In the setting of LIFE-LINE, there are many side storylines for girls, but truthfully speaking, there is only one real heroine, and that is the male protagonist's daughter, Narae.
In the story's setting, Narae is a girl with an eye disease; from a young age, she has been unable to clearly see her father—the male protagonist—what he looks like.
However, she very much wanted to draw what her father looked like, and that is how those original art settings came to be.
Goro Miyazaki is the one tasked with completing this part of the content.
For him, it was a matter of adopting the daughter's role to draw the image of the [father].
But at the same time, because the heroine has a serious eye condition, these paintings could not be figurative; one could even say—the more abstract, the better.
Yet, within that abstraction, they still had to retain recognizable features so that players would know these were drawings the daughter made for her father.
This is actually a remarkably difficult thing to do.
Especially for a master like Hayao Miyazaki.
It's equivalent to asking an award-winning actor with superb acting skills to play an inept actor who, despite being unskilled, still shows great potential—the performance has to be not-so-good, yet clearly show that this person is actually very talented.
It's hard.
Very, very hard.
It requires the painting to be good enough, yet abstract enough, expressing chaos while still allowing clues to be discerned.
This is by no means easy.
After all, in the game's setting, Narae is only about ten years old.
Asking a master to use a child's touch to draw the world as seen through the eyes of someone with "a serious eye condition"—that is incredibly abstract.
It's no wonder Miyazaki was never satisfied with what he drew, and even specifically retreated to Ghibli to study with focus and rediscover his inspiration.
***
Who knows how Toshio Suzuki managed to persuade Goro Miyazaki. Aoki Haruhi originally thought this matter had little chance of success, but unexpectedly, two days after he had a heart-to-heart talk with Suzuki in the park, Suzuki-san contacted him.
He informed Aoki that Goro Miyazaki was willing to give it a try, but wanted to meet with Pokeni's core creative team to have a real conversation.
Aoki was full of doubts about Goro Miyazaki's talent, but since it was a recommendation from Toshio Suzuki, he decided to give it a shot.
To that end, Aoki formally set a time, and when Goro Miyazaki and Suzuki-san arrived at Pokeni, he gathered the creative team in the conference room.
In reality, there weren't many core members.
The Animation Director, Hayao Miyazaki, was absent. The rest included lead planner Ishino Mika, scriptwriter Jun Maeda, and the artist Yokoyama. As for the programmers, it didn't really matter if they were called or not; Aoki himself was a programmer.
A few people took their seats in the conference room.
Jun Maeda looked terrified; he had been scolded by Hayao Miyazaki quite a bit lately, and just hearing the name "Miyazaki" made him tremble with fear.
Moreover, the person coming today was Hayao Miyazaki's eldest son.
In any case, they both carried the name "Miyazaki."
This was also Aoki Haruhi's first time meeting Goro Miyazaki.
Born in 1967, Goro Miyazaki is only 27 years old this year, in the prime of his life. With a long face, a high nose bridge, thick eyebrows and large eyes that shine with spirit, he has a refined appearance—much, much more handsome than his father.
He could be considered one of the best-looking anime directors in the Japanese animation industry of the future.
Of course, at this moment, Goro Miyazaki is still just a landscape architect.
"Hello, I'm Haruhi Aoki. It's a pleasure to meet you. Please take care of me."
"Hello, you're too kind. I am Goro Miyazaki. Please take care of me as well."
The two shook hands politely and then sat down.
Before Aoki could open his mouth, Goro Miyazaki spoke first, "President Aoki, I have already read the script for your company's game, LIFE-LINE. When Suzuki-san first asked me, I thought he might have asked the wrong person."
"But after reading the script, I actually felt a bit hesitant."
"After thinking about it for a whole night, I decided I wanted to give it a try."
"That's fantastic."
"However, I hope President Aoki doesn't have too high expectations for me. After all, even my father said I have no talent for drawing," Goro Miyazaki said bluntly.
Even if what Hayao Miyazaki said was a fact, wasn't that a bit too harsh for a father to say to his son?
However, looking at Goro Miyazaki's facial expression, Aoki Haruhi felt he didn't look like someone who had resigned himself to his fate.
No, not only was he not resigned, but there were even two flames burning in his eyes.
I don't know how Toshio Suzuki managed to persuade him, but he had ultimately ignited a burning desire for "revenge" against his father—or rather, against painting—deep within Goro Miyazaki's heart.
