On NatsuYume, there was one section everyone checked the way people check the weather - like it was the industry's pulse made visible. Rankings and data tables that cross-referenced anime, dramas, films - everything split by season, time slot, and region.
There you could see, for example, how premieres from the same cour were performing across the twenty-one prefectures where they were airing, each one arranged by audience rank… and then, right beneath it, the cruelest metric of all: the score fans handed out in bulk, minutes after an episode ended.
Ratings took time. The site only finalized those numbers the next day, after compiling regional measurements. Scores didn't. Scores were immediate - and that was why they hurt more.
What was almost ironic was how fast the tide turned.
That same night, Hiiro no Sora, praised everywhere as "the cour's ruler," barely warmed the top spot before it was shoved aside. Three hours. It didn't even make it to midnight. Then Natsume Yuujinchou appeared and took first place without asking permission.
When the ranking updated, the top of NatsuYume looked like this:
Natsume Yuujinchou - 9.3
Hiiro no Sora - 9.0
Card - 8.8
The Dragon King Next Door - 8.7
…
It was like someone had turned the forum's sound off.
The same crowd that had been celebrating Hiiro no Sora just minutes earlier swallowed their euphoria in one gulp, unable to make the picture fit in their heads. The anime was that good… and still dropped to second place before the day even flipped?
Something didn't add up.
And the name Natsume Yuujinchou wasn't exactly unknown. Because of the recent friction with Maki's fanbase, plenty of people had already heard whispers about the production. They also knew one detail that was impossible to ignore: the director credited was Sora Kamakawa - the same young Kantoku behind Voices of a Distant Star.
It didn't take long for the first suspicions to rise, most of them coming from outside Shikoku.
"Isn't that score inflated? It's too high. I'm not buying it," someone from another region posted.
"How are you supposed to inflate it with over a hundred and seventy thousand ratings? At that volume, you can't 'push' a score."
"Tokushima again… six months ago Voices of a Distant Star was like this. Now Natsume too."
"And what a coincidence - the director on both is the same."
"The same? Hell… wasn't he a kid who wasn't even twenty when he made Voices? How does someone like that get the space to lead two productions in a year?"
"It's his studio. Why do you think?"
"Okay, sure, but… a 9.3 premiere score? What kind of monster of an anime gets that?"
"I checked Shikoku's regional forum and it's just people losing their minds over episode one. 'I cried,' 'I feel sick,' 'I can't sleep'… it almost feels staged."
"I get the skepticism, but honestly, it doesn't make sense. From what I know, Natsume Yuujinchou's studio was so tight on money they didn't even have a real promotion budget at launch. If the guy couldn't pay for marketing, he's going to pay an army of accounts to inflate scores? And besides - pushing a score from 5.0 to 6.0, sure. But 9.3 with over a hundred thousand ratings? You don't manufacture that."
"If I remember right… Voices of a Distant Star opened at 9.2 on premiere night. And now Natsume opens at 9.3… so does that mean Natsume is even better than Voices?"
The thread went silent for a few seconds.
Then someone replied with ellipses, like they didn't want to be the one to put it into words.
"…"
"…"
"Second work by the same director… and it opens higher than Voices… that's…"
"Fine, but what about those of us who don't live in any of Shikoku's four prefectures? What am I supposed to do? I can't even watch it!"
"This director, Sora Kamakawa, is a problem. Why can't his shows air on one of the four national networks?"
"It's not that he doesn't want to. The big networks aren't the ones taking the gamble. He's eighteen. He doesn't even have a full year of directing experience on his résumé. Who's going to hand prime-time national broadcast and heavy money to a kid like that?"
"Better to watch. It's just the first episode score. It could fall apart later."
"That risk exists for any anime. Including Hiiro no Sora. The first episode can be incredible… and then the rest breaks."
That was the market's portrait on October 6th.
During the day, a wave of jokes and criticism aimed at The Dragon King Next Door, a show with too much investment for a weaker-than-expected start.
At eight at night, Hiiro no Sora aired and the country celebrated for three hours.
At ten-thirty, Natsume Yuujinchou jumped to first place in premiere score - and suddenly, with the exception of the fans living in the four prefectures where it actually aired, the other seventeen regions were left completely in the dark.
Youkai?
Returning names?
A healing anime?
A soundtrack "from another world"?
What, exactly, were those people talking about?
A lot of viewers felt urgency settle in their chest, a restless irritation that comes from realizing you're missing something… but urgency doesn't change geography.
…
The next day, October 7th, the ratings finally appeared.
Hiiro no Sora debuted at 4.41% nationwide - and posted 4.40% in Tokushima's regional measurement. Just as everyone had predicted the night before, it was the strongest October premiere by raw numbers.
Natsume Yuujinchou's data came out too, limited to the four Shikoku prefectures where it was airing: 3.32%, 3.25%, 3.43%, 3.28%.
That was still far from what the four national giants could push with their "flagship titles." But outside that circle of monsters, it was too strong to ignore. Among local productions and broadcasts outside the national axis, Natsume had the best premiere performance.
Within the four prefectures themselves, its rating sat behind only four already-established "cour favorites." In every region, it appeared in fifth place.
