At the beginning of December, 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio had finally passed its adjustment period for the new staff. As production progressed, the tacit understanding between Kamiyā Yuu and Uehara Etsuki's group gradually deepened, and they were no longer surprised by Kamiyā Yuu's wildly imaginative ideas and demands.
The mutual understanding between Yūki Chinatsu and Kamiyā Yuu was especially important. If Yūki Chinatsu failed to understand what Kamiyā Yuu meant, or if Kamiyā Yuu could not clearly express his requirements, then 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise' could easily suffer from improper camera work or poorly applied visual effects.
These past two weeks have been just as busy for 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio as the emergency production period during 'Mr. Onigiri Man.' Even during lunch breaks, everyone would gather together to discuss the finer details of the animation—solutions to difficulties involving camera effects, how to express style through architectural texture details in large-scale scenes, subtle facial expression changes during combat, and so on.
Out of the five computers in the office, three were constantly used for rendering in MAYA 3D. Every one of those machines had been operating nonstop, twenty-four hours a day, for more than ten days.
As for why the schedule was so rushed?
Kamiyā Yuu planned to release 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise' on December 25th. That day was the global Western holiday Christmas, and 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise' would be his Christmas gift to the fans of 'Red—Crescent Rose.'
However, while 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise' sounded excellent in concept, all kinds of tedious and complicated problems emerged one after another during actual production, or the results simply failed to achieve the effect Kamiyā Yuu envisioned. This greatly delayed the overall production progress of the animation.
Without 'Yosuganosora,' or without Yūki Chinatsu, he could not even imagine finishing 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise' within this year.
"Yuu, come look at how this shot feels. I already added the distortion effects for the flame light and adjusted the camera transitions according to your requirements."
Sitting beside Kamiyā Yuu, Yūki Chinatsu muttered thoughtfully while replaying the same 3D shot several times in a row, yet she still felt it had not reached the standard Kamiyā Yuu wanted.
Kamiyā Yuu glanced at it briefly before continuing his storyboard sketches while commenting:
"No good. The flame effects don't feel impactful enough. It's better to manually adjust and render them."
"Ah, right. You can also add some air-friction whistling effects appropriately."
At that moment, Morishita Aoi walked in from outside and reported helplessly from behind Kamiyā Yuu:
"Yuu, Mr. Shindō hopes you can come over personally. He needs you to listen to the music samples yourself."
Without turning his head, Kamiyā Yuu replied:
"Understood. Please help me reply to Mr. Shindō and tell him I'll make time to go tomorrow at noon."
"Alright."
Morishita Aoi turned and went into another office to make the phone call.
While everyone appeared extremely busy, Uehara Etsuki calmly brewed several cups of tea and placed them one by one on the desks with a faint smile.
"People need to rest occasionally, too."
The workload Uehara Etsuki handled was by no means light, yet despite always appearing relaxed and composed, her assigned tasks were invariably completed ahead of schedule.
Compared to the others, Uehara Etsuki was truly a master-class key animator. Her experience and ability surpassed Kamiyā Yuu and the others by a huge margin.
Putting down his drawing pen, Kamiyā Yuu rubbed his sore shoulders. After draining the warm tea, Uehara Etsuki handed him in one gulp, and he let out a long breath.
"Thank you, Uehara-sensei, but now isn't the time to rest."
"Yuu, how many days are left until release?" Yūki Chinatsu casually asked from beside him.
"It'd be best to finish before the 20th. The following five days will be used for performance checks and releasing the trailer," Kamiyā Yuu thought for a moment before answering.
"Isn't that more than enough time?"
Even as she said that, Yūki Chinatsu's gaze remained fixed on the screen while her delicate little hands rapidly manipulated the keyboard and mouse, manually revising the automatically rendered scenes a second time.
Kamiyā Yuu shook his head and laughed.
"That definitely doesn't count as 'more than enough' in this industry."
What he meant was that anime in the Japanese animation industry was usually completed about a month before airing.
Yūki Chinatsu stopped what she was doing, stretched lazily in her office chair, then turned to Uehara Etsuki and asked bluntly:
"Etsuki, do you still have any lollipops? My brain needs sugar right now."
"What flavor do you want?" Uehara Etsuki asked with a smile.
"Strawberry milk."
"Then I want one too," Kamiyā Yuu added while rubbing his aching temples. Under such intense mental strain, his brain really did need sugar to replenish energy.
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Even while producing the animation, Kamiyā Yuu had not forgotten the promise between himself and Uehara Etsuki—to claim first place in the monthly popularity rankings of the animation illustration section on the "Fakebook" website.
Ever since Yang's character design had been finalized, he had constantly been thinking about the issue.
What kind of illustration could fully bring out Yang's charm and perhaps even trigger a chain reaction?
Should he use a tragic, large-scale battlefield background to emphasize Yang's fierce and wild nature?
Or should he focus purely on the character herself, using the most exquisite art style possible to portray her directly?
Both options felt too monotonous.
When was a passionate and cheerful person at their most captivating?
Kamiyā Yuu's own answer was: when they cried.
The sharp emotional contrast, along with the image of wiping away tears with determination, was something capable of moving people deeply.
At the same time, he could not simply depict that scene alone. It needed to incorporate more story elements.
So, how about giving her a heavily modified backstory?
Yang and Ruby Rose were half-sisters sharing the same father. When they were little, Yang once ran away from home together with Ruby, only to encounter a monster known as the Shadow Wolf. They were rescued at the last moment by their uncle.
However, in Ruby Rose's backstory settings, Kamiyā Yuu had removed the uncle character entirely.
Then what setting should fill that gap?
The world of 'RWBY' contained the concept of the Four Seasonal Maidens. Although Kamiyā Yuu had not watched the plot after the original creator's death, he still knew about this aspect. Judging from the earlier foreshadowing, it was likely part of Monty Oum's original plans as well.
Based on this, Kamiyā Yuu decided to heavily modify the setting by having Yang inherit the power of the Summer Maiden—the immortal phoenix ability.
This neatly explained the source of Yang's golden-haired power while also filling the gap left behind by removing the uncle character from the background story.
Thus, the overall tone of the illustration was established:
A golden-haired girl with a blank yet sorrowful expression held her younger sister in her arms while gazing upward at a phoenix burning with flames before her. Around them, the Shadow Wolves had already been reduced to drifting ashes beneath the scorching fire.
"I've already tried my best to respect the original work. Hopefully, Master Monty Oum's spirit in heaven won't be too angry when he sees this."
Kamiyā Yuu silently muttered to himself before beginning to sketch the scene conceived within his mind onto the illustration paper.
This illustration would also serve as the trailer for 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise.'