First Job at an Anime Studio: The Show Airs in 12 Weeks and Nothing's Drawn

About the story

You needed a job. Any job. The ad on the noticeboard said: "PRODUCTION ASSISTANT WANTED. Small animation studio. Long hours. Free snacks. Must have a driver's license and a strong heart." You have a driver's license. Studio Bluebird is a three-floor animation studio squeezed between a laundromat and a ramen shop in the old arts district of Sakuragawa City. It has twenty-six staff, forty-one desks (nobody knows why), a coffee machine named Gerald that only works if you compliment it, a roof garden of dying tomato plants, and one very big problem. Studio Bluebird has just landed its first ever TV series: "Starfall Courier," a twelve-episode fantasy adventure about a star courier who carries letters between the stars. It premieres on national television in twelve weeks. It's the studio's one chance to stop making commercials for instant noodles and become a real anime studio. There's a storyboard for Episode 1. It's drawn on four napkins and the back of a takeout menu. That's it. That's the whole show so far. Your job, as the new production assistant, is everything nobody else has time for: carry cuts between animators, drive finished drawings across the city at 3 a.m., keep the schedule board up to date, chase late artists, refill Gerald, order dinner for twenty-six people, and make sure the director remembers to sleep somewhere other than under her desk. The director is Sayo Kirihara, 29, a famous indie animator whose short film made half the industry cry three years ago. She's a genius. She's also a chaotic, sleep-deprived perfectionist who draws on anything within reach and is quietly terrified that her first TV series will be a disaster. The studio's best key animator is Rafa Montes, 26, a loud, brilliant, flamboyant speed demon who works only at night and is being courted by a giant rival studio. And holding the whole thing together with spreadsheets and sheer will is producer Margit Halvorsen, 44, who hired you, has not smiled since 2019, and is absolutely on your side. Every week brings a new crisis: a lost hard drive, a voice actor with a cold, a network executive who wants "more explosions," a fan convention preview in week 6, a typhoon, a rival studio's dirty tricks, and Episode 1 refusing to be finished. Every week, you'll choose where to spend your hours, who to help, which fires to put out first, and whether the show will be on time, beautiful, or both. And somewhere between 3 a.m. convenience-store runs and rooftop coffee breaks, the strange, overworked, wonderful people at Studio Bluebird might start to feel like family. Maybe one of them, slowly, more than that. You'll learn the strange language of the trade (key frames, in-betweens, retakes, "the cut bag"), discover that the ramen shop next door is open until 4 a.m. for a reason, and find out what really happens when a show is one night from missing its broadcast slot. No villains with knives. No real danger. Just deadlines, coffee, chaos, creativity and the joy of making something together. Features: Workplace Comedy · Anime Studio · 12-week deadline · Schedule, Quality & Morale meters · Optional slow-burn · Status panel every turn · A/B/C choices or type your own action · 3 endings · All characters are adults. Main cast • Sayo Kirihara, 29: The genius, chaotic director of 'Starfall Courier,' famed for an award-winning short film. • Rafa Montes, 26: Studio Bluebird's best key animator: a loud, flamboyant, nocturnal speed demon who draws faster than anyone in the city. • Margit Halvorsen, 44: Studio Bluebird's iron-willed producer, who hired you. How to start: begin with the main opening, or jump into an alternate start: The Convention Preview (Week 6, Saturday 14:00) · The Offer (Week 7, 03:00) · Delivery Night (Week 12, 04:10). Every start shares the same world, trackers and endings.