On the forum, a topic appeared: "What kind of conspiracy is that guy, Old Thief Lin, plotting lately?"
Under this topic, there was a detailed description: "Ever since 'Shirobako' ended, there hasn't been any news about any new works from Old Thief Lin. Originally, this wouldn't be anything, but lately, he's been constantly advertising for his company's anime, and occasionally even uses deceptive marketing for his own company's anime. It just feels like there's a conspiracy."
In '11, Lin Zhiyan had already passed the peak of his popularity. Plus, he was gradually making fewer depressing anime, so the level of discussion naturally wasn't what it used to be. However, once this topic appeared, it still sparked quite a lot of discussion:
"I'm really impressed by that guy. Him using deceptive marketing for his own anime is one thing, but now he's even using deceptive marketing for anime directed by others in his own company."
"Yeah, Hotarubi no Mori e. People kept saying it would heal your soul for the whole summer. I hadn't read the original work, but since Natsume's Book of Friends is a famous healing anime, I figured another work by the same author must be healing too, so I went to the theater to watch it. I ended up walking in smiling and walking out crying."
"Judging from his recent animations, he might really be done with making depressing anime. But with more and more depressing anime coming out of LSP—especially since he's personally getting involved in the deceptive marketing for them lately—it's certain that he still has a soft spot for traumatizing the audience. He's just gotten more sophisticated about it now; he doesn't make the depressing anime himself anymore, making it impossible to guard against."
"Come to think of it, Old Thief Lin's original intention in making anime was definitely to traumatize the audience, right? Now that he has such a sophisticated way of doing it, do you think he'll stop making anime altogether in the future?"
"It's entirely possible. If it were me, I probably would have stopped long ago. After all, no matter how much he makes, he'll never surpass the success of Puella Magi Madoka Magica."
TV anime production is generally very busy, but for the production of an animated film, especially one with more than two years of production time, it was more than enough for Lin Zhiyan. Therefore, although he was still busy during working hours, he was very free after work.
Basically, he could leave work on time every day.
Lin Zhiyan naturally kept an eye on some hot topics on the internet every day, and finding people discussing his "conspiracy" only made him feel both amused and annoyed.
He was clearly just trying to increase his presence.
A conspiracy?
It didn't exist at all.
As for the depressing anime produced by L.S Produ, "Steins;Gate", "Hotarubi no Mori e", and "Fate/Zero", these were simply not original anime he planned, but adapted works with source material.
Even the adaptation rights for these anime weren't secured by him, Lin Zhiyan.
In this situation, what kind of conspiracy could there be?
It could only be said that those who believed in a conspiracy likely suffered from persecutory delusions.
Although he could post online to defend himself, Lin Zhiyan didn't do so. Instead, he called for the company's publicity director, Hakuba Yūki, and asked him to anonymously leak gossip about "Your Name".
Soon, a new post appeared on the internet: "Latest news, Lin Zhiyan's next anime has been confirmed. It's a romance genre, and an original animated film. It seems like he's not doing TV anime anymore."
Not long after this post appeared, many people replied:
"Latest news? Where did this latest news come from? How come I didn't see it?"
"Fake news, right? I've checked all the major channels and haven't seen anything about Lin Zhiyan's next project being an original romantic animated film."
"Almost believed it."
"Romance? Lin Zhiyan? Are you joking?"
"Although Lin Zhiyan has emphasized 'love' many times and even said that LSP, the company he founded, is an animation company that values love and pursues success, it's really hard to imagine him making a romantic animated film."
"Even though his subject matter is very diverse and covers everything, Old Thief Lin's main strengths are in the depressing and tear-jerking genres, right? All of his animations have depressing or tear-jerking elements. A romantic animation that turns into a depressing or tear-jerking one? That's a bit hard to imagine."
"Speaking of depressing romantic animations, 5 Centimeters Per Second and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time both count, right? The former had Lin Zhiyan involved in the story composition, and the latter was a project he planned entirely. Now that you mention it, it's not impossible for him to make a romantic animation, but it's still hard to imagine. For some reason, it feels very incongruous."
Lin Zhiyan had deliberately leaked the gossip, so he naturally wouldn't just leave it alone after releasing it.
Once the discussions among netizens reached a certain scale, he posted a message on the internet using his own account: New animation coming in May '13.
He didn't state the name of the new animation, nor did he say what the genre was.
However, as soon as this news came out, netizens were still able to infer quite a bit of information from it.
First, Lin Zhiyan's new animation must be an animated film. Otherwise, it would be released in January, April, July, or October, not May.
The fact that it wouldn't meet the audience until 2013 further confirmed that the new animation was an animated film, not a TV anime. After all, Lin Zhiyan's speed at producing TV anime was very fast; even if he were making a two-cour series, it was unlikely he would spend more than two years on pre-production.
Second, someone had previously leaked information claiming that Lin Zhiyan was done with TV anime and that his new work was an original romance-themed animated film. Now that Lin Zhiyan had released news about his new animation, it was clear that the two events couldn't be unrelated.
Perhaps it was because Lin Zhiyan saw that gossip that he decided to release news about the new animation. Since the next animation being an original animated film had basically been confirmed, didn't that mean the previous "gossip" might be entirely true?
After realizing these two points, many people went to leave comments under Lin Zhiyan's post, asking if the new animation is really an original animated film with a romance theme.
Although Lin Zhiyan announced the release date of the new animation, he did not disclose any more specific information.
After all, it is still too early at this point, and it is not yet time to begin promotional activities for the new animation.
Announcing the release date of the new animation was just to maintain his presence in front of netizens, to tell his fans that he, Lin Zhiyan, is not slacking off and is not plotting anything behind the scenes. It was to let everyone know that the new animation is already in production, that the release date has even been roughly determined, and that it is not in a "new folder" state.
Deliberately mentioning in the "rumors" that the new animation is a romance theme, while not explicitly telling everyone that it is a romance-themed animation, was done to generate buzz.
The animation will indeed not be released until mid-2013, but since it is an original animated film with a standalone plot, there is no original work and no accumulated popularity from a TV series. Lin Zhiyan also has no experience in producing standalone original animated films, so, of course, he needs to build up attention early on.
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