Serial TV Story
Come on, Yu, let's go home.
Eh?
I'm not going home.
It's because it's Meiko's birthday today.
Ah, I see. Mei-chan, happy birthday.
Thank you.
It's Yu-chan's birthday too!
Mama is going home, okay?
It's fine.
I'm staying with Akane-san. I want to be with Akane-san.
ECOTV Presents
Natsuzora
Week 22 Natsu, Your Sweet Child, Yu (Episode 131)
重い扉を押し開けたら暗い道が続いてて Omoi tobira o oshiaketara Kurai michi ga tsuzuiteite Pushing a heavy door open. A dark path unfolded
Screenplay: Omori Sumio
Music: Hashimoto Yukari
Theme Song: That Sweet Girl SPITZ
めげずに歩いたその先に知らなかった世界 Megezuni aruita sono saki ni shiranakatta sekai Not faltering, I kept walking to an unknown world on the other side
Narrator: Uchimura Teruyoshi
氷を散らす風すら味方にもできるんだなあ Kori o chirasu kaze sura mikata mo dekirun da na Even the wind that scatters ice, could become a friend
Sakaba Natsu: Hirose Suzu
Sakaba Kazuhisa: Nakagawa Taishi
Shimoyama Katsumi: Kawashima Akira
Shimoyama Akane: Watanabe Mayu
切り取られることのない丸い大空の色を Kiritorareru koto no nai marui ozora no iro o The color of the unbroken, vast sky
Morita Momoyo: Ihara Rikka
Yamakawa Shusaburo: Furuya Ryuta
Sato Toshiyuki: Hashimoto Jun
Sakaba Yu: Masuda Mio
Shimoyama Meiko: Takarabe Kahomi
優しいあの子にも教えたい Yasashii ano ko ni mo oshietai I want to tell her, that sweet girl
Kamiji Kouya (flashback): Sometani Shota
Idohara Noboru (flashback): Kote Shinya
Horiuchi Yukimasa (flashback): Tamura Kentaro
ルルル Rururu rururu rurururu
Naka Tsutomu: Iura Arata
Osawa Asako: Kanjiya Shihori
I'm home.
Welcome home.
What's the matter? Where's Yu?
Not here.
Eh?
She said she's staying at Akane-san's house.
Why?
It's Mei-chan's birthday today.
Is that why you left her?
Yu really want to no matter what.
I'm sorry I didn't do anything. I'll make ramen now.
If you're worried, why don't we just pick her up now?
Shimoyama-san left early today too,
so the birthday celebration should be over by now.
Let's go pick her up together.
There may be more to it than that.
Eh?
Yu doesn't want to leave Akane-san.
What do you mean?
Since we were talking about not being able to leave her with Akane-san, in front of Yu...
Until she turned four, she was with Akane-san for much longer than she was with me.
Even I know it.
Because children are best when they are with people who are willing to be with them.
I like that the most.
Here.
No...
Thank you.
Yes? Hello?
Ah... I'm sorry.
We'll pick her up right away. Yes.
Yu-chan, Mama will be here soon, okay?
Yes, coming.
Ah...
I'm so sorry.
Come in. Come in.
Yu...
I'm sorry for coming here this late. She won't stop crying.
I'm sorry for the trouble we've caused you.
No...
She said she'd wait until morning.
Akane-san, thank you very much and I'm really sorry.
Yu-chan, it's great that your Mama is here., right?
See you soon.
Come on, Yu, let's go home.
I'm sorry.
The warmth of that day's night, the warmth of Yu that time,
Natsu will never forget for the rest of her life.
President's office
Eh? I'm going to be an animation director again?
Yes, we think that it's only you that can do it again.
Umm... Please wait a minute. Next, I'd like to go back to being an
original artist instead of an animation director...
Why?
Even though you made a great achievement.
My child is still in daycare,
and I can't work after 6:00 p.m. unless I have someone to take care of her.
So, if I can, I want to work a job where I can pick up the kids at 6:00 p.m....
I can't believe you're saying that now.
We're counting on you to help us. It's what we need.
