Ordinary manga artists rarely attracted this level of attention. The media usually had little interest in them. Reporting repeatedly on middle-aged creators in their forties or fifties simply did not excite anime fans.
But a young genius like Rei was different.
Even if he did nothing, his fans, anti-fans, and the media would find topics for him.
Of course, Rei's rapid rise to fame in Japan had also relied on these same forces for exposure. He could not enjoy only the benefits while rejecting the drawbacks.
As for the media attacks or the provocations from Burning Sin fans, Rei paid them no mind.
Whether they existed or not made no difference.
For One-Punch Man, Rei had only one target.
First place for the season.
By now, Rei had been at university for nearly a month and had largely adapted to campus life.
In terms of coursework, there was significant overlap between animation and manga studies, so Rei possessed a stronger foundation than most of his classmates.
Moreover, he was already a top-tier public figure. If his academic performance were too poor, to the point of failing classes, it would quickly spread online. Rei had no intention of handing his anti-fans free ammunition, so he took his studies seriously.
Time soon reached the end of September.
From the project's launch in May to now, nearly October, the first episode of the One-Punch Man anime had been in production for almost five months.
The previous week, Rei had watched the completed first episode together with the heads of various departments at Illumination.
A few days later, he personally accompanied company staff to deliver the master copy of Episode One to the headquarters of Capital Television Station in the city center.
"It airs tomorrow."
On that day, everyone at Illumination was tense.
Many of them were long-time employees of the company. Others had been recruited from different studios by Himari after Rei's investment made the One-Punch Man project possible.
To be honest, everyone was confident in the production quality.
The budget was not small. Although the company itself was modest in size, its technical capabilities were solid. In previous years, it had contributed highly praised outsourced episodes to several popular anime in Japan.
In other words, the animation quality itself was beyond question.
When they watched the first episode internally, many of them genuinely found it interesting.
But what would happen after it aired?
With only dozens of people in the company, some began to wonder whether their enthusiasm came from being too deeply involved in the project.
What if One-Punch Man turned out to be a disappointment after its premiere?
What if Japan's anime audience simply did not like this style of work?
Fear often comes from uncertainty.
Would the anime flop?
Would it be torn apart by criticism?
Unlike Rei, who already knew the fate of One-Punch Man from his previous life, they could not help but overthink.
Rei, however, remained calm.
Sitting in Himari's office, he wore his usual faint smile. It was a composure that Himari deeply admired.
"As expected of Teacher Shirogane," she said.
"You're the creator of this anime, yet with the broadcast just around the corner, you're the calmest person in the entire company."
"There's no point in being anxious," Rei replied with a light chuckle.
"And honestly, I think many people here are lacking confidence. Everyone looks a bit dispirited. Why is that necessary? Why not imagine that after a few weeks of broadcasting, One-Punch Man will have strong ratings and excellent reviews?"
Himari's expression turned slightly awkward.
"You can't really blame them," she said softly.
"The main reason is that the original anime our company produced in January flopped badly. It left many of the staff with a kind of psychological shadow."
"At that time, in the same quarter, that project happened to air at the same time as your first season of Hikaru no Go." Himari said quietly.
"Your work became the anime with the highest viewership ratings of the quarter, while our company's project ranked among the bottom three in ratings for the entire season. It was even listed among the top five of the ten worst anime in Japan during the first half of this year."
As she spoke, Himari herself felt embarrassed.
That work had not been poorly produced, nor could it be called particularly good given its budget. The real problem was that its story and theme failed to match audience tastes. The screenwriting team's so-called innovative and avant-garde plot had been mercilessly criticized by viewers, who openly mocked the writers as out of touch.
In many cases, professionals who tried too hard to create "artistic" works ended up producing disasters. Worse, they often did not realize it themselves, because they were completely immersed in their own ideas during production.
Rei had seen this countless times in his previous life.
Many manga adaptations and novel-to-film or television adaptations had been criticized for exactly this reason. The production teams could have simply followed the original material, yet insisted on making drastic changes, only to alienate the audience.
"They were deeply hurt by the overwhelming online backlash," Himari continued softly.
"For a long time, they were even too embarrassed to tell friends that they had worked on that anime."
Rei understood immediately.
"Then you can tell your staff something," he said.
"Tell them what?" Himari asked.
"From now on, when they meet friends, they can proudly say they are members of the One-Punch Man production team."
"There will be nothing to be ashamed of."
A night passed.
September gave way to October.
Just as many media outlets had predicted, it was difficult for manga fans to fully convert into anime viewers.
But at least during the first week of One-Punch Man's broadcast, a considerable number of Hunter x Hunter and Hikaru no Go fans still voiced their support for Shirogane on the forums.
"Tonight at 9:30, everyone remember to support Teacher Shirogane."
"I don't have very high expectations for this anime that Teacher Shirogane invested in as a screenwriter. Manga and anime are still different things."
"An anime season only has twelve or thirteen episodes. The entire story has to be told within three months. He's never done this kind of work before, so I feel this original anime might not turn out well."
"Whether it's good or not, you'll only know after watching it. Teacher Shirogane also became a manga artist for the first time once, and became famous across Japan in just two years. You shouldn't try to measure a genius with ordinary thinking."
"No matter how talented someone is, it's impossible for every single work to be excellent."
"Still, the same logic applies. You'll only know after watching. Also, aren't some of you Burning Sin fans just here to stir trouble during Teacher Shirogane's premiere?"
"Anyway, I'll definitely watch the first episode of One-Punch Man. If it's good, I'll keep following it."
"Same here. I trust Teacher Shirogane. Even though I also think that stories where the protagonist is invincible from the start usually only stay interesting for two episodes, who knows? Maybe he'll handle it in a fresh way."
"I'm blindly supporting Teacher Shirogane. So far, I genuinely love every one of the four works he's created."