"The script for LIFE-LINE is quite excellent," Goro Miyazaki said, recalling his experience reading it yesterday. "By the time I finished reading it, my eyes were moist. It's truly a wonderful story, and that's a major reason why I want to give this a try."
"Thank you for the compliment," Aoki Haruhi nodded slightly.
"Because of this, I have a request," Goro Miyazaki pleaded.
"Eh?" Aoki Haruhi was slightly taken aback, raising a hand. "Please, go ahead."
"I hope to make some slight adjustments to the main character's image," Goro Miyazaki said. "The main character's features aren't strong enough; he's a bit too perfect for a game character. I would like to make his appearance more ordinary. It would be best to add a pair of black-rimmed glasses."
Nani?
Aoki Haruhi's brain was in a state of chaos for a moment, but he quickly realized what was happening.
Good grief, he had found such a high-sounding reason before, but the final image—
An ordinary face, black-rimmed glasses.
"Isn't this just his own father, Hayao Miyazaki?"
"And, please make sure to give the male protagonist a sufficiently tragic ending. Only in this way, when he has his epiphany, will it be enough to move the audience—no, move the players," Goro Miyazaki said sincerely.
Oh, wow...
Aoki Haruhi was at a loss for words for a moment.
He turned his head to look at Toshio Suzuki, who was sitting next to Goro Miyazaki.
Good grief, Goro Miyazaki coming up with such an idea? You must have instigated this, right?
This old rascal is full of mischief.
In his previous life, Toshio Suzuki had often done things like this.
For example, in "Tales from Earthsea," the first animated film directed by Goro Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki had egged him on to have the protagonist commit [patricide] right at the beginning of the film.
The main purpose was to help Goro Miyazaki step out of the shadow of his father, Hayao Miyazaki. It's what they call "breaking before building"; only by [killing] off Hayao Miyazaki could he truly become himself.
Otherwise, he would spend his entire life covered by his father's shadow.
Although history had already changed, it seemed Suzuki's behavior hadn't.
It was just that the stage had changed to Pokeni's LIFE-LINE.
As for whether it was patricide or not, that was something Aoki Haruhi would naturally have to consider carefully.
His first instinct was that it was unlikely.
After all, this is a family-oriented healing game, but well... the male protagonist dying is something that could be considered.
The only problem is how many razor blades they'll receive from players when the time comes.
Aoki Haruhi was silent for a long time, then turned his head to look at Jun Maeda in the corner.
"Maeda, what do you think?"
Jun Maeda was trembling nervously in the corner.
I'm just a newbie, why are you asking me?
How could I dare to mess with the master's work?
"Um, I don't have much experience," Jun Maeda said uncomfortably, "I'll just change it however you think is best, President."
Tsk, tsk.
Aoki Haruhi rolled his eyes inwardly.
This guy looks calm and collected on the surface, but I didn't expect him to be so timid inside.
"Let's decide on this for now. As for the character design changes, I'll go talk to Miyazaki-senpai about it," said Aoki Haruhi.
Goro Miyazaki was satisfied with the answer. He and Toshio Suzuki, who was sitting next to him, exchanged a look, finally letting out a sigh of relief and smiling contentedly.
After the meeting ended, Jun Maeda walked out of the conference room, looking ghastly pale.
Mika Ishino, who was nearby, noticed the change in his expression and asked with concern, "Maeda, are you okay? You look terrible."
"I... I'm fine," Maeda shook his head. "I had a bad stomach this morning, I'm just feeling a bit unwell."
In reality, he was worried about the changes made during the meeting just now.
Even though this was his script, everyone who had a hand in it was a big shot he couldn't afford to offend.
He had no idea how Miyazaki-senpai would react after these changes were made.
***
The next day, Aoki Haruhi took the initiative to call Hayao Miyazaki about this matter.
At first, Miyazaki tried to use being busy as an excuse to avoid the call, but as soon as he heard that Pokeni wanted to change the script, he hurriedly rushed over to pick up the phone.
"LIFE-LINE is changing the script?"
Under these circumstances, Miyazaki took a car to Pokeni.
After Aoki communicated the changes to him, Miyazaki himself fell silent.
"Hmm... the tension in the plot is so much stronger after the changes, and the way this foreshadowing is revealed is just incredible, isn't it?"
The newbie sitting next to them, Jun Maeda, although praised by Miyazaki-senpai, still managed only a strained smile, while internally he was panicking.
