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For anime fans across Japan, watching Madoka Magica has become a psychological roller coaster.
The further they delved into the story, the more agonizing the experience became, but by the time the pain reached its absolute peak, they realized there was no getting off. They were suspended mid-air with the tracks cut away behind them.
The audience had been thoroughly captivated by the world-building, the unique character designs, and the personalities of the cast. Yet, Haruto was methodically and ruthlessly breaking the hearts of everyone who had grown attached to these characters, delivering one emotional blow after another.
The depiction of Sayaka in the seventh episode had left even the most hardened otaku, who usually prided themselves on their emotional resilience, feeling a sense of heartache and despair.
Many viewers found themselves projecting their own feelings onto Sayaka's situation, realizing that if they were in her shoes, they likely would have suffered a total mental collapse as well.
However, "anti-fan attention is still attention."
Kyubey had comfortably claimed the top spot on the Black List of the season's most hated characters. Similarly, Warrior of Love held a lead as the most despised scriptwriter among all the anime currently airing this season.
But despite this notoriety, Puella Magi Madoka Magica had successfully climbed to the number three spot on the Red List for the season's most popular works.
Of course, these rankings were merely statistics from a single website regarding the current broadcast season, so they might not represent the entire picture.
However, when that website happens to be the largest gathering place for subculture enthusiasts with tens of millions of daily visitors, the data becomes impossible for the industry to ignore.
A few days later, the latest viewership ratings were released.
Mechanical Metropolis held onto the top spot with a 3.64% rating, followed by The Dragon's Treasure in second place with 3.42%. But the shocking news was in the third position.
Throbbing Hearts had been dethroned by Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which had surged to a 3.39% rating. Throbbing Hearts fell to fourth place with 3.31%.
On the day the news broke, the staff at Haru-Yuki Animation erupted in cheers of triumph, their voices echoing through the office.
Meanwhile, a heavy silence fell over many other production companies and industry professionals across Japan.
The producers of The Dragon's Treasure and Mechanical Metropolis were particularly unnerved.
"Where on earth did this freakish show come from?" one producer muttered, slamming his hand on his desk.
"How is this happening? How did its popularity skyrocket this fast? Even if there are still some hardcore magical girl fans left, there shouldn't be enough of them to pull off these kinds of numbers!"
"Is this really the standard of taste for anime fans now? What's so great about watching a group of cute girls get systematically slaughtered by the plot?"
"The production quality is average at best. How does it have this much momentum? Has the industry's critical standard fallen this low?"
Members of the rival production teams spent the day making bad remarks, trying to maintain an air of indifference. But deep down, they were acutely aware of the reality. Their own projects were in grave danger.
The reason was simple.
Both The Dragon's Treasure and Mechanical Metropolis relied heavily on the existing popularity of their source material. Their ratings had been stable since the premiere, hovering consistently around the 3% mark. While they were currently sitting around 3.5%, any future growth would likely be marginal, probably not exceeding 3.7%.
In contrast, Madoka Magica had been at 2.7% just two weeks ago and had now reached 3.39%. What would happen with the next episode? If episode eight featured another explosive plot development, the situation would become dire.
The marketing and operations departments of the rival studios were already having massive headaches. The anime market is essentially a fixed pie. Within a specific time slot, the size of the audience and their purchasing power do not fluctuate wildly.
If Madoka Magica overtook them in television ratings, it would almost certainly dominate them in the merchandise and licensing markets as well. To put it bluntly, this directly impacted the profit margins the studios would see after the television broadcast ended. If Madoka Magica continued its ascent and took a massive slice of the pie, it was obvious whose plates that slice was coming from.
This threat led to an unspoken agreement among the three major rival companies. This week, they presented a united front. The producers of The Dragon's Treasure, Mechanical Metropolis, and Throbbing Hearts took the initiative to appear as guests on various anime talk shows and industry programs.
The producer of The Dragon's Treasure, was vocal in his criticism.
"The current anime market is being flooded with poorly made works that rely on cheap, vulgar, and bloody gimmicks like head-bursting scenes to achieve temporary success. However, time will prove that such works lack the substance to endure."
The producer of Mechanical Metropolis chuckled during his interview as he took a jab at the competition.
"Taking the beloved concept of magical girls and perverting them into monsters isn't innovation, it's an act of betrayal against the childhood dreams of millions of fans. Works that rely on controversy and being cursed by the audience for temporary relevance will eventually be discarded and eliminated by the market."
