That morning alone, Starfall received two or three boxes of razor blades. Yuta would never dare sign for them himself. Normally this kind of thing fell to Rika, but out of safety concerns, the duty had been reassigned.
Now all packages were handled by Todo.
He would sign for them, open them up and take a look, and if it was razor blades, they went into the storage room. If it was something else, he dealt with it accordingly.
Starfall had a decent amount of office space these days, so the storage room was naturally much bigger than the old one. But between Clannad and Code Geass, the accumulated razor blades had already filled up nearly half of it.
At this rate, two more anime productions and they really could open an online shop selling razor blades.
Back when they were making Clannad, everyone at Starfall had been terrified every time a package of razor blades arrived. But now, the whole team has grown completely used to it. Even knowing that people might be staking out the building downstairs, they could maintain a perfectly calm demeanor.
This was probably a sign of growth.
Inside the president's office, Aoi had come to visit.
Yuta was not buried in his work for once. Instead, he was carefully looking through an audience demographic survey that Aoi had brought.
"Shido, do you have any idea how many people are out for your blood online right now? Is this really okay?" Aoi said suddenly.
"What's there to worry about?"
Yuta could not have been less concerned. "When I was doing Clannad season two, the outrage was way worse than this. Just take it in stride. Besides, I'm just making anime. Everything I do is to give the audience a better viewing experience. And for that I get publicly denounced? Being an anime creator is really tough."
Aoi: ...?
How did this man manage to say that with a completely straight face?
She went blank for a moment, then suddenly remembered something. "So what you're saying is that you're not the one who's wrong. It's the world that's wrong?"
"Obviously it's the world's fault." Yuta nodded and let out a sigh.
He did not want to make anime that was depressing and tearjerking either. But what could he do? It just so happened that tearjerking anime was the only kind he remembered clearly after transmigrating.
If the anime that had left a lasting impression on him had been romantic comedies instead of tearjerkers, he would not be getting denounced by so many people right now.
"I'm not the one who's wrong. It's the world that's wrong."
When applied to him, that statement was honestly pretty accurate.
Aoi naturally had no idea about Yuta's situation. Seeing him actually nod in agreement, she had no idea what to say.
The office fell silent for a moment.
But before long, Yuta set down the audience survey and spoke up. "Aoi, do we have the capability to run targeted marketing?"
"Targeted marketing?"
"Promoting our Code Geass to a specific demographic," Yuta explained briefly.
"I know what it means."
Aoi gave him a look that said she did not need the explanation. "What I'm asking is, which specific demographic are you talking about?"
"Aoi, you're surely aware that among male viewers, there's a subset that really enjoys watching the friendships between girls. And conversely, among female viewers, there's a subset that's really into the bonds between bros."
"Are you saying we should market to fujoshi?"
"No. Enjoying stories about brotherhood doesn't automatically make someone a fujoshi. And our Code Geass doesn't have a single hint of BL pandering in it."
"..."
Aoi looked down and thought for a while before responding.
"I think I roughly understand what you're getting at. But would marketing to that group actually work?"
"First of all, the show has multiple female characters who are in love with Lelouch, which makes it feel like a harem anime. And even if we set that aside, besides Lelouch, the most important male characters are Suzaku and Rolo. But Suzaku has already turned against Lelouch, and as for Rolo, the internet is absolutely tearing him apart right now. Plus, Lelouch has been using him from the start. No matter how you look at it, none of that is going to resonate with those viewers."
Because Rolo had killed Shirley, the online hatred for his character was fierce enough to nearly rival the hatred directed at Yuta himself.
Countless people wanted Rolo killed off as soon as possible. Some had even sent razor blades with notes tucked inside saying things like "Next episode better show Lelouch taking out Rolo to avenge Shirley."
And it was not just Rolo. Suzaku's character also had plenty of detractors online.
A lot of people found him deeply annoying.
But none of that mattered.
"Aoi."
Yuta smiled. "I can tell you haven't done much research on that particular demographic."
"How so?" Aoi asked, confused.
"It's true that several female characters are in love with Lelouch. But in Lelouch's own eyes, the only things that matter are revenge and his sister Nunnally. And now that both Euphemia and Shirley are dead, who's still going to think of Code Geass as a harem anime?"
Yuta continued, "Best friends turning against each other might actually look like a love-hate dynamic through their eyes, and that kind of thing might resonate with them even more."
"As for Rolo, sure, the internet is trashing him and Lelouch has been using him all along. But to those viewers, a character like Rolo might be the very definition of true devotion."
"That actually works?"
Aoi found this incredibly hard to wrap her head around.
Yuta did not bother waiting for her to fully understand and pressed on. "I don't need to tell you how massive the buzz around Code Geass is right now. Standard promotional efforts aren't going to move the needle much further."
"If we want to push beyond that, targeted marketing is the way to go. Of course, promoting to that demographic requires a very delicate touch. The best approach is to disguise our people as regular viewers, infiltrate their communities from the inside, and recommend it to them as a hidden gem."
"Understood."
Aoi nodded. "I don't know if it'll actually work, but I'll have people give it a try when I get back."
"Sure. There's no harm in trying."
"By the way..."
Aoi gave Yuta a look. "Is Suzaku or Rolo about to die?"
"Hm?"
"Promotions have always been my side's responsibility. You're always swamped with work, so the only reason you'd suddenly stick your nose into marketing is because someone's about to die."
Tricking a wave of new viewers into jumping on board right before killing someone off was already standard operating procedure for Yuta. Aoi had not met him yesterday, and she was confident she knew him well by now.
Yuta had not expected Aoi to see through his playbook so quickly, but this was the kind of thing he would never admit to.
"Aoi, I am the president of Starfall, after all. And the Code Geass production committee is led by Starfall. Is it really so wrong for me to want more people watching this anime?"
"There's nothing wrong with it, but something about this still feels off."
"Don't overthink it. No important characters are dying anytime soon. Even though plenty of people can't wait for Lelouch to kill Rolo, at the very least we need to give him a redemption arc first."
"???"
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