New Century Anime Warrior

Doraemon is great.

Not only is the content positive and uplifting, but each unit also has an appropriate length.

But, yes, that's right, but.

The Doraemon episodic animations were typically produced using 2D drawing, which is quite different from the feature films.

To some laymen, it's similar to a Flash animation; as a participant poised to overturn the table halfway through, Doraemon's animation lacks aggression.

The "aggressiveness" here refers to the kind of technical prowess that is immediately apparent and can deeply attract attention.

I was there to cause trouble, so if they also gave me a gentle and peaceful work like Doraemon...

It doesn't generate enough buzz.

There's no such thing as a childhood filter in this world.

Therefore, the new option must have two characteristics: firstly, the visuals must be technically advanced, and secondly, the content must be topical.

Oh right, it also needs to be a short, concise, and excellent work, so that there's no pressure in adapting it.

Si Hua pondered for a moment.

It seems there really is a good option.

Voices of a Distant Star.

Makoto Shinkai's personal animation, released in 2002 in the original timeline, literally means "personal."

Cheng Ge spent more than two years single-handedly producing this landmark work.

It is hailed as "the beginning of Japanese personal CG animation" because it combines a large amount of 2D hand-drawn animation with 3D CG technology.

This short film integrates all of Makoto Shinkai's skills at the time, including screenwriting and directing, art skills, 3D technology, post-production and sound effects.

Aside from the theme song and background music, which were unavoidable, Makoto Shinkai did everything himself.

Even in the earliest five-minute director's cut, the male lead's voice was provided by Makoto Shinkai himself.

The 25-minute version released in 2003 is the more familiar commercial version of "Voices of a Distant Star".

To ensure the quality of the work, more professional and suitable voice actors were invited to dub the male and female leads.

Cheng-ge, a true hexagonal monster.

Then look back at yourself.

He has almost no talent in screenwriting and directing, but fortunately he has read the original work, and Makoto Shinkai is the wing that allows him to write and direct.

Art skills aren't a big problem either. With my Kakashi-like engineering drawing abilities, I can draw complex machinery without any problem, so drawing simple pretty girls and those guys is definitely a piece of cake... probably.

There's also post-production and sound effects, including the theme song and insert songs. Don't worry too much about that. As I said before, the original work is here, and Makoto Shinkai is his other wing.

If all else fails, there's still such a vast library of anime music; surely you'll find something suitable.

The most difficult part was 3D technology. Well, if it were 2002 in my previous life, we might have to go bankrupt to find the resources to produce it...

However, this was 2005, a year of rapid technological advancement, and the internet was flooded with learning versions of professional software, with many tutorials already appearing on Bilibili.

Yes, there is a Bilibili in this world, but it's the Bilibili of BuLingBuLing.

Si Hua not only saw Photoshop and After Effects, but also Blender, Reaper and VSTi plugins.

Surprise, not unexpected?

From hand-drawn and digital coloring to 3D modeling, from particle rendering to music production, there are absolutely no obstacles in terms of tools.

"Nothing can stop Si Hua now!"

click!

The moment the juvenile slogan was uttered, the old-fashioned mobile phone from the Si family instantly crashed with a blue screen.

Then came the familiar sound of the computer case restarting.

Do not! ! !

I haven't saved it yet!

I felt annoyed that I hadn't gotten into the habit of pressing Ctrl+S every five minutes, and this blue screen also served as a reminder.

Computer hardware is probably the biggest obstacle right now.

After restarting the computer, Si Hua solemnly listed the computer hardware as the first problem that urgently needed to be solved.

Well, let's put that aside for now. Computer hardware is a fixed asset investment, so we need to find another way.

Let's look at the adaptation issues first.

In terms of content, "Voices of a Distant Star" has many captivating elements.

For example, space combat and mech battles.

For example, the exquisitely beautiful original artwork that is unique to Makoto Shinkai.

For example, the extremely touching "email with an 8-year time difference" perfectly captures the romance of a working-class person.

