand, are based on popular works, so their popularity is guaranteed, and marketing is easier. As long as the animation is well-made, the results are generally decent.
Of course, some animations are made purely to promote the original work, which is a separate matter.
In another timeline, even a powerhouse like Kyoto Animation created the Kyoto Bunko, a collection of mediocre works. They then relied on their formidable production capabilities to transform these trashy novels beyond recognition, turning rot into marvels.
How did PA handle their first animation, True Tears? They tricked the IP holder, securing the adaptation rights to the original game. Then, they created an original animation that only shared the title with the source material, with everything else—story, characters, and themes—completely original and unrelated.
In short, compared to anime adaptations of existing works, creating original anime is truly difficult.
However, original anime has one advantage: if the animation is well-made and gains influence, audiences will credit the production company, boosting its reputation.
Adaptations don't work that way. If they succeed, people will assume the original work was already good. If they fail, they'll be branded as "destroyers of the source material."
While some audiences might praise a company for a well-executed adaptation, such cases are rare.
This is why some animation companies prefer original anime, with PA being the most prominent example.
After the success of True Tears, PA produced many truly original animations.
Their formula was as follows:
First, they would bring in renowned creators to lead the production, such as hiring Mari Okada to write the script, a famous illustrator to design the original character concepts, and a well-known Supervising Director.
Second, they would release a preview novel or manga a few weeks before the animation's premiere to build anticipation.
This wasn't PA's invention; Neon Genesis Evangelion had done something similar back in 1995. However, back then, it was a necessity. Neon Genesis Evangelion required an original work before it could be broadcast on television, a strict rule that later disappeared.
Moreover, perhaps they never expected it to become so popular, or maybe they hadn't thought it through when they let Yoshiyuki Sadamoto serialize the manga. GAINAX failed to secure the manga rights to Neon Genesis Evangelion, resulting in all the manga revenue going to Sadamoto after the animation became a hit.
Sadamoto made a fortune, while GAINAX didn't even get a drop of the broth.
Now, with Lin Zhiyan's Death Note, they didn't invite renowned creators to lead the production, but they could still adopt another tactic: release a preview manga before the animation's premiere.
Two episodes would be enough. After all, the first two episodes of Death Note were a bombshell. If readers watched them carefully, they would undoubtedly become interested in the animation, effectively promoting it and driving traffic.
In its original timeline, Death Note was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, a magazine published by Shueisha, and was a weekly manga.
What Lin Zhiyan needed now wasn't the original manga, but a promotional manga for the animation. This would be a substantial work, requiring monthly serialization. Such promotional manga created by animation companies couldn't be serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump.
However, Shueisha wasn't the only publisher in Japan with manga magazines.
For instance, Kadokawa published magazines dedicated to manga adaptations of animated works, such as Monthly Shonen Ace. This magazine serialized manga versions of franchises like Gundam, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
This wasn't a problem. As long as they could prove that Death Note was an animation scheduled to air on television in October, Kadokawa would undoubtedly be eager to serialize the manga.
The problem was deciding who would draw the manga.
Lin Zhiyan could certainly handle it himself, but even a monthly serialization would require a tremendous amount of time. Besides, it wasn't as if he were the only one capable of doing it, so there was no need for him to take on the task personally.
If someone within the company was willing to draw it, they could assign it to them. If not, they could simply hire any artist from outside; they were sure to find someone.
The Key Animators gathered for the meeting hadn't expected Lin Zhiyan to have called them together for this purpose.
They were taken aback at first.
After a two or three-second silence, Ishii Momoko was the first to raise her hand. "Me! Me! I want to sign up!"
The others had either been momentarily stunned or hesitated to be the first to volunteer. It wasn't that they didn't want to draw; after Ishii Momoko's bold move, they all raised their hands in succession.
Everyone had seen the storyboards and scripts for the first few episodes of the animation, and they were incredibly impressive. A manga adaptation of such a work would be worth drawing. If it were for a different animation, they might not have been so eager to take on a manga project.
Not only did most of them volunteer, but even Takeuchi Oriya raised his hand to sign up.
Sekiguchi Kanami didn't raise her hand.
She simply couldn't draw.
Not only was she already working as a keyframe artist and animation director for the animation, but she was also the head of the animation department at L.S Production. She was responsible for training the new animators hired in March.
She was extremely busy.
She simply didn't have time to draw the Death Note manga.
Moreover, while drawing the manga would give her credit and boost her reputation if it became popular, she didn't particularly need that kind of fame.
Lin Zhiyan hadn't expected so many people to sign up.
He frowned. "So many people want to draw it?"
After a pause, he added, "In that case, let's draw lots. Whoever is chosen will draw it, but they must be genuinely skilled and, ideally, not let it interfere with their main job. If you can't meet these requirements, don't get involved."
As soon as he said this, quite a few people immediately withdrew.
"Being skilled" shouldn't be a problem, but the requirement not to interfere with one's main job was a bit tricky.
Only those with high skill levels and fast drawing speeds would be able to compete.
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