Chapter 1

"Lin, it's time to pay the rent. If you don't pay, even though I know you've been having a really hard time, I can't let you stay here anymore."

"Alright, I'll pay right away."

"Hmm? Why are you so agreeable all of a sudden? Did you find a job?"

"Not yet, but if I want to keep living here, I'll have to pay eventually. And I can't transfer my stress to others just because I can't find a job."

"Good to know. If things don't work out, you should consider working as a waiter at the restaurant I introduced you to before. The manager there said he really hopes you'll continue working there."

"Alright, I'll think about it."

...

After paying the rent promptly, Lin Zhixian returned to his room, closed the door, and carefully reviewed his assets.

A total of 128,750 yen.

The monthly rent for the room was 40,000 yen, and the cost of food was even higher.

If he saved carefully, he could barely make it through a month.

But...

"This shabby apartment is really a mess!"

He looked around the room, unable to stop frowning.

Everything he could see was old, and the facilities were extremely basic.

No air conditioning, no washing machine, no kitchen, no wardrobe, and no bed.

Just a small bathroom, a tiny balcony, and a small table.

Two quilts were folded on the floor, forming a small bed, with clothes piled up messily beside them.

He could hear the neighbors talking, the sound of the toilet flushing, and the TV from the landlord downstairs clearly.

He couldn't help but have a premonition: he would probably have insomnia tonight.

Living in a foreign country with such a poor living environment, it was no wonder he would have trouble sleeping.

As for work, although he hadn't found a job yet, he didn't think it was anything to worry about.

He would just do animation.

As for working as a waiter at the restaurant, although he said he would "think about it," he didn't actually need to consider it at all.

Having been reborn, going to work as a waiter would be a disgrace to a reborn person.

That's right, he was a reborn person, but not reborn into his past self. Strictly speaking, he had transmigrated into the body of a high school student named Lin Zhixian, who was about to graduate in 1995 in Tokyo, Japan.

The surname "Lin" is not unique to China; many countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia have people with this surname. In Japan, the Lin surname is quite common, with about 500,000 people, ranking in the top twenty surnames in terms of population.

During the Japanese Warring States period, there was the Owari Lin clan, which produced the warrior Lin Shouzhen.

However, at that time, only the nobility had surnames; commoners did not have the right to have surnames.

In modern times, a law was passed requiring all Japanese to have surnames. Many commoners, not knowing what surnames to choose, simply used their addresses or occupations, leading to a large number of people with the surname Lin.

Of course, many people with the surname Lin also migrated from other countries at different times.

Lin Zhixian was 182 cm tall, with a slender face, a tall and slender build, and a handsome appearance. His teeth were neatly and brightly white. In terms of looks, he was flawless.

Unfortunately, the original owner's family was not wealthy; in fact, they were very poor. His parents had passed away when he was just a first-year high school student. Fortunately, he was already in high school and wouldn't be sent to an orphanage.

Additionally, this guy didn't like studying. During his three years of high school, he hardly ever paid attention in class, copied all his homework, and didn't participate in any club activities. He would leave school as soon as classes ended to go to work.

Naturally, his college entrance exam results were very poor.

There was no hope of going to university, but he had originally planned to work after graduation.

In Japan, it's not unusual for high school graduates to start working, but with only a high school education and no special skills, it was difficult to find a satisfactory job.

He didn't want to take unsatisfactory jobs, so he kept delaying.

Today is March 22nd. In two days, the school will hold the graduation ceremony. On the way back from outside tonight, this guy tripped over something, hit his head on a rock, and then Lin Zhixian's soul transmigrated into his body.

If he had been reborn in China in 1995, Lin Zhixian could have quickly become wealthy and successful by leveraging his memory. However, this was Japan.

In his previous life, he had never lived in Japan and only knew about Japan through the ACGN (Animation, Comics, Games, Novels) field, so he could only do animation.

Before transmigrating, he was a key animator in the Chinese animation industry, with a bit of musical talent. He had posted cover videos of Japanese songs and some other types of videos on Bilibili, but he wasn't a professional in that area.

To support himself, he would have to rely on his identity as a key animator.

More importantly, he could remember every line and every detail of the over a thousand anime he had watched before transmigrating.

In this situation, not doing animation would be a waste.

Unfortunately, making animation is a team effort, not something one person can do alone. Without money, connections, or experience, even with his memory advantage, it wouldn't help much.

He would need to join an animation company, gain some experience, and build some connections before he could gather a few people to start his own animation company.

In March 1995, famous animation companies like Bones, PA Works, A-1 Pictures, and MAPPA had not yet been established. The impact of the Miyazaki Tsutomu incident had not yet faded, and the ACG industry was in a slump.

However, in a few months, "Neon Genesis Evangelion," co-produced by GAINAX and Tatsunoko Production, would air and cause a significant stir in society, leading to a gradual recovery of the ACG industry.

That said, the situations of these two companies were a bit complicated. GAINAX would decline to almost nothing in about ten years, while Tatsunoko Production would go bankrupt and be acquired in 2005 due to the high-budget production of "Crow: Karas."

Even if he wanted to participate in the production of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" to enhance his resume, he didn't necessarily have to join GAINAX or Tatsunoko Production, as many animation companies had taken on outsourcing work for the series.

Companies like Sunrise, Toei Animation, IG Port, Shaft, and Madhouse were also worth considering.

As for Studio Ghibli, where Miyazaki Hayao worked, although it was a dream for many to join, Lin Zhixian had no interest. Miyazaki's influence was too strong, and he was a tyrant. Employees there were just cogs in a machine, with no room for creativity. The workload was heavy, the pressure was high, and it was difficult to poach talent from Ghibli.

He wanted to join an animation company to gain experience and build connections so he could poach talent in the future, not to become a corporate slave. There was no need to make himself so miserable.

"Hmm, I'll go and check tomorrow to see which animation companies are hiring recently."

(PS: This is a new book by a new author. I appreciate your support with favorites, follows, and recommendations! By the way, real names cannot be used in the novel, so any characters who might interact with the protagonist will be replaced with homophones or other characters, not typos.)