Natsuki worked fast. By the next morning, the interview article was live.
Online, reactions were all over the place.
"No more tearjerkers? Great, I'm definitely watching."
"The Tearjerker Demon King turned over a new leaf?"
"Mecha fan reporting for duty."
"I couldn't get into Clannad because of the genre, but I've heard this President Shido is seriously talented. If his new anime is mecha and it's not depressing, I'll give it a shot."
"I had sworn to never watch anything the Tearjerker Demon King touched ever again. But if the new anime is exciting and action-packed, I'll think about it."
...
There was plenty of support and excitement. But just as many people were skeptical.
"The Demon King's whole thing was making people cry. If the next anime doesn't do that, what's the point?"
"Has that bastard Shido lost his mind?"
"He's jumping into mecha like it's easy? You think any mecha show will automatically sell?"
"Why not keep making slice-of-life? Why mecha?"
"Mecha anime isn't something you can just decide to make. Starfall has only ever done slice-of-life. Suddenly pivoting to mecha is probably going to end in disaster."
"Kind of disappointed."
"If it's not a tearjerker, I'm out."
...
You could never please everyone. That was just how it went. Still, Starfall having only ever produced slice-of-life anime was a legitimate concern.
Sticking with that genre meant experience and guaranteed quality under Yuta's hand. But switching to mecha gave people every reason to doubt.
Who knew what kind of mess they might end up producing?
Yuta was not following the online discourse, so he had no idea opinions had split so sharply.
Even if he had known, it would not have changed anything. The plan was set. He was not going to scrap a project just because some people were skeptical.
Besides, he had already held several production meetings.
For the new anime, Todo would continue as production manager. As for the mechanical designer and chief animation director, Yuta planned to bring someone in from outside the company.
This was Starfall's first mecha project, but the current Starfall was a far cry from what it used to be. They were not so weak that they could not attract talent.
He had also spoken with Yuzuki and handled it carefully.
He did not tell her she was not up to the task. Instead, he framed it as "the first key animation team needs you more on that side."
Yuzuki did not seem to think too much of it.
On the surface, at least, she accepted the arrangement.
With the key production staff in place, Starfall launched another major hiring round.
Unlike last time, the quality of applicants was significantly higher. Quite a few had even come specifically because of Starfall's reputation.
Having a hit anime under your belt really did make all the difference.
Clannad had single-handedly transformed Starfall.
After filling the personnel gaps for major cuts across each episode, the entire Starfall machine roared to life.
Yuta's daily routine became insanely busy, even more so than during Clannad.
Of course, while his days were consumed by work, he occasionally checked in on the summer anime season after getting home at night.
On a side note, he had bought a new apartment, one he could move straight into.
His old place was not going up for sale. Its main purpose now was to serve as a decoy. If fans ever came hunting for him again, they would only find the old address. They would never suspect he had already moved.
As for Seira's luxury villa, Yuta would have loved to keep freeloading there, but his pride would not allow it.
If his new place ever got discovered too, he could always crash at Seira's again temporarily. But he could not treat someone else's home as his own permanent residence.
Two anime from the summer season were especially worth watching.
The first was TNK's School Days.
The protagonist's name was indeed Itou Makoto, though the female leads had completely different names from the other world's version.
Also, this anime was airing on Tokyo TV's AT-X channel.
The other world had this same channel. It broadcast nationwide and was famous for airing uncensored versions of anime.
Many banned or restricted shows aired openly on AT-X, including certain legendary titles that were not on mainstream channels but whose reputations preceded them everywhere.
Airing on this channel did not automatically make a show banned material, but it definitely suggested the content was not exactly wholesome.
And precisely because it was not wholesome, it was all the more worth following.
The other noteworthy anime was The Girl Called God, a light novel adaptation.
This world did not have The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. While there had been a handful of light novel adaptations before, they were relatively rare and had all been lukewarm performers.
In other words, the light novel adaptation boom had not arrived yet.
But that boom was inevitable. Sooner or later, one anime would ignite it.
The Girl Called God had the potential to be that spark.
It was a slice-of-life anime. The female lead was a high school girl who claimed to be a god. At first, everyone including the male lead assumed she was just a chuunibyou case, because how could an actual god exist in the real world?
But after spending time with her, the male lead started to suspect that this high school girl might actually be divine.
The story revolved around the Paranormal Research Club, which the female lead had dragged the male lead into co-founding. It started with just the two of them, but one adorable girl after another gradually joined, and including the male lead, not a single member was normal.
The show's content had some resemblance to Haruhi, though that alone was not enough to trigger a light novel boom.
The reason it had that potential came down to several other factors.
The studio producing it was Kobe Animation, whose headquarters were in Kobe but whose trajectory closely mirrored Kyoto Animation from the other world.
This studio specialized in slice-of-life anime with incredibly polished art styles and irresistibly cute female characters. They seemed to have a genuine mastery of what made anime girls appealing.
Viewers who watched slice-of-life and could appreciate the moe factor were generally very willing to open their wallets.
On top of that, this anime was packed with quotable lines and iconic scenes, the kind that became memes and got endlessly shared.
And most importantly, the Paranormal Research Club had a group dance sequence that went absolutely viral online the moment it appeared, inspiring countless imitations.
All things considered, this was an anime that was almost certainly going to explode in popularity. Even more so than Clannad season two and Radiant Warriors from the first half of the year.
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