Haruto was not the only one who cried.
That night, every single person who watched episode eighteen was a complete mess.
Online, the comment sections exploded.
"The only places it's okay to cry are the bathroom and Daddy's arms... that's just playing dirty. How can anything be this moving?"
"I cried through the entire episode. My eyes are going to fall out."
"Honestly, I never liked Tomoya's father before. Making his own son use formal speech with him, getting into a fight that injured Tomoya's shoulder and killed his basketball dreams, and then getting arrested and ruining Tomoya's career prospects. But after watching episode eighteen, I realize he was actually an incredible father."
"That last part where Tomoya tells Ushio about Nagisa was basically an emotional nuke. The tears just would not stop."
"Damn it! Shido, you….! When are you going to bring Nagisa back? I just want to see the family together!"
"You might not believe this, but a friend of mine is basically a robot when it comes to emotions. He didn't shed a single tear through episode seventeen. But the second episode eighteen hit, even he was bawling."
"What has President Shido been through in his life to be able to write something this moving?"
...
Among the flood of comments, one got more likes than any other.
"Yuta Shido. He's a demon king, isn't he? The Tearjerker Demon King!"
Underneath that comment, people piled on.
"He absolutely deserves that title. When it comes to making people cry, nobody else even comes close."
"Making me cry through an entire episode from start to finish? No anime has ever done that before, and I doubt any ever will again."
"In terms of tearjerker anime, Clannad is in a league of its own."
"I was already deeply moved by season one. I thought nothing could ever match its emotional impact. Season two proved me completely wrong."
"Everything before episode eighteen just showed he was talented and skilled. After episode eighteen, calling him the Tearjerker Demon King isn't an exaggeration at all."
"It's not like tearjerker anime didn't exist before Clannad. But compared to this, they don't even register. Next to the people who made those shows, President Shido really does feel like a demon king."
The anime was not even finished airing yet and people had already crowned Yuta with the title of "Tearjerker Demon King."
That was how devastating episode eighteen's emotional impact had been.
"After watching episode eighteen, is there anyone who managed not to cry?"
"Not crying after that? That's physically impossible."
"Even a block of wood would have cried."
"I didn't want to cry, but I couldn't hold it back."
"I didn't cry. I just got a robot stuck in my eye."
"What? You all actually cried? Well, fine, me too."
"I don't think there's a single person alive who could hold it in."
Every single response said they cried. As for people who claimed they did not, aside from the person with a robot in their eye, there were literally zero.
...
Without question, episode eighteen had elevated Clannad into a masterpiece above all masterpieces.
It was not just regular viewers who thought so. Professional critics were handing out near-perfect scores across the board.
"I can hardly believe an anime can reach this level."
"Before season two started, I was worried it might ruin the goodwill from season one. Now it's clear that season two is on an entirely different plane."
"As long as the remaining episodes don't drop in quality, this anime could become a timeless classic."
"The Tearjerker Demon King. Well-earned."
"This might be a masterpiece that goes down in anime history."
On Japan's major anime rating sites, Clannad season two already had exceptionally high scores.
After episode eighteen aired, those scores surged again, quickly claiming the number one spot on the rankings and leaving second place far behind.
Even season one's scores got a boost, threatening to take over the second spot as well.
And that was just domestically.
Internationally, anime ranking charts were being dominated by Clannad's two seasons.
In some regions, on a scale of ten, Clannad season two's score had reached 9.9, even with several episodes still to air.
...
Yuta was not surprised by the ratings surge.
What he had not expected was being given the title "Tearjerker Demon King."
In the other world, "Tearjerker Demon King" had been the nickname of Maeda Jun, the original Clannad game's scriptwriter. But this was a different world, so the title could have ended up being anything.
The fact that it was exactly the same was either a remarkable coincidence or an inevitable result.
Regardless, after episode eighteen aired, Clannad's reputation had gone nuclear.
Countless viewers would now be promoting the anime on their own.
Radiant Warriors was no longer a threat.
Yuta was thinking this when his phone suddenly rang.
He checked the screen. An unknown number.
After a moment's thought, he picked up.
A somewhat familiar voice came through. "President Shido, it's me. Shin Mikazuki."
"Director Shin?" Yuta was puzzled. He had no idea why Shin Mikazuki was calling.
He was bracing himself for some fighting words when Shin said, "Your anime. I watched episode eighteen. It was incredible."
"Thank you." Yuta did not bother with false modesty.
"What I want to say is, I concede. Radiant Warriors concedes." Shin sighed.
Yuta blinked. "Concede? There are still several episodes left."
"No, no. Unless your quality takes a massive nosedive from here, we have no chance of catching up. And with you at the helm, I'm confident that won't happen. Rather than drag this out and concede at the end, I'd rather do it now while I can still do it with some grace." Shin sounded genuinely resigned.
Yuta: "..."
"Besides conceding, I also want to apologize for the arrogance I showed before. I hope you can forgive me," Shin continued.
"There's no need for that. You didn't do anything wrong," Yuta said politely.
"You might see it that way, but I still feel I owe you an apology." Shin held firm. "Also, I hope we'll have the chance to work together someday."
"I'd like that. I hope so too," Yuta replied warmly.
Getting a person to admit defeat or apologize was incredibly difficult, especially someone like Shin Mikazuki who was a well-known director. Men like that did not bow their heads easily.
It spoke well of Shin's character.
If the opportunity ever came up, Yuta genuinely wanted to collaborate with him.
Then again, this was just Shin conceding on behalf of Radiant Warriors. What about Ryouga?
Who knew whether that guy was willing to accept defeat.
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