Episode nine aired at the end of May. Episode ten followed in early June. Three consecutive episodes from the episode eight twist onward clarified the main storyline of the arc.

Japan’s audience was not slow to connect the implications. If Eren could transform into a Titan, then the clearly intelligent Colossal Titan and Armored Titan from episode one were almost certainly also humans in disguise.

Which meant the destruction of Eren’s hometown and the attack on Wall Maria had been entirely deliberate. Entirely man-made.

The main plot of Attack on Titan had shifted naturally from driving out Titans to catching the traitors living within human society.

Enemies without intelligence were inherently less compelling. Enemies who were human, who had reasons and plans, changed everything about how a story could be told.

The latest two episodes followed Eren from waking up to being feared by his own teammates, to the Military Police Brigade wanting him killed after discovering his ability, to Commander Pyxis arriving and giving him one chance to prove he was human rather than a monster.

The only evidence Eren could offer was to use his Titan form to carry a massive boulder and seal the breach in the wall himself.

Ten episodes to establish the basic subversions of the world-building. And then the reputation of the anime began to move.

By the time June arrived, the fan response had become a tidal wave.

"So this is the kind of story it is. I was completely lost in the beginning."

"The early section was such a slow burn. A protagonist who gets beaten down constantly, loses his mother at the start, struggles through training, and gets swallowed whole right after graduating. Anyone who stuck with it for a month without dropping it earned what comes next."

"This is why original world-building works suffer. Anime fans today have limited patience for complex premises. Two or three confusing episodes and most people are gone. Even Shirogane-sensei is not immune to this."

"Once you get into the world-building it becomes genuinely fascinating. The slow start pays off completely."

"What draws you in is not just the world-building. It is how each character’s personality is forged under the pressure of the Titans. The daily life characterisation is ordinary. The moment the fighting starts and people face death, every character becomes someone you remember."

"Armin losing his courage before death. Eren saving Armin while dying himself. Mikasa not fearing death but fearing she would no longer be able to miss Eren if she died. This work has had no real problems from episode one until now. Slow, yes. But the plot has been consistently good."

"The Colossal Titan vaporising and disappearing in episode four. I assumed it was some kind of special ability. Rewatching that scene now after episode eight, it is obvious he was a Shifter escaping. Shirogane-sensei hid this in plain sight for four episodes."

"Commander Pyxis is one of the best side characters Shirogane-sensei has created. He appears for ten minutes and I trust him completely."

"I have not seen a single Shirogane-sensei anti-fan in two days. It is peaceful. This happens every time: flood of bad reviews when a new work starts, questions about whether his talent has run out, and then the work hits a new record and everyone who spoke up has to go quiet."

"Someone who was an orphan in middle school, was drawing manga professionally in high school, became world-famous in university, and graduated as a billionaire at twenty-two. I understand why certain people cannot accept this. I also understand why it will never change no matter how many masterpieces he produces."

"The anti-fans are a permanent feature of his career at this point. They are not going away. The works are also not going away. This is just the situation."

"Attack on Titan episode ten viewership at 6.92 percent. At this rate by the end of the first season it will be competing directly with Demon Slayer’s numbers."

"Different audience base. Demon Slayer reached everyone. Attack on Titan reaches a specific kind of viewer very deeply. The trajectories will look different."

"Both can be true. Stop ranking them."

In early June, Attack on Titan episode ten reached 6.92 percent viewership. The growth pattern was familiar. Ion TV was used to it. Hoshimori Group was used to it. The anime industry broadly was used to it.

It was Shirogane-sensei. Calling his work a failure before it was finished was simply not something anyone dared to do anymore. Except Miyu Yukishiro, who could not sit still and spent her days arguing with anti-fans online, which was a different matter.

As June began, Rei took Miyu on the graduation trip. Both of them had resources that made comfort the default. They went accordingly.

While they were away and Attack on Titan’s reputation was reversing, Shirogane Animation released the promotional trailer for Your Name, scheduled for July 16th.

Rei had made no changes to the world-building for the Japan version. When he had been unknown, changing the setting of a work was necessary to make it fit. Now it was not. And Your Name was originally set in Japan. Changing it to another culture setting would produce an uncoordinated viewing experience, the kind that resulted from stacking one adjustment on another until nothing felt grounded.

The most specific example was Kuchikamizake, the mouth-chewed sake central to the film’s premise. Rei had looked through Japan’s regional customs and found nothing comparable. There was no clean way to transplant it. The Japan setting stayed.

On June 7th, the forty-seven-second trailer went online.

The main plot was impossible to determine from the trailer alone. What was immediately clear was the image quality and the production standard. And the trailer’s credits made explicit that Shirogane-sensei had served as screenwriter, music director, theme song composer, insert song composer, and ending song composer simultaneously.

People already knew he was unreasonable. This still left many of them briefly unable to form words.

"A romance movie?"

"Do you really need to ask that? The real question is how Shirogane-sensei is simultaneously handling production on both Attack on Titan and Your Name while we are barely surviving our graduation projects."

"Just accept it. Complaining changes nothing."

"Seven years. Shirogane-sensei’s first new romance work in seven years. I am genuinely emotional."

