"Nani?! President, you're actually Kogahara Tsubakiaki?!"
Upon learning this news, Jun Maeda was completely dumbfounded.
Aoki Haruhi paused for a moment. "Eh? Didn't I tell you before?"
"Master Kogahara had already resigned by the time I joined!"
Damn it!
Jun Maeda felt as if he had taken ten thousand points of damage to his heart. The most important thing was—
How could Master Kogahara Tsubakiaki be the President?!
Although the President was a good person, it just felt impossible to equate the two.
"Then please continue to keep it a secret." Aoki Haruhi scratched his head and smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Kogahara Tsubakiaki has been a pen name I used to release game titles from the very beginning. I hope this won't affect my personal life, and I ask for your understanding."
Understanding?
Understanding my ass!
The Master Kogahara Tsubakiaki I admired so much is actually the President.
How is anyone supposed to accept that?
It wasn't that the President was bad; it was just that Jun Maeda felt the delicate emotions, beautiful art style, and those fated, beautiful, and healing stories expressed in Kogahara Tsubaki's games were exactly what made Kogahara so charming. It was because of these things that Jun Maeda wanted to follow in his footsteps.
As for Aoki Haruhi...
Although he was also very impressive and seemed to understand everything about game development, possessing tremendous ability, there was always a sense of distance.
This sense of distance was innate—an unbridgeable gap between a president and an employee.
But between Kogahara Tsubaki and Jun Maeda, there was a spiritual bond...
Jun Maeda simply couldn't imagine Master Kogahara Tsubaki having a face like Aoki Haruhi's.
In his imagination, even Hayao Miyazaki would be a more suitable face for Kogahara Tsubaki than Aoki Haruhi.
But why?
Why did it have to be the President!
"Ugh... alright, President." Jun Maeda nodded. Although his heart had already shattered into pieces, riddled with holes, he still forced himself to say to Aoki Haruhi, "I will definitely keep it a secret."
***
At the end of March, the Famitsu Awards were freshly announced.
Because this was the first-ever Famitsu Awards, everyone found it very novel.
Nobody expected that the gaming industry could have such an award.
First is the Grand Prize—the 1993 Game of the Year Award. After voting by players, Famitsu ultimately selected "Kirby's Adventure," published by Nintendo.
Suitable for all ages, high replayability, very fun, and featuring the cute image of Kirby, it won the love of many players and is a great family-friendly game.
This can be considered well-deserved.
Next is the [MVC (Most Valuable Creator/Team)]: GAINAX. "Princess Maker 2," released in 1993, created extremely high gaming value with its unique cultivation system, heartwarming plot, and beautiful character designs for the girls, so the Most Valuable Creator award was granted to them.
[Best Script Award]: Pokeni's "Blanket Man". A heartwarming story, deeply moving, with tear-jerking plot twists, a tight and suspenseful rhythm, and a captivating narrative between the male and female leads and various supporting characters that constantly tugs at the players' heartstrings.
[Best Graphics Award]: Pokeni's "Blanket Man", with its unique, beautiful graphics that combine a strong fairytale aesthetic with an anime style, bringing players a brand-new, dreamlike visual feast.
[Best Soundtrack Award]: Pokeni's "Blanket Man", a warm and healing game soundtrack that has earned plenty of tears from players.
[Best Game Character]: Hedgehog Girl Minami Hyuga, from Pokeni's "Blanket Man"
***
...Blanket Man, with its warm and healing game soundtrack that drew plenty of tears from players.
[Best Game Character]: Hedgehog Girl Hinata Minami, from Pokeni's "Blanket Man".
***
[Best Experience Game]: Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
[Best Action Game]: Capcom's "Cadillacs and Dinosaurs"
***
This selection was determined entirely by player votes across multiple dimensions, and Famitsu even published the corresponding vote counts directly, which can be said to be very persuasive.
Players also expressed their agreement, acknowledging the final results of the Famitsu Awards.
In this awards ceremony, the one that probably surprised everyone the most was Pokeni's "Blanket Man," which directly snagged four major awards.
"Kirby's Adventure definitely deserved it; it's a genuinely good game. I guess this is one of Nintendo's top trump cards, right? I look forward to future Kirby games getting even better, surpassing Super Mario. But what is this Pokeni?
'Blanket Man' actually managed to win four major awards?"
