After nearly an hour on the road, Kamiyā Yuu and Akiyama Gojō finally arrived at the headquarters of Sunrise Company, located on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Kamiyā Yuu looked at the four-story detached building in front of him and found it hard to believe that this was really the headquarters of the renowned animation studio Sunrise Company.
From the outside, the four-story building looked no different from an ordinary standalone property, and an old-fashioned one at that. The open glass doors were barely wide enough for four people to walk through side by side.
If not for the posters of Sunrise Company's works pasted on the windows, any passerby might have mistaken the place for some old-fashioned dagashi shop.
"So this is Sunrise Company. It's a little different from what I expected."
Looking at the building, which was even more modest than the office building he himself had purchased, Kamiyā Yuu felt rather conflicted.
An apartment-like office building like this gave off an almost small-time impression.
Had Sunrise Company really spent all the money it made over the years on the anime themselves?
After thinking about the state of the industry, Kamiyā Yuu understood.
Following the traditional path of Japan's animation industry, even if Sunrise Company produced ten hit anime, the profits might still not be enough for the studio to buy a decent office building in central Tokyo.
—What future is there in making anime anyway...
While Kamiyā Yuu sighed inwardly, Akiyama Gojō pushed open the door and said briskly, "Let's go in. During the production meeting, if there's anything about the adaptation you don't understand, just ask me directly. I'll do my best to convey it to them."
Kamiyā Yuu followed behind him, caught between laughter and exasperation.
"I am an animation director too, you know."
Akiyama Gojō stopped and suddenly realized what he had said.
"Ah~ Sorry. Occupational habit."
Although Sunrise Company looked unimpressive from the outside, the interior was quite well decorated.
Most of it used a Japanese-style wooden design. As they walked down the corridor, Kamiyā Yuu could see staff busily working inside several offices.
It was the usual problem throughout the animation industry: every office was crammed full of all kinds of documents, making the working environment look extremely cramped at first glance.
Kamiyā Yuu also saw quite a few nearly obsolete animation-production devices still being used.
Aside from budget limitations, this was also a result of how fixed the animation-production process itself had become.
Knock, knock.
Kamiyā Yuu was brought to an office at the end of the corridor.
Akiyama Gojō knocked on the door, then pushed it open.
The office was not particularly cramped.
More than ten chairs surrounded a rectangular table, with a few simple furnishings such as office whiteboards arranged around the room.
Several important figures from Sunrise Company were already seated inside.
Among them were people Kamiyā Yuu knew: Kitagawa Shūichi, director of the 'Mobile Suit 007' anime, and production chief Fujiwara Tora.
There was also a relatively young man wearing glasses with a calm, steady air about him, as well as a middle-aged man with graying temples who nevertheless looked full of energy.
—Fujiwara is the production chief, and Director Kitagawa is the chief animation director, so the one wearing glasses should be the producer. As for that middle-aged man... mm, probably the company president or something similar?
After the door opened, Kamiyā Yuu calmly judged the identities of the people inside.
The personnel participating in the production meeting were quite straightforward. Every one of them was an indispensable key figure.
Of course, an ordinary production meeting normally would not warrant the producer, company president, and chief animation director all appearing together.
And that was without even counting Akiyama Gojō, chief editor of Chiyo Bookstore's light novel department.
"Sorry. We ran into traffic on the way and arrived a little late."
Akiyama Gojō nodded to everyone inside.
From the way he greeted them, he was clearly already quite familiar with them.
After greeting them, Akiyama Gojō stepped aside and gestured toward Kamiyā Yuu.
"This is Mr. Kamiyā, the original author of 'Twilight of the Knights'. On our side, we hope the production team will consider his opinions as much as possible."
"I'm personally very happy and excited that 'Twilight of the Knights' is being adapted into an anime. I look forward to working with everyone over the coming period."
Kamiyā Yuu smiled and nodded.
Although the original creator was usually in a relatively weak position, Kamiyā Yuu's status was what it was.
Being overly humble would instead come across as somewhat condescending.
"Hahaha~! You're finally here! Never thought I'd get a chance to work with Kamiyā someday. If you have any problems, just bring them up. Even without Akiyama telling us, we'll do our best to satisfy your requests."
Fujiwara Tora stood up and gave Kamiyā Yuu a bear hug, laughing heartily.
"Fujiwara, you're only the production chief, right? Are you really sure it's okay to say that in front of all these people?"
Kamiyā Yuu's face darkened.
Among everyone present, Fujiwara was probably the least qualified person to make that promise.
The middle-aged company president, who looked every bit like a boss character, smiled pleasantly.
"Haha~ No problem, no problem. Since Mr. Kamiyā is here representing the original work, your opinions are the best guidance our company could ask for."
Kitagawa Shūichi also walked over and shook Kamiyā Yuu's hand.
"Long time no see, Director Kamiyā."
"I'll be counting on you for 'Twilight of the Knights', Director Kitagawa."
Kamiyā Yuu smiled.
Kitagawa Shūichi looked somewhat embarrassed.
"That sounds pretty stressful coming from you, Kamiyā. Anyway, let me introduce everyone first. This is Oshii Osamu, president of Sunrise Company, and this is the producer, Towa Kenji."
The relatively young producer, Towa Kenji, hurried over.
He bowed humbly to Kamiyā Yuu and said solemnly, "I've long heard of Mr. Kamiyā's reputation. I'll be serving as producer this time, so I hope you'll give me your guidance in all areas."
The fact that he could become an anime producer at such a young age already showed that his background was far from ordinary.
Moreover, this was 'Twilight of the Knights', an anime with low risk and high returns.
