Time flew by, and before anyone knew it, April 6th had arrived. Past ten at night, the entire Lumen team gathered in the screening room, waiting for their new anime, Love Academy, to air.
Unlike Starfall's Clannad, Love Academy was broadcasting on TV Asahi.
Of course, since Lumen was the studio that made it, they weren't watching it on TV. They were watching the white box.
A "white box" was a recording prepared before the anime's broadcast and given to the staff members who worked on the production. The name came from the fact that these recordings were usually packaged in plain white cases.
10:30 PM.
The lights in the screening room went dark. A countdown from five appeared on screen, and then the first episode officially began.
A cheerful alarm clock sound kicked things off.
The male lead let out a groggy groan, reached over, slapped the alarm off, and went back to sleep.
But almost immediately, the door banged open and a short-haired cute girl burst in. She marched over to the bed, grabbed the blanket, and started shaking him hard.
"Big brother, wake up already."
"You're gonna be late!"
"Come on, hurry up and get out of bed."
The little sister's voice was incredibly pleasant, bright and clear, with just the right touch of youthful energy.
The male lead couldn't sleep through that kind of shaking, so he rolled out of bed.
Then came a quick montage: brushing teeth, eating breakfast, grabbing his bag and heading to school.
On the way, the male lead started his inner monologue.
First, some basic setup. His name was Amano Koichi, a second-year student at Sakurakita Academy, and he explained that he had just transferred to this school due to family reasons.
Everything was new and unfamiliar, but this school apparently had a lot of beautiful girls, because the male lead kept looking around and spotted several cute ones.
The male lead was thrilled beyond words and immediately declared.
"Alright! New school, new me. I am definitely getting a girlfriend here."
...
The first episode was all about the male lead's first day at Sakurakita Academy, or more specifically, his first encounters with several of the school's prettiest girls.
After a little over twenty minutes, the first episode ended.
The lights in the screening room came back on, and the screen went dark. Everyone looked at each other, and for a moment, nobody said a word.
Was it good? Of course it was good.
But something felt slightly off, and none of them could quite put their finger on what it was.
Online, the viewers who had just finished Love Academy were buzzing with discussion.
"Not bad at all. This is exactly my type of show."
"Another collab between Director Wasabi and Yuma Amagi. You know the quality's gonna be solid."
"I'll keep watching."
"Never saw First Love Island. I'm just here for the female lead's voice actress. Nana-chan never disappoints."
"I love the little sister."
"Of course the MC has a sister. Classic Director Wasabi move. But I'm into it."
...
Overall, the positive reactions far outweighed the negative ones. But there were some critical voices too.
"Honestly, I'm kind of disappointed. Based on this first episode, it just feels like a copy of First Love Island."
"The MC in First Love Island has a little sister. The MC in this show also has a little sister."
"In First Love Island, the MC transfers to a school on a small island because of family reasons, and then starts pursuing all the cute girls on the island."
"In this show, the MC transfers to Sakurakita Academy because of family reasons, and then starts pursuing all the cute girls at the school."
"Even the heroine archetypes are practically the same: little sister, classmate, hot upperclassman, cute underclassman, beautiful student council president…"
"Same formula, and the art hasn't even gotten any better. Instead of watching Love Academy, I'd rather just rewatch First Love Island. At least then I don't have to wait a week between episodes."
Positive reviews tended to be just a line or two. Negative reviews were more likely to be several sentences or even whole paragraphs, which made them stand out like a sore thumb in a sea of short praise.
And the annoying part was that this particular criticism actually made some solid points. Viewers might not have thought too hard about it while they were watching, but after reading that review and thinking back on it, Love Academy really did feel like a retread of First Love Island. At least based on the first episode alone.
As a result, tons of people upvoted the comment.
The Lumen team, who had earlier been unable to articulate what felt off, finally started to figure it out after reading the online reactions.
That was it. The formula was too familiar. It felt like a copy of First Love Island.
Would audiences really accept that?
"Just a bunch of nitpickers. Don't pay them any attention," said Kaito Amanai, looking completely unfazed. "As long as the majority thinks it's good, then our anime is a success. Besides, Love Academy isn't a copy of First Love Island. Once the story develops further, they'll see that for themselves."
"The opening setup is a little similar, sure, but the actual romance arcs are completely different. Calling it a copy is ridiculous," Genma said, equally unbothered.
Hearing those words, the rest of the team relaxed.
Right. The audience didn't know what was coming later, so of course they'd jump to conclusions based on surface similarities. But the production staff knew the full story, and they knew the two shows went in completely different directions.
You couldn't call Love Academy a copy of First Love Island just because they were both bishoujo anime where the MC happened to have a little sister. That didn't make any sense.
This was only episode one. The story hadn't even gotten started yet. Being misunderstood was perfectly normal. Once episodes two, three, and four aired, those misunderstandings would clear up on their own.
Besides, no anime in existence had a perfect zero-criticism track record. If someone was determined to find flaws, they could nitpick even the most universally beloved masterpiece.
As long as the majority of people liked it, there was nothing to worry about.
Kaito Amanai and Genma Wasabi weren't just putting on a brave face for the team either. They genuinely weren't worried at all.
After work, Kaito Amanai even suggested to Genma Wasabi, "How about we grab Amagi-san and go out for a celebratory drink?"
"Sure."
Genma Wasabi agreed without a second thought.
Then he asked, "Have you found out anything about what's going on at Starfall? Who did they end up getting to direct?"
"No idea. Their secrecy has been airtight."
Kaito Amanai shook his head slightly. "But don't worry. I asked around about every director in the industry with any real credentials, and none of them accepted an offer from Arcane or Starfall. They probably just grabbed some random nobody, or maybe even promoted one of their own episode directors. Not worth losing sleep over."
"Good to hear." Genma quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Kaito chuckled and added, "Their PV came out before ours, and it was actually pretty well-made, which was a real problem for us. But that PV already got buried, and now our anime aired before theirs. With the buzz and reception we're getting, Starfall's little show doesn't stand a chance."
"When you put it that way, yeah." Genma nodded.
"Come on, let's go get that drink first." Kaito clapped Genma on the shoulder. "Starfall is old news. We need to look ahead and focus on making Love Academy the number one anime of the season."
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