Entering April.
First, episode 24 of the second season of A Certain Magical Index aired on April 1st, marking the official conclusion of the second season.
Although there might be a third, and potentially even fourth or fifth season later on, that's still a long way off. Next up will be the second season of A Certain Scientific Railgun.
After Index Season 2 concluded, L.S Produ had no more anime airing on TV. However, a new anime began airing almost immediately on April 5th—Steins;Gate.
If it were an original anime, the first half of this series would definitely be criticized by quite a few people, with many calling it "too boring."
As an anime adapted from a game, although there were some people who hadn't played the original work and felt it was boring, thinking that L.S.P had chosen the wrong IP this time, such people were few in number. Even if someone said that, there would be those who had played the original game to put in a good word for it, talking about how wonderful the later content would be.
Most people remained full of anticipation for the content in the mid-to-latter stages.
Aside from "Steins;Gate", L.S Produ doesn't have much going on in the April anime season. However, this isn't because L.S has reduced production, but rather because more of their animations are concentrated in the second half of the year, in addition to animated films.
First, in July, there is an animated film based on another manga by the author of "Natsume's Book of Friends" titled "Hotarubi no Mori e". It tells the story of an untouchable romance, with a similar style to "Natsume's Book of Friends", only instead of being healing, it is heart-wrenching.
In addition to this film, the second season of "Sword Art Online" will also begin airing in July, and it will be a half-year series, running straight through to the end of the year.
In October, there is the animation "Fate/Zero", adapted from the original prequel novel of the Type-Moon work "Fate", written by Gen Urobuchi. In December, there is the "K-On!" theatrical film.
Additionally, Lin Zhiyan will also be producing an animation, though it won't be able to meet the audience in 2011.
Except for the April to June quarter, there are still two animations per quarter. This production volume is considered high for the entire animation industry.
Whether it was Steins;Gate, Hotarubi no Mori e, Sword Art Online II, Fate/Zero, or K-On!, Lin Zhiyan did not personally serve as the Supervising Director for any of them; he only handled quality control and served as Chief Producer.
For the people at L.S Produ, this was already commonplace, so no one really found any issue with it.
However, when April was more than halfway over and Lin Zhiyan still hadn't announced any new projects internally, the staff at the company couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled.
Some even started to harbor a suspicion: Was Lin Zhiyan planning to take a break and stop making anime for a while?
There were some key animators in the company who, while they wouldn't go as far as refusing other key animation work, were waiting to devote their main energy to working on Lin Zhiyan's anime. If Lin Zhiyan was planning to take a break, they would feel a bit at a loss.
In the end, they had no choice but to ask the head of production, Kenichi Matsumoto, to find out what Lin Zhiyan's plans were and see what he was thinking.
Inside the president's office.
When Lin Zhiyan heard the reason for Matsumoto Kenichi's visit, he was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook his head: "I'm just making some preparations, how could I stop making anime?"
Upon hearing this, Matsumoto Kenichi secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly asked: "So? What's the situation with the next anime? Can it not be revealed internally yet?"
"The project hasn't been finalized yet, but it's not like I can't reveal a few things."
Lin Zhiyan smiled, "The next anime won't be a TV anime, but an animated film. The genre is romance, the production cycle is expected to be over two years, and it will be released in June or July of '13. You can tell everyone that for now."
"An animated film? And a romance at that?" Matsumoto Kenichi was momentarily dumbfounded.
You have to know, Lin Zhiyan had always been famous for his TV anime.
It wasn't that he hadn't made an animated film before, but it wasn't an independent one; it was Rebellion Story, the theatrical film spin-off of the TV anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
And that was the only one: Rebellion Story.
Although Rebellion Story had excellent word-of-mouth and quite impressive box office results, setting a box office record for a late-night anime theatrical film—a record that hadn't been broken by any other late-night anime film to this day—for the audience, Lin Zhiyan's brilliance was undoubtedly in the realm of TV anime creation.
I'm afraid that not many people believe Lin Zhiyan's creative prowess in the realm of animated films is on par with his work in TV anime.
After all, TV anime and animated films are fundamentally two different fields.
It's not to say that just because one can do a good job with TV anime, they can necessarily do a good job with an animated film. TV anime usually consists of seasonal, half-year, or even year-long series, with at least eleven episodes, making it easier to structure.
An animated film is only a single installment, perhaps around 90 minutes or maybe 120 minutes long. You have to arrange the beginning, development, climax, and ending, and make it interesting enough to attract the audience. This is much harder than TV anime, which is why many popular, or even super-popular, TV anime directors have tried their hand at standalone animated films and ended up failing miserably.
Lin Zhiyan is certainly popular and highly trusted in the field of TV anime, but whether he can receive such great trust from the audience when it comes to a standalone animated film is hard to say.
What's more, this time Lin Zhiyan is making a romance-themed animated film.
It's not that Lin's previous anime didn't have romance elements, but none of them were primarily romance-focused. And even in those that did have romance elements, the romantic plotlines weren't exactly anything to write home about.
Many people praise how great Lin Zhiyan's anime are, but no one has ever said that his anime depicts romance well.
Now, Lin Zhiyan is transitioning from TV anime to the field of animated films, and he wants to make a romance—is that really okay?
Of course, he was just a bit skeptical.
It was Lin Zhiyan's company, and he could make whatever kind of anime he wanted. He certainly wouldn't dare to act insubordinately and demand that Lin Zhiyan not make a romance animated film.
Although Lin Zhiyan could not read minds, he could see a hint of skepticism in Kenichi Matsumoto's expression.
However, even though he could tell, he did not explain.
Will it succeed?
This shouldn't even be a question, because what he is about to make is not an ordinary romance anime, but a world-class one.
As for the name of the anime, it is naturally "Your Name."
In another timeline, this anime was inspired by Makoto Shinkai's 2014 production "Cross Road," and was released in Japan on August 26, 2016.
As a super classic anime, Lin Zhiyan would certainly not miss it. To make this anime, he would have to start around 2011. Plus, since Nanase Mayumi had previously mentioned wanting to see a romance anime, it had to be this one.
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