"Is it that hard to understand? They did a great job with it, after all. Besides, these games were all voted on by players, so it should be considered quite fair."
"Not necessarily, right?
Fan-oriented works might just have better word-of-mouth, maybe?
And if it's based on the number of player votes, wouldn't best-selling games have more of an advantage?"
"Not necessarily, right? Fan-focused works might actually have better word-of-mouth, don't you think? And if it's based on player votes, wouldn't games that sell well have an advantage? After all, the user base is right there. Niche games are at a disadvantage instead."
"Good sales also reflect the quality of the game from another perspective, shouldn't the best-selling games be the ones winning the awards?"
"Hmm... the main worry is that some niche but excellent works might not get enough exposure, becoming lost gems instead."
Actually, voting is a subjective matter. If you don't let players vote, you'd have to rely on authoritative experts to score them, which leads back to the dilemma of the Platinum Hall of Fame. Besides, who can guarantee that the experts' opinions are always right?
At the very least, player voting guarantees one thing—
Game popularity and quality.
The games with the most votes are inevitably the popular, best-selling ones. After all, the larger the player base, the higher the number of votes generated. This is also why Kirby became the Game of the Year.
Nintindo's own promotional capabilities, coupled with its own platform, are bound to be among the best in the country. Kirby can also be considered one of its major franchise games, with a natural audience. The most critical factor is—this particular Kirby game from Nintindo is indeed quite good, so it has also gained the affirmation and favor of players.
In contrast, another major IP under them has not been so lucky:
Ever since Nintindo abandoned Sony and turned to cooperate with Philips, Nintindo signed a CD-ROM console cooperation agreement with Philips, allowing some Nintendo characters to land on the Philips CD-i platform.
Zelda and Mario were unfortunately selected by Philips.
Last year, Philips produced a total of two games related to The Legend of Zelda, which can be considered a dark history for Zelda. These two games were both side-scrolling titles, very poorly made, and had no plot to speak of; the graphics were horrendous, making countless players furious.
Therefore, although Nintindo released over 10 games last year, they deliberately avoided including the Zelda name. Fortunately, Kirby was quite good, helping Nintindo hold down the fort.
"Blanket Man is truly the masterpiece I consider it to be. Winning four major awards is well-deserved—the dreamlike visuals, the god-tier storyline... I shed tears countless times while playing. This game really makes you love it and hate it at the same time, but whoever has played it has never had a bad word to say about it."
"And yet, it still didn't manage to win Game of the Year."
"It doesn't matter, though. Nintindo has deep pockets, after all, and Kirby's vote count was quite high. Even though it didn't win any other awards, Kirby actually ranked pretty high across the board."
"That's what you call being the runner-up in every category, but the overall top contender."
"If Blanket Man had won just one more award in a functional category, it might have had a chance to be Game of the Year."
"Not possible. Don't forget that Nintindo has the largest fan base. Since it's a voting system, it naturally comes down to sheer numbers."
"Ugh, damn it! Then I hope Famitsu changes their voting system in the future to make the game selection fairer."
***
In short, after Famitsu established this Game Awards, it truly caused quite a stir within the gaming community. Countless players and fans of various companies fought tooth and nail over "who is the real number one."
Nintendo fans argued that if it weren't for that trash Philips ruining The Legend of Zelda, the Zelda series should have been able to sweep almost all the major awards.
Square fans were even more aggrieved for their master: it was a pity that Final Fantasy VI hadn't been released yet this year. Otherwise, if it had come out in '95, Final Fantasy VI would have swept all the RPG-related awards, from character design to story to graphics; they all should have gone to Final Fantasy VI.
Konami fans shared similar sentiments...
In short, to each their own; one's own favorite is always the best. If it didn't win, it must be Famitsu's fault, or it was because their ace game missed the timing and had to yield the awards to others.
Only Pokeni fans took it all in stride.
"It doesn't matter. Pokeni's galgames are niche titles anyway; just winning the Best Story Award is already satisfying enough."
"Exactly, having won Best Story, what is there to regret?"
"Graphics and music and such are just bonuses for the story anyway."
"Since they won so many awards, shouldn't we send something to Pokeni to congratulate them?"
"Eh? I was thinking the exact same thing."
