The meeting, which was originally scheduled to last only two hours, was extended by over an hour due to the intense arguments breaking out on the floor.
The staff members had mostly been recruited from the top animation production houses across Japan. Consequently, they were a group of highly talented individuals who rarely deferred to one another. Previously, the company had very few projects on the table so there was nothing to fight over. Everyone simply did as they were told and focused on their specific roles. However, once options were presented, everyone's ambitions began to surface.
Setting aside titles like Pokemon and Doraemon, projects where the boss had strong visions but the employees were hesitant to touch due to high uncertainty, the other four works were a different story.
In truth, everyone was feeling a bit conflicted.
Since they were all written by Haruto, it was impossible to tell which one would be a masterpiece and which might fall short during the mere planning phase.
Haruto had not yet released the detailed scripts for these works. As a result, the latter half of the meeting devolved into a session where the middle and upper management aggressively promoted themselves. They laid out their past work experiences, argued over which genres they were best suited to produce, and flaunted their achievements to claim a stake in one of Haruto's four new titles.
By the afternoon, Haruto dismissed the meeting, feeling his head throb from the exhaustion.
The same thing happened on the second day, and the third.
Discussions regarding the assignments still failed to reach a conclusion.
However, news that the chairman had brought forth six new works spread throughout the entire company within those forty-eight hours.
For the past few days, every employee in the studio appeared to be handling their daily tasks on the surface, but in reality, their minds were entirely fixed on the contents of the meeting. They were all hoping that their team leaders would manage to secure a prime project for them.
Furthermore, with Haru-Yuki Animation now boasting a staff of several hundred people, it was impossible to keep the company's internal movements a secret from the industry.
After all, these hundreds of employees were former core talents from other animation studios, and their networks spanned the entire country.
Two days later, the news media could no longer remain silent. On the top trending lists of various forums and websites, a single piece of news dominated the rankings.
[Haruto to Release Six New Works Soon]
Haruto? Six new works?
It was a short headline made of only a few words, yet it gripped everyone's attention. That very day, the online forums erupted into heated debate.
"Six new works? Did I hear that right?"
"I heard they are still in the planning stages. Haru-Yuki Animation has held five or six meetings in a single week just to finalize the number of members for each project team."
"This sounds fake. Isn't Haruto still responsible for writing Sword Art Online and Hunter x Hunter? Now six more? Even if he were a workhorse, he would drop dead from exhaustion, wouldn't he?"
"I heard he is only responsible for the scriptwriting this time. He won't be handling the directing, auditing, storyboarding, or other detailed production tasks like he used to."
"Even if it is just the scripts, that is still ridiculous."
"Actually, the amount of text in a single anime script isn't that much. The workload for one episode is probably comparable to writing two high school essays. A two-hour movie script is only a few tens of thousands of words. It's just that anime scripts often have to be integrated with storyboards. You can have assistants help with that part to save time. Some big manga artists and screenwriters run their studios like assembly lines. In some long-running series, the assistants even come up with the plot while the author just reviews it and puts their name on it. But knowing Haruto's personality, there is no way he would do that. Besides, there aren't many assistants who could write a plot that matches his level."
"So, the physical workload of just drafting the scripts might not be too much, but the real question is whether his brain can handle the mental strain of creating so many stories at once."
"Exactly. Writing the words is fine, but coming up with the content is the hardest part. All I can say is that the man is the GOAT. Six works. He really is incredible."
"I feel like there's a problem here. If he does this, won't the quality of his new work decline?"
"Who knows? Sword Art Online, Hunter x Hunter, and Code Geass were all being serialized at the same time, and we didn't see any drop in quality then."
"I have a friend who works at Haru-Yuki Animation. I heard that only four of the six works are the serialized anime we are expecting. The other two are more like conceptual projects meant for IP branding. The plan is to create games, novels, manga, and anime, then build a presence at various anime exhibitions."
"They'll run advertisements, do collaborations with theme parks, and eventually hatch a massive IP."
"Like those anime mascots for world-class sporting events?"
"Something like that."
"Then he actually only has four plot-driven works."
"That is still plenty. Believe me, if you entered the screenwriting industry and had to come up with one script every week, the pressure would make you lose sleep and your hair. Four? Haruto isn't human."
Rumors spread like wildfire from the studio to the rest of the anime industry.
Haruto naturally noticed the online buzz, but he didn't bother to address it. He figured it served as free publicity. Of course, he knew that launching so many projects at once was a bit absurd. He wondered if people would suspect him of using some kind of cheat code.
But then he thought about how no one questioned a genius like Osamu Tezuka in the parallel world.
After all, Osamu Tezuka was a genius who could simultaneously serialize over a dozen works, and he created six or seven hundred works of varying sizes throughout his life.
After more than a week of discussion, Haruto had finally determined the direction for several of the projects.
As for the production budgets for the four works, Haruto had plenty of funds. He planned to allocate the highest possible specifications for the budget.
Gurren Lagann, Slam Dunk, Fullmetal Alchemist, and the Monogatari series were all massive hits in the other world. Fullmetal Alchemist and Slam Dunk had an even greater impact than Code Geass or Madoka Magica.
While the Monogatari series and Gurren Lagann weren't quite at the same level as those two, they were still top-tier masterpieces. Even though he was releasing them all at once, Haruto refused to be sloppy with the production. As for Pokemon and Doraemon, those world-class IPs couldn't be built in a day or two. Haruto was patient; it was simply a matter of continuous investment.
A few more days passed. Under the pressure of Haruto's twice-daily meetings, the hundreds of employees were eventually assigned to suitable project teams based on their abilities and ranks. By this point, the production of Code Geass and the two original anime for the current season had been completely finished.
