After completing the revised key animation cuts for Episode 8 of 'Mr. Onigiri Man,' Kamiyā Yuu remained as busy as ever. The time used to revise Episode 8's storyboard had been squeezed out from the production schedule of subsequent episodes, pushing the entire animation timeline of 'Mr. Onigiri Man' to its absolute limit. If any part of the process went wrong again, a delay in the broadcast schedule would be inevitable.
As a second key animator, Kamiyā Yuu's current job was to continuously receive corrected key frames submitted by other key animators in the department. During this period, not a single corrected frame came from Uehara Etsuki. Barring unexpected factors like the director requesting storyboard revisions, Uehara Etsuki's skill was such that she wouldn't produce flawed key animation that required correction.
During this time, Kamiyā Yuu's greatest enjoyment came from continuously absorbing the different experiences and techniques of the key animators within his consciousness space. He carefully experienced the subtle differences in each animator's work, reflecting on how those nuances affected the overall quality of the key frames, using this process to refine his own abilities.
In just half a month, while Kamiyā Yuu couldn't yet be considered top-tier among key animators, at the very least, no one understood the key animation of 'Mr. Onigiri Man' better than he did. Within the scope of this single project, his performance had already surpassed that of the key animation supervisor, Uehara Etsuki.
However, Kamiyā Yuu was far from satisfied. Even the techniques he found online from his previous world didn't necessarily apply to animation production in this one. After all, in his previous world, Japanese animation had reached its peak, with a fully mature ecosystem of techniques and professional tools.
He could feel that he had reached a bottleneck in his key animation work. Breaking through it would require accumulated experience and a stronger grasp of expressive force in key animation. After careful consideration, he sought out the most skilled key animator he currently had access to—Uehara Etsuki.
Taking advantage of the lunch break, Kamiyā Yuu went to Uehara Etsuki's office.
"Becoming Kamiyā-kun's key animation teacher? It's not impossible. However, I'm not particularly good at teaching others. At most, I can assign you some animation exercises and offer corresponding feedback." Sitting upright in her office chair, Uehara Etsuki listened attentively as Kamiyā Yuu described the bottleneck he was facing. After a brief moment of thought, she agreed to his request—to become his teacher.
Standing in front of her desk, Kamiyā Yuu felt a surge of delight. With a slightly embarrassed expression, he replied, "It already means a lot to me that Uehara-senpai is willing to agree. After all, I'm just a newcomer with only a year of experience. Compared to your status and experience in the industry, the gap is enormous." Kamiyā Yuu did not become arrogant simply because he possessed the advantage of the consciousness space. In his view, someone like Uehara Etsuki, with over a decade of experience, was truly worthy of pride. He merely had a higher starting point than others—if he didn't make full use of that advantage, how would he be any different from someone drifting aimlessly?
Uehara Etsuki smiled gently and shook her head. "I think Kamiyā-kun is underestimating himself. To be honest, the reason I hesitated about agreeing is that you already possess considerable experience and ability as a key animator. There isn't much I can actually teach you, and I might even limit your growth. If I were to become your teacher, what I could do is guide you rather than instruct you. Calling myself your teacher for merely providing guidance would be rather arrogant."
"At least for now, your key animation ability far surpasses mine, Uehara-senpai. There's an old saying in China: 'Those who have attained mastery can be teachers.' Your guidance in key animation is exactly what I'm seeking, and it will be extremely beneficial to me. Calling you 'teacher' is not inappropriate in the slightest." Kamiyā Yuu said with a serious expression.
—He doesn't even reject the idea that he might surpass me in the future. I wonder if Kamiyā-kun should be called confident or arrogant… or perhaps the arrogance lies with me?
A strange feeling arose in Uehara Etsuki's heart. Standing at the pinnacle of the key animation industry in this world, she was almost certain that Kamiyā Yuu would surpass her someday. Over the past half month, ever since he began submitting corrected key frames, she had been paying close attention to the subtle changes in his work. Nearly every day, she could feel his improvement.
Techniques that would take others months to learn, he mastered within a single day. Moreover, his key animation increasingly displayed extraordinary qualities. At this point, an unavoidable thought emerged in her mind: "The role of second key animator is restricting his performance and growth. He belongs on the free stage of a key animator."
However, as they were currently in a critical phase of producing 'Mr. Onigiri Man,' it wasn't convenient to make personnel changes.
Uehara Etsuki looked at Kamiyā Yuu with a gentle smile. "I don't dislike being called 'teacher,' but I'd prefer it if you only used that title in private. At the company, it's better to stick with how you addressed me before."
"So that means… teacher, you've agreed to my request?" Kamiyā Yuu replied with a smile.
For the next half month, in addition to completing corrected key frames for other animators, Kamiyā Yuu also worked on the animation exercises assigned by Uehara Etsuki after returning home. These so-called exercises involved Uehara specifying core elements of key animation, and Kamiyā Yuu creating one to five key frames centered around those elements. After completing them, he would submit them to Uehara for review, where she would provide the most professional and accurate evaluations along with revision suggestions.
Overall, it was essentially like homework, with the workload carefully controlled so it wouldn't interfere with Kamiyā Yuu's daily rest.
During the day, he worked. At night, after finishing household chores, he completed the assignments given by Uehara Etsuki. While sleeping, he entered the consciousness space—spending three hours previewing the key animation work for 'Mr. Onigiri Man,' and another three hours researching animation production elements from his previous world's internet. He didn't limit himself to key animation alone; he also sought proficiency in story development, character design, background music, and more.
Since he possessed the advantage of the consciousness space, Kamiyā Yuu was determined to put in effort worthy of it. His ambition wasn't merely to replicate classic works from his previous world, but to surpass Satoshi Kon, surpass Hayao Miyazaki, and even surpass the immovable giant of the Japanese animation industry—Tezuka Osamu.
For Kamiyā Yuu personally, these busy days were fulfilling and enjoyable.