The overall impression viewers got from the 'Fate/Zero' trailer was simple—gorgeous.
Acting, costumes, makeup, special effects—
Everything gave Xia Nation audiences the immediate feeling that this drama was burning money.
And in fact, that was exactly the case.
The project had initially been budgeted at over one hundred million, but as Su Yan kept raising his requirements for visual effects quality—and as the number of VFX-heavy scenes increased—the investment continued to climb.
On the day the 'Fate/Zero' trailer was released, television industry insiders across Xia Nation fell unusually quiet.
In the entire private film and television company sector of Xia Nation, aside from Su Yan, who else would dare invest this much into producing a TV drama?
Even if the ratings turned out great, it could still end up losing money.
Yet a trailer that was less than thirty seconds long instantly reignited Su Yan's fanbase, which had been quiet for months.
["Nothing else to say—support!"]
["Look at the visuals of 'Fate/Zero' and then look at the visuals of the 'Rurouni Kenshin' drama. It's hard to believe both came from the same writer!"]
["After watching the trailer, I only have one thought—the old sadist is about to ascend to godhood again!"]
["What I can't understand is the setting. What are Heroic Spirits and Masters? Does anyone know what that means?"]
["There's information about it on Su Yan's company website, plus a worldbuilding guide for the story's universe. You can check it out there. But honestly, even if you don't, it should be fine—the old sadist will probably explain it in the plot."]
["Yeah, it's basically mythological stories in an alternate world. Just like Xia Nation's xianxia dramas. You'll understand the world as you watch."]
["Charge!"]
["January, right? On Sakura TV, right?!"]
["So annoying! Can the autumn TV season hurry up and end already? Knowing I still have to wait another month or two until January makes me want to curse."]
["Cherish this drama. With the old sadist's current creative speed, after 'Fate/Zero', there's probably going to be at least another half-year wait before we see his next series."]
["But the good news is that in February we'll still have the 'Rurouni Kenshin' movie! There should be promotional material for it soon, too, right? I'm really curious how Kenshin lived after Yukishiro Tomoe died."]
["Honestly, I'm a little nervous. What if the sequel ruins the beautiful atmosphere created by the TV version?"]
["Trust the old sadist. Don't panic!"]
["Up until now, he hasn't written a single work I think is bad. And I don't think we'll ever see one. Don't worry."]
["You really have that much confidence in him?"]
["Of course. Do you think all his works became hits through luck? If anything, he's probably far more picky about scripts than we viewers are. He doesn't have that pretentious artist syndrome, and he hasn't gotten arrogant after becoming famous. Under those circumstances, any bad script would probably get rejected by him during his own review stage."]
["You're all discussing whether the old sadist could ever flop, while I'm over here wondering if 'Fate/Zero' might actually beat the ratings of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'."]
["It'll definitely be the January ratings champion. Whether it surpasses 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' doesn't matter to me. I'm a fan of the old sadist, not just one of his works."]
Overnight, discussions about Su Yan's new drama swept across the four major streaming platforms.
The next day, promotional channels across the entire Xia Nation television industry began buzzing.
Ogata Aya, the newly promoted head of the production department, had extremely high expectations for the performance of 'Fate/Zero'.
Originally, Su Yan should have belonged to Sakura TV.
Even if his abilities were strong enough that he would eventually leave anyway, at the very least, Sakura TV should have remained his primary partner.
But instead, Zhongxia TV had taken advantage of the situation for several years, even breaking some ratings records.
That left the entire Sakura TV network—including Ogata Aya—feeling extremely dissatisfied.
Su Yan himself cared about ratings too, since they directly determined the commercial value of 'Fate/Zero' and the price of its broadcasting rights.
But his mindset was relatively calm.
If 'Fate/Zero' surpassed 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' in ratings, great.
If not, that would also be understandable.
After all, both works were considered top-tier masterpieces in the anime industry of his previous world. It was hard to say which was stronger.
But Sakura TV—
Starting from November, it practically unleashed a full-force promotional assault on the market.
Even though they didn't actually own the broadcast rights for 'Fate/Zero'—only the airing rights—
Even if, considering the scale of promotion, the station might actually lose money from broadcasting it—
They still had to fight for the prestige.
