At the end of the year, animation companies naturally review their performance for the year. But they're not the only ones.
A certain animation magazine also published a year-end issue featuring its top anime picks for 2009, including Anime of the Year, Most Popular Anime Characters, and Best Anime Songs.
The results shocked many anime fans.
First, in the Anime of the Year category, five of the top ten spots were taken by anime produced by L.S Produ. K-On! and as even secured second and third place, respectively.
Furthermore, every anime produced by L.S Produ that year made it into the top twenty, a truly astonishing feat.
In the Most Popular Anime Characters category, both the male and female lists featured multiple characters from L.S Produ anime in the top ten. The number of characters in the top hundred was too numerous to count on one hand.
Finally, in the Best Anime Songs category, several of the top ten songs came from L.S Produ anime.
If you look at individual anime, SHAFT's Bakemonogatari was undoubtedly the biggest winner of 2009. But if you look at animation companies, there's no question that L.S Produ was the undisputed champion.
"Winning" doesn't even begin to describe L.S Produ's performance that year. They absolutely dominated.
Anyone who follows the animation industry and keeps track of each season's performance knows how brilliantly L.S Produ performed in 2009. But even after seeing the magazine's roundup comparing all the companies, the extent of their success was still staggering.
After reading the magazine's analysis, many people were stunned:
"Was LSP this strong this year?"
"They got half of the top ten most popular anime? Unreal!"
"If Puella Magi Madoka Magica in 2006 was the peak of Lin Zhiyan's personal animation career, then this year was definitely the peak for LSP as a company. I wonder if they can reach even greater heights next year."
"They're invincible! But I have to say, the animations they produced this year are truly outstanding. I've been following every single one and bought the DVDs or related merchandise for most of them."
"It seems LSP's move into adapted animations was the right choice. If they only focused on original animations, they probably wouldn't have achieved such remarkable results... No, even with Old Thief Lin personally overseeing things, I doubt they'd dare release so many titles in a single year if they were limited to original content."
Sword of Coming
"The real key is their exceptional production quality, far surpassing other animation companies in the industry. Plus, they've secured the rights to IPs like Sword Art Online, A Certain Magical Index, Natsume's Book of Friends, and The Garden of Sinners. With those, they're practically guaranteed success."
"I heard Old Thief Lin spotted Sword Art Online when it was still being serialized online, and he even helped publish the original novel. The Garden of Sinners was supposedly approached by Type-Moon themselves. But I wonder which producer secured A Certain Magical Index and Natsume's Book of Friends? That person must be in line for a promotion to Department Head, right?"
Forget dominating half the list—just having three anime from the same production company in the top ten of the "Anime of the Year" rankings was astonishing enough.
L.S Produ's situation left people wondering, What kind of divine animation company is this? It was simply too formidable.
Online, countless discussions erupted. At the same time, an old interview with Naoko Yamada from K-On!'s magazine was dug up—the one where she claimed Lin Zhiyan possessed Mystic Eyes that could see into the future.
Previously, people had treated the "Mystic Eyes" claim as nothing more than a joke.
But now, after witnessing L.S Produ's achievements in 2009, some began swearing:
"Lin Zhiyan is truly the Demon King. He must have those Mystic Eyes for real. Otherwise, he couldn't have produced so many high- and even ultra-popular anime projects in just one year."
"His success is insane. He's been in the industry for years without a single failure. Every single one of his anime is insanely popular, and he even led his company to produce so many high- and ultra-popular anime. Only the Mystic Eyes theory can explain this."
"If the animation industry's bigwigs all have Mystic Eyes, Old Thief Lin definitely has the most powerful pair."
"Invincible Mystic Eyes Lin Zhiyan."
"I used to think that magazine article was just trying to grab attention. Now it looks like it's the truth."
Mystic Eyes—such a thing couldn't possibly exist in the real world, but who could blame Lin Zhiyan for achieving such outrageous results?
If Mystic Eyes really existed, it would actually explain everything.
Of course, most people still choose to believe in Lin Zhiyan's personal abilities:
"This isn't Type-Moon—where's this Mystic Eyes coming from? You can only say that Lord Hayashi is a natural-born animation prodigy, probably the person who understands TV animation best in the entire industry."
"He jumped straight from being an Animator to working on keyframes for Ghost in the Shell in 95, became a core Key Animator at IG in 96, and after leaving IG, he developed his skills across the board—Supervising Director, scriptwriting, music, and more. This level of versatility can't be explained by simply saying he has Mystic Eyes."
"How should I put it? LSP's achievements this year have certainly been dazzling, but if we're talking about truly groundbreaking work, Puella Magi Madoka Magica from 2006 was far more astonishing. That's an anime even Lord Hayashi himself can't surpass. In contrast, their company's TV animation successes this year might well be surpassed next year—they're far from a peak."
"Rather than calling it Mystic Eyes, it's more accurate to say he possesses exceptional animation production skills, market insight, and a talent for discovering outstanding animation talent. No one else in the animation industry can match all of these abilities simultaneously."
"Come on, a man like Lord Hayashi, who's earned the title of 'God,' doesn't need something as trivial as Mystic Eyes. Just look at the terrifying level of quality he demonstrated during the production of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I suspect he's been coasting through the past two years."
"Truthfully, the reason his company produced so many highly popular, even wildly successful, animations this year is largely because someone secured the adaptation rights for A Certain Magical Index and Natsume's Book of Friends, right? The only projects that truly deserve credit to him are K-On!, as, and Psycho-Pass. Still, that's an impressive track record."
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