March 28, 1996.
Aoki Haruhi and Nao Tsuda lay on the sofa, leisurely eating fruit and watching TV.
The TV was playing the anime "neon genesis evangelion," directed by Hideaki Anno.
This anime tells the story of 14-year-old Shinji Ikari piloting a giant humanoid robot called "EVA," left by his father Gendo Ikari, to fight mysterious "Angels" on an Earth that has suffered the "Second Impact" catastrophe.
Now, it had reached the final episode of EVA, with a simple, blunt, yet profound title—
"in the world's center, calling out love's beast"
When Nao Tsuda saw this title, she laughed.
"'Love's Beast,' that's really interesting."
These two words seemed contradictory and jarring, yet together they gave off an infinite tension.
On the TV, a black screen showed a single candle burning with a faint light.
The male protagonist, Shinji Ikari's monologue, began:
"I'm going to disappear."
"However, it doesn't matter if I disappear like this."
Rei Ayanami: "Why?"
Hearing Rei Ayanami's voice, Aoki Haruhi's lips curved slightly upward.
Ah~ Hayashibara Megumi's voice is truly delightful. That kind of cool yet infinitely endearing voice is like a kitten scratching at one's heart.
It was precisely because Hayashibara Megumi and Kotono Mitsuishi agreed to voice EVA that they declined the work for "to the moon."
Thinking of this, Aoki Haruhi still felt a bit annoyed.
"Because I'm an unwanted child."
"No one cares what happens to me."
Shinji Ikari roared.
In the final episode of "neon genesis evangelion," the plot's focus shifted to Shinji Ikari.
Director Hideaki Anno used a stream-of-consciousness technique, using others as mirrors to reflect how a person appears differently in everyone's eyes, and in the final episode, he focused on depicting Shinji Ikari's image in the hearts of others.
Furthermore, the ending Director Hideaki Anno arranged was for Shinji to complete the characters in the play one by one with his true heart, piloting Unit-01 to fight his father, who piloted Unit-13, one holding the Spear of Hope, Cassius, and the other holding the Spear of Longinus, the God-slaying spear.
This ending was a sublimation of the entire story's theme.
"Why did it suddenly turn into stream of consciousness?" Nao Tsuda laughed.
Her eyes were filled with endless confusion.
To be honest, anyone would have the same confusion.
At the end of last year, when "neon genesis evangelion" premiered, countless viewers, upon seeing its key tags—
"Science Fiction" "Mecha" "Combat" "Hot-Blooded"
all believed this anime would definitely be a very exciting hot-blooded mecha series.
Before watching: Science fiction, mecha, combat! Yay!!!
After watching: Is this really for children?
From the start of the Human Instrumentality Project, Nao Tsuda fell into deep self-doubt.
Does this anime really need to be so profound?
Aoki Haruhi winked mischievously and muttered, "Perhaps it's because they ran out of money?"
It was one of the very early mecha anime.
Its influence was huge, but the ratings weren't ideal.
At least not commensurate with its large production cost.
Perhaps it was because the theme of this anime was too profound, coupled with Director Hideaki Anno's stream-of-consciousness filming technique, which truly left audiences bewildered.
However, in the future, when people look back at this anime, dissecting its various details and analyzing and interpreting them, EVA will ascend to the altar, becoming a masterpiece in Director Hideaki Anno's career.
A heavyweight work.
Aoki Haruhi, who had already watched it several times in his previous life, still watched it with great relish this time.
He even had a very new viewing experience.
"Why live?"
"What is the purpose of living?"
"For myself?"
After watching this episode, Nao Tsuda's mind was filled with these questions.
"It's terrifying, Director Hideaki Anno has successfully made me not want to collaborate with him," Nao Tsuda said, hugging her legs.
Her head was buzzing.
This theme is simply not suitable for children to ponder, is it?
Even after thousands of years, it's still something for which no answer can be found.
"But the outcome is good, isn't it?"
Aoki Haruhi laughed, looking at Nao Tsuda's despairing expression, "Humanity is great because of its complexity; imperfection is perfection. The future needs to be created together by everyone.
Even in despair, hope is still contained.
