If an anime was labeled as a tearjerker from the start, but as the story went on, audiences found it wasn't touching at all and maybe even a little cringeworthy, the end result was almost always a total meltdown in both reputation and popularity.
The Day I Became a God was a textbook example.
If you already knew going in that you were watching a tearjerker, or if someone kept hammering that point home before every episode, you'd naturally judge the show by tearjerker standards.
That raised the bar sky-high. Average levels of emotional weight wouldn't be enough to squeeze out a single tear, and the whole thing would probably end on an awkward note.
It was the same reason why an anime that made you cry on your first watch often couldn't reproduce that same feeling on a rewatch.
Some people, knowing full well they were watching a tearjerker, would even go in with a critical eye, actively looking for flaws the whole time.
They were probably thinking something like: "Really? This is supposed to make me cry?"
So yeah, Kaito was a genuinely underhanded guy.
That very same day, discussions started popping up online.
"We're only two episodes in and something already feels off. Is this anime going to be a tearjerker?"
"It's definitely a tearjerker. I noticed the marketing kept pushing the 'healing' angle, and you can't heal people without making them cry first."
"According to insider sources, President Shido said from the very beginning that they were making an anime that was upbeat with an undercurrent of sadness."
"Upbeat with sadness? So the later episodes are going to be brutal?"
"If you don't like suffering, run now while you still can."
"Suffering is fine, honestly. If they pull it off, this could become the tearjerker masterpiece of the year."
"If President Shido went for it, he must be confident. It'll be fine."
...
The audience had no idea someone was deliberately steering the conversation. But with the same points being repeated over and over, quite a few people were subtly influenced without even realizing it.
Kaito was very pleased with his handiwork.
The only problem was that what happened next completely blindsided him.
April 21st, Clannad episode three aired.
April 28th, episode four.
May 5th, episode five.
Episode after episode, both the story and the animation quality stayed rock solid.
Praise poured in from audiences, and with Arcane and TBS pushing promotion hard, the show gradually climbed to the top of the ratings chart in the anime category, claiming the throne as the number one anime of the season.
That much was still within Kaito's expectations.
What truly caught him off guard was Clannad's story itself.
Among the characters introduced in episode two, there was a girl named Fuko.
Fuko had an older sister who was about to get married. She spent all her time carving little wooden starfish to give as gifts to everyone at school, hoping that the people who received them would come to the wedding to celebrate.
Nothing weird about that on its own.
But according to the female lead, Fuko's older sister had been her art teacher back in first year. And this teacher's little sister had been in a car accident and had been lying in a hospital bed ever since.
On top of that, the rumored "ghost" at the school seemed to be referring to none other than Fuko.
The female lead said she wanted to help Fuko out. The male lead said he was all in. And the two of them took on Fuko's cause alongside their ongoing mission to revive the drama club.
Then in episode six, the school held its Founders' Festival.
The male and female leads invited Fuko's sister to come, but while everyone else could see Fuko perfectly fine, her own sister couldn't see her at all.
The internet erupted.
"That hurt so much."
"People kept warning us this show was going to get painful, but I still wasn't ready."
"Fuko did so much for her sister's wedding, and her sister can't even sense she exists? That's devastating."
"Please don't tell me this is heading for a sad ending."
"Can't we just keep doing fun slice-of-life school stuff? Why can't that be enough?"
"This is all the fault of those people who kept saying the show was going to get dark. Way to jinx it!"
...
'Jinxed it? It was my fault?'
Kaito felt deeply wronged.
But he was also starting to realize things weren't looking good. This was only episode six and viewers were already saying they were hurting. The next few episodes were bound to hit even harder.
Where would that leave things?
More importantly, that bastard Yuta Shido was practically announcing to the audience's face that the pain train was coming. Didn't that completely undermine everything he had been trying to do?
Sure enough, when Clannad's seventh episode aired, it wasn't just Fuko's sister who couldn't see her anymore. People at school were gradually losing the ability to see Fuko too, slowly forgetting she had ever existed.
And according to Fuko's sister, the real Fuko lying in the hospital might never wake up again.
Now the audience was truly panicking.
May 26th, Clannad episode eight aired.
The episode was titled "The Wind That Vanishes into Twilight." Just seeing that title made viewers' stomachs drop.
In this episode, the number of people who had forgotten Fuko and could no longer see her kept growing. Even the male lead's best friend, after visiting the hospital where Fuko's real body lay, completely forgot she existed.
Eventually, even the female lead's parents weren't spared.
In the entire world, it seemed like only the male lead and female lead still remembered that Fuko was real.
That night, the three of them talked it over outside and decided to head to the school. Together, they set out on the road.
June 2nd, Clannad episode nine aired.
The title was "To the End of the Dream."
When some viewers saw that title, they clung to the hope of a last-minute twist. Maybe "the end of the dream" meant Fuko would actually wake up, not disappear.
But in this episode, even the male and female leads forgot Fuko.
In the end, Fuko's feelings did reach people. Many guests actually showed up at her sister's wedding to offer their blessings. But none of that changed the fact that Fuko was gone.
When this episode aired, countless viewers cried their eyes out.
The online comments section practically exploded.
"What happened to healing?"
"I'm sobbing. I'm actually sobbing."
"That bastard Shido! Give me back my Fuko!"
"Fuko was so sweet and adorable, and that monster Shido still went through with it."
"I can't stop crying. This is way too depressing."
"Does anyone know where that bastard Shido lives? I want to mail him some razor blades."
"I don't know his home address, but I do have Starfall's office address."
...
Over at Lumen.
Kaito and Genma stared at the online reactions to Clannad and sank into a deep pit of despair.
The show had actually made people cry.
How was this possible?
Were audiences these days really that easy to get? Everyone had been told point-blank that the suffering was coming, and it still made them bawl?
All of Kaito's scheming had not only failed to tank Clannad's popularity. It seemed to have actually boosted it, cementing Clannad's position as the undisputed number one anime of the season.
Meanwhile, Love Academy's numbers just kept sliding further and further down.
What were they even supposed to do now?
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