After dealing with Sony's poaching attempts, Sega entered a rare period of internal stability.
The seventeen newly expanded game development teams were all eager and ready, preparing to submit their respective project proposals.
Nakayama Takuya, for his part, was happy to enjoy a brief respite. He temporarily put any new project launches on hold and focused on waiting to review the ideas from these new teams.
However, before a single game proposal reached his desk, an invitation arrived ahead of them—an invitation from Sunrise to attend the production launch meeting for Mobile Suit Gundam F91.
Inside the conference room, the atmosphere was lively and energetic.
As Nakayama Takuya walked in, he immediately spotted Yoshiyuki Tomino seated at the head of the table.
The bald director looked vigorous and spirited, speaking eloquently as he explained the planning materials projected on the screen, detailing every aspect of this new Universal Century TV project to the members of the production committee.
The confidence and passion radiating from him were worlds apart from the exhausted figure he had been a little over a year ago.
Nakayama Takuya found a seat and couldn't help but feel a sense of reflection.
Back then, he had pushed through strong opposition to practically force Director Tomino to take time off and recuperate. Looking at him now, that decision might have been the single most correct investment he had ever made at Sunrise.
A healthy director was the foundation of a successful work.
However, when the meeting progressed to the mobile suit design segment and the assistant pinned up the initial drafts of the Crossbone Vanguard mobile suits on the whiteboard, the smile at the corner of Nakayama Takuya's mouth slowly faded.
He frowned slightly.
It wasn't that the designs were ugly—rather, they were too ordinary.
In his previous life, the commercial failure of F91 could not escape blame for its mechanical designs.
The Federation's Heavygun was acceptable; it had mainly suffered from the work's poor popularity. At the very least, it was recognizable, something many fans could identify at a glance.
But as for the Crossbone Vanguard's grunt units—forget casual viewers, even many core Gundam fans couldn't name them.
The reason boiled down to one word: ugly.
And not memorably ugly—just bland, forgettable ugly.
Nakayama Takuya could tell that the mechanical designer, Kunio Okawara, was clearly trying to reference the Imperial stormtroopers from Star Wars to convey a sense of oppression and inhuman menace.
But when applied to Eastern aesthetics, the result felt awkward, even faintly comical. It completely failed to convey the extravagant, arrogant, and sinister aura befitting so-called "space nobility."
Worse still, the weapon loadouts were extremely monotonous—almost universally machine-gun lances paired with beam shields.
That might make animation production easier, but from the audience's perspective, it meant seeing the same battles repeated over and over. Visual fatigue was inevitable.
When Director Tomino finished his explanation, Nakayama Takuya cleared his throat and, under everyone's gaze, slowly spoke.
"Director Tomino, the depth and scope of the script are impeccable. I'm very much looking forward to it." He first gave the bald director ample respect before shifting his gaze toward the mechanical design master, Kunio Okawara. "Professor Okawara, regarding the Crossbone Vanguard's mobile suits, I have a somewhat unrefined opinion."
Okawara looked up at him. This towering figure of the industry still held considerable respect for the young man who had repeatedly created miracles.
"Please go ahead, Executive Director Nakayama."
"At its core, animation is about telling stories and shaping characters. Antagonists are also characters." Nakayama Takuya stood and walked to the whiteboard, pointing at one of the machines that resembled a pig wearing glasses. "This kind of design easily leaves viewers with the stereotypical impression of 'faceless cannon fodder.' Audiences instinctively reject it and struggle to associate it with the powerful background of 'space aristocracy.' From a merchandising perspective, that may not be good news."
As soon as he said this, the expressions of the Bandai representatives seated across the table changed immediately.
Nakayama Takuya continued without pause. "Additionally, with weaponry being so uniform, the battle choreography risks becoming dull. Think back to Char's Counterattack. Neo Zeon was limited in strength and relied mostly on the Geara Doga as its general-purpose unit, yet the presence of the Jagd Doga as a Newtype-use machine still added variety and richness to the combat. In F91, the Ronah family is far stronger than the Federation of that era. They should be fully capable of developing more diverse and distinctive mobile suit forces."
He paused briefly, his tone sincere. "I suggest we consider giving the Crossbone Vanguard's mobile suits a more 'ferocious' look rather than an 'odd' one. At the same time, we could invite Hajime Katoki to join the mechanical design team. His work in 0080 and 0083 is sharp and detail-rich, highly suitable for model production. Perhaps his style could spark new chemistry with yours, Professor Okawara."
The room fell silent.
Having a younger generation "advise" Kunio Okawara—and even explicitly name someone to be brought in—was no small matter.
Yoshiyuki Tomino raised an eyebrow, about to speak, when the person in charge from Bandai suddenly stood up and bowed deeply to Okawara.
"Nakayama is absolutely right, Professor Okawara! We're counting on you!"
That bow stunned everyone present.
The Bandai representative's face was full of urgency, his voice trembling. "The appeal of the mobile suits directly determines model sales. This—this concerns the life or death of our company's financial reports for the entire coming year!"
At his outburst, the other Bandai staff members also stood up one after another. The scene became spectacular in its own way.
Nakayama Takuya nearly laughed out loud.
Perfect assist.
Even Okawara was left both amused and helpless by the spectacle.
He recalled that when Gundam F91 had been postponed before, Nakayama Takuya had been present. At that time, Takuya had provided Bandai with a carefully designed transitional upgrade plan, buying enough time for the birth of the HGUC line. The "Gundam 10th Anniversary" model series that followed had achieved both strong sales and excellent reputation.
With design skill and achievements like that, Nakayama Takuya truly was qualified to critique his work.
Okawara waved his hand and sighed with weary resignation. "Alright, alright, I get it. You capitalists only know how to squeeze profit out of my drafts."
He looked at Nakayama Takuya and sighed again. "One Tomino wasn't enough, and now there's you too. Fine—young people having lots of ideas is a good thing. Call that kid Katoki over and let me take a look. Having someone share the workload isn't a bad thing."
A potential storm was thus quietly dissolved by Bandai's "financial report assault" and Nakayama Takuya's tactful rhetoric.
President Ito, watching from the side, was deeply impressed. The admiration in his eyes as he looked at Nakayama Takuya only grew stronger.
This executive director didn't just understand animation—he understood people.
With the meeting concluded, Nakayama Takuya politely declined President Ito's dinner invitation and walked out of the Sunrise building alone.
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