Since the previous year, Shirogane Animation had been running heavy promotion for Attack on Titan. Before the anime aired, audiences had been curious about the world-building. After the first episode aired, it was fair to say the entire Japanese animation industry, including Rei’s peers, was somewhat stunned.

You really dared to do this.

A highly popular creator, and his new work’s themes were this bold. Japan’s animation industry did not have the established tradition of dark and grotesque works that Rei’s previous life had produced.

In his previous life, Tokyo Ghoul, Parasyte, and Attack on Titan had each validated the genre for the others.

In this world’s Japan, the only anime that had so openly depicted man-eating creatures was Parasyte. Even in Demon Slayer, demons consuming people had never been shown in close-up.

The media had a story, and almost all of them ran negative coverage simultaneously.

"Shirogane-sensei’s new work Titan is bloody and violent. Not suitable for children."

"Shirogane-sensei’s new work represents a complete transformation, abandoning the children’s market entirely. Attack on Titan is bizarre and the first episode is unrelenting tragedy."

"Shirogane-sensei’s creative direction has shifted completely away from the market. He has become too absorbed in his own artistic vision to remain connected to what audiences want."

"An anime in this style is novel for one episode, uncomfortable for two, and unwatchable for three. Within a month, Titan’s reputation and viewership will collapse beyond what anyone currently expects."

"Relying on bloody and cruel scenes to attract attention. Has the genius Shirogane-sensei also fallen into mediocrity? This kind of work will fail in the Japanese market."

"The first episode of Titan is eye-catching in certain respects. But an anime cannot sustain itself on these elements alone. The protagonist only has one mother, only three close friends. If Titan relies entirely on tragic plot developments to maintain interest, this work will become the first genuine failure of Shirogane-sensei’s career."

In a market where no dark grotesque works had previously succeeded at scale, an anime like Attack on Titan was naturally going to be dismissed by many.

The following day at noon, the premiere viewership rating for the first episode was announced at 6.23 percent. This did not change the media’s position.

With Shirogane-sensei’s current standing, whatever he produced would have a strong premiere. The premiere number was not the point. The question was whether it had any momentum behind it.

Against the media’s pessimism, the Dream Comic Journal the following day saw fans queuing outside bookstores from early morning. The manga’s connection to the anime was doing its work.

The media had been right about one thing at least. Whatever Attack on Titan’s ultimate performance turned out to be, its discussion volume and topic heat in the first weeks were unquestionable.

Rei said nothing in response to any of the coverage. Not a single public statement in defence of the work.

Miyu, however, spent the better part of the day on her phone and laptop, arguing enthusiastically with every anti-fan she encountered. She was enjoying herself.

She was not genuinely troubled by the media coverage. These people were looking for things to criticise. But something was still sitting with her.

"Why are you so confident about AOT? Aren’t you worried at all?"

She had read the first few Chapters of the original manuscript. The artwork was good and the plot was not bad, but she genuinely could not picture how this became a medium-to-long-running series.

Surely he did not intend to spend the entire runtime depicting a war between humans and mindless giants. That would be too thin a foundation.

"What is there to worry about?" Rei said, with a slight laugh. "This work runs slow. I anticipated this exact kind of reception and public opinion rhythm before it aired."

What was happening in Japan was nothing. In his previous life, the Attack on Titan anime had been explicitly banned by mainstream authorities for blood and violence. It had still become a phenomenon.

Even without any mainstream platform willing to carry it officially, it had spread through pirated resources and file sharing until it was everywhere, trending constantly in the anime community before it was even finished.

In this Japan it could be broadcast openly on television and was merely receiving media criticism and failure predictions. This was already ten times better than what his previous life had produced.

"I genuinely envy you," Miyu said, and her expression was honest.

She envied his mindset. He was famous enough that any flaw in his work would be immediately attacked. He read the criticism, all of it, and showed no frustration. She was different. If someone said the plot of Touch of Glass was not good she felt bad about it for at least half an hour.

Is this a good mindset, Rei thought. This is just me not being personally invested.

The anti-fans online cursed Hunter x Hunter for being unfinished, cursed One-Punch Man for being incomplete, cursed Demon Slayer for being too tragic, cursed Attack on Titan for being bloody. None of it had anything to do with Rei personally. They were criticising the plot, and Rei was not the original author of the plot, so he had no strange sense of identification with it.

"There are people in this world who do not even like money. Naturally there will be people who dislike my work. There is nothing to care about," Rei said.

"But Miyu, do not feel any pressure on my behalf. Before Demon Slayer serialised I considered the possibility that its themes might not find an audience in Japan. Before Arcane aired I thought about the possibility of the art style being too different for the market. But Titan..."

He added the rest internally: Attack on Titan, specifically, up to the sea scene. He had made significant changes to the plot after that point and was confident the principled controversies and character problems of the original would not occur.

"What about Titan?"

"Only Titan should become the most critically acclaimed work of my career."

Miyu’s eyes widened.

"You can ask Misaki if you want confirmation. Last month, for the IP planning on Titan, she came to the Illumination Production Company office and watched the first dozen or so completed episodes alongside the script for the rest of the first season." Rei paused. "Her exact words were that it was her favourite anime."

The last of Miyu’s irritability dissolved.

She held back from asking more about the plot. Spoilers would take away the experience. She had already read a few Chapters of the manga, which was enough. She would watch the rest unfold through the anime itself.

