Sora silently prayed that the system would not throw him something in the vein of American superhero comics - Iron Man, Batman, Doctor Strange, or anything of the sort.
It was not that those works were bad. Far from it. The problem was that he had no confidence whatsoever that animated adaptations of that style would fit comfortably into the current Japanese market. The difference in tone, structure, and audience expectations was simply too large. In his previous life, even when those superhero films became massive box-office hits, he had rarely seen people rushing to watch their animated spin-offs.
If he actually drew something like that, his biggest headache might end up being whether he should abandon animation altogether and adapt it directly into a live-action film.
The system's glow continued flickering across the names of countless works from different countries stored in the memories of his previous life: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, D.Gray-man, Great Teacher Onizuka, Cowboy Bebop, The Simpsons - Season One, Coco…
Sora felt his throat tighten.
Then, at last, the light stopped.
The moment he saw the chosen work, the weight hanging over his chest vanished. In the next instant, it was replaced by an almost violent surge of joy.
Four words appeared before his eyes.
Your Name.
This really was the kind of gamble that could turn a bicycle into a motorcycle.
The original exchange price for that work in the system shop was 5.9 billion emotional points. He had never imagined he would manage to draw it for only 1.3 billion.
Was he simply lucky? Or did manipulating the probability like this actually work?
Sora blinked several times.
Then his consciousness withdrew from the system space.
Attack on Titan - Season One.
Your Name.
Those two works alone were enough to completely improve his mood.
The first needed no explanation. In his previous life, it had been a work with terrifying global popularity, the kind that crossed cultural borders with overwhelming force. The second, meanwhile, ranked among the greatest box-office phenomena in the history of Japanese animated cinema. And, just like Voices of a Distant Star and 5 Centimeters per Second, it was directed by Makoto Shinkai. His style had already proven, through the 1.3 billion yen box-office performance of 5 Centimeters per Second, that it had a place in the market of this world.
Judging only from his personal expectations at that moment, both new works had extremely bright futures.
After their release, there was a high chance that both would deliver remarkable results in reputation and commercial value alike.
Sora picked up his phone, logged into his creator account on NatsuYume, and looked through the pile of comments accumulated backstage.
Episode twenty-four of Steins;Gate had already laid out all the narrative foreshadowing clearly.
The first season of AD was also approaching its finale. Its ratings, however, were still hovering around 5.3%, placing it only third for the season.
Many fans did not think AD was some divine masterpiece. To them, it was a good work, perhaps even excellent in certain aspects, but not something that justified overwhelming anticipation for its second season.
Now, everyone was waiting for Sora to create a new work as soon as possible.
A new work that would not lose to Steins;Gate.
Sora thought for a moment and posted a pinned comment.
"Next season, please make sure to watch the second season of AD. Like Steins;Gate, it is a warm, healing, and emotional animation whose true impact lies entirely in the second half. Also, very soon, I will be announcing information about two new animated works."
With Sora's current popularity, his account was already close to surpassing twenty million followers. On top of that, Steins;Gate was standing at the very peak of its public heat. Free promotional traffic of this scale could not be wasted.
Even though it was late at night, the message he posted was discovered by an enormous number of fans within less than half an hour, then rapidly pushed to the top of the trending rankings.
NatsuYume itself was practically Yumi's main stronghold. As for Sumire, because she had followed Sora in producing animation, her popularity had also exploded. Her number of followers on the site had already passed three million.
Naturally, the two of them found Sora's pinned comment almost immediately.
Two new works?
Since when?
During the day, they had just asked him whether he had put any new project on the agenda, and he had said that, for the time being, he had no clear goal.
How had it gone from no clear goal during the day to two confirmed new projects by nightfall?
At that moment, both Sumire and Yumi wore utterly blank expressions.
The industry peers who followed Sora were even more bewildered.
Are you even human?
Not even a beast of burden works this hard.
You have already made so much money. Why do you need to keep producing at this pace? You are not a breeding sow. Even a sow needs time to recover after giving birth. Yet here you are, releasing one work after another as if you were an iron donkey incapable of feeling exhaustion.
