— — "Whoa, I've been feeling like the word cloud for 'time' has been too big since earlier, and I didn't expect it to actually be chosen!"
— — "This gacha animation is quite interesting, but I wonder if they got authorization for it."
— — "When it comes to time, the first thing that comes to mind is 'the theory of lifespan,' right?"
— — "No, that's not right! If you ask me, it's definitely time stop!"
— — "Tch, I think rebirth is the most classic!"
— — "No matter which one it is, anything related to time really tests a contestant's skill. Whether it's primarily about emotions or about imagination, it's very difficult to handle the theme of time without strong writing ability. Besides, no matter how you look at it, the genre most closely related to time is still science fiction, isn't it?"
Upon hearing the result of the topic, from the contestants to the audience, everyone erupted in intense discussion.
Clearly, with no limited main theme and only such a keyword given, the scope for creation was undoubtedly extremely free.
After all, most stories seem to be able to touch on time in some way.
But as for the specifics, it really depends on the contestants' creations.
In his creation room, after hearing the topic, Hua Jian finally stopped flipping through the works in his memory and fell into thought.
With his current memory, there were countless works he could choose from if he were to take time as the theme.
But after a moment's thought, he locked his memory onto an anime series adapted from a game.
Compared to other works, it was the first one that made him interested in the theme of time.
Hua Jian picked up his brush, and as the overflowing ink splashed, the title of the work finally appeared vividly on the paper.
— — steins;gate
... As soon as the topic was decided, many viewers began to flow out of the live streams, which they could already freely choose.
Some had already selected the contestant they wanted to watch, as they were watching the show specifically for those contestants.
Others, however, were only interested in the show itself and didn't have a strong preference for any particular contestant.
"Although they talk about imagination and such, to be honest, recent anime has become less and less imaginative. Production has increased, but the creation of anime series has become more and more assembly-line. What kind of plots are these one after another? I hope this show can produce some promising directors and screenwriters."
"Hey, don't say that. To my knowledge, the young screenwriters participating this time are not to be underestimated. There are already two who have had works participate in productions! Besides that, a relative of the famous Mr. Huatian is also participating in this competition!"
"The Huatian you're talking about, is it the Huatian of 'Huatian's Three Axes' or the Huatian of 'Huatian's Magic'? That Huatian has two tricks, but only two. I don't believe his relative can write anything good, and besides, what does blood relation have to do with creative ability? You're not going to tell me that creative ability spreads through blood like property and power, are you? A loyal supporter of bloodline theory?"
"Saying so much makes you sound reasonable, huh? Isn't this a competition right now? We'll know their actual level very soon, won't we?"
"I think it's better to watch Xin Mi next door. He graduated from Clearwater University with a major in anime directing and screenwriting. The hero story he created before the competition has received considerable praise online. Not only that, his connections are also first-rate. You can see many of his influences in recent anime."
"No, no, your tastes are all wrong. The one I'm most interested in is Xia Chun. Her older sister is a famous tsundere specialist in the voice acting world. Putting everything else aside, just because of that connection, her sister will definitely make a guest appearance in her work, and it's not impossible for her to be a main character."
"Hey, hey, hey, someone's already writing the title! Go look! It's No. 28!"
The discussions about the contestants abruptly stopped, and the audience swarmed into Hua Jian's live stream. They wanted to see how much skill this guy had, who wrote down the creative title as soon as he heard the topic. Was it luck that he had previously created a corresponding theme, or was he really that fierce, just picking up a pen and going for it?
"Hua Jian... isn't this the 'connected' person you were just discussing? Disperse, disperse, it must be because of Mr. Huatian's status. The production team leaked the topic in advance. He probably already memorized someone else's story and is just waiting to copy it here to become famous."
"Did that last bullet comment have a delusion? The word cloud was written by the live audience together, and it was drawn live. How could it have been leaked in advance?"
"How do you know there's no black-box operation here? Even the drawing was a pre-made animation, let alone how many actors there are in the audience."
"Saying so much nonsense, it's all pure speculation. Some people, rather than watching contestants create step-by-step, prefer to hear conspiracy theories come true. I don't care, I've already blacklisted and blocked those few bullet comments. The viewing environment is much cleaner now, with no messy people chattering."
"+1, blacklist and block in one go."
"Look at the title, look at the title, steins;gate? I don't understand. What does this guy want to write?"
"Is it a gate related to time? That kind of theme where past and future are connected by a single gate? I feel like it's not easy to make it stand out."
"Since it's related to time, it definitely won't be a 'two-world trader.' It's probably just the kind of gate connecting to the past as mentioned above... To be honest, I'm not very interested."
Following the viewers in the live stream, the audience on site also gradually discovered that someone had already started writing the title without much thought, and they too flocked into the live stream.
However, they had no objection to Hua Jian's identity, but rather directly discussed the title.
— — "steins;gate? How does this title relate to time?"
— — "This guy couldn't have prepared a work in advance and then plans to write this work no matter what keyword he draws, just to grab some traffic by writing without thinking? Whoa, in a sense, this guy might be a genius."
— — "I despise those who lack skill and resort to cheap tricks the most. No matter how it's written, I will absolutely, definitely not watch this guy's work."
— — "Although I don't have high hopes either, I'm ready to watch you eat your words, hehe."
Of course, not just the audience, the judges also quickly noticed the situation with Hua Jian.
After all, the big screen not only displayed the real-time popularity of the entire show but also specifically showed everyone the level of attention each contestant received.
The market determines value, and the audience's preferences undoubtedly represented the quality of the work.
Currently, the highest popularity in the entire venue was Hua Jian's live stream. Which contestant could the judges watch if they didn't switch the screen over to him?