How to raise a random guy's wife

In comics and illustrations, characters are often depicted from only a few angles, so many design details are only considered from those few angles.

However, when it is made into an animation, the characters need to be shown from all angles.

Not to mention the various complex movements.

This is where character design comes in, allowing other artists to imitate the characters while preserving their original characteristics.

After all, animation production is not something that one person can do alone; it requires many artists to work simultaneously. No matter how well the character design is done, it's meaningless if everyone can't draw it.

"Okay." Poshima Izuru knew his own capabilities and decided to do what he could. "I'll do my best."

"Miaosen".

Miyamori Aoi immediately replied, "Yes!"

"Don't be so nervous." Kasumigaoka Utaha waved her hand. "Talk to the staff in the company and prepare for the work according to the schedule. Remember to report to me at any time."

"Ok."

Kasumigaoka Utaha wanted to say a few more words of comfort, but her phone rang, so she had to answer it first. "Yuanzi, what's wrong? What did you say? What... I'm coming over now."

Putting down her phone, Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned slightly. "Something urgent has come up. I've driven the car away. You guys take a taxi back. Remember to claim reimbursement later."

Before Izumi Hashima and Aoi Miyamori could respond, Utaha Kasumigaoka had already left with her bag.

The two looked at each other and saw the worry in each other's eyes.

It seems... something troublesome has happened.

-

"Sonoko," Kasumigaoka Utaha said as she and Machida Sonoko walked toward the meeting room, "what exactly happened?"

How could a production committee that was painstakingly assembled suddenly encounter problems and require an emergency meeting?

"This meeting was initiated by TV Tokyo, and the specific content of the discussion is still unclear," Machida Sonoko said quickly. "But... the situation doesn't seem very optimistic."

Kasumigaoka Utaha bit her lower lip and pushed open the conference room door.

There weren't many people in the conference room. They included producers from TV Tokyo, advertising agents, music company producers, game company producers, offline event producers, toy company producers, Toei producers, and producers from Akane Project.

With the addition of Kasumigaoka Utaha, the animation producer, that makes up the entire production committee.

Each of them represents a window of opportunity for profit, as well as an investor.

"Welcome everyone to RER," Kasumigaoka Utaha said, getting straight to the point. "What is the topic of discussion for this meeting?"

"Well... there's no need to rush." ​​TV producer Hosoya pushed up his frameless glasses and smiled kindly. "Congratulations on 'Your Name' surpassing 10 billion yen at the box office. It's only been 28 days, right? It's your first time producing a feature film."

Praises filled the conference room, and the Toei producer was the happiest.

Toei was an investor in "Your Name" and made a considerable amount of money.

Kasumigaoka Utaha calmly accepted the compliments, occasionally offering a few words of response.

She knew very well that these were not the important things.

This is just the opening act.

"So..." Hosoya changed the subject, "why not continue making the same type of movies?"

“A similar film is currently in production, and it’s still in the preparation stage,” Kasumigaoka Utaha answered truthfully. “That’s why I wanted to finish making Mononoke during this break.”

“It would have been safer to stick with the previous style. Being young is a good thing!” Hosoya said with a forced smile. “We originally wanted to be as successful as ‘Your Name,’ but with such a big difference in style, everyone was worried.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha noticed something was wrong.

The style of "Mononoke" was determined at the very beginning of the production committee's formation, and everyone present was aware of it.

Why bring this up again now?

"And this time the director is a complete newcomer, only graduated from university a few years ago? He's too young, isn't he?"

"The only thing I'm really good at is performing, but that's not very effective."

"Furthermore, the Ukiyo-e style is quite expensive..."

"The risk is too great."

Others gradually shared their thoughts, but the people from Toei and Akane Project remained silent, observing coldly from the sidelines.

Here comes the important part.

Kasumigaoka Utaha narrowed her red eyes slightly, "So, what are your thoughts?"

"After all, it's a new work by a new author, and it's an original piece, so it's better to lower the return rate a bit..."

"The commission rate should also be increased..."

"It would be best to lower the processing fee a bit..."

The return rate refers to the handling fee returned to the production committee after the window makes a profit. The higher the return rate, the more money the window's responsible party can keep.

Commissions are the fees charged by investors when they make money through their own channels, since there are corresponding profits because of the channels.

The handling fee is a service fee paid to the agency responsible for managing the entire project.

New works, style—these are all just excuses.

These people simply want to take more and give less, in order to make more money.

What gave them this idea was the phenomenal box office success of "Your Name".

