In early December, Rei, Himari, the core staff of Illumination Animation, and department heads from more than a dozen partner companies gathered to screen the completed first episode of Arcane.
Strictly speaking, the Japanese version of Arcane differed in several key ways from the version in Rei's previous life.
The most important difference lay in facial modeling.
In his previous life, Arcane's art style had been undeniably powerful, especially during combat scenes between male characters, which were immersive and intense.
But when it came to female characters… Rei could only admit that something felt off.
If you paused the animation and looked closely, even characters who were clearly teenagers sometimes appeared oddly mature, too mature.
Caitlyn was the most obvious example. In the original game, she was a graceful, youthful beauty. Yet in the animation, whenever her expressions became complex, she often looked more like a middle-aged woman.
Rei valued aesthetics in animation. He could accept realism, but not at the cost of distorting the faces of teenage characters like Caitlyn, Vi, and Jinx.
He wasn't sure whether the original production had been influenced by certain overseas movements, similar to trends in some games, that discouraged female characters from being too beautiful, too sexy.
But Rei didn't care about any of that in Japan.
The visual style of Arcane would remain faithful to its original, but for the female characters, he deliberately blended elements from the game designs and the original animation, refining them into a more balanced and appealing look.
When the full forty-minute first episode finished playing, silence fell over the screening room.
Everyone had held expectations during production, but actually watching the completed episode filled them with a deep, indescribable emotion.
Rei felt it most strongly.
In his previous life, Arcane had been exceptional in almost every way, but the Japanese dubbing had always felt slightly lacking to him.Now, with performances delivered by veteran Japanese voice actors, even though he knew every plot beat by heart, his pulse still quickened by the time the episode ended.
"Thank you all for your hard work…" Rei said quietly, exhaling.
"Not at all, Shirogane-sensei is the one who worked the hardest."
"The character designs, art direction, and music were all personally supervised by you. Out of everyone here, your workload was the heaviest."
"Exactly."
"I was nervous at first," someone admitted. "The Japanese industry has never seen an animation with this kind of style. But after watching it… I honestly can't wait for the premiere."
"I heard it's launching simultaneously in dozens of countries worldwide!"
The room buzzed with excitement.
Aside from Illumination Animation's own staff, many representatives from partner companies spoke freely.
Producing Arcane at this level in such a short time could never have been accomplished by Illumination alone. To the outside world, Illumination Animation was the sole producer, but in reality, nearly one-third of Japan's top animation studios had participated in the project in various capacities, drawn in by Rei's funding and reputation.
Himari had been able to assemble this alliance largely because one-punch man's performance was overwhelming.
Rei's credibility was unquestioned. The project promised profit, prestige, and guaranteed visibility. There was simply no reason for capable studios to refuse.
At that moment, Rei spoke again, his tone turning serious.
"However, we need to accelerate."
Everyone straightened.
"Arcane will air Seasons One and Two consecutively. Both seasons are currently being produced in parallel by two teams working in rotation. That means eighteen forty-minute episodes…"
He paused.
"…must be completed within seven months."
The smiles in the room froze.
Each episode was nearly the length of a short film, and demanded extreme production quality. Although work had already begun on every episode, a hard seven-month deadline still carried enormous pressure.
"I know it's tough," Rei said gently.
"But I'm counting on all of you."
He smiled.
"When this animation is finished, I'll personally treat everyone to a proper vacation."
"Understood."
"Leave it to us, Shirogane-sensei!"
As the screening session concluded, both Rei and Illumination Animation entered an intense period of nonstop work over the following days.
Because Arcane was an animation Rei had invested in and produced himself, every cent of promotion and distribution came from his own pocket.
More importantly, as the most influential anime creator in Japan at present, Rei could not be absent from Arcane's promotional frontlines.
In less than a week, trailers and advertisements for Arcane spread rapidly across first- and second-tier cities throughout Japan, ACGN commercial streets, buses and subways, television commercials, anime websites, and major online platforms were all saturated.
Naturally, Ion TV Station, the broadcast partner, also went all in.
After all, the highest-rated anime of the current season was Hunter, airing on their longtime rival, Capital Television. For the upcoming season, Ion TV Station had ambitions of its own.
As December drew to a close and most autumn anime finished airing, Japan's anime fandom gradually shifted its attention forward.
And the atmosphere began to heat up.
"It's coming. Less than twenty days until Arcane premieres. Ion TV Station, Sunday 8 p.m. slot."
"Does anyone understand how painful it is to see Ion TV spam Arcane trailers every day? I want to watch it now."
"Seriously though, can you guys really accept that art style? Don't you find it weird?"
"It is weird. But weird doesn't mean bad. It's not like Shirogane-sensei can't do Japanese-style anime. If he chose this style, it's because it fits the story better. Stop overthinking, just watch."
"Since his debut, all five of Shirogane-sensei's works have been massive hits. There's no need to doubt Arcane. And even if it turns out bad, I'll watch every episode before I criticize it."
"Next season's hegemon anime is already decided."
"Hegemon again? You're pretending Hunter doesn't exist? Its latest episode pulled 6.09%. You really think Arcane can hit that?"
"One-punch man hit over 7%. Why not?"
"One-punch man is One-punch man. You can't expect Shirogane-sensei to replicate that level twice in a row with self-produced works. For a Western-fantasy anime like Arcane, which Japanese audiences usually don't favor, matching Hikaru no Go's ratings would already be the ceiling."
"Are you kidding? The investment for Arcane exceeds 900 million. A single season of one-punch man didn't even cost 200 million. Why would Arcane lose?"
"Animation isn't just about throwing money at it. Even if you spend a billion, if the audience doesn't like the story, high production quality means nothing."
"I'll watch Arcane, sure, but I'm still backing Hunter next season."
As January approached, subtle cracks even began to form among Rei's own fans.
And it wasn't just fans.
The media was asking the same question.
Arcane versus Hunter.
Between the two works created by Rei himself, which would become the hegemon anime of the season?
Of course, many people harbored a quieter, darker expectation.
As the saying goes, nothing succeeds more than three times in a row.
Hikaru no Go.
Hunter.
One-punch man.
All nationwide hits.
No matter how talented Shirogane was, his fourth original animation had to stumble eventually… didn't it?
Many who had stayed silent until now, including long-lurking internet trolls, were eagerly waiting for that moment.
By the end of December, all eyes had converged on a single date.
January 7th.
The premiere of Arcane.