Living in the bubble economy of Tokyo, I became a literary giant through lotteries.

But he didn't ask any further questions.

"Of course, being an animation director alone isn't enough." Miyazaki Hayao pulled out a blank notepad and quickly wrote on it.

"If you want results as soon as possible, you need to be involved in the original drawings, animation, background art, and color design. You can handle the music, and I'll find the voice actors."

"If we're going to do it, we should make it a proper product. Even if it's just one episode, we can't settle for less."

"You're under a lot of pressure." Miyazaki pushed a note in front of him. "Your main job is definitely still writing."

"Besides, drawing 'Grand Blue' isn't like drawing four panels; it involves storyboards, ink lines, effect lines... You know that yourself. What are you planning to do?"

"It won't affect anything, just set aside time in the evening," Guan Gufeng said calmly.

The outline for the new book has been written, and the first few chapters are also finished. This time, I plan to serialize it first and then publish it as a standalone book.

The third volume of Sword Art Online has been delivered to Kadokawa Shoten, and the latest volume of The Twelve Kingdoms, The Sea of ​​Wind and the Shore of the Labyrinth, is also nearing completion.

Miyazaki did not try to persuade him further. He knew people who rushed to finish projects in a short period of time, or rather, he himself was one of them.

"You can arrange it yourself." Miyazaki glanced at his watch. "Perfect timing, they're here too. Let's go out and talk to them."

The two left the office together. Miyazaki walked to the front of the work area, stopped where he was supposed to be speaking, and clapped his hands twice.

Everyone looked up at the source of the sound, and then they saw Guan Gu Feng standing behind Miyazaki Hayao, yawning.

"Everyone. For the next period of time, apart from finishing up some work, the studio will mainly be assisting Mr. Guan Gu in producing one episode of animation."

Miyazaki paused for a moment at this point.

"It's the K-On! anime that you all know."

The office area was quiet for a moment.

Then it exploded, and cheers erupted from every corner at the same time.

"Yay! I can work with Mr. Guan Gu every day!"

"Mr. Guan Gu, do you have eel rice? We can work without overtime pay."

"Waaaah~ I don't have to eat rice balls anymore!"

Will sukiyaki appear again? Like that Chikuyotei from last time?

"Wake up, it's only morning..."

Miyazaki looked at the group of people; he had never seen them laugh so happily when they heard about a new project.

Guan Gufeng turned his head to look at him and said with a smile.

"Miyazaki-sensei, the people's hearts are with you!"

……

Although Guan Gufeng talked about grand ambitions, when he actually participated in it, the torment for a lazy person like him was no less than making him eat strawberry mapo tofu.

For the first few days, I was full of fighting spirit and would greet everyone when I pushed open the door, but the novelty quickly wore off.

He thought making animation was just like making high-intensity comics, but when he actually sat in front of the lightbox...

When faced with the celluloid sheet and the correction instructions densely marked with red pen by Hayao Miyazaki, he realized how terribly wrong he had been.

Drawing storyboards isn't just about enlarging comic panels; the duration of each panel and the relationships between characters within the frame all require careful consideration.

Drawing keyframes is not just about making the characters look good; the same character must maintain completely consistent proportions in different shots.

The curvature error between the left and right cheek lines cannot exceed one millimeter; otherwise, the character will twitch on screen when played together.

The first batch of keyframes he drew were all rejected by Hayao Miyazaki.

"Yui Hirasawa's left eye is 0.5 millimeters larger than her right eye. Viewers won't notice, but they will feel that something is wrong."

The middle frames are even more agonizing; if one frame is drawn incorrectly, the entire frame has to be redrawn.

When Miyazaki said he had to start over, he felt sweat trickling down the back of his neck for the first time due to the pressure.

Computers in this era are not very helpful. Studio Ghibli had a VAX 780, which could do some simple line drawing scanning and coloring tests, but it was still far from true digital production.

Even on Tatsunoko's side, only a small amount of CG was used for mechanical effects.

He had only heard of the number of drawings needed for a 20-minute episode of animation before, but now he sits at the lightbox every day and personally fills in zeros to that number.

I still have to write novels when I get home every day. Fortunately, I don't have to think too much. I can just copy the outline.

A week passed quickly.

May 9th.

Guan Gufeng dragged himself into the studio. He was actually in good physical condition, but his mental fatigue was starting to show.

"Good morning, Mr. Guan Gu."

"morning."

Good morning, Mr. Guan Gu!

"morning……"

"Good morning, Mr. Guan Gu!"

"say"

The people in the studio were happy every day, making animations for Guan Gu Feng, which was no different from their usual work.

K-On! is much easier, and the biggest significance of Kaze here is not as a colleague, but as a cafeteria.

Eel rice, sukiyaki, and tempura, which are usually too precious for most people to eat, are treated to by Guan Gu Feng every other day.

Some people have said privately that after Teacher Guan Gu arrived, the average weight of the entire studio increased by about three pounds.

Guan Gufeng dragged his feet to his temporary worktable, pulled out a chair and just sat down when the cell phone in his bag rang.

"Feed? I'm Guan Gufeng." The voice was weak and feeble.

"Mr. Guan Gu, is your cover design finished? If so, I'll come and pick it up. It's going to be released on May 15th, and today is the deadline, so..."

Genichiro Takahashi was as polite as ever, but there was a hint of suppressed urging in his tone.

Guan Gufeng suddenly sat up straight. He had been so busy lately that he had completely forgotten about it.

While holding the phone between his fingers, he quickly rummaged through the documents on the table, and soon pulled out a line drawing from the stack of unprocessed manuscripts in the lower right corner. It was just waiting to be colored.

"There's no need for Editor-in-Chief Takahashi to make the trip himself. I'll arrange for someone to deliver it this afternoon."

"OK."

After hanging up the phone, Guan Gufeng took a deep breath and turned to shout in another direction of the work area.

"Hashimoto! Come here for a second and cover for me for half a day as supervisor! Also, borrow a set of paints and a few fine-tipped brushes from the colorist."

Half a day passed, and by the afternoon, Guan Gu Feng had finished the cover for the third volume of Sword Art Online.

After Kitamura took him to Kadokawa Shoten, he threw himself back into animation production.

By the time we left that evening, the most important storyboards, a total of 350, were finished.

His workload was significantly reduced after that; he only needed to supervise and occasionally help other departments.

When I got home, the main light in the living room was off, and there was a plate of freshly heated omelet rice on the table.

Guan Gufeng finished his meal in a few bites, put the bowl in the sink, and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

Hot water poured down his back, and he pressed his forehead against the tiles, standing there with his eyes closed for a long time.

As he came out, he said to Guan Guyu, "Sister, don't wake me up tomorrow. I want to sleep in."

Back in my room, I collapsed into bed and fell asleep immediately.

Guan Guyu looked at the exhausted Guan Gufeng with heartache in her eyes...