Episode Title:
Don't Hold the Quality Hostage.
Episode Description:
During a delivery by the president of A.C Tsuchinoko, Hisamitsu Isokawa, he reunites with Hiraoka and Erika, who were his classmates in technical school. Meanwhile, Misa gets the chance to do some character CG animation for a certain scene in The Third Aerial Girls Squad, inviting Ema and Shizuka to an amusement park to observe their reactions on a rollercoaster for inspiration. Following the successful premiere of The Third Aerial Girls Squad's first episode, which is met with widespread public acclaim, Aoi receives complaints from Segawa, who requests that Hiraoka be taken off the episodes she is working on due to the lack of quality in both his key animators and his attitude. When Aoi relays this to Hiraoka, he becomes angry, stating that fussing over quality just makes his job harder. While trying to understand Hiraoka, Aoi hears from Erika about how his love and dedication for the anime industry caused him more pain when faced with the realities of the job, leading to his current attitude. Afterwards, Aoi speaks with Isokawa, who states that an important factor in balancing quality and schedules is for the production team to communicate with the creators about the best way to proceed. Hearing this, Aoi decides to have Hiraoka continue working on the twelfth episode on the condition that he communicates more clearly with the other animators. Later that night, Aoi is invited by Watanabe to meet Masahiko Inami and Keiji Takekura, the president and chief production assistant of The Born, respectively, who had conducted Aoi's failed interview there. They both note that she has changed a lot since then, leading her to realize her own goal to do her best and make great anime. With the thirteenth episode's storyboards finished by Seiichi in record timing, Aoi assigns herself, Tsubaki, and Sara as the episode's production team.
