While Takagi Makoto was still worrying, Kawano Akino had already finished skimming through Yasuoka Tomohiro's proposal.
The anime was titled 'Love Academy'. Just the name alone gave off a strong "copying First Love Island" vibe.
Its listed genres were "beautiful girls," "campus," "romance," and "lighthearted." But in reality, it was a harem anime—the story revolved around a male protagonist transferring schools due to family reasons and forming connections with all kinds of girls.
Kawano Akino frowned as she read.
It wasn't that she disliked harem anime.
It just felt… cliché. Or rather, mediocre.
Senkawa Animation could easily come up with a proposal like this itself. If they did, they could simply hire a stronger studio as the main contractor. Wouldn't that be better?
She shook her head slightly, set the proposal aside, and picked up Takagi Makoto's instead.
Yasuoka had been waiting for her to ask questions, but to his surprise, she didn't say a word and moved straight on to Takagi's proposal.
What's going on?
Was his proposal really that unappealing?
That shouldn't be the case!
"Wait…"
He suddenly realized something serious.
ABK's project was a harem anime. If the reviewer had been Director Kitahara—or any man, really—they'd likely be very interested. Combined with ABK's capabilities, securing this investment should've been easy.
But now the reviewer was a woman.
Did she even understand the appeal of harem anime?
No… that's not it.
She was probably from the Kawano family—what would she know about anime?
"Um… Miss Kawano…" Yasuoka felt the need to explain.
But before he could, Kawano Akino cut him off. "Sorry, let me finish reading this proposal first."
Yasuoka swallowed his words, feeling frustrated, but had no choice except to wait.
Kawano Akino continued reading silently. Soon, she looked up at Takagi with a hint of surprise.
"Your project is also a 'beautiful girls' anime?"
"Hm?"
Yasuoka, who hadn't taken Takagi seriously before, couldn't help but glance at him.
Takagi nodded and explained, "It is a beautiful girls' anime, but our protagonist follows a pure romance route. The focus is more on emotional healing. In short, it's a story that's lighthearted, with a touch of sadness."
Kawano Akino didn't comment and kept reading.
The title was 'CLANNAD'. Its genres were "beautiful girls," "campus," "slice of life," and "healing."
As for the synopsis, the male protagonist becomes a delinquent due to family circumstances. One day, he meets a girl standing still at the foot of a hill, and after getting to know her, his life begins to change dramatically.
"Is this an original work? Not adapted from a galgame?" she asked.
A delinquent boy meets a girl, and his life changes—this was practically the standard opening of a visual novel.
Of course, beautiful-girl anime often carried strong galgame elements, but 'CLANNAD' leaned into that even more.
Takagi thought briefly before answering, "It's original. But since Galgames are quite popular right now, I incorporated more of those elements."
In the early 2000s, Galgames were indeed booming in Japan. The popularity of beautiful-girl anime was partly tied to that trend.
Though the market would start declining later in the decade, it was only January 2006—no one was thinking about that yet.
Kawano Akino nodded, unconcerned, and continued reading.
After the synopsis came the budget estimate, followed by a rough plot outline.
The story progressed in arcs, each like a self-contained unit—but unlike typical episodic works, these arcs were connected by a central narrative. They weren't interchangeable; everything tied together.
At the end of the outline, there were even scripts for the first three episodes.
As Kawano Akino read more carefully, she found herself drawn in—so much so that she began to feel an urge to see it animated immediately.
This proposal was different.
At the very least, it wasn't something Senkawa could easily come up with on their own.
If executed well, it might even become a classic.
Taking a quiet breath, she flipped back through the pages and looked at Takagi.
"President Takagi, what sales figures do you expect for this anime? And what is your ultimate goal?"
Takagi paused for a moment, then answered, "Expected sales? Over 10,000 copies. As for the goal, I want to make it a classic. The kind of anime that can still move people deeply even ten or twenty years later."
Before Kawano Akino could respond, Yasuoka couldn't hold back.
"President Takagi, just because Miss Kawano is young doesn't mean you can try to fool her. Do you think selling 10,000 copies is that easy? And with your DOS's level—you know it yourself, right? How could you possibly produce something that sells that much?"
He was getting anxious.
Takagi glanced at him and replied calmly, "Selling 10,000 isn't easy. It requires becoming a popular hit. But I have confidence in this project—and in myself, and in DOS."
Yasuoka chuckled. "Who in this industry doesn't have confidence in their own work? I imagine you were just as confident when you made 'Heartbeat Cabin', right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have fully funded it yourself. But what happened? I heard it sold just over 600 copies. Is that true?"
Takagi frowned. "'Heartbeat Cabin' is different from this project."
"What's different?" Yasuoka shot back. "Is this proposal better? Even if it is, it still depends on whether your company can execute it. And DOS simply doesn't have that level of capability. Besides, I don't think your proposal is anything special."
"You haven't even read his proposal. How do you know it's no good?" Kawano Akino suddenly interjected.
Yasuoka froze for a moment, then replied, "Of course, I know. A beautiful-girls anime should just be that—why add 'healing' elements? If it's lighthearted, keep it lighthearted. Mixing in sadness only makes it harder. If handled poorly, it just feels awkward and ruins the reputation, let alone the sales."
To be fair, he had a point.
Lighthearted stories were easy; making people feel genuine sadness was hard.
Tearjerkers could become classics—but forced emotional manipulation often led to heavy criticism.
Even Takagi almost found himself persuaded.
If he nearly wavered, Kawano Akino probably felt it even more.
This… was starting to look bad.