Strictly speaking, Yuta probably owed Anime Talk's article a quiet word of thanks.
The piece had cost Code Geass a noticeable amount of goodwill, but after the Kanto Economic Times and Anime Weekly ran their respective features, the show's popularity not only recovered but climbed even higher than before.
The modest goal Yuta had set for himself was achieved. Code Geass's popularity successfully overtook The Girl Called God before that show finished its run.
The clearest measure of it was episode ten of Code Geass, which aired on December 8th and pulled higher ratings than episode twenty-three of The Girl Called God.
In terms of online discussion, it was also the first time Code Geass had pulled ahead of The Girl Called God.
The unfortunate thing was that The Girl Called God only had twenty-four episodes, and episode twenty-four was the finale. A lot of viewers might have drifted away somewhere in the middle, but most of them would come back to watch the finale.
The more beloved a show, the higher its finale ratings tended to be, which meant that just as Code Geass had edged ahead in the ratings, it was promptly overtaken again by The Girl Called God for its send-off.
After that finale aired, however, there was not a single show left among the summer and fall season titles that could challenge Code Geass.
Code Geass stood alone at the top.
Then, on December 21st, the day before episode twelve aired, the DVD for the first volume of Code Geass went on sale.
The disc company had originally wanted Yuta to do signings and draw character posters, but after Aoi negotiated on his behalf, the bonus content was changed to a voice actor special instead.
Whether that swap helped or hurt was hard to say, but the first volume sold like crazy either way.
In shop after shop, copies of the Code Geass DVD flew off the shelves the moment they were stocked. Some stores had prepared larger quantities or were in less trafficked locations and managed to hold on to their stock a little longer, but even those sold out remarkably fast.
There was simply no other word for it. This was what it looked like when a cultural phenomenon hit shelves.
...
December 22nd, another Saturday.
The broadcast deadline was noon, but Starfall had already submitted the finished cut of episode twelve before eleven.
That evening, Yuta tidied himself up a bit and headed out to a small dinner party.
It was an internal celebration organized by the production committee, and while the first-week sales figures had not been tallied yet, everyone already knew the numbers were going to be good.
The party had originally been planned for Monday evening, but everyone knew how packed Yuta's schedule was, and there was a real chance he would not show up if it was held then.
Since he was the guest of honor, so to speak, there was no having the celebration without him, so they moved it to Saturday evening instead.
Only about a dozen people attended altogether. Yuta was one of them, and so was Aoi.
At the party, drinks were flowing and people were talking big and having a great time.
All in all, it was a cheerful night.
That said...
Aoi glanced over at Yuta, then moved to sit beside him and asked, "Shido, is something on your mind?"
Yuta blinked, then said, "Is it that obvious?"
He paused, then added, "I thought I was hiding it pretty well."
"You can tell when I'm bothered by something just by looking at me, and I can do the same with you. That's just how it works," Aoi said, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Yuta turned to look at her directly, but quickly shifted his gaze away.
After a short pause, he said, "I was thinking about what would happen if I told the audience right now that Code Geass is actually a heartbreaking show. I wonder if I'd get beaten to death."
"???"
Aoi's expression went blank. "What did you just say?"
"I said, I wonder if I'd get beaten to death if I told the audience right now that Code Geass is actually a heartbreaking show," Yuta repeated.
Aoi stared at him.
She looked at his face for a long moment before asking, "Isn't Code Geass a fun, action-packed show? Since when did it turn into something heartbreaking?"
"The earlier part is fun and exciting, but episode twelve airing tonight is where it starts to hurt, and it only gets worse from there," Yuta explained simply.
Aoi stared at him in stunned silence for a good while before finally blurting out, "You scheming bastard. That's incredibly sneaky."
"Aoi, that's not a fair way to put it. Honestly, I would love for there to be absolutely zero suffering in this show, but... I just can't help myself," Yuta said in his defense.
"Give me a break. You absolutely planned from the very beginning to hook everyone with the fun stuff first and then pull the rug out from under them. That line might work on the audience, but you're going to need to try a lot harder to fool me," Aoi said, not buying a single word of it.
Yuta just smiled and said nothing.
"I don't care how much it hurts in between. I only want to know one thing. Does the protagonist actually succeed in getting his revenge?" Aoi said after a moment.
"He does, more or less. At least in what I have planned, the protagonist ends up taking down his father, the emperor," Yuta answered.
"Good." Aoi let out a breath of relief.
Then almost immediately she added, "The heartbreaking parts start at episode twelve. Do you think that could affect DVD sales going forward? If I had known, I would have talked to the disc company about pushing the release date up by a week."
"Aoi, you just called me sneaky, but it sounds like you have a bit of a scheming streak yourself," Yuta could not help but say.
"Hm?"
Aoi tilted her head like she did not quite follow.
Yuta did not explain. He just said, "Pushing the release date up by a week probably would have been the smarter move, but you didn't know what was coming in episode twelve, and by the time you told me the release date, it had already been locked in. I didn't feel right asking for it to be changed."
"That kind of thing just takes a bit of back-and-forth. It's not impossible to change. Next time something like this comes up, just let me know. Actually, let's just make it a habit for me to check with you before locking in any DVD release dates from here on out," Aoi said.
"Sure."
Yuta nodded, then continued, "There will probably be some minor impact, but episode twelve is still only the beginning of the rough stretches. A lot of viewers might not even sense anything is off yet, so it should not be a major problem. On top of that, pushing up the first volume's release might have helped a bit, but for the later volumes, moving the date one way or another won't make much difference. Some things just have to be faced eventually."
"That's true enough," Aoi agreed readily.
"For now, let's just see how people react to episode twelve tonight."
Yuta let out a slow sigh. "If they still don't notice anything is wrong, that's the best possible outcome. If they already sense something is off, then I need to start thinking about where to hide."
"You..."
Aoi looked at him, stopping herself once or twice before settling on a sympathetic expression. "You really don't have it easy, do you."
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