End of December.
As Steins;Gate reached its final plot points during the broadcast.
Promotions had already begun for Clannad, the major romance anime slated to premiere next January.
The animated film Princess Mononoke was also set to release during the new year holidays in February.
For the current Rei, the Big Three belonged to the company's stable of works that generated high profit margins.
In the two or three years since the birth of the Big Three anime, collaborations had already been established with numerous global animation creators, merchandise manufacturers, publishers, and gaming companies.
Starting next year, various IP derivative works of the Big Three would see a global explosion in releases.
Regarding their IP development, it would continue for at least twenty to thirty years after the works concluded. In this regard, Rei had little left to worry about.
He would deliver scripts to the animation production team and manga assistant teams every week. In his spare time, he might draw the manga for key plot points himself, but if other work piled up, he would delegate full authority to his subordinates.
His subordinates were all top talents in the industry, after all. They might not have been clear on the creative style of the Big Three at first, but two or three years had passed. How could they still be lost in these tasks?
After pulling his energy out of the Big Three, Rei focused on the development and creation of works like Steins;Gate, Clannad, and the Gundam series.
The commercial value of these works varied, but without exception, they were all masterpieces with excellent reputations from Rei's previous life.
The animation industry and the film industry are often similar. There are works with strong commercial appeal, and there are works with lower commercial value but very high audience ratings.
If Shirogane Animation wanted to become a world-class anime IP company, it had to produce enough representative examples of both types. The Big Three were masterpieces too, but they could only be viewed from an overall perspective.
If one were to look closely, the plot holes in these three long-running anime could be criticized for three days and three nights without end.
"Next year, besides the normal broadcast of the Big Three, Clannad will launch in January and is expected to air until the end of the year. The Princess Mononoke animated film will release in February, and the first season of the Hunter x Hunter Dark Continent Arc will premiere in July. In October, the first part of the new epic IP, the Gundam series, will launch."
Several middle and high-level executives of the company were in the meeting room, using report PPTs to introduce the company's work focus for the coming year to the senior management, namely Rei and Misaki.
"Speaking of which, the hole that is Hunter x Hunter has been open for six or seven years, right? Since you've remembered to fill it, why not do it in one go and finish the story all the way to the ending? Why split the Dark Continent Arc into seasonal broadcasts?"
Among the hundred or so people at the meeting, only Misaki dared to turn and speak to Rei in such a serious setting. The Shirogane Animation employee speaking on stage shifted their gaze, pretending not to see their interaction.
"It's an inspiration issue. Regarding Hunter x Hunter, I've only conceived this much content," Rei said in a low voice.
He wanted to, but the memories in his head were still updating.
In his earlier memories, he had recalled quite a bit of the Dark Continent Arc, but as for the ending of Hunter x Hunter.
One could only say everyone had to wait.
"Your inspiration for creating other works, though, is a never-ending torrent." Misaki began to tease Rei too, which was rare for her.
She knew that in the safe of Rei's study, located in his villa in the same neighborhood as hers, barely three hundred meters away, there were at least ten scripts for new works he had conceived.
The company's focus for next year was Clannad, the first season of the Hunter x Hunter Dark Continent Arc, the Princess Mononoke animated film, and the first part of the Gundam series.
The works to be serialized and released the year after next had already been greenlit last month.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Tokyo Ghoul, and.
Hmm, Misaki thought for a moment and remembered. The name was Death Note.
Would such a person suffer from a lack of inspiration?
It was just because he was too distracted and not being serious. Otherwise, if Rei were to focus on the ending of Hunter x Hunter, he would likely have it mostly mapped out within a month.
Misaki let out a soft sigh and continued.
"Starting next year, though, your workload will increase a little."
"The construction of this new district, developed with Shirogane Animation at its center, will be at its heaviest and most urgent next year. Some coordination work with relevant agencies and the government must be handled by you yourself. There will be a lot of social engagements you won't like. I will accompany you to handle them as fast as we can, but it will add quite a bit of trouble to your daily creative routine."
"That's only right. Since it involves cooperation with the government, I can't refuse most social engagements using creation as an excuse like before. On the other hand, Misaki, over these few years, I owe you a thanks for helping me sustain so many affairs at Shirogane Animation." Rei said.
"We're family, no need for such sentimentality. Just treat my sister well," Misaki said.
"I will." Rei smiled.
The development plans for Shirogane Animation were all being mapped out in units of years.
The group of anime fans and industry professionals in the Japan anime world didn't realize that a single year-end meeting at Shirogane Animation would, to a large extent, determine the trends of the Japan anime world for the following year.
For now, besides the Big Three, what they were looking forward to was the ending of Steins;Gate.
