Anime rating game

Thinking of this, Nakano Azusa had no choice but to raise her hand in agreement.

"I agree."

“If you don’t mind your experiences being made into an animation and shown to people all over the country and even the world, then I can’t say anything more.” Ritsu Tainaka sighed. “Fine, I agree.”

Chapter Twenty-Five: Want to see a live performance?

"Thank you very much." Masamune breathed a sigh of relief.

The five members of the Light Music Club were really helpful because they weren't too formal. He had prepared many persuasion strategies before coming, but he didn't expect that none of them would be used.

The only complicated part was finding ways to contact the principal of Sakuragaoka Girls' High School.

"Besides the script and song usage licenses, I actually have another request: I hope you can come forward and provide voice acting for your respective characters."

"Huh...? Voice acting? That's a bit..." Akiyama Mio hesitated for a moment, "We don't have any intention of developing in that direction."

“That’s right, it’s better to hire professionals for voice acting.” Ritsu Tainaka nodded repeatedly in agreement.

“If it were three months ago, I certainly wouldn’t have made such a presumptuous suggestion. But times have changed, and thanks to two consecutive golden words of recognition from the heavens, the future prospects of the animation industry will be even brighter.”

Masamune glanced around at the five people, looking at them with an extremely approving expression:

“Excellent works will have a far greater impact than before.”

"I can say without exaggeration that this work will be a huge hit when it is released. As voice actors, you will definitely be invited to perform at the Budokan."

Seeing the expectant looks on their faces, Masamune emphasized his words:

"Even if it's not for going to the Budokan, as a music anime, the songs used in after-school tea parties often appear."

“If you don’t do voice acting, the songs in the promotional activities and animations will be sung by the voice actors.”

"When an anime becomes a huge hit, the voice actors can also use their names to hold concerts at the Budokan. Is that okay?"

"Of course not!" Hirasawa Yui immediately raised her hand in objection, leaning forward with her eyes full of anticipation as she looked at the group. "Since it's our story, let's do the voice-over ourselves and then go to the Budokan together."

"Tsumugi, Ritsu, Mio, Azusa, let's go together! To the Budokan."

Ritsu Tainaka stared at her blankly, then quickly realized what was happening and smiled helplessly.

"I really can't do anything with you. But, is it really possible to go to the martial arts gym?"

"In terms of the story, it's just the daily life of the five of us playing around, which is completely different from the animations on the market. There is no romance, no male protagonist, and none of the currently popular cute elements."

"Without the support of the original work, it's supposed to be a music anime, but there aren't many episodes with serious training."

Will this kind of animation become popular?

“No problem! It will definitely be a hit.” Masamune did not hesitate at all. “Please trust the judgment of a professional. Our company has ample production funds and decades of experience in animation production. We are as solid as a rock in terms of production.”

"But we're not professional voice actors. If we're talking about dubbing, we can't just stand in the recording studio and read our lines once and be done with it."

Seeing that the others were somewhat interested but worried about their lack of voice acting experience, Masamune pressed on and continued:

"Please don't worry about that. I can hire professionals to provide you with a week of training."

"When playing yourself, you don't need to train your acting skills. Just be yourself and relax."

"What needs to be trained is how to produce better vocals and the recording sequence in the recording studio."

"I will make reasonable arrangements to accommodate your school hours."

“Training takes a week, and voice-over takes about two to three weeks. In total, it takes a maximum of one month, and each day takes three to five hours.”

"You can treat these as normal part-time jobs. You don't need to become a voice actor in the future, so there's no need to worry too much."

"Five or ten years from now, this voice-over experience will surely become an important memory in your lives."

Upon hearing the word "memory," Kotobuki Tsumugi's eyes lit up instantly, and she looked at the others with a hint of excitement:

"Do you want to do it?"

"Go! I agree!" Hirasawa Yui raised her hand to vote immediately.

“I’ll go too.” After saying that, Ritsu Tainaka covered his mouth with his hand, leaned close to Masamune, and asked in a low voice, “Just wondering, how much money can we expect to get?”

Masamune quickly calculated in his mind and slowly said:

"The licensing of songs and stories, voice acting work, the use of everyone's image rights, and appearance fees for promotional activities—all in all, each person can earn at least seven or eight million."

"Huh...!? Seven million yen?"

In an instant, Ritsu Tainaka's mind was filled with countless banknotes.

Even for office workers, this is not a small amount of money; no matter how thrifty they are, it would take several years to save up.

Tsumugi, who comes from a wealthy family, might not care about these things, but the four of them are from ordinary families.

I'm a senior in high school this year, and I'll be going to university next year. I'll have four more years to go, and I'll be a student for the next five years with no source of income.

With so much money, you can buy a lot of things.

"This is just the first income. Once the anime becomes a big hit, in addition to the Budokan, you will definitely be invited to attend other events and perform songs from the Light Music Club."

