Time entered the autumn season.
After the new ACGN commercial district, led by Rei, opened for business, its popularity far exceeded the market's initial estimates.
It wasn't just a simple case of ACGN fans in Tokyo visiting out of curiosity during the early stages. It was truly and rapidly evolving into a landmark commercial district with an ACGN label in Tokyo, at a frightening speed.
ACGN fans are naturally a group of people willing to spend money and time. In Rei's previous life in Tokyo, a large number of ACGN fans traveled there to go on pilgrimages to actual locations featured in anime scenes.
Rei was no exception. At the very least, the background for the Death Note anime, which began airing in July, was set in Tokyo, and the male lead, Yagami, lived near the company headquarters building in the work.
In the anime works Rei released in Japan later on, if they were modern-themed, he would set them in Tokyo whenever possible. Then, if the Shirogane Animation headquarters could appear in the anime, he would try his best to have the protagonist wander around nearby.
This level of adaptation from the original work didn't add much to Rei's workload these days.
Once things stabilized, Rei gave himself a half-month vacation.
The high-intensity participation in various activities arranged by the company had left him exhausted.
His daughter's fourth birthday was approaching.
Next came the various arrangements for kindergarten and primary school.
"Time really flies."
Staying at home and not thinking about anime creation or company business, Rei often thought to himself.
Transmigrating to this world thirteen years ago felt like yesterday, and now.
Miyu, his former classmate, had become his wife, and even his daughter had started picking up the digital screen he bought her to imitate drawing manga.
He put down the gossip journal about the anime industry he had subscribed to.
Besides being filled with reports about Rei, it also covered various genius mangaka who had emerged in several major Japan manga journals in recent years.
Rei sat at the very top, with the three works of the Big Three standing like three mountains weighing on the hearts of Japan's anime creators of this era, offering no chance of being surpassed.
His wife, Miyu, was different, though. At least in Dream Comic, there was a twenty-three-year-old young mangaka who had only debuted in the Hoshimori Group four years ago. He had fought his way up from the lower-tier journals, and his new manga had been serialized in Dream Comic for less than two years and had reached the sixth rank.
It might seem mediocre, but the Big Three occupied the top three spots in the journal long-term. In other words, if Rei didn't exist, this guy would be a top-three popular mangaka in Dream Comic.
This situation wasn't unique to Dream Comic. It was appearing within other manga groups as well.
The biggest characteristic of these rising young mangaka of the new generation was.
Their work styles were very similar to Shirogane's works.
They couldn't be as versatile in style as Rei, but they only needed to study one of the many popular masterpieces Rei had produced before, then learn and borrow from it. They might not surpass the master, but at least in the current anime market, they managed to stand out.
After finishing the introduction to current Japan mangaka in the magazine, Rei closed the book.
"Now I can appreciate the meaning of that line from a TV show in my previous life. 'The world's heroes are as numerous as the crucian carp crossing the river.' The local creators are learning fast." Rei chuckled. "In another three to five years, what will the Japan anime industry look like?"
"Based on the timeline, serializing One Piece for another ten years shouldn't be a problem. Naruto has also entered the Shippuden plot for a year. As for Bleach, it's at the end of the battle between Ichigo and Grimmjow, then it'll be the fight with Ulquiorra. Then the battle against Aizen, and the Thousand-Year Blood War arc at the end."
If Bleach discarded the original filler plots from the previous life's animation team and some clearly reputation-damaging ones, like the Fullbringer arc, and made the plot arrangements a bit tighter.
Compressing the entire anime into about three hundred episodes would be more appropriate.
Rei wasn't like those animation companies in his previous life that used all sorts of filler plots to make money for a few more years and extend the lifespan of the work.
Based on the current progress of Bleach, it would finish serialization in about two to three years.
The same applied to Naruto. In the 720 episodes of the previous life's Naruto anime, the animation production team insanely created over 300 filler episodes. The length of the original filler plots was comparable to the main manga plot.
In the Japan dimension, Rei removed the original filler episodes and time-wasting flashbacks. If Naruto only followed the main manga content, it could end in about four hundred episodes.
So in the Japan dimension, Naruto would conclude within the next four years.