The first time he accompanied Suzuha in the time machine back to a month ago, Okabe discovered in the end that Makise's death was caused by himself.
In the original game, Okabe had two branches here.
One where he sinks into total despair, believing the worldline cannot be changed, and then accepts Makise's death to live on this worldline. In the end, a world war breaks out, and he is caught in the struggle for the time machine, nearing death 26 years later, but in the end.
He discovers a shocking secret.
The result of worldline convergence can be deceived.
All of this is the plot of Steins;Gate 0.
In the main story of Steins;Gate, Okabe, having returned to his own time, has a complete mental breakdown and is unable to pull himself together.
Then, he is slapped by Mayuri.
This is the slap that changes the worldline.
Without this slap from Mayuri, Okabe would have become the protagonist of the 0 arc.
With this slap.
Under the prompt from the future Okabe of the 0 arc, he thought of it.
'Do not change the facts of the past, but change the outcome. Makise lying in a pool of blood, and the Okabe who witnessed everything, without changing these premises, change the outcome. Deceive your initial self, deceive the world.'
This was the video that the Okabe from the 0 arc, decades in the future, had Suzuha show to Okabe after she traveled back to this era in the time machine.
Only.
Nozomi watched the discussions of a group of Steins;Gate fans online and curled her lip.
"They're all talking nonsense. How could the grand finale of this anime be so superficial?"
Saturday, the end of December.
This week's plots for the three Big Three anime were quite plain and hadn't triggered any intense discussion in the anime world. So tonight, the discussion content on major forums was tied to Steins;Gate.
For an anime with this kind of theme, guessing the plot is a major pleasure for fans.
It couldn't be helped. Even if Nozomi wasn't clear on what the true ending was, she could see at a glance which hypotheses wouldn't work.
"Twenty minutes left until the broadcast. The grand finale."
Nozomi felt a bit of regret in her heart.
Another masterpiece was about to conclude.
Whenever such a time came, she would have similar emotions.
"Shirogane-sensei, you have to work hard too. For an anime with a theme like Steins;Gate, the ending represents everything. The previous six months of plot buildup were all for the ending. If the final mystery isn't revealed in brilliant enough form, then it's all for nothing."
The current expectations for Shirogane in the Japan anime world were sky-high.
If many works were created by other creators, nobody would complain at all.
That wouldn't work for Shirogane. If there were even a slight plot flaw, nitpicking fans would drag it out for repeated public execution.
The three anime of the Big Three were like this.
Not only did the fans of the three sides belittle each other, but sometimes their own fans would criticize the irrationality of the plot in wilder fashion than the anti-fans.
She was scrolling through online forums on her phone when, as soon as 8 PM arrived, the Kyoto Television screen paused.
The opening song of Steins;Gate began to play.
Across all of Japan, millions of fans like Nozomi gathered in front of their TV sets.
Okabe, having figured everything out for the moment, cleared the fear of worldline convergence from his mind.
Together with Suzuha, he set off on the journey back to July 28th for the second time.
Now, Nozomi wasn't as lost as she had been last week.
Last week's plot needed to be compared with the plot of the first episode of Steins;Gate.
At the same time, there were two Okabes in the building.
The Okabe who arrived on this day ran into Makise in the hallway, sparking her curiosity.
This matched up with why Makise showed that she knew Okabe when she first met him in the first episode's plot.
The subsequent plot was almost the same as the first episode.
Makise went to her father's research seminar.
There, she had an interaction with the "native" [Okabe].
As for the time-traveling Okabe, he went to fiddle with the capsule toy machine, turning the Metal Upa, which would have been caught and then dropped by Mayuri, into a Plastic Upa.
The result of this change was that Mayuri, just like in the first episode, dropped the Upa she got from the lottery, which was then picked up by Makise and tucked into her time machine theory paper.
In the end, her paper was stolen by her father and taken onto a plane. It just so happened that an accident occurred on that flight and the cargo hold caught fire. The paper in the folder containing the Metal Upa was saved in advance because it was straightforward to detect.
This led to the fact that even if Makise died on this worldline, her time machine theory did not disappear, so in the future, the time machine continued to be researched.
After replacing it with a Plastic Upa, while not changing the established fate of each character on this day, the possibility of the paper being saved from the fire due to the metal detector was removed.
Nozomi only just understood the meaning of the plot.
If even she was like this, she knew that many Steins;Gate fans in Japan would have to look for plot analysis posts afterward.
Nozomi kept watching. The following plot was identical to the first episode.
Makise's father, out of jealousy for the time travel paper his daughter wrote, lost control of his emotions and wanted to steal his daughter's paper to claim as his own.
Then a conflict broke out with his daughter.