Of course, there's also the most sensitive social issue: early romantic relationships among middle school students...

Okay, this isn't a big problem in Japan, but in the Republic, tsk tsk tsk.

Element detection!

I choose you! Voices of a Distant Star!

The second point that Si Hua needs to pay attention to is time management.

Even for special talents or independent enrollment, there is no exemption from examination at this stage. If the final admission is based on a reduced score, then sufficient college entrance examination scores must still be guaranteed.

It's at least 70% above the second-tier university cutoff score.

In my past life, this would have been a piece of cake.

Back then, it was because of the first city-wide unified exam in my senior year of high school that I ranked in the bottom 30 of my grade, which meant I couldn't even get into a vocational college.

This woke me up instantly.

So, after much painful reflection, Si Hua spent the remaining two or three months doing endless practice problems, relying on his junior high school foundation and his quick wit in science subjects.

Si Hua rose rapidly in the subsequent major exams, and in the second unified exam, she directly crossed the junior college line and reached the second-tier university line.

By the third standardized test, which was the easiest so-called placebo test, and disregarding the raw scores, Si Hua had already climbed into the top 400 in the entire grade...

In previous years, the top 400 students from Zhongnan No.1 High School were guaranteed admission to a top-tier university, with one foot already in the door.

As expected, the college entrance exam went smoothly...

Okay, actually there was a little accident. During the lunch break the next day, Si Hua secretly drank some milk tea from a roadside stall and then vomited and had diarrhea before entering the exam room.

I was most confident in the combined science exam, but I only scored 220 out of 300.

Even so, perhaps because the national exam that year was more difficult, Si Hua still managed to exceed the first-tier university admission line by a full 21 points.

However, that was the previous life in the original timeline. Now, his soul is a 38-year-old old man. Forget about junior high school foundation; that's all stuff from more than 20 years ago.

I can't even remember what I ate yesterday.

In short, for the rest of the year, Si Hua not only has to create her competition entries, but also prepare for the college entrance examination...

Time truly is the greatest enemy.

Looking at the list of key obstacles, Si Hua was in a bit of a dilemma.

First, there's the degree of adaptation. Even though the commercial version of "Voices of a Distant Star" is only 25 minutes long, compressing it to less than 5 minutes doesn't necessarily mean the story can be told well.

Make a trailer?

Does this sound a bit like the earlier five-minute director's cut?

However, this version is not a trailer in the strict sense; rather, it advances the plot to the point where the female lead leaves Earth, and is a partial excerpt.

Moreover, a five-minute trailer is too long, while a one-minute trailer is not enough to showcase an individual's abilities.

It's true that being single-minded can lead to being stuck on both ends.

After much thought, it seems the best option is to make it into a PV.

PV, or Promotion Video, is a concept introduced by the American music television network in the 1980s, used for promotional videos for music releases.

In China, it has a more familiar name: MV. And the most influential MV to date is probably Michael Jackson's "Thriller".

In comparison, it seems that adapting the original "Voices of a Distant Star" into a PV has many advantages.

First, there's the script. As a PV, the concept comes before the plot, even before the logic... Once the emotions are there, the plot and logic can take a backseat.

Moreover, this effectively masks one's weak screenwriting abilities.

Secondly, there's the musicality itself. At this point in time, when mobile internet was just beginning to spread and short videos hadn't yet taken off, music had immense promotional power, making it easier to break out of its niche and attract more users.

Thirdly, due to the characteristics of PVs, a large number of hand-drawn dialogue scenes that drive the plot can be reduced, greatly reducing the workload and allowing Si Hua to focus more on 3D production.

Most importantly, the reduction in hand-drawn work saves Si Hua a lot of time, allowing her to focus on either preparing for the college entrance exam or flirting with the prettiest girl in her class.

Now here's the problem: since the decision has already been made to produce "Voices of a Distant Star," (the PV version)...

So where is his own Iron Throne workstation?