[T/N: Change of plans—I'll still be around 😊 so releases will continue as normal 📚✨ More chapters coming soon!]
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After 'Kimi ni Todoke' finished airing, the Xia Nation's TV drama market entered a relatively calm period without major upheavals.
Sakura TV, Hudu TV, and Zhongxia TV dominated the market with their in-house productions, launching full-scale promotional campaigns toward the latter half of the quarter.
After several years, the overall quality of Xia Nation's TV dramas had noticeably improved.
The highest-rated work of the quarter was undoubtedly 'Kimi ni Todoke'.
However, among the shows aired by the other three major networks, one managed to surpass a 5% rating. Once 'Kimi ni Todoke' concluded, it immediately rose to become the top show in the market.
Just as the director and cast of that drama were overjoyed—believing this success would finally give them a major spotlight this quarter—
In early December, when the full promotional campaign for 'Fate/stay night' officially launched, the entire market was thrown into confusion.
The popularity of those shows lasted only two weeks before being completely crushed by 'Fate/stay night'.
On Su Yan's official website, a large amount of worldbuilding details and non-spoiler information about 'Fate/stay night' began to be released.
Most notably, alongside the TV drama, a game of the same name was also announced.
The TV series would adapt the Fate route—also known as the Saber route—from Su Yan's previous-life galgame.
The original Galgame itself was quite massive, consisting of three routes: Fate, UBW, and HF.
Given the current level of hype, Su Yan would very likely adapt all three routes into dramas over the next few years.
The same applied to the game adaptations.
Since the galgame market in Xia Nation was weak, Su Yan instead developed a role-playing fighting game based primarily on the Fate route storyline of 'Fate/stay night'.
The original Galgame contained a huge amount of story content, and even the anime adaptations from his previous life had cut many parts. Those omitted portions were now being incorporated into the Xia Nation version of the RPG as supplementary material.
For viewers who wanted a deeper understanding of the story after watching the drama, they could purchase the game.
This simultaneous promotion of both the game and the TV series instantly sent audiences into a frenzy.
["Su Yan really gets it! A game and a TV series released together?"]
["Not exactly—the game will come a bit later. It's just being promoted now. According to Dimensional Pictures' announcement, the 'Fate/stay night' game will only go on sale the night the drama finishes airing. That way it avoids spoiling the show, and the game will include lots of additional story content."]
["This guy's really confident. He must believe the drama will be a hit; otherwise, who would buy the game if the show flops?"]
["I honestly can't imagine how 'Fate/stay night' could not become popular. As long as Zhuang Yuxin's Artoria appears, how could it not blow up?"]
["When are they releasing the first trailer? This is torture."]
["I already see the word 'invincible' written all over this show."]
["The biggest suspense isn't whether it'll win the seasonal championship after airing next winter—it's whether it'll become popular overseas. I heard it's going to be released in multiple countries."]
["I don't care about overseas success—that's not important. What I care about is how Saber's story is handled in 'Fate/stay night', and what happens to Kotomine Kirei and Gilgamesh. 'Fate/Zero' felt incomplete—the fates of several major characters weren't fully explained."]
The popularity cycle in the film and television industry came quickly—and faded just as fast.
Less than three weeks after 'Kimi ni Todoke' ended, its discussion heat was still relatively high. But once 'Fate/stay night' began its promotional push, the entire industry was flooded with discussions about it.
Su Yan, Zhuang Yuxin, and the main cast also began their promotional roadshows for 'Fate/stay night'.
At the same time, while Su Yan and Dimensional Pictures were promoting 'Fate/stay night', production on 'Howl's Moving Castle' and 'Weathering With You' officially began.
At nearly twenty-seven years old, Su Yan had no problem playing Howl, the male lead in 'Howl's Moving Castle'.
However, he chose not to participate in 'Weathering With You'.
Although the male lead, Hodaka, was technically set at sixteen, his appearance was even more youthful—a small-built teenage boy—which didn't match Su Yan at all.
Moreover, Dimensional Pictures had already signed several new artists, so for 'Weathering With You', both the male and female leads would be played entirely by newcomers.
It was impossible for Su Yan to personally star in every single project—even if he could create clones, it would still be too much.
These announcements were released alongside the promotional materials for 'Fate/stay night'.
However, Su Yan had too many upcoming projects.
'Fate/stay night' and the second 'Rurouni Kenshin' movie were about to air.
Meanwhile, 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion' Seasons 1 and 2 were scheduled for April and July.
As for 'Weathering With You' and 'Howl's Moving Castle', those would come later.
Although these announcements caused quite a stir, audiences were naturally more focused on the projects right in front of them.
In mid-November, the first trailer for 'Fate/Stay Night' was released.
The trailer content was fairly standard.
It still revolved around the Holy Grail War.
However, this time, the participants had changed.
Characters like Illya, Emiya Shirou, Tohsaka Rin, Matou Sakura, and Matou Shinji—who had appeared in 'Fate/Zero'—now showed up as teenagers in this story.
As for the Servants, not a single detail was revealed.
After all, in the Fate series, the revelation of Servant identities was one of the biggest highlights. There was no way it would be spoiled in a trailer.
Still, sharp-eyed viewers had already guessed some details.
["No need to say it—Kotomine Kirei and Gilgamesh are definitely in this. The fact they didn't die in 'Fate/Zero' was clearly set up for 'Fate/stay night'."]
["And Emiya Kiritsugu too—he didn't die in 'Fate/Zero', so he should still have a role here, right?"]
["He's already lost interest in the Holy Grail. Would he even participate again?"]
["He'd definitely care about stopping others from using the Grail to cause harm."]
["Exactly. There's no way Kiritsugu would just watch someone use the Grail to destroy world peace."]
["So maybe this is a father-son team-up against Kotomine Kirei and Gilgamesh?"]
["That sounds way too cliché. Kirei already lost to Kiritsugu in 'Fate/Zero'. Wouldn't he just be weak again here?"]
["You're overthinking it. Kirei lost because the Grail's will favored Kiritsugu and woke him up early. If they fought it out fully, who knows what would've happened?"]
["Also, I feel like the Masters in 'Fate/stay night' are kind of underwhelming. They're basically all high school students. Tohsaka Rin is definitely not on her father Tokiomi's level. Illya is also just high school age. Honestly, even though Waver was weak in 'Fate/Zero', compared to these Masters, he actually seems pretty capable."]
["True. In 'Fate/Zero', people like Kayneth, Kirei, Kiritsugu, and Kariya all felt strong. But in 'Fate/stay night', it feels like a bunch of small fry. Kirei alone looks completely overpowered among this group. Is this season just going to be a bunch of amateurs fighting each other?"]
["Age doesn't necessarily determine strength."]
["We'll find out soon enough. Why speculate? Two weeks later, Sunday at 8 PM on Hudu TV—we'll have our answer."]
Su Yan's company poured money into promotion wave after wave, and Hudu TV—working with him for the first time—was giving it everything they had.
In past years, Sakura TV and Zhongxia TV had alternated winning the annual ratings championship through collaborations with Su Yan.
If they could win it, why couldn't Hudu TV?
For 'Fate/stay night', Hudu TV was going all in.
They had been holding back frustration for years, and this quarter, they were determined to reclaim their reputation.
They wanted the industry to understand—Hudu TV's past underperformance wasn't because they couldn't compete with Sakura TV and Zhongxia TV.
It was simply because they couldn't compete with Su Yan.
Breaking a 6% rating—was it really something only others could achieve?