Code Geass has reached its conclusion.
However, its influence was far from over. The storm ignited by the death of Lelouch continued to rage for two weeks with no sign of slowing down. In the popularity rankings for female characters, C.C. and Asuna remained neck-and-neck at the top. But in the male category, Lelouch stood in a league of his own, maintaining a massive lead over Kirito, the protagonist of Sword Art Online, who held the second spot.
Every day, tens of thousands of posts flooded the Haru-Yuki Animation website and Haruto's social media accounts.
Fans were practically begging him to release a third season or a movie to showcase the future of popular characters like C.C., Nunnally, and Suzaku. In response, Haru-Yuki Animation issued only vague statements, promising that theatrical projects were in the works. But as for seeing Lelouch return or witnessing the lives of the survivors after his death, the fans were likely wishing for the impossible.
Ultimately, Lelouch's journey ended there.
Throughout its second season, the show maintained a viewership rating of over 6%, and the finale set a new historic record for television.
It was a work destined for the history books of the anime industry. For at least the next five years, the influence and popularity of Code Geass would remain formidable, likely generating billions of yen in revenue for Haruto every year.
With Code Geass finished, the tide in the anime world began to shift.
Sword Art Online, which had been suppressed for an entire quarter by Code Geass's shadow, finally saw its ratings explode.
Just as Code Geass concluded, the SAO anime entered the most critical and thrilling chapters of its story.
One hit followed another. Even though Haruto didn't personally produce the SAO anime, the industry still credited its massive impact to his creative genius.
For a full year, Haruto had essentially exercised a total monopoly over the industry.
Since Code Geass began, no other anime had managed to challenge it, and now Sword Art Online had inherited the crown.
How long would this reign last? Based on the light novels, there was enough material to sustain the anime for at least another two or three seasons. And by the time SAO finished its run, Haru-Yuki Animation's new projects, Slam Dunk, Gurren Lagann, Bakemonogatari, and Fullmetal Alchemist, would be ready for broadcast.
Haruto's competitors could feel the walls closing in. Ever since last year, the anime industry had been living under his shadow, and it seemed they would remain there for the next year or two.
Unless all four of his new projects flopped, if even one of them could capture eighty percent of the audience that Code Geass or SAO had, Haruto would complete an unprecedented streak of dominance.
Television programs across Japan began to run specials on Haruto's career.
This wasn't paid promotion; it was a spontaneous acknowledgment of a living legend. Haruto was being mythologized in real-time. In terms of success, the consecutive hits of Madoka, Edgerunners, Code Geass, and SAO were more impressive than the lifetime achievements of most legendary veterans.
His only "flaw" was his age. In most animation studios, someone Haruto's age would be an intern, fetching tea, taking orders, and being a punching bag for senior staff. Many industry veterans found his success hard to stomach, but they could no longer deny the reality. No one in the history of animation had a track record that could rival his. Looking toward the future, it was hard to imagine anyone ever surpassing him.
The conclusion of Code Geass and the continued success of SAO marked the beginning of "The Cult of Haruto."
Haru-Yuki Animation, Prime Manga, and Kiyozawa Library, all three companies under Haruto's umbrella, got his permission to hire writers for an official biography. They planned to chronicle his five-year journey from a boy in a bankrupt family to the pinnacle of success.
Millions of fans pledged their support, promising to buy the book as soon as it hit the shelves. People were desperate to know how a single genius could conquer the entire industry with a dozen works in just five years.
At this stage, everyone in the ACG world realized a fundamental shift. "Haruto" himself had become a bigger brand than any of his individual works. There is a huge difference between a hit work and a hit creator.
People might love Fullmetal Alchemist, Demon Slayer, Initial D, or Fairy Tail without knowing who wrote them. But very few fans of Spirited Away, Your Name, or Dragon Ball are ignorant of the names Miyazaki, Shinkai, or Toriyama.
That was the level Haruto had reached.
When fans mentioned Code Geass or Madoka, the first name they thought of was Haruto.
Haruto felt this shift in the industry's attitude. He saw the fans starting to place him on a pedestal alongside the likes of the legendary masters, or perhaps even higher. It was exactly the direction he had hoped for.
In late March, the company rented a massive venue to hold a farewell gala for Code Geass. Twelve thousand lucky fans won tickets to watch live performances of the series' soundtracks, theme songs, and behind-the-scenes footage.
At the end, Haruto led Yukino, and the entire three-hundred-person production team onto the stage for a final farewell speech.
With that, the legend of Code Geass officially came to a close.
As April arrived, Haruto began the incubation phase for two iconic franchises.
Pokemon and Doraemon.
He started working with toy manufacturers and game developers to test the designs and begin preliminary marketing for these characters. For Doraemon, he collaborated with Prime Manga. He intended to follow the same path the series took in the parallel world, starting with the manga first.
Haruto wanted to keep all the intellectual property rights in his own hands.
Since Prime Manga wasn't particularly interested in children's magazines, Haruto simply used their distribution network. He planned to rely on his own name to sell the volumes, gradually building up popularity over time. He knew this wasn't a project that would yield results in a year or two. It might take ten or twenty years to build Doraemon into the cultural icon it was meant to be.
The same logic applied to Pokemon. Global IPs of that magnitude aren't born overnight. Without twenty years of constant exposure, you can't achieve that level of brand recognition. But Haruto's greatest advantage was his youth. He had plenty of time to wait. Whether it was the multibillion-dollar value of Doraemon or the hundred-billion-dollar empire of Pokemon, it was worth the wait. In the future, he even planned to set up subsidiaries to slowly incubate Marvel, DC and Dragon Ball.
Currently, however, his resources and energy were focused on a few key projects at a time.
As the hype for Code Geass died down, Haruto's public activity decreased during April. He spent the month focused on his university graduation thesis.
Since his junior year, Haruto had been the most popular student at Minazuki University, period.
Even though the campus was full of rich kids, their charm couldn't hold a candle to a self-made titan like Haruto. Most of those rich kids' families combined didn't have as much liquid wealth as he did.
On the day of his thesis defense, over a thousand fans gathered outside the faculty building, hoping for a chance to see him or get an autograph. They knew that once he graduated, he would move into a social circle that was far out of their reach.
Haruto's graduation wasn't completely effortless.
While he was a genius, he had spent his university years building a business empire rather than studying textbooks. During the defense, the professors could tell he hadn't exactly mastered every nuance of the academic curriculum.
However, Haruto had an aura that his classmates lacked.
He was a man who regularly negotiated with international corporate leaders and high-ranking government officials. The academic pressure from a few professors was nothing compared to the boardrooms he frequented. While his actual thesis was average, his performance during the defense was brilliant.
By May, the results were in: he received a B grade and was cleared for graduation.
Reina managed to handle her work and studies perfectly. She graduated at the top of her class as the valedictorian for the Literature Department and was selected to give both the opening and closing remarks at the graduation ceremony.
Haruto was in a great mood during May.
Grateful that the professors hadn't made his life difficult, he made a 50 million yen donation to the university as an alumnus to establish a scholarship fund for struggling students in the Literature Department.
June arrived quickly. Haruto spent his final days on campus handling the paperwork and waiting to collect his diploma.
He didn't really care how much money the company made this month, but he was genuinely excited to graduate. In that same month, as he waited for his diploma, the Hunter x Hunter manga reached a monumental milestone. Its average sales per volume hit 26.7 million copies.
It has finally become the number one best-selling manga in history!
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