At the beginning of January, aside from collecting rent, the most important matter was probably the broadcast of the anime adaptation of Hero Throne.
Although Sato had already watched the entire animation long ago, he still could not help watching it again when it officially aired.
After all, this was the premiere of his anime adaptation. It was an especially important moment for him as well.
After finishing the first episode, Sato pondered quietly for a while before entering the forums on the Gensokyo website.
[Tearing up! After waiting two years, it's finally here!]
[A "while I'm still alive" series!]
[The wait was absolutely worth it!]
[Post-watch impressions!]
[The production quality is incredible!]
Posts on the anime forum sprang up endlessly like bamboo shoots after rain. Often, with just a single refresh, another twenty or thirty posts would instantly appear.
Sato casually clicked into a few threads and discovered that they were basically all praise and glowing reviews.
Or rather, at this stage, trying to find negative reviews among the posts was practically impossible.
After all, the Gensokyo website's foundation was built upon his own fanbase. On top of that, this anime's character designs, art style, and voice acting were all top-tier. Even Sato himself had been amazed when he first watched it. The production side had clearly poured enormous amounts of money into every aspect!
"Not bad at all."
After reading the comments, Sato visibly relaxed, a faint smile appearing on his face.
Saying he had not been nervous before the premiere would definitely have been a lie. This was his first work to receive an anime adaptation after all. But achieving such a positive result really did put his mind at ease.
But speaking of anime...
Forums, light novels, manga, illustrations, danmaku videos, music.
These were all the sections that the faraway Gensokyo currently possessed, but two of the most important links were still missing.
Sato stared at the screen and sank into thought.
What he wanted to build was a comprehensive ACGN website. ACGN stood for Animation, Comic, Game, and Novel.
Now that they had already begun their expansion into light novels and manga, the next steps would naturally be games and anime.
Games and anime were undoubtedly industries that burned money. Their production costs far exceeded those of light novels and manga. The former often required collaboration between dozens or even hundreds of people for high-quality production, while the latter could be completed by a single person.
However, compared to anime and large-scale games, there was one branch of gaming that was not particularly expensive: galgames, interactive video games where players could interact with anime characters.
At first, these were mainly bishoujo dating games aimed at otaku, many of them adult games.
Later, all-ages and female-oriented titles gradually emerged as well.
Compared to other types of games, the production costs for these were relatively low. If they wanted to test the waters, this genre would be a good starting point. After all, Kosaka Akane's circle already had experience making this type of game.
More importantly, the composition of these games was basically illustrations + text + music.
Coincidentally, the Gensokyo website already had many illustrators and light novel enthusiasts, while the music section was gradually growing as well.
That might also help drive activity in the other sections.
This inevitably reminded Sato of a game platform from his previous life, one that provided development tools allowing users to create their own visual novels. It really had been an incredibly clever approach!
And the reason they were not developing anime yet was not just because of funding, but also because they needed time to build up a foundation.
Right now, the Gensokyo website controlled both the light novel and manga sectors. He needed to wait until those two sections truly matured. If excellent works emerged from them, the website would gain a huge amount of flexibility in choosing future adaptations.
As for creating galgames...
Sato suddenly recalled the proposal from Aki Tomoya that he had rejected a long time ago, but after thinking about it, he still shook his head and sighed softly.
The idea was good, but making it reality required many more things.
And if it was only ideas, his head was already full of them. As he thought, Sato suddenly began humming a song from his memories.
"The widening gaps between drifting clouds..."
"Whose face is illuminated by the falling light..."
"Taking flight with the remnants of summer..."
"While longing still remains here..."
The song's title was Wings of a Pair...
...
The January wind was cold.
The trees inside the Private Mixed High School were left with only bare branches. Whenever the wind blew lightly, clusters of snow would rustle down from them.
The snowfall had long since stopped, but the accumulated snow still remained.
The entire school carried a chilly atmosphere, and even the students' footsteps had become increasingly hurried.
After all, in weather this cold, hardly anyone wanted to stay outside.
In the hallway, Sato unexpectedly ran into the elegant-looking Isshiki Iroha. As for why she looked elegant... naturally, it was because she was underdressed.
The girl was still wearing a short skirt, choosing style over warmth.
"Achoo!"
"Caught a cold?"
Sato immediately turned to look at Isshiki Iroha after hearing her sneeze. Looking closer, he indeed noticed that her complexion was somewhat pale, and even her cherry-colored lips looked weak and drained of color.
He took a pack of tissues from his pocket and handed it to her.
"Thanks."
Isshiki Iroha accepted it and wiped her nose while thanking him in a muffled voice. Even her tone lacked the usual liveliness she always had. She looked like a flower wilted after too much exposure to the sun.
"Where's your scarf?"
Sato suddenly noticed that detail.
Isshiki Iroha looked up at him, then lowered her head and answered, "One of them still hasn't dried, and I accidentally got the other one wet yesterday."
Tsk, that really was unlucky.
Sato could not help sighing internally at her misfortune.
After thinking for a moment, he slowly removed his own scarf and wrapped it carefully around Isshiki Iroha's neck.
Whoosh!
The girl raised her head and looked at him with those bright eyes.
Sato lowered his gaze to meet hers. Under their mutual stare, he suddenly felt a little guilty and hurriedly said, "Don't misunderstand!"
"But you put your scarf on me!"
"That doesn't mean anything! I'd do the same if I saw some cat or dog out on the street!"
"You jerk!"
The girl gritted her teeth and lightly kicked him.
Couldn't you let me be happy for just a little longer?