A TV rating represented how far an anime's influence reached, and how large its potential audience really was.
But in the anime industry's current stage, recouping production costs still depended far more on merchandise and licensing sales.
Even in the industry Sora had known so well in his previous life, the basic structure had been much the same. The difference was that daytime anime, series like One Piece, usually made their money through licensing, so they did not have to lean too heavily on BD sales. Late-night anime were different. Back in the era when shows like Madoka Magica aired, Blu-ray sales made up a massive portion of a studio's revenue. Only later, once the streaming age fully took hold, did Japanese studios begin shifting part of their production costs onto overseas platforms, and only then did physical disc sales start losing some of their weight.
But in the current market, things were still caught in an awkward middle ground. BD sales, tie-in goods, licensed products, overseas broadcast fees... every one of them mattered.
And in practice, when a title sold poorly on BD, the rest of its revenue streams were usually mediocre too.
That entire day, Sumire could barely focus on work. She had no energy, no calm, no peace of mind. Every few minutes, she opened another tab on her computer to search for news about the first volume of Re:Zero on BD and how it was performing in cities across Japan.
It was not until noon that the tension finally began to loosen.
Several anime news outlets published articles with photos from stores and reports from retailers, and in nearly every region, the launch of Re:Zero's BD was shaping up to be a remarkable success. In some places, the crowds were so intense they almost rivaled the frenzy that had surrounded the BD release of Dragon's Breath just days earlier.
The moment those reports came out, not only Sumire, but the entire staff of Yume Animation felt the pressure in their chests ease.
"So in the end, Rem nearly ruined us... and Rem saved us too. The Kantoku really did see ahead. He got things moving with the merchandise design department tied to Yumi's family studio early on and had a mountain of Rem goods prepared as BD bonuses. I didn't think the fans would fall for it this hard."
"After the newest episode of Re:Zero aired last night, I didn't even dare go on the forums. I was scared I'd end up catching hate just by association."
"All the resentment from the fans was dumped onto Sora as the writer and Kantoku. As for the anime itself, they're in that state where they suffer because of it... and still can't stop loving it."
"Kantoku Sora is unbelievable, seriously. He took all the blame by himself just to make Re:Zero the way he wanted and turn Rem into such a vivid, flesh-and-blood character. That's the kind of thing only a martyr would do."
"Oh, give it a rest. Enough with the sarcasm. The only reason Rem's fans haven't stormed the studio and torn the Kantoku apart is because the story's structure gives them hope. Rem died, yes, but the narrative makes it obvious she can still come back in a later loop. That's the only reason people can bear it. In any other anime, if you killed off the most popular character in the cast like that, fans would drop it on the spot and bury its score overnight."
"When you think about it that way, Return by Death really is a genius concept. You can create all kinds of tragedy, wipe everything clean with a new loop, and move forward. But even if the world resets, the impression those characters left in the audience's heart doesn't disappear."
"Exactly. Even if, in the third loop, Rem remembers none of what she did in the second, we remember. The audience remembers. She is still that gentle girl who, even cornered and facing death, kept worrying about Subaru Natsuki. That concept keeps the character from being trapped forever in a tragic ending, while still preserving all the beauty she showed in despair. It's incredible. Once Re:Zero finishes airing, I bet a lot of writers are going to try copying this."
"Copying it won't be enough. A structure like this takes an insane amount of brainpower, and character writing at this level is even harder. All you can say is that Re:Zero is extraordinary in both concept and execution."
"It's just a shame that the show competing with us this season happens to be Dragon's Breath. If it weren't for that, Best Anime and Best Kantoku would practically already be ours."
"Why are you all looking so defeated? It's only October. There are still more than two months left before the Tokyo Animation Festival at the end of December. We haven't lost anything yet."
At noon, the TV rating for Episode 14 of Re:Zero was announced.
5.27%.
Compared to the previous week's 5.19%, it was a clear jump.
Once that was added to the reports of long lines and sold-out stores for the BD, the entire conversation shifted. Throughout the next day, whether on NatsuYume or among the major anime critics and commentators, everyone's attention was fixed on one thing alone.
Re:Zero.
That lasted until Sunday, when Episode 15 of Dragon's Breath aired.
And the following Monday, two major numbers related to the series were finally released.
The first: Episode 14 had posted a 5.40% TV rating.
It was still climbing, yes, but the growth was noticeably slower than Re:Zero's.
The second figure was even more shocking: the first-week BD sales for Volume 1 of Dragon's Breath.
109,356 copies.
In its opening week alone, the BD had already surpassed one hundred thousand units sold across Japan.
That was far above the industry's earlier forecast, which had placed it below ninety thousand.
And more than that, it meant that after four years, the market had finally seen another anime break the one-hundred-thousand barrier in first-week sales for a single BD volume.
At that moment, Dragon's Breath also established itself as the new peak in Touga Kuze's career, one of the industry's most renowned writers.
Two years earlier, his anime Dream of the South had opened with just over eighty thousand copies on its first BD volume, and the full six-volume run had ended with an average of 240,000 copies per volume.
If Dragon's Breath kept its story from collapsing from that point onward, then judging by the current numbers, it had every chance of achieving the monumental feat of surpassing a 300,000-copy average per volume.
Inside an animation studio in Tokyo, the moment the news arrived, the entire building erupted in cheers. The shouting was so loud that even the people upstairs could hear it.
