After 5 Centimeters per Second left theaters, the Japanese animation market temporarily lost the voice of Sora.
He and every employee at Yume Animation buried themselves in work once again, slipping back into that ruthless mode where sleepless nights became routine and exhaustion was simply part of the job.
The later domestic and overseas revenue from the works Sora had created in Japan, such as Re:Zero, Voices of a Distant Star, and Natsume Yuujinchou, gradually began arriving in the company's accounts. Of course, after spending three hundred million yen to purchase shares in a television station, then investing another massive sum into the animation production of AD and Steins;Gate, the liquid funds left in the company account were not exactly plentiful. In fact, they were painfully tight.
After all, 5 Centimeters per Second had not only locked up the one hundred and seventy million yen Sora had previously invested, but the official settlement for its one-point-three-billion-yen box office would still take several months. The roughly four hundred and fifty million yen in theatrical revenue that should eventually return to him had not yet arrived.
He had clearly earned an enormous amount of money that year, yet Sora still felt poor.
Only after becoming a business owner himself did he truly understand that company assets and cash he could actually use were two completely different things.
October arrived.
The Four Great Networks of Tokyo -
No. At this point, the Japanese television industry had already tacitly acknowledged that the Southern Alliance Network had risen into the upper ranks.
Inside the industry, the old phrase had changed.
Now, people spoke of the Five Great National Networks.
The original four major networks, almost in silent agreement, all began raising the quality of their programming and increasing production budgets. Their goal was to rely on the foundation, experience, and accumulated prestige they had built over many years. They did not realistically expect to crush the Southern Alliance outright through an arms race of investment.
What they wanted was to make the Southern Alliance's performance look unqualified, drag down its stock price, severely weaken this disruptive newcomer, and force it to behave obediently as the fifth-ranked player in the industry instead of constantly trying to break the existing order.
And in truth, the strategy worked quite well.
Among the works the Southern Alliance Network launched in October, its dramas managed to hold on somehow. Its flagship drama ranked fourth in ratings for the season, at least beating Shirakawa TV.
But its variety and animation divisions were in a miserable state.
In variety shows, the old four networks were basically crushing them in ratings.
And in animation, the contrast was even harsher.
When Re:Zero aired, its peak rating had reached the 6% range, placing it first among works airing in the same period.
Yet the Southern Alliance's new anime this season had already been on air for three weeks, and its average rating was only 4.06%. In many prefectures, it was not only behind the four major networks, but could not even beat locally produced anime from regional stations. In some areas, it ranked sixth in weekly ratings among currently airing anime.
The market was brutally realistic.
When Re:Zero was airing and the ratings were strong, the media praised the Southern Alliance Network endlessly, claiming it had limitless potential and might one day kick Seiun TV and punch Aobane TV out of the top ranks.
But now, only four months after Re:Zero ended, the same media outlets had already begun mocking it from every angle.
The pressure on the Southern Alliance side was also enormous.
No television station could lead in every single division.
Seiun TV and Aobane TV, for example, ranked in the top two in both animation and drama, while their other departments remained among the industry's top four.
Shirakawa TV and HaiOn TV focused mainly on variety shows, idols, and talent competitions, making them the preferred choice among young female viewers in Japan. Even so, their film, drama, and animation divisions were not weak either.
But the Southern Alliance Network, when viewed now, had no outstanding strength at all. Everything looked painfully average.
And that was fatal.
Public opinion and ratings results directly affected the stock price and the advertising revenue of a television station.
Because of this, the Southern Alliance had recently held several shareholder meetings.
As a shareholder, Sora also took time out of his schedule to attend a few of them. For the most part, he simply became familiar with the various shareholders of the station and raised his hand to vote when necessary. He did not understand the operations of the television industry, and as a complete outsider, he had no intention of making random suggestions or pretending to know more than he did.
However, by late October, the station's ratings had slipped a little further. The criticism from Japanese media and television audiences had made a significant impact, and the stock price fell again.
The board members of the station began growing restless.
In the past, although the Southern Alliance Network had also been large, it was still not a national broadcast network. The industry's expectations and demands for it had never been this high.
Now, however, everyone compared it directly to the old four great national networks. And once even the animation division, which had been the brightest part of the station over the past year, became mediocre, complaints naturally rose from every direction.
It was at this moment that an old acquaintance of Sora, the head of the station's production department, Ryo Yukishiro, came to find him again.
This time, his purpose was simple.
"We would like to purchase the rights to adapt Natsume Yuujinchou, directed by you, Kamakawa-kantoku, into a live-action television drama and begin production immediately, aiming to broadcast it next season," Ryo Yukishiro said, his expression visibly embarrassed.
Sora thought for a moment, then responded with a look of utter disbelief.
To preserve the other man's dignity, he began with "although," spoke at length with a pile of polite explanations, and finally ended with five words.
"Even so, I refuse."
First of all, it was already almost November. There were only two months left. And this was Natsume Yuujinchou they were talking about. If they wanted to adapt it into a live-action drama, no matter how restrained the production was, they would still need at least some special effects for the yokai. With that schedule, there was no need to even think about it. The result would definitely be a cheap-looking mess with eye-burning effects.
Besides, the first season of Natsume Yuujinchou had only a little more than ten episodes. Turning it into a full seasonal drama would clearly leave them short on content. And if he also redeemed the second season from the system and sold both scripts together to the station?
Sora was not stupid.
