On the last Wednesday of December, the cover of Dream Comic Journal was exclusively dominated by the protagonist of Hunter, Gon, and the popular supporting character, Hisoka.
The plot of this chapter concluded with Gon and Killua learning the basic application of Nen Ability in just one day at Heaven's Arena. Within the time limit, they successfully blocked Hisoka's Nen and advanced to the restricted upper floors of the arena tower.
It was precisely the exhilaration of this week's Hunter storyline, far surpassing the earlier arc in which Gon struggled against the Zoldyck family, that allowed the manga to surpass one million fan votes on Dream Comic for the first time, just five months after serialization began.
This achievement made Hunter the fifth currently serialized manga across all journals in the Japan to reach such a milestone.
Meanwhile, although only two months had passed since the release of Hunter's first and second volumes, Volume One had already sold 10.65 million copies, while Volume Two exceeded eight million copies and was rapidly approaching the ten-million mark. The series was clearly on track to average nearly ten million copies per volume.
As a result, at the Hoshimori Group's annual gala on December 31st, Rei appeared as one of the headline figures, attending alongside the group's contracted manga artists and its middle and senior management.
Naturally, Miyu, whose manga was serialized in Dream Comic, also attended the New Year's Eve gala with Rei.
However, Miyu was, in truth, a complete nobody at this year's event.
Although her new manga, had begun trending upward after serialization, the pace was painfully slow. After more than a month, its popularity ranking still hovered around fifteenth place.
In Dream Comic, the bottom three ranked works are always at risk of cancellation, meaning that sitting only five places above the cutoff placed enormous pressure on her.
That said, the visibly close relationship she displayed with Rei at the gala, combined with their shared past as high school classmates and university alumni, caught the attention of many members of Hoshimori Group's management.
On top of that, Miyu repeatedly addressing Misaki as "sister" exposed their sisterly relationship, causing gossip about the trio, Miyu, Misaki, and Rei, to spread rapidly within the company.
No wonder a talent like Shirogane had been discovered by Misaki, an editor who had graduated only five years earlier.
After all, the two most prominent new manga artists at Hoshimori Group, Shirogane and Saki, had deep personal connections to her: one was her sister, and the other was rumored to share an unusually close relationship with that sister.
"This is what people mean by a protagonist's life," Miyu said on the ride home, her expression a mix of admiration and quiet melancholy.
"One of the reasons I wanted to become a manga artist was the hope that one day, I could earn the same level of respect in the industry as you have, Rei."
"Maybe next year," Rei replied with a faint smile. "If you work hard and raise your ranking to second place, you might receive the same treatment."
"Let's not give motivational speeches just yet," Misaki said from the driver's seat.
"If Touch of Glass can stabilize within the top twelve next year and qualify for animation, that will already be a major success."
"Right now, nine of the top ten serialized works in the journal have anime adaptations. Four of them, unfortunately, performed poorly and failed to attract new readers, instead drawing criticism from longtime fans. The Hunter anime is also scheduled to air next year, Miyu. If you push hard during this period, maybe by the end of next year, or the year after, you'll see your own manga adapted."
"An anime adaptation…" Miyu's eyes lit up.
"Just wait, Rei. Once Touch of Glass gets animated, its popularity might explode, beating Hunter and kicking One-punch man aside!"
Rei looked at her with a complicated expression.
After witnessing the achievements of Hunter and One-punch man, most people would have set far more modest goals.
"Strictly speaking," Rei said with a chuckle, "that possibility applies equally to Hunter and One-punch man."
"Hunter is already number one in the journal, how much higher can it go? And One-punch man already dominates viewership. What more is there to achieve?" Miyu said confidently.
"Both of your works have reached their absolute peak. From here on, they can only decline."
"That's not necessarily true," Rei replied calmly.
"One-punch man has only broken the animation viewership record of the past five years. Hunter is merely number one within Hoshimori Group. It's still far from being number one across the entire Japan when you consider average volume sales, critical reputation, and global IP influence."
The car fell silent.
"Compared to Rei's 'casual' statements, Miyu, even the arrogant remarks you only make when you're feeling cocky sound far too modest," Misaki exclaimed.
But the other two people in the car no longer doubted Rei.
If it were anyone else, they would have questioned him first and mocked him immediately.
But when it came to Rei, you believed him first and asked questions later. After all, what if he really succeeded?
December ended, and January arrived.
The first three days of the New Year were national holidays.
Because New Year's Day fell on a weekend, and One-punch man was scheduled to air on Fridays, the second season of One-punch man did not premiere during the holiday period.
Among the anime airing on Saturday and Sunday, the most notable was the fourth season of Hikaru no go, its final season.
The anime had run for an entire year, with a mid-series break to give the production team enough time to properly complete the final arc of Hikaru no go.
However, despite being a strong contender for the best anime of the season, the final season of Hikaru no go would likely have to settle for second place this quarter, falling behind One-punch man Season Two.
Even so, news related to Shirogane across the Japan's animation market was far from over.
Just last year, the copyrights to Five centimeters per second and Tonight were bundled together and purchased from Hoshimori Group by a film company for a price exceeding ten million.
Both works were classic "painful youth" stories, with relatively low filming difficulty and modest budgets. After more than half a year spent on approvals, casting, filming, and post-production, both movies were essentially complete.
Taking advantage of Rei's current momentum as the original author, the production company began large-scale promotional campaigns for their release.
The live-action adaptation of Five centimeters per second was scheduled for February 14th, Valentine's Day.
As for the live-action film of Tonight, it was set to premiere on August 26th.
The choice of release date for 5cm/sec made fans burst out laughing.
Watching Five centimeters per second on Valentine's Day?
Absolute genius.
But on second thought, box office data over the past two years showed that painful youth films performed exceptionally well. Perhaps couples actually enjoyed watching stories like these on romantic holidays.
It could only be said that ever since Rei rose to fame with Hikaru no go, a large amount of capital had begun orbiting around him, whether he noticed it or not.
During the New Year holiday, Rei also fulfilled his contractual obligations and actively promoted the live-action films for Five centimeters per second and Tonight online.
A few days passed quickly.
Friday, January 7th arrived.
Starting from the morning, news related to the premiere of One-punch man Season Two at 8 p.m. that night never dropped out of the top ten trending topics on major websites and search platforms across Japan.
As for the major online forums, fans of One-punch man became highly active starting at seven o'clock in the evening, their enthusiasm unmatched.
Of course, a few anti-fans also appeared, deliberately stirring trouble and spreading rumors that the plot of Season Two would collapse and that Shirogane would finally be exposed.
But almost no one paid attention to those foolish remarks.
Instead, what most people were thinking was simple.
What would happen in the second season of One-punch man?
Would it maintain the reputation of the first season?
Or would it surpass it?
Would it elevate One-punch man from a wildly popular anime into a true phenomenon?
...
Read 55 chapters ahead @[email protected]/Ashnoir