For the broadcast of the final episode of Re:ZERO's second season, Southern Alliance TV had prepared as if it were standing before a decisive battle.
In the days leading up to it, the network pushed promotions through every channel available across Japan. The entire production team behind Re:ZERO, including Sora, Sumire, and the full seiyuu cast, had already recorded a special variety program for publicity, which aired the previous night. Even NatsuYume's advertising page was almost entirely taken over by announcements for the season finale, and the network had also paid for trending spots on major search engines and entertainment portals.
The goal was simple.
They wanted the final episode of Re:ZERO's second season to break the 6% audience rating barrier.
In the Japanese animation industry, a number like that had not been seen in more than a decade. Even if one included TV dramas, televised films, variety shows, and live concert broadcasts, the number of works that had reached such a mark over the past ten years could still be counted on one hand. And all of those records belonged to the four major Tokyo networks, historical achievements that seemed to exist in a world far above everyone else.
For Southern Alliance TV, which was now trying to take the next step and move beyond being a powerful regional broadcaster into becoming a true national presence, having Re:ZERO surpass 6% meant far more than any amount of advertising revenue.
Of course, the person who benefited the most from all of this was still Sora.
The more famous Re:ZERO became, the more valuable its licensing rights, merchandise, collaborations, figures, Blu-rays, and every other commercial product surrounding the series would become.
And on NatsuYume, the largest gathering place for otaku in the country, that night had already become a festival for Sora's fans.
"Everyone, don't slack off tonight. If you can ask for time off, do it. If you can't and have something to do, at least leave the TV on before you go out and set it to Southern Alliance TV. That still counts as a contribution to the ratings."
"Even if you don't want to do it for Sora, do it for Beatrice. Tonight, we have to push Re:ZERO past 6%."
"Eight o'clock tonight. Southern Alliance TV. If Re:ZERO doesn't break 6%, the whole otaku community loses face."
"Last week was 5.96%. We're only missing 0.04%. Come on, everyone!"
"The better Re:ZERO performs, the more motivated that old bastard Sora will be to make season three."
"Wait, are you all already looking forward to Re:ZERO season three? Is no one waiting for the second season of Natsume Yuujinchou?"
"Exactly. We waited a whole year for that bastard to continue Natsume Yuujinchou, thinking he would dig that pit deeper, but the old pit hasn't even been filled and he's already opened a new one. I'm suffering."
"I'm suffering too. I really wanted him to make another mecha battle anime like Voices of a Distant Star. I still don't understand how such a good genre got abandoned after that work. Last year there were one or two anime trying to copy that style, and they were disgusting. The plot was a pile of garbage, the mecha fights were awful, the backgrounds looked fake as hell, and the writer clearly didn't know basic physics. Sound traveling through a vacuum? Seriously?"
"Hahaha, that's just what it means to follow TV anime. You're all thinking about sequels to Kantoku Sora's older works, but I'm already ahead of the meta. I'm waiting for Five Centimeters per Second to hit theaters next month. No matter how much Kantoku Sora likes digging pits, he has to behave himself with a theatrical film and give us a proper ending, right?"
"That's true. This month we finish Re:ZERO season two, next month we go hard supporting Kantoku Sora in theaters and contribute some ticket money so he hurries up and makes season three."
"I'm so happy. This month I get the end of Re:ZERO season two, and next month I get Five Centimeters per Second in theaters."
"And the month after that?"
"The month after that, I choose to give up on everything, watch nothing, and actually study."
Until just before the final episode of Re:ZERO's second season aired, otaku forums, websites, and discussion boards were flooded with thread after thread about the series. On the top-ten trending lists of major platforms, search terms related to the finale appeared again and again.
After all, Southern Alliance TV had truly spent money on this. It was not a symbolic campaign. It was a serious gamble.
As for the final episode itself, every fan understood that it would essentially serve as the closing chapter of the Sanctuary arc. The hardships, foreshadowing, conflicts, and narrative threads had already been resolved in the previous episodes.
In episode twenty-four, the moment Beatrice chose Subaru Natsuki, decided to follow him, and returned to the Sanctuary to save Emilia, the arc had already given the audience something close to a perfect conclusion.
Even so, when episode twenty-five began that night, the fans' enthusiasm soared even higher than before.
Beatrice, Emilia, Rem still unconscious, Ram…
The grudges and conflicts between those characters finally began to dissolve. Old wounds lost their sharpness. Words that had once seemed impossible were spoken naturally, as if everyone, after enduring so much suffering, had finally earned the right to breathe.
Subaru Natsuki became Emilia's knight.
Not merely in spirit, not merely through a promise. He became, in truth, the first knight officially recognized and appointed by Emilia, one of the royal candidates.
In that episode, when Beatrice held Subaru's hand and smiled beside him, her face shining with a happiness almost childlike in its purity, countless fans felt that all the despair they had endured until then had been worth it.
Roswaal, too, was freed from the chains imposed by the book and finally became a true companion to Emilia and Subaru.
And at the very end, the entire group gathered for a grand celebration. Amid laughter, music, and a sense of relief that seemed to spill through the screen, Subaru and Emilia held hands and danced together.
That was how the second season came to an end.
Perfect.
At least for every Re:ZERO fan watching that night, there could not have been a better ending.
The journey had been twisted. At times, it had been desperate. At others, almost suffocating. The series had pushed its viewers to the edge, crushing hope, rebuilding it, then threatening to destroy it all over again.
But in the end, not a single member of the main group died.
Subaru Natsuki had protected everyone he wanted to protect.
At eight-thirty that night, after the second season of Re:ZERO officially finished airing, otaku forums were flooded with messages from fans.
"Flowers for the finale."
The next day, Sora, Sumire, Yumi-san, and the rest of the company's staff were all gathered in the main hall of Yume Animation, waiting for news from Southern Alliance TV.
"Did we break 6% or not? I couldn't sleep all night. Seriously, I'm so anxious."
"You only couldn't sleep last night. I haven't slept since the night before. Six percent, man. If we really reached that number, all of us will have left our names in the anime industry."
"At first, I thought Re:ZERO might get around 4% thanks to the Kantoku's reputation from his previous works. Maybe it would hold steady among the top five of the season. But now, after a whole year, who could have imagined this anime would go this far?"
"It's already been a year since it premiered? That was fast."
"If you include the production period before broadcast, we've been involved with Re:ZERO for a year and a half."
That day was the official celebration party for Re:ZERO.
Everyone in the company had set their work aside and shamelessly embraced a collective break. Even with Sora, the company chairman and the Kantoku of the work, sitting there among them, no one seemed especially worried about speaking too freely.
In everyday life, Sora had always been easy to approach. Despite his position, he could blend in with those seasoned veterans of the animation industry without creating distance or imposing too much authority. Because of that, the atmosphere that morning was tense, but also strangely familiar, as if everyone in the room shared the same knot in their chest.
Even so, when many employees looked toward the three people seated near the center - Sumire, Yumi-san, and Sora - they could not help feeling a quiet sense of awe.
Those three perhaps represented three different forms of success in life.
One carried by luck.
One favored by fate.
And one supported by talent.
They were clearly the three youngest people in the entire company, yet they were also the three with the highest status inside it. The three greatest contributors to Re:ZERO reaching such heights.
Just as restless thoughts continued to drift through the hall, Sora's phone began to ring.
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