Many people expressed fear, but after all, it was an animation by Lin Zhiyan.
With Takagi Makoto, the script supervisor, also a guarantee of quality, it wasn't as off-putting as one might think. Moreover, Lin Zhiyan had cultivated a massive following of devoted fans over the years. These true fans wouldn't care whether his animations were uplifting or depressing; they had been eagerly anticipating this new animation for ages.
When news of the new animation finally broke, those fans were naturally overjoyed:
"Awesome! We finally get to see another one of Lord Hayashi's animations!"
"A new work from the Great Demon King of TV Animation? I have to watch it, no matter what."
"Everyone dies, and the afterlife... I have to admit, that sounds pretty interesting."
"Mark my words, October's chart-topper!"
"This year has been so blessed! We got the latter half of Clannad in January, K-On! in April, and Bakemonogatari in July. I thought the October anime season would be quiet, but then Lord Hayashi drops Angel Beats!"
"April had both Sword Art Online and K-On!—an adaptation and an original, both massive hits. Now October brings A Certain Scientific Railgun and Angel Beats—another adaptation and an original. And this time, the original is personally helmed by Lin Zhiyan himself! I have a feeling both will be huge hits again."
"I'm so excited! I'll definitely be watching as soon as it airs."
In the original timeline, K-On! was an anime adaptation. In this timeline, although the manga was released before the anime, it was actually part of the anime's production plan. Strictly speaking, K-On! in this timeline is not a manga adaptation but an original animation.
One adaptation and one original, this setup is indeed similar to what happened in April. Both adaptation anime are half-year series, while the original animation is a quarterly series—just like before.
The only difference is that K-On! has a second season, while Angel Beats! will not.
Despite Lin Zhiyan's many haters, the truth is that even those who call him "Old Thief Lin," accuse him of being "insane," and complain that his anime are "heartbreaking" and "depressing" with never-happy endings, most of them will still watch his new shows when they come out.
There are indeed people who avoid his anime out of fear of being heartbroken or depressed, but they are a minority.
Moreover, his true fans far outnumber his haters. After all, despite the emotional toll of his previous anime, their quality was undeniable.
All of them were excellent animations, and at least were all massively popular, with some even being phenomenal or super-phenomenal. Moreover, they had released an animation every year without fail, constantly maintaining their presence in the public eye. Under these circumstances, the number of true fans they had accumulated was simply staggering.
Therefore, when specific information about the Angel Beats production team was announced, the anticipation for the anime skyrocketed, quickly making it the most anticipated October anime season release.
Even though it was an original animation, and even though the October anime season featured many strong adaptations, nothing could stop it from becoming the most anticipated October anime season release.
As the project manager and supervising director of the anime, Lin Zhiyan wasn't surprised by the netizens' reactions at all.
He knew there would be plenty of furious criticism, but he also knew that even more people would express their anticipation.
Of course, he didn't forget his usual tradition. Once the online discussions reached a certain scale, he used his account to post a thread online:
"So many people like to overthink things. The truth is, we didn't announce the production team for Angel Beats earlier not because it's my animation, but because it's an original animation. Our company's recent promotional strategy for original animations involves slow, gradual teasers in the early stages, followed by an explosive burst of marketing in the month or two before the premiere.
Simply put, we didn't announce the team because it wasn't time yet.
If I really wanted to deceive everyone into watching this animation just because it's mine, wouldn't it be better to just keep the team a secret? After all, who would suspect anything was wrong just by watching the PV?
As for the all-dead cast and the Afterlife Battlefront setting, I just thought it would be more fun...
How should I put it? I often see people say my animations are full of death. In my last work, Anohana, the deaths were necessary for the plot, yet many still complained about the ghost protagonist and the fact that the main character died before the story even began. That's why I'm really curious to see how everyone reacts to an all-dead cast and a premise that starts straight in the afterlife.
Do you think I don't know that this setup will remind people of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day and make them think the new animation will be incredibly heartbreaking and depressing? Of course I know! But that's fine. Feel free to doubt me—I won't defend myself. You'll see for yourselves whether it's as devastating as you suspect once you've seen the actual content.
By the way, the scriptwriter for this animation is Takagi Makoto, not Lin Zhiyan. Please make a note of that. In fact, I haven't written a script for any animation recently. So please don't associate my earlier works, which I personally scripted, with these two recent ones.
As for the accusations of deceptive marketing, I abandoned that tactic long ago. Using it once was more than enough. After all, as you yourselves pointed out, you learned your lesson from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. There's no way you'd fall for that again.
Since you all believe you wouldn't fall for it again, what would be the point of me using deceptive marketing? There's no need. Really, no need at all.
It's hard to say if Angel Beats! will make every viewer laugh, but it's truly an animation that can bring joy and a touch of emotion.
Just watch it with a relaxed mindset. Don't overthink it, don't carry so many burdens.
The post was long and explained everything thoroughly from every angle.
After reading it, some viewers fell silent.
Others commented:
"Yeah, continuing with misleading advertising is pointless. It's not the first time—even fools won't fall for it anymore."
"If this were a depressing anime, it would be too obvious. If I were Old Thief Lin, I would never reveal the 'everyone's dead' and 'Afterlife Battlefront' setting in the PV. At least I'd lure everyone in first."
"Old Thief Lin is a scoundrel, but Takagi Makoto isn't that bad. And with Old Thief Lin's planning + Takagi Makoto's script, isn't K-On! a good example? It's not necessarily all depressing."
"The PV was indeed cheerful, and the 'everyone's dead' and 'afterlife' settings are genuinely intriguing."
"Now that I think about it, maybe we've all been overthinking it."
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