At the end of September, the adapted animation "Steins;Gate", produced by L.SProdu, concluded.
The excellent, immensely popular original work combined with L.S's high-level production created a 1+1>2 effect, resulting in this animation being hailed as a masterpiece.
It received extremely high ratings, not inferior in the slightest to those animations by Lin Zhiyan, and its sales were also quite good, reaching a level of twenty to thirty thousand per volume. Furthermore, the animation was equally popular overseas.
It was a success in every aspect.
Shortly after the TV series concluded, the official animation team immediately announced the production of a theatrical film, scheduled for release in February 2013.
The production team, of course, remained the original crew; there is nothing more to say about that.
Entering October, the adapted animation "Fate/Zero", produced by L.SProdu, began airing.
The original work is a novel written by Gen Urobuchi. Although in this timeline, Gen Urobuchi lacks the popularity boost from "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", he still possesses significant popularity due to representative works like "Phantom of Inferno" and "Song of Saya".
Added to that, the original work is the official prequel to the visual novel "Fate/stay night", which has the highest sales of over 200,000 copies, and the animation is produced by L.SProdu. It could be said that it has multiple layers of buffs, so naturally, this animation was highly anticipated.
Since its premiere, its popularity has remained firmly in first place.
Its attention and discussion levels have been very high.
During the production of this anime, Lin Zhiyan, as always, served as the chief producer, handling reviews and quality control.
However, he spent more of his energy on two other things: the first, of course, was the production of Your Name, and the second was considering new anime projects.
January of '12 will see the fourth season of Natsume's Book of Friends; April will have the second season of Fate/Zero; July is scheduled for an original anime, Girls und Panzer; August will have a A Certain Magical Index theatrical film; and October will see the second season of A Certain Scientific Railgun.
It might look like the schedule is packed, but in reality, given L.S Produ's current production capacity, they can produce at least two anime per season on average.
Including the Steins;Gate theatrical film releasing in February '13 and Your Name releasing in May '13, they can still schedule at least one more anime.
Moreover, once the fourth season of Natsume's Book of Friends is done, there won't be much left of the manga's content, so they have to wait for more manga content to accumulate before they can make a fifth season. Therefore, a fifth season cannot be made in the short term.
As for the other works for which L.S Produ has secured animation adaptation rights, although Steins;Gate has Steins;Gate 0 following the theatrical film, that depends on the game's release, so it won't be possible to produce it within the next two or three years.
For Sword Art Online, the Underworld arc hasn't even started serialization yet, so even if they wanted to produce a third season, they couldn't. As for the theatrical film Ordinal Scale, that could be done, but since it mainly serves as a trailer for the third season of the anime, there's no need to release it so early when the third season can't be produced yet.
In other words, the only things left that can be produced are the Index series, the Fate series, and the cross-media project Love Live!.
For small and medium-sized animation companies, having these three would already be considered a lot, but for L.S Produ, it's not quite enough.
They need to scout for new IPs.
In addition, they also need to arrange a few original animation projects. After all, no matter how well an adapted anime is made, a significant portion of the credit goes to the original work. Moreover, acquiring adaptation rights requires paying royalties, and there are several streams of revenue that do not go to the animation production company.
Simply put, anime adaptations are like adopted children; no matter how excellent they are, they are still adopted. Only original anime are truly one's own children.
Furthermore, L.S Produ started by making original anime, and this kind of work cannot be abandoned.
Throughout the month of October, Lin Zhiyan was scouting for new IPs, but unfortunately, after looking through various manga, light novels, and games, there were very few that were truly outstanding.
In the end, he only selected two works: "Attack on Titan" and "My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected".
Setting "Titan" aside for a moment, as only two volumes of "Oregairu" had been released, it certainly wouldn't be possible to produce an anime in 2012. However, they could find a way to secure the adaptation rights first. Even if it couldn't be released in 2012, there would be no problem releasing the first season in January or April of 2013.
Of course, it wasn't as if Lin Zhiyan could secure the rights just by saying so. Regardless, he would prepare early and try his best to obtain the adaptation rights for these two works.
If they really couldn't be secured, then there would be no choice but to work on other anime adaptations at that time.
Of course, it wasn't a case of Lin Zhiyan just saying he wanted to acquire them and it would be done. In any case, he would prepare early and try his best to secure the animation adaptation rights for these two works.
If they really couldn't be secured, then there would be no choice but to adapt something else when the time came.
Lin Zhiyan didn't personally step forward for this matter. Although his personal involvement would greatly increase the probability of securing the animation adaptation rights for "Oregairu" and "Attack on Titan," these two IPs were not important enough to require him to step forward personally.
Moreover, the person mainly responsible for negotiating animation adaptation rights at L.S Produ is Kenichi Matsumoto. Currently, aside from the "Fate" series and "Sword Art Online," the adaptation rights for the company's other animated works were also secured by Kenichi Matsumoto; relatively speaking, Kenichi Matsumoto has more experience.
Apart from "Oregairu" and "Attack on Titan," Lin Zhiyan didn't set his sights on the animation adaptation rights of any other works.
Although some producers within the company suggested making "From the New World," "Btooom!," and "The Pet Girl of Sakurasou," and Lin Zhiyan did indeed consider it, he ultimately didn't agree, so there was no need to talk to the original authors about animation adaptation rights.
"From the New World" is a work with a futuristic fantasy theme that makes people shudder when they think about it, and it's not even a light novel. If this kind of work were made into an animation, it would to a certain extent increase the prestige of L.S Produ. But if Lin Zhiyan remembers correctly, in another timeline, the sales for this animation were too low, and it had almost no popularity.
It can barely be considered a masterpiece, but it's super niche, and the early stages are relatively dull, so it's estimated that many people wouldn't be able to stick with it. Plus, the original work didn't have explosive sales and critical acclaim like "Steins;Gate"...
"BokuBen" could be considered a masterpiece, but it's extremely niche, and the beginning is quite plain, so I reckon many people wouldn't be able to stick with it. Plus, the original work isn't like "Steins;Gate," which was a massive hit with both sales and critical acclaim. Even if Lin Zhiyan himself were to take the helm, I'm afraid this anime wouldn't achieve much success.
"Btooom!" falls into the real-life survival game genre. This genre might have had a sliver of appeal back in '12 or '13, but overall, it lacks popularity.
"The Pet Girl of Sakurasou" is about youth, romance, and "stomach-churning" drama. It's a bit similar to "Oregairu," but both its popularity and quality fall far short.
This work also gives off the feeling of being a bandwagon jumper, riding the coattails of "Toradora!"
Lin Zhiyan didn't even bother to fight for the anime adaptation rights to "Toradora!" back in the day, so he certainly wouldn't do "Sakurasou" now, especially since "Sakurasou's" commercial performance was also just mediocre.
Only "Oregairu" and "Attack on Titan" are worth doing; the other works aren't worth considering at all.
After handing the rights negotiations for the two anime over to Kenichi Matsumoto, Lin Zhiyan immediately began considering original anime projects.
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