Once Haruto called the dozen or so people from the screenwriting department into his office to assist him in the full-scale creation of the new scripts, the staff at Haru-Yuki Animation quickly found their new rhythm and goals.
During this time, the first season of the Sword Art Online anime quietly reached a viewership rating of 5.94%. Since it was an adaptation of a highly popular light novel and featured a style suitable for many ages, it had a significant advantage over Code Geass when it came to attracting regular viewers. Thanks to the anime's popularity, the sales of the Sword Art Online light novel volumes skyrocketed.
In a single month, they sold millions of copies. Last month's sales were more than the total sales of the second through fifth-place rankings combined.
Consequently, the average sales per volume for Sword Art Online officially broke the twenty-seven million mark, setting a new record for light novels in Japan.
Meanwhile, the Hunter x Hunter manga had reached the climax of the Heavens Arena arc. The revelation of Nen and the growth of Gon and Killua had captivated readers. During the Hunter Exam, Hisoka had spared Gon despite being able to kill him, mocking him by saying that if he was frustrated, he should try to land a punch on his face one day. In the latest chapter, Gon finally managed to strike back against Hisoka during their match at the arena.
Even though Gon still lost the fight, the audience was thrilled. The controversy that had erupted among manga fans a few months ago regarding the introduction of Nen had completely vanished. Now, whenever fans mentioned the setting of Nen, they usually added, "This is the most genius setting in the author's work!"
Similarly, the sales of the Hunter x Hunter manga volumes saw a massive surge after January.
Currently, the average sales per volume stood at over twenty-four million, ranking fourth in all-time volume sales.
While Hunter x Hunter and Sword Art Online were expanding their influence, the plot of the second season of Code Geass finally entered its final stages.
The one character who could truly rival or even suppress Lelouch, his brother, the Second Prince Schneizel, finally began to see more screen time. He led the Holy Britannian Empire's army in a direct confrontation with Lelouch. Or rather, it wasn't so much a confrontation as it was Schneizel suppressing Lelouch from start to finish.
In the 18th episode, while the two armies were engaged in a fierce battle, a plot point from the first season resurfaced.
Nina Einstein, the genius scientist and obsessive fan of Princess Euphemia, made her appearance carrying the weapon she had created. While the weapon had a different name in the anime, the viewers knew it was essentially a nuclear bomb. In the world of Code Geass, where mecha and traditional bombs were the strongest weapons, this woman's invention rendered all of Lelouch's strategies meaningless. Nuclear weapons were simply not something human power could resist.
Furthermore, the weapon's power supposedly affected the area where Lelouch's sister, Nunnally, was located. This caused Lelouch to lose his will to fight. In the middle of the battle, he suffered a mental breakdown, unable to think of anything except ordering his army to find his sister.
The eighteenth episode ended at a very delicate moment. It certainly left the fans hanging. Was Nunnally actually dead? If she wasn't, would she become a tool for the Empire to threaten Lelouch again? If she was dead, would Lelouch's path of revenge still have any meaning?
During this period, the activity level saw a significant uptick.
The leading works in the fields of novels, manga, and anime were all stirring up intense excitement among their respective fanbases. Haruto, almost single-handedly, had brought back the glory of Japan's golden age from twenty years ago to an industry that had been shrinking in recent years. In fact, judging by the impact of his works alone, even the legendary titles of that golden age could not compare to what Haruto was achieving now.
It was Sunday again, and the forums were buzzing.
As Code Geass entered its final act, the story became even more gripping. Even the fans who had intended to wait for the Blu-ray release to binge-watch everything could no longer resist; they joined the ranks of the weekly viewers.
However, because everyone had been preoccupied with the rumors of Haruto's six new works over the past week, there were fewer posts complaining about the plot of Code Geass. But now that the hype for the new works had settled, discussions about Code Geass once again topped the charts.
"So, is Lelouch going to go crazy in tonight's episode?"
"At the end of episode eighteen, Rolo told Lelouch that Nunnally was dead. I feel like Lelouch definitely won't hold back in this episode and will finally take action against him."
"Maybe he'll finally show his true face to Rolo."
"Honestly, this fake brotherhood between Lelouch and Rolo needs to end. It's impressive Lelouch has kept up the act this long, but it's getting sickening to watch."
"Well, since Nunnally was the Governor General of Area 11 and was under constant surveillance by the Empire, Lelouch had to play nice with Rolo. He used Rolo as a double agent to keep the Empire at bay and protect her. Now that she's gone, why would he keep pretending?"
"I still haven't forgotten Shirley's death. Lelouch needs to explode in this episode and kill Rolo already. I've been waiting for this since the season started."
"Do you think there's a chance that after Nunnally's death, Lelouch becomes so depressed that Rolo is the one to comfort him and pull him out of the abyss? Then Lelouch forgives him and they become a real family?"
"If the story actually goes that way, I'm dropping this show. Those two becoming a real family? What about Shirley? Did she die for nothing?"
"I won't accept any redemption for Rolo. If the author writes that, I'm turning into a hater."
"Don't worry, didn't the author say that he would eventually get rid of Rolo to satisfy the fans? There's no need to worry about a redemption arc!"
"But in the last episode, that ridiculous nuclear weapon appeared and the Black Knights are on the verge of collapse. I have a feeling the second season is going to repeat the ending of the first. Another failure? And then... will there be a third season where Lelouch tries a third time?"
"Who knows? But if there is a third season, wouldn't that be a good thing?"
Sunday day quickly came to an end, and evening arrived. Starting from 7:00 PM, the viewership ratings for Tokyo TV1 began to soar.
Finally, only a few minutes remained before the broadcast of episode nineteen. At this moment, the fans were filled with righteous indignation, eagerly waiting for Lelouch to personally kill his despicable "brother." They were only twenty minutes away from a complete reversal of their opinion on Rolo's character.
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