Inside the L.S Produ president's office.
Lin Zhiyan was busy with matters concerning L.S Games when suddenly, there was a knock on the office door.
He looked up and was surprised to see Imaishi Hiroyuki.
"President, I have something I'd like to discuss," Imaishi said, looking conflicted.
"What is it?" Lin Zhiyan asked, puzzled.
"Does our company have no plans to make any more mecha anime in the future?" Imaishi asked tentatively.
It was no wonder he thought this, as L.S Produ's animation projects in recent years had been completely devoid of mecha anime, nor had they produced any work in the Kanada-style. Instead, they had been moving in the direction of 'moe', realistic, depressing, and adapted anime.
He had been at L.S Produ for several years, and the company offered excellent treatment, but since the Gurren Lagann TV series, he had only served as the director for the TV anime Kill la Kill and the Gurren Lagann theatrical films, with all other work being in animation direction.
Without projects in the Kanada-style, without mecha anime, and even without directorial roles, it was hard for him.
Lin Zhiyan originally didn't know the purpose of Imaishi Hiroyuki's visit, but after hearing his question, he had guessed at least some of it.
He stopped his work, got up from his office chair, and walked over to sit on the sofa in front of the tea table. At the same time, he waved his hand, signaling for Imaishi Hiroyuki to sit opposite him, and also had his assistant bring them some tea.
After taking a sip of tea, he asked Imaishi Hiroyuki, "Do you really want to make mecha anime?"
"Well... it's not quite that I really want to; I just want to understand our company's future plans," Imaishi Hiroyuki said, looking a bit embarrassed.
That's what he said, but in reality, he had already made up his mind. If he couldn't make the anime he wanted to in the future, he would consider leaving L.S Produ. After all, he had already proven himself with Kill la Kill, and he didn't need to worry about not being able to make a living if he left this company.
Although other animation companies might not offer benefits as good as this one, compared to good benefits, being able to freely create the anime he wanted was more important.
Lin Zhiyan wasn't a mind reader, but having served as president for ten years, he naturally wouldn't just believe whatever Imaishi Hiroyuki said.
"It's not that I don't want to," which implies, "at least I want to a little bit."
Making a mecha anime isn't impossible for L.S Produ.
Lin Zhiyan also knew that Imaishi Hiroyuki didn't just want to make a mecha anime; he simply wanted to be a supervising director and didn't want to keep working as an episode director.
However, Imaishi Hiroyuki's forte is the Kanada-style. L.S Produ's schedule is almost fully booked, not just for this year, but even for 2011, with plenty of strong projects already lined up.
The company's staff are all committed to those major anime projects. Even if they were to create a project that allowed Imaishi Hiroyuki to showcase his strengths, there simply wouldn't be a corresponding production team available.
In this regard, Lin Zhiyan was truly powerless.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, he spoke up: "Within the next two years, we don't have any mecha anime projects at the company."
"Is that so..." Imaishi Hiroyuki sounded somewhat disappointed.
But soon, he heard Lin Zhiyan add: "Although there are no mecha anime projects, if you really want to make one, you could actually create a project of your own."
"Create a project of my own?" Imaishi Hiroyuki was taken aback.
Lin Zhiyan nodded: "Why doesn't the company have any mecha anime projects? It's mainly because I haven't come up with a truly excellent one, and there are many other great anime projects out there. In such a situation, even if we were to make a mediocre mecha project, we simply don't have the staff to participate in its production."
"Yes."
Imaishi Hiroyuki knew this problem all too well, which was exactly why he was confused.
Lin Zhiyan didn't beat around the bush and continued to explain: "In this situation, what should you do if you want to create a mecha anime project? It's simple: go outside the company, find people, and pull together an animation production team. Of course, a production team made entirely of outsiders isn't allowed within our company, but if it's not within our company, then there's absolutely no problem."
"Eh?"
Imaishi Hiroyuki was very confused. "President, do you mean... you want me to go to another company?"
Although he had already thought that if he could never make the anime he wanted to make, he would resign from L.S Produ, but the current situation was that he hadn't even brought it up yet, and Lin Zhiyan was already suggesting he leave?
Lin Zhiyan couldn't just fire him simply because he asked whether the company would stop making mecha anime in the future.
Having been at L.SProdu for a few years now, based on his understanding of Lin Zhiyan, he didn't think Lin was that kind of person.
Of course, Lin Zhiyan wasn't trying to fire Imaishi Hiroyuki.
He shook his head: "What I mean is, I can establish a subsidiary under L.SProdu. You can be the president of that subsidiary, create your own projects, and assemble your own animation production team. I heard you had quite a few close friends back at GAINAX. I found it a bit awkward to poach them all at the time, but if you were the president, it wouldn't be a problem for you to reach out to them, right?"
"???"
Imaishi Hiroyuki was completely stunned.
He had originally just been testing the waters to see if he should resign from L.SProdu, join another animation company, or just go freelance.
And yet, here was Lin Zhiyan, actually offering to set up a subsidiary just for him.
Although it was only a subsidiary of L.S Produ, if he could serve as president and create the anime he wanted, it would be nothing short of heaven; even if he were offered a position at Studio Ghibli, it probably wouldn't be as good as this offer.
Because it was so good, he even felt a bit like it wasn't real.
In fact, it was because Gurren Lagann was made by Lin Zhiyan in this timeline. Although Imaishi Hiroyuki was the director of Kill la Kill, the project itself was initiated by Lin Zhiyan.
To put it plainly, he in this timeline was not as full of confidence as he was after finishing Gurren Lagann in the other timeline; otherwise, he wouldn't have felt like it was unreal, and might have even hesitated to accept the offer.
Now, though... such an enticing offer, he simply couldn't refuse.
He wore an expression of delight and was just about to say something when he heard Lin Zhiyan continue: "We need to come up with a name for the company... Hmm, since it's a subsidiary established because you want to make mecha anime, let's just call it Trigger. You don't need to worry about the operating funds; just focus on your projects and pulling together a production team. Of course, it all depends on whether you actually have this desire."
"Yes!"
Imaishi Hiroyuki answered without a second thought, looking as if he was afraid Lin Zhiyan would change his mind if he was too slow to respond.
Lin Zhiyan, on the other hand, appeared very calm: "It's good that you have that desire. Let's discuss the details of establishing the subsidiary later and strive to come up with a charter as soon as possible."
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