Parallel world Manga Artist-Chapter 237: Discussion - II

The premiere week's ratings of 6.02% completely overwhelmed the paid critics and hired trolls.

How the hell were they supposed to bash this?

The Demon Slayer anime ratings were indeed far lower than Hunter x Hunter's. But 6% for a premiere episode? That was indisputably the ratings champion among all anime premiering that week. They couldn't possibly trash Demon Slayer by saying it was inferior to Hunter x Hunter or One-Punch Man, right?

Wouldn't that still be indirectly praising Shirogane?

After the first week's ratings for Demon Slayer were released, the noise on the anime forums quieted down slightly.

But public opinion around Dream Comic flared up again from a different direction entirely.

Hunter x Hunter was only carrying out its final concluding chapters, but it hadn't finished yet.

This week's chapter revealed to fans the Wish-Granting Ability of Killua's younger sibling, Alluka. And then...

The concept of the Dark Continent was introduced into the story.

Although the Ant King was dead and there were essentially no more battle scenes to come, the dramatic narrative in Hunter x Hunter remained at an absolute peak in the manga industry.

Furthermore, after the Dark Continent setting was revealed, Hunter x Hunter fans once again dominated Japan's anime forums for the entire day, suppressing the popularity of every other work... except for Demon Slayer.

After all, the Hunter x Hunter readers who picked up Dream Comic basically all went ahead and read the first chapter of Demon Slayer's manga serialization as well.

With the support of Rei's current superb drawing skills, the first chapter of the Demon Slayer manga turned out quite well. It certainly didn't meet the sky-high expectations of Hunter x Hunter fans, but compared to the dozen or so other titles in the journal, it was already considered a strong debut.

The overwhelming flood of fans discussing the Dark Continent, discussing Alluka, and discussing Gon's injuries meant that Demon Slayer's discussion volume dipped slightly by comparison. But for the haters and internet trolls, this was absolutely devastating.

Who would waste their time pushing the boring narrative of whether Demon Slayer was Shirogane's failed work when everyone was losing their minds over the Dark Continent?

Once the concept was revealed, Hunter x Hunter's entire worldview was immediately elevated. The future creative potential of the series expanded enormously.

It turned out that beyond Gon searching for his father, there was also a place like the Dark Continent left to explore.

It turned out that the Chimera Ant King disaster could only be ranked B-plus among the official threat classifications of the Dark Continent. And the entire human race's combined strength was only rated A-minus.

On the Dark Continent, there were five major A-rank calamities.

The implications were staggering.

Of course, the plot of Hunter x Hunter before its hiatus had set extraordinarily high expectations for the fans.

But Rei himself felt deeply conflicted.

From a conceptual standpoint, introducing the Dark Continent was brilliant. It immediately expanded the worldview and gave the impression that this manga could easily run for a thousand more chapters.

But in reality, Rei knew what had happened in his previous life. Yoshihiro Togashi had done something remarkably similar in his earlier work, Yu Yu Hakusho. The protagonist Yusuke had fought desperately to defeat the terrifying, despair-inducing Toguro, who turned out to be only a B-class demon. Later came A-class, S-class, and the Demon World arc... all of which gave fans the feeling that the series could run for hundreds more chapters without issue. But in reality, after the Demon World setting was expanded, Yu Yu Hakusho had quickly spiraled and ended poorly.

Rei often wondered if it was better that he hadn't recalled the full plot of the subsequent Hunter x Hunter arcs from his previous life. If it was, perhaps, for the best that Togashi had never finished Hunter x Hunter in that timeline, leaving fans' memories permanently anchored in the Chimera Ant arc.

If the Hunter x Hunter plot spiraled out of control and ended as poorly as Yu Yu Hakusho had... that would be truly terrible news.

But for now, Japan's fans would never understand Rei's complicated feelings.

They were all immersed in the joy that came with the new setting reveal. Since Shirogane had introduced the Dark Continent, it surely wasn't without purpose. Perhaps Hunter x Hunter would return soon after the related arc was fully conceived. The excitement even bled over into a more favorable view of Demon Slayer...

And so, on Saturday, the reader popularity vote for the Demon Slayer manga fell slightly behind Hunter x Hunter as expected, ranking second. But it led Source War Chronicle, which ranked third, by a commanding margin.

At the same time, Dream Comic's sales that week ticked up by 300,000 copies, allowing the executives at Hoshimori Group to breathe a partial sigh of relief.

Their greatest fear had been that after the Ant King's death in the Chimera Ant arc, Hunter x Hunter's popularity would nosedive and drag journal sales down with it.

But for now, it seemed they didn't need to worry.

Over the next two weeks, the Demon Slayer anime covered the story of the protagonist Tanjiro Kamado becoming a disciple of Sakonji Urokodaki, learning the signature combat system of the Demon Slayers: Water Breathing and the grueling training that accompanied it.

Similar to the reaction after the first episode, many viewers online commented that the plot was indeed a bit formulaic. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

But just as many expressed that they enjoyed watching this kind of straightforward shōnen anime. One that was earnest and heartfelt without the complex schemes or mentally exhausting plot twists that Hunter x Hunter demanded.

