Anime rating game

"Hmm... Although I work part-time as general affairs manager and agent, Karasuma is the only person in the entire agency right now, so let's calculate the salary according to the general affairs manager standard."

"If there's only one person, there's probably no need to use this algorithm, right?"

"Just because there's only one person now doesn't mean there will always be only one person. When we're making the next animation, we might have to sign someone temporarily. Based on the general affairs department's standards, what's a suitable salary?"

"I think 200,000 is sufficient for the agency's general affairs department. If we get voice-over work later, we can calculate the salary separately based on the content of the work."

"Hmm... Will Musashino Animation handle the finances on a part-time basis, or will he do it himself?"

"There's no reason for him to pay his own salary. Let the finance department at Musashino Animation handle it. It's just one person, and the workload isn't much."

"Then it's settled."

Masamune turned to look at Karasuma Gojō and asked:

Do you find this salary acceptable?

"...Are you really going to pay me?" Karasuma Gojo hesitated for a moment before speaking. "When I was a voice actor, I only got paid when I got a job. If I didn't get paid that month, I got nothing."

"As someone who often doesn't get work and isn't very popular, and I'm not sure if I can even be considered a voice actor, I usually get 15,000 yen per episode."

"The firm takes 30%, and with all the taxes and levies, they usually only get a little over 60%."

"In the past few months, I've been doing voice acting work, which I'm not sure can be considered voice acting, and I've only been able to earn around 50,000 to 60,000 a month."

Very few.

6 yen is roughly equivalent to 3000 RMB.

It seems like a lot, but considering that a bowl of noodles costs 600 yen, and taking into account the price of goods, 60,000 yen is only equivalent to 700 or 800 RMB, or even less.

That's a very small monthly salary.

Masamune was speechless. No wonder voice actors at the bottom of the class have to work odd jobs to survive with such low incomes.

"You are now not only a voice actress, but also a general manager and agent."

"Although you are the only one in the firm right now, it won't always be like this in the future."

"The fact that we do not have the idea of ​​growing bigger does not mean that we will never grow bigger."

"If you become a popular voice actor, we will take the opportunity to recruit more people and expand our scale."

"I hope that the salary of 20 is just a short-term emergency measure, rather than the norm for the next few decades of your life."

So this is ah.

That makes sense; when you're responsible for your own profits and losses, everything depends on yourself.

"Yes, I understand."

Karasuma Gojō straightened up, and his face brightened.

Seeing this, Masamune shifted his gaze to Okitsu Yuka and asked in a low voice:

“Ms. Okitsu, there are a few male classmates in Masamune-kun’s Revenge, but they only have a few lines. It would be a waste to use popular voice actors. As a promising new voice actor in our Musashino agency, do you think we could give them all to Karasuma?”

"??"

Yuka Okitsu was completely stunned and couldn't come to her senses for a long time.

After a long while, he finally sighed helplessly.

Ever since I met the new president, I feel like I sigh a lot.

I used to be a very quiet person, but now I'm becoming quite the chatterbox.

"President Hayase, could you please refrain from making such uninformed remarks? Even if it's just a minor role, many people would be vying for it."

"Besides, how can you give all the background roles to one person?"

“This is where acting skills come in handy,” Masamune said with a smile. “Isn’t there a saying that voice actors are all monsters?”

“Not all voice actors are the same. How about we have Karasuma go to the audition, and then Director Kinoshita and the others decide whether or not to use him?”

"I have no objection. However, they're just passersby, can't we just confirm it directly?"

"Please don't say such unprofessional things. Even minor characters with only one or two lines need to be taken seriously. In your words, this can improve the rating a little."

Masamune chuckled, then turned to look at Karasuma Gojō:

"I'm sorry, I only managed to get you one audition opportunity."

"No, thank you so much for your help!"

Karasuma Gojō rose and bowed, his eyes filled with solemnity.

When he submitted his resume yesterday, he had this expectation. Since it was a voice actor agency affiliated with Musashino, and the animation was produced by Musashino, he might be able to get some opportunities.

Even if it can't be determined directly, it can still increase the chances of winning by a little bit.

In retrospect, this idea was correct.

Furthermore, there is a better chance that she can seek opportunities in other anime under the name Musashino.

Chapter Ten: This industry is just too strange.

Although the plan is to take a relaxed approach, it doesn't mean they'll completely ignore it.

That day, Masamune had a storage room in Musashino that was not currently in use cleared out to serve as Karasuma Gojō's office.

The following morning, after listening to the animation production progress and the day's work arrangements at the morning meeting, Masamune turned his gaze to Karasuma Gojo, whom he had specially invited to the meeting.

