Although the television broadcast of C had come to an end, the storm that the anime had stirred up within the Japanese animation industry was only just beginning.
In the week following its finale, the Southern Alliance Network rebroadcast the first episode and the second season of C across three different time slots. Without exception, every one of those slots set a new ratings record for a rerun.
The Japanese media, in turn, entered full praise mode.
"A divine work has descended upon the world. The most tear-inducing anime in the recent history of Japanese animation has been born."
"Perhaps only a Kantoku like Sora, someone who grew up knowing hardship from an early age, could create a family drama as sincere and piercing as C."
"Only after losing something do we understand how precious the things we once thought ordinary truly were. C is only an anime, but what it tries to tell us is about life itself: we do not need to live in regret, but we must never make choices that force us to carry regret forever."
"This is life. This is a masterpiece. This is the kind of genius animation the Japanese industry only sees once in a decade."
"Steins;Gate was already godlike enough, but it has now encountered AD, a work with even stronger word of mouth and even deeper emotional impact. With only nine days left until the Tokyo Anime Festival awards ceremony, everyone already knows there will be only one true winner this year."
"He is the most brilliant existence in the recent history of Japanese animation. In less than five years since his debut, Sora has already surpassed countless veterans. The question now is whether he can surpass himself once again and create another divine anime beyond C."
All across the country, fan support events for C began to appear. At major pop culture conventions, elements of Nagisa Furukawa and Makise occupied almost every corner.
There were also rumors that a spin-off work for C was already in development, with the outline supervised by Sora and the writing handled by the renowned author Rinka Hayase. It was expected to be released nationwide in mid-January of the following year, telling alternate branch stories for different characters across various world lines.
Several retired figures from the animation industry even praised AD as the strongest anime to emerge since the end of the golden age of animation.
Between the media's adoration and the fierce support of fans, the influence of AD continued to ferment, growing stronger with each passing day.
The effect was immediate. The second Blu-ray volume of Clannad second season, released recently, surpassed one hundred and sixty thousand copies sold in its first week alone. Even the previously released volumes saw an explosive surge in new orders and reservations.
Preorders for figures of popular C characters such as Nagisa Furukawa, Fuuko and Ushio sold out less than half an hour after going live.
In Japan's major otaku shopping districts, posters of Nagisa Furukawa and Ushio began replacing the Makise posters that had dominated the market for nearly half a year.
Everyone knew C would become popular. Even so, seeing it reach this level of nationwide phenomenon was still difficult to imagine.
That year, with Steins;Gate and AD, Sora completely solidified his position within the Japanese animation industry.
Even those online haters who could not stand him had no way left to attack him through his age, his achievements, or the era he happened to belong to.
They knew very well that even if they dragged out any work from the entire history of Japanese animation to compare with C, no one would dare say with confidence that it was superior.
At Yume Animation, the production team responsible for the second season of C had already been dissolved and redistributed into the production groups for Attack on Titan and Your Name.
Especially Your Name. Although there was only a little more than a month left before its release, the film was still going through its final finishing work, including special effects, dubbing, and last-stage adjustments.
The addition of members from the C production team greatly eased the pressure on the Your Name team.
At that moment, Sora found a gap amid his busy schedule to review the company's financial situation and his reserve of emotional value.
With the overwhelming success of Steins;Gate and C, the two animations had generated enormous commercial value over the past year, along with an equally impressive influx of emotional points.
It was true that a large portion of that income had already been reinvested into Your Name and Attack on Titan. Even so, the account of Yume Animation still held more than one hundred and thirty billion yen in available cash. Inside the system space, his emotional value reserve had once again accumulated to over three hundred million points.
Money, for him, was no longer the greatest issue. After producing so many works, Sora had rarely found himself truly short on production funds.
But emotional value was different.
Since entering the animation industry, this was the first time he had accumulated such a massive surplus.
Once Your Name premiered in February and Attack on Titan began airing in April, his emotional value reserves would likely experience another explosive wave of growth.
Even so, that amount was only more than enough if Sora was content to produce highly popular mainstream anime such as Natsume Yuujinchou, Mushishi, or One Punch Man.
If he set his sights on works at the level of Eva, or on commercial giants like the great shounen pillars, things were still somewhat tight.
The system demanded equally high amounts of emotional value for works with great commercial potential.
Take Fullmetal Alchemist, for example. Although its reputation was stronger than Attack on Titan's, its commercial value was lower, so its exchange price was also much lower than the combined cost of all seasons of Attack on Titan.
Still, with the model of earning emotional value while a work was being broadcast, at least Sora no longer needed to worry about lacking enough points to exchange for the later seasons of Attack on Titan.
Besides, he had already begun planning how to use those three hundred million emotional points.
Your Name had been in production for half a year and had now entered its final stage. Once the film was completed, he would also need to arrange new tasks for the rest of the production staff.
For example, while producing the first season of Attack on Titan, they could simultaneously exchange for and begin work on the second season. Or perhaps…
They could exchange for an entirely new project.
"The road ahead is still long," Sora murmured, letting out a quiet laugh.
Over the next few days, Sora and Sumire cooperated with the organizing committee of the Tokyo Anime Festival to shoot several promotional videos and official photographs.
Although no one said it openly, both Sora and the entire Japanese animation industry understood very clearly that this year's festival would, in essence, be his personal show.
At most, Sumire could be included alongside him.
At the end of the month, Sora's twenty-third birthday arrived.
Busy rushing through the final stages of production on the animated film Your Name, he only spent half an hour in the office with Yumi and Sumire, celebrating simply and hastily before immediately throwing himself back into work.
Then came December 29.
It was the day of the Tokyo Anime Festival awards ceremony.
When Sora, dressed in an immaculate black suit, entered the hall beside Sumire, who wore a pale green long dress with her hair falling over her shoulders, the eyes of more than a thousand people in the venue fixed firmly on the two of them.
Among all the nominees present, both Sora and Sumire were considered young. Even so, before the ceremony had even begun, they were the ones surrounded by the largest number of industry professionals.
Things were no longer what they had once been.
Sora was now the undisputed traffic king of Japanese animation.
Any business connected to Yume Animation, as long as one could get a hand on it, was almost guaranteed not to lose money.
Many people in the industry wanted to collaborate with Sora and Yume Animation. After all, who disliked money?
At the same time, countless fans of Sora had already stationed themselves in front of their televisions early, waiting for the ceremony to begin at nine o'clock that night.
"So, who's taking Best Anime in the end? C or Steins;Gate? Bets are open, bets are open!"
"Steins;Gate is incredible, but there's no way C loses."
"What a pity. Either one of those two would be an absolute year-dominating bombshell in any other year, but they ended up crashing into each other."
"Come to think of it, if Kantoku Sora wins Kantoku of the Year again, that'll be three years in a row. Wouldn't that be unprecedented in the history of Japanese animation?"
"Exactly. The unfortunate part is that last year, the second season of Re:Zero didn't win Anime of the Year. Since the first season had already won the year before, the committee didn't give the award to the second season. Otherwise, Kantoku Sora would have been the only person in Japanese animation history to win Best Kantoku, Anime of the Year, and Best Animation Screenplay three years in a row."
"No need to get caught up in those details. Right now, it's the committee that needs Kantoku Sora to go onstage and accept an award in order to preserve the relevance of their own ceremony."