My girlfriend is Saiki Kusunoki

Actually, I've always admired the male protagonists in novels. No matter what they do, they're always like seasoned veterans, mature and excellent.

For someone as straightforward as Naoto, just talking to people is a huge brain drain. Not to mention the huge amount of work that looks daunting. It's safe to say that Naoto, who is participating in this for the first time, is completely clueless.

Fortunately, this matter doesn't actually have much to do with Naoto. Although the author has some say in the production team, this is mainly a matter between the JUMP editorial department and J.C. Staff.

Otherwise, Saiki's father wouldn't have been in charge of this matter. Although Saiki's father is usually quite unreliable, he is, after all, a legitimate JUMP editor.

As a veteran editor who has witnessed the rise and fall of JUMP, I am very familiar with the people at J.C. Staff. With just a few words, I made Matsuyama, the team leader in charge of the negotiations, nod and laugh.

This was the first time Naoto and Nanako had seen Saiki's father working so diligently.

You should know that in Naoto's mind, Saiki's father is mostly a scatterbrain. In the original manga, he would even kneel down and lick shoes.

As a result, in this world, Saiki's father is truly incredibly hardworking, and even the production team has a hard time competing with him.

That makes sense. If you don't have the skills, you're probably dreaming if you think you can work in a competitive company like JUMP.

“I think the plan here should be changed. You know, ‘Bloodline’ is currently our flagship comic in JUMP. The production scale should not be less than 300 million.”

"Three hundred million yuan is indeed true, but we can only come up with about 260 million yuan at the moment. After all, we have more than one movie to adapt into an anime this time, 'Bloodline'."

"Two hundred and sixty million is too little. As for publicity and distribution, how about two hundred and eighty million? We can consider that. After all, you're not the only company vying for 'Bloodline' right now."

"But……"

Naoto, sitting in the hall, looked like a wooden doll the whole time. In reality, he and Nanko, who was also expressionless, had their minds wandering off somewhere else.

Whether it's 260 million or 280 million, it's an astronomical figure for Zhiren and Nanzi.

Although I had heard before that making anime was expensive, I never imagined that an anime could cost so much.

It's outrageous that they're asking for hundreds of millions of yen every time, even if it's in Japanese yen.

Compared to the shock felt by straight people, Nanzi's feelings were much simpler.

Right now, all Nanzi can think about is how many coffee jellies she can buy with this money.

(A typical high-end coffee jelly costs 1500 yuan, so 200 million yuan could buy... a lot, a lot of coffee jellies.)

This tug-of-war over funding went on for an entire morning and was still not over.

Naoto and Nanko are almost at their breaking point.

For these two, their only wish now is to finish this boring meeting cleanly and then get out of here as soon as possible.

At this point, Naoto had already made up his mind: if there were any more anime adaptations in the future, he would definitely, absolutely not participate again. It was just too torturous!

Chapter 41: Enka Reappears

"Alright then, let's make it 280 million, but the original manuscript needs to be provided by JUMP, otherwise we'll be too busy. I hope you can understand."

"Sure, we'll handle the marketing and promotion too. You just need to focus on making the animation the best it can be."

"Then, happy working together."

"Pleasant to work with."

After Saiki's father and the production team finally finished their discussion, Naoto and Kusuko, who were in a semi-conscious state, immediately came to their senses.

It's like sitting in the front row of your advanced mathematics class, afraid to sleep, constantly caught between wanting to sleep and not daring to, and then suddenly the get out of class ends.

"Finally, is it over?"

Naoto, who walked out of the meeting room, felt his legs go weak.

If it weren't for Nanko supporting Naoto, he probably wouldn't have been able to stand up from the chair.

These meetings are simply too torturous. The worst part is that I have no idea how to even chime in.

"Phew~ I'm really sorry, Naoto. We only managed to secure 280 million yen for this anime adaptation. It's not a lot, but it should be enough. It's just that you'll have to take charge of the key animation."

"It's alright, Uncle Qi Mu. I'm already very satisfied with this result. I'll do my best to prepare the original artwork. It's okay."

Naoto completely doesn't understand why Saiki's father apologized. It's safe to say that Naoto has absolutely no concept of animation production.

With his mind already starting to go blank, all he wanted to do right now was get to work.

Now that I think about it, no wonder Eiji Niizuma from Bakuman never wanted to attend another anime adaptation meeting after that one.

So this is what these meetings are like, so agonizing.

Fortunately, at this point, we were finally free.