And the most important detail was this: before it aired, there had been almost no promotion. Episode 1 went live in near silence. Even so, the numbers came in hard.
Add that to the score phenomenon - the 9.3 that detonated curiosity across the entire country - and it was natural to expect Episode 2 to climb. The work's true potential was still difficult to measure; they'd need another week or two to see the curve.
…
At Yume Animation, the news turned into celebration.
For half an hour, the mood was pure relief, almost festive. Nobody there was naïve enough to compare themselves to the productions bankrolled by national networks, but Natsume Yuujinchou had beaten its direct competitors - and that included Princess of the Clouds, an original animation aired by Tokushima's affiliate on Saturday night prime time.
When Sumire saw the numbers with her own eyes, she froze in her office chair as if her body had forgotten how to react. Joy came first - inevitable, electric - then, like a second layer settling over it, a quiet pressure began to form.
Episode 1 and Episode 2 had been carried end to end by Sora Kamakawa: storyboards, scene direction, pacing decisions. The success of those two wasn't exactly her "credit."
The real test was Episode 3, scheduled two weeks from now: "The Stranger of Yahara."
If the audience loved the first two… and then, on the episode under her responsibility, the ratings and the buzz dipped, Sumire knew she wouldn't sleep in peace.
It'll be fine. It'll be fine.
She took a deep breath, forced the noise out of her head, and went back to work. Even so, the corner of her mouth kept wanting to lift.
Because there was another possible scenario - one she wanted to believe in.
Episode 3 airing with the momentum of the first two behind it, popularity already built… and the audience reacting with the same warmth, the same shock, like the series simply had no weak point.
…
Yumi Noriko, on the other hand, spent the entire day wearing the kind of smile you can't hide when you've won.
She was everywhere: fan groups, comment sections, threads. Replying, teasing, making it clear she was watching it all.
"So it was 3.32% on premiere night…"
Yumi drew in a slow breath, as if she wanted to keep the feeling inside her chest for as long as possible.
Her eyes drifted across message after message on NatsuYume - open affection, shameless praise, a near-childlike excitement from people who'd allowed themselves to cry.
It was the kind of pride you can't fake: the clean pleasure of seeing something she loved - something she'd backed with money and trust - be loved by others too. It left her almost dizzy, like her body didn't know where to store that much happiness.
…
Sora Kamakawa didn't give himself that luxury.
He calculated the average across Shikoku's four prefectures, compared it to Hiiro no Sora's average in those same regions, and the result dropped onto the screen with mathematical coldness.
"So… the gap to first place is about 1.13%."
Leaning back in his chair, Sora narrowed his eyes, serious.
Promotion was the engine of the beginning. It didn't matter how good the script was - without reach, the first step was always heavier. The national networks were, by themselves, a seal. And beyond that, the four "flagship titles" of the cour had burned obscene sums on campaign before they even aired. No exaggeration: what those productions spent on marketing was larger than Natsume Yuujinchou's entire budget.
His studio didn't have that kind of margin. The inheritance came tied to debt, and every yen had to be counted.
But scores… scores couldn't be bought. Scores only came from quality.
"I just hope Natsume Yuujinchou can turn the way Voices of a Distant Star did… that its reputation carries the series."
Sora closed his notebook.
It was only the first week. There were still twelve weeks ahead to chase down that 1.13%.
And he didn't have time to get lost in charts.
Thirty minutes left before he had to return to the storyboard for Episode 10. In the afternoon, it was voice recording for Episode 4 - he needed to be in the booth, overseeing everything as director. At night, he still had to drive with Sumire to Ryūryū Studio for a background-and-environment art meeting. If everything moved fast, maybe he could end the day at eight.
Time was the most expensive resource.
At the same time, as Episode 1's performance spread, Jutō Studio - the subcontractor responsible for Episodes 11 and 12 - felt the weight drop onto everyone's shoulders all at once.
If the series held strong numbers… and their episodes were the ones that dragged down ratings and buzz, the hit to their studio's reputation would be brutal.
The owner and the team changed pace immediately. What had been "just another outsourced job" became "this could define our name."
The irony was that even the subcontractors had been lit on fire by Natsume's success.
It was an aftermath Sora hadn't predicted - and at the same time, maybe it was exactly the kind of pressure that pulled the best out of every person involved.
…
Another day passed.
And then the industry media - slow to react at first - finally began to move.
Regular fans outside Shikoku's four prefectures had no legitimate way to watch Natsume Yuujinchou. But for people inside the industry, that was never a real obstacle.
No high-definition Blu-ray, no official premiere video… did anyone truly doubt that a monitor recording would appear? A behind-the-scenes capture? A crooked TV clip shot on a phone? The image would be ugly - reflections, shaky borders, an entire television set visible in frame - improvised to the point of irritation.
But you could understand the story. And that was what mattered.
Starting Tuesday, article after article began to sprout like mushrooms after rain, all of them about Natsume Yuujinchou.
And the general line was almost identical.
Praise in blocks.
Admiration with no economy.
Because when no one is being paid to say something nice - and the writer actually understands what they're watching - the tone tends to be simple, direct.
Recognition. Unafraid. Unapologetic.
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