Tokyo: The Manga Begins with the Funeral of Frilian

"Frilian walks across the grassland, just let her walk. There is no narration, no flashbacks, no inner monologues. She relies entirely on the sound of her footsteps, the sound of the wind blowing through the grass, and the speed of the shadows cast by the clouds as they move across the ground."

"At first, the audience might find it hard to get used to and even boring. But once they get used to it, they'll realize that many scenes without dialogue are full of the weight of time."

"Fight scenes?"

Subtraction.

Keisuke Fujita walked toward the table.

He then gestured with his fingers on the table.

"The battle of Aura only consists of a few double-page spreads in the original work. I don't plan to expand it. The animation will only give that many seconds of screen space as the original work does. Not a second more. The battle is not the core of this work; the feeling of emptiness after the battle is the key."

"Defeating the Demon King may only be a fleeting moment. But the time after losing the hero can take thousands of years to slowly adjust. What I want to film is precisely this process of adjustment."

"There's one more thing."

He looked up at Yuma Kamiya.

"Frilian didn't shed a single tear, not from beginning to end. Even standing before Simmel's grave, even as she said, 'I wish I could know you a little more,' she didn't cry. Because an elf who has lived for a thousand years has long forgotten how to cry. Yet I made the audience shed tears for her."

Kamiya Yuma remained silent for a moment.

Then he turned to the other side of the low table.

"Shiori".

Shiori Shirakawa took out the calculator.

She immediately took out her calculator.

Slender fingers danced rapidly across the keys.

The electronic sound of zeroing out rang out.

The red pen kept moving.

Numbers appeared one after another.

  

"The production cost is 150 million. Dongyang Animation wants to use its production resources to acquire a stake at a discounted price, which is valued at 40 million."

"We're negotiating with Onodera-senpai at the record company, and they estimate we can get a discount of 20 million yen. The broadcast rights on the TV station will be discounted by 30 million yen. The remaining 60 million yen shortfall will be covered entirely by Kamiya Studio, which will account for 51% of the funding."

Her pen stopped on the last line of numbers.

"The royalties for Volume 10 amounted to 32 million. The royalties for Volume 11 are expected to arrive in the account next month, totaling 40 million. The studio currently has a balance of 18 million."

She cleared the numbers on the calculator, then pressed another set of numbers, before looking up at Yuma Kamiya.

"After deducting the reserved operating costs for six months and assistant salaries, the available funds are forty-five million. Adding the royalties from the previous volumes..."

Zero.

After she pressed the last button.

He then turned the folder around and pushed it towards Yuuma Kamiya.

"That's enough. Go ahead and submit it. The boss's wife has approved it."

Keisuke Fujita stared at the folder.

He then looked at Shiori Shirakawa again and again, his mouth moving slightly.

"Who is this?"

"Finance and General Affairs Supervisor"

Shiori Shirakawa closed the folder.

"She also serves as the boss's wife."

Did she just say "approved"?

Fujita Keisuke turned to Kamiya Yuma.

"Such a large sum of money, approved just like that?"

"Her calculations are never wrong."

Keisuke Fujita remained silent for a long time.

He then took out a very thick stack of storyboards from the canvas bag.

Then unfold it and lay it flat on the low table.

Those were the storyboard sketches for the first episode of Frillie that he drew alone at home.

The cheapest type of copy paper was used.

The lines drawn with a pencil were erased many times.

Some areas have been worn down to the point of having rough edges.

"After receiving a call from editor Onodera, I spent three days drawing these. I didn't get the adaptation rights, I didn't sign a contract, and there were no promises, but I still drew them. Because the night I finished reading the manga at the convenience store, these images were already in my mind. I couldn't sleep until they came to me."

He picked up the first page of the storyboard.

Then it was handed to Yuuma Kamiya.

In the early morning, Frilian can be seen standing in front of Simmel's grave in the scene.

The sky displayed a subtle hue, shifting between cobalt blue and the colors of dawn.

The shadow of the tombstone was very long, almost stretching to the edge of the picture.

Frillie didn't make a sound.

There are no text labels in the image.

"The first episode opens with a full three minutes of dialogue, without a single line."

Keisuke Fujita pointed to the storyboard.

"The background music is played only on a clarinet, with a very simple melody. It's short, just eight notes, with repeated variations. Eight notes are enough. It was the tune that the hero loved to play most when he was alive. Frilian heard others play it many times on her journey, each time differently. But she will always remember the version that the hero played."

He turned to the second page.

"Then came the title screen. The title didn't pop up from the middle of the screen; it slowly emerged in the morning light. It was like someone who had walked a long way and finally mustered the courage to dig that name out from the deepest part of their memory."

Kamiya Yuma flipped through the pages one by one.

When he turned to the last page, he closed the storyboard.

Then he pushed it back in front of Fujita.

"The contract will be delivered tomorrow."

Keisuke Fujita collapsed onto the low table.

After a long while, he finally uttered a sentence in a low voice.

"The last time I was this nervous was outside the delivery room."

Do you have children?

Baihe Shizhi asked.

"I have a daughter. She's six years old. She currently lives in Yokohama with her mother."

Keisuke Fujita straightened up, his eyes still red, but a smile had already appeared on his lips.

"Once I receive my first director's fee, I'll buy her the picture book set she's always wanted. Her mother says she calls every night, asking when her father will be home."

He stood up from his seat and faced Yuma Kamiya.

He bowed deeply to the other person at a ninety-degree angle with great solemnity.

"I won't let you regret it."

.........

Tokyo in late December was unbelievably cold.

The heating in the apartment in Itabashi Honmachi was turned on quite well.

But Hoshino Rin sat at the narrow table in the corner.

My fingers were so cold they turned white.

She had spent a full three days on that double-page spread.

The scene depicts fortresses built by people from various northern countries.

The time was set to the night before the winter solstice.

Frilian and her apprentice passed by the fortress.

The local residents invited the two of them to participate in the winter solstice festival.

The annotations on the storyboard sketches are very clear.

It features city walls, a bell tower, a market, a square adorned with colorful lights, and crowds gathered around a bonfire.

But Hoshino Rin couldn't draw it.