The conclusion of Steins;Gate went exactly as Rei had predicted.
It received unanimous praise nationwide, but as for the viewership ratings, they were only just over 7%. There was still a gap compared to the peak popularity of works like the Big Three and Demon Slayer.
The word-of-mouth was exceptionally good.
"No question, a masterpiece."
"A total brainstorm. I only understood the entire plot tonight after reading the analysis post from a forum big shot. It's divine."
"A masterpiece, a true masterpiece. This plot is divine."
"Who else dares to say that Shirogane-sensei's works have simple and crude plots that lean on piling up emotions to attract people? Step forward. I said it before, it's not that Shirogane-sensei can't create logical and complex plots. It's that it's plain unnecessary."
"Exactly. Many plots in Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece do have some issues with logic. Hot-bloodedness and logic are sometimes in conflict, though. Sacrificing logic for the sake of passion is a last resort.
Many people used to attack Shirogane-sensei for having brainless plots, saying his creative talent was just so-so and he couldn't handle complex stories. What about now? Can those people who flamed Shirogane-sensei understand the entire plot of Steins;Gate after watching it only once?"
"Aside from the Phone Microwave being nonsense, all the other plot points connected. I've never seen such a brilliant sci-fi anime. The final episode was so exciting it shocked me for a whole year."
"I'm still excited right now. Is this Shirogane-sensei? While putting his full effort into creating Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece, he still had the energy to create a masterpiece like Steins;Gate."
"Why is everyone's attention on Steins;Gate? In the trailer at the end of the Steins;Gate ED tonight, why is no one discussing that new work called Clannad?"
"A youth romance anime isn't that easy to discuss, right? It's unlikely to flop, but also unlikely to have amazing results."
"Come on, he even pulled these results off with a sci-fi anime. Are there still people doubting that genres will limit Shirogane-sensei? I feel that this Clannad anime will be brilliant as well."
"The official website information shows it starts broadcasting next month in January and ends next December. It's a year-long series."
"As everyone knows, Shirogane-sensei's short works might not always be brilliant, but among his long-form works, there hasn't been a single failure. Even if Clannad can't beat Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece after it starts, it will be a god-tier existence among romance anime."
"Who says there hasn't been a long-form failure? Isn't Higurashi: When They Cry one?"
"Higurashi: When They Cry wasn't good enough? Give me a break. Go look at the influence and results of other works in the history of bizarre and bloody anime in Japan. Higurashi: When They Cry is the ceiling of ceilings."
"Exactly, it's just that the viewership isn't as ridiculous as Demon Slayer because of the genre. It's not bad at all."
"When it started two years ago, didn't Furude Rika beat out a crowd of popular ACGN girls to take the top spot in the Japan ACGN Moe King poll?"
"Higurashi: When They Cry only has poor viewership. Its reputation and ratings are all top-tier, okay?"
"And Clannad is completely different from Higurashi: When They Cry. Even if the audience for romance anime isn't as large as for hot-blooded battle anime, it far exceeds that of bizarre anime. I have a feeling that Clannad will be the overlord of the anime circle next year."
"Overlord? Where are you putting Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece? Is there any anime in Japan now that can have higher popularity than those three?"
"When discussing the annual anime overlord, those three major long-running series are excluded by default. How can a new anime compete with the popularity Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece have built up over several years? The comparison is between anime from the same period."
"Um, are you all defaulting to Clannad being a romance anime? I saw news on the Shirogane Animation official website. Rumors say it's because Shirogane-sensei had a daughter himself and was inspired, so he created an anime with family as the theme. This anime might not be a romance anime. It could very likely be a family-themed anime, you know?"
"A family-themed anime? Stop joking. Shirogane-sensei isn't a fool. How could he create a family anime? How awkward would that be."
"Exactly."
"Discussing it more now is useless. Next month, we'll see the results."
The trailer for Clannad in the final episode of Steins;Gate was effective. Rei had already been promoting the Clannad anime for two months before its broadcast.
The Japan anime market was occupied with discussions and public opinion around the Big Three, Steins;Gate, and several other popular animations in the industry. Fans' attention toward the launch of a romance anime wasn't very high.
But now.
At least tonight, when tens of millions of Steins;Gate fans were discussing the plot, they all remembered the new anime Clannad, which was set to air in a few weeks.
"Cheers."
"Cheers."
"Wuhu. Celebrating the successful conclusion of the first season of Steins;Gate."
