Support me at patreon.com/CulturedOne and read 50 Advanced Chapters
_______________________
The moment the trailer for Haruto's latest project went live, his massive following in the animation community underwent a total resurrection. Across every major imageboard, social media platform, and fan group in the country, the silence was shattered by a wave of frantic activity.
The fans of Puella Magi Madoka Magica were particularly torn in their reactions. On one hand, they desperately wanted Haruto to continue producing masterpieces that would push the medium forward, but on the other, they felt a strange, possessive urge to see Madoka remain his undisputed peak.
Their mindset was deeply contradictory. Having instinctively sensed a legitimate threat in the high visuals of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners PV, they began a preemptive campaign of comparison. They flooded the comments with critiques, attempting to frame the new project as being fundamentally inferior to the magical girl epic that had defined the previous year.
This behavior actually caught many off guard. Before the anti-fans or cynical critics could even find something to complain about, the hardcore Madoka loyalists were already growing restless and defensive.
By late afternoon, the view count for the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners trailer had surpassed five million. By eleven o'clock that night, it had shattered the ten-million mark. Haru-Yuki Animation Studio had not even begun its paid marketing campaign yet. Haruto's creator account was enough to achieve results that most studios would spend millions to replicate. Many rival production houses watched this with a mixture of envy and bitter resentment, but they knew there was nothing they could do. That level of traffic was a privilege reserved solely for the man who had shattered the industry's expectations with Madoka Magica.
As for Haruto himself, he spent the entire day browsing through the online discourse. He was meticulously tracking how the audience's tastes were evolving and how they perceived different genres.
In truth, the version of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners that Haruto was producing in this world was even darker and more uncompromising than the one from the parallel world. He had intentionally leaned into the nature of the setting, making certain scenes more graphic and the tone more oppressive. In the other world, the Edgerunners anime was an adaptation and prequel to the famous video game Cyberpunk 2077. The story took place a year before the game's timeline, and almost every location, model, and aesthetic choice was a faithful recreation of Night City. Even the high-rise luxury apartment where the protagonists, Lucy and David, eventually lived could be found as a literal location in the game.
However, the original creators of that anime had been somewhat restrained in order to appeal to a broader audience. They had chosen not to over-elaborate on the soulless depravity of the city's criminal underworld. For instance, in the first episode of the original version, David's mother is taken to a back-alley clinic after an accident, only for her ashes to be handed back to David the very next day. Casual viewers might have assumed she simply died from her injuries because David could not afford the premium medical insurance plan.
But anyone who had played the game would recognize the doctor in that clinic. Based on his surgical attire and the equipment in the room, he was almost certainly a collaborator with the Scavengers. The Scavengers were a horrific gang that specialized in the illegal harvesting of human organs and cybernetic implants.
To put it bluntly, they would murder patients just to strip their bodies of parts and sell them on the black market. David thought he was sending his mother to a place of healing, but in reality, she was likely butchered for her chrome the moment she arrived.
The original anime was full of grim, unspoken details. Because of its limited episode count and mainstream target, it left many of these horrors to the imagination. Haruto, however, had decided to fill in those gaps.
He believed that the story worked best when it was brutally honest about its setting. Of course, he was not about to reveal all of that in a trailer.
At this stage, the fans watching the trailer were actually enjoying the upbeat and soothing melody of the song "I Really Want to Stay at Your House," which they found to be a relaxing piece of music. The scenes of Lucy and David dating and kissing under the neon lights had even led some fans to believe that this would be a pure romance series set in a cyberpunk world.
Watching this reaction made Haruto chuckle to himself. In terms of sheer emotional trauma, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was easily on par with Madoka Magica. Moreover, the role that specific song played in the narrative was every bit as devastating as the ending theme of Anohana.
Seeing the fans so deceived by the trailer gave Haruto a sense of satisfaction. Since he had suffered through these stories from the memories of Shiori. It was only fair that he shared that experience with his loyal audience.
Throughout the night, the trailer continued to ferment within the industry. While the general public was still unclear about the specific plot, one thing was now set in stone: the anime would premiere on Sunday, July 5th, at 8:00 PM.
Furthermore, it had secured a prime-time slot on Tokyo TV Channel 1.
The following day, the focus shifted to the light novel industry. After a long week of waiting, the newest issue of the Kiyozawa magazine was finally released. The previous week's chapter of Sword Art Online had ended on a massive cliffhanger, announcing the end of the SAO arc and the beginning of the ALO arc without any further explanation.
Early that morning, a reader named Tomoka rushed to buy a copy of the magazine. He had no choice but to get it immediately; with a series as popular as Sword Art Online, you were bound to see spoilers online within minutes of the release unless you completely cut yourself off from the internet. Fans had already guessed that Kirito would return to the real world after the collapse of the SAO game.