What should be done after Bleach and Naruto end?
"That should be exactly when the local young creators of Japan rise. Those young people who started watching Shirogane's works in primary school, went through middle school, high school, and then graduated from university, entering the industry with a love and dream for anime. What they will first encounter should be." Rei smiled.
"Dragon Ball."
After Bleach and Naruto finished, there were too many medium-to-long-form works that could step in for serialization, like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Detective Conan, JoJo, Fairy Tail, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Slam Dunk.
There were too many.
But Dragon Ball would be serialized, no question. With such an IP, it was better to launch it earlier. IP fame and commercial value also required a certain amount of time to spread.
Thinking of this, Rei felt a sense of schadenfreude.
"What bad thing are you plotting in your head? You're smiling so happily." Miyu walked into the living room and said in surprise upon seeing Rei's expression.
"Nothing, it's just that Bleach will be finished in two or three years, and I've already tentatively decided on the long-form anime to replace it, so I'm a bit happy."
Miyu's expression froze, and she made a sarcastic comment.
"Are you even human?"
"It's good to think about these things two or three years in advance. There have been too many interesting new works in the Japan manga world in recent years. Most of them learn from your style, but the market just eats it up. Don't go starting a new work after Bleach ends and then get ground into the dirt by those young people who have been studying you for two years."
"..."
"You probably won't see that happen in this lifetime," Rei said, blunt.
Miyu didn't say much at that.
She said it, but if she were to think about who in the current Japan anime world could have a chance to defeat Rei head-on, even if it were just for a single work, she couldn't think of anyone.
"My manga Reincarnation is also in its late stages of serialization. It'll be finished in about a year. It's better that you're so confident. I've had enough of being the gatekeeper for the top three in Dream Comic. I'll take a good rest for half a year or a year then, and let those newcomers feel what despair is, to strike a blow to their confidence."
After entering the end of the year, the Japan anime circle became even more lively.
The Death Note anime had reached its climax, and every week a large number of anime fans were drawn into discussing and deducing the subsequent plot developments.
Bleach's popularity also soared for a stretch because the plot had reached the protagonist Ichigo's duel with Ulquiorra, even vaguely surpassing Naruto.
The plot of Ichigo's duel with Ulquiorra and Grimmjow could be called the most exciting battle scene in the Bleach manga.
The later battle scenes against Aizen, including those of the other Espada, were a far cry from the expressive power shown here.
As for Naruto, after entering Shippuden, it started with the rescue of Kazekage Gaara and now.
In the new Team Kakashi, Yamato joined, and Sasuke's inferior imitation, Sai, joined. This plot caused dissatisfaction among a large number of Naruto fans.
Even though Sasuke had defected from Konoha, it shouldn't have come to the point where the plot had this Sai guy replace Sasuke. And as for that Yamato, could his charm and popularity compare to Kakashi's?
With Bleach at its peak and Naruto at a plot low, the popularity rankings of the two works swapped.
As for the most stable among the three works of the Big Three, it was One Piece, no question.
Before the Marineford War arc, no major flaws could be found in One Piece.
Starting from the East Blue arc, the Alabasta arc, the Skypiea arc, the Water 7 plus Enies Lobby arc, then to the later Thriller Bark, Sabaody Archipelago arc, and the Marineford War arc.
Not to mention that after transmigrating to the Japan dimension, once memories of the previous life surfaced, they could be extracted like watching a movie.
Even as an ordinary person in his previous life before transmigrating, Rei could close his eyes and go through the general plot of these arcs spanning hundreds of episodes in his head along the serialization timeline of One Piece, including who the main bosses were.
During this period, One Piece could be described with the word "invincible."
Before the Marineford War, during its serialization in Japan in his previous life, its tankobon sales only lost to the peak shoujo manga NANA for one year out of over a decade. All other times, it was number one in annual sales.
In the Japan dimension, the situation for One Piece was similar, except that the upcoming Water 7 arc was relatively depressing, while in Naruto, the Hidan and Kakuzu duo would debut, another minor climax in the plot. It was foreseeable that there would be another round of arguments between the fans on both sides over the rankings.