Even Touga Kuze, who always carried himself with the cold stillness of a wall of ice, let some of that rigidity melt away from his face.
As for Natsuyuki Shirasawa, the anime's writer, she finally released the breath she had been holding in for days.
Breaking one hundred thousand copies in first-week sales was, without exaggeration, the best result the industry had seen in four years.
Just like Touga Kuze, Natsuyuki Shirasawa had used Dragon's Breath to carve her name deep into the market. If they took Best Anime, Best Screenplay, and Best Kantoku at the end of the year, then from the following year onward, both of their commercial value would surge across the board.
"What, even with a result like this you still can't celebrate properly? You're still holding back?" Natsuyuki Shirasawa approached with a teasing smile. Her black dress fell in clean lines, and the sharp click of her heels echoed against the floor.
"I never pop champagne at halftime," Touga Kuze replied after a brief pause.
"I'll admit it, Re:Zero's decision to boost the first BD by bundling character merch was a clever move. But going past our hundred thousand right out of the gate? That feels like too much to ask. Are you still worried about that?"
"It's just... there's still something bothering me in the back of my mind," he said, before adding, as though correcting himself, "Though the more likely answer is that I'm overthinking it. Maybe I'm paying too much attention to that kid named Sora. After all, someone as young and as brilliant as him has never appeared in this industry before."
"A genius?" Natsuyuki Shirasawa raised her chin with a crooked smile. "Both of us have been called that too."
Then she added, without the slightest attempt to hide her confidence,
"I refuse to believe that no matter how talented he is, he can really defeat a team made up of you and me."
The enemy one imagined was always more frightening than the one standing in reality.
And the opponent in reality, more often than not, turned out to be far less terrifying than the mind had made them.
Sora had potential. That was beyond question. But comparing the two works at that moment, Dragon's Breath still held a comfortable lead in TV ratings, its opening BD sales were all but guaranteed to remain ahead, and online, both series were still tied at 9.4.
No matter how one looked at it, the advantage was still theirs.
If anyone had reason to feel anxious, it was the people on the other side.
After thinking it through, Touga Kuze finally let a faint smile appear on his face.
More than one hundred thousand copies in the first week alone.
When Sora saw Dragon's Breath's results, he could not help letting out a quiet sigh himself.
A TV anime might be watched by millions. A BD was another matter entirely. Normally, it took well over a hundred viewers for even one person to decide to spend money on a disc.
After all, most people had already seen the story during the television broadcast. And when a show was popular, the network would often rerun the episodes later anyway. For someone who only wanted to revisit the plot, it simply made no sense to spend more than ten thousand yen on a disc.
The people who bought anime BDs were, in the end, mostly buying them as collector's items.
And the sales figures carried enormous weight when it came to judging a work's commercial value. Plenty of fans watched the entire series without ever buying a disc, but they would still go on to purchase figures, keychains, posters, cushions, miniatures, and all sorts of related merchandise.
That was exactly why breaking one hundred thousand copies in the first week gave Dragon's Breath terrifying real value. And that was only the beginning. The final total would climb several times higher.
From BD sales alone, Sora could already predict that the ninety million yen invested in the anime would be recovered comfortably, perhaps several times over.
And Re:Zero?
As for that, he still had no exact answer. He could not get the finalized figures from Yumi's family studio yet. The consolidated numbers would only come out on Saturday of that week.
Even so, seeing the strongest rival of the year post such overwhelming results was enough to make anyone restless.
If even the slightest chance existed, who would willingly remain forever beneath someone else's shadow?
Then another Friday arrived.
After a week of grief, despair, and emotional outbursts, Re:Zero's fans had finally regained some measure of balance.
No matter how powerful the series was, in the end it was still just an anime. It could not keep crushing someone's emotions forever.
Unless, of course, it decided to pull something as brutal as last week every single episode.
That night, shortly before the new episode began, the fans were already stirring once more across forums and websites.
"Hehehe... look at this Rem poster and the little cushion that came with the BD. Absolutely perfect. I sleep hugging it every week."
"Hmph. It's just a cushion, and you can tell at a glance it's not even premium quality. What exactly are you trying to show off?"
"I can smell your jealousy through the screen."
"If it's free and cheap, I don't want it anyway. Once they release them, I'm buying a full-size dakimakura."
"Yeah, but this bonus is limited edition. Even if Re:Zero puts out a ton of merch later, this exact one is never coming back. Missed it means missed it."
"You people are traitors. Last week, weren't you all swearing you'd boycott Sora? So why did you secretly go buy the BD?"
"There's no helping it. The hatred I feel for that old bastard Sora can't overcome the love I feel for my Rem. The only thing capable of defeating pure hatred is an even purer love."
"You slothful fools... let me grant you the ultimate tragedy. Let the world know pain."
"My brain trembles."
"My brain trembles."
"My brain trembles."
"Trembles my ass. I still don't get why anyone likes that clown Petelgeuse. And the worst part is that there are more and more of them lately. My worldview is being destroyed."
"That's because you don't get it. That unhinged way he carries himself, the ridiculous way he talks, the way his whole body moves like he's beyond reason... it all shows someone who refuses to be chained by conventional values. When we look at him, we see freedom. Especially in that scene where he tears Subaru Natsuki apart and exposes all of the protagonist's hypocrisy. That part was incredible. My brain trembles."