May 1st, 2023. Lin Zhiyan's latest animated film was released. At movie theater entrances, train stations, on the streets, on television, radio stations, and major online platforms, advertisements were everywhere, both online and offline. Walking through the great metropolis of Tokyo, promotional posters for this film could be seen everywhere, with the words "Supervising Director Lin Zhiyan's Ten-Year Promise" written on them.
In fact, this animated film had long been completed. The reason it wasn't released until May 1st, 2023, was to mark the ten-year milestone, as "Your Name" was released on May 1st, 2013, making it exactly ten years to the day by May 1st, 2023. With ample production time and Produ's top-tier production standards, there was no need to worry about the visual quality of the final animated film. Tomato The character designs were even better.
After all, he had never fully unleashed his potential before. Now, with nothing to refer to, he relied entirely on his own designs. Applying his maxed-out keyframe skills, they would only be better than any of his previous character designs.
As for the story, or rather the plot, Lin Zhiyan is personally quite satisfied with it. He wouldn't dare to present it to the audience if he weren't satisfied, nor would there be any need to; after all, he has already achieved success and fame.
Even if he were to stop making animations, the audience would at most feel it was a great pity, and it wouldn't negatively affect his personal reputation. If he were to rate his own new animation, Lin Zhiyan would dare to give it a 95. As for why it's not a perfect score, it's mainly because, in Lin Zhiyan's own heart, there is no such thing as a perfect animation. Your Name didn't get a perfect score, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train didn't get a perfect score, and neither did Uma Musume 2 or Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
Even Hayao Miyazaki's animations, AD, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Steins;Gate wouldn't get a perfect score either. Objectively speaking, perhaps there is no such thing as a perfect animation in this world. After all, it's very difficult for elements like character design, visuals, structural framework, story pacing, musical accompaniment, entertainment value, commercial appeal, and thematic depth to all merge together and achieve perfection in every aspect.
Regardless, Lin Zhiyan personally thinks the new animation is quite good. Of course, personal satisfaction doesn't mean the audience will be satisfied too, but Lin Zhiyan has considerable confidence in the audience's satisfaction. After all, before he was reborn, he was already working in animation, having watched over a thousand anime, and after being reborn, he had spent nearly thirty years in the animation industry, so his eye for animation is quite accurate.
Facts proved that the audience was indeed satisfied with his new animation. After the first screening ended, many people on the internet were already discussing it: "Lin Zhiyan's new animation is as good as ever." "The opening is full of gimmicks and very interesting, and the twists that follow are a bit unexpected, which is indeed very good." "The climax is quite passionate and touching." "I feel the best part is the character design; it's much better than any of his previous animations, and I like it very much." "It's very good, but it feels a bit different from his previous animation style." "Lin Zhiyan never really had a fixed style for his animation anyway, right?"
The film's ratings on review sites are also quite high. As for the box office, the opening weekend gross was close to 2.5 billion yen. While it certainly doesn't compare to "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train," it's not far off from "Your Name" ten years ago, and might even be a bit more. I wouldn't dare say the final box office will definitely surpass "Your Name," but even if it ends up lower, it shouldn't be by much.
It's almost certain to cross the 20 billion yen mark. Because he hadn't served as an animation director for a full ten years, some media outlets had expressed doubts before the film's release, questioning whether a new animated film directed personally by Lin Zhiyan could achieve the same success as his previous works, and whether a new film released after ten years might suffer a Waterloo. After its release, both the box office performance and word-of-mouth were excellent, and thus, all those doubts vanished.
In fact, those media outlets that had previously expressed doubts have now turned around, proclaiming: "Lin Zhiyan's era continues; he could go on dominating the animation industry for at least another twenty years."
Inside the president's office at Produ. Looking at a magazine article touting that he could continue to rule the animation industry for at least another twenty years, Lin Zhiyan couldn't help but laugh. Even though he was only in his forties, not even fifty yet, for him, making anime was basically just a way to give back to his fans, not about extending his reign over the animation industry. Enough is enough; how could he possibly make anime for another twenty years? His son was still quite young, but his daughter, Lin Youxiang, was already sixteen and in high school.
Once she graduated from university, he would start preparing for his retirement. He would have to be out of his mind to keep making anime until he was in his sixties; besides, he wouldn't achieve anything greater than he already had. After a simple sigh, he put away the magazine and began reviewing animation proposals. Serving as a supervising director was about giving back to the fans, but reviewing animation proposals was different; it concerned the company's performance, it was about money, and this was far more important than the anime he directed himself.
The media said that because his new animation had achieved success, his era was continuing and he could rule the industry for another twenty years. But in his view, the real key to whether his era could continue was actually the quality of the animation proposals. Being able to continuously produce high-quality animation proposals was the key to him and his company continuing their success and extending their legend.
If it had been ten years ago, or even when the company was first founded, Lin Zhiyan would have had zero confidence in this regard. But now, the company has cultivated many excellent animation producers. Even if it's impossible for every project to be of high quality or guaranteed to succeed, there will at least be some high-quality projects.
Moreover, given Produ's current reputation, many related companies are willing to bring forward excellent IPs to collaborate with them. With plenty of projects and no shortage of funds, there is simply no need to worry about a lack of high-quality projects.
After just a brief look, Lin Zhiyan had already spotted two decent animation projects.
Of course, while they were decent, Lin Zhiyan couldn't guarantee 100% that they would achieve strong results. Therefore, he didn't hand these two projects over to Produ, but instead gave them to Animation. If they turned out successful, that would be great, but if not, it wouldn't matter—after all, not every animation produced by Animation was expected to be a hit anyway.
After approving those two decent projects, Lin Zhiyan did not approve any of the remaining ones. Instead, he rejected them all, telling the producers who submitted them to either rework them or come up with a new one.
Whether they would be successful or not was a separate matter; the company's policy going forward was that it was better to have no project at all than to have a substandard one.