He was terrified of hearing Miyazaki say, "What kind of bullshit is this?" That feeling would be worse than any nightmare.
Fortunately, Miyazaki gave the new script a high rating, and Maeda quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"And there's one more thing I'd like to discuss with you," Aoki Haruhi said, emboldening himself. "Regarding the protagonist's design, we'd like to make some slight adjustments."
"Oh? You want to adjust it?" Hayao Miyazaki looked up, gazing at Aoki Haruhi with a puzzled expression, waiting for him to continue.
He looked just like a male lion.
Are you dissatisfied with my design?
If you can't come up with a convincing reason, I'm going to eat you.
Sitting in the corner, Jun Maeda automatically filled in the blanks.
Even though Miyazaki hadn't said a word, and no one knew what he was thinking, he exuded an overwhelming sense of intimidation.
"It's too perfect," Aoki said. "Not just his personality, but his appearance is also too perfect. Miyazaki-senpai, you designed him so well that it actually makes him feel unreal."
Terrifying... A galgame that needs a sense of realism...
Jun Maeda didn't even dare to look at Miyazaki's expression. He was panicking internally; the President was being way too bold.
"Hmm... Is that so?" Miyazaki narrowed his eyes in thought. "Then, President Aoki, what kind of adjustments do you think should be made?"
"How about this, what if we add a pair of black-rimmed glasses to the male protagonist?" Qing Zhiyuan almost quoted Goro Miyazaki verbatim. "This would give the male lead a distinctive feature, one that could be revealed in subsequent foreshadowing and become the most important artistic expression for his daughter. What do you think, Miyazaki-senpai?"
Hayao Miyazaki froze for a moment, then slapped his thigh.
"Good! That's excellent!"
"I was wondering why it didn't feel right no matter how I drew it. It turns out that was the problem; the lack of a distinctive feature for the male lead was actually limiting my creativity."
"This change is great. Everything suddenly makes sense. And it's exactly within this ordinariness that the warmth of the story can be felt, and that is what can truly touch people's hearts."
Seeing Hayao Miyazaki's excitement, Qing Zhiyuan breathed a secret sigh of relief.
Like father, like son; this guy even fills in the blanks himself.
Jun Maeda was completely astonished, looking up at Hayao Miyazaki in silence, unable to believe what he was seeing.
He just accepted it?!
No more changes needed?
Is this really the Hayao Miyazaki I know?
***
However, Hayao Miyazaki surely didn't realize that this game character was actually based on himself. Aside from adding black-rimmed glasses, Aoki Haruhi didn't make any other requests; otherwise, it would have been going too far.
Therefore, the protagonist's image, aside from those glasses, was far from resembling Miyazaki—he wasn't short-faced with a square head, dimples, and a big beard.
Instead, he had a refined and handsome appearance, just with an extra pair of glasses.
With the protagonist's design finalized, the subsequent work became much easier to carry out.
On Miyazaki's side, he was also firing on all cylinders.
It must be said that Toshio Suzuki understood Miyazaki truly thoroughly; although he could sometimes be evasive, when it came to work, Miyazaki often held himself to extraordinarily strict standards.
So, even though there had been a slight delay, Miyazaki still delivered the subsequent original drawings on time as promised.
And they were completed beautifully, with a master-level standard.
Not long after, Aoki Haruhi received two vastly different sets of original drawings from Hayao Miyazaki and Goro Miyazaki at the same time.
After entering them into the computer and examining them carefully, Aoki Haruhi found himself in a dilemma.
Toshio Suzuki stood to the side, studying them for a while, and then burst into laughter.
"President Aoki, what do you think?"
"Me?" Aoki frowned deeply.
Think my ass.
What could I possibly think?!
This old geezer is really crafty. Isn't this all because of the problem you created for me? And now you're asking me?!
However, truth be told, the moment he saw these two completely different pieces of work, Aoki already had his answer.
"I'd definitely choose this one." Aoki pointed to the [answer sheet] on the right.
"Hmm. A good choice." Toshio Suzuki smiled with satisfaction.
"But you'll have to be the one to explain it to their side, Suzuki-senpai. I'm afraid something might go wrong if I do it." Aoki threw the responsibility right back at him.
Toshio Suzuki, who had been chuckling just a moment ago, froze slightly upon hearing Aoki's words.
"Huh? Me?"
Suzuki pointed a finger at himself, looking incredulous.
How did it end up being me who has to clean up this mess?!
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