Full-time cartoonist

"Well, my name is Asahina Yuko, animation director."

Akimiya Akemi was watching TV when she suddenly saw Yuko Asahina on TV Asahi. She quickly called Hibiki Higashino, "Honey, this one, come here quickly!"

Higashino put down the spatula in his hand, turned off the gas stove, and hurried out of the kitchen wearing an apron, "What's wrong?"

"Look, it's Yuko!" Akimiya Akemi was extremely excited. She held her face in her hands and her eyes were lost in thought, "She's so cute."

Asahina Yuko's time seems to be frozen. She is in her 30s and still has the ignorance and innocence of her student days, with a smooth and plump face.

She wore a black Lolita dress, a tutu skirt, and her long straight hair was decorated with bows. The way she sat on the sofa was like a doll.

"Oops, so cute!" the host covered his mouth and exclaimed exaggeratedly, "Director Asahina, may I ask, why are you wearing this outfit? This doesn't look like a supervisor's outfit."

Asahina Yuko sighed slightly: "It was requested by the seniors in the company."

"Well done!" The host made a fist!

The audience laughed.

Higashino Hibiki pointed at Asahina Yuko and said firmly: "This must be Takagi-senpai's fault."

"Yeah?"

"It must be, that person just likes to play tricks on others."

The interview about Asahina continued, and she talked to the host about the production process of "Unknown Flower Name".

This conversation was quite normal. She talked a lot and talked about what she had learned. Her eyes were dark and shiny.

Then there were other topics, such as the discrimination faced by women in the animation field.

Hibiki Higashino had some free time to watch the TV series and couldn't help laughing.

"What's wrong?" Qiugong Mingmei looked at him curiously.

"Look at Asahina's feet."

Asahina Yuko is wearing cloth shoes. It’s not high heels and you can’t see her feet.

Akimiya Akemi nodded, "Her legs were straight and she seemed really nervous."

Ten minutes later, halfway through the thirty-minute interview, we finally got to the main topic.

Asahina Yuko's interview program is naturally to promote the new animation, otherwise she would not show up.

"I heard that the animated movie "Future Society" will be released soon. What is the name? "

Asahina Yuko replied briefly: "Your name."

"Huh?" The host was a little surprised and answered honestly, "Hoshino Akira, my name is Hoshino Akira, what next? Can you tell me?"

"I mean," Yuko Asahina took a deep breath: "The name of the animated movie is your name."

"Hey, is the name of the movie Hoshino Akira? What a coincidence!"

The host was flattered, covered the back of his head and laughed.

Asahina Yuko suppressed her blush.

She hesitated for a long time and whispered: "Please give me a signed copy."

"Okay." Although the host was confused, he nodded. He waved to the audience. A reporter ran over and handed the signature pad to Yuko Asahina and a marker pen.

Asahina Yuko started writing and drawing.

Everyone is looking forward to it, what is she writing?

Naoko Takeuchi looked at the TV curiously, wanting to get in.

After a long time, Asahina Yuko stopped using the pen, capped the marker pen, and blushingly showed the signature pad to the host, which read:

""your name"."

"Pfft!" The TV screen was covered with saliva, and Naoko Takeuchi coughed violently.

"The name of the animated movie is "Your Name"!"

The host's eyes were wide open and he couldn't react. He finally knew that he had made a serious mistake.

"I'm really sorry!"

He bowed deeply to the red-faced Yuko Asahina.

…

Asahina Yuko's interview immediately caused a sensation after it aired.

There are too many slovenly people in the animation industry, and a beautiful woman who is an animation director is enough to attract the attention of otakus.

On the Internet, the picture of a shy girl holding up a blank sheet of paper suddenly became popular.

There are three-dimensional sisters and two-dimensional girls.

Some wrote "I love you" on the white paper; some wrote "Baga, hentai, wulusai".

Variety becomes the trend.

Except for Asahina Yuko, everyone in "Mirai Club" is very happy. This is a pie in the sky.

Including Hibiki Higashi.

"Yuko, you are a hero!"

Kiko Takagi patted Yuko Asahina on the shoulder, "As expected of Supervisor-san, he attracted everyone's attention as soon as he appeared."

Tori Akino will never be able to achieve this effect in the future.

Asahina Yuko was dismayed, she was exhausted, "Never again, never again."

When she was taking a nap during the lunch break, her body suddenly shook and she started talking in her sleep: "Please don't... don't look at me!"

…

In addition to the online pictures, there is also the meme...

"I will definitely watch "Your Name"!"

