The unmarked underground bar.
Aoi downed one glass of hard liquor after another until the burn brought tears to her eyes. Only then did she turn and say, "Shido, I have nothing left now."
"That's not true."
Yuta shook his head gently. "At the very least, Seira and I are still here with you. And even if the material things are gone, your dream is still alive."
Aoi sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if breaking with my family for the sake of a dream was even worth it."
Yuta did not respond.
People made different choices, but most would probably have caved and gone along with the family.
The world was full of people with dreams. How many of them were crushed by reality before they ever got the chance to chase them?
As children, everyone was a dreamer. But once you grew up?
"Aoi, stop overthinking it."
Seira, playing bartender as usual, spoke up. "What's done is done. Regretting it won't change anything. And honestly, I don't think this was just about your dream. It was about choosing your own life. Breaking away from the family is how you start fresh."
"A fresh start, huh?"
Aoi murmured, then went back to pouring glass after glass down her throat.
"Aoi, you've had way too much. Please stop," Yuta said.
Aoi set her glass down hard on the bar with a sharp thud, then said, "I'm going to start a new production planning company. But all the money in my accounts has been frozen. My old network of contacts is still usable, but I'm not Arcane's president anymore. Whether those people will still give me the time of day is anyone's guess."
"Money isn't a problem. I can lend you some. I can't do tens of billions, but one or two hundred million is perfectly doable," Seira said without hesitation.
Yuta glanced at Seira, 'Truly a loaded sugar mama, the ultimate golden thigh.'
Two hundred million yen was roughly 1.7 million USD. And this was not tied up in assets. This was liquid cash, and Seira was offering it like it was pocket change.
If Yuta had had a friend like this from the start, why would he have ever needed to pitch to Arcane?
Aoi did not make a fuss about it. She simply said, "Thank you."
After a pause, she added, "What if I lose it all?"
"With Shido around, you think you could actually lose money?" Seira laughed it off.
Yuta chimed in. "I can't guarantee everything, but the next anime definitely won't flop. So hurry up and get your company established, Aoi. We need it in place to form the production committee for the new anime."
"Mm." Aoi nodded softly.
...
A production committee could just as easily be called a "funding committee" since it fundamentally represented the investors.
Or more precisely, a "financing consortium."
Japan's anime industry had not always used this model. Originally, only the film industry operated this way. In the other world, a 1992 anime called Irresponsible Captain Tylor had been the first to adopt the model. It only became widespread after EVA's massive success.
This world did not have EVA, but it had a similar anime called New Century Mecha Warriors, so the production committee model was equally common here.
Setting up a production committee spread the risk, pooled more funding, and was highly efficient. Members typically included planning companies,
TV stations, music labels, disc companies, animation studios, and advertising firms. With all those bases covered, production, broadcasting, and sales were each handled by a relevant partner.
As a committee member, you only needed to focus on your own piece while benefiting from returns across all the other areas. It was a win-win all around.
The production committee essentially lowered the barrier to anime investment while simultaneously reducing risk. That naturally attracted more capital into the market.
More capital meant more work for studios.
Before production committees, maybe a few dozen anime aired in a year. Afterward, the number could balloon to one or two hundred.
Of course, this was also why the industry's production capacity was constantly stretched thin, leading people to regularly cry that "the industry is dying."
Another downside was that committee members often prioritized their own interests.
When it came to casting voice actors, for instance, the TV station would push for popular names, the music label would want singers, and the disc company would want actresses willing to do fanservice.
Whether the voice actually fit the character? The committee members did not necessarily care about that.
Yuta personally disliked the production committee model, but making Code Geass and getting it distributed would cost upward of five hundred million yen.
Starfall and Aoi's soon-to-be-established company could not come close to covering that alone.
Under the circumstances, forming a production committee was a necessity.
Of course, this committee had to be Starfall-led. He could not let other members meddle freely, or it was not worth doing at all.
Aoi moved fast. Within days, she had a new planning company up and running. The name was White Dove.
As for why she chose that name, Yuta had no idea.
Once the company was established, Aoi reached out to her old network, pitching the idea of a Starfall-led production committee.
Very few outsiders knew about her split with the Fuji family yet. Aoi was not going to volunteer that information, and the Fuji family considered it a private disgrace, not something to air publicly.
Because people did not know, most of her old contacts were still willing to work with her.
They found it odd that she had left Arcane and started a new company, but nobody questioned it too deeply. Most assumed it was some internal reorganization within the Fuji family.
Forming a Starfall-led production committee was not easy, but with Aoi putting herself out there, people were willing to give her face.
What really sealed the deal was Starfall's proven track record with Clannad, the solid new project proposal, and the fact that Starfall and White Dove were putting up the bulk of the funding.
Under those conditions, it was not an unreasonable arrangement.
After half a month of legwork, by July, the "Code Geass Production Committee" was officially established with Starfall at the helm.
With funding secured, anime production could begin in earnest. But for Starfall, there was one thing even more pressing: relocating the office.
Even Code Geass would have to wait until after the move.
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