With the proposal and planning for Pokémon finalized, and combined with Aoki Haruhi's memories and guidance from his previous life, the Pokémon project was basically set.
It's just that development couldn't begin yet; he had to wait for Sony and Sega to finish developing their handheld consoles.
At the very least, they needed prototype units, and they had to finalize the coding format so that Pokeni could proceed with development and debugging.
Fortunately, Aoki wasn't in a rush, because there were other things that needed to be paved before working on Pokémon.
The conditions for Pokémon's success:
First, a portable handheld console that provides battle and trading functions.
Second, promotion by a company with high visibility—in his previous life, it was Nintendo; in this life, it would be the thigh of Sega, plus Pokeni itself.
In his previous life, Nintendo had a rough start with it, so Aoki didn't know how much certainty he had this time.
Third, adapting the game into an animation to increase its popularity.
The animation adaptation was crucial. Many games had mediocre sales, or were not even mainstream in their early stages, but once they were adapted into animation, they became legendary.
The most classic examples were Pokémon and, later, Fate.
Now, only the animation adaptation piece was missing.
Looking at Tsuda's expression, this guy isn't planning to develop "blue games," right?
Since there was no issue with the investors, there was only one thing left to solve—
Who should I get to produce the animation?
"Nani?
Invest in animation production?"
Tsuda Nao was stunned when she heard this request from Aoki.
Is he treating DUN like an ATM or something?
"Nani? Investing in anime production?" Tsuda Nao was stunned when she heard Aoki Haruhi's request.
Was he treating DUN like an ATM or something?
"Yeah."
Aoki Haruhi nodded and pushed the proposal in front of Tsuda Nao.
"Anime adaptation is an excellent way to promote. The anime content itself can make money, and at the same time, it can increase the game's popularity and open up new markets. I think this is absolutely necessary."
"Then why doesn't Pokeni just do it themselves?"
Tsuda Nao flipped through the proposal and gave him an annoyed glare.
"This is a game project that DUN and Pokeni are collaborating on, after all. If it's done well, DUN will also benefit," said Aoki Haruhi.
Pokeni was preparing to open bids to animation studios across Japan, but the content being produced was not Pokémon.
After all, there isn't even a trace of Pokémon yet, so creating it requires filling in the script content first, with adjustments to be made later based on the game's actual content.
The anime being produced is the Onmyoji series.
Aoki Haruhi had his own reasons for choosing Onmyoji. On one hand, turning it into an anime would boost the popularity of Onmyoji and simultaneously drive sales of the game.
On the other hand, it was a way to find a stable partner, laying the groundwork for the next step: producing the Pokémon series.
The plot of Onmyoji itself is compelling enough, with full potential for an anime adaptation.
As long as the script is well-written, Aoki felt that once Onmyoji aired, it could completely trigger a craze for galgames.
"Nintendo has banned Pokeni, so how will you sell your cartridges when the time comes?" Tsuda Nao asked, puzzled.
"We can just release it on the MD, and we can even make an improved version with better graphics," Aoki said nonchalantly.
That seemed like it might work.
Since they had already offended Nintendo, they might as well offend them even more thoroughly.
The production costs for animation in Japan are actually quite high; one could even say they are exorbitantly expensive.
The production cost for a single episode of anime is generally around 10 to 20 million yen, and for those with explosive quality, the cost per episode can even reach 50 million yen.
This is even higher than the development costs of some games.
Furthermore, the risks are actually quite high. If the broadcast results are not ideal, and not even a few hundred copies of the home video are sold, it could potentially lead to the bankruptcy of an animation production company.
The production cost for just a 10-episode anime could potentially exceed 200 million yen.
This is not something a single company can handle alone.
Under these circumstances, in order to avoid risk, it is common for several companies to simultaneously "produce" it.
In this context, "produce" means being an investor.
After 1996, generally, whenever several companies jointly invest, a so-called "production committee" is formed.
Before an anime is released, no one knows how the sales will be. Several companies jointly investing can reduce the risk; this is also a very common phenomenon in Japan.
Therefore, in the opening credits of many anime, you can often see the names of multiple investing companies.
Before an anime is released, no one knows how well it will sell. Multiple companies co-investing to mitigate risk is a very common phenomenon in Japan.
Therefore, you can often see the names of multiple investing companies in the opening credits of many anime.
Aoki Haruhi approached DUN based on this same principle: everyone bands together to share the risks and split the profits.
Aoki Haruhi also wanted to do it alone, but he didn't have that much money on hand.
Even if he did, the risk would be too high for Pokeni to shoulder alone.
"And most importantly, DUN has its own distribution channels, and don't you also have an anime industry?" Aoki Haruhi said frankly.
Once an anime is made, it needs to be distributed. TV broadcast fees actually only account for a small portion of an anime's revenue. Selling videotapes is the big earner.
It is 1991 now; VCDs haven't come out yet. Whether it's the blue film industry or the anime industry, the market mainly relies on videotape sales.
Actually, selling videotapes is fine; Aoki Haruhi already has some channels for that.
Plus, the animation production company itself has partners, so there shouldn't be much of a problem.
However, getting it broadcast on TV is a bit difficult.
You either have to find a large animation production company—like Toei, Toho, or Kadokawa Pictures today... even Tatsunoko has close ties with TV stations.
The problem is that if you get these big companies to produce it, you are very likely to be overcharged, and there is no advantage in terms of production scheduling.
The problem is that if these big companies are hired for production, it's highly likely they will inflate the prices, and there won't be any advantages in terms of production scheduling either.
If they could get DUN to co-produce the animation, then DUN itself would have sufficient connections and channels, which would also guarantee that the animation could be broadcast on television stations.
This way, Aoki could find some animation production companies that he personally favors, ones that aren't quite as famous yet, to collaborate with.
To put it simply, what Japan is never short of is, first, manga artists, and second, animation production companies.
As long as Aoki controls the art quality himself, the final product won't be bad.
"Hmm... that actually makes perfect sense." Tsuda Nao roughly understood Aoki's request.
"However..."
Tsuda Nao blinked, a sly smile appearing on the corner of her mouth.
"DUN has an additional condition."
Uh...
As expected, Aoki's heart skipped a beat; he knew there was no such thing as a free lunch.
"Regarding the profit sharing, DUN can take a larger cut, Pokeni doesn't mind."
"It's not a question of profit sharing," Tsuda Nao said with a smile. "DUN has the intention of developing a new game, and we would like to commission Pokeni to produce it."
"It's not about the split," Tsuda Nao said with a smile. "DUN is interested in developing a new game and would like to commission Pokeni to produce it."
"Huh?" Aoki Haruhi looked surprised. "Where would we get the manpower for that?"
"Besides, Pokeni isn't an outsourcing company."
"Not right now," Tsuda Nao said, smiling at him. "Or rather, when DUN establishes its game department, asking you to serve as an advisor—that wouldn't be an unreasonable request, would it?"
Aoki Haruhi quickly understood the situation.
That's right, DUN had the intention of expanding into the game industry from the beginning; otherwise, they wouldn't have invested in Pokeni in the first place.
Since they were going to develop a new handheld console, and Sony was already sharpening their blades and making new games, it wouldn't make sense for DUN to just invest without getting into the arena themselves.
"Fine, acting as an advisor is doable. I'll do my best to clear some time for it," Aoki Haruhi said.
However... looking at Tsuda's expression, surely she wasn't planning on developing 'blue games,' was she?
The funding was no longer an issue, so that left only one thing to be resolved—
Who should they find to produce the animation?
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