When Sora returned to Tokushima, the calendar had already turned to January 1, and the three-day New Year holiday began soon after.
Throughout that break, the entire industry seemed to revolve around the Tokyo Animation Festival. Broadcasters, online media, trade magazines, and variety programs all kept talking about the winners, the backstage stories, and even the smallest bits of gossip from the awards ceremony, squeezing every last drop of attention out of it.
Sora had already been fairly well known before, of course, but this was different. Back then, he had mainly been recognized by anime fans. Now, after walking away from the festival with three nominations and three wins, even the professionals in the field could no longer treat him as just another promising newcomer.
That sweep said more than enough on its own. Even without airing on a major national network, Natsume Yuujinchou had spent the entire year ranking among the best in reputation, audience ratings, and BD and merchandise sales. Failing to receive nominations for Best Director and Best Anime was already hard enough to swallow; if it had also gone home empty-handed in categories like Best New Director, Best Anime Music, and Best Screenplay, it would have looked blatantly unfair.
As soon as he came back, the entire Yume Animation staff threw themselves into two straight days of celebration. Sora opened the company accounts, handed out New Year bonuses to everyone, and only after that did the studio finally grow quiet. One by one, the employees returned home to enjoy the holiday in their own way, carrying that deep, satisfied exhaustion of people who had endured months of pressure and, in the end, won.
Not everyone, however, could truly rest.
During the three-day holiday, Sora and Sumire still came into the office to deal with the remaining work tied to Natsume Yuujinchou. There were overseas broadcasting contracts to finalize, licensing proposals from domestic brands hoping to release collaborative merchandise and commercial campaigns, and, of course, the daily task of monitoring the series' market performance.
The fourth BD volume of Natsume Yuujinchou had gone on sale while Sora was in Tokyo attending the festival. Perhaps it was the momentum of the awards, or perhaps the symbolic weight of that sudden recognition, but the first-week sales rose sharply. The volume broke past the forty-thousand mark and closed at 42,356 copies.
And that was not all.
Hoshi no Koe, Sora's previous work, also entered another wave of BD sales across Japan. After watching the awards ceremony, many anime fans started hunting down everything that young director from Tokushima had ever made. His name spread from person to person, from forum to forum, and his earlier work was being rediscovered as though it had only just been released.
The holiday had barely ended when, on the morning of January 4, several unfamiliar visitors arrived at the company.
The group introduced themselves with impeccable politeness. Leading them was Ryo Yukishiro, head of the production department at Southern Alliance TV. The moment he heard the name of the station, Sora personally escorted them to the meeting room, greeting them with a warmth that left no room for neglect.
News of their arrival spread through the Yume Animation employee group chat in less than ten minutes.
In Japan's television industry, aside from the four major Tokyo networks - which alone possessed the ability to achieve true nationwide reach through affiliate systems - other large broadcasters were not limited to their own local regions either. Tokushima TV, for example, could already simulcast its programming across the four neighboring prefectures of Shikoku.
Even so, among the private broadcasters ranked below the Tokyo big four, the strongest without question was Southern Alliance TV.
It was still a step behind the four giants, but its signal already reached fourteen prefectures, and it had been investing aggressively in an effort to become the fifth broadcaster with genuine nationwide coverage. Because of that ambition, it treated entertainment talent with exceptional generosity, especially in animation.
In Japan, the anime audience had never been small. In sheer size and purchasing power, it was no weaker than any traditional television demographic.
When it came to dramas and live-action series, Southern Alliance TV was already not far behind the Tokyo networks. After all, it spent boldly, invested heavily, and never hesitated to pour money into the areas where it wanted to grow. In some seasons, its productions even climbed into the top three in popularity rankings.
But anime was a different matter.
In that field, the station's performance had always been disappointing. Most of the titles it aired each season ended up somewhere around sixth, seventh, or eighth place in the rankings, and there had even been times when they fell completely out of the top ten.
For a market as massive as Japan's animation industry, that was a serious weakness. Advertisers and investors naturally had opinions about it. And for a broadcaster that dreamed of becoming the country's fifth nationwide network, continuing to lag behind in anime could only hurt that larger ambition.
That was why their reason for seeking out Sora was perfectly clear.
Natsume Yuujinchou had aired on Tokushima TV, a station that barely mattered on the national stage and ranked only nineteenth in overall influence. Even so, it had nearly managed to surpass Akane no Sora, the most popular title of that season, which had aired on Aobane TV, then ranked second in influence among broadcasters.
Add that to what Sora had displayed over the past three months - talent, instinct, consistency, and a potential that seemed to grow by the week - and it was no exaggeration to say that Southern Alliance TV wanted him badly.
Inside the meeting room, Sora, Sumire, and Yumi Noriko sat on one side of the table. Opposite them were Ryo Yukishiro, Vice Director Hayashi, two legal specialists, and an assistant.
"Mr. Sora, I've already given you a general overview of Southern Alliance TV's current position," Ryo Yukishiro said, his tone polite but steady. "And I'd like to sincerely express our wish to work with you on the production of your next anime project."
For a broadcaster of that scale, the gesture alone spoke volumes.
At Southern Alliance TV, the production department did not have a ministerial position above the director. In practice, Ryo Yukishiro was the department's top authority, overseeing acquisitions and investment for anime, dramas, and variety shows alike. He was one of the station's core executives.
The fact that a man of his standing had come personally to negotiate with the president of a newly established animation studio made one thing obvious: their determination to strengthen their weakest area - anime - was entirely real.
Ryo Yukishiro was a man close to fifty, heavyset, with gold-rimmed glasses. The impression he gave Sora was strangely similar to Coach Anzai from Slam Dunk: outwardly kind and approachable, yet the sharp intelligence in his eyes revealed itself the moment you paid close attention.
Although Sora knew perfectly well that his standing within the industry had risen dramatically after the Tokyo Animation Festival, he also knew that humility, when used properly, was still a useful weapon at the negotiating table.
"You're being far too generous, Director Ryo Yukishiro," he replied with a restrained smile. "There are so many famous companies and directors in Japan's animation industry. Honestly, I'm deeply honored that you would come to someone like me, a newcomer who has only just debuted. What I really want to understand is this: why did Southern Alliance TV choose to approach me instead of seeking out a larger studio or a more established team?"
If Yumi Noriko had not already told him that Seiun TV was also interested in him, Sora would probably have been genuinely thrilled by now, already thinking about how to handle the contract negotiations.
But things were different now.
He had to let his own value rise a little higher before making a move.
No matter how sincere Southern Alliance TV might be, it was still only the fifth-ranked broadcaster in the country.
Seiun TV, on the other hand, was the most influential network in all of Japan.
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