"His battle anime are impressive but his romance works are the ones that actually reach inside your chest. I still watch Five Centimeters Per Second every year."

"I hope Your Name does respectable box office. If romance works from Shirogane-sensei consistently underperform compared to his action titles he may stop making them."

"When the Infinity Castle arc finished its domestic run it had cleared 86 billion yen. Half of that is not a realistic target for a romance film. The highest-grossing romance film in Japanese history, Sunny Rain from thirteen years ago, peaked at around 38 billion yen. If Your Name reaches 26 to 28 billion it would be a historic result for the genre."

"Not every film from a great director performs equally. Most entries in any filmmaker’s career are mid-range by their own standards. Judging Your Name against Demon Slayer’s numbers is not a useful comparison."

"The person I watched the Five Centimeters Per Second live-action film with is now married to someone else. Probably because the ending was a tragedy. I am taking my current girlfriend to see Your Name next month. Shirogane-sensei, please know what is good for you this time."

"Five Centimeters Per Second ended badly, Tonight ended badly. Shirogane-sensei’s romance track record is not encouraging for people in relationships."

"Your Name has a different energy from the trailer. It feels warmer. I think we are safe."

"I think that every time and then I cry alone in the cinema."

A beach on a tourist island in Japan.

Rei had his fishing rod set up and was watching the line from behind sunglasses. His first time fishing since arriving in this world, and he had caught nothing, which was embarrassing given that he had been confident about it in front of Miyu.

Beside him, Miyu was in a light blue swimsuit, sunscreen on, sitting in a chair with her eyes not on the water but on the tablet next to her.

"I said no looking at online comments during the trip," Rei said.

"The Your Name trailer just dropped. I am checking the public response. If any haters show up I want to be ready."

"Misaki handles that."

Miyu paused, then sighed quietly.

"I know. I just cannot help paying attention. Even though it is not my work."

"You have changed this year," she added. "You used to get nervous before releases. Now nothing moves you."

"I put in maximum effort. After that the market decides," Rei said. "And although saying this myself sounds like bragging, I think Your Name is on the same level as the Demon Slayer film. The box office will be fine."

"I have no idea where that confidence comes from."

Rei’s expression shifted slightly.

They had been dating for several months, but things had moved slowly. She had never stayed at his place, which meant she had no idea about the dozen or so files in his bedside drawer.

Animated films he had recalled over the past two years. Nearly Makoto Shinkai’s complete works. Of those, only Suzume and Weathering With You were truly worth adapting, and both carried significant issues.

Suzume’s emotional development between the leads was uneven and certain dialogue was jarring. Weathering With You’s central choice, the protagonist sacrificing half a city to save the girl, reliably split audiences badly. Neither was urgent.

The other files were Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Satoshi Kon after that.

If Your Name performed below expectations, the animated film division would simply shift to Miyazaki’s catalogue next. There was genuinely no version of this problem that produced anxiety for him.

"Alright. Graduation trip means graduation trip. Work and play stay separate." Rei took the tablet away from Miyu.

A few days passed quickly.

Episode eleven of Attack on Titan aired.

The episode covered Eren accepting Commander Pyxis’s proposal and the plan that followed. Across the fallen city, every branch of the military, the Survey Corps, the Military Police Brigade, and the Garrison Regiment, began working together. They used their lives to clear a path through the Titans, removing obstacles for Eren.

Eren transformed into a Titan and carried the boulder to the breach in the wall.

Whether the hole could be sealed determined the survival of hundreds of thousands of people in the territory between the second and first walls.

The entire episode was heavy with dialogue and strategy, and Commander Pyxis’s speech before the operation was the centrepiece of it. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

After this episode aired, it ignited the passion of Attack on Titan fans. Nearly three months into the broadcast, the anime was finally becoming hot-blooded in the conventional sense.

Eren was no longer just a soldier who could only shout about his intentions. He was someone genuinely capable of saving his companions and the people around him in a world facing extinction.

Episode eleven viewership: 7.12 percent. Another Shirogane-sensei work crossing seven percent. The industry had come to treat this as an expected milestone. Breaking seven percent was difficult the first time.

Once the accumulated fan base reached sufficient size, the momentum carried itself even if the individual episode was not exceptional.

Late June arrived.

Episode twelve of Attack on Titan was the conclusion of the first major story arc. This had been explicitly signalled on the official websites of Illumination Production Company, Ion TV, and Shirogane Animation.

From the morning onward, Shirogane-sensei fan groups across Japan were active.

Three months of broadcast had shifted the majority of his audience from the emotional space of Demon Slayer into Attack on Titan. The Demon Slayer theatrical schedule was fixed and clear. The second film was releasing during the spring holiday season two years from now. The third film four years after that. The audience had accepted the wait and moved their weekly attention elsewhere.

The forums were running speculation in every direction. Who was the Armored Titan. Who was the Colossal Titan. Would either of them allow Eren to seal the breach without interference. The Colossal Titan at fifty metres could kick the fifteen-metre Eren aside without difficulty. Would it appear at the critical moment in episode twelve?

Millions of viewers across Japan were carrying these questions into the evening.

Thursday daytime ended. Evening arrived.

...

STONES PLZZ

Read upto 50 Chapters ahead at [email protected]/Ashnoir