She was absolutely drowning.
Since she'd decided to "defer payment," Hanabi chose to free up time and get the OVA finished first.
Wrapping up the shoot didn't mean the OVA was done. Only after seeing the staggering volume of raw footage did Hanabi realize—this was where the real work began.
The OVA footage was massive. Every scene could be rotated a full 360 degrees, and Hanabi needed to cut it all down to 30 minutes of content—and add a soundtrack on top of that.
The Dimensional Popularity Stage's BGM library was enormous too, and every track had to be listened to individually.
On top of that, there were visual effects, filters, masks, and templates.
Her vision went dark.
"To the staff behind the Dimensional Popularity Stage—you have my deepest respect."
She had no idea if there were actual post-production workers behind the Stage, but this kind of work was frankly inhuman.
"Stage, is there any way to lighten the workload a bit?" Hanabi asked.
[Post-production work can be outsourced by spending popularity points]
This was one of the perks of becoming a "full member."
Hanabi looked it over. Different content lengths had different post-production requirements. 30-minute, 50-minute, or longer content—each tier cost a different number of points. Fine cuts and rough cuts were priced differently. And hiring directors or supervisors of varying renown came at different rates too.
"Full outsourcing costs a hundred thousand popularity points?!"
Hanabi could afford it, but earning back a hundred thousand points was no easy feat. The last thing she needed was to run a deficit.
"Then I'll just get someone to do a rough cut. Lighten the load a little."
First, compress this mountain of footage down to something manageable.
"The filming was more like a movie, but the final product needs to look like anime..."
And hiring a film director cost three to five times more than an animation supervisor.
"Then a rough cut it is."
Hanabi finalized her selections.
[Script submitted]
[Work order dispatched]
[Outsource bidding in progress]
[Available outsourcing companies listed]
A list appeared before her.
[Tezuka Project]
[Project No.9]
[Musashino Animation]
[...]
A column of animation studios appeared, each accompanied by a short clip from their notable works.
"Tezuka P... Ugh, this is Goddess Café Terrace... Ugh..."
The ED was decent, the OP had some rough spots, and the actual episodes... not quite a slideshow, but it might as well have been a manga.
"P9... The Angel Next Door... Whoa, what even is this?!"
Hanabi closed it immediately.
"Musashino Animation—The Third Girls Aerial Squad, Air Amphibious Assault Ship SIVA... Oh, these are actually pretty good."
The Stage's description indicated that all these production teams came from audience worlds. They were similar to, but not quite the same as, the worlds Hanabi knew—plenty of familiar names, more or less.
Even in parallel worlds, some studios that were destined to have terrible animation still had terrible animation.
Even though her own project was mostly editing and post-production outsourcing, it was still better to be selective. The quality of compositing and VFX was anyone's guess.
"GoHands has solid production values, but their effects are way too chaotic. No good. Ufotable... Hm? No openings?"
Different studios came at different price points. Project No.9 and Tezuka Project were the cheapest.
"Alright, that settles it." After some deliberation, Hanabi made her choice.
Of course, before outsourcing, there were certain scenes she needed to cut first—like the part where she paid the price...
"But come to think of it, how exactly do popularity points convert to local outsourcing fees?"
...
"Big news! Big news!"
"Wha—what's going on, Watanabe-san?!" Early that morning, Musashino Animation's president Shun Watanabe had urgently dragged production assistant Aoi Miyamori straight into the conference room the moment she arrived.
"Big news! Anyway, big news!" The president wasn't the only one shouting.
"Huh? Director Kinoshita? Katsuragi-san is here too?"
"Anyway, there's this."
Watanabe handed Miyamori a non-disclosure agreement.
What was going on? Weren't they an animation company? Why did this feel like some top-secret operation?
"Um, is what we're about to discuss really that big of a deal?"
Miyamori gulped.
"Yeah." Watanabe nodded. "Ninja's Path... You've heard of it, right?"
"Oh, that long-running series that blew up the moment it went live?" Miyamori was stunned. "You don't mean—"
Was Musashino Animation going to take on this show as a subcontractor—or even the lead contractor?!
"Well, they probably noticed how well our SIVA theatrical film did," someone else chimed in. "You've gotta fight for these opportunities."
"How should I put it... the situation's a bit complicated," Watanabe struggled to find the words. "What they sent over is very... unlike typical animation production. And the requirements are all over the place."
"Big news! Anyway, big news!"
Miyamori had figured it out. Director Seiichi Kinoshita next to her had devolved into nothing but a broken record.
And after getting the full picture, Miyamori was equally dumbfounded.
"Wh-what is all this?!"
The client had sent an absolute mountain of disorganized assets—especially the footage. Normal equipment couldn't even play it back; they had to use client-provided hardware.
"Oh, it's Hanabi-chan. But this length... This can't be hand-drawn, right?"
There was a staggering amount of footage, all disorganized, and all of it lengthy. If they had to hand-draw this many shots, the workload would be terrifying. And those panoramic shots? Physically impossible to hand-draw.
"Is it 3D animation?" Miyamori couldn't make sense of it, but she was thoroughly shaken.
She immediately rejected her own theory. "No, no, no. The motion is way too natural. It feels like... rotoscoped live-action footage?"
Director Kinoshita looked up. "Have you ever seen rotoscoping this good?"
"But 3D rendering can't achieve this level, can it? Look at these lines, these contours—can 3D really produce this? Ahh, so that's why Director's been losing his mind."
It clicked for Miyamori.
"Anyway," Watanabe said, "this is... well, a chaotic outsourcing job. The client says it's an experimental filming technique, and it'll be produced as an OVA. The script and requirements are over there. They've also got a massive music library, though we're free to use original content too. If the reception's good, they'll give us the post-production work going forward—and possibly more projects down the line."
Miyamori glanced at the client's requirements and her vision went dark.
"It really is a total mess... Why did we even accept this?"
Wait—the listed client name was "Hyuga Hanabi." Did they actually have someone named that? Or was it just a code name?
"Ahem... they're paying too much."
Someone muttered under their breath from the side.
"The pay... oh." After seeing the rest of the terms, Miyamori shut her mouth.
The requirements were an absolute mess, but they'd just have to grit their teeth and get to work.
Can't help it—they were paying too much.