Natsume Yuujinchou had an excellent reputation among Japanese anime fans. Once his company had more staff, or once he had enough time, the correct choice would be to redeem and produce the second season himself. How could he possibly hand it over to someone else for a rushed live-action adaptation?
After Sora stated his thoughts directly, Ryo Yukishiro gave a bitter smile.
"We also know that this proposal is not very appropriate. We simply hoped to rely on your enormous popularity in Japan, Board Kantoku Kamakawa, to stabilize the station's ratings. At the very least, we need some results within half a year to reduce the pressure from public opinion. Or, if Natsume Yuujinchou is impossible, perhaps you have another script, one you believe is suitable and above a certain level of quality. We would be willing to buy that as well."
Sora looked at Ryo Yukishiro.
"There are so many talented screenwriters in the Japanese film and television industry, and you came to me, an anime Kantoku, to create a television drama script?"
Because everyone else we found is useless.
Ryo Yukishiro screamed those words in his heart.
The flagship drama the station had launched this season had completely collapsed in its fourth week. The plot was viciously criticized, and the average rating dropped from 4.13% to 3.98%, turning it into a laughingstock within the industry.
The whole situation had shaken Ryo Yukishiro so badly that he was beginning to question his life choices. At this point, he would rather believe in Sora.
"Anime screenwriters, film and television writers, novelists, and game scenario writers move quite freely within the Japanese entertainment industry. There are many anime writers involved in live-action productions, and many film and television writers working on animation. Your Re:Zero reached a 6% rating, and 5 Centimeters per Second proved its strength with a box office of one point three billion yen. In that regard, we have confidence in you," Ryo Yukishiro said carefully. "And if the station's winter season ratings in January are poor and the stock price falls, Board Kantoku Kamakawa will also suffer losses. If the results are good and advertising revenue rises, your dividends at the end of next year will be higher as well."
"All right. Let me think."
Sora looked at the man in his fifties sitting across from him, smiling cautiously as he spoke, and felt himself soften a little.
Besides, when he thought about it from another angle, although the works in his system library were all otaku-oriented, quite a few of them could be adapted into live-action dramas.
He would never sell scripts for high-value works. Those would definitely be kept for his own company to produce.
But the other side's request was not outrageously unreasonable. In essence, they only wanted him to provide a television drama script of decent quality, something capable of stabilizing the ratings.
Ryo Yukishiro's request was worth considering.
Most importantly, Sora currently wanted as much emotional value as possible.
Long-running works like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Dragon Ball, and Fullmetal Alchemist were not works he had no interest in making. The problem was that he did not have enough emotional value to redeem them.
Because of that, Ryo Yukishiro's proposal opened up a new line of thought for him.
He could redeem works from the system that had lower commercial value, lower emotional-value cost, and that he himself had no energy to produce, then let the Southern Alliance Network turn them into television dramas. By selling a script and earning the "difference" in emotional value, he would not be losing out.
After all, writing the script for a single-season drama would only amount to tens of thousands, perhaps a hundred thousand characters at most. Since the finished material already existed inside the system space, all he had to do was sit in front of his computer and type it out. As long as he did not participate in the detailed production process, it would not take even half a day of his time.
"I understand," Sora said, putting on an expression that suggested he was deeply troubled, but since Ryo Yukishiro had personally asked, he would reluctantly agree. "Actually, I do have some ideas for works in other genres. Originally, I planned to keep them for future development and production by myself. But since you put it that way, Kantoku, and since the script will be for our own station…"
He paused briefly.
"Within a week, send someone to my company to pick up the script. As for the price and the cooperation model, we can discuss those later."
"I understand," Ryo Yukishiro replied.
He did not press Sora about what type of work he intended to provide or what genre it would be. That kind of thing could be discussed slowly after they saw the finished script.
To Sora, this matter with Ryo Yukishiro was only a side episode. His main work was still focused on AD and Steins;Gate.
After handling Yume Animation's company affairs during the day, he returned home at night, casually recalled some live-action dramas adapted from manga that he had watched in his previous life, and compared them with the redemption prices in the system space.
Spending less than eleven million emotional-value points, he redeemed a live-action adaptation of a manga he had liked very much in his previous life.
Liar Game.
In his previous life, Sora had always liked works centered on mind games, gambling, and strange psychological battles, such as Liar Game, Kaiji, Squid Game, As the Gods Will, and Alice in Borderland.
Of course, among this kind of intellectual-battle work, the absolute ceiling was Death Note.
But Liar Game was also among the highest-level works in that category.
The original manga had never received an anime adaptation, but after being adapted into a television drama, it became quite popular.
More importantly, the work itself was very suitable for a live-action drama adaptation.
It was not that its plot reached some absurdly untouchable level, but at least from Sora's point of view, it was far more interesting than the sugary, cliché dramas full of perfect male and female leads that the old four networks and the Southern Alliance Network were airing this season.
Over the following week, Sora squeezed time out of his schedule, worked overtime, and finished the script for Liar Game.
In early November, inside a certain café, Sora sat at a table with the head of the production department, Ryo Yukishiro, and a famous Kantoku who had a long-standing cooperative relationship with the television station.
The Kantoku's name was Seiji Tachibana, a tall, strongly built man in his forties.
Sora handed two stacks of manuscript pages to them.
When Seiji Tachibana and Ryo Yukishiro looked at the title printed on the script, both of them froze for a moment.
Liar Game.
Just from the name alone, they could already feel that this work was nothing like the mainstream style of Japanese television dramas.
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