With the broadcast of its twenty-third episode, 'Fate/Zero' reached the peak of its popularity since the anime began airing. The story itself was the kind that became increasingly exciting as it approached its conclusion. With the Holy Grail War nearing its end, the fates of every Master and Heroic Spirit who had participated in the conflict were about to be decided. As an ensemble drama, this was probably one of its greatest attractions for viewers.
The characters with relatively little presence in the anime had generally been eliminated first. The serial killer Ryūnosuke Uryū had never been particularly popular, and although Zhao Yun had received considerable attention during the early stages of the story, his choice of Master had doomed him to an unfavorable outcome. As for Tokiomi Tohsaka, who had never truly paid a price for participating in the Holy Grail War, his departure was only natural.
Of those remaining, Kariya Matou's fate was closely connected to Sakura Matou's. However, the direction of the anime already made his tragic ending fairly obvious. He wanted to save Aoi Tohsaka by murdering the person she loved most. Regardless of whether he succeeded, that decision had been his greatest failure from the very beginning.
Kiritsugu Emiya, the gambler who had staked everything, had absolutely no way to retreat.
The two members of the "Pleasure" duo had successfully transformed into the antagonists.
Meanwhile, Iskandar and Waver, the pair who most resembled traditional protagonists, had already been destined to leave the stage. Nevertheless, their conclusion still left audiences extremely satisfied.
Episode 23 of the anime was devoted entirely to the confrontation between Iskandar, the King of Conquerors, and Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.
Because the anime was considerably longer than the original version, there was ample room to expand this part of the story. Under Kamiyā Yuu's direction, both the characterization and the visual presentation reached a level that ordinary anime simply couldn't match.
In terms of the special effects that the studio took such pride in, Episode 23 represented the pinnacle of the entire series. It was also the ultimate expression of Japanese 2D animation.
The horrific spectacle of Gate of Babylon bombarding Ionioi Hetairoi left countless viewers dumbfounded.
There wasn't the slightest attempt to economize on the production budget. Combined with Kamiyā Yuu's extraordinary mastery of camera angles and shot composition, the result was a magnificent yet brutal battlefield unlike anything previously depicted, not merely in animation but even in live-action films.
Ordinarily, scenes of such enormous scale were filmed using distant, wide-angle shots.
There were two reasons for this.
First, wide shots emphasized the sheer scale of the spectacle. Second, they allowed the production team to omit a considerable amount of visual detail, reducing the difficulty of production.
Ordinary viewers generally didn't find anything strange about this approach.
However, just as animating on threes had become mainstream in the anime industry, it was simply the most cost-effective production method.
It was by no means the method best suited to maximizing the visual impact of a scene.
Yosuganosora Animation Studio had never needed to worry about such limitations.
Another unforgettable moment was Gilgamesh's use of the EX-rank Anti-World Noble Phantasm, Ea, the Sword of Rupture.
Audiences witnessed the destruction of an entire world.
The desert and the horizon collapsed together, perfectly illustrating what it meant for heaven and earth to be torn apart.
Millions of soldiers were buried in an instant like insignificant ants, disappearing alongside the collapsing Reality Marble.
Only then did viewers truly comprehend the terrifying power possessed by Gilgamesh, the first and strongest Heroic Spirit.
According to statistics from the Nice-net video platform, the episode's simultaneous online broadcast attracted 1.04 million viewers.
That figure was already extremely close to the seemingly insurmountable miracle achieved by 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'.
The audience approval rating also matched 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' at an astonishing 99 percent.
Furthermore, 'Fate/Zero' had practically monopolized the top ten positions in the season's episode approval rankings.
Among the top twenty, apart from episodes of 'Fate/Zero', several particularly exciting episodes of 'Twilight of the Knights' had also secured places.
Nice-net's seasonal anime approval rankings didn't evaluate an entire series as a single entry. Instead, they ranked individual episodes.
Therefore, it was theoretically possible for all ten positions on either the highest-rated or lowest-rated episode rankings to belong to a single anime.
Only three anime had ever occupied all ten places on a season's highest-rated list: 'Violet Blooming Garden', 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica', and 'Fate/Zero'.
In Kamiyