Chapter 534 Hitarashi Itsuki: The Last Tale
Chapter 534 Hitarashi Itsuki: The Last Tale
Sakura City, 02:04 pm, the city moved at its usual speed..
Just like it was said before, the city was divided into several important districts, and among them was the Animation District.
It was there that several famous and big animation studios had their headquarters, and it was also there that the Voice Acting Union was located. This meant that the famous animes that were popular worldwide were produced in this same district!
This Animation District was born and popularized just like animation and anime were, in other words, this district started with the animation mother, Hitarashi Itsuki!
One hundred years ago, when Hitarashi-sama opened the Elvish Animation Studios, she opened in this part of Sakura City. At that time, this district was just like any other normal district in the city. She chose this place because it was close to her house.
Obviously, at that time, Itsuki was only able to afford to pay the rent for a small two-story building to serve as the headquarters of the studios. But it was in this small building that Itsuki and her employees were able to produce the first animation movies of the Elvish Studios.
As time passed, the popularity of Itsuki's works became famous worldwide, and the studio expanded its size nonstop. When Itsuki's business rivals saw her success, they wanted to share her success as well. So, they opened their studios in the same neighborhood as her studio. This way they could somewhat monitor her.
But even after decades of trying to achieve her level of success, they were never able to catch up to her. Especially after she was able to successfully launch the first anime on a national TV channel. Her legacy would be forever told with this new achievement on her list of achievements.
It was only after they let go of their rivalry with her that these studios managed to achieve success. They managed to launch successful animes throughout the years and become famous worldwide as well.
But even then, the Elvish Animation Studios had already achieved a level of success that was difficult to reach even with their newfound success.
Plus, every new studio would open its headquarter studio on this district as the anime production would be much simple if they did that.
For all these reasons, the land prices in the Animation District soared exponentially over the years.
This made the most famous and successful studios buy as much land as they could in the district. The city government even had to annex another district to the Animation District 20 years ago to afford the ever-increasing animation industry.
But even with the addition of another district into the fray, the land prices did not decrease.
That's why until this day, the Elvish Animation Studio owned the most land in the Animation District. It was undeniable that their works were the most famous, so they were able to buy more land than the other studios.
The compound was so massive that it seemed like a city. It was there that famous animes and animation movies were produced.
But that wasn't what all that this compound consisted of.
Hitarashi Itsuki was able to actively participate and produce another 4 animes after she produced the first anime in history, Seldarine.
From 1965 until 1980, she produced her last pieces of animations destined to be aired weekly on television.
In 1977, Hitarashi knew that she couldn't keep up with production anymore. At that time, she was already over 70 years old, and her age was already getting the best of her. That was how she initiated the last production of her life.
Hitarashi wanted to finish her last animation in a grand style, and that's why she chose to go against all expectations to produce her first work that didn't portray an elvish story.
At that time, no one expected that this production would be her last work. Everyone agreed that Hitarashi looked way younger than her actual age. They all had this notion that Hitarashi was too legendary to be affected by a mundane thing like aging. They subconsciously thought that she would always be with them.
That's why everyone was looking forward and excited when they heard that Hitarashi would be launching an anime telling a completely new type of story.
Hitarashi didn't tell anyone about her decision, she chose to tell everyone through her animation.
'The Last' was the name of the anime.
The anime told the story of a group of animators working to produce an anime. It was during the beginning of the anime production that their company hired a new intern. This intern had a bubbly and happy personality that made everyone captivated by her. No matter how rude she was treated, she always had a smile on her face. When asked why she was so happy, she just said that she was just too happy to participate in an anime production to get sad because of just a few words.
The anime told the story as Kate, the intern, struggled to help the animators the best she could. Little by little, her personality makes everyone falls in love with her. The story was filled with funny and heartfelt moments that made the public watching smile happily as they saw Kate expressing so much happiness on the smallest things.
The public was able to see how an anime production was made, and they could finally understand how their favorite works were made.
It wasn't a surprise to say that 'The Last' became an enormous success nationwide as it was aired, as every episode was aired, the anime broke records for the most watched anime on TV.
When the last episode of the anime was aired, the nation literally stopped to watch the ending of Kate's story. After seeing Kate's growth and accomplishments through the last 11 episodes, the public was already in love with her.
In the last episode, it was portrayed how Kate and the animation team were able to finish the anime, but it was at that moment that everyone's hearts were broken.
They were finally able to know why Kate was so happy in everything she did. It turned out that she was dying, and before she died, she wanted to realize her dream to participate in one of the magical stories she saw on TV.
It was only after that was revealed that the public caught on to some of the hints portrayed in the last episodes.
Now they understood why Kate was seen leaving the hospital on several occasions by her friends' coworkers, when asked what she was doing in the hospital, she just smiled widely and said that she was doing voluntary work.
Everyone accepted her story, as they couldn't believe such a happy and amazing person like Kate could be sick.
The last episode ended with Kate telling everyone on the animation team that her time with them was the best time of her life.
"Being with you all made me so happy. Being able to realize my dream to make an anime was much more special because I had your company. I entered the team already prepared to leave the last moment of my life and cut my happiness. But meeting each one of you made me so happy. You guys proportioned the best moments of my life. You gave me the strength to face the end with a smile on my face. Thank you for realizing my dreams." Kate smiled at them one last time before breathing her last breath.