On November 5, the matters discussed at Yosuganosora Animation Studio's mid-October meeting finally produced results. Each production department had submitted a comprehensive personnel report.
Inside the conference room, staff from the various departments arrived one after another, while a subtly awkward atmosphere hung in the air.
Uehara Etsuki, the key animation director of the Animation Art Department, was the first to stand. She bowed apologetically to everyone. "I'm sorry. Due to personal reasons, the submission of the Key Animation Department's personnel report was delayed by three days."
After their previous day off, Uehara Etsuki had taken three days of leave because she wasn't feeling well. As a result, the personnel report that could originally have been submitted on the first was delayed by three days, and the meeting to establish Sky of Yuu had also been postponed until today.
Gogyo Ruri, director of the In-Between Animation Department, smiled understandingly. "It couldn't be helped if you were sick. Besides, it seems we relied too heavily on Director Uehara during our day off, which caused your health to suffer."
Although I don't know what you're imagining, Kuroneko, Etsuki's "illness" definitely wasn't caused by what you think it was.
Gogyo Ruri's explanation was meant to clarify the situation for everyone in the conference room, leaving Kamiyā Yuu, who knew exactly what had happened, unsure whether to laugh or cry. In a certain sense, he was the true culprit responsible for delaying this meeting.
"Ahem."
Kamiyā Yuu deliberately coughed with a serious expression and said vaguely, "There's no urgency in establishing the subsidiary Sky of Yuu. Even delaying it by a week wouldn't matter. The most important thing is that Sensei's health is all right. Otherwise, it would be a disaster for Yosuganosora as a whole. The production of 'Fate/Zero' is currently at a critical stage, so our work here will remain the priority."
He knew better than anyone why Uehara Etsuki had been "sick." When his gaze met the faint amusement in her eyes, a guilty feeling immediately rose within him. At the same time, although Kamiyā Sora, who was sitting beside him, remained perfectly calm, her gaze made him feel as though he were sitting on pins and needles.
She calmly looked at Uehara Etsuki and said, "Etsuki-nee, thank you for your hard work."
Yūki Chinatsu, director of the 3D Department, sprawled over the conference table and said casually, "Etsuki, you took care of us on our day off. Getting some proper rest now and then is important too."
The director of the Art Department still looked as absentminded and timid as ever. "Please... um... take good care of yourself..."
Uehara Etsuki bowed once again before sitting down and saying gently, "Thank you very much. I've recovered quite well, so there's no need for everyone to worry too much."
Uehara Etsuki nodded toward Kamiyā Yuu. He stood, looked around the conference room, and said seriously, "Then this meeting concerning the establishment of our subsidiary, Sky of Yuu, will officially begin."
"First, let's discuss the In-Between Animation Department. The report already explains the situation thoroughly. Kuroneko, please give us a brief explanation."
Gogyo Ruri said solemnly, "Yes. The In-Between Animation Department has a large number of employees available for reassignment. If that's still insufficient, we can consider recruiting from among the freelance animators who frequently work with our company. Given the generous terms our company offers, quite a few animators have already expressed willingness to become exclusive animators for us."
"Chinatsu, what's the situation on your end?" Kamiyā Yuu looked toward Yūki Chinatsu, who was lying across the table.
She coughed and stood up. Unfortunately, she was so petite that her head only rose slightly above the conference table, making her attempt at looking serious rather comical.
"My department has more than enough manpower to handle the company's animation production, but there aren't many employees I can transfer elsewhere. After all, training someone to become a proper member of our company's 3D Department is extremely time-consuming. New employees don't know how to use our company's proprietary modeling software at all."
That was only natural. After all, the optimized version of MAYA 3D modeling software had been copied by Kamiyā Yuu from his previous world. Although it wasn't particularly complicated to operate, several weeks of training were still required to master it completely.
The Art Department director timidly raised her hand. "Yes... um... the Art Department doesn't have any spare manpower at the moment."
After the Art Department director finished her report, Uehara Etsuki shook her head. "The Key Animation Department is also short of experienced key animators. Up to now, a small portion of our key animation has been outsourced to well-known external studios. We can only accept a limited reassignment of staff."
Every department had some excess manpower, but only the In-Between Animation Department had enough to establish an entirely separate department. That made the situation rather awkward.
...
After the production department meeting ended, Kamiyā Yuu returned to his office and called Morishita Aoi over for a private discussion.
"This is all the manpower the various departments can spare. We barely have enough in-between animators, but we don't have enough key animators. Reestablishing an Art Department is another problem. We're still far short of the manpower required to form a subsidiary." Kamiyā Yuu reviewed the personnel reports submitted by each department and tapped his forehead with a headache. Under the company's current manpower constraints, establishing the subsidiary animation studio Sky of Yuu was almost impossible.
"Aoi, how are the other preparations going?"
Standing in front of his desk, Morishita Aoi opened the documents in her hands, looked through them, and nodded. "The location has already been decided. We've temporarily signed a one-year lease. A renovation team has been hired to carry out some basic interior work, and the latest batch of the necessary equipment has already been ordered. It can be moved into the company premises whenever we're ready."
"Roughly how much time will it take?"
"The main issue is the renovation. If we tell the renovation team to speed up the work, they should be able to finish within two weeks."
"Two weeks is considerably faster than I expected. Aoi, you've worked hard." Kamiyā Yuu nodded approvingly.
In other words, manpower was now the most troublesome problem. The personnel reports submitted by the various departments all reflected different circumstances, making it impossible to perfectly construct a complete animation production pipeline. After all, animation production was essentially an assembly-line process and subject to the barrel principle: the shortest stave determined how much water the barrel could actually hold.
Morishita Aoi placed the report in front of Kamiyā Yuu, pulled out the chair across from him, and sat down. "Yuu, what about recruiting externally now? Given our company's conditions, we should be able to recruit talented people."
Kamiyā Yuu flipped through the reports concerning the Sky of Yuu subsidiary. Its selected location was about a ten-minute walk from Yosuganosora, inside a relatively spacious office building. As for equipment, everything would be purchased directly from the relevant suppliers, and only the most advanced current models would be used. Aside from the Photography Department and 3D Department, ordinary animation production departments didn't have particularly demanding equipment requirements. The In-Between Animation and Key Animation Departments, the most crucial parts of animation production, still worked primarily by hand.
"Recruiting people isn't difficult, but it would be just like when we first established Yosuganosora—trying to become fat in a single bite. Digesting it afterward would take an enormous amount of energy." Kamiyā Yuu shook his head hesitantly.
Recruiting a large number of people to form the subsidiary would already make the interview process alone troublesome enough for Kamiyā Yuu, never mind all the subsequent integration, training, and related work.
Morishita Aoi seemed to have expected that response and nodded seriously. "I'll handle it. The Operations Department still has some capacity to spare."
Kamiyā Yuu laughed. "Aoi, according to the report you submitted a few days ago, animation operations alone are already keeping you so busy that you can barely get away. Having you handle some of Sky of Yuu's affairs is already more than your normal workload. And now you want to take responsibility for Sky of Yuu's personnel management too?"
"Mm. I can put some of the animation operations work off until later. If I work some overtime for a while, I can still manage all of this." Morishita Aoi brushed back her hair and smiled reassuringly. At some point, her strict no-overtime policy had begun to crumble day by day.
Her firm answer warmed Kamiyā Yuu's heart. After thinking for a moment, he smiled.
"Then I'll leave everything concerning the establishment of Sky of Yuu entirely in your hands."