On May 5th, the game company L.S Games was established.
On June 6th, the L.S Production subsidiary, Studio Trigger, was established.
After all, it was the tenth anniversary of the founding of L.S. There had been speculation from the outside world that Lin Zhiyan would make some big moves for the company's tenth anniversary, so when the news got out, it didn't really surprise anyone, and there wasn't much discussion about it.
People were more focused on L.S's anime.
By the end of June, the two anime that premiered in April produced by L.S had not yet concluded, and in July, a new anime began airing—the third season of Natsume's Book of Friends.
It had the same art style as the first two seasons, and the healing, touching style remained unchanged.
Although the first two seasons didn't reach the level of super-popular anime, there was no problem calling them highly popular anime; they didn't lose much in comparison to those super-popular ones. Coupled with the fact that this type of anime has a loose main plot, even if you miss an episode or two, it probably won't affect your understanding of the overall story, so even with the third season, its popularity didn't drop much.
However, now that it has reached its third season, I'm afraid the number of people willing to buy the animation discs won't be as high as the first two seasons; it is unlikely that the average sales per volume will reach over 20,000 again.
That said, a sharp decline is unlikely; it should still be no problem to reach over 15,000.
Furthermore, this animation mainly uses the "Book of Friends" to tell the stories between the male lead, Takashi Natsume, and various yokai. This Book of Friends is actually a memento left behind by the male lead's grandmother, Reiko Natsume. With very few exceptions, the yokai that appeared in the first two seasons had all had some interaction with his grandmother, Reiko Natsume.
Starting from the third season, the main storyline increases, and the male lead's own stories increase along with it.
For animation that leans towards slice-of-life, once the main storyline is pushed forward, it generally becomes very good to watch.
For this animation, all three seasons are 13-episode shows.
The two animations produced by L.S Produ that began airing in April—"Your Lie in April" has a total of 22 episodes, while the second season of "K-On!" has 24 episodes, and even 27 including special episodes.
Under these circumstances, the one that finishes earliest is of course the animation "Your Lie in April".
With its original animation, beautiful art style, artistic dialogue, moving music, and high-quality production—not to mention being broadcast on Fuji Television's Noitamina block, which perfectly suited its target audience—the series garnered immense buzz during its run for a variety of reasons.
As for the plot, it tells the story of Kousei Arima, a piano "prodigy" who won numerous awards as a child but became unable to hear the notes of his own playing after his mother passed away.
The female lead, Kaori Miyazono, also studied piano as a child. After watching the male lead perform at a competition, she decided to switch from piano to violin, hoping that one day, he would play the piano for her.
However, her health was very poor; she underwent surgery as a child and had to go to the hospital for regular check-ups. During her first year of middle school, she collapsed and was hospitalized, after which she spent more and more time in the hospital, eventually learning that she might not have much time left to live.
To avoid taking regrets to the grave, she began acting recklessly and concocted a lie about liking the male lead's friend, Ryouta Watari.
Relying on this lie, she successfully approached the Male Lead. By asking him to play the piano as an accompaniment for her violin, she gradually changed him, helping him slowly move past the psychological trauma left by his mother and start playing the piano again.
Of course, a lot happened in between, and their feelings for each other grew little by little.
At first, the Male Lead didn't know that her liking for Watari Ryouta was a lie, nor did he know anything about her illness. After their only duet, when she collapsed and was hospitalized, he initially thought it was just a minor issue. As the story progressed, he finally realized the severity of the situation.
In the final stages of the story, the Male Lead participates in a piano competition to get into a music school, while the Female Lead decides to undergo surgery, saying she wants to struggle until the very last moment. The two also have a promise to perform a duet together again.
Everything seems to be heading in a positive direction, giving the impression that her surgery will be successful and that she will be able to stand on stage again to fulfill her promise to the Male Lead.
However, when the final episode aired, the ending was: in a surreal scene, the two perform a beautiful duet together.
In reality, this ensemble did not exist at all; it was merely a stylistic device, or rather, a spiritual resonance between the male lead and the female lead.
At the very moment the male lead finished his performance in the competition, the female lead's surgery also concluded. However, while the male lead's performance was arguably a success, the female lead's surgery was not.
Later, at the female lead's grave, the male lead received a letter from her parents—a letter she had written before she died, in which everything was explained.
After reading the letter, the male lead finally understood everything.
In the very end, there is the male lead's internal monologue: "Spring is coming. The spring when I met you is coming. A spring without you... is coming."
Although this animation was not directed by Lin Zhiyan, he was responsible for the planning and character design, and he also wrote the script—only he didn't use his real name, "Lin Zhiyan," but instead used the pseudonym "Takagi Makoto."
The second season of "K-On!", airing at the same time, had the same setup. Combined with the fact that both were original animations, audiences didn't expect them to be so heartbreaking at the beginning.
As the story progressed, the depressing content gradually increased, and it became more and more agonizing, yet audiences kept comforting themselves, hoping for a happy ending.
When the final episode aired, many people were moved to tears, and at the same time, they all began cursing producer Lin Zhiyan and scriptwriter Takagi Makoto.
Meanwhile, a related argument emerged: "The orthodox 'depressing' anime is to be found in the collaboration between LSP and Fuji Television's noitaminA block."
"Depressing" here, of course, refers to the kind of "depressing" anime Lin Zhiyan makes.
In the past, Lin Zhiyan only made depressing anime, but lately, he has gradually stopped. His previous anime, as, even had a happy ending, although many people felt it was a forced happy ending and that the true ending was very depressing.
In contrast, the three anime produced in collaboration between L.S Produ and Fuji Television's noitaminA block—Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Psycho-Pass, and Your Lie in April—are all without exception tear-jerkers and depressing.
After Anohana, Lin Zhiyan made as, shifting from depressing to non-depressing. Conversely, Psycho-Pass and Your Lie in April have maintained the depressing style, hence the argument that the orthodox "depressing" anime lies in the collaboration between these two companies.
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