For an excellent web novel to become popular, aside from the quality of the novel itself, one of the most important factors was exposure. The operating model adopted by web novel platforms was similar to the manga serialization system in Japan—or rather, it was essentially a degraded version of that system. Whichever novel achieved the best results relative to its exposure would subsequently receive a "recommended slot" from the website. This process would repeat until the novel's "recommendation period" ended, or until it was surpassed by another novel over successive rounds of competition.
This simple and brutal screening method maximized the website's interests. Barring exceptional cases, it couldn't be denied that the novels selected through this process generally catered fairly well to readers' tastes. This method of treating novels as commodities sacrificed more than ninety percent of cannon-fodder authors, but greatly promoted the development of web novels themselves.
Simple, wish-fulfillment fantasy novels were popular! And so, for a period of time, the entire homepage of a novel website would be filled with formulaic wish-fulfillment stories. Within a month, readers would start growing tired of them, prompting authors to create new genres and repeat the entire cycle. This method of operating a novel platform was both cruel and effective. Overall, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages for both websites and authors. Perhaps one of the reasons web novels had managed to surpass light novels within little more than a decade and successfully lead the world by fifty years was precisely this operating model.
However, Kamiyā Yuu had never intended for 'Battle Through the Heavens', which he had "transplanted" from his previous world during his spare time, to follow the conventional path. He planned to reject the website's contract model and merely use the Fantasy Book Alliance as a platform for publishing the novel. Doing so meant that 'Battle Through the Heavens' wouldn't receive any "recommended slots," reducing its exposure to the absolute minimum. No matter how outstanding the novel's quality was, most readers would never have the chance to discover it amid the vast sea of books.
The benefit was similar to Kamiyā Yuu establishing his own animation production company: he could preserve the "integrity" of his work to the greatest possible extent, while keeping all related novel rights firmly in his own hands.
As for the problem of negligible exposure, one of the best solutions Kamiyā Yuu had come up with was to compensate through an astonishing update rate. If he devoted an entire day wholeheartedly to writing, producing over a million Chinese characters wouldn't be difficult. Updating ten chapters a day would amount to only around thirty thousand characters, while his revised version of 'Battle Through the Heavens' contained a total of six million characters. At ten chapters a day, that was still enough to serialize it on the website for more than half a year.
A web novel maintaining a pace of ten chapters every single day while also preserving the quality of each chapter was itself an extremely effective means of publicity. Since he had lost one of the two major factors determining a novel's popularity, his only choice was to take an unconventional path and push the other factor to its absolute limit. Moreover, Kamiyā Yuu still possessed the miraculous weapon of "novel illustrations," something virtually unheard of in the web novel industry. As long as 'Battle Through the Heavens' gained even a little recognition, Kamiyā Yuu was confident that, given the quality of his revised version, its popularity would inevitably spread like wildfire and become unstoppable.
"Tomorrow I'll draw the cover for 'Battle Through the Heavens'. But after thinking it over, it seems I'll still have to follow the same old path from my previous world and develop China's ACG industry starting with web novels. Still, this isn't the right time to support the industry regardless of cost. At the very least, I'll have to wait until copyright awareness reaches a level similar to what China achieved in my previous world. I'll upload 'Battle Through the Heavens' as a trial run. Later on, I can commission 'BIUBIUBIU' to adapt it into a manga or anime and set an example by taking the lead."
After finishing with the novel, Kamiyā Yuu closed his laptop and sat on the sofa, deep in thought. Before copyright awareness had begun to rise in China in his previous world, even an internet giant like the Penguin Empire hadn't dared to casually invest money in the industry. Later, although the Penguin Empire vigorously supported China's ACG industry, it was practically like tying money to stones and throwing them into the ocean. The returns weren't even one-tenth of the investment.
After thinking for a long time, Kamiyā Yuu shook his head with a bitter smile. Looking up at the white ceiling, he abandoned the idea of delving any deeper into the matter.
"Sigh~ There's no need to rush right now, and rushing wouldn't accomplish anything anyway. Maybe even by the time 'Battle Through the Heavens' finishes in this world, I still won't be able to make a decision. I'd be better off worrying about the problems on my side first. The top priorities are the 'TYPE-MOON Series' and establishing the subsidiary company Yuu no Sora. Both are complete messes."
"Now that production on 'Fate/Zero' is nearing its end, it's also time to decide on the company's next anime."
It was currently November. Around the beginning of December, Yosuganosora Animation Studio would be able to complete all production work on 'Fate/Zero'. Ideally, the next anime should be decided before December arrived. Kamiyā Yuu had considered this in his consciousness space long ago. Before producing 'Fate/Zero', he had originally kept two other anime as backup options.
