Kojima Toshio was a world-famous game producer. Works under his name, such as 'Warrior,' 'Wrath of the Mad Dragon,' and 'Street Fighter,' were all hugely popular fighting games across the globe. Among them, 'Street Fighter' in particular had become a household name, enduring from the era of the old "Little Tyrant" consoles all the way to the current age of widespread PS4 home systems.
'Street Fighter' enjoyed immense popularity in Europe and America, with a major tournament held every year. Winners could receive enormous prize money ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Whether in gameplay style or popularity, it was extremely similar to the side-scrolling fighting game 'Street Fighter' from Kamiyā Yuu's previous world.
Within Japan's gaming industry, Kojima Toshio carried the title "Supreme Master of Action," symbolizing his unshakable status in the realm of action games.
Even at over forty years old, this famous game producer still maintained a wide variety of interests, and anime happened to be one of them.
In truth, he had already noticed the unique qualities of 'Red—Crescent Rose' when it was first released. In his eyes, the work was simply too suitable to be adapted into an action fighting game. Whether as an MMORPG or a side-scrolling fighter, it had enormous room for expansion. What he valued most was the explanation Yosuganosora had posted on the "Fakebook" account regarding the Aura system in the 'RWBY' series—specifically, the physical propulsion generated when Ruby Rose fired magical bullets from her mechanical giant scythe.
This simple setting had made his eyes light up. It wasn't as though similar concepts had never appeared before, but previous works had never truly displayed or developed the charm of such a system.
When he first watched 'Red—Crescent Rose,' he replayed it dozens of times, spending an entire week evaluating the work's development potential. Yet even before Christmas, he still had not fully decided whether to purchase the game adaptation rights for the series.
Only after 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise' was released did he finally make up his mind.
It wasn't because of the animation quality, nor because of the Aura setting, and certainly not because of popularity. The reason was simple: as an expert with a profound understanding of combat and fighting mechanics, he had been genuinely shocked and moved by the midsection battle scenes in 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise.'
At his own level, he believed himself incapable of imagining such an overwhelmingly exciting combat sequence. The Aura setting had been perfectly integrated with genuine fighting techniques, maximizing the appeal of the system to its fullest extent.
What he valued wasn't merely the game adaptation potential of 'RWBY,' but also the action choreography itself.
...
"Twenty million yen for the game adaptation rights to the 'RWBY' series."
Kamiyā Yuu looked in surprise at the cooperation invitation sent by Compka Games through the "Fakebook" account.
Twenty million yen was equivalent to roughly two hundred thousand dollars. At first glance, purchasing only the game adaptation rights to a single animation seemed far more generous than the deal offered by the "Fakebook" company.
However, the popularity of 'RWBY' was continuing to rise rapidly, and the offer was for a complete buyout of the game adaptation rights.
If Kamiyā Yuu agreed, then any future attempt to adapt the work into a game would require permission from Compka Games.
"Oh~ Isn't this that famous game company Compka? I played tons of their games when I was a kid. The TV even talked about 'Street Fighter' tournaments being held over in Akihabara. I never expected they'd take interest in 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise' too."
Yūki Chinatsu sucked on a pouch of nutritional jelly while leaning over with visible surprise at the message displayed on Kamiyā Yuu's computer screen.
With things finally calming down, the [Yosuganosora] animation studio was waiting for Kamiyā Yuu's next instructions. However, since the official holiday break would begin tomorrow, everyone had simply come to the office today to relax.
Morishita Aoi was still handling follow-up documents. Kamiyā Yuu was browsing comments and cooperation offers related to 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise.' Yūki Chinatsu was playing online games, while Uehara Etsuki leisurely drank tea.
"So, are you going to sell it? This could be great news for the work itself."
Yūki Chinatsu nodded excitedly. Since she had personally participated in the production of 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise,' the fact that a major company had now taken an interest in it felt like validation of her own abilities, even if it brought her no direct benefit.
Kamiyā Yuu shook his head thoughtfully.
"There's no way I can accept the conditions in this contract. Twenty million yen isn't especially useful to us right now, so there's no need to rush into selling the game adaptation rights. We can lower the price to one hundred thousand dollars and give them a licensing agreement instead of a full buyout."
Yūki Chinatsu looked at him strangely.
"Isn't that way too arrogant? They're a famous major company in the gaming industry. A game adaptation benefits us more than them."
That might indeed be true.
But Kamiyā Yuu simply didn't want the rights to his work slipping out of his own control.
He smiled faintly and turned to answer her.
"No need to jump to conclusions so early. We're the ones holding the initiative."
...
December 28th—the third day after the release of 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise.'
The explosive growth in popularity had finally begun slowing down.
By now, views on the "Fakebook" website alone had surpassed twenty million, allowing 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise' to claim first place on the monthly animation popularity rankings without any suspense whatsoever. At the same time, the dynamic CG illustration 'Ashen Paradise' that he had drawn also took first place in the monthly artwork rankings.
'Yellow—Ashen Paradise' dominated both rankings in the animation section, becoming one of the most discussed works on the "Fakebook" animation boards that month.
Fan works emerged one after another like bamboo shoots after rain. Ranked ninth on the monthly artwork popularity list was a Yang fan illustration created by a famous artist.
'RWBY' had officially made a name for itself within overseas ACG circles.
However, compared to the enthusiasm overseas, things were far less explosive in Japan. Although official Japanese video websites also hosted 'Red—Crescent Rose' and 'Yellow—Ashen Paradise,' their popularity there was only moderate, strong enough to surpass lesser-known seasonal anime, yet still trailing far behind major hits.
This reminded Kamiyā Yuu of a famous "joke" from his previous world:
Bilibili dominance.
The so-called "Bilibili dominance" referred to works that achieved extremely high popularity on the Bilibili streaming platform but still performed poorly in Japanese Blu-ray sales. One famous example was 'Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto,' which created a phenomenon-level reaction on Bilibili but utterly flopped in Japan's sales market.
This phenomenon stemmed from the differing aesthetic preferences between China and Japan, deeply tied to the development of each culture.
China, Japan, and the West often held drastically different opinions regarding the same work.