Sakura TV promoted 'Fate/Zero' even more fiercely than their own biological child, opening fire across every channel without counting the cost.
Both Shinozaki Ikumi and Su Yan were stunned watching it happen.
Su Yan himself hadn't even begun his promotional push yet. The marketing budget he had prepared hadn't even entered the market.
And yet he was already seeing advertisements for 'Fate/Zero' everywhere in Tokyo—on buses, in subway stations, and on giant billboards in downtown districts.
After all—
Sakura Island was Sakura TV's true home base.
Most of the station's employees came from there. It was only because the economic center of the Xia Nation was Hudu that the network's headquarters had been set there to make cooperation easier.
But people in the Sakura Island region naturally had a special fondness for local companies like Sakura TV.
Once the station started promoting something, the level of support in Tokyo became astonishingly strong.
Setting Su Yan aside, even the actors participating in 'Fate/Zero' were already being invited by Sakura Island media outlets for interviews before the show had even aired.
Offline commercial appearances and endorsement requests began flooding in.
It was only November—
Yet because of 'Fate/Zero's promotional campaign, the Xia Nation television market almost felt like it had entered garbage time.
Several currently airing A-tier dramas this season received almost no discussion.
No attention.
Meanwhile, 'Fate/Zero', which hadn't even premiered yet, had already become the center of attention.
In late November—
Filming for the 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' was finally completed.
The entire film crew gathered together for a celebration banquet.
Before '5 Centimeters per Second' and 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' were released, many members of the 'Rurouni Kenshin' team had actually felt nervous about their film scheduled for the Spring Festival season.
After all, the Spring Festival box office season was the most brutal battlefield for capital in Xia Nation's film industry every year.
Su Yan was powerful, sure—
But could this movie really break through such intense competition?
However, once the final box office results of '5 Centimeters per Second' and 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' were confirmed, all those doubts disappeared.
"To celebrate 'We Made a Beautiful Bouquet' achieving results beyond market expectations during the Spring Festival season!"
"Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
"Everyone needs to dare to dream. If '5 Centimeters per Second' could win the summer box office championship, why couldn't the 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' do the same?"
"If that actually happens, I'll run a marathon through Tokyo naked!"
At the celebration banquet, the 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' crew had drunk enough that they dared to say anything and imagine anything.
As the company boss, Su Yan also drank—but only lightly. He no longer ended up being carried back to the hotel by employees like he used to.
"So it's come to this moment again."
Shinozaki Ikumi walked over with a wine glass and sat near the window where Su Yan was.
"The moment when the company reaches another critical stage of development."
"Before it was 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.'. After it broke the ratings record, our company could finally speak on equal footing with the three major TV stations in Xia Nation."
"And now it's the Spring Festival release of 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie'…"
"I wonder what kind of results it will achieve?"
"At the very least, it should surpass '5 Centimeters per Second'," Su Yan replied with a smile.
"As for whether it will create some miracle during the Spring Festival season, I can't say for sure. The Xia Nation film industry also has many talented creators. But the theme of 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' is far more appealing than '5 Centimeters per Second'."
Unlike the earlier TV version of the 'Trust & Betrayal' arc—
That version leaned heavily toward romance and tragedy, which naturally limited the audience somewhat.
But the movie version had a complete narrative structure and leaned much more toward action and combat.
And in that area—
Su Yan was extremely confident in his performance.
He wouldn't claim the story was the best.
But when it came to fight scenes in the Spring Festival lineup—
Su Yan could guarantee that no one would surpass 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie'.
"Don't worry." Su Yan looked at Shinozaki Ikumi.
He knew exactly what she was worried about.
The Xia Nation Spring Festival season was considered the most fiercely competitive market in the entire film industry.
Often, more than ten films premiered at once.
But usually only one or two films dominated the box office.
Another one or two barely broke even.
All the rest—
Suffered massive losses.
Because just to enter that market required at least hundreds of millions in promotional funding. Otherwise, theaters wouldn't even give your movie screening slots.
The more Shinozaki Ikumi studied the historical box-office disasters of this release window, the more anxious she naturally felt.
"From the moment we debuted until now, none of our works have flopped."
Su Yan said calmly.
"There's no way we'll become the industry's joke during the Spring Festival season."