In fact, Steins;Gate could have been directly adapted into an animation without feeling out of place, even without the original game.
However, the first half of the animation is too dull, and the male lead's overly clichéd "chuunibyou" (middle school delusion) persona is incredibly off-putting.
By releasing the game first, which became wildly popular, and then adapting it into an animation, even if the early parts are incredibly off-putting, at least the game's fans will be willing to stick with it, preventing the animation's early reputation from becoming too poor. Once the plot develops, the animation's popularity will skyrocket, attracting more viewers and potentially even increasing the sales of the animation's DVD releases.
From this perspective, adapting it directly into an animation wouldn't have worked.
Therefore, Lin Zhiyan had already prepared to abandon the animation project, never expecting that Kenichi Matsumoto, the Department Head of Production, would actually secure the rights to adapt the work into an animation.
He truly lived up to his reputation as the man who secured the animation rights for A Certain Magical Index and Natsume's Book of Friends when L.S Produ first ventured into the animated adaptation business.
Since Kenichi Matsumoto was confident, Lin Zhiyan naturally entrusted the project to him to complete.
After securing the adaptation rights, Lin Zhiyan wouldn't personally involve himself in the production process beyond reviewing the work. If he felt something wasn't up to standard, he'd send it back for revision or even personally step in to correct it.
To be blunt, for an anime based on an already wildly popular original work, even if it was executed perfectly, most viewers would only remember the original author and the production company.
The Supervising Director and script writer? Even someone like Lin Zhiyan, a veteran otaku who could recall every detail of every anime he'd ever seen, frame by frame, probably couldn't remember the names of the Supervising Director and script writer for Steins;Gate.
He'd just let other members of the company handle it. There was no need to claim credit for even these small contributions.
Of course, Lin Zhiyan still thoroughly discussed the anime project with Kenichi Matsumoto, rather than completely relinquishing control.
Once everything had been said, Kenichi Matsumoto took his leave.
Lin Zhiyan continued refining the Shirobako project.
Two days later, Lin Zhiyan received the preliminary project proposal for Steins;Gate from Kenichi Matsumoto, marking the official acquisition of the anime adaptation rights.
He carefully reviewed the entire project proposal from beginning to end, confirmed there were no issues, stamped it with the company seal, and returned it to Kenichi Matsumoto, entrusting him with advancing the project.
Meanwhile, Lin Zhiyan had completed the preliminary draft for Shirobako.
Before writing the script, he summoned several key personnel, including Sekiguchi Kanami, into his office to assign tasks.
Only after delegating the assignments did he begin drafting the script.
February 5th finally arrived—the tenth anniversary of L.S Produ's founding.
It was a Friday.
During the fan appreciation event held earlier that day, the producer in charge announced the Shirobako animation project.
After the event, the company's official website released basic information about the Shirobako anime, including details on the five main female characters: Production Assistant Aoi Miyamori, Key Animator Ema Yasuhara, rookie voice actor Shizuka Sakaki, 3D CG Producer Misa Toudou, and university student Midori Imai, who aspires to be a playwright.
The main information released included character profiles, occupations, and brief introductions. No voice actor details were included, as auditions hadn't yet been held. Even Lin Zhiyan wasn't sure who would be chosen to voice the five main characters, since none of the voice actors for the original five female leads had debuted by February 2010.
All the voice actors would have to be selected anew; there was no way to cut corners.
Along with the character information, production details were also announced.
Notably, the name listed under "Script Supervisor" wasn't "Takagi Makoto," but "Lin Zhiyan."
"Takagi Makoto" was an alias Lin Zhiyan adopted after Mamoru Hosoda joined L.S Produ. The company hadn't used this pseudonym when it was first established, so for this project, Lin Zhiyan chose to work under his real name in the script department.
After all, this was an animation project celebrating the company's tenth anniversary. Using his real name made the occasion more meaningful.
The last time "Lin Zhiyan" appeared in the script supervisor credit was in 2007's Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion Story. It had been two or three years since then.
After Rebellion Story, Lin Zhiyan's next two animations were both scripted by Takagi Makoto. So when the project for Shirobako was announced, it quickly sparked a flurry of discussion within the relevant circles:
"I thought Lord Hayashi wouldn't personally handle the script again after Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which was at the peak of his career. Did he finally give in? Or is this because it's for LSP's ten-year anniversary project?"
"An animation about animation production? That piques my interest. Since Lord Hayashi is writing the script himself, we probably don't need to worry about the content being boring."
"It's been too long since we've seen an animation with a script personally written by Lord Hayashi. I'm getting a little excited. I hope his skills haven't deteriorated after so long away from scripting, though that's probably just my unnecessary worry."
"The subject matter is too niche. But since it's for LSP's ten-year anniversary, I imagine Old Thief Lin chose this topic not for commercial success, but to express a special affection for animation. With Old Thief Lin writing the script himself, it definitely won't be boring. I just wonder if it'll be too depressing."
"Speaking of which, Takagi Makoto wrote the scripts for the previous two animations. Even though the Old Thief Lin was behind the project, he wasn't the one actually writing the scripts. That's probably why as ended with such a happy conclusion. Now that he's finally back to working on the script again, can his soul for misery endure?"
"Scary... Five Main Characters right from the start! Puella Magi Madoka Magica also had five Main Characters. Why do I feel like this publicly released cast list is actually a death list?"
"A workplace-themed animation without any combat scenes—surely no one will die, right? But you never know. Back when Puella Magi Madoka Magica first came out, I thought a magical girl anime could never have deaths, but the dead still died, and it didn't bother the Old Thief Lin at all."
"If you think no one will die in a workplace-themed animation, you'll definitely regret it later. I even suspect that the Old Thief Lin endured two whole animations and chose a workplace theme this time specifically to lull everyone into a false sense of security. Of course, regardless of whether there are deaths or how depressing it gets, his animations will undoubtedly be excellent. That much is certain."
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