Time passed, and just like that, it was the end of the year.
His daughter Hina was four years old. With half a year left before starting kindergarten, she was obsessed with binge-watching anime every day, especially catching up on Rei's works with high intensity all day long.
Rei, on the other hand, began creating scripts for new anime works within the company for the coming year, besides the Big Three.
Now the Japan anime market understood Rei's habits.
The three long-running anime were serialized every week, with occasional breaks for a quarter to give the production team more time to keep up with the high-intensity and high-quality serialization.
Then within a year, there would be about two or three short-form new series and roughly one animated film.
This was the limit of the work intensity Rei could manage while balancing his family.
As for his fans.
"It's confirmed. For the new year holiday slot in two months, the first Puella Magi Madoka Magica movie, Rebellion, will be released."
"Holy crap, has the release date for the Madoka Magica movie already been confirmed? That's amazing. I've been waiting for over half a year. It hasn't been easy."
"I hope this Rebellion thing is at least half as exciting as the main plot."
"There's an anime called Fullmetal Alchemist starting in next year's autumn slot. The name sounds quite interesting."
"On the Shirogane Animation website, it says that in April next year, Shirogane-sensei will also launch a youth romance anime called Kimi ni Todoke. That's great. I hope it's another masterpiece like Clannad."
"Speaking of which, Shirogane-sensei is almost thirty, right? He's still so prolific?"
"At thirty, many people are still studying for their master's or PhD. Why do you guys talk as if he's about to retire?"
"Mainly because most professional mangaka only have a ten-year career span. Their physical strength can keep up, but their heads can't come up with new plots that keep up with the times. Shirogane-sensei has been debuted for fourteen years and can still update with such high intensity. It's ridiculous."
"His one year is someone else's entire life. The Big Three adds up to over a hundred chapters, plus two or three short-form anime. The plots and scripts he creates in a year are nearly two hundred chapters. Sometimes I really wonder if he's human."
"I hope Shirogane-sensei maintains his current prolific state until he's eighty or ninety before retiring."
"True. Bleach's plot is also starting to enter its late stages. After fighting Aizen, who else can this work fight? I'm also not sure what the name of the successor work will be?"
"I heard. There's already a relevant project decision within Shirogane Animation. Rumor has it that Shirogane Animation held a meeting half a month ago to start discussing the successor work after Bleach ends."
"Oh, come on, saying Bleach is about to end. Who said that? This anime isn't allowed to end until another thousand episodes are drawn."
"I can understand your feelings, but you can tell how long an anime will be just by looking at the initial framework."
"The Bleach anime only has three major modules. The Human World, Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo. Now the top combatants of Soul Society have all appeared, and Hueco Mundo is about to be cleared by Ichigo. If it doesn't end after defeating Aizen, it'll turn into a bad ending, plain and simple."
"My inside info is accurate, though. My cousin is one of the loyalists inside Shirogane Animation. Any big moves Shirogane-sensei makes, these people are responsible for executing them. Many things can't be hidden."
New Year, January.
Rei began to gather the company's senior management to prepare for the Dragon Ball anime project.
The entire early plot of this anime could be seen as a comedy manga.
It only truly became a hot-blooded battle anime starting from the introduction of the Saiyan concept.
Those were things to be considered slowly after the work began serialization and airing.
For now.
The entire staff of Shirogane Animation Company understood that another work rated S-rank by the boss Rei's standards had been born.
The boss said that the early part of this anime was more like a children's anime, but it would likely become the number one hot-blooded manga in the history of Japan in the later stages, surpassing the Big Three.
Well.
They thought it was unlikely, but they would trust the boss for now.
Illumination Production Company, at the beginning of the new year, due to Rei's actions, even as a large company with thousands of employees, was still short-handed. It kept recruiting top industry professionals from the Japan anime world, welcoming those with the intention to jump ship.
"All right. The initial preparations are almost done. Two years from now." Rei thought to himself.
"Of the four walls of the company headquarters, only three are currently painted with illustrations of the protagonists from the company's three most popular manga."
"..."
"It looks like I'll have to find an opportunity to hire someone to paint the fourth wall with the protagonist of the Son Goku anime."