Animation production generally stays about three episodes ahead of the broadcast schedule. However, after a period of adjustment, 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio not only possessed animation technology far beyond industry standards, but also produced animation at a speed that surpassed even the top-tier studios in the field while maintaining exceptionally high quality. Right after Episode 3 of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' finished airing on Tokyo TV, production had already progressed to Episode 7.
Episode 7 of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' was one of the most important turning points in the story. Most of the content in the first seven episodes existed solely as buildup for this episode. Whether the later episodes could truly create the shocking reversal effect of the "three-episode rule" depended heavily on it. To put it simply, Episode 7 served as the pivotal turning point connecting the beginning and the latter half of the story. If mishandled, viewers would feel that the plot twist was awkward and abrupt, greatly diminishing their impression of the story, and the so-called reversal would naturally become a joke.
Even though the buildup in the previous episodes had already been nearly perfect, Kamiyā Yuu's demands for Episode 7 were stricter than ever before. He scrutinized every detail down to each character's gaze and expression, as well as every environmental detail that foreshadowed later episodes. For example, since Walpurgis Night was established as a composite entity made up of multiple witches, and Homura Akemi was secretly set up as the "Cosmic Witch," Kamiyā Yuu inserted witch forms that would only appear later into the scenes where Walpurgis Night manifested.
The Rose Witch Gertrud, the Snack Witch Charlotte, who killed Mami Tomoe, and the Mermaid Witch Oktavia von Seckendorff, born from Sayaka Miki's corruption and fall—all of these foreshadowed whether Kyubey would uncover Homura Akemi's true identity. In Kamiyā Yuu's reboot version of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' Homura Akemi existed within a contradictory time loop and had not yet begun eliminating Kyubey.
After the magical girl faction was wiped out in Episode 7, Homura Akemi killed Kyubey, the true culprit who had claimed to merely be an observer. Because of this, she became targeted by the system itself. When Homura activated her time-looping ability, Kyubey's blood stuck to her body and was carried into parallel universes along with her. The Kyubey of another parallel universe consumed the blood and inherited the memories of the Kyubey from that universe, thereby learning of Homura Akemi's ability to loop through time—or more accurately, travel across parallel universes. This development would later be explained near the end of the anime when Madoka Kaname became the "Law of Cycles":
"This was not a coincidence, but rather a clue planted by the final wish for salvation unconsciously made by Homura Akemi as the 'Cosmic Witch.'"
QB, also known as the Incubator, was essentially a mechanism created by an advanced alien civilization. It possessed logic and intelligence, yet lacked emotions. At last, it acknowledged that both the "Cosmic Witch" and the "Law of Cycles" were unforeseen variables beyond the predictions of both itself and its entire alien civilization.
The original 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' was built around a single reversal, while Kamiyā Yuu's reboot version layered another reversal on top of that. Episode 7, revealing the truth about magical girls, was one plot twist, while Episode 19—where Homura Akemi stopped Walpurgis Night and killed Madoka Kaname—was another reversal that exposed Homura's identity as the "Cosmic Witch."
After Episodes 3 and 4 of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' aired late at night, audience response remained lukewarm. Setting aside the later plot twists, the anime's dramatic execution was no weaker than that of 'Magical Girl Nanoha,' but January's anime lineup was packed with major productions competing for viewers' attention. Compared to those titles, the magical girl genre simply was not that appealing. Overall popularity remained stable but showed an extremely slow downward trend. On the NICENICE popularity rankings, it barely managed to maintain tenth place.
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While the anime's popularity had stagnated, the game side achieved far greater success.
The game 'Warship Girls Collection,' operated by the [Mirror Flower, Water Moon] game studio, entered a stable phase after one month of development. Unlike 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' the game's popularity soared almost vertically like a rocket during that month. New records were broken every single day. In merely one month, whether in fame or profit, 'Warship Girls Collection' had already become comparable to any major Japanese game title.
According to the earnings report publicly released by the [Mirror Flower, Water Moon] game studio, 'Warship Girls Collection' generated approximately one billion yen in profit during its first month, placing it among the top ten highest-grossing games in Japan's monthly microtransaction rankings. People often said Japan ranked first in the world for game spending, and now Kamiyā Yuu had finally witnessed firsthand the madness of Japanese players when it came to spending money on games.
The monetization model he designed for 'Warship Girls Collection' was extremely consumer-friendly. Combined with the game's polished systems, it formed a self-sustaining gameplay loop where even non-paying players could fully enjoy the experience. Its transparent monetization model earned unanimous praise from players throughout the industry. Thus, despite ranking among the top-grossing games, countless players still praised 'Warship Girls Collection' as a genuinely conscientious game.
Most paying players simply wanted a better gameplay experience or were too impatient to slowly unlock all of the game's content.
During that month, Mizuhara Raiko was so busy she barely had time to sleep. The explosive profits also represented a massive surge in player popularity. The first few days after launch had been a disaster. Players farmed the game day and night, placing overwhelming strain on the servers. The studio had no choice but to impose login restrictions. Ordinary players often queued for an entire day without knowing whether they would even manage to enter the server. Mizuhara Raiko urgently purchased expensive, large-scale web servers before they could barely withstand the players' overwhelming enthusiasm.
The explosive popularity of 'Warship Girls Collection' caused some regret among the board members of Frontier Legend game company. Had they known the game would truly become this popular, they never would have forced Mizuhara Raiko out. A game capable of generating over one billion yen in monthly profit held greater value than several of Frontier Legend's own construction and management games like 'Adventure King' and 'Star Ranch' combined.
'Warship Girls Collection' enjoyed outstanding reviews in every aspect, and game media outlets were praising it to the heavens. It was foreseeable that the game's popularity would only continue to grow, and the revenue it generated would only become higher and higher.
'Warship Girls Collection' was probably the only game in the Japanese market composed entirely of anime-style female characters. After becoming widespread, it attracted a massive number of otaku while also pulling many people previously uninterested in anime into the fandom. Kamiyā Yuu had also opened up derivative creation rights for 'Warship Girls Collection.' Its explosive popularity naturally led to an explosion of fan works as well. By now, Kamiyā Yuu could already browse fan-made doujinshi online similar to those from his previous world.
Seeing the character illustrations he had personally drawn become the protagonists of doujinshi gave Kamiyā Yuu a rather strange feeling. He could neither say he was happy about it nor that he disliked it.