Masamune smiled slightly and added:

"Back then, there would be a lot of income. In modern society, fame is money."

Will it become popular?

Although many doubts remain, this is indeed an opportunity.

Upon closer reflection, this is similar to someone funding the production of animation for free to promote a band's "after-school tea party."

Once the anime airs on television, more people will hear our songs.

"That's too cunning! Now that you mention it, it suddenly occurred to me that the animation is going to be broadcast on TV, right? We don't mind if others sing our songs, but we can't give up the name of the 'After School Tea Party' band to anyone else."

"In that case, we'll have to do the voice acting ourselves."

Seeing that the other four people all had smiles on their faces, Masamune stood up, bowed slightly, and said solemnly:

"Thank you all for your recognition. Musashino Animation will definitely produce an excellent anime that will take the 'After School Tea Party' band all the way to the Budokan."

The five people hurriedly stood up and bowed in return.

"You're welcome, it's our honor."

After raising his head again, Masamune took out his phone and said with a smile:

"Once the project is established and a suitable training instructor is found, I will call you."

"Because there is a lot of preparation work to be done beforehand, the contract signing and voice-over training are both scheduled for a week later. Let's exchange contact information first."

After exchanging contact information with the five people, Masamune turned his gaze to Hirasawa Yui and pondered for a moment:

"Ms. Hirasawa, could you ask your sister when you get home if she'd like to participate in the voice acting?"

“If she doesn’t participate, we will hire a professional voice actress to play the role of Hirasawa Yu.”

"No problem, I'll call you back after I've asked." Yui Hirasawa nodded slightly, then asked curiously, "Why did you want to make the story of the Light Music Club into an anime? There are so many other interesting stories in the world."

"Because I'm a fan of 'After School Tea Party', I really love your songs."

"Thank you. Would you like to see a live performance?"

"May I?"

"Of course."

Hirasawa Yui turned to look at the other four and saw that they had already stood up. A smile appeared on her face, and she made a knowing gesture.

The live performance of the "after-school tea party" soon unfolded before Masamune's eyes.

During the second song, he couldn't resist recording it on his phone, intending to show it to Kinoshita Seiichi and the others later.

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Animation Market is Expanding Rapidly

The following morning, having made thorough preparations, Masamune set off for the company.

After parking his car and arriving in front of the building, he was somewhat surprised by the scene before him.

The office building has already hung up the new Musashino sign, and the old building next door, which originally belonged to Musashino Animation, has been converted into the Musashino Restaurant, where many people are having breakfast.

As he pondered, Miyamori Aoi's voice suddenly rang out from behind him:

"President, it's been a long time."

“It’s only been a week, not even a long time.” Masamune turned around and asked curiously, “It seems that a lot has changed in Musashino this week. Could you give a brief introduction before the morning meeting?”

"no problem."

Miyamori Aoi gave an OK sign, and then slowly began to introduce herself:

"All the materials and equipment from the animation production company have been moved here. Although we have recruited many new employees and tried to recall many old employees who left Musashino, we are still a little short-handed."

"Therefore, we recruited many illustrators who wanted to enter the animation industry, and also signed contracts with many freelance illustrators, keeping them in the company and turning them into dedicated employees."

"Due to the recent proliferation of animation companies in the Musashino area, including a new company that moved across from us just a week ago, the competition for talent is fierce, and we have had to temporarily halt our recruitment efforts."

"Based on the current number of people, Musashino Animation occupies a total of 9 floors, from the 3rd to the 11th. The 1st floor is the security department, the 2nd floor is the voice actor agency, and the lobby on the 1st floor is handled by the reception staff of both departments. It's not divided into such detailed sections."

"At the morning meeting three days ago, we discussed the issue of meals when there were too many people, and we talked about it for a long time."

"Considering that many people prefer bento boxes and others prefer bread, opening a staff canteen inside the building might not attract many customers and would definitely result in a loss."

"The final decision was to partially subcontract the former Musashino Animation studio next door to open a restaurant."

"We provide a certain amount of financial subsidies every month, and the restaurant is open to the public. At the same time, our employees can enjoy a 50% discount when they go there to dine."

"By the way, after we discussed and agreed on these decisions, we prepared a written report and sent it to the president's email. Didn't you see it?"

Masamune instinctively reached for his phone, then withdrew his right hand and shook his head slightly.

"I've been busy writing scripts all week and haven't checked my email. I'll check it later."

"In any case, let's arrange it this way. I have complete confidence in you."

Miyamori Aoi smiled helplessly, then, thinking of the script, asked curiously:

"The president mentioned before that the next season will be a music anime. Is the script related to that?"

“That’s right, but this is actually just a gimmick and not a real music anime.” Masamune paused for a moment. “We’ll discuss it at the morning meeting later and see who should be in charge of which work.”