As March arrived, temperatures across the Xia Nation began to rise.
After three weeks in theaters, 'Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno' had reached nearly 2.8 billion at the box office. With three weeks of screening time remaining, surpassing 3 billion was only a matter of time.
At the same time, this year's Spring Festival lineup had underperformed compared to last year.
Aside from 'Rurouni Kenshin', the second-place film had only reached 1.8 billion so far.
The total box office for the season had dropped by 20% year-on-year.
By now, the hype around 'Rurouni Kenshin' had begun to fade—
While 'Fate/stay night' quietly broke past a 6.5% rating.
Meanwhile, in Tokyo—
Su Yan had been busy overseeing post-production for 'Weathering With You' and 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion'.
'Weathering With You' wasn't a major concern.
After all, it was another Makoto Shinkai-style film.
Having already worked on 'The Garden of Words', '5 Centimeters per Second', and 'Your Name', Su Yan's team understood his expectations almost instantly.
But 'Code Geass'—
That was a different story.
Inside the screening room at Dimensional Pictures' Tokyo branch—
Su Yan, Shinozaki Ikumi, Shen Liqian, Zhuang Yuxin, Gu Qingyuan, and others sat together, eyes fixed on the screen.
What they saw—
Was overwhelming.
Massive mech formations advancing in waves.
Armored ground units are pushing forward layer by layer.
Missiles streaking across the sky.
Explosions blooming across the battlefield like fireworks.
It could be said that—
Aside from character-driven scenes—
Almost everything in 'Code Geass' was built through CGI.
Two seasons.
Over twenty episodes.
A total investment exceeding 600 million—
Setting a new record for Xia Nation television production.
Even by Su Yan's previous-life standards—
This was outrageous.
Normally, a 100–200 million budget would be spread across 50+ episodes.
But here—
600 million for just over 20 episodes—
Meant near cinematic-level visuals.
And most of that budget went into CGI—
With actor salaries deliberately kept low.
The reasoning was simple:
For actors, fame mattered more than immediate pay.
Once the show aired, monetization opportunities would follow.
None of them was short-sighted.
As the footage played—
Even Su Yan felt a hint of disbelief.
Could this level of visual quality really be achieved with this budget?
Or—
Was it because the project had been managed so well?
No corruption.
No wasted funds.
He glanced at Shinozaki Ikumi.
She turned at the same moment—
Smiling confidently and flashing him a "V" sign.
Her expression said everything.
"…Impressive," Su Yan admitted.
The next scenes rolled.
In 'Code Geass', action sequences were centered around mech battles—
Especially the clashes between:
Kallen's Guren units
and Suzaku's Lancelot units
These were the core highlights.
The series's "intellectual battles" belonged to Lelouch—
While the physical spectacle came from the war.
One by one—
The mechs appeared on screen:
Lancelot
Guren
Avalon
Sutherland
Burai
Over twenty distinct models—
All brought to life through CGI.
Su Yan had already seen parts of the process—
So he was prepared.
But Shen Liqian and the others?
They were stunned.
"So the cockpit scenes I filmed… this is what I was piloting?" Shen Liqian stared at the screen, eyes shining.
"What, girls like this stuff too?" Su Yan asked, glancing around.
Not just her—
Zhuang Yuxin and Gu Qingyuan looked just as excited.
Even Gu Qingyuan, whose character Euphemia barely piloted a mech—
Still couldn't hide her fascination.
"What kind of question is that?" Shinozaki Ikumi shot back. "Girls can like giant robots too."
"When the model kits come out, I'm pre-ordering a full limited set."
"Me too," Shen Liqian said immediately.
"Same here," Zhuang Yuxin added.
"I… want them too," Gu Qingyuan said softly.
Su Yan looked at them, speechless.
"…Fine. Tell the manufacturers—reserve two of every model for me. One for collection, one for display."
Only Shi Peihua, now in her sixties, looked completely uninterested.
She couldn't understand—
Why would anyone be excited over plastic models?
Especially those produced by their own company.
To her, it was like owning a food stall but never wanting to eat your own food.
"Alright," Shinozaki Ikumi said, steering the conversation back. "What about the VFX review?"
Su Yan operated the software briefly.
"Everything is fine—except these three shots."
He pointed them out.
They came from the weakest of the partnered VFX companies.
The workload had simply been too massive.
"These need to be redone," he said calmly. "And next time—we don't work with them again."
"Understood." Shinozaki Ikumi let out a quiet breath of relief.
Even though it was only March—
Post-production for the July release had already reached a critical stage.
If too many scenes failed review—
The next few months would be chaos.
"Oh, right," she added. "Overseas updates."
"'Fate/stay night' is now #1 in paid views and popularity on NK."
"It's also airing in three major Western countries—ranking #1 in one, and #2 in the other two."
"Foreign audiences are just as obsessed with Artoria as domestic viewers."
She paused, then smiled.
"Combined with the success of 'Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno' overseas, your international popularity is skyrocketing."
"A lot of foreign viewers are starting to follow you now."
"If this trend continues…"
She looked at him meaningfully.
"When 'Code Geass' airs in July—"
"It'll push both you and the show to a whole new level globally."
Shi Peihua, Shen Liqian, Gu Qingyuan, and Zhuang Yuxin all stiffened slightly.
They were all deeply involved in 'Code Geass'.
If it succeeded internationally—
So would they.
Su Yan thought for a moment.
Then smiled.
"This was always the goal when we started 'Code Geass'."
He leaned back slightly.
"Let's wait until it actually becomes a global hit."
"Then we can celebrate."
For now—
Everything was still building.
Momentum gathering.
Waiting for the moment it would explode.