The temptation to earn a few hundred more is different from the temptation to earn hundreds of millions more.

If Mononoke becomes popular, they can make even more money.

If Mononoke hadn't become a hit, they would have lost less money.

If RER disagrees, these people, as the funders, have a lot of options.

Although the production committee is an organization formally established after all parties have signed a contract, this contract will be revised by each of the companies that make up the committee. During the long process of wrangling, there are cases where the anime has already started airing, but the production committee's contract has not yet been signed.

Not to mention manipulating the timing of payment for production fees to force animation production companies to accept their conditions, or deliberately delaying payment procedures to put pressure on production companies.

As for maintaining the relationship with the animation production company...

Like I said before, if you don't do it, there are plenty of others who will.

There are just too many animation production companies in Japan.

RER hasn't grown to the level of a major company yet.

Chapter 696 Experience Gap

“If that’s the topic of discussion,” the producer of the Red Zhu Project stood up, “then there’s no need for me to participate. Just let me know when the discussion is over.”

"I think so too." The Toei producer also got up and left.

"Toei is rich and powerful, and Kozue is of noble character. I admire them greatly." Hosoya sighed, "I wish I could be like that, but these things are not up to me."

lie.

Kasumigaoka Utaha easily saw through Hosoya's lie.

This guy just made up an excuse, not only for himself, but also for everyone else.

Sure enough, the other producers also began to share their difficulties.

Kasumigaoka Utaha suppressed her frustration and argued logically, discussing everything from the anime's subject matter to the production staff, from the schedule to the broadcast timeline...

But these people only have one thought: to make more money.

“I think this is better,” Hosoya tapped the table. “Everyone is having a tough time right now. Let’s all go back and think it over carefully, and then discuss it in more detail at the next meeting.”

The meeting ended without any results.

This is quite common for various meetings.

Kasumigaoka Utaha sat in the empty conference room, flipping through the proposal and contract over and over again.

Machida Sonoko looked at her with worry and heartache, "Shiha..."

“Yuanzi,” Kasumigaoka Utaha looked up and forced a smile, “So it was this hard for you when you were helping me negotiate various events.”

“No, not at all.” Machida Sonoko shook her head. “Back then, we were the copyright holders, and we were basically the ones making demands, but now…”

"I see." Kasumigaoka Utaha stared at the storyboard of the Hashima Island setting sail. "It's such a good story, why are they all trying to belittle it?"

Machida Sonoko sat down next to Kasumigaoka Utaha. "Actually... they don't know what a good story is."

Kasumigaoka Utaha: "?"

“If investors knew what a good story was, there wouldn’t be so many terrible works,” Machida Sonoko explained. “Creators focus on the content itself, which is their area of ​​expertise. Investors only focus on the rate of return, which is their area of ​​expertise.”

"So their denigration is completely worthless; it's just an excuse to make more money." Kasumigaoka Utaha put down the proposal. "I originally thought that the success of 'Your Name' would give us more leverage in the negotiations."

“If it were the original cast and crew with a similar theme, they would definitely have the upper hand.” Machida Sonoko, with more experience, understood the current situation. “But this is a new theme and a new style. They don’t know if this work will be as popular as ‘Your Name.’ However, the success of ‘Your Name’ gave them some hope, which led to the idea that ‘if they work hard now, they could potentially make a lot more money.’”

Kasumigaoka Utaha's expression was icy. "Don't they know what it means to maintain a good, long-lasting relationship?"

“They are well aware that maintaining a long-term, good relationship with the company that produced ‘Your Name’ would greatly benefit their future business,” Machida Sonoko pointed out. “But they are even more aware that securing more benefits in this project would also greatly benefit them.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha was stunned, and instantly realized that she had fallen into a misconception.

Because all her ideas stem from RER.

As a veteran and core member of RER, the better RER does, the better she does.

But others are not like that.

The producers from those companies are very likely to be transferred to other departments or go directly to other companies after completing this project.

Compared to the company's future development, one should naturally pay more attention to one's own interests.

“No wonder…” Kasumigaoka Utaha belatedly realized, “No wonder the people from Toei and Akane reacted that way.”

Toei was our partner last time, and they made more money than RER on "Your Name".

They're hoping for the next "Your Name," and this investment is just to maintain the relationship; whether they make money or not doesn't matter, they don't care about the small amount.

Needless to say, the relationship between Akane Akane and Sora Kobayashi is well-known.

If one of her subordinates causes trouble, Kobayashi Sora immediately goes to talk to Akane Akasaka, and the troublemaker will be dealt with.

In contrast, there are other companies.