"First season? Didn't you say there's also a Steins;Gate 0 series?" As the lady of the company, Miyu kept on with the celebration banquet for Steins;Gate.
This time she also brought along their two-year-old daughter, Hina.
Wearing a festive red padded jacket, Hina had her hair in buns and was having a great time playing with several interns at the banquet venue.
Her speech was still unclear, but she could hop and skip around everywhere.
"The 0 series? That will be released at least two years from now." Rei said with a light chuckle.
Steins;Gate 0 was a work with a plot that served as a partial prequel to the main Steins;Gate story. If he gave Steins;Gate 100 points, Rei felt that the 0 series would be above 85.
There was no need to rush.
The commercial value of this anime wasn't extremely high, and delaying the sequel for a year or two to extend the lifespan of the work was always good.
"You've learned to be like other companies in the industry. They all wait a year or two, or even longer, to produce sequels for popular anime." Miyu said.
She loved the Steins;Gate anime to death herself and was using her status as his wife to urge for an update.
"It's not that I like to keep the fans in suspense. I just can't spare the energy."
"Setting aside the Clannad anime launching next month and Princess Mononoke, which is already finished and will launch in February."
"This year also has the Gundam series starting, and the year after that, the production of Madoka Magica, Tokyo Ghoul, Death Note, and the animated film Suzume. The company's animation production teams are working on six or seven anime at the same time. I have more ambition than strength," Rei said.
"But Miyu, if you want to know the plot of Steins;Gate 0, I can show you the storyboard script in private."
"No, no. I don't want spoilers. Who wants to see your storyboard drafts? I want to watch the Steins;Gate 0 animation when the time comes." Miyu shook her head like a rattle.
After learning there would be no Steins;Gate 0 sequel in the near future, Miyu's gaze shifted to other works.
"So, is that Clannad interesting?"
"Of course."
"Compared to the two youth romance themed anime you created before, 5 Centimeters per Second and Tonight?"
"Um." Rei said after a moment of thought.
"Far superior."
"Clannad might become the anime with the best reputation in my creative career."
Rei didn't mention commercial value.
There was no need.
Among anime works, romance anime had the lowest tier of commercial value. The sales revenue from merchandise wouldn't be very high.
"That exaggerated?" Miyu's eyes were suspicious.
"Of course," Rei nodded.
In Rei's past life, Clannad was an anime with that kind of status.
Its commercial value was average, but its reputation.
Whenever anime uploaders in Rei's past life made ranking videos, as long as Clannad wasn't in the top five or top three, they would often catch mockery from a large number of veteran ACGN fans for having a "trash list."
In Rei's past life, Clannad belonged to the category where if someone called it a masterpiece, very few people in the comments section would refute it. It was a work that even many internet trolls in the anime community weren't very willing to argue against.
"Can a romance anime really pull off such results?" Miyu was eager to try.
She had started her career drawing romance manga.
The reason she had now transitioned to a fantasy romance battle style like Inuyasha from Rei's past life was that the market ceiling for pure romance stories wasn't very high.
If Clannad could reach the prospects Rei described, she might consider returning to a pure school romance theme for her next work.
"It's useless for me to say it here. You'll understand in the second half of next year." Rei smiled.
"Next year, second half?"
"The first season of Clannad is a pure romance masterpiece. Only the second season of Clannad, which starts in the second half of the year, is."
"A masterpiece about life."
Rei didn't feel awkward or shy, even though calling Clannad a masterpiece himself made him sound like he was blowing his own horn.
That was what he thought in his heart.
After the celebration banquet for Steins;Gate ended, the serialization of this work came to a close.
There would be some subsequent development for the Steins;Gate IP, but Rei wouldn't get involved in those matters himself.
December slipped away.
On New Year's Eve, on the third-floor terrace of their home, Rei's family of three and Misaki looked up at the fireworks blooming everywhere in the night sky of Tokyo.
Seeing fireworks explode for the first time, Hina clapped and let out shrieks of delight.
Another year had passed.
After Steins;Gate finished, the public opinion and momentum of the three anime, Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece, dominated the entire anime circle.
The boring setup plots of the three works came to an end.
In the Naruto plot, the broadcast of the Third Hokage's death, Naruto learning the Rasengan, and Tsunade taking over as Hokage ended. Then Itachi Uchiha appeared, and the tragic fate of the Uchiha clan was revealed.