"That's about it for today. All I can say is, please don't sacrifice quality for speed. Make sure every frame is of the highest quality."

"Now, let's talk about Musashino Voice Actor Agency."

"Director Kinoshita, once the animation production is nearly complete, how do you usually find suitable voice actors?"

Seiichi Kinoshita stroked his chin and pondered:

"One is the original author's designation. Of course, this is an important reference, but not the decisive factor."

"The second option is to select a few voice actors with suitable voices, send invitations to their agencies, coordinate their schedules, and then invite them to audition or directly confirm the candidates."

"The next step is to issue a public announcement, clearly listing the required vocal characteristics, age, and other conditions. Once the voice acting agencies submit their resumes, we will select suitable candidates to audition."

Masamune nodded slightly, then asked again:

"Karasuma, how did you usually get jobs when you were at other agencies?"

"Well... I basically follow the agency's arrangements, but I was in a small agency before, and just waiting wouldn't bring any opportunities. So, I often had to take the initiative."

Karasuma Gojō frowned slightly, thinking as he spoke:

"Based on my years of experience, from an agent's perspective, waiting for the agency to make arrangements is the most clumsy approach."

"Unless they are voice actors heavily promoted by their agencies, they usually need to find opportunities on their own."

"As an agent, I mostly handle miscellaneous tasks and coordination and communication after the voice actors receive a job."

"From a voice actor's perspective, apart from a few audition opportunities arranged by the agency, I have basically found all the other auditions myself."

"For example, get close to the teachers in the voice actor training class and use their connections to join the agency."

"In the process of voicing minor characters, I build good relationships with sound directors, senior voice actors, and other people, and then use their connections to get audition opportunities."

"However, when the two parties are not of equal status, asking the other party to help arrange roles often requires treating them to drinks."

"Furthermore, before you gain fame and prove your skills, no matter how much you pull strings, you can only get small jobs at most. Such as voice acting for games with little popularity, minor roles, or voice acting with only one or two words."

Masamune seemed to be deep in thought, pondered for a moment, and then turned to look at the others:

"In short, new voice actors can only find work through connections, but once they gain popularity, jobs will come to them on their own."

"Watanabe is mainly responsible for liaison work for our company's external business."

"Could you contact a sound engineer you know and help Karasuma think of a solution?"

Watanabe Jun fell into deep thought. It wouldn't be a problem if he only helped once or twice, but the problem was that the president seemed to be taking it very seriously.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with the work of voice actors."

"If we can find a sound director we know, we can invite Karasuma out for a casual meal. If all else fails, we can just buy the role. If the price is right, we can reimburse it from public funds."

Upon hearing the second half of the sentence, Watanabe Hayato was stunned for several seconds before he came to his senses and gave a helpless smile:

"President, please don't use such a dazzling smile in public to openly discuss these unspoken rules that can't be discussed in public."

"I admit that there are quite a few people in the industry who spend money to buy characters, but in the end, most people are focused on making animation and only care about whether the voice is suitable, rather than focusing entirely on making money."

"Besides, can this kind of thing be reimbursed with public funds?"

Masamune chuckled, then shook his head.

"I don't think there's anything to hide about this kind of thing."

"Two voice actors with similar voice qualities and similar fame will naturally have more opportunities if they are willing to pay. That's fair."

"When you ask someone for a favor, you can't let them get nothing out of it."

"Karasuma needs an opportunity right now, even if it's a terrible anime with a low rating. Having an opportunity is better than having no opportunity at all."

"Miss Okitsu, please come along too. With the two of you helping out, I feel much more at ease."

"..." Seeing that the criticism was directed at her, Okitsu Yuka was speechless and could only sigh softly.

"I'm sorry, Mr. President, I can't do such dirty work. Please find someone else. Besides, our job is to help animation production proceed smoothly, not to help new voice actors find jobs."

"In that case, would you like to take up a temporary position at the voice acting agency and receive double pay?"

Masamune paused for a moment, then smiled and said:

"The agency currently only has one voice actor, so the workload shouldn't be too heavy. Even if we have more people in the future, we can hire new people and distribute the work among them."

"Of course I wouldn't object to receiving two salaries, but that would be too unfair to others, and the company would definitely..."

Before Yuka Okitsu could finish speaking, Masamune interrupted her:

"If someone also wants to do two jobs and is confident that they can do them well without making any mistakes, I will not hesitate to pay them an extra salary."

Yuka Okitsu remained silent. Ever since meeting the new president, she felt that her whole life had become strange.

Honestly, this is during a morning meeting, with everyone watching. Is it really okay to openly discuss things like buying characters and having two salaries?

"I thought the president was just acting on impulse yesterday. Do you really want to keep the voice acting agency going?"