Only a little over a week later, the program about Lin Zhiyan was broadcast on television.
The title was, of course, not the one Lin Zhiyan had suggested, but rather: "Animation Director Lin Zhiyan: Seeing Himself as an Audience Member, Pursuing Excellence."
The program started by talking about Lin Zhiyan's birth: January 5, 1977, born in a hospital in Tokyo.
Then, it said that Lin Zhiyan had shown a talent for animation drawing from a very young age, but he had never let anyone know about it. The original animation keyframes that Lin Zhiyan used to draw behind his parents' backs were lost during several moves, which was very regrettable.
This was, of course, something Lin Zhiyan had made up for the sake of plausibility, but even though it was fabricated, no one would be able to tell.
After that, it touched upon his high school years, mentioning that he had lost his parents and had to work part-time while studying to make a living.
For this part, the production team even tracked down his high school teachers, classmates, and the landlord of the place where he lived at the time to interview them.
According to them, it was as if Lin Zhiyan had been an incredibly awesome person from birth.
For example, Lin Zhiyan's homeroom teacher in his third year of high school described it this way: "During high school, student Lin didn't seem any different from the other students in the class. But as his homeroom teacher back then, I always felt he possessed a unique quality. I remember thinking at the time that he was someone who might go on to achieve great things in the future."
This was undoubtedly nonsense, because the Lin Zhiyan before and after high school graduation were simply not the same person.
As for the old Lin Zhiyan, how could he have achieved great things? At most, he could have become Tokyo's top star relying on his handsome face.
However, others didn't know the actual situation, and there was no way to prove that his high school homeroom teacher was talking nonsense. So even if it was nonsense, no one except the person involved would ever know.
Of course, these were just experiences from before Lin Zhiyan entered the animation industry, so this first chapter doesn't cover much.
The content that follows is the key part, including an introduction to his experiences at IG, his mental journey when preparing to go independent from IG, his mental journey after L.S.Produ was established, and, most importantly, the secret to Lin Zhiyan's ability to achieve great success with every animation project.
"The most important thing is to put yourself in the audience's shoes. Every time I create an animation project, I think: if I were an ordinary viewer, would I accept this project? Would I like this animation? By keeping this mindset, you naturally end up creating popular, high-quality animation." That is what Lin Zhiyan said.
This is actually all nonsense. Creating a successful animation is not such a simple thing; unless you're cheating, putting yourself in the audience's shoes is useless.
Ultimately, the key is how to actually create popular, high-quality animation, not how to motivate yourself to do it.
That said, the program was for the audience, not for industry professionals to learn from, so Lin Zhiyan's explanation was sufficient as a response.
The entire program lasted forty-five minutes, and after it aired, new fans who had only recently gotten into his work expressed that their understanding of and affection for him had deepened significantly.
"Your Name" was still conquering markets in various countries and regions, but after this episode, no other television stations expressed interest in interviewing Lin Zhiyan or doing programs about him.
After all, Lin Zhiyan's peak popularity had passed.
However, although television stations were no longer reporting much about Lin Zhiyan, he was by no means idle.
Not only were there many animations or animation projects at his company that required his review, but he also had to travel to various places to receive awards.
Although "Your Name" was a standard commercial film without particularly profound ideological depth, it was, after all, a box-office blockbuster. Furthermore, in terms of production, it was of the highest caliber, not inferior to any other animation from the same year, so naturally, it could not be excluded from awards.
The three major animation awards in Japan all awarded the Best Animation Award to "Your Name." The Japan Academy Film Prize did not award it Best Animation, but it did give "Your Name" a Popularity Award. Additionally, the Movie Critics Award for Best Director was also presented to Lin Zhiyan.
As for animation awards hosted by various magazines, such as the Newtype Anime Awards, they only represented popularity among the audience. Although they also awarded the top spot for Best Work to "Your Name," they were hardly worth mentioning.
And this was just the awards in Japan. Around the world, the anime "Your Name" also won awards frequently. For Lin Zhiyan, it was practically winning awards until his hands went numb.
A few years ago, when "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" burst onto the scene, Lin Zhiyan also won awards until his hands went numb, but the number of awards "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" received wasn't as high as "Your Name," and those were all Japanese awards, with no international ones. "Your Name," however, has won many international awards.
It's quite a sense of achievement.
After all the various awards were collected, time came to 2014. In cinemas, "Your Name" had finished its run.
By the end of its run, it had grossed a total of 25.29 billion yen, with over 20 million admissions, slightly higher than the box office of Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name" in another timeline.
However, after the release of "The Wind Rises," the box office of "Your Name" was indeed significantly affected. The reason it was still able to exceed 25 billion yen, and even surpass the box office of the original version in the other timeline, was mainly due to its strong momentum in the early stages.
It can be said that if Hayao Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises" had not been released and affected the box office of "Your Name," the box office for Lin Zhiyan's version of "Your Name" would likely have exceeded 26 billion yen.
This is just the box office in Japan; the cumulative box office for this animation in countries and regions outside Japan is even higher, exceeding 300 million USD. This is significantly higher than the overseas box office of "Spirited Away," making "Your Name" the highest-grossing Japanese film in history in terms of overseas box office.
As the highest-grossing romance-themed animated film, the first non-Miyazaki animated film to gross over 10 billion yen, and the only animated film other than "Spirited Away" to gross over 20 billion yen, "Your Name" has already earned its place in history. Now that it has become the highest-grossing Japanese film overseas, it will leave an even more significant mark in the history of animation.
In addition, the BD and DVD sales for this animation have also been quite good, and various merchandise, including music CDs and novels, have also brought Lin Zhiyan substantial profits.
For Lin Zhiyan, this single animation has been a bountiful harvest.
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