"Why are you looking at my name? What's wrong with me, Akira Hoshino?"

"Hoshino Akira, this prosperous age is as you wish!"

"Hahaha."

Netizens had a lot of fun playing memes. With this Internet trend, "Your Name" has entered the ears of millions of people.

After about a few days, everyone started to get curious.

"What exactly is the story of "Your Name"?"

"Didn't you watch that interview?" Someone explained, "It's a love animation similar to "5 Centimeters Per Second"."

""Five Centimeters per Second" is probably the comic work of Tori Akino-sensei."

"The screenwriter of "Your Name" is also Tori Akino, so it's pretty much the same."

…

"Eh! Eh!!!"

Looking at this comment, Matsumoto Hanami screamed in shock.

She is 24 years old and works as a kindergarten teacher. Some time ago she was obsessed with playing the "Your Name" meme.

Today, when Hanami Matsumoto suddenly discovered that "Your Name" is a love movie written by Mirai Tori Akino, her heart started beating violently.

""Five Centimeters per Second", "The Garden of Words"... Is "Your Name" this kind of animation?"

She lay on the desk, her eyes blurred.

When "The Garden of Words" was serialized, she was about 11 years old. She was flipping through her brother's magazine and read the comic.

Calm as water, the pictures are beautiful, Matsumoto Flower Sea only has this feeling, but I finished watching it without realizing it.

Many years later, when "Five Centimeters Per Second" was published, she finally understood similar works, and her heart ached terribly.

The two junior high school students who originally loved each other were so far apart that when they became adults, they no longer recognized each other when they met again.

Only in my dreams can I vaguely remember the moment when we hugged each other under the snowy trees.

Most of the works told Hua Hai that love is unforgettable and always sparkles like a diamond, but in "Five Centimeters per Second", she read a different experience.

In the scale of time and space, human emotions are too small.

The horror of this comic made her feel empty and sad, and she didn't realize she was crying until tears fell on the paper.

After that, she bought the single volume of "Five Centimeters per Second" and collected it seriously, but never dared to read it again.

It has a terrifying demonic quality that transcends Junji Ito's comics.

Out of boredom, Huahai read "The Garden of Words" again, and she felt much better.

In the school, the status of students and teachers is very different, that is, the two parties in love cannot be together.

After this layer of identity was removed, the two protagonists were finally together.

"The Garden of Words" healed her very well.

Both comics left a deep impression on her, and she still remembers the plots many years later.

Huahai looked forward to Tori Akino's new works in the future, but later Tori Akino painted "Millennium Actress" and "Red Hot Chili Peppers". After his ideological level improved, Tori Akino seemed to no longer bother to paint love.

"Finally...I have finally waited for this day..."

There is no doubt that she will go and see it. Even if she is sad, she will not give up.

…

"The animated film "Your Name" has been carefully polished by the director of "Unknown Flowers" for seven years! Please come and watch it!"

"A new chapter in Tori Akino's future love!"

When the cherry blossoms were in bloom in April, "Your Name" was released.

Higashino Hibiki looked at the floating cherry blossoms and twitched his nose.

“Hay fever patients can’t even be romantic.”

When the cherry blossoms bloomed, pollen from the cedar trees also spread on a large scale. Hibiki Higashino, wearing a mask and fully equipped, was not in the mood to enjoy the flowers.

Akimiya Akemi ignored his cold complaint and poked Higashino Hibiki's waist, "Look at that!"

She pointed to the poster in the distance, which showed Yuko Asahina in Lolita costume, shyly holding up a drawing board with the words "Please come and see it!" on the drawing board.

Under the poster, there were many otakus taking photos of the poster with cameras, their faces red with excitement, regardless of the strange looks from others.

Unexpectedly, Asahina Yuko unexpectedly became an idol.

"In order to save the company that is about to collapse, Miss Supervisor decided to debut as an idol...?" Hibiki said with interest while touching his chin.

"Going bankrupt?" Akimiya Akemi tilted her head.

"Just kidding." Dongye Xiang waved his hand.

He looked at the poster and said, "What a shame. No wonder Asahina-kun doesn't continue to be responsible for publicity."

Later, Chiharu Minami ate and drank a lot on the show. Although she had the cute attribute of being a foodie, she was still not as famous as Asahina.

Akimiya Akemi looked at Hibiki Higashino and asked doubtfully: ""Dream Eaters" is almost over, and the storyboard has been finalized. Why don't you go?"

"It's too troublesome. I just want to rest now. I finally understand Teacher Toriyama's happiness." Hibiki smiled proudly, "Leave those jobs to the employees."

