By the fifth week of airing, 'Fate/Zero' had truly entered its main storyline.
Because the cast of this series was so extensive, the early episodes were mostly focused on character development, with the Holy Grail War only seeing minor skirmishes.
However, the key characters—Gilgamesh, the King of Conquerors, Artoria, and Diarmuid—had already been firmly established. In the minds of fans, they were largely seen as righteous or neutral figures, each gaining a large following.
As for the deranged killer Gilles de Rais, the nearly nonexistent Hassan, and the mysterious Berserker-class Servant who did nothing but howl in madness from beginning to end—these characters were widely disliked.
On the Masters' side, aside from Emiya Kiritsugu and Waver, the other five were collectively regarded by the audience as scum.
Just like in Su Yan's previous life, discussions about the power levels of each Servant had begun to emerge among viewers.
Although episode 5's ratings were only 5.61%, still lower than 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica', the debates surrounding the characters had already reached a level comparable to the later stages of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'.
With only a few days left before the Spring Festival season, the internet is flooded with discussions about the upcoming films,
The forums for 'Fate/Zero' felt like a sanctuary—no matter how popular those movies were, 'Fate/Zero' fans remained completely unaffected.
In a villa district in Hudu, inside Su Yan's home—
During the day, he attended various events; at night, he observed online public opinion trends.
'Fate/Zero' would continue airing until March, and it was still in its rising phase. But in just three days, the 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' would be released.
Since his rebirth in the Xia Nation, most of the system-granted skills Su Yan had obtained were only truly useful in swordsmanship, physical enhancement, and music.
Other abilities—like photography from 'Life is Strange' or street combat skills from 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'—were basically useless in daily life. He neither needed to carry cameras on set nor get into street fights.
But for 'Rurouni Kenshin', combined with the swordsmanship skills he had drawn, Su Yan was extremely confident in the final product.
As for whether his portrayal of Kenshin was more handsome than Satoh Takeru's in the live-action version from his previous life, that was hard to say. After all, beauty was subjective.
But the fight scenes?
They were definitely far superior to the original live-action film's wire-assisted choreography.
Out of all the works he had produced in the Xia Nation, 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' was the one in which Su Yan had full confidence in surpassing the original in every aspect.
And there wasn't just one film—there were several installments planned.
If this first movie became a hit during the Spring Festival, it could be developed into a full-fledged film series in the Xia Nation.
And based on the trends of such franchises in his previous life, as long as the first installment had strong word-of-mouth, each subsequent film would perform even better at the box office.
Taking a deep breath, Su Yan uploaded a new video to his creator account on his official website.
It was a promotional clip filmed the day before, featuring him and Gu Qingyuan in character as Kenshin and Yukishiro Tomoe.
Everything that could be done had been done.
The rest would be left to the market.
Time passed.
Over the next few days, promotions for 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie', 'Fake Detective', and 'Breaking Formation' reached full intensity.
But the other six films releasing in the same period weren't willing to be sidelined either—their main creative teams also embarked on packed promotional tours across major cities.
The media went all out as well, heavily covering each of the films.
Overall, however, the star-studded historical blockbuster 'Breaking Formation' held a slight lead over 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' in pre-release audience anticipation rankings, taking first place.
'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' ranked second, and 'Fake Detective' third.
These rankings sparked fierce online arguments between Su Yan's fans and the fanbases of other stars.
Terms like "buying trending spots," "manipulating rankings," and "hiring trolls for smear campaigns" flooded the comment sections.
Even on February 9th—New Year's Eve—these online battles showed no signs of stopping.
Because Su Yan, Shi Peihua, Shen Liqian, Gu Qingyuan, and the rest of the original cast from the 'Rurouni Kenshin' drama and film were all tied up with promotional activities during the Spring Festival, none of them returned home this year.
Instead, they gathered at Su Yan's villa in Shanghai and had a simple New Year's Eve dinner together.
"Everything depends on tomorrow," Shi Peihua said with a serious expression.
"I'm getting nervous again." Shinozaki Ikumi stopped pretending to be calm, constantly checking her phone during the meal, worried that some negative rumors about Su Yan or the film's cast might suddenly surface online at this critical moment.
Sometimes, those rumors didn't even need to be true—
As long as audiences and fans believed them, they could destroy a movie. Any attempt to clear things up afterward would just become a messy, drawn-out issue.
Although Shinozaki Ikumi and Su Yan hadn't encountered such a situation, there had been real cases in the Xia Nation's film history where movies flopped due to such controversies. Even if the truth came out later, the damage to the box office was irreversible.
"It's a bit frustrating… Why is it that even though I'm the female lead of the 'Rurouni Kenshin' movie, the forums are mostly discussing Yukishiro Tomoe? She barely has two minutes of screen time in the film," Shen Liqian complained.
She and Gu Qingyuan were close friends. Although they competed within the company, it didn't affect their friendship.
As the two successive female leads of 'Rurouni Kenshin', she had been mentally prepared—but she still hadn't expected that even her own fans, after watching the drama version, would admit that Tomoe was an unbeatable presence in the series.
"Once the movie is released tomorrow, the word-of-mouth will completely turn around," Gu Qingyuan replied with a smile.
"Your performance in the film is excellent."
"Arguments bring popularity. Honestly, I'd love to see Tomoe fans and Kaoru fans start fighting after the movie releases tomorrow," Su Yan said with a smile, raising his drink.
Though he didn't actually expect it to happen.
In his previous life, it took years of manga serialization before Tomoe appeared in the 'Trust & Betrayal' arc—yet despite her brief appearance, she completely overshadowed Kaoru's years of accumulated popularity.
And in the Xia Nation, Tomoe appeared even earlier than Kaoru.
As long as Kaoru didn't get criticized by Tomoe fans after the movie release, that would already be a win.
Still…
Su Yan glanced at Shen Liqian, recalling the appearance of Kaoru's actress in the live-action film from his previous life.
That thought eased somewhat.
At least Shen Liqian's looks were overwhelmingly superior. Back then, after reading the manga first and then watching the film, he hadn't had many complaints—except that when Kaoru appeared, he couldn't help but think…
It would've been better if she were a bit prettier.
After all, if a character already had less charm than Tomoe and also lacked visual appeal, criticism was inevitable.
Su Yan's gaze lingered on Shen Liqian for over ten seconds—so obvious that everyone at the table turned to look at him.
Keeping a straight face, Su Yan said,
"Happy New Year."
The awkward atmosphere instantly dissolved.
"Happy New Year!" everyone at the table echoed with laughter.
"Let's take first place in the Spring Festival box office!"
"That kind of thing depends on fate—but at least let's aim for first place in word-of-mouth."
"The total investment is 440 million so far. Break-even is at least 1.3 billion in box office."
"When has Teacher Su Yan ever made a losing investment? The goal for 'Rurouni Kenshin: Movie' should be at least 2 billion!
At midnight, fireworks lit up the Shanghai sky. Su Yan also sent out generous New Year Red envelopes to all employees in the company's fan group.
A new year had arrived.