After the release of "Blanket Man," it quickly swept across all of Japan. Whether they had played galgames or not, everyone seemed interested in the game, and many players gave it positive reviews after experiencing it.
Of course, among these voices, there were also some that Aoki Haruhi didn't like to hear.
For example:
"Ishino Mika is the last bit of tenderness left by the old thief Kohara."
"Really, after the old thief was gone, the hostility at P Corporation has lessened a lot. Even 'Your Name' didn't cut the heroine. Although 'Blanket Man' has some emotional stabs, it at least counts as a Happy Ending."
"The male and female leads, I suppose, have overcome difficulties and finally ended up together, right?"
"If it were Old Thief Kogahara, this kind of ending would absolutely never happen.
He probably would have had her die from an infection back when she was removing the hedgehog quills.
Or maybe Blanket Man would have sacrificed himself to save Hedgehog Girl during the fire...
These are all things Old Thief Kogahara is capable of.
But Ishino Mika, I'm really, I'm crying to death, she's too gentle, she just couldn't bear to deal that final blow.
Thank you, Pokeni, for having Ishino Mika.
You allowed us to experience such a special gentleness, and this gentleness really makes one feel full of happiness."
"Ishino Mika is indeed the last bit of gentleness left behind by Kogahara Tsubakiaki."
What utter nonsense.
Aoki Haruhi indicated that this assessment was highly inaccurate, and even an insult to him.
"Damn it! Don't these guys know that among Pokeni's producers, Kogahara Tsubakiaki is the most gentle? How am I not gentle?"
Little HR Ayase Akane rolled her eyes.
Whether you're gentle or not, don't you have any self-awareness?!
***
Once "Blanket Man" was released, it quickly gained high critical acclaim. Combined with Pokeni's existing reputation as a leader in the galgame industry, the game's sales skyrocketed.
It sold over 300,000 copies in its first week alone, and it's very likely to break the one-million mark.
Many are even predicting that the final sales of "Blanket Man" might exceed those of "Your Name".
The sales of "Your Name" have been excellent, with a total of over 2 million copies sold to date—a super strong performance that has shattered the ceiling in the galgame field, reaching the peak of Mount Fuji.
But this achievement came at the cost of [Kogahara Tsubakiaki's retirement].
In other words, if "Your Name" hadn't been Kogahara Tsubakiaki's retirement work, his very last project, it's unlikely it would have reached such heights in sales.
And now, "Blanket Man" is showing signs of potentially doing the same, which is just terrifying.
"Terrifying... simply terrifying," said Hiruta Masato, president of elf Co., Ltd., as he looked at these figures, and could only sigh in defeat.
"Blanket Man" is a height that ELF can never reach in their lifetime.
Of course...
If there were a population explosion in the future, for instance if Japan's population suddenly increased tenfold, it might still be possible.
At least for now, Masato Hiruta can only look on with envy.
"Pokeni is truly overflowing with talent," Masato Hiruta marveled, clicking his tongue. "I originally thought that once Kogahara Tsubakiaki was gone, Pokeni would be on the decline. But I never expected that from 'The Witcher' to 'Blanket Man,' Pokeni wouldn't just avoid decline, but would even begin to show a sense of blossoming with a hundred flowers."
In the past, P-Corp's works could be identified as Kogahara Tsubakiaki's at a single glance: excellent imagination, god-tier plots, game art and graphics that were ahead of their time, a merciless willingness to break players' hearts, and a heavy sense of destiny...
These were all reasons why Kogahara Tsubakiaki single-handedly created a new genre within galgames, and even changed the public's inherent impression of them.
On his foundation, Gen Urobuchi expanded into dark, profound, and cruel themes, pushing suspense, a sense of fatalism, and the "knife-twisting" emotional impact to the extreme.
As for Mika Ishino and Jun Maeda, they took another branch from the path established by Kogahara Tsubakiaki: warm, healing, and yet possessing an explosive, tear-jerking effect, leaving players in deep contemplation long after the game.
Perhaps there are a few things that have been inherited, unchanged to this day:
Excellent character design.
Graphics that transcend their time.
Top-tier game scripts, a sense of fatalism, and emotional rendering—these are all specialties of P Corp.
One great tree, blooming into two different kinds of flowers, each extraordinarily brilliant.
This is Hiruta Masato's current assessment of P Corp.
Nothing but envy, just envy.
However, from another perspective, it can also be considered a good thing.