Along the way, he crossed the river by touching Bird Mountain, and even when he was semi-retired, he could still learn a thing or two.

"You." Akimiya Akemi patted Higashino Hibiki's shoulder with a serious expression, but she couldn't help laughing after a short while, "If that's the case, then take a good rest."

In the eyes of passers-by, Hibiki Higashino and Akemi Akimiya shook hands and walked towards the cinema.

Passersby vaguely heard:

"After the end...BJ Olympics...watching pandas in Sichuan...Italy..."

They remembered that they had to work tomorrow, and they couldn't help but feel envious and jealous.

…

Hua Hai endured the excitement and sat down on the seat in the screening room with such force that the seat next to her was shaken.

"Sorry..." She smiled sarcastically.

"It's okay." The middle-aged woman sitting next to her nodded friendly.

"You..." Huahai opened her mouth wide, "You are Wu! Wuwuwu..."

Naoko Takeuchi quickly covered her mouth, "Don't say it!"

Huahai blinked her eyes to show that she understood.

After Naoko Takeuchi let go, she ignored her breath and lowered her voice and whispered excitedly: "No... I didn't expect that I would meet Mr. Takeuchi by chance!"

What a blessing!

Most people who like to read shoujo manga know Naoko Takeuchi.

"Sailor Moon" is a monument to girls' comics, and its status is similar to that of "Dragon Ball", a shounen comic.

"Teacher, what are you here for?"

"Me?" Naoko Takeuchi looked at the advertisement on the screen speechlessly, "What do you think?"

"Oh! That's right, the teacher is here to watch a movie, right?"

"Yeah." Wu Xinxin snorted tiredly. She hadn't appeared on camera for many years, and she even wore a mask today. She was still recognized under such circumstances...

She is just a slightly accomplished cartoonist, not an idol star.

"Can the teacher give me an autograph?"

"Of course, I just don't have any paper."

"I do, and there's a pen too!"

Huahai took out a comic book from her arms. Naoko Takeuchi thought it was "Sailor Moon", but she was stunned when she took it.

""Second speed of five centimeters"?"

"Well, it's for commemoration." Huahai nodded matter-of-factly.

"Your Name" has not yet been released as a stand-alone book. This will have to wait until the film performs well and be sold as peripherals.

She took "5 Centimeters per Second" to watch "Your Name" with a little hope. She hoped that "Your Name" would be as interesting as "5 Centimeters per Second" and would move her.

Naoko Takeuchi opened "Five Centimeters per Second" to the title page, and stared at the words "Tori Akino Mirai" on it and became embarrassed.

Huahai looked at her expectantly, Naoko Takeuchi took away the pen and then handed it back.

"Thank you! Thank you for the signature, teacher! Wait... wait... Tori Akino Mirai..."

Looking at the words "Tori Akino Mirai" on the title page of the comic, Huahai was stunned.

The corners of Naoko Takeuchi's lips raised, "Because this is Tori Akino's manga, so you don't need to thank me."

Huahai was about to cry but had no tears: "Oh, teacher, how could you do this..."

Despite this complaint, she still treasured the single volume.

Three minutes later, "Your Name" was officially broadcast.

Naoko Takeuchi had been worried that the little girl next to her would disturb her. Unexpectedly, after the movie was broadcast, the little girl remained silent and stared straight at the screen, like a sculpture.

This concentration frightened even Takeuchi.

The combination of Tori Akino's screenwriter and the word love makes quite a few people excited, looking forward to it, and taking it seriously.

If "Slam Dunk" had a theatrical version released, those readers back then would also be passionate and reluctant to be distracted.

Thinking of this, Naoko Takeuchi also started watching "Your Name" seriously.

A shooting star streaked down the sky.

"When I woke up in the morning, I didn't know why I was crying."

"Things like this happen from time to time."

"I obviously have dreams but I can't remember them."

"only……"

"It just felt like something was missing."

"This feeling lasts for a long time even after waking up."

"I have been looking for something...looking for someone..."

"I started to be haunted by this feeling."

"It probably started from that day..."

"That day, that day when the meteor fell, the scene was like..."

"It's like the scenery in a dream! I just think that this scenery is so beautiful."

Under the same shooting star, two characters, a man and a woman, were talking about the same thing in different time and space.

The anime's opening theme begins here.

"My heart is beating so fast with anticipation..." Naoko Takeuchi touched her chest, feeling the emotion she couldn't hold back.

How many years? After many years, I finally saw Tori Akino's love-style works again...