During the Spring Festival period, major comic magazines across Japan continued their regular serializations.
And it was precisely during this festive period that the plot of Hunter × Hunter began to surge toward its first true climax.
Kurapika, carrying the blood feud of his annihilated clan against the Phantom Troupe, arrived in Yorknew City to seek revenge.
In order to gather intelligence on the Troupe, he chose to work as a bodyguard for the daughter of a mafia boss in this world-famous criminal metropolis.
Just as his information suggested, members of the Phantom Troupe appeared in Yorknew City and launched an attack on a large-scale underground auction.
In response to the robbery, the true rulers of Yorknew City, the Ten Elders, dispatched their Nen Ability users, the "Shadow Beasts," to intercept the Troupe members as they attempted to withdraw after sowing chaos.
In the latest chapter, one particular character ignited intense excitement among Hunter × Hunter readers.
Uvogin.
Despite being only a regular member of the Phantom Troupe, Uvogin demonstrated terrifying combat power.
In battle, he killed and consumed human flesh. His roar alone could kill through sound waves, and a single punch could carve a crater dozens of meters wide into the ground.
What do shonen manga readers love the most?
Without question, combat.
Previously, the manga had leaned heavily toward strategy and setup, with relatively few large-scale battles. But after this chapter's release, readers finally gained a clearer understanding of the combat ceiling in Hunter × Hunter.
And most importantly, despite Uvogin's overwhelming strength, he was captured alive by Kurapika.
"I'm a bit confused by the Nen system. Isn't it just Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu? What are these Contract and Vow Chains?"
"Ten and Hatsu are basic Nen applications. Kurapika's chains feel more like a rule-based ability. Let's see how Teacher Shirogane explains it. For now, we know one thing, his ability becomes absurdly strong against Troupe members!"
"Shonen manga needs more fights like this! I feel like Uvogin is the combat ceiling!"
"You're overthinking it. At the very least, the Troupe Leader has to be stronger."
"The moment Uvogin and Kurapika appeared, Gon and Killua instantly felt like rookies. They only learned Nen after the Hunter Exam, any random Troupe member could probably kill them instantly!"
"These past few weeks of Hunter × Hunter have been insanely addictive. I can't stop reading."
"Definitely. The story jumped several levels the moment it entered the Yorknew Arc."
"Now I really want to see what the Troupe Leader looks like, someone who can suppress a lunatic like Hisoka!"
"When is Teacher Shirogane going to start releasing two chapters a week?!"
"Capturing Uvogin alive is just the beginning. Kurapika is definitely going to face retaliation from the entire Troupe."
"I can feel it already, Yorknew City is going to turn into a massive group battle with Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio versus the Troupe!"
"This manga is about to hit its real peak!"
Japanese manga readers are sharp.
Often, it takes only two chapters for them to determine whether a new arc is truly good.
And their approval was obvious, the latest chapter received a record-breaking 1.15 million votes in Dream Comic.
Sunday, February 14th.
The live-action film adaptation of Five Centimeters Per Second premiered simultaneously in major cities across Japan.
Rei himself did not have particularly high expectations for the box office.
In his previous life, Five Centimeters Per Second had never been a strong commercial performer.
Moreover, romance works inherently have limited mass-market appeal.
However, supported by fans of One-Punch Man and Hunter × Hunter, along with students and white-collar workers enjoying both time and disposable income during the Spring Festival holiday, the film's opening-day box office reached 41 million.
Rei and Miyu already knew the story well, so when they attended an early screening that morning, their expressions remained relatively calm.
That said, when the final train scene appeared on screen, both of them still felt that familiar discomfort in their hearts.
Even when you know the ending, watching it again still hurts.
There is still regret.
And the actors' performances were genuinely excellent, their acting remained strong from beginning to end.
If even Rei and Miyu felt this way, one could easily imagine the emotional damage inflicted on ordinary moviegoers who had never read the original manga and had no idea what kind of story they were walking into.
That night, countless audience, practically grinding their teeth, tracked down Rei's creator account across various platforms.
