Friday, at Evermark Production
Haruki had finished recording all the OSTs that would be used in Code Geass Season 1 and 2, and now he was overseeing the series to make sure it matched what he had envisioned.
Kazami and Wes were discussing the final battle and its direction.
"Kazami, for the final two episodes, I think we can draw in the format I've been developing so far, and I think now I'm ready to use it on Code Geass. I've been perfecting this technique ever since I started making anime. I had developed it over the past few years, but I hadn't caught the right project to use this technique on. To use it properly, you need a complete understanding of its characters and the world itself."
Kazami paused. Wes had pioneered dozens of techniques already. What kind of goal could still feel unfinished after all that? He asked, "What kind of technique do you want to use?"
Wes replied, "It's called Conscious Motion. When I was younger, all animation was hand-drawn. It wasn't perfect, but that was the point. You could feel the human touch in every frame. But as the industry moved into digital, it started to lose that soul. In imperfection, the characters felt alive. My goal has been to take that feeling to a higher level. Conscious Motion brings life to characters, makes them feel real. They won't feel like animated figures. They'll feel like living people."
As he kept explaining more about the style, Kazami began to understand what he meant. Many world-class animators and older classic creators had touched this threshold at certain moments, when it was a big choice, a silent stare, a moment that felt real.
But the catch was that all of those moments happened by intuition. Great animators would sometimes capture it by instinct, and sometimes they wouldn't. That's why even brilliant works could feel uneven; some scenes touched reality, others didn't. What Wes was describing was to make all those "real" moments consistent throughout the whole anime.
Wes was trying to achieve method acting in animation. Normally, most animators work from the outside in: you figure out how a character should move, then draw it. But Wes flipped that. He started from the inside out, thinking about what the character was feeling, what they were hiding, what they didn't even realize themselves. Then he built the motion from that.
That's what Conscious Motion is. He understood that some works are better suited for live action, as they can't show certain emotions through animation without breaking the story. But with Wes's technique, it was the opposite. It was best suited for complex stories, especially seinen works, where emotional depth, maturity, psychology, and moral conflict were key. Those were often better done in live action, but Wes believed Conscious Motion could finally let anime reach that same depth.
People often said Wes was five years ahead of the industry. That was a massive gap for one person to maintain from the whole industry's people. The technique Wes spoke of sounded like something that wouldn't appear in mainstream anime for another fifteen years. Yet here he was, ready to use it now. Kazami couldn't help but feel excited; he'd be part of the first anime to feature Conscious Motion.
He called over Haruki to explain Wes's idea, "Haruki, your vision for Code Geass, to make it feel fresh even after thirty years, will come true."
After hearing the explanation, Haruki's first thought was that if they hadn't made the anime so quickly, maybe Code Geass could have reached this level from the start. But he didn't dwell on it.
"Wow… this… this is gonna turn out even better than I imagined. I can't believe it," Haruki said excitedly, imagining the iconic scene the system had shown him and how hard it would hit with this technique.
Hearing that, Wes replied, "It's characters like Lelouch that let this technique reach its full potential."
Wes wouldn't use his defining technique unless the story and characters were worthy. This had been his lifelong dream since the moment he began animating—to apply it to something truly exceptional. Code Geass fit perfectly. Though the schedule was tight, the story's depth convinced him it was the right time. It would span two seasons, and by the second, he'd be more familiar with the characters, their reactions, their subtleties. That familiarity was essential for Conscious Motion.
Like a great director who knows their character inside and out, Wes wanted to understand his characters deeply. Only then could the animation convey genuine emotion, going beyond mere precision. As he drew Lelouch, he realized this was the perfect character for Conscious Motion. Lelouch wasn't simple; his body said one thing, his mind another, and his heart something else entirely. Conscious Motion was made for characters like him, where the eyes reveal what words hide, and silence carries more weight than action.
Because this technique was new and demanding, it needed a strong, multifaceted character to bring it to life. Lelouch's intricate web of identities and conflicted emotions made him uniquely suited to fully realize Conscious Motion's potential. The more Wes drew, the more he knew: Lelouch would be the first to embody this technique, and perhaps the only character in today's industry complex enough to do so.
After finishing work and heading home, Haruki still couldn't believe it. Wes had finally developed a technique that until now was just a concept. He couldn't stop imagining what this would do for Code Geass.
The animation would no longer just "hold up." it would define a new era. As a fan himself, Haruki was thrilled to see how far it could go.
He was still lost in thought when his phone rang. The screen flashed a familiar name, Kotone.
He picked up. "Oh, hey Kotone."
"Hi, Haruki."
There was a pause. Neither spoke for a few seconds. Then Kotone said, "I just arrived in Tokyo a few days ago. If you're free tomorrow, maybe we can hang out? You don't have to—I just thought I'd let you know I'm here. We can meet whenever you're free. And… congratulations, the anime is everywhere right now."
"Thanks," Haruki replied. "I think I'll take a break anyway. I've been working nonstop for six months. It'd be nice to talk with someone without mentioning production."
Kotone paused, picking up on his words. Did that mean he didn't really have anyone to talk to? Or was he just being polite so she wouldn't feel bad about inviting him?
"Oh, okay," she said softly. "I'll send you the details."
Another small silence lingered before Haruki said, "Alright. See you tomorrow."
"See you."
The call ended.
Haruki stared at his phone. "Why did you have to mention not talking with anyone other than production? Now she's going to think I don't have friends…"
Despite that, he couldn't help feeling a flicker of anticipation. His friend had come back to Tokyo, and for the first time in a while, he felt a little less lonely.
Shout out to M. Austin Cartwright for joining my p-atreon! your support means everything to me.
(TL:- if you want even more content, check out p-a-t-r-e-o-n.com/Alioth23 for 60+ advanced chapters)