The success of "Blanket Man" at least proves two things:
First, Pokeni has an effective, or perhaps unique, method for selecting and cultivating talent, which is the only reason they could continue the P Corp galgame tradition and push games to the extreme even after losing Kogahara Tsubakiaki.
Moreover, this approach—whether it was for Gen Urobuchi, Shinji Mikami, or Mika Ishino—has enabled them all to become exceptional game designers and producers. These sparks, nurtured by Kogahara Tsubakiaki, are now burning brightly.
Second, Pokeni possesses a strong internal culture of innovation, or perhaps a unique core competitive advantage, which ensures that Pokeni can keep moving forward and continually pioneer new content.
Either way, it is highly worth it for ELF to learn from them.
Of course, what Hiruta Masato envied even more was that Pokeni once possessed a "spark" like Kogahara Tsubakiaki. It was his very existence that forged Pokeni's past and charted its future.
"Everything originates from Kogahara Tsubakiaki. And yet, it also distinguishes itself from him."
"If only we had such talent; we would certainly be able to carry on the legacy and cultivate one god-tier scriptwriter after another."
"Huh?"
Sitting nearby, Masaki Takei, the scriptwriter for Doukyuusei, thought, "Are you kidding me?"
Praising another company's scriptwriter right to my face?
Well, that said...
Masaki Takei might have been angry, but his anger was directed more at Masato Hiruta. As for evaluating their actual capabilities, he had to admit to himself that he really couldn't reach the heights Pokeni had achieved.
The scripts for P Corporation's games were simply beyond what a human could come up with. They were undeniably overflowing with talent.
However, Masaki Takei secretly clenched his fists, resolving to work twice as hard in the future. Even if he didn't have their innate talent, he could at least get closer to their level and write even better scripts.
Just as he was secretly making up his mind, Masaki Takei glanced up and happened to see the President's mischievous smirk.
He was momentarily stunned, and then it hit him.
Dammit...
Masato Hiruta was clearly trying to motivate him using this exact method.
Ah, he was completely being looked down upon.
It was genuinely infuriating.
However, even though he had fallen right into Masato Hiruta's "trap," Masaki Takei didn't blame him at all. Instead, he was willing to play along, using it as fuel to motivate himself to write a brilliant script and prove his worth!
***
Players raved about "Blanket Man," and the industry gave it extremely high praise as well.
Many game companies were stunned when they saw the results of "Blanket Man."
"300,000 in first-week sales—is that even possible for a galgame?"
"And giving the male and female protagonists 'useless skills'—I wouldn't even dare to imagine that. If this weren't a galgame, or rather, if it hadn't come from Pokeni, it would have surely tanked into the abyss long ago."
"The useless skills don't even seem like much compared to the extensive slice-of-life segments and the heavy emphasis on side characters... This is unimaginable in any other game.
Before the appearance of 'Blanket Man,' the game industry had always adhered to a design where one character monopolizes the narrative focus.
After all, games are meant to provide players with a sense of experience and immersion.
Whether it's switching protagonists halfway through, or having side characters take up too much screen time..."
These are all major taboos in game design. Once players develop a strange experience or feel confused about their identification with the protagonist, the game is usually doomed.
However, "Blanket Man" is different; it did all of those things, yet achieved unexpected results.
With excellent visuals, combined with deeply moving, god-tier writing, it actually allows us to easily immerse ourselves and walk into the inner hearts of every character.
It's simply terrifying.
Aside from "terrifying," I can't find any other word to describe it.
"Ishino Mika, the producer from P Corporation, is truly amazing, especially as a woman, which makes it even more remarkable.
Not only did she prove through the game 'Blanket Man' that women can be just as good as producers, she even proved that she can do it even better.
In the field of galgames, Ishino Mika is, in my heart, the number one female producer!"
***
Peers hold Ishino Mika in high regard, and her colleagues at Pokeni have also come to view her with newfound respect.
Hiroshi Aoyama, who had originally doubted Ishino Mika's abilities, is now completely convinced.
He has to admit that a part of the reason he didn't think highly of her before was out of jealousy.
After all, they all joined Pokeni around the same time and worked on games like Onmyoji and Pokémon together.
At first, Hiroshi Aoyama thought Ishino Mika was just lucky and had been promoted by the President, but after truly seeing the final results and sales figures of Blanket Man, he was genuinely impressed.
Even with the President's backing, a game cannot be well-managed without a producer who has sufficient ability.