"By the way, next we need to go to the voice actors to confirm the voice actors. This requires the original author's involvement. You two should get ready."

"What?! There's a job?!"

Naoto was completely dumbfounded when he heard that Saiki's father actually wanted him to decide on the voice actor himself.

What, is there still something going on? More than half the day is already over!

"There's nothing we can do. It's your fault for arriving so late. Besides, the show was originally scheduled to premiere in January next year. If we don't hurry, it will be too late."

"So rushed? Haha~ I'm so tired."

Even Nanzi wanted to quit this kind of work. Couldn't the editorial department handle it all?

Nao people want to strike, Nao people want to give up.jpg

"You know, there are so many authors who would kill for something like getting an anime adaptation, you really need to take responsibility! Hurry up, don't keep the voice actors waiting! You still have work to prepare for tomorrow, but you'll be able to relax after that!"

Qi Mu's father's words were exactly the same as what his own homeroom teacher had said.

Like when they told me in elementary school, "You'll have an easy time in junior high."

I thought high school would be easier when I was in junior high.

They said in high school that going to university would be easy.

University... oh, Naoto hasn't had a chance to go yet.

I have this feeling that there are pits everywhere and no way out!

Although I really didn't want to go, they had already gone, so I couldn't just not go, could I? If I left people with an impression of being unruly, it would be difficult to cooperate with them in the future.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the voice actors were already on set, ready to begin their auditions.

"There are so many people today. I don't know if I'll be selected this time."

Amidst the crowd, Enka secretly glanced at the auditioners around her, a hint of worry creeping into her heart.

In Japan, many idols have experience as voice actors. Enka came here this time to participate in the voice actor selection for "Bloodline".

For newly debuted idols, being able to voice a popular anime could potentially lead to rapid fame, which is why many idols participated in this audition.

However, Enka wasn't very confident about this job. After all, besides some colleagues, there were many professional voice actors involved.

With the abilities of these people, it would be virtually impossible for me to snag a spot here.

"Why did that producer assign me this job?"

Madoka stood in the corner, looking exceptionally lonely in the venue.

To be honest, Enka knew absolutely nothing about the manga "The Bloodline" before she took on this job.

I only started looking at some of it after I found out yesterday.

Looking at the lines in the script, Enka kept recalling the characters from the manga and began to recite the lines.

However, when discussing the characters' dialogue, Enka always felt somewhat out of place. Coupled with her nervousness, she mispronounced several lines.

"Ha~ I guess I'm just not cut out for this job. I should have just turned it down."

At this time, Enka was even more annoyed by her unreliable producer.

To compete against these professional voice actors and well-prepared individuals, Enka just wanted to run back right then and there.

"Everyone, the production team is here with ONE! Get ready!"

Just then, one of the idols guarding the door saw the production crew rushing over and quickly reminded the friends inside.

Upon hearing this, the voice actors all sat down in their seats like well-behaved high school students.

This is, of course, to make a good impression on the producer, because that way, you might catch the eye of some big shot.

Seeing that everyone around her was sitting down, Enka followed suit and sat down in a chair as well.

At this moment, Naoto, led by Saiki's father, quickly entered the room. Upon seeing these beautiful idols and voice actresses, Naoto immediately felt embarrassed.

Because today is the audition for the female lead, all the people who came were women, which is exactly what Naoto is worst at dealing with.

"Huh? Is that ONE-sensei? He's so young."

"I heard he's still a high school student."

"Doesn't that mean they're about the same age as us?"

"That's really impressive, becoming a bestselling comic artist at such a young age."

"Is that girl over there his girlfriend?"

"I'm not sure, I've never heard of it."

At this moment, the girls in the audition room started to get excited. They found the young comic artist quite novel.

At that moment, Enka suddenly noticed Nanako and Naoto.

This unexpected encounter completely baffled Enka.

The person who helped her today turned out to be her boss, the person she was supposed to work with. Is such a thing really possible? It's just too strange!

Chapter 42: The Voice Actors' Competition

"Uh, what should we do now? Are we just going to stand here and watch?"

"No, you need to say a few words later. After all, strictly speaking, you are the one who has the decision-making power this time. As the original author of the comic, you are the one who knows the characters best."

"But what exactly do you want me to say?"

"Just say a few words."

Naoto was quite annoyed by the group of eager voice actresses below him, feeling as if these girls wanted to devour him whole.

It's safe to say that for girls who want to become voice actors, someone like Naoto is incredibly desirable.