With promotion on Chiyo Bookstore's website and cooperation from physical bookstores, the scale of the campaign could hardly be called small. At the very least, most readers who followed light novels would learn about the 'Fate/zero' side-story novel 'Knight's Twilight' through the advertising.
Light novels and anime had a very deep connection. People who watched anime might not necessarily read light novels, but those who read light novels were almost certainly at least anime otaku. More than ninety-nine percent of that group knew the name Kamiyā Yuu.
A famous anime director had gone off to write a light novel!
And not only that, he had already produced a finished work.
It was certainly news that made people both laugh and feel genuinely curious.
Anime, manga, and novels were often lumped together by outsiders, but anyone who had actually engaged with them knew that these three industries were worlds apart.
Anime, needless to say, was like an assembly-line production factory. The staff closest to manga artists were probably key animators, but most key animators could create key animation without necessarily being able to draw manga. Likewise, most manga artists might not necessarily be able to write light novels, even though the threshold appeared deceptively low.
Naturally, whether Kamiyā Yuu, an outstanding anime director, could create an outstanding light novel drew the interest of readers in the light novel community.
There were many comments on Chiyo Bookstore's light novel library page.
"You're making anime and now writing light novels too? Who do you think you are? — Anonymous."
This was someone disdainful of Kamiyā Yuu for not focusing on his proper work.
"Hey, hey! This is totally reckless, right? Go back and properly work on 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'! If you've got that much energy, then make one more episode of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'! At the very least, release a light novel for 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' instead! — Please Get Off at Maeda Station."
This was probably a loyal fan of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'.
"I've heard Director Kamiyā has the title of 'All-Round Director'. Turns out he can even write light novels! — Teru Teru Bōzu."
This was someone who found it strange and amusing.
"Has anyone read that 'Knight's Twilight'? It seems to be about the legend of King Arthur that was mentioned in our Japanese textbook. — Shinsengumi Grass-Rank Chiya."
This was someone curious about the novel.
"Please, Mr. Kamiyā, go finish making 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' first! Damn it, the plot has clearly reached the most exciting part, and now we still have to wait another week. — Anonymous."
This was someone who hated Kamiyā Yuu for starting random new projects. They probably didn't understand the anime production process either.
But this doubtful public opinion did not last long. As 'Knight's Twilight' gradually spread among readers, it was quickly drowned out by attention toward the work itself and cries of amazement.
"King Arthur couldn't possibly be a girl! — Anonymous."
"It actually has a tragic ending. It's over. I feel like 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' is going to be doomed too! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ — Great Swordsman of the Sengoku Era."
"Don't get so worked up, person above. This novel is only the story of a side character. But the story really is excellent. It combines the legends related to King Arthur while reconstructing the character's life, and it's also very interesting. Several fresh settings appear in the text, and judging from Director Kamiyā's interview, I feel like they'll probably be expanded upon in the main story. — Class 2-C Ruruko."
"Damn it, I couldn't put it down at all. Ever since I bought this light novel from the bookstore yesterday, I have kept reading. By the time I came back to my senses, it was already past six in the morning the next day. If I'd known this would happen, I would've bought the remaining volumes too. Now the bookstore has sold out, and I can only read it online. If I'd bought the novel, I would've gotten illustrations with it! — Anonymous."
"The color illustrations are kind of amazing! As expected of an anime director who started as a key animator. The characters' expressions are portrayed with incredible detail and precision. The final illustration, where King Arthur collapses on the Hill of Camlann, is definitely one of the most beautiful illustrations I've ever seen in my life! I never imagined an anime-style character could express such complicated emotions through her eyes. Director Kamiyā's writing is also incredible. For some reason, when I saw King Arthur leave at the end, I couldn't help but cry. — Anonymous."
"At first, the setting of King Arthur being a girl made me think this was a light novel with lots of entertainment elements, but the story turned out to be unexpectedly heavy and rigorous. Will the Knight King appear again in the main story? If so, I'm interested in the upcoming anime and main novel. — Anonymous."
"I really love Queen Guinevere's character design. Though this might be a little inappropriate, please allow me to shout it out: Madam, I like you too! — Anonymous."
"Ahhhhhhh~ My King! You are the true sovereign! Your knights failed you! （;д｀）ゞ — King's Knight."
