[169] Passage of Time

Time continued to flow.

Production, music, voice actors.

Everything gradually came together.

Even veterans like Hideaki Anno couldn't help but be amazed by the quality of these voice actors. It surpassed anything before, smoothly dubbing a 20-minute animation in one go. This required an exceptionally high level of skill, and as long as major mistakes didn't occur in the process, these individuals were truly talented.

Kazuya quickly signed numerous voice actors in one go.

However, only about a dozen of them were chosen this time.

The rest were temporarily kept on standby. When the next production started, whether it was their own animations or others, significant cost savings would be achieved.

Later on...

The animation officially began production.

Kazuya didn't have the time to constantly watch over and supervise the animation progress. After all, he had manga to draw.

He could only check occasionally.

Most of the time, they would only receive a completed episode when it was finished.

Then... they would be told, "This part needs more onomatopoeia," or "This section is a bit off," or "The sound here feels wrong, re-record it."

Sometimes, even if they didn't notice any issues at the time, during idle moments, they would rewatch it and suddenly feel that something wasn't right, leading to a redo.

This process repeated over and over.

The cycle resumed.

These people also understood the agony of being directed by someone who had no understanding of animation.

But, they couldn't help it. He had the money.

Moreover, he didn't care about their opinions... and probably didn't care much about the audience's opinions either. He just wanted to create animations that made him happy.

They had already reached the level of producing animated films, yet occasional errors still occurred.

Fortunately, Kazuya didn't review it frame by frame; otherwise, they would be even more troubled.

Even with the level of producing animated films, the cost of one episode was around tens of millions of yen. Considering that, they still needed to spend several hundred million yen to complete the production.

Yet, even with such expenses, they still had several hundred million left.

Others were surprised, but for them, it was enough.

If animators felt exhausted, each completed episode brought an additional salary averaging several tens of thousands of yen per person, which still made them feel quite excited. With a bit over two episodes per month, the progress steadily moved forward in the pre-production...

...

Looking at the sixth episode of JOJO's animation in front of them, Kazuya was satisfied and nodded, "Not bad, this time it's temporarily qualified."

This episode reached the moment where Weather Report, who had already passed away, bravely faced his fate.

"Temporarily... huh." Hideaki Anno smiled bitterly, "So, what about starting the production of the seventh episode next?"

Saying that, he also felt a slight relief in his heart. Finally, it was about to be completed.

The first season was planned to have a total of nine episodes, and more than half had already been completed.

After completing this, they could take a brief break.

"Go ahead, don't rush, but the quality must be top-notch."

"Understood." Hideaki Anno nodded. This JOJO was definitely the most tiring one in his career as a director...

Although, thinking carefully, this was only his second time being a director. The first one was abandoned halfway through, and even if it continued, it would definitely start from scratch.

After all... with so much budget, why should he keep the part that had already been done half-dead?

He even wanted to change some elements!

Some elements were done to please the audience at the time, now? It's completely unnecessary! Just make what you like and enjoy the animation!

With this in mind, no matter how tiring it was, it was fine.

Kazuya was also puzzled. He didn't expect that making animations would be so cost-effective. After all, he was outsiders at first, whether it was making animations or drawing manga, he was originally outsiders. He only became the most insiders by acquiring the skills of the mangaka Kishibe Rohan. Therefore, he instantly became the most insiders.

But animation remained a mystery.

Well... now he had a little understanding.

When he first acquired this animation company, he thought making animations was a money-burning process... burning several hundred million yen was considered a big deal. Now thinking about it, did he overestimate the cost of European and American movies?

At the beginning, he even thought that ten billion yen might not be enough.

But now, even if he occasionally redid scenes and maintained a level beyond that of animated films, it still only cost around one hundred million yen per episode.

Did the yen have more value in this era?

Or maybe, producing animations was just like this...

Compared to making animations, acquiring bands, collaborating with music producers and art schools, coordinating television broadcast times, advertisements, and similar things were the major expenses.

"Well... let's take it slow and understand it gradually."

Kazuya picked up the pen and began writing the script.

This script was none other than the rebellious Lelouch's plot. However, Kazuya only provided a detailed description of the beginning and ending, leaving the middle part more vague. He would leave that to Hideaki Anno and the others.

After all, brainstorming on how to fill in the logical gaps, transforming Lelouch's high intelligence from flipping the floor with Geass into real high intelligence—thinking about it alone wouldn't be as effective as a group.

A group discussion could fill in the gaps.

So...

All he needed to do was finish the script, draw the first and second episodes of the manga, and the last episode's final chapter in manga form. That would be enough.

Moreover... now that the JOJO Animation had gathered, most of them were geniuses who could stand alone in the future. The synergy of so many people gathering together would undoubtedly bring about extraordinary effects.

However, the recruitment of talents would still continue...

"Finished... it's almost done... but, it's not the time to reveal it yet. Let's wait until they finish the production of JOJO. Then, we'll give them time to produce their own animation... After that, we can talk about making this Lelouch."

"Ring, ring, ring—"

At this moment, a call came from the front desk, directly connected to him.

"What's up?" Kazuya answered directly.

"Uh, someone is looking for you, President."

"No time. Whenever they want to talk, let Vice President and the others handle it. Didn't I say that I'm not responsible for the company's internal affairs?"

"Well..."

Kazuya frowned, feeling that the tone of the front desk was a bit strange.

"She said her name is Touko Aozoki and she hopes to meet with you."

"..." Kazuya fell silent for a while. "Let her in."

---

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