With Code Geass season one finished, the team followed tradition and held a wrap party. After that, Yuta gave everyone at Starfall a short vacation.
By the time they were back at work, it was already April.
After their break, Starfall went full throttle on the production of Code Geass season two.
However, on May 5th, Yuta set aside everything he was working on and brought a few of the key staff members from Code Geass to Kyoto.
Code Geass had won another award.
The reason the word "another" was warranted was that at the Shiraishi Awards in late March, Code Geass had already received a TV Outstanding Work Award.
This time, it had won the Television Anime Grand Prize at the Kyoto Animation Awards.
On top of that, the Kyoto Animation Awards apparently also had categories for Best OP and Best ED. The Best OP had nothing to do with Yuta, but the Best ED went to Dango Daikazoku, the ending theme from Clannad.
In the original version of Clannad, the season two ED had not been Dango Daikazoku. Yuta was the one who had changed it, and somehow that decision had won the Best ED award.
It was a small award that carried virtually no weight, but it was still a pleasant surprise.
The venue for the Kyoto Animation Awards ceremony rotated, and this time it just so happened to be held in Kyoto, the home base.
Being outside Tokyo was a bit of a hassle, but Yuta treated it as a chance to relax and take a short trip.
Inside the venue hosting the ceremony, Yuta took his assigned seat.
Todo was on his left and Rika on his right, the same arrangement as the very first time he attended the Shiraishi Awards.
That said, Rika had not actually attended the second Shiraishi Awards ceremony.
According to her, the first time was out of curiosity, and by the second time there was nothing left to be curious about. Unless an anime she personally served as lead producer on won an award, she would not bother going to the Shiraishi Awards ceremony again.
The Kyoto Animation Awards were different from the Shiraishi Awards. For Yuta and the Starfall team, winning here was a first, so naturally Rika was curious.
Of course, being curious alone would not have gotten her a seat at the ceremony. The truth was that Rika was genuinely well-liked within Starfall. Several people had put in a good word for her with Yuta, and combined with her own persuasive efforts, he naturally brought her along.
In fact, Yuta himself was a bit curious too. After all, of the anime industry's three major awards in this world, only one was the same as in the other world, while the other two were completely different.
The Shiraishi Awards could at least be seen as a counterpart to the Tokyo Anime Awards, but the Kyoto Animation Awards could not really be matched up with anything at all. After all, nobody had ever heard of any awards ceremony having Best OP and Best ED categories.
...
"There sure are a lot of people at this ceremony," Rika suddenly muttered.
"Of course there are. The Kyoto Animation Awards have several more categories than the Shiraishi Awards, so naturally more people attend," Yuta explained.
"Boss, this is already the second award our Code Geass has won."
"And?"
"Do you think our anime could sweep all three major awards?"
"You mean the Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival?"
"Yep."
"There's no way we'd get the Grand Prize, but winning an Outstanding Recommended Work award is definitely possible."
After all, it was the Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival. For a TV anime to win the Grand Prize was incredibly difficult, and he would not dare hope for it.
In the other world, though, the original Code Geass had won an Outstanding Recommended Work award at the festival. And in this world, even with The Girl Called God as a competitor, it would not be hard for Code Geass to snag an Outstanding Recommended Work award.
The only thing was, in this world, Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival was always held on December 26th, and by that time, Code Geass season two would have finished airing too. So even if they won an Outstanding Recommended Work award, it would most likely go to season two rather than season one.
Rika had not thought that far ahead. She had only been asking casually.
Before long, she clenched both her small fists tightly and adopted the tone of an inspirational movie protagonist. "Alright! Once I become a lead producer someday, I'm going to make an anime that wins all three major awards too!"
Yuta smiled without raining on her parade and simply said, "Good luck."
"Boss."
Rika suddenly turned to him with another question. "When are you going to let me be a lead producer? You told me before that once I had enough experience, you'd recommend me for production management or episode direction."
"Did I? When did I say that?" Yuta wore a look of genuine confusion.
"You did. It was that time you were trying to recruit Kurosaki and the others. You had me help ply them with drinks, and you made me a promise right then and there," Rika reminded him.
"Oh, right. Now I remember," Yuta said, as if a light had suddenly gone on. "But that was ages ago. I'm impressed you still remember."
"It's about my future career. Of course I remember."
As she said this, Rika suddenly felt something was off. "Boss, you were never actually planning to keep that promise, were you?"
"Well, you see..."
"Boss, can I punch you?"
"You can try."
"I..."
"Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. But if you lay a finger on me, don't expect your life around here to be easy anymore."
"Then... I think I'll hold back. I'll just curse you out in my head."
"..."
The truth was, Yuta remembered that promise with perfect clarity. It just was not time to follow through yet, and there was no need to get Rika's hopes up too high.
At the very least, it would have to wait until Code Geass was finished.
And when that time came...
Yuta was still mulling it over when a voice suddenly reached him. "President Shido, we meet again."
It was Mei Shirayuki.
By now, Mei was no longer the rookie voice actress she had once been. She had even won the Best Voice Actress award at the Shiraishi Awards this time around.
Unfortunately, the role that had won Mei the Best Voice Actress award was not from Clannad or Code Geass, but from The Girl Called God.
Yuta had not expected Mei to come over and say hello on her own, but he reacted quickly, standing up and saying, "Mei, congratulations. Best Voice Actress, well deserved."
"Thank you. But if President Shido hadn't given me that chance back then, I never could have stood out from the other newcomers so quickly. I truly appreciate it."
Mei bowed deeply to Yuta, then seemed to catch herself. "Oh, and congratulations to you too, President Shido. Winning the TV Anime Outstanding Work Award with your new show and hitting fifty thousand in sales as a phenomenon-level anime is really incredible."
Yuta smiled slightly and thanked her as well.
The ceremony had not started yet, but the venue was not exactly the place for an extended conversation. So Mei only chatted briefly with Yuta before heading back to her own seat.
Yuta sat back down and quietly waited for the ceremony to begin.
"Boss, she seems really grateful to you," Rika said from beside him.
Yuta gazed ahead, his tone thoughtful. "She's a very talented voice actress. I hope she can go even further."
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