"If Yuu no Sora Animation Studio can be established on schedule, then Yuu no Sora's first production will be the animated film '5 Centimeters per Second'."
"As for the next anime Yosuganosora needs to produce, it'll be 'Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood'... or 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion'?"
Both works were classics in the history of Japanese animation, genuine masterpieces in the hearts of countless anime viewers. The original 'Fullmetal Alchemist' was a manga. Due to its tremendous popularity, it received a TV anime adaptation in 2003. However, because the anime eventually overtook the manga, the animation studio had no choice but to create an original ending and hastily wrap things up. Thus, the 'Fullmetal Alchemist' TV anime became an adaptation acknowledged by the original author, yet one that no longer followed the original work.
Audiences had mixed opinions regarding the 2003 version of 'Fullmetal Alchemist'. In truth, judging it by the standards of 2003, even if its original ending was somewhat rushed, it remained an excellent work that shouldn't be missed.
'Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood', on the other hand, completely inherited everything from the manga, including its plot, characters, complete setting, and so forth. In Kamiyā Yuu's judgment, 'Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood' was indeed superior. If the original 'Fullmetal Alchemist' anime was an excellent work, then 'Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood' was a classic no anime fan should miss.
The principle of "equivalent exchange" running throughout 'Fullmetal Alchemist', along with its passionate, hot-blooded storyline, made it difficult to imagine that the creator of the manga was actually a woman—Hiromu Arakawa. If Kamiyā Yuu hadn't looked up detailed information about her, he would have assumed from the author's name alone that she was a man.
The difference between these two anime couldn't help but remind Kamiyā Yuu of two other anime with similar circumstances—'Hellsing' and 'Hunter × Hunter'. The TV version of 'Hellsing' similarly adopted an anime-original storyline. Its plot was fairly good, but because many parts deviated from the source material, numerous portions of the anime felt disconnected. Even so, it could just barely be called an excellent anime.
'Hellsing Ultimate' completely inherited the essence and core of Kouta Hirano's manga, perfectly demonstrating what "the aesthetics of violence" truly meant. Its overall quality surpassed the ordinary TV series by more than a single level. It was a classic anime with an unmistakable identity. Incidentally, 'Hellsing Ultimate' was roughly comparable in length to 'Hellsing', so anyone wanting to watch the series was generally better off choosing the OVA. Unless they were a die-hard fan, there wasn't much need to go back and complete the anime-original TV series. Likewise, viewers who discovered 'Fullmetal Alchemist' later were generally recommended to simply watch 'Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood'.
In Kamiyā Yuu's mind, there were probably three early Japanese anime that could truly be described as embodying the aesthetics of violence: 'Shigurui: Death Frenzy', 'Hellsing Ultimate', and 'Black Lagoon'.
As for why 'Hunter × Hunter' ended up in a similar situation, that was entirely because Yoshihiro Togashi updated the manga far too slowly. Once the anime caught up with the manga, production had no choice but to stop. Many years later, the rebooted 'Hunter × Hunter' anime began airing, only for its progress to once again catch up with the original 'Hunter × Hunter' manga.
...
'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion' was one of the few original anime in Japanese animation history to create a genuine miracle, and it was also one of the most representative original anime ever made. In this respect, even the later 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' might be somewhat inferior.
There were two particularly interesting things about this work. First, the term "Area 11" originated from the name the series used for Japan after it became a colony. Second, the man responsible for the original story concept and scripts was none other than the famous anime screenwriter Ichirō Ōkōchi! Ō! Kō! Chi!
Kamiyā Yuu felt an inexplicable lack of trust toward the anime screenwriter Ichirō Ōkōchi. Whenever he saw Ōkōchi involved with an anime, he would first observe it for a while before deciding whether to watch it. The reason for such caution was that, apart from the relatively well-regarded 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion' and 'Planetes', practically every anime Ōkōchi had participated in showed some degree of plot derailment, as though it were starting to feed the audience crap.
The most famous example was probably 'Guilty Crown'. It was advertised as being produced by the original staff behind 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion'. Its special effects were the kind that burned through the budget by the standards of the era, and its character designs were superb... At the very least, the heroine's character design was unquestionably top-tier. Its music caused an even greater sensation throughout China's ACG community. The legendary "sword-drawing song" became the phone ringtone of countless viewers that year, while the heroine's ethereal, beautiful singing in the anime's opening stunned who knew how many viewers.