Yes. There aren't many animators like you who can draw characters
that are cooler than the original without destroying
the image of the original.
Is it based on a manga again?
Yes. It's about this.
"Bancho of the Demon World"?
Leader of delinquents
Yes. It's a story about a Bancho whose body was taken over by a demon from the demon world.
Bancho...
This delinquent is pure-hearted man.
There's a girl whom he has a one-sided crush on,
but the demon who possessed this delinquent falls in love with the girl.
He's the enemy of humans, but he loves humans, and that's what's tormenting Bancho.
So it's no wonder he betrays the Demon Lord of the Demon World.
Each time the Bancho transforms into a demon and fights to protect the humans.
He gets betrayed but still fights again?
Yes. This is one is perfect for you.
No...
You'll do it, right? If you do it, I'll promise you a raise.
I give up...
Well, since Kickjaguar was such a success,
the company will tell you to do it again.
No, I'm happy about that, but...
You don't want to be an animation director anymore?
It's not that I don't want to do it,
but I'd like to be able to pick up my kid from daycare at 6:00 p.m.
Ah...
Besides, I'd like to stop drawing these kinds of violent things.
The company will not make you want to quit.
In my case, it's the opposite.
Huh?
Ah, that's right. Momochi, you said you had something to tell me. What is it?
Yes... Actually, I'm quitting.
Eh?
I'm quitting Toyo animation.
Eh? Why?
You see, I've been working doing trace for the past few years, right?
I've finally become confident in my tracing work,
but the tracing work itself is diminishing, after all
Ah... Because machine does it much faster, right?
The finishing touches include tracing, in which the drawing is transcribed onto the cells,
and coloring, in which the cells are painted.
It was around that time that they began using a tracing machine
to easily copy the lines of the drawings onto the cells.
In order to streamline the work of tracing,
Toyo Animation was one of the first to adopt it.
In short, I'm no longer needed here in Toyo Animation.
No, that's not true.
Well, for me too, I guess I had enough of this company.
Eh? What are you going to do when you quit?
Yes... I went to talk to Mako-san about it the other day.
Mako-san?
Momochi, are you interested in color?
Color? You mean coloring?
It's not about coloring, it's about deciding on a color like this.
I'm willing to do finishing touches and doing color specifications as well.
Eh? Color specifications?
In Toyo animation, all the colors are decided by art right?
Well, even if I have to do that for the background,
I'm thinking that the colors of the animation could be done by finishing touches.
I thought Momochi would be interested in such things.
I'll do it!
Those words were the deciding factor.
Do you want to do color specification?
Because until now, while coloring, I've thought that it would be better
if this character's clothes were a different color.
I see... Maybe Momochi has a talent for that.
I thought it might be something I love to do rather than a talent.
So I decided to go for it!
Hmm...
Even Momochi is going to Mako-san's company.
I feel like I'm being left behind...
Nat-chan!
Ah... Naka-san.
Nat-chan, that's great.
Eh?
President Yamakawa and Production Manager Sato were crying to me earlier.
They wanted me to convince you
to take on the animation director job.
That's what you want to talk about.
I heard they promised you a raise, too.
Yes...
Do you want to spend time with your child?
It's impossible after all.
I'm so sorry.
That's partly true, but...
To tell you the truth, I can't get on board with the project.
I understand... I see.
Well, if that's the case, then there's nothing I can tell you.
Eh...
From now on, it's up to Nat-chan to decide for herself.
No one will ever tell you
where you want to go as an animator.
That's true, isn't it?
I... will be fine with whatever Nat-chan decides to do.
Thank you...
Yes.
As an animator, we would like to respect Okuhara-san's wishes.
The most painful thing for me is when the company
doesn't want to do something I used to take for granted.
Thank you, Mama.
What for?
Thank you for coming today.
Yu...
Let's play in the park today and then go home!
Yes!
Good. Let's go.
Natsu eventually took another job as animation director.
Natsu, let's keep moving forward.
To Be Continued
Natsuzora
Natsuzora Animation
END
Nishiwari-san from Aichi Prefecture