The same storm of complaints that had once accompanied the manga's serialization erupted again.
As people walked out of the theater, many could still hear the metallic clatter of train tracks echoing in their ears.
They were emotionally wrecked.
That evening, after watching Five Centimeters Per Second, large numbers of viewers first gave the film high ratings on major platforms.
Then, inevitably, they began publishing long posts pointing out every perceived flaw, questioning casting choices, complaining that the male lead was too handsome to feel relatable, and nitpicking any detail they could find.
After all, for original fans, a perfect adaptation does not exist.
Overall, the public reception was clearly much better than that of most other manga adaptations.
Rei himself felt no particular emotional turbulence over the box office performance of Five Centimeters Per Second. Or rather, the results were entirely within his expectations.
Among Makoto Shinkai's works, Five Centimeters Per Second undeniably belongs to the lower tier in terms of commercial potential. Its themes and content simply do not lend themselves to becoming a mainstream blockbuster.
However, a large number of Japanese film and television media professionals were stunned, their jaws nearly dropping.
From Rei's perspective, as long as the film did not lose money, it was already a success. Even if it performed poorly, making a modest profit was enough. There was never any real risk for the production company.
But in the eyes of many professionals in the film industry, releasing such a deeply melancholic movie during the Valentine's Day slot should have been a guaranteed failure.
And yet, it still achieved a first-day box office of over forty million.
Were Japanese movie audiences really this tolerant?
Wasn't this Shirogane's debut manga work?
A script written by Shirogane when he was only sixteen years old was still this popular years later?
After the first-day box office numbers were announced, Opinionhub and several other platforms immediately opened dedicated discussion sections for the Five Centimeters Per Second film.
People complained loudly online, but when it came time to give scores, they were honest with their hearts and rated the film highly.
The tragic ending could only be blamed on the author's cruelty.
But that did not diminish the emotional resonance and inspiration the story gave its audience.
That said, the overall influence of Five Centimeters Per Second as a film was likely to stop here.
Rei never expected it to perform spectacularly during the Spring Festival period or become some kind of box office dark horse.
Still, as the first live-action adaptation of one of his manga works, both its reputation and box office performance were more than acceptable.
And there was one particularly noteworthy point.
The Spring Festival period ended quickly.
The film market also cooled rapidly from its previously overheated state.
Movies that had been earning over one hundred million per day during the holiday saw their daily box office figures cut in half almost overnight.
However, Five Centimeters Per Second did not experience a sharp decline.
Supported by a large number of Rei's anime fans and bolstered by strong word-of-mouth, its daily box office remained above twenty million.
In mid-February, after attending the final fan meet-and-greet event with the film distributor, Rei finally shifted his focus away from Five Centimeters Per Second.
His attention returned fully to his other works.
Both Hunter × Hunter and One-Punch Man were continuing to steadily accumulate popularity in their respective fields of manga and animation.
As for Rei's newly announced animation project, Arcane;
Thanks to the Spring Festival period being peak season for job hopping across all industries in Japan, something significant happened behind the scenes.
While Rei was busy handling matters related to the Five Centimeters Per Second film, Himari did not rest for a single day during the holiday.
Using the production funds provided by Rei, she aggressively recruited a large number of talented professionals from various animation studios across Japan.
When this group of newly hired staff arrived at Illumination Production Company after the Spring Festival, they were collectively dumbfounded.
Because based on what they learned shortly after joining, Shirogane was preparing to invest at least 1.5 billion yen in the production of the first season of Arcane.
A single seasonal animation.
Even though the plan indicated that each episode would be quite long, around forty minutes.
An investment of one billion yen was still staggering.
Shirogane, this eighteen-year-old genius, truly did not treat money as money.
No one believed Rei was a reckless fool who didn't understand financial realities.
Which meant only one thing.
Shirogane genuinely believed this animation possessed that level of potential.
A work worthy of a 1 billion investment, and that was only the production cost for its first season.
What kind of expectations did Shirogane have for this work's future performance to make such a bold decision?
...
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