It's impossible for the President to supervise the entire process; if he did, he would be no different from a producer, and besides, President Aoki is usually very busy and simply wouldn't have the energy to manage Blanket Man to that extent.
Therefore, the success of Blanket Man must first be attributed to the producer, Ishino Mika; her ability to control every detail is truly astonishing.
Next is the scriptwriter, Jun Majima. This newcomer, right from the start, demonstrated his unique talent and ability with a masterpiece like Blanket Man.
It even made the Pokeni employees faintly feel that—
Could Jun Majima be the next Gen Urobuchi?
Even though their styles are so different, the fact that people are inexplicably comparing them shows just how much everyone recognizes his talent.
Only when your strength reaches a certain level do you earn the qualification to be compared to others.
Moreover, Jun Majima possesses an ability that Gen Urobuchi does not—
Composing.
Some of the soundtrack in "Blanket Man" was composed by Jun Majima himself, and it complemented Atsushi Shirakawa's work perfectly, making it quite outstanding.
In short, now that the results for "Blanket Man" are out, everyone is wholeheartedly convinced.
The colleagues who previously made sarcastic remarks, didn't have faith in the project, and called it an experimental piece, are now so ashamed they can't even lift their heads.
"Ishino-san."
Hiroshi Aoyama stood up from his seat and bowed deeply to her.
"Eh?!"
Mika Ishino was taken aback, but seeing his actions and attitude, she hurriedly stood up from her seat as well.
Everyone else turned around to look at them.
"Aoyama-kun, what are you doing?"
"Ishino-san, I am sorry," Hiroshi Aoyama said earnestly. "I previously doubted your ability, spoke ill of you behind your back, didn't recognize your talent, and even went as far as to say that 'Blanket Man' was just an experimental piece.
But all of this was actually just rooted in my jealousy of you.
"I was truly incredibly stupid. Please forgive me!"
Hiroshi Aoyama buried his head deeply, bowing at a 90-degree angle.
Mika Ishino hurriedly waved her hands, looking flustered. "Please don't do that, Aoyama-kun. Actually, I've always thought your abilities were stronger than mine. If you were the producer of Blanket Man, you would definitely do better than me."
Just then, another guy stood up next to Aoyama. It was Ono, a programmer for Diablo II.
"I'm sorry, Ishino-san. It's the same for me. I shouldn't have doubted your abilities, nor should I have doubted the strength of the Blanket Man project team, nor these lovely and respectable colleagues, and even less so should I have doubted the President's judgment.
Please forgive me.
I also used to think Blanket Man was just an experiment, and I even thought it would be a total failure. I'm speechless about my own behavior, and I feel extremely ashamed."
After saying this, he also bowed deeply.
A while later, people stood up one after another to apologize to the Blanket Man project members.
Aoki Haruhi sat in the President's office, watching all of this through the glass wall and blinds, his mind reeling.
What the hell...
Just how little faith did the company's employees have in Blanket Man?
Good grief, Kenta Akanishi, even you, an old veteran, were a doubter?
***
***
"Cheers!"
In the evening, Aoki Haruhi took the production team of "Blanket Man" out for a celebratory dinner, treating them to a grand feast.
Everyone was incredibly happy, their faces flushed with excitement.
"Come on, let's have a toast to the President!" Ishino Mika proposed.
The team members knew it well.
No matter how much the outside world hyped up the game, the one who acted as the finishing touch and the pillar of stability was none other than the President himself.
The script discussions Aoki had with Jun Majima, as well as his proposal to create a brand-new, Sempé-style anime aesthetic—it was precisely because of these demands that "Blanket Man" was able to reach where it was today under his guidance.
Truth be told, when Shota Yokoyama thought about it carefully in the end, the new art style really was perfect.
Dreamy, ethereal, fairytale-like, and at the same time, it softened much of the dark and cruel content that might have otherwise made players uncomfortable. It allowed players to enjoy the immense aesthetic impact of the game while still savoring the touching story.
It was truly remarkable.
***
About three hours later, the banquet ended, and everyone headed home one by one.
"Ugh!!!"
Ishino Mika, leaning on Aoki Haruhi's arm, stood on the main road and vomited heavily.
Then, she swayed and pointed a finger at Aoki, her eyes unfocused.
"President! Do you look down on me?!"
Ten thousand "grass mud horses" galloped through Aoki's mind...
What was wrong with me? Why on earth did I think of drinking with Ishino?
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