How to raise a random guy's wife

Ran Kobayashi rationally withdrew her gaze, "Then...then we'll eat it later."

Kobayashi Megumi asked curiously, "Are you really sick?"

"I have a cold and fever," Eriri answered for Kasumigaoka Utaha. "My family doctor has already seen me."

"Because it wasn't a big deal, I didn't tell you," Kasumigaoka Utaha added. "I've been feeling better for several days now."

Kobayashi Megumi asked with some concern, "Have you been under too much pressure lately?"

“Not at all,” Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her head. “It’s just that the temperature difference is too great during the change of seasons.”

Eriri bluntly contradicted her, "Even if it were her, she wouldn't admit it."

"What if I admit it?"

"You've already admitted it yourself, so what else is there to say?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha glared at her. "Why didn't you just say that you're the one who decides?"

Eriri replied matter-of-factly, "You said it yourself."

"Alright, alright," Kobayashi Megumi smoothed things over, "Why don't you stay for dinner today? What would you like to eat?"

"I want to eat shrimp tempura."

"Teriyaki chicken thigh and steamed egg custard."

-

“Normally, choosing a voice actor for a character requires auditions.” In the company, Kobayashi Megumi, who had just finished a routine meeting, answered Kasumigaoka Utaha’s question during a break while Kobayashi Sora was organizing meeting materials. “But now, when it comes to deciding who will voice the main character, the original author and the production committee have a lot of say. Often, the decision is made through meetings and discussions, and sometimes the animation production company even pays to get the authority to decide the voice actor.”

"Hmm?" Kasumigaoka Utaha noticed the problem. "Didn't they say the animation production company was short on funds? Why are they still funding the voice actors?"

"Because many voice actors are now managed like idols, these voice actors have a lot of fans on Twitter, which can bring traffic to the work. So now many animations are using this standard to select voice actors." Megumi Kobayashi patiently explained, "From an investment perspective, there is of course no problem with such a selection standard. However, from the perspective of the production staff, a voice actor with a large following does not necessarily mean that he is a good fit for the role. Therefore, in order to ensure the quality of the work, animation production companies have to invest in securing the rights to dub the voice actors."

"I see." Kasumigaoka Utaha quickly realized an even worse situation. "I'm afraid it's not just that they're worried about the role being unsuitable; the animation studio is probably also afraid that the production committee will use their own work to give new voice actors experience, right?"

"That's true."

Voice actors' fees vary depending on their level of fame.

Voice actors who provide post-production dubbing for animation and movies are graded in a hierarchical system. The grades of voice actors are based on their work experience, ranging from the newly graduated 15th grade voice actor to the top-tier voice actors who are beyond the scope of the grade limit. The grade of a voice actor determines how much money they can earn.

A level 15 voice actor earns only 1.5 yen, while a level 45 voice actor earns 4.5 yen.

The performer's own declaration determines which level they belong to in the ranking system.

Newcomers with little experience are also called Juniors, and their voice acting fees are settled at the lowest rate of 1.5 yen.

It takes three years to truly leave the newcomer class in this industry.

Voice actors at this level are generally ranked from the lowest level 15. However, a level 15 voice actor does not represent a single animation dubbing session, and they can only receive 1.5 yen in payment.

The remuneration needs to be determined by comprehensively considering three factors: the basic level of voice actors in that year, the length of the work, and the purpose of using the work.

Most voice actors are affiliated with a voice acting agency, and the more a voice actor earns, the more lucrative the agency's income becomes.

In this situation, it is perfectly normal to use investment to help voice actors in one's own voice acting agency accumulate experience and grow.

Another important reason for this situation is the limitation of animation production budget. If the original author insists on hiring a 45-level voice actor, which means that big names have to be hired, the salary of just one voice actor can cost 10 yen per episode. In this case, it is necessary to lower the level of the voice actors for other characters to adjust and balance the budget.

Therefore, junior newcomers can easily get roles because of their low pay. However, as these newcomers level up and their pay increases, it can exceed the production company's budget, leading to a situation where they can't get any work after leveling up.