Unfortunately, this lavishly produced anime seemed unable to escape the shadow of 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion'. If 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion' had never existed, 'Guilty Crown' could certainly have been considered an excellent work. Unfortunately, a masterpiece had already come before it. Starting around the middle of 'Guilty Crown', the plot began to go off the rails. The production team clearly intended to create another 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion', even giving it a similarly tragic ending. The actual result could best be described by the saying, "Trying to paint a tiger, only to end up with something resembling a dog."
To be fair, considering its music, visuals, and character designs, Kamiyā Yuu still thought the anime was very much worth watching.
After 'Guilty Crown' came 'Valvrave the Liberator'. Ichirō Ōkōchi handled the series composition as head writer as well as the scripts, so aside from serious flaws in the plot, the anime was a highly polished production in virtually every other respect. At the time, Kamiyā Yuu had looked up information about it as soon as he saw Ichirō Ōkōchi's name. After seeing numerous viewer comments saying the story fell apart at the end, he immediately abandoned any intention of continuing to watch.
Despite already having the lessons of 'Guilty Crown' and 'Valvrave the Liberator', Ōkōchi still hadn't learned his lesson. In 2016, the second zombie-themed anime in history was born—'Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress'. Its setting was good, its music was explosive, and its legendary "hanging song" successfully recreated the phenomenon caused by the "sword-drawing song" for a second time. Then the plot followed the same familiar path as always and once again fed the audience crap.
There were plenty of anime containing zombie-like monsters, but very few centered their entire premise around them. 'Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress' could just barely be counted as one. As for the first truly zombie-themed anime, that naturally had to be the double-fanservice extravaganza 'Highschool of the Dead'. Its content was too erotic and too bloody, so it was brutally censored.
Back then, Kamiyā Yuu had gone through considerable trouble to find a copy of the anime. After finally finishing it, his first thought had been, "As expected, the blond guy who steals the protagonist's harem never comes to a good end."
In the first episode, the protagonist's childhood friend, Rei Miyamoto, was in love with another male supporting character, Hisashi Igō. Yet Hisashi Igō, who surpassed the protagonist in practically every respect, was killed off after barely a few minutes of screen time.
The zombies in 'Highschool of the Dead' were probably the weakest zombies Kamiyā Yuu had ever seen, bar none. They moved slowly, had no eyesight, and could only rely on overwhelming numbers to surround and kill humans. Their only advantage was probably that the virus took effect relatively quickly.
By comparison, placing the creatures from 'Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress' in the modern world would amount to hell mode. Their mobility exceeded the very definition of biological creatures; they could tear steel plates apart with their bare hands, and although their hearts were their sole weakness, even those were extremely difficult to damage through ordinary means.
The protagonist's childhood friend was nominally the heroine of 'High School of the Dead', but because of what happened in the first episode, she left an extremely poor impression on viewers afterward. Her popularity was completely crushed by another female supporting character, Saeko Busujima.
Thinking back on it now, the anime actually had quite a few interesting details. For example, one of its male supporting characters, the military otaku Kōta Hirano, was modeled after Kouta Hirano, the creator of 'Hellsing'.
'Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress' was likewise an original anime. Before its official broadcast, an advance screening was even held in Japan and received unanimous praise from the audience. As a result, China's ACG community later hyped the work to the heavens, giving birth to the "88,000 hegemon sales" meme. Its Amazon Japan PT score—the predicted BD sales figure—shot to first place among the anime airing that April during the early stages. But as the story progressed, its PT score suffered something akin to the Battle of Waterloo. In the end, the first BD volume of 'Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress' sold fewer than 7,000 copies, with only around 700 copies sold in the second week.
Ever since creating 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion', Ichirō Ōkōchi had always consciously or unconsciously tried to recreate that miracle. In reality, even 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion' had shown signs of its plot going off the rails back then. It was only through the efforts of anime director Gorō Taniguchi and assistant series composer Hiroyuki Yoshino that they had barely managed to bring everything back together, though this also resulted in an overly rushed ending. However, the sheer impact of the 'Requiem' ending was unparalleled at the time, and its brilliance overshadowed every flaw in the later portions of the story.
As for just how formidable Ichirō Ōkōchi's ability to feed the audience crap could be, he had once designed a scene where the Emperor of Britannia—Lelouch's father—would kiss C.C., saying, "Isn't it moe to have someone lovable kissed by someone everyone hates!?"
In the end, it was only after assistant series composer Hiroyuki Yoshino threatened to resign that the idea was finally suppressed.
Ōkōchi's exact words at the time were, with a laugh, "So you're that opposed to it? Then it's even more worth trying."
Ultimately, however, he still didn't dare court death badly enough to actually put that plot development into the anime.