Chapter 9: The Creeping Dark Power
MOMO
I pulled yet another all-nighter to get today's episode ready on time. We had done about 44 episodes and I was just about to work on the 45th one. About animating… normally for anime, 24 pictures (frames) are used are used each second. The human eye, however, can only detect about 12 frames a second, so ultimately what these extra frames are for is to give a feel of smooth transition. The more frames, the better the animation looks. But since that's expensive as hell, since each frame requires a clear cell, paint or other medium, and then to be animated at 24 per second, for 60 seconds a minute, for up to 30 minutes an episode, or 43200 frames an episode, we tried every trick in the book to hasten the process. A large part of it was hiring in-betweeners, artists that could sorta draw like me, and thus could fill in these extra frames beyond what the typical eye could see. Another trick was really only making about eight frames a second or so, and reshuffling them so that they filled in the gaps. You could superimpose them on backgrounds so that while a character was running or walking, these in-between frames would look different even though they were reused. Heck, if the character wore the same outfit, you might be able to get away with the same few cells for an entire episode. You just shift their perspective so they appear larger or smaller, and then move the character around. All the same, Minky Momo thwarted many of our attempts to use tricks like this, as she was constantly wearing different outfits, and there were two models of the main character. It was labor intensive and we were getting exhausted, so it was a good thing that the story was nearly done, and that the toy companies were giving us plenty of funding.
Noah called me into her office, with a serious look on her face. Uh oh. Noah was sweet but she could be very stern. "Are you here to tell me that I'm fired?" I said. I had been sleeping a lot on the job lately. She looked surprised, "What? No, your work is just fine." So I asked my next suspicion. The two of us had become close since we started, and she had asked me out. "It's the office romance, right? Other workers have complained about the two of us? Don't worry, I can wait until after work," I insisted. Noah said, "That's not either!" So I asked, "Are you breaking up with me?!?" She looked flustered, "Would you just listen? So you know how our entire anime kind of depends on funding from toy makers to make most of its profit?" I nodded, "Oh yes! I love making all these souvenirs. I've helped design some of these things for mass production. It not only gives me a chance to practice my art, it's fun and I know it helps the anime production team." She just blurted out, "The toy company canceled on us! They won't be making any more Minky Momo hats. No more tee shirts. No more wands. No more action figures. No more sewing kits." She went on for a bit more, and I realized, "Jesus, this show has way too much merch." What was Minky Momo without all the support from the toy companies? Why, that was like a magical guy who had lost her powers! That gave me an idea, "I think I can get the toy company's attention. Can you get on the phone with them and negotiate a new deal?" She nodded. I set to work organizing my coworkers. "Okay, I know we were gonna have her finish her father's crown, but I've got a new idea…" I explained how in this episode, Minky Momo was going to lose her powers and have her pendant break to send a message to the toy makers that the animators needed to be paid (or else), but not to worry, by the next episode we'd probably be back on track. They worked from by frame to make a powerful and dramatic episode that I was sure would shame our funders into you know, funding us. And indeed, the episode was plenty dark. Minky Momo's friends (her dog, bird, and monkey, as the series is very loosely based on Momotaro) get taken and put in a net to be hauled away. Her monkey friend tosses her pendant to her, and the guy shoots at it, shattering the thing into shards. There is a slow and dramatic shattering with white background while she stares at it in horror. It all falls to the ground in a dull thud. And in case the audience blinked, we show it hit the ground again. And a third time. "Now pan to it on the ground and rotate the camera," I instructed the others, "then slide the camera across the wreckage. Play some really sad music. Okay, now let me see what you guys have for Momo drawings. I want her to scream and run towards the pendant." We finished the episode, and I was sure that they would see wisdom and continue supporting us. I myself was a struggling artist until this job gave me a major break. True, there was the idol gig, but I wanted to make money honestly doing what I loved to do. That other thing was a side job. Even though it was nice as a change of pace.
"I just got off the phone with the toy company," Noah said, as I looked expectantly, hoping for good news. But then I looked at her face, and it was not good news, "Yeah, they don't care." I glowered, "Fine, let's fucking kill the girl. Maybe they'll care if she's dead." I think I probably made history as the first person to use Truck-kun to isekai some girl in anime. The superhero Isekai had this as their backstory, but nobody who knew her understood why being hit by a truck should give them powers. The episode started with her still without powers, and then a truck carrying toys (as an added jab against the company, so everyone knew who was responsible for this episode) careened off course and slammed into her. I knew the risk of my powers, as a good mood could created powerful lifelike artwork, while a bad mood was destructive as hell. But I was pissed off and didn't care. The day of the airing, though, four earthquakes appeared, all happening in areas where Minky Momo aired. The toy company wasn't that thrilled but the fans apparently wanted more of the show. So I helped make more episodes all the way up to episode 63. She gets reincarnated as the natural child of the parents who she was living with due to magical mind-wiping powers. This Minky Momo more or less has no special transforming powers, but we watch her fulfill the dreams of her new parents instead of completing the dream world as before. It was an upbeat, but wistful ending. On the day of the final episode of this series, an even more massive earthquake hit (well, five smaller earthquakes to be exact, but it was coupled with a great deal of destruction and loss of life). "I'm a curse," I said. Noah hugged me, "Perhaps it was just a coincidence?"