Tomoka was not surprised by this development, as it was the only logical progression for the story. The real questions were what he would do now that he was back, and what exactly this ALO arc represented.
As he read on, the story introduced Kirito's sister. It was revealed that she harbored deep, complex feelings for her brother, which Tomoka found interesting but ultimately irrelevant. In the eyes of the fanbase, Kirito's heart was an impenetrable fortress. Even though they were technically cousins who had been raised as siblings and had no direct blood relation, the fans knew Kirito was far too devoted to Asuna to ever look at another woman.
Still, the way the chapter depicted the sister's feelings was genuinely moving. A young girl who had spent two years secretly pining for her comatose brother, only to have him wake up and immediately start searching for another woman... it was a tragic position to be in.
"Poor girl," Tomoka sighed. "You never stood a chance."
The focus of the chapter then shifted to the mystery that everyone was waiting for: what had happened to Asuna? Everyone expected a heartwarming reunion in the real world, but the story instead delivered a shocking blow to the gut.
Kirito had woken up, and the vast majority of the players trapped in SAO had also regained consciousness. However, a small handful of players remained in a deep sleep. Asuna was among them. The novel provided no medical explanation for this; it was simply an inexplicable, persistent coma. Then, the story introduced a character that made Tomoka's blood boil.
Sugou Nobuyuki, a high-ranking researcher working for Asuna's father, appeared at her bedside. Right in front of a helpless Kirito, he informed Asuna's father of his intention to marry the unconscious girl while she was still in her coma.
Tomoka's eyes narrowed, his grip on the magazine tightening until the paper began to crinkle. This man, Sugou, was an absolute parasite. Where did this trash of a human being come from?
Across Japan that morning, countless Sword Art Online fans were experiencing a similar surge of genuine rage. After Asuna's father left the room, Sugou dropped his facade. He mocked Kirito, declaring that he was the only suitor recognized by Asuna's parents and that he would eventually be adopted into the family to secure his claim. He admitted that Asuna had despised him before she was trapped in the game, but he did not care.
With her parents' backing and her current state of helplessness, he was confident he could force a marriage of sorts and eventually inherit her father's company. He was intentionally trying to disgust Kirito, hoping to break his spirit and make him abandon Asuna.
Tomoka ground his teeth so hard they made an audible creaking sound.
He had to hand it to the author; creating a villain who kills the protagonist's family might make a reader angry for a few seconds, but creating a character like Sugou, who only needs a few hundred words to make every reader want to commit a crime, was a mark of incredible character writing.
Sugou was a masterpiece of revulsion. The chapter then revealed that Sugou's department was the one responsible for maintaining the life-support equipment keeping Asuna alive.
This meant that Kirito could not even lash out at him. If he punched Sugou or caused a scene, the villain might take it out on the defenseless Asuna.
Tomoka took several deep breaths to calm himself. He could not believe that the series had just finished a world-ending death game only to immediately pivot to a villain this repulsive. It felt like a massive emotional crisis for the couple.
However, he managed to hold back his total outrage for a moment. Sugou was just a fiancé in name only, and Asuna was still asleep. As long as they were not actually married, there was still hope. He dismissed Sugou as a pathetic social climber who would eventually be destroyed by the plot.
But the chapter was not finished. After a quiet moment focusing on Kirito's past with his sister, the story reached its true climax. That night, a depressed and defeated Kirito received an anonymous email containing a single image.
It was a picture of a massive floating castle, a place that looked like a gilded birdcage. And inside that cage stood a beautiful girl with a look of melancholy and sorrow.
Her face was unmistakable. It was Asuna.
The source of the image was a new game that was taking the world by storm.
Alfheim Online, or ALO.
The final page of the chapter featured a full-page illustration of this scene, capturing Asuna's imprisonment in haunting detail. At the bottom of the page were the three most frustrating words in the world:
[To Be Continued]
Tomoka's brain felt like it had short-circuited. For several seconds, he just stared at the page in a daze. Then, a wave of pure frustration washed over him.
"To be continued? Are you kidding me?"
Another cliffhanger. What was happening to Asuna? What did Sugou have to do with this? So the ALO arc really was about another game? Was it just like SAO?
As an experienced reader, Tomoka could sense a massive conspiracy brewing.
If Asuna were simply in a medical coma, it would be one thing, but if her digital avatar was being held captive in a different game while her body lay in a hospital bed, something sinister was at play.
Tomoka was left with dozens of questions and no way to answer them.
Between the introduction of the loathsome Sugou and the mystery of Asuna's imprisonment, he felt a level of fury and investment that he had not felt in a long time.
Haruto had successfully captured his emotions once again.