Therefore, voice actors must seize the opportunity during the Junior level rookie era when they have the easiest access to resources to expand their popularity, accumulate experience, and hone their acting skills so that they can still get work after obtaining their rank.

Upgrading isn't difficult; the challenge lies in making money after upgrading.

Understanding these things helps explain why many voice actors are managed like idols, and why voice acting agencies desperately try to get newcomers into anime.

Kasumigaoka Utaha felt a bit of a headache. "It seems that dealing with people from those voice actor agencies is unavoidable."

“There’s no need to worry about that. Unlike the close relationship between celebrities and production team members in the entertainment industry, voice actors don’t have such a close relationship with their agencies. Most people in the entertainment industry are…” Kobayashi Megumi looked at Kobayashi Sora, who was organizing the documents, “How many was it again?”

小林空青如数家珍，“演艺圈艺人和事务所的分成大部分是5:5和6：4,左右，声优行业内，经纪人提成是声优片酬的20%~30%。”

Chapter 627 Things Have Changed

Kasumigaoka Utaha asked curiously, "Why is this happening?"

"There are two main reasons," Kobayashi Sora explained. "In the entertainment industry, an artist's agent usually only works with one artist or one artist group. However, in the voice acting industry, many voice acting agencies adopt a production company manager system. This system requires each agent to connect with multiple sound production companies. If a job is received from a particular sound production company, regardless of which voice actor is selected, the agent from that company must accompany the voice actor to the recording studio for the dubbing work."

In other words, it would be more accurate to say that the voice actor agency's agents are following up on the job rather than the person.

“Moreover, the unit price for voice acting work in animation is relatively low,” Megumi Kobayashi added. “Unless it is a super popular voice actor who is highly sought after, there is generally no agent willing to give up the opportunity to make money from other voice actors in order to provide one-on-one service to a particular voice actor.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha felt her headache getting worse. "In the end, it was all because of the production budget."

“There are advantages to this too,” Kobayashi Megumi comforted her. “Compared to the dependent relationship between entertainment agencies and artists, where the agent handles everything, the agent model in the voice acting industry allows voice actors and animation production teams to communicate without going through agents, naturally giving them more opportunities to get to know each other face-to-face and build mutual trust.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha's eyes flickered slightly. "In other words, this model also gives voice actors a high degree of autonomy, and they are not completely restricted by their voice acting agencies?"

“That’s true,” Megumi Kobayashi nodded. “Compared to entertainers, voice actors require more independence and self-promotion skills.”

“I understand.” Kasumigaoka Utaha flipped through her notes. “Then there’s the issue of post-production voice acting and audio-visual compositing…”

Boom, boom, boom.

A knock came at the door.

Kobayashi Megumi smiled at Kasumigaoka Utaha and said to the office door, "Come in."

"Megumi," Izumi Hashima said happily, pushing open the door, "My second story is finished..." She was initially quite happy, but before she saw Utaha Kasumigaoka in the office, she exclaimed, "Yes..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha closed her notebook. "Why are you so nervous? You'll have to show it to me in the end anyway."

As Bo Island went out to sea, he muttered, "That's why I wanted to show it to you last..."

Although she knew that Kasumigaoka Utaha's guidance was for her own good, and she did indeed benefit greatly from Kasumigaoka Utaha's guidance, Kasumigaoka Utaha was too scary.

I still want to polish the story before showing it to Kasumigaoka Utaha.

It's always better to get scolded less.

However, since Kasumigaoka Utaha is here, we can't just ask her to leave first.

Just as Kasumigaoka Utaha said, she would have to see it sooner or later.

Upon opening the project brought by the Bo Island cruise, the first thing that catches the eye is the character design illustrations.

The main character was designed in the first story, and this picture shows the main character who appears in the second story.

That is, the monster that is at the core of the story.

Some of the retro scenes, at first glance, resemble long-haired women in brightly colored kimonos nestled among the trees, draped in semi-transparent veils, like princesses from some city.

However, upon closer inspection, many anomalies can be found.

For example, the head ornament is not a gemstone, but a red eye above the woman's eyes, located on her forehead.