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Sales of the novel 'Knight's Twilight' surged.
In less than a week, it broke into the top ten of Chiyo Bookstore's monthly light novel sales rankings. Even as the print run increased, the market still showed signs of demand exceeding supply.
People often joked about buying a novel for the illustrations, and most readers who purchased 'Knight's Twilight' were probably doing so for the exquisite original artwork personally drawn by Kamiyā Yuu.
Light novel readers gave 'Knight's Twilight' extremely high praise.
The three most important elements of a light novel—writing, story, and illustrations—were all flawless. Together, they shaped a King Arthur who left a deep impression on readers.
Not long after the novel's release, the second character side-story novel, 'Bluebeard', was freshly released.
Unlike 'Knight's Twilight', from every aspect of its concept, the plot of 'Bluebeard' was quite bizarre and complex. There was even less need to talk about its audience. Who liked reading a dark story about a madman massacring villagers?
As a result, compared to the overwhelming praise for 'Knight's Twilight', even though Kamiyā Yuu wrote 'Bluebeard' as a horror story from the perspective of villagers, it quickly fell into obscurity after its initial burst of attention.
Online reviews of 'Bluebeard' were mixed. Most readers felt that it was unsuitable for release as a light novel and should also have been given a more specific age rating.
In other words, 'Bluebeard' should at least have been categorized into a 16+ or even 18+ restricted section.
Not long after 'Bluebeard' was released, people from Chiyo Bookstore came to explain this matter to Kamiyā Yuu.
Kamiyā Yuu accepted all their conditions.
He had simply wanted to create the novel 'Bluebeard'. This character was originally a villain in 'Fate/Zero'. Kamiyā Yuu was not a pervert, nor could he possibly like him.
The purpose of creating 'Bluebeard' was to add color to the main work. Even if the contents of the novel were distributed for free, he would have no complaints.
In reality, 'Bluebeard' later really did become one of the bonus side-story novels for 'Fate/zero', simply because no one truly wanted to understand the mind of a deviant. As a horror story, however, it was still fairly decent and was admired by a very small niche of readers.
After that came the official release of the third character side-story novel, 'King of Conquerors'.
With the experience of the previous two releases, most light novel readers now understood that whether Kamiyā Yuu's novels were enjoyable did not depend on the plot itself, but on the historical prototype behind the character's story.
Alexander the Great, the King of Conquerors, was likewise one of the most famous monarchs in Western history. His story was no less exciting than the legend of King Arthur.
It was clear that Japan rather liked characters of the King of Conquerors' type.
'King of Conquerors' also easily entered the ranks of popular light novels. Its popularity, however, was far inferior to 'Knight's Twilight'.
Just as Kamiyā Yuu had expected, not many light novel readers enjoyed reading historical adaptations. 'Knight's Twilight' still had a feminized King Arthur supporting it, while 'King of Conquerors' could only rely on the bonds of comrades-in-arms.
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While 'Fate/zero' stirred up a small wave in the light novel world, the name of the anime 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' had already swept across the entire world.
This was not an exaggeration.
At the very least, in Europe, America, China, and Japan, it was unquestionably one of the most popular and highly rated works in Japanese anime history.
European and American animation was not exactly niche on a global scale, and there were plenty of Western viewers who liked animation. However, Japanese animation in Europe and America was truly a niche culture within a niche culture.
In this world, Japanese animation has not produced globally famous classics like 'Pokémon', 'Dragon Ball', or 'One Piece'. The first two in particular were probably the best-known Japanese anime in Europe and America, and had helped popularize the very existence of Japanese animation.
Without the popularity support of those world-famous anime works, most Westerners had not even heard the term Japanese anime.
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' changed this awkward situation.
'RWBY' had made Kamiyā Yuu rather popular in Europe and America as an animation director. His new work, 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica', also had an extremely captivating plot.
Not long after it began airing, it claimed first place on the Japanese anime popularity ranking on 'Fakebook', the largest online communication platform in Europe and America.
By now, more than twenty episodes had aired. Although its popularity growth was not as insane as in Japan, it was still far faster than that of ordinary European and American animated series.
On the overall popularity ranking, it had already left second-place 'Violet Blooming Garden' behind by an entire factor of two. Its popularity was second only to top-tier Western animated blockbusters.