This is probably what Director Hideaki Anno wants to tell us."
Nao Tsuda silently rolled her eyes, "Thanks to you for thinking so much."
No matter what Aoki Haruhi said, Nao Tsuda felt she wouldn't sleep well tonight.
...
"So you men just like mecha and stuff, right?" Nao Tsuda said with a mischievous smile.
"Mm."
Aoki Haruhi nodded silently, "Not just mecha, we like other things too."
"Like what?" Nao Tsuda looked at him with a smile.
"Like firearms," Aoki Haruhi said, "Mecha, firearms, artillery, the universe—these are all men's romance."
"Oh, what you like is quite cold and hard," Tsuda sneered, squinting her eyes.
"Of course, and you too." Aoki Haruhi laughed.
Nao Tsuda chuckled, waved her hand, "No, I'm not cold or hard at all."
"Putting me with mecha, firearms, and the universe, it's really a bit strange."
Aoki Haruhi also started to laugh.
It is a bit strange, huh.
However, he wasn't lying at all.
War and women are themes and elements constantly used in anime, film, and television works, even in game.
"But seriously, are these things etched into human DNA, like killing and war?" Nao Tsuda asked, puzzled.
Aoki Haruhi thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
"Isn't the purpose of war peace?"
"Conversely, in their bones, humans actually like peace, tranquility, happiness, and beauty."
"Emmm..." Nao Tsuda propped her chin, thinking silently.
It seemed correct.
"Ah! Speaking of mecha, firearms, and women..."
A light descended from the sky, flashing in Aoki Haruhi's brain.
Aoki Haruhi sprang up from the sofa.
He suddenly remembered something.
"Thank you, wife!"
Aoki Haruhi quickly kissed Nao Tsuda on the lips, then darted into the study.
Leaving Tsuda sitting there, utterly stunned.
"I..."
What just happened?
She silently touched her mouth, her cheeks also flushing.
...
Aoki Haruhi remembered a very interesting, yet iron-blooded and anti-war themed anime masterpiece.
And now he wanted to make it into a game.
The name of this masterpiece was—
"86 - Eighty-Six"
...
"86?"
Ishino Mika looked surprised.
The game's name sounded really strange.
Is 86 a year?
Will the children born in '86 thank you?
"Yes." Aoki Haruhi nodded.
"86 - Eighty-Six" is an anime that aired on April 10, 2021.
It tells the story of a fictional world with highly developed technology, where humans can already create combat weapons for fighting.
The Empire developed a series of war weapons, robot The Legion.
So—
To counter the invasion of the completely independent unmanned combat weapon "The Legion" developed by Giad, its neighboring country, the San Magnolia Republic, developed the unmanned combat weapon Destroyer.
However, the unmanned combat aircraft were merely nominal; in reality, they were piloted by people not recognized as "humans"—the 86—and were used as tools.
The Empire indeed used a group of cold machines without flesh and blood for combat, while the San Magnolia Republic made these humans in District 86 drive mechas, fighting the enemy with flesh and blood.
Because of this, these warriors in District 86 were collectively referred to as the 86.
In 86 - Eighty-Six, war is incredibly cruel.
And those in power do not care about the people at the bottom at all.
Especially the humans living in District 86, who are forcibly conscripted into the battlefield as suicide squads, but internally, they lie, claiming that the 86 are all robots, with no living people.
In the eyes of the higher-ups, the 86 were indeed not human, merely a group of ants going to their deaths.
...
After reading the setting and script outline, Ishino Mika was somewhat astonished.
"Eh? It's actually a war-themed game?"
To be honest, apart from the initial onmyoji series which had a slight combat element, she had never encountered such a bloody war game.
It seemed very strange that the President would entrust such a game to her for production.
"And it's going to be a strategy game?"
Ishino Mika was completely flustered.
"President, I've never made a strategy game before."
"Don't worry, I haven't either," Aoki Haruhi comforted her.
Oh, this...
Ishino Mika was speechless.
If neither I nor the President have experience, won't it be even worse?
She originally wanted to say that, but Ishino Mika thought carefully, since the company was founded, it seemed they had also made many game for which they had no prior experience.