And what is going on with that creativity of yours? Do you not need time to create? Someone investigate this. The Japanese department that studies extraterrestrial life should immediately drag him away and slice him open for research.
As for Sora's fans, their overwhelming enthusiasm crashed into the comment section like a storm, almost punching straight through his account.
Who could have imagined that Sora would be this explosive?
Steins;Gate had not even ended yet. The second season of AD had not even aired yet. And he was already announcing two more new works.
Was there anything happier in this world than being a fan of Sora's animation?
"Long live KantokuSora!"
"He really is an angel sent from heaven to save us poor souls who have spent years suffering from a shortage of good anime."
"I used to criticize Sora. I thought he was too arrogant in the industry. But today, I've turned from hater to fan. Just for this professional attitude, for this way of valuing life and time, for this refusal to waste even a single day, I'm honestly moved."
"Exactly. Compared to those creators who, after becoming famous, spend years making one new work while milking their old popular titles for cash, KantokuSora is practically the conscience of the industry. New work after new work, and every one is better than the last."
"But if he keeps releasing new works this frequently, what about the old ones? I want to see him continue the projects he left unfinished."
"That can wait. At this pace, KantokuSora's creative passion will eventually slow down one day. When that time comes, he can calmly fill in the gaps from his old works."
"About the second season of AD, KantokuSora already hinted in old online comments that AD is an animation capable of bringing the same kind of emotion as Re:Zero and Steins;Gate. Now he's saying something like this again. I can't take it. I'm going to buy the Blu-ray and catch up. I'm scared this anime might end up having a god-tier development like Steins;Gate."
"Isn't that an exaggeration? Episode twenty-four of AD's first season only aired a few days ago. It's emotional, sure, but it still isn't anywhere near the level of Steins;Gate. Episode twenty-five will probably just be the final confession. I honestly can't imagine what kind of story the second season could tell, much less what kind of narrative explosion it could possibly have."
"I now believe unconditionally in that old thief Sora. Even though I don't like romance anime that much, just based on all the divine works he has delivered over the past few years, I'll finish the first season of AD and follow the second season next cour."
"Is everyone only talking about anime? No one wants to discuss what drama we're supposed to watch next season after the second season of Liar Game ends?"
"…"
"Don't even mention it. After watching Liar Game, I tried watching other dramas, and suddenly all their plots felt stupid."
"Same here."
The next morning, when Sora arrived at the company, every employee looked at him with strange expressions.
Naturally, the staff paid attention to every move their own boss made.
But when exactly had Sora pulled two more new ideas out of his head?
From the lowest-level employees to the executives, there was not a single person in the entire company who was not confused.
Still, this was precisely the advantage of having money, manpower, and absolute control over the company.
Which work Sora wanted to create, how much money he wanted to invest - everything was decided by him alone.
As for the shareholders, Yumi and Sumire, they would not stop him. And even if they wanted to, they could not.
There were no useless meetings. No hollow communication. What existed was simply the morning meeting, where, under everyone's curious gazes, Sora directly announced the production plans for the two new works.
"I will complete the scripts for my two new works as soon as possible: the long-form TV anime Attack on Titan and the theatrical animated film Your Name. The project teams from the first season of AD and Steins;Gate will be redistributed between these two new projects according to the abilities they demonstrated during production."
Inside the meeting room, dozens of pairs of eyes were fixed on Sora, who wore a black suit, looked strikingly handsome, and spoke in a calm tone.
"My expectation for the performance of these two works is simple," he said, looking at everyone.
"They will break the performance records of every previous work our company has produced."
After a brief pause, he continued.
"As for the investment amount, once the scripts are completed, the relevant departments will immediately estimate the production costs. Most likely, these will become the highest-investment TV anime and theatrical animated film since our company was founded. I want everyone to prepare themselves mentally in advance. Also, because the schedule will be tight, the production members of AD's second season will gradually join the production of these two works after completing their current tasks. Over the next six months to one year, these two works, together with the second season of AD, will become the core mission of the company's development."
When Sora finished speaking, the breathing of many people in the company visibly grew heavier.
