November 3rd. Episode five of Code Geass aired.
November 10th. Episode six aired.
November 17th. Episode seven aired.
The episodes were not quite as packed with payoff as the earlier ones, and episode seven even had Lelouch eating a loss, but it never crossed into genuinely painful territory. Then episode eight swung back and delivered one satisfying moment after another, especially the scene where Lelouch stood before a massive crowd alongside Kallen and the others and officially declared the formation of the Black Knights. That sequence was nothing short of incredibly cool.
As the episodes kept coming, the popularity of Code Geass continued to climb.
Its ratings and online buzz were steadily closing in on The Girl Called God, and there were signs it might eventually surpass it.
All across Japan, more and more elementary and middle school kids were copying Lelouch's poses and lines. There was a video streaming site called Z-Tube that had only launched about a year ago, functioning as this world's equivalent of a certain other platform. On it, clips related to Code Geass were everywhere, and nearly all of them were pulling in huge view counts.
During the most memorable moments, the live comment feed would flood the screen completely.
In terms of overall popularity, The Girl Called God still held the top spot, but if you looked only at shows that had started airing in October, Code Geass was in a league of its own with no real competition in sight.
All in all, everything was looking up.
Before Code Geass began airing, there had been plenty of people predicting that Yuta's new project would flop. Now, people throughout the industry were openly declaring that another cultural phenomenon had been born.
Clannad, for all its massive popularity, critical acclaim, and strong sales, could be called an exceptionally beloved anime, a masterpiece among masterpieces, but the word "phenomenon" did not quite fit it.
As for why the word "another" applied here, it was because The Girl Called God had already earned that distinction.
What no one had anticipated was that barely a few months later, a second phenomenon would arrive.
More than a few people could not help but remark that 2007 was turning out to be a genuinely miraculous year for the anime industry.
The DVD for Code Geass had not gone on sale yet, but it was already obvious to everyone that this was going to be another title with first-week sales of forty thousand or more.
Since The Girl Called God was a slice-of-life show, the rise of Code Geass was not really going to shake its fanbase, but between the two of them dominating the conversation, it was open season on every other show of the season.
Aniflex, which had previously invested in Love Academy, had funded five anime that season. One was an urban supernatural show, one was a mecha show, one was a school slice-of-life, one was a sports show, and the last was a romance.
The sports and romance titles were probably not hit too badly, but the urban supernatural and mecha shows had their audiences almost entirely absorbed by Code Geass, and the slice-of-life was taking a beating from The Girl Called God.
They were probably not looking at outright losses, but they were certainly going to earn far less than expected. Plenty of other production companies were in much the same situation.
Who knew how many people were quietly fuming about it in private, though Yuta was completely unaware of any of it.
Even if he had known, he would not have given it a second thought. It was fair competition, and if their shows could not hold their own, that was on them.
He was simultaneously serving as director, producer, character designer, scriptwriter, and music supervisor. He was impossibly busy and had no time to pay attention to what anyone was saying behind his back.
Besides, there were always people grumbling about him behind closed doors. As long as they kept it out of his face, it was fine.
...
Knock knock.
A knock came at the door.
"Come in," Yuta said without looking up.
A figure stepped inside.
It was Aoi.
Yuta set down his pen and raised his head, and then Aoi said, "Shido, you're not looking great."
"Aoi, with the hours I'm keeping right now, looking great would be the weird outcome," Yuta replied with a tired shrug.
From the outside, his current workload might not have looked all that different from when he was making Clannad, but the reality was that Code Geass demanded significantly more from him than Clannad ever had.
At least before the show started airing, he could steal a little time here and there and sneak in an episode of School Days or The Girl Called God when he got home at night. Now even that was gone.
Most days were a relentless grind from start to finish, and he had to consciously time even his meals to keep from falling behind.
At times like these, he found himself genuinely envying those protagonists in stories who got cheat systems handed to them. Too bad that no matter how many times he called out for one, nothing ever answered.
Since Aoi was not part of Starfall, she did not have a particularly detailed picture of what Yuta's day-to-day looked like. She studied his face for a moment and asked, "What time are you getting in each morning? And what time are you leaving at night?"
"Around eight in the morning. I don't get out until close to midnight," Yuta answered.
"So after you factor in the commute and time to wash up, you're probably getting less than six hours of sleep every day."
Aoi frowned, then suggested, "You should think about just sleeping at the office during this stretch and going home once or twice a week. It would at least cut out the commuting time."
"I'm not used to sleeping at the office..." Yuta let out a sigh. "I'll consider it if things get completely unmanageable."
"Alright, but know your limits. Don't just push through on willpower alone. If something happens to you, it would be a fatal blow to Code Geass," Aoi said.
"Understood." Yuta gave a nod.
Everyone else could be replaced if needed, but there was no replacing Yuta, and the anime was airing on a weekly schedule.
Putting it bluntly, he could not even afford to take sick days.
That said, he had always been reasonably good at managing himself, and he understood perfectly well how indispensable he was.
He was not the type to grind himself into the ground for no reason.
If it genuinely got to be too much, no matter how uncomfortable it felt, he would just start sleeping at the office.
"By the way, what brings you by today, Aoi?"
"To let you know that the DVD release date has been finalized. December 21st."
"Do you need me to do signings or draw character posters?"
"No, that won't be necessary."
Aoi gave a small shake of her head.
In truth, the disc company had been planning to do exactly that, following the same approach they had used for Clannad, with Yuta doing signings and producing a few character posters. But after seeing how stretched thin he was every single day, Aoi could not bring herself to pile on more work. She decided to come and give him the release date for now, and then go back to the disc company separately to work out an alternative arrangement.
Yuta naturally had no idea about any of that. He was a little puzzled, but he did not dwell on it and said, "Let me know if you need anything. I know I look completely slammed right now, but I can handle a little more on top of this. Worst case, I just sleep here."
"No, no, no. Setting aside the fact that there is nothing to ask of you right now, even if there were, you should not be pushing yourself that hard," Aoi said. "Anyway, I just came to give you the date. That is all."
"Alright then."
Yuta was not the type to go looking for extra work anyway.
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