At noon, the moment the first screenings ended, discussion threads about the films released on the opening day of the New Year holiday season began flooding every corner of the internet.
During the promotional period, Kimi no Na wa, Crazy Horse Racing 2, and Mokutōjin had all been seen as the season's strongest contenders. At that moment, the film section of NatsuYume was so lively that new posts seemed to appear every second.
Of course, at that hour, quite a few of those reviews still smelled strongly of investors' money.
"I just finished watching Mokutōjin. My God, this movie is actually interesting."
"Stop forcing it. That ending was idiotic. The plot was fine up until then, but that twist in the last five minutes made me sick."
"No need to lie against your conscience. It's New Year's. Nobody wants to spend money just to suffer."
"Crazy Horse Racing 2 is much better than the first one, but the story is harder to follow. Personally, I think it was worth the ticket."
"I thought it was much worse than the first, but still above average. Watchable."
"I kind of feel the same. I'm in line to watch Mokutōjin now, but after reading what you all said, I'm starting to feel like I'm going to regret it. The money isn't the problem. It's just the idea of wasting time."
"I haven't watched Mokutōjin or Crazy Horse Racing 2, but if you all think both of them are bad, go watch Kimi no Na wa. I'm already lining up for my second viewing."
"It's barely noon and you're already watching it a second time? Definitely a paid account. How much did Sora give you to praise an animated film like that?"
"Who said he's paid? I'm also in line for my second viewing."
"Damn, Kimi no Na wa left me feeling so strange. My whole body feels light. It actually made me want to believe in love again. I've been single for three years and thought I'd lost interest in girls altogether."
"That's exactly what pure, dreamlike romance is supposed to feel like."
"Better than Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru. This film by that damned old genius is definitely going to explode during the New Year season."
"Brothers, stop wasting your time on Mokutōjin and Horse Racing 2. Go watch Kimi no Na wa. You won't regret it."
"I just came out of Kimi no Na wa, and now I'm heading in to watch Horse Racing 2. Once I finish all the major releases today, I'll post a full viewing guide."
By noon, the first wave of moviegoers leaving the theaters had already begun spreading across forums and social platforms.
Naturally, plenty of paid accounts were moving around, attacking competing films under the orders of investors. That kind of thing was almost inevitable during any major release. But paid manipulation only worked properly when a work had no reputation, no audience, and no real fanbase to defend it.
Many excellent films had been buried that way before, crushed by artificial public opinion before they even had the chance to reach their audience. Once the general mood tilted in the wrong direction, even a promising work could die at the starting line.
But when it came to the top films of the New Year season, trying to control the conversation with paid haters alone was not so easy.
The reason was simple. No matter how many paid accounts there were, they could never outnumber the people who had genuinely bought tickets, sat in the dark, and watched the film with their own eyes.
The more popular a work became, the smaller the effect of those tactics grew.
The review threads at noon might still have been contaminated, but by the afternoon, as theater halls emptied one screening after another, the situation began to change. Viewers from all over Japan came out after spending an entire day at the movies and began writing long, emotional, angry, excited, and thoughtful reviews online.
At the same time, several film industry media outlets also began publishing their first critiques.
"Kimi no Na wa is, without question, the best film of this New Year season."
"I watched all three major releases. In terms of story, Kimi no Na wa is clearly far above the other two."
"The early reputation of the New Year box office is taking shape, and Kimi no Na wa is already leading every competitor released in the same period."
"A romantic animated film with a simple plot, yet one that touches the heart. Kimi no Na wa once again reveals the talent of Kantoku Sora."
"After a year, Kantoku Sora has returned with a film even more refined than Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru."
"Time, space, and love. These are the themes that run through all of Sora's cinematic work. The difference is that, in Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru, the male and female leads lose each other in the endless sea of people. In Kimi no Na wa, they reach out and hold each other's hand in the middle of that same crowd."
"Even if you forget the name, you can still recognize that person at first sight among thousands. Kimi no Na wa may be Japan's sweetest and most romantic love film of the last decade."
"Once again, Kantoku Sora has earned overwhelming praise in the film industry. The structure of this year's New Year box office may be about to change."
After leaving the cinema, Sora and Sumire found a nearby café and sat by the window, quietly reading the fans' reactions to Kimi no Na wa online.
Sumire's eyes were wide, and the tips of her ears were faintly red. She wore a mask to avoid being recognized by fans, but even with only her eyes visible, her delicate beauty still drew glances from many people inside the café.
"They're praising it… almost all of them are praising it, Sora," she said, unable to keep the excitement from her voice.
"Isn't that normal?" Sora took a sip of his unsweetened black coffee and immediately frowned. "Wasn't this exactly what we expected before the release?"
Too bitter.
"I knew most animation fans in Japan would probably like the film," Sumire replied. "But what I didn't expect was this. In the past, whenever one of our works aired, groups of haters and paid accounts would always appear to smear us. This time, it feels like they never showed up."
"How could they disappear?" Sora looked at Sumire's pale profile and smiled. "They were simply drowned out by far more voices."
Sumire turned her gaze toward him.