For any producer, having a project like this on their résumé would be a brilliant achievement.
To outsiders, Towa Kenji's personality could not exactly be called arrogant, but neither did he possess the easygoing manner one normally expected from a producer.
He had relied on his connections within the industry to rise into the position of anime producer, and he took considerable pride in it.
Yet facing Kamiyā Yuu, who looked unremarkable and was not much older than he was, Towa Kenji himself was the one who felt flattered and overwhelmed.
Kamiyā Yuu might not have been conscious of it himself, but he was unquestionably the single most representative animation director of the industry's younger generation.
His influence extended both inside and outside Japan.
Kamiyā Yuu normally kept a low profile, but when he became serious, the weight of a single sentence from him was no less than that of the industry's most established giants.
Animation director, novelist, musician, controlling shareholder of Yosuganosora Animation Studio, the most famous Japanese animation director overseas...
And the most frightening part was that Kamiyā Yuu was still in the ascending stage of his career.
From 'RWBY' onward, he had climbed all the way to his current position.
No one could predict how much potential he still had left.
As a producer, Towa Kenji understood this very clearly.
That was why, despite Kamiyā Yuu appearing little different from an ordinary young man aside from his calm demeanor, Towa Kenji still felt a genuine sense of distance in social status between them.
Kamiyā Yuu smiled and greeted everyone one by one.
Once he sat down, the production meeting for 'Twilight of the Knights' officially began.
The anime had not yet formally entered production, so there was not much to discuss during the meeting.
Kamiyā Yuu merely stood from the perspective of the original creator and raised reasonable requests and suggestions wherever possible.
Sunrise Company was not Yosuganosora Animation Studio.
Even though they had given him considerable room to offer suggestions, Kamiyā Yuu was still an "outsider" representing the original work.
Carelessly making demands would be extremely unwise.
Although Kamiyā Yuu was also an animation director, the standards he held for anime were absolutely not on the same level as those of most animation studios in this world.
During the actual meeting, Kamiyā Yuu's status naturally influenced the atmosphere.
Fujiwara Tora was thick-skinned enough to behave as usual.
Kitagawa Shūichi already knew Kamiyā Yuu, but even he carefully and humbly asked for many opinions concerning the storyboards.
As for the animation studio president, he was basically just there for appearances.
Thus, the president of Sunrise Company merely sat to the side with a smile, occasionally chiming in with a few agreeable words.
Producer Towa Kenji, on the other hand, came across as rather inexperienced.
He wanted to demonstrate his capabilities, yet in front of Kamiyā Yuu, he could not come up with any truly useful opinions.
By the end, his only contribution was to disrupt the atmosphere.
Whenever he caused an awkward silence, the company president was usually the one who stepped in to smooth things over.
As the chief editor of the light novel department, Akiyama Gojō mostly remained a detached observer.
Or rather, the opinions expressed by Kamiyā Yuu were essentially the collective position of both himself and Chiyo Bookstore's light novel department.
Instead of joining the conversation as an editor, it made more sense to let Kamiyā Yuu—the actual original creator with extensive animation-production experience—voice those opinions himself.
The meeting soon came to an end.
Akiyama Gojō glanced at his watch, nodded to Kamiyā Yuu, then addressed the others.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone. I'll leave Mr. Kamiyā in your hands from here. Well~ I'm not particularly knowledgeable about voice acting either, so it'll be better for Mr. Kamiyā to communicate with you directly on that side."
"Hahaha~ What's the problem? Why not come along and take a look?"
Fujiwara Tora waved his hand with a laugh.
From his tone, he and Akiyama Gojō also seemed to be on friendly terms.
Given Fujiwara's naturally familiar personality, as long as someone did not deliberately keep their distance, he would probably consider them a friend.
"No, I still have quite a lot to deal with on my side. I only came along this time to bring Mr. Kamiyā here and make the introductions."
Akiyama Gojō shook his head and politely declined before pushing open the door and leaving.
This could be considered a particular kind of Japanese formalism.
Strictly speaking, all he needed to do was bring Kamiyā Yuu here and appear as the representative of the original work.
Everything afterward had nothing to do with him.
Even so, etiquette required him to remain until this part of the matter had concluded.
Fujiwara Tora stood up and casually slapped Kamiyā Yuu on the shoulder.
"Then let's head over to the music company. I remember you're good at voice acting too, Kamiyā."
"That's fine, although apart from visiting Shindō's music studio, I basically haven't had much contact with other music production companies."
Fujiwara Tora stroked his chin proudly.
"We've got a large production budget this time. We asked the music production company to bring in quite a few big-name voice actors."
"Oh? Now you've got me interested."
Kamiyā Yuu raised an eyebrow and replied with genuine curiosity.
As the original creator, he did not actually need to appear personally for the voice acting side of things.
This was basically just a formality, along with an opportunity to discuss the characters with the voice actors.
But generally speaking, there were very few voice actors willing to humbly ask the original creator for advice.
What status did light novels hold within the industry?
Buy the illustrations and get toilet paper for free.
Light novelists merely relied on illustrations to sell a few sheets of toilet paper.
What was there worth asking them about?
"Then Fujiwara, you take Mr. Kamiyā over there."
Standing to the side, the young producer Towa Kenji forced a smile and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
For him, this production meeting had been nothing short of torture.
Many of the suggestions he raised had been effortlessly rejected by Kamiyā Yuu.
The invisible pressure had left him struggling to breathe.
"I'll organize the contents of today's meeting and inform the others. If anything comes up during the audio production process, call me anytime."
Kitagawa Shūichi came out of his thoughts and nodded.