As Hunter x Hunter continued its serialization, the number of votes it received on Dream Comic steadily climbed week by week.
From just over six hundred thousand votes for the first chapter, it rose to 820,000 votes by the latest installment.
It was now less than sixty thousand votes behind Source War Chronicle.
Shirogane had already proven that his fan base was significantly larger than that of Source War Chronicle.
If another manga artist were competing with Source War Chronicle for first place, the media might still debate whether that series truly had the potential to reach the top.
But for Shirogane, there was no need to speculate about his ceiling.
The highest popularity vote record in Dream Comic history had been set by Hikaru no Go.
Now, major media outlets and well-known manga critics across Japan began to grow restless.
Hunter x Hunter had been serialized for barely over ten weeks.
It had not even completed its first major arc, the Hunter Exam.
Yet its popularity trend clearly suggested another steady ascent toward the top.
Was this really possible?
How could Shirogane continue reaching the peak of popularity in every magazine he serialized in?
By mid-August, coverage of Hunter x Hunter exploded across Japan's manga media.
"This Year's Most Explosive Manga Debut. Hunter x Hunter, a Genius Work Offering an Entirely New Reading Experience."
"A Simple and Accessible Plot Combined with Exceptional Character Development. The Key to Hunter's Success."
"Shirogane's sports manga is unlike any other sports manga in Japan. His hot-blooded shōnen manga is equally unique. Every one of his works carries a style that peers find almost impossible to imitate."
"Multiple Characters from Hunter x Hunter Appear on Japan's Anime Popularity Rankings, with the Dangerous Villain Hisoka Ranking Among the Top."
"Not a One-Hit Wonder. The True Manga Genius Shirogane. His Words at the End of Hikaru no Go Are About to Become Reality. Hikaru no Go Was Not the Peak of His Career, But Its Starting Point."
"The Industry Once Heard Shirogane Say That His Goal for Hunter Was to Become the Most Popular Manga in Japan During Serialization. Now, Hunter's Path to the Top Has Clearly Begun."
By mid-August, with thirteen chapters serialized, Hunter x Hunter had become the center of discussion within Japan's manga industry.
Inside Hoshimori Group, executives could not hide their smiles as they watched the company's stock price rise alongside Hunter's increasingly impressive performance.
Yet after the smiles faded, a trace of regret surfaced.
Before Hunter x Hunter was submitted, Shirogane had mentioned another work that he regarded as being on the same level.
That work was One-Punch Man.
Because the Group refused to allow a single artist to serialize two manga simultaneously, One-Punch Man had instead become an original animation, self-funded by Shirogane.
And now, the first episode of the One-Punch Man anime was less than a month and a half away from broadcast.
What kind of work had Shirogane believed could stand alongside Hunter?
Could this anime actually become popular after airing in October?
If it did, would they not become a laughingstock within the industry?
Late August arrived.
With Rei's generous financial support and the countless overnight work sessions pulled by the entire staff at Illumination, One-Punch Man successfully completed enough footage to produce a pre-broadcast trailer before September.
Once the news broke, a large number of Shirogane's fans rushed to Illumination's official website as quickly as possible.
They clicked on the trailer.
What appeared on screen was a twenty-three-second promotional video.
A bald man wearing a yellow jumpsuit.
A white cape draped over his shoulders.
Red gloves covering his hands.
He looked straight at the audience and spoke calmly.
"Possessing overwhelming power."
In the next instant, a massive monster appeared, capable of smashing an entire building with a single punch.
The bald man wearing a cape merely looked at the monster calmly and threw a punch.
Magnificent animation quality followed, with exquisite and beautifully rendered backgrounds.
The monster's body seemed to be filled with some kind of force before rapidly expanding, exploding, and shattering into fragments.
The screen flashed.
Three large characters appeared.
"One-Punch Man!"
What was this?
Was this man in yellow the protagonist?
"One-Punch Man? Does that mean the protagonist can destroy monsters with just a single punch?"
"No way."
"What kind of absurd setting is this? An anime like this will only be interesting for the first few episodes. Once the protagonist is invincible, people will definitely start complaining."
"Teacher Shirogane has been working on this for half a year. One-Punch Man is finally about to air."
"The trailer actually looks pretty good. I just don't know what the story will be like."
"In the character images released earlier on Teacher Shirogane's and Illumination's official websites, wasn't there a heavily modified robot following Saitama? Why didn't he appear in the trailer? Did they run out of budget and stop making him?"
"How could they run out of money? Teacher Shirogane might not be absurdly rich, but he wouldn't care about expenses like that. We'll find out when the anime airs."
"I hope the rumored investment of over thirty million yen is real. Give me top-tier animation quality."
"A protagonist who's invincible from the start. I honestly don't see what's interesting about that."
"Just watch it."
Although Illumination itself was not particularly prominent within the industry, because One-Punch Man was Shirogane's independently produced animation, Rei's fans flooded Illumination's official website after watching the trailer.
Over the next two days, Capital Television Station also began airing the One-Punch Man promotional trailer during relatively ordinary evening time slots.
The broadcast timing was not ideal, but it was still a paid promotional slot secured by Rei.
At the same time, although One-Punch Man quickly attracted attention because of Shirogane's name, it was now late August and early September. A large number of anime scheduled for Japan's autumn season had already begun their promotional campaigns.
Most anime fans were focused on other upcoming titles.
As a result, One-Punch Man, still only in the trailer stage, managed to draw the interest of some media critics, but nothing more, in Japan's fiercely competitive animation market.
August passed, and September arrived.
On September 1st, Rei reported to Vocational University as a freshman.
Miyu did the same.
What Rei had not expected was that a considerable number of his manga fans were already waiting for him on campus.
He nearly caused a major stir on his very first day.
But things like this required adjustment from both sides.
More importantly, Rei simply did not have the energy to dwell on it.
Hunter x Hunter was now extremely close to reaching the top of the popularity rankings in Dream Comic.
And the One-Punch Man anime had officially entered the countdown for the autumn season.
...
Read 50+ chapters ahead @[email protected]/Ashnoir