This was all thanks to the explosive plot of Miki Sayaka and Sakura Kyōko in Episode 17, which struck the emotional weak points of many Western viewers.
With the label of a [very moving Japanese anime] attached to it, it attracted many curious Western viewers. The quality of the anime did not disappoint those viewers either.
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' broke most Western viewers' perception of Japanese animation, or even animation in general.
It turned out that animation did not have to be either lighthearted all-ages entertainment or obscure, difficult adult fare. It could occupy the space between the two and create a very interesting story.
The cultural differences between Europe, America, and Japan meant that their standards of aesthetic appreciation could never fully align.
Japanese creative works tended to focus on characterization, clashes between characters' ideals, fatalism, and similar elements. To put it plainly, they liked to "teach you how to live."
The frequent whitewashing of villains mostly came from this tendency.
In this respect, Western tastes were similar to Chinese ones. They considered this part of Japanese culture to be "overly sentimental" and preferred straightforward, exhilarating, or heroic stories.
This could be seen from the fact that, in Kamiyā Yuu's previous world, Qidian webnovels were more popular than light novels among Western audiences.
It was even said that one foreigner had managed to quit drugs just to read Qidian novels. This showed that Qidian novels' leveling-up, monster-fighting elements, and protagonist individualism were quite similar to the personal heroism popular in Europe and America.
At its core, 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' also contained these elements. Urobuchi Gen liked playing with this sort of thing, too.
After Kamiyā Yuu's artistic modification, these elements were expressed in a more subtle way.
It was similar to 'RWBY', yet also different. At the very least, it allowed most Western viewers to accept this set of ideas commonly found in Japanese anime.
Thus, there was a reason why the uniquely styled 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' became popular in Europe and America.
The people at 'Fakebook' had a great time with it.
Kamiyā Yuu found handling the matter troublesome, so he handed the European and American rights for 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' over to them. After their management and promotion, it achieved unexpected success, with profits several times higher than anticipated.
Kamiyā Yuu's old collaborator, Mr. Robert, the head of the animation section of 'Fakebook', received another sizable bonus because of this. Combined with his share from 'RWBY', he could probably buy a countryside villa and enjoy the rest of his life comfortably.
In Kamiyā Yuu's previous world, China was the country with the largest number of ACG culture fans apart from Japan, bar none.
When Episode 17 of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' aired, its popularity among new anime releases also stood far above the rest, becoming the biggest golden signboard of 'BIUBIUBIU', the bullet-comment video website.
It was practically a banner calling people to rally.
Under 'BIUBIUBIU's official promotion, the still immature Chinese ACG circle learned that this website not only possessed a novel bullet-comment function, but also had the largest number of officially licensed anime in all of China. It was also the only officially authorized streaming site for the currently popular anime 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'.
Because B-site, created with Kamiyā Yuu's support, had no advertisements and offered a good viewing experience, many viewers who did not care much for bullet comments still chose to come there to watch official anime.
Relying on 'Warship Girls Collection', 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica', and its bullet-comment function, 'BIUBIUBIU' became the largest bullet-comment video website in China after less than four months of development.
It had become a gathering place for ACG fans, with more than three hundred thousand regular users every day.
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' was one of the biggest drivers of the site's recent popularity growth.
In addition, Kamiyā Yuu had also licensed his novel to 'BIUBIUBIU'. However, compared to Japan, where Chiyo Bookstore, an industry giant, was escorting the release, even if Kamiyā Yuu personally wrote the Chinese version of 'Fate/zero', adding all the various complicated application procedures would probably mean it would still take several months before it could be released in China.
'Violet Blooming Garden' had sparked a craze in China for the term "godly work".
'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' then carried the term "godly work" to even greater heights.
At present, among most anime fans in China's ACG circle, their first reaction upon hearing "godly work" or the name 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' was:
"Godly work = 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'."
Japanese culture originated from Chinese culture, so China had a greater tolerance than Europe and America for the "sentimentality" of Japanese culture. There were also plenty of people who appreciated "Japanese-style sentimentality".
Furthermore, with a much larger population base than Europe and America, along with a stronger tendency to follow trends, the response to 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' in China truly spread like wildfire, impossible to contain.
Many anime otaku who joined China's ACG circle had been pulled in by 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'.