After all, where did the production costs of Yume Animation's major animated works go?
Aside from taxes, rent, utilities, equipment wear, location research, external reference shoots, outdoor fieldwork, and cooperation fees with top special-effects companies in the global animation industry, a considerable portion of the budget went toward project bonuses and employee benefits.
And Sora had just said that the production costs of these two animated works would likely be the highest since the company's founding.
In other words, the baseline investment for each of the two works would exceed one hundred million yen in production costs alone. Once marketing expenses were added, no one knew how high the total might climb.
Everyone's eyes began to shine.
Participating in the production of Sora's works did not only bring recognition and reputation within the industry. It also meant high salaries, generous bonuses, and real rewards. Fame and money at the same time. This was exactly what it meant to have both.
After the meeting ended, Sumire and Yumi stayed behind.
Both of them looked at Sora with expressions full of doubt.
"Sora… about these new works…" Sumire began. "Why so suddenly?"
"Because last night, the feeling came to me," Sora replied with a gentle smile. "I simply thought I wanted to do it."
"But you said the schedule is tight. Does this have something to do with the Southern Regional Alliance? Did you make this decision suddenly after attending the shareholders' meeting last night?" Yumi asked curiously. "Did they offer you some generous conditions to produce a new work, but attach requirements regarding time or results?"
"No. I have no new agreement or cooperation plan with the Southern Regional Alliance. I'm only a minor shareholder of the broadcaster. Helping the station defeat the Big Four is not my life's goal. My goal is to make Yume Animation the number one company in the otaku industry in Japan and the world."
Sora looked at the two of them and added, "When I say the timeline is tight, it's because, in eight months, we'll have the New Year box-office season."
"The New Year season?" Sumire frowned slightly.
Yumi, whose business instincts were sharper, understood almost immediately.
"You mean…" Her eyes narrowed. "That animated film called Your Name. You want to release it nationwide in theaters during the New Year season?"
"Exactly," Sora replied.
A good film needed a good release window to achieve a good box office.
For cinema, timing, location, and people all came down to a combination of factors: the release window, the strength of the capital backing the work, the quality of the film itself, and the power of the competitors releasing in the same period.
In Sora's previous life, Your Name had been imported during a poor release window, with almost no promotion and practically no capital support because it was a licensed foreign film. Even so, it had managed to earn nearly six hundred million at the box office. That was already an excellent result.
But in this Japan, Sora would definitely treat the work with the utmost seriousness. He wanted to fight to reach the true box-office ceiling that this film could achieve.
That was why the annual New Year season mattered so much to him.
His time was precious. He could not spend several years producing a work only to release it during the New Year season two years later. The problems caused by a shorter production schedule would have to be compensated for with money as much as possible. The goal was to prevent the quality of the work from declining.
"Do you think this idea is feasible?" Sora asked, looking at Yumi. "My second animated film, produced in only eight months, entering directly into the New Year season - the cruelest release window in the Japanese film market."
Sumire's expression also turned serious.
Although she understood the animation industry better, she had heard more than enough about the brutality of the New Year box-office season in Japanese cinemas.
Just during the New Year season that year, several high-investment films, including some starring award-winning actors, had suffered heavy losses. In the end, only two or three works had won everything, swallowing more than ninety percent of the box office for that period.
In simple terms, poor film quality was only one factor. The inability to beat competitors in marketing also carried significant weight.
But considering the fame and public heat Sora currently had in Japan, if he truly entered a promotional war, would he lose?
Yumi thought for a few moments. Then a smile appeared on her face.
"If it were anyone else, I would say they had gone insane. They would probably be dragged into the capital war of the New Year season, become a stepping stone for other works, and end up losing everything. But in your case, I think the ones who should panic are the others. You are a creator who has already reached the top of popularity in both animation and television dramas. By yourself, you are already one of the most influential figures in the Japanese audiovisual industry. On top of that, the excellent performance of 5 Centimeters per Second has already given moviegoers a sense of reassurance. If you release a new work during the New Year season, the ones losing sleep will be your competitors in the same window."