For example, Diablo, and the Pokémon Series.
When she and the President first started fiddling with "onmyoji," they also had no experience.
However, Aoki Haruhi felt, if you haven't eaten pork, haven't you at least seen a pig run?
Compared to game like Diablo and 3D Pokémon, which need to be built completely from scratch, making 86 - Eighty-Six into a strategy game couldn't be simpler.
There were already too many strategy game on the market.
The most typical was the "fire emblem" series.
It's a pity Kaga Shozo hasn't resigned from Nintendo yet, otherwise Aoki Haruhi would really want to poach him.
After much deliberation, Aoki Haruhi finally decided to make 86 - Eighty-Six into a strategy game, with CG interludes to fill in the plot, because only this way could the essence of the entire anime be clearly expressed.
Moreover, just as Ishino Mika said, the strategy genre was an area Pokéni had not yet ventured into.
They needed to drive a nail into this field to open up new territory.
So 86 - Eighty-Six had even greater strategic significance.
"Why a strategy game?" Ishino Mika asked thoughtfully, "Isn't this game more suitable for Shinji Mikami and them to make into a shooting game? I hear Nvidia's 3D graphics cards are coming out soon."
"Well, I've actually thought about this question for a long time."
Aoki Haruhi thought it over and over, and making it a strategy game was still the best option.
"If it's made into a shooting game, you can only highlight the male protagonist, and the roles of the other people in The Legion will be greatly diluted.
In 86 - Eighty-Six, there are many characters; although there are male protagonist and female protagonist, in terms of narrative, on the battlefield, the 86 operate through The Legion collaboration.
But 86 - Eighty-Six is a game with a strong anti-war message. Once the description of the comrades is missing, then when they are mercilessly destroyed by war, the player's experience will be greatly weakened."
Oh my god...
Ishino Mika was completely shocked.
What on earth did I just hear?
She quickly flipped through the proposal in her hand...
Sure enough, there were many "sacrifices" inside.
President, can you please be a human being?!
In the past, it was just the male protagonist and female protagonist, which was understandable, as the number of characters was relatively small. This time, he's directly sacrificing almost every character that will appear in the game.
Yes, the proposal Aoki Haruhi showed Ishino Mika now only contained the content of the first part of 86 - Eighty-Six.
Finally, the main character group leaves the battlefield and embarks on a spontaneous journey, choosing a place they like to die.
Such a death is tragic and magnificent, but because it is the protagonists' self-willed choice, it is filled with infinite romance.
Ishino Mika covered her face with her hand, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
"This game, I dare not take it..."
Aoki Haruhi's eyes widened, "Take it, you must take it!"
If you don't take it, I don't have anyone else on hand.
"President..."
"But "proposal daisakusen" hasn't been released yet," Ishino Mika said, feeling bitter.
Before, they would only start new projects after a game was finished.
Now, they're opening a new pit even before it's released.
"But it's already finished, isn't it?" Aoki Haruhi retorted.
"proposal daisakusen" has been completed and is just waiting for release. In the time to come, the development team's pressure will be much less, with almost no workload.
The pressure is on the operations team.
Ishino, are you using this as an excuse, thinking that the President doesn't understand game?
"Hmm... that's true." Ishino Mika nodded obediently.
"Find a planner who is good with numbers to help," Aoki Haruhi said, "You serve as the Producer, and let him be your Executive Planner."
"Oh, okay. No problem."
Ishino Mika immediately brightened up.
"You've been a Producer for so long, have you never thought about being promoted to Director?"
"Eh?" Ishino Mika looked up in alarm.
A Director is a higher rank than a Producer, equivalent to the head of a studio group, who can open their own studio and initiate projects.
A Producer is basically responsible for the game, equivalent to a Director, needing to control the overall quality and progress of each game.
And a Director doesn't have to spend a lot of time on this.
...
"After 86 - Eighty-Six is completed, there will be more game projects to open," Aoki Haruhi said, "You can be the Director then, and cultivate more new people."
Otherwise, there really won't be enough Producer.
"Okay, okay, President."
Ishino Mika's cheeks were flushed, due to excitement.
She hadn't even imagined that she would one day be promoted to Director.
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