The thin veil covering her body was actually a tattered spider web.

Through the wide sleeves, one could vaguely see spider legs covered in black hair, with spider silk extending from the ends and connecting to the tiny spider.

The unusually bulky kimono also revealed the outline of a giant spider's belly.

Next to it is written the name of the yokai—Jorōgumo.

Kobayashi Megumi looked at Kobayashi Sora, "Jorogumo?"

"Originally, it meant 'Lady Spider,' also called 'Shinbura.' It's recorded in Toriyama Sekien's *Gazu Hyakki Yagyō* (Illustrated Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), where it's described as a spider that transforms into a human. During the day, it appears as a beautiful woman, but at night it reveals its true form as a spider demon, releasing small spiders that exhale blue smoke and suck people's blood. It also seduces men, and if a man is seduced, at midnight three days later, it will take his head and eat it. It's an extremely dangerous monster." Kobayashi Sora tapped her forehead lightly. "It's also recorded in *Zoryu Monogatari*, *Sukatsu no Sosa*, and *Taiping Hyakumonogatari*. In reality, it belongs to the genus *Jorogusa*, belonging to the family Araneae, order Araneae.

Hashima looked at Kasumigaoka Utaha with some trepidation, "How was it?"

“Confidence is also very important,” Kasumigaoka Utaha reminded, “At least in my opinion, this concept art looks pretty good.”

After setting sail from Po Island, I finally relaxed a little and breathed a sigh of relief.

Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri have been working together for a long time. Although she doesn't know how to draw, she still has an appreciation for art.

If Kasumigaoka Utaha says it's good, then it really is good.

Kobayashi Megumi flipped through the pages and saw the script she had written for the trip to Hashima Island.

The script is the first written design draft completed in the animation production process.

Only by fully understanding the design can the story's intended message be expressed in the subsequent production process.

The script includes the scene, visuals, dialogue, as well as some detailed atmosphere and the required special effects.

The script alone can be difficult to understand, so the storyboard sketches that follow are needed to aid comprehension.

Based on the script, the scene design, shooting angles, and how to make the characters perform are all described in the animation. This is called storyboarding.

Of course, when it came to the storyboard, it wasn't as refined as the initial character design sketches. It wasn't colored at all; it was basically just a rough sketch with various information annotations next to it.

Those present were all industry professionals; speed reading was a basic skill for them. After a quick glance, they understood the general story.

“A control freak monster, huh?” Kasumigaoka Utaha tilted her head. “The prototype is quite obvious.”

The story of the departure from Hashima Island did not follow the original setting, but instead used the name of Jorogumo to tell a completely different story.

A woman who lived a happy life was murdered and turned into a monster. She then discovered that the village where she used to live had been completely destroyed.

She refused to believe that she was dead and wanted to use her own strength to rebuild the place where she used to live and live happily again as before.

So she transformed into an ordinary person, sought help, and used spider silk to control those people to rebuild the village.

One, two, three... More and more people were controlled by her spider silk, living like zombies in the rebuilt village, repeating their lives day after day like puppets on a stage, performing the images in the memories of the Jorogumo.

Until the exorcist arrived and revealed the whole truth.

Chapter 628 Hesitant to Speak

"The introduction, development, climax, and conclusion are all quite smooth," Kobayashi Sora habitually nested formulas, which was a convenient and practical method for someone like him who didn't have much creative talent. "The introduction is that the exorcist comes to the village and stays there. The development is that he discovers the villagers' abnormality and begins to investigate. The climax is that Jorogumo appears and reveals the terrifying truth. The final battle is the conclusion."

"It's really good, it feels very smooth, there aren't any particularly stiff parts." Kobayashi Megumi looked at Kasumigaoka Utaha, "Utaha, what do you think?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha withdrew her gaze. "Just as Sora said, this is a decent story."

As Hashima sailed out to sea, he vaguely sensed the unspoken meaning in Kasumigaoka Utaha's words, "Passing means..."

That's not good enough.

"Shiyu, I'm sorry!" Shiyu Kasumigaoka was startled by Izumi Hashima's sudden apology.