As for being formulaic? Being formulaic only meant the surprise factor for the audience wasn't high. But at the very least, the story didn't insult its viewers' intelligence.

"Ah... Hunter x Hunter anime ratings are 7.03%, ranking first. Demon Slayer's third episode is at 5.98%, ranking second. Robot Leo is at 5.21%, ranking third..." Miyu trailed off, her voice souring. "My Touch of Glass ratings are only 4.59%. Fifth place."

She slumped in her chair with visible reluctance.

"Why are there so many monsters this quarter? I was planning to take advantage of Touch of Glass having been serialized for almost two years. It's accumulated enough of a fanbase by now. I thought this was my chance to break into the top three for quarterly anime ratings!"

"In the past two years, the Japanese animation industry has been stimulated by Rei's works," Misaki said evenly. "The market has expanded because of the popularity of his titles, drawing a huge number of newcomers into the anime and ACG world. The viewership base has grown, and the ratings for many series have seen a noticeable boost since their premieres."

"A few years ago, during quarters with weaker lineups, a show with 4.5% ratings could top the charts. But now..."

Misaki paused, and Miyu understood exactly what she meant.

Don't even think about it.

"If Rei didn't exist in Japan," Miyu said, turning to him with an exaggerated look of anguish, "and there were no Hunter x Hunter and no Demon Slayer, then my Touch of Glass ratings would have broken into the top three. And then, because of that achievement, Hoshimori Group would have noticed me. All their resources would have been funneled my way. Touch of Glass might have taken off and become a hit anime across all of Japan!"

She jabbed a finger in his direction.

"Rei, you bastard. You stole my life!"

Rei knew she was joking, but he played along anyway.

"I see. That makes it even better."

"..." Miyu stared at him, momentarily speechless.

"There are no 'ifs' in the real world." Misaki picked up her black tea and took a sip. "Without Rei, you might not even be serializing your manga in Dream Comic right now."

"After all, with your personality, without another genius to push you forward, you'd definitely be a lazy slacker. Procrastinating on manuscripts. Cutting corners whenever possible. Spending your evenings playing games instead of working on manga plots." She set the cup down. "In that case, forget the dream of Touch of Glass's anime cracking the top three in ratings. The work itself might never have been created."

"Sis, are you even my real sister? Why do you always take Rei's side?" Miyu was almost laughing in exasperation.

But she didn't refute Misaki's words. After all, that was the truth.

"Forget it..." Miyu took a deep breath, expelled the frustration from her chest, and then turned to Rei with a more serious expression.

"Rei, the situation for the Demon Slayer anime is actually quite delicate right now."

"This is the first time ever that the ratings for one of your animated works have declined after their premiere. The first week was 6.02%. The second week ticked up slightly to 6.05%. But the third week dropped to 5.98%. The decrease isn't significant, but the trend is there. It shows that there are people in your fanbase who genuinely aren't connecting with the new work."

"Mm. No need to worry about it." Rei nodded.

"I could generally predict this before Demon Slayer even premiered."

"You predicted it?" Misaki frowned. "Then why didn't you try to fix the early plot? I find it hard to believe that with your ability, you couldn't see the issues. The opening stretch of Demon Slayer is too formulaic. You had to have known."

"Because Demon Slayer is just that kind of work." Rei laughed.

"There's nothing that needs changing. And there's no need to worry about short-term ratings fluctuations."

Miyu frowned as well, studying his face.

"It's January now, right..." Rei smiled.

"So tell me. Why did I schedule the Demon Slayer animated film for July?"

"Isn't it just to ride the summer box office wave?" Miyu paused, then her eyes narrowed. "Wait. Do you mean... you're confident that within these six months, Demon Slayer's popularity and reputation will undergo a massive reversal?"

"Right now, Hunter x Hunter fans are supporting the Demon Slayer anime out of respect for you. But in a few weeks, once Hunter x Hunter wraps up its final chapters, Demon Slayer will have to stand on its own two feet..."

"That's enough." Rei said.

Demon Slayer in this world already had a far better reception than the Demon Slayer manga had received in his previous life.

Back then, the Demon Slayer manga had only received one official, somewhat blind endorsement from Yoshihiro Togashi.

But here, Demon Slayer was another work serialized concurrently by Rei himself, the author of Hunter x Hunter. A massive number of Hunter x Hunter readers had already been drawn to the Demon Slayer anime. Moreover, Rei's influence in the Japanese anime world had grown so vast that fans of One-Punch Man and Arcane had also been heavily pulled into the Demon Slayer orbit.

These people might not all continue following the weekly serialization. But they would absolutely keep an eye on the market buzz surrounding it.

And the moment public opinion began to shift, they would act. In Rei's view, these people were simply distinguished by whether they joined the fandom sooner or later.

"By May of this year," Rei said calmly, "you'll probably understand exactly what kind of work Demon Slayer is."

May.

The two sisters exchanged a glance.

Rei didn't just have some vague, mysterious confidence in Demon Slayer's eventual performance. He didn't just believe the work's popularity and reputation would undergo a dramatic reversal down the line.

He was confident enough to name the exact month.

Misaki studied him for a long moment.

'You are truly something else. Has the market pressure genuinely not affected you at all?'

...

STONES PLZZ

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