"Don't look at our current situation with the mindset we had before," Sora continued, his smile calm. "Back then, we were just a small company in the industry. When larger forces pressured us, we basically had no choice but to swallow it and endure."
He set his cup down on the table.
"But things are different now. At this point, we can also be considered part of the capital structure. We don't need to be afraid of whatever tricks our competitors might play. After all, whatever methods they can use, we can use too. In the end, everything still comes back to the quality of the work."
Hearing that, Sumire froze for a moment.
"All right, it's New Year's. Let's talk less about work." Sora shifted the topic naturally. "Why don't we think about what to eat this afternoon?"
It was the first day of the year, and Sumire had come out with him to watch the premiere of Kimi no Na wa. Sora did not want to spend an entire holiday talking about numbers, markets, and reputation.
Throughout the year, neither of them had many real days off. At least during this brief holiday period, both he and Sumire should try to empty their minds whenever they could.
"Can we eat at the restaurant where Taki and his senior Sayaka work in the animation?" Sumire asked, looking at him with curiosity. "That place was based on a real restaurant, wasn't it? I've been wondering what their food tastes like."
"No problem. The food there is actually very good." Sora smiled.
"After lunch, do you want to visit the staircase from the ending, where the two leads look at each other?"
"That staircase is also a real location in Tokushima."
"I want to go." Sumire's eyes brightened, and a soft smile appeared on her face. "And what about the town that served as the model for Itomori? Can we go there too?"
"The town that served as the model for Itomori…" Sora paused briefly.
Itomori, of course, did not exist. Even so, he had scouted a small town in Shikoku, used its landscape as a foundation, and then added the lake and the meteor crater to create the Japanese version of Itomori that appeared in the film.
"That town is about a hundred and fifty kilometers from Tokushima."
"That far?" A little of the brightness faded from Sumire's expression.
"Tomorrow," Sora said after taking a deep breath. "Tomorrow I'll drive, and the two of us can go there. And I'm telling you now, the scenery there is not inferior to what appears in the animation at all. When I first saw the maple forest on the mountain behind the town, I stood there staring for a long time."
"Really?"
"Really," he replied. "Anyway, we're on New Year break. We can treat it as a short trip. If you feel awkward going just with me, you can invite other friends too…"
"No need." Sumire lifted her head and spoke before he could finish. "Just the two of us is fine."
Although it was the first day of the film's release, Sora and Sumire were no longer as nervous as they used to be when one of their works premiered.
After all, the two of them had already gone through countless major events in the anime industry. They still had expectations for their work's performance, but they were no longer the kind of people who would be trapped or crushed by those results.
With the promotional support of Yume Animation behind it, the first-day reputation of Kimi no Na wa undoubtedly stood out among all the films released during the New Year season.
Even so, reputation and box office were not always directly related.
In the film industry, bad movies earning huge box office numbers and good movies failing in theaters were both common occurrences. Even in Sora's previous life, a film as acclaimed as The Shawshank Redemption had only performed modestly in cinemas.
Because of that, although the reception of Kimi no Na wa was excellent, the production companies behind its competitors were not panicking yet.
But after midnight, when the ticket sales data from major cinema chains across Japan was finally compiled, many people's attitudes changed.
Mokutōjin earned 3.32 billion yen on its first day, ranking first at the New Year box office.
Kimi no Na wa earned 3.24 billion yen on its first day, ranking second.
Crazy Horse Racing 2 earned 2.74 billion yen on its first day, taking third place.
Further down, among the other five films that had also premiered, the highest first-day result was 1.1 billion yen, while the lowest was only 80 million yen.
On the first day of the New Year season, the nationwide box office exceeded 12 billion yen.
In this holiday market, the gap between those dying of thirst and those drowning in excess had never been clearer.
When those numbers came out, many people in the Japanese film industry fell silent.
No matter how they looked at it, that animated film called Kimi no Na wa really seemed… abnormal.
Before its release, its promotional campaign had been effective, and fans had also expressed their support online. Even so, deep down, many people still looked down on that animated film.
Mokutōjin and Crazy Horse Racing 2 were packed with major stars, led by renowned Kantokus, and polished over several years of production.
So why should a film like Kimi no Na wa, made in less than a year, be able to compete with works that had taken years to complete?
Just because Sora was a genius of animation?
But who there was not a genius?
Among the stars capable of carrying box office numbers and the nationally famous Kantokus, which one of them was not a top talent in their own field?
Yet now that the first-day box office data had appeared, the quiet contempt many people had held toward Kimi no Na wa was forcibly shattered.
The best reputation, the highest occupancy rate, the second-highest single-day box office, and only a tiny gap separating it from first place.
To put it bluntly, if Kimi no Na wa had received the same number of screenings as Mokutōjin, then the champion of the New Year opening day would have been Kimi no Na wa without question.
And no one cared more about those numbers than theater owners and cinema chain managers.
Very quickly, the managers of Japan's major cinema chains and theater operators began adjusting the second-day screening ratio based on the results of the first day.
The New Year film market had, in truth, only just begun.
patre0n ImmortalEmperor