"It is already April. In a little over two months we graduate," Rei said. "I plan to travel for about half a month after the ceremony, then come back before the end of July to handle the Your Name release."

"I see," Miyu said, with a trace of something that was not quite regret. "Half a month without seeing you. But your manga... never mind, that is a ridiculous concern. Your drawing speed means there is no chance of you stopping updates."

"What I mean is, your manga is finishing at the end of June, isn’t it? Would you want to travel together? A graduation trip," Rei coughed twice.

Miyu thought about this for a long moment before it landed, and her ears went red immediately.

After a sustained internal struggle she replied as though this were a perfectly ordinary suggestion.

"That sounds quite interesting. A graduation trip."

"Right, it will be interesting. If you want to go then it is settled. Don’t back out when the time comes."

The short-term public opinion fluctuations around any work under his name no longer produced much emotional movement in Rei.

The first episode of Attack on Titan had been visually striking, but that was the attraction of the world-building and the grotesque premise. The early plot of the work was fundamentally frustrating. It had nothing to do with being hot-blooded.

First episode: the protagonist’s mother dies. Second episode: Eren, Mikasa, and Armin are like ants being chased everywhere by the invading Titans. The Armored Titan appearing in the second episode to destroy Wall Maria entirely, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and forcing humanity’s retreat to Wall Rose, made everything even more oppressive.

The third episode followed the trio to the second wall, joining the Cadet Corps for training to survive. Primarily foreshadowing. A host of important characters introduced alongside the protagonist trio: Ymir, Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Krista, Sasha, Jean. Commander Erwin had appeared as early as the first episode, mixed into the Survey Corps main force without distinction.

Looking back across the complete work, fans would find that almost every character with meaningful screen time in the first four episodes carried significant weight through to the end. The protagonist’s Cadet Corps cohort was full of hidden significance. Any character who appeared at all tended to matter.

But this density of foreshadowing in the early episodes made the opening stretch not particularly engaging.

The mother’s death. Running from Titans. A week of training. The rhythm felt off even to Shirogane-sensei’s dedicated fans.

Viewership held around 6.3 percent without much movement.

Even Demon Slayer, known for its measured pacing, had given the protagonist something to show by the third episode. Eren after three episodes had done nothing except swear to drive out the Titans.

The audience was enduring it.

Then episode four arrived.

The foreshadowing concluded. Eren’s trio graduated from the Cadet Corps and voluntarily assigned themselves to the Survey Corps. And at the end of the fourth episode, the Colossal Titan that had appeared in the first episode suddenly reappeared before Eren.

Just as in the first episode.

The final image: Eren activating his ODM Gear and launching himself at the enemy.

The early foreshadowing phase of Attack on Titan was over. The main story had begun.

One full month of buildup. The ending of episode four hit the moment it broadcast.

However much people had questioned the slow pacing, however much they had wondered whether Shirogane-sensei had really thought this through, something in them had always continued to believe.

The appearance of this turning point ignited everything.

"The battle is finally starting. After a month of waiting, the protagonist finally gets to show what he can do."

"The first four episodes were too slow."

"There is no other way. Works with unusual world-building need several episodes just to describe the world. The third and fourth episodes look like training filler on the surface, but they are actually establishing everything: how cutting the nape kills Titans, their regeneration, how they survive on sunlight, what the ODM Gear actually is. These things need to be shown carefully."

"There are too many new characters though. Jean, Reiner, Bertholdt I can understand. But Annie chose the Military Police Brigade right after graduation and did not even go with the protagonist, yet she got considerable screen time. I assumed she was the second female lead."

"What is the deal with the Colossal Titan anyway? How does it just appear out of nowhere? Does it have some kind of spatial ability?"

"That is the foreshadowing. We wait and see how Shirogane-sensei fills it in."

"The Colossal Titan has to be intelligent, right? Every time it appears it targets the city gates specifically. That cannot be accidental. Same with the Armored Titan. Could there be a small number of intelligent individuals within the Titans?"

"There are too many hidden settings in this work. I am genuinely worried Shirogane-sensei will not be able to wrap them all up. The origin of the Titans, who built the walls, why Titans only eat humans and not other creatures, what Eren’s dream in episode two meant, what is in the basement of his house.

And the most pressing concern: the Colossal Titan is fifty metres tall and its nape is probably several metres thick. Eren has two small blades. Can he actually cut through that?"

"At this point do not get too caught up in the details. The entire world of Titan is fictional."

"One episode and I am completely fired up. Episode five will be the protagonist defeating the Colossal Titan and showing his full power, right?"

"I would not count on it. No matter how aggressive Eren looks at the end of this episode, the size gap is enormous. I think he gets swatted away."

"This scene feels familiar. Was the inspiration for Titan taken from One-Punch Man? The Younger Giant Brother from the first season of One-Punch Man looks quite similar to the Colossal Titan. Could there be a connection between the two? That brother also got swatted like a fly."

"The Colossal Titan is nowhere near the scale of the Younger Giant Brother. That creature was thousands of metres tall with clouds at chest height when it stood up. Do not mix the settings."

The broadcast of episode four and its ending sequence instantly dispersed the mild doubts about Attack on Titan that had been circulating online.

The image of Eren launching himself toward the Colossal Titan was genuinely striking.

At least ninety-nine percent of the audience had come to the same conclusion: starting from episode five, Eren would finally have his moment.