***
Famitsu stated that if it weren't for Blanket Man, or rather, for the galgame produced by Pokeni, they wouldn't have even launched this so-called Famitsu Awards.
Aoki Haruhi remarked that this award was stingy as hell, rivaling TV Tokyo; all you get for winning the grand prize is an honor and a banana each.
But, well, winning an award is a good thing regardless; at the very least, given Famitsu's influence, it's a pretty decent bit of publicity.
***
At the same time, shortly after the Famitsu Game Awards list was freshly released, our old partners from Osaka, [Kyoto Animation], came knocking.
"Um, President Aoki, it's like this. We've experienced your company's new game, Blanket Man, and we're really hoping to adapt it into an anime. Would you be willing to agree to this?" asked Kigami Yoshiji.
Although Kyoto Animation is now run by the Hatta couple, its actual backbone is Kigami Yoshiji. Over the past two years, with Pokeni's support and the cultivation of legendary directors like Kigami Yoshiji, the talents at Kyoto Animation have made significant strides, and many newcomers have been trained.
Kyoto Animation's animation quality is improving at a pace visible to the naked eye.
This can be seen in the recent episodes of Pokémon.
With the backing of Kyoto Animation, the battle movements, special effects, and storyboarding in Pokémon are all distinct from my memories of Pokémon in my past life, amounting to a qualitative improvement. Where budget falls short, storyboarding makes up for it; Kigami Yoshiji's storyboard skills have directly elevated Pokémon battles to a whole new level.
Even the emotional bond between Ash and Pikachu is beautifully rendered, with countless viewers expressing that the Pokémon anime is incredibly effective at evoking emotions in the audience.
If it weren't for their limited budget, Aoki Haruhi felt that Kyoto Animation could do an excellent job.
Hearing Yoshiji Kigami's request, Aoki Haruhi was slightly taken aback.
He felt like this scene was deja vu, but something about it didn't seem quite right.
Thinking about it carefully, it was because the roles were reversed.
In the past, it was always Pokeni wanting to adapt a game into an anime and putting it out for tender, handing it over to Kyoto Animation for production, and providing all the funding, including contacting the TV stations themselves.
But this time, it was the other way around: Kyoto Animation wanted to adapt "Blanket Man" into an anime, and for this, Yoshiji Kigami even offered to pay Pokeni.
Aoki Haruhi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
Kyoto Animation was doing well for themselves; they had money now.
They were actually taking the initiative to seek out an opportunity.
"President Aoki, we genuinely believe that 'Blanket Man' is a great game. If it were adapted into an anime, it would definitely achieve high ratings.
However, given Kyoto Animation's current financial situation, we might not be able to pay a high licensing fee..."
Yoshiji Kigami looked troubled and pleaded sheepishly, "So, could you, considering how long we've worked together and how familiar we are with each other, give us a discount?"
"That's no problem at all," Aoki Haruhi said with a smile. "Since that's the case, we can completely waive the licensing fee."
"Eh? Really?" Kigami Yoshiji was overjoyed, never expecting Aoki to be so generous.
Aoki said, "If we don't charge a licensing fee, then Kyoto Animation can share the profits with Pokeni."
"Eh?"
Aoki rolled his eyes. Did you really think you'd get it for free?
"Director Kigami, you know as well as I do that galgames are different from Pokémon-type anime. The plot is the soul of a galgame. Once it's adapted into an anime, there's actually not much incentive for people to buy the game."
Indeed, the core of a galgame is its plot. This is why many galgame anime become huge hits while game sales remain mediocre. This is because viewers have already obtained the game's experience from the anime, so there's no need to spend money to play the game.
Therefore, many game anime adaptations are generally only done more than six months to a year after the game's release. Profit-sharing is necessary for this reason; otherwise, it's impossible to generate good revenue.
Aoki's request actually wasn't unreasonable.
Since the appearance of VCDs, anime discs have actually been selling quite well.
The anime market is currently in a phase of minor revival, too.
***
Yoshiji Kigami thought for a moment and quickly agreed.
However, the specific revenue split would need further discussion, which, by Aoki Haruhi's estimation, would likely take a month or two of back-and-forth.
"Oh, right," Aoki called out as a satisfied Kigami was about to leave, "We have two other games scheduled for release later this year. Let me know if you'd be interested in adapting those into anime when the time comes."
"Hmm?"
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