The first week of January passed, and the public opinion environment in the Japan ACGN circle changed as usual.
No matter how high the popularity of the Big Three is, Japan ACGN fans won't just stick to discussing these three works. The new seasonal anime of each quarter are also a focus of attention.
"It still has to be Shirogane-sensei's romance manga. The flavor is just right, that kind of youthful, innocent feeling from high school."
"A music anime. It's quite unique. It integrates the Japan youth group piano competition into the plot."
"The plot sets the male and female leads in Tokyo, and their daily lives are all near the Shirogane Animation headquarters. Shirogane-sensei didn't forget to promote his own real estate in the anime."
"The Shirogane Animation headquarters area is now the largest ACGN gathering place in Japan. Not just local ACGN fans, but many tourists from out of town come here to check in and take photos, finding an angle to take a picture of themselves with the standing posters of Ichigo, Naruto, and Luffy on each of the four sides of the Shirogane Animation headquarters."
"I feel like this April anime is more interesting than Bleach. Bleach is in its final arc, so it's hard to have that sense of tension and excitement from Ichigo's weak period. The Thousand-Year Blood War arc's plot is okay, but it's a bit lacking compared to the previous hot-bloodedness."
"I don't think there's anything worth watching. The story of a genius piano boy and a violin girl, the later part will be very cliché."
"Don't be so picky. With Shirogane-sensei's current net worth, he's still willing to create this kind of non-profit anime for everyone to watch. What more do you want?"
"It doesn't make money? I see the ratings for Your Lie in April are quite good."
"Compared to the Big Three, no question. The game adaptations of the three Big Three works all have monthly revenues of tens of billions of yen. For a Your Lie in April anime, a two-cour romance series, at most, all the copyright fees combined might reach ten billion yen, which is considered good. Shirogane-sensei doesn't care about this little money now."
"The production of such a work is calculated in years. Using this time to develop the Big Three IPs would be a more profitable choice. I'd be skeptical if other creators said they created a certain work out of love, but since Shirogane-sensei is still creating this type of work, there's no other explanation except doing it for love."
"It's a bit sad. Bleach is going to end this quarter. Bleach, which has accompanied me for six years, sigh."
"Don't be sad. Bleach ends this quarter, and isn't Dragon Ball going to be released next quarter?"
"I could tell just by looking at the promotional trailer and character designs that Dragon Ball is a gag anime."
"I'm not interested in gag anime."
"What's wrong with gag works? As long as it's interesting, works of any genre are worth watching."
"Besides, the fourth wall of the Shirogane Animation headquarters is already under construction, and the new image being drawn on it is the protagonist of Dragon Ball, that monkey. Isn't it obvious what this represents?"
"? Shirogane-sensei values this work so much?"
"Then it's a must-watch. Many people laughed when the Shirogane headquarters building had the protagonists of the Big Three drawn on it for promotion. Now they understand why Shirogane-sensei was so optimistic about those three works back then."
"But why a gag anime? The trailer also didn't seem interesting. A story about finding seven orbs to grant a wish sounds boring."
"Then wouldn't the story of a high school boy fighting ghosts, a ninja boy's journey of struggle, or a kid's dream of becoming a pirate be boring too? What can you tell just by looking at the genre? The same theme can be different when created by different people."
"Exactly, looking forward to the premiere of Dragon Ball in April."
With Rei's current status in the global ACGN world, the pre-broadcast promotion for Dragon Ball achieved its intended purpose fast.
In less than a week, most people in the Japan ACGN circle understood that the anime replacing Bleach after it ends this quarter is Dragon Ball.
During this time, the popularity of the Bleach anime before its conclusion overwhelmed all other anime of the same period.
If the Japan version of the Bleach plot were as outrageous as the original manga from Rei's previous life, there might be overwhelming mockery now.
Now, after some plot modifications, the ending of Bleach might not have reached the quality of the Hueco Mundo arc, but it is above the passing line.
Japan ACGN fans aren't nitpicking either. Everyone hopes that the final arc of Bleach will have a fluctuating plot that surpasses the Hueco Mundo arc.
If it can't, an ending above the passing line like the current one is also acceptable.
As the weeks passed and it reached mid-March, the ending of Bleach arrived at its predetermined point.
Ichigo and Aizen, the protagonist and the big villain who were part of 90% of the entire work's plot, briefly joined forces at the end.
During this process, Rei traveled to major cities across Japan to hold fan meetings for the conclusion of Bleach.
The atmosphere surrounding the conclusion of the Bleach anime was hyped to its peak.
"So after Bleach ends, are you going to do what was done with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and make some spin-off slice-of-life anime to sustain the series' popularity?"
After the conclusion of Reincarnation Manga, Miyu, who finally had some free time, was at home wearing a cool long dress and eating a fruit platter, looking at Rei with curiosity.
Beside them, their daughter Hina was intently watching the Hikaru no Go anime on the living room TV, her mouth wide open, absorbed.
"No, Bleach isn't suitable." Rei said after a pause.
People watch the character spin-offs of Demon Slayer because the supporting characters in Demon Slayer are very well-developed.
As for Bleach, its characterization of the protagonist is impeccable, but the supporting characters lack sufficient appeal.
The arrangement in the original work where Ichigo marries Orihime Inoue and Rukia marries Renji is hard to accept. Everyone considered Rukia the female lead, but she ended up becoming someone else's wife?
This feels a lot like the ending of ERASED, with the sense of deja vu where the female lead grows up and marries someone else.
Since Rei knew that many Bleach fans in his previous life disliked this kind of plot, he decided not to disclose the future marital status of these characters in the Japan version of the Bleach ending.
The Ichigo-Rukia shippers would have room for imagination, and as for the pitifully few Rukia-Renji shippers, they wouldn't be disappointed either.
"Don't worry, even after Bleach ends, its popularity can still be maintained for a long time. It won't affect the IP development plans for subsequent works." Rei said.
"That's true, with your personality, you must have considered these things long ago." Miyu said. "And then there's Dragon Ball, which premieres in April. I hope it can take over from Bleach and become one of Shirogane Animation's new pillars."
"You don't need to worry about that." Rei smiled at hearing this. "The final performance of Dragon Ball will exceed everyone's imagination."
In Rei's previous life, Dragon Ball was truly a global hit, appealing to both Eastern and Western cultural circles.