The producer of Throbbing Hearts maintained a haughty tone.
"The fact that Madoka Magica surpassed our ratings is merely a temporary fluke."
"A masterpiece like our show will not lose to a cash-grab magical girl show that lacks any sincerity."
These three high-profile producers went on television to deliver these harsh remarks for a very specific reason. They felt no need to show any courtesy to the studio behind Madoka Magica.
Haru-Yuki Animation was a brand-new studio with absolutely no status in the industry. Furthermore, by speaking out, they hoped to muddy the waters regarding the show's reputation.
Many casual viewers who were seeing the high rankings might be hesitating about whether to start watching.
Hearing three respected figures condemn the show might be enough to discourage them from ever tuning in.
While their comments carried some weight, it was the push by the marketing departments of the Big Three animation studios that truly amplified the narrative.
Suddenly, casual observers were bombarded with negative news articles and blog posts about Madoka Magica.
If you looked closely, these articles failed to provide any logical or evidence-based arguments for why the show was "bad"; they simply engaged in baseless character assassination in hopes of tanking its public image.
Haruto sat at his desk, staring at the lead story on the AniSphere Forum titled, "The Big Three of the Summer Season Launch a Unified Attack on Madoka Magica!"
Fortunately, the fans of the show weren't idiots.
They recognized that the major studios were using their influence to suppress an upstart competitor, and they began fiercely defending the show in the comments.
"What should we do now?" Yukino asked, her expression clouded with worry.
Aozora Animation, Hikaru Animation and Ryuyo Animation were the undisputed titans. Her father's production company was nothing considered compared to those giants. Haru-Yuki Animation, which had only existed for a few months, was practically invisible by comparison. The rivals felt they could say whatever they wanted because they knew Haru-Yuki lacked the resources or the standing to retaliate effectively.
"Well..." Haruto thought for a moment. "It's just competition. Their mouths belong to them; they can criticize other works however they like."
"Wait, you're just going to ignore it?" Yukino asked, surprised by his attitude.
"I didn't say that," Haruto said with a smirk. "They aren't the only ones with mouths. We have them too."
He logged into his Warrior of Love account.
After taking a moment to compose his thoughts, he posted a single comment.
"You haven't even lost yet, and you're already busy making excuses for your eventual defeat."
He then made sure to pin a link to this comment at the very top of the Haru-Yuki Animation official website.
Engaging in an online war of words is always a double-edged sword. Haruto currently lacks the capital to hire a marketing agency to engage in a smear campaign against his rivals. However, since the famous producers had attacked Madoka Magica directly on television, any response from the creator himself would instantly become news.
By responding, he hijacked their massive promotional channels for his own use, as the media would be forced to bundle his retort with their criticisms.
Since the premiere of the show, Haruto had never posted a single comment through his account. His sudden break from silence sent his fans, who had spent the last week playfully cursing him, into a frenzy of excitement.
While the fans didn't mind when people attacked the writer personally, they were genuinely furious that the Big Three were trashing the actual story of Madoka Magica.
"Have you three even watched the show?" the fans yelled back. "You're just spewing garbage."
The fans' existing anger, combined with the Warrior of Love reply, immediately reframed the narrative. The public perception shifted, the big studios weren't criticizing the show out of artistic concern; they were simply terrified of losing. They were demeaning their competitor so that when the ratings eventually overtook them, they would have an excuse for their failure.
The fans began acting as volunteer promoters, spreading word across every forum and chat group in the country. Haruto didn't bother trying to reason with the rivals. If they smeared him, he would strike back.
The objective truth of the situation was secondary to the narrative. Within half a day, the news that the Warrior of Love had completely ignored etiquette to call out the Big Three became a viral sensation on AniSphere and other mainstream communities. His claim that the three major works were destined to be defeated by his own was the talk of the town.
Members of the rival production teams were stunned.
How did this guy have the nerve? How could an unknown writer from a tiny startup studio dare to challenge the three biggest giants in the industry? Did he not want a career in this business anymore?
The rivals had attacked him for strategic reasons.
For him to strike back with such intensity suggested he either had no idea how the world worked or he was incredibly confident.
Ultimately, these external PR battles were only supplementary. As the third-highest-rated anime of the season, the future of Puella Magi Madoka Magica depended on only one thing.
The quality of the work itself.
Finally, Thursday arrived once more, and the eighth episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica began its broadcast.