The mystery of Sasuke's blood feud with his brother Itachi was unveiled.
Just like in Rei's past life, from this point on, because the anime added the tragic past of the Uchiha clan and the revenge plot of the Sasuke brothers.
Among elementary school students, the concept of the Sharingan and characters like Itachi became essential social knowledge.
After the Bleach plot entered Hueco Mundo, it was a series of battles against various small fry.
The Hueco Mundo arc had been serialized for almost a year, and its plot direction, the battle between Ichigo and the Espada, also began to build up and set the stage.
One Piece, even more so, after entering the Grand Line, had gone through plots like Little Garden and Drum Island.
The fan-favorite mascot and doctor character of the One Piece anime, Chopper, had joined the crew.
The bounty system of this anime also played an important role in the plot.
Luffy and his group had landed in the Kingdom of Alabasta.
The boss they were to face in this arc was.
Crocodile of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
One Piece's momentum in catching up was very fierce, and it alternated with the Naruto anime in taking the viewership championship.
Under such circumstances, the Clannad anime premiered on Sunday night on Kyoto Television.
It was much as many people in Japan had predicted.
After the first episode of Clannad aired, its reputation was not bad, but the viewership data was average.
Anime adapted from Galgames all have a glaring weakness.
The plot is a slow burn.
Steins;Gate was like this, and so was Clannad.
In the original game, there might be different plot branches to enrich the characters.
In the animation, to make the audience have an impression after all the important characters appear, a large number of foreshadowing elements must be laid out in the early plot.
And as everyone knows, plots that lay foreshadowing are often not exciting enough.
The Clannad anime from his past life even merged the plots of many routes from the original work, but the male and female protagonists helped various characters in the incidents as friends. These plots became the first season of this work.
Only with the plot accumulation of the first season could the second season achieve godhood. How could the people of Japan understand this now?
They didn't even get why, when the first episode of the Clannad anime portrayed many charming female characters, Nagisa Furukawa was written as the absolute female lead of the Clannad anime on the Shirogane Animation official website.
How was Nagisa Furukawa's weak personality any different from Orihime Inoue in Bleach?
"I feel this anime should have changed to someone else as the female lead."
"I don't really like Nagisa Furukawa. She's too indecisive."
"This kind of soft and cute person is a stubborn person deep down, the kind who is very persistent. I also don't really like Nagisa Furukawa. I think Tomoyo is the best among all the characters who have appeared."
"After finishing the first episode of Clannad, it's a masterpiece, no question. This evaluation is benefiting from the strong animation production and artwork, though. It's unclear what the subsequent plot will be like. If it maintains the quality of the first episode, the final success of this anime won't be bad."
"It's different from Shirogane-sensei's promotion before the anime aired. He was emphasizing one thing in all the nationwide premiere promotions. This anime isn't simple, and the high hopes he has for Clannad are not less than Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece."
"Give it a rest, just marketing tactics."
"I think it looks great. Clannad, especially the music part. That scene where the male and female leads meet and look at each other on the slope, and then the world turns from gray to color, that's too cool. It has a strong sense of epic romance."
"Me too, I got a bit excited seeing that scene when I watched the anime."
"Let's keep watching. For a long-running anime of nearly fifty episodes, don't jump to conclusions without seeing the end."
"All this talk about soft and cute girls not being likable, or such a female lead being a failure of the Clannad anime, let's wait until after the anime airs and see the results."
"Exactly, flaming Nagisa Furukawa's personality for not being likable now? Just don't wait until Clannad finishes or halfway through the broadcast to be conquered by her charm, and then cry and beg Shirogane-sensei to not give it a tragic ending."
"Isn't this a school romance anime? What tragedy could there be? Demon Slayer is a battle anime, so it's that tragic. What tragedy can a little school romance anime have?"
"Have the people saying this not seen 5 Centimeters per Second and Tonight? Shirogane-sensei's famous works. They were both youth school romance works, and he didn't show any mercy back then. People who think Clannad will have a HE just because it's a youth romance theme are too naive."
"Why are you all discussing so many hypothetical things when this anime has only aired its first episode? Why discuss things that have no result?"
"It's a hobby."
In short, although the premiere of Clannad in Japan was highly anticipated by Japan anime fans, the viewership ratings for the first episode weren't that great either.
6.12%.
Among anime from the same period in January, it was far ahead with no rivals.
Compared to Rei's works over the past many years, this data was quite average.