At this moment, Okabe, who was hiding nearby, jumped out. Facing Makise's father, who was brandishing a knife, he showed no fear and used his own abdomen to shield Makise's figure behind him.
If he wanted to dodge here, he could, but the worldline would converge at once into a situation where Makise's father couldn't stop his hand and accidentally killed Makise.
Okabe didn't dodge.
Makise's father, hit with sudden fear, dropped the knife in his hand and fled in a panic.
Then there was Makise, staring blankly at Okabe.
She was hit by a stun gun and fainted.
Seeing this, Nozomi's eyes widened.
Okabe, what are you planning to do?
What kind of development is this?
Soon, the plot was revealed.
Okabe began to let the blood flowing from his abdomen drip onto Makise.
Because he was bleeding too little, he used his hand to tear open the wound on his abdomen, and fresh blood poured out, spreading beside Makise's unconscious body.
Seeing this, the thoughts in Nozomi's head that had been like a mist cleared in an instant.
"Is this what the future Okabe meant by deceiving the world?"
"Right. In the first episode's plot, the protagonist Okabe only saw Makise lying in a pool of blood. He didn't verify her death himself. Who dares to say Makise definitely died?"
"What the worldline converges on isn't necessarily that Makise must die. Rather, in the Beta worldline, the worldline will converge on the fact that on July 28th, Okabe sees Makise lying in a pool of blood."
As long as this condition is met, it's enough.
Makise doesn't have to die.
Having figured this out, Nozomi looked at the Okabe in the anime, kneeling beside Makise's body with a complex expression.
At this moment, Nozomi's scalp tingled.
This plot seemed simple, but even if Nozomi racked her brain, she would never have thought it could be done this way.
Don't change the past history, but change the outcome.
Nozomi watched the TV plot.
The "native" worldline [Okabe] went upstairs and happened to come to this small storage room, seeing Makise lying in a pool of blood, just as the protagonist Okabe had done back then.
He ran away in fear.
Okabe, hiding in the dark corner, looked at the back of his former self running away and said this:
Good luck. What's about to begin are the most important and longest three weeks of your life.
In an instant, tears welled up in Nozomi's eyes.
She could empathize with Okabe's feelings.
After cycling through dozens or hundreds of loops in the Alpha worldline, seeing his dear friend Mayuri die before him so many times.
In terms of time, it was only three weeks.
Looping those three weeks dozens or hundreds of times, for Okabe, how much time had he spent to save Mayuri, to save Makise?
Not a single day could he relax. Not a single moment could he catch his breath.
Struggling through the worldlines again and again, in the end.
As the time machine started up, Suzuha inside the machine turned into light and vanished.
The worldline was changed. Makise was saved, her paper was stolen by her father, and then something went wrong with the plane, and the paper was burned because of the Plastic Upa.
The time machine was not invented, so of course.
Suzuha, who traveled in the time machine, would not appear in this era.
Okabe, having returned to his own time, did not know Makise.
The stories of all the previous worldlines seemed like a dream.
This was the Steins Gate worldline.
A worldline where both Makise and Mayuri were alive, and the future human world was peaceful.
The end of this episode featured Makise finding Okabe in the vast crowd.
Nozomi's eyes widened.
Why?
Oh, right, even if the worldline changes, Makise will still have a bit of fuzzy memory.
That's why she would work so hard to find Okabe's figure.
Just like in Your Name, although the male and female leads forget each other, they still draw closer on instinct the moment they see each other.
With tears in her eyes, Nozomi looked with anticipation at the two people meeting and getting to know each other for the first time on the street in the story.
Everything is the choice of Steins Gate.
Okabe's final voice spoke.
After that, the ending song began to play.
At this moment, Nozomi understood the setting and content of the entire work. All the foreshadowing was revealed.
"A masterpiece."
Nozomi had no other thoughts in her heart right now.
After understanding everything, the only word that rose in her mind was this one.
The satisfaction and sense of accomplishment from following the entire work for half a year and understanding everything at the final moment filled her heart.
"This is truly an epic masterpiece."
Only, before Nozomi's state of mind had recovered.
At the very end of the Steins;Gate ending song.
A soft and cheerful female voice was hidden.
Dango, Dango.
"Eh? Dango?" Nozomi looked at the TV.
On a bright and beautiful cherry blossom slope, a scene of a boy and a girl in the same school uniform looking at each other appeared.
The logo for the title "Clannad" faded away.
That cheerful female voice singing the Dango Song faded and disappeared.
"A preview for a new work." Nozomi blinked.
Starting in January?
Looking at this preview style.
A high school campus youth romance work?
This is truly.
Unprecedented.
It's been years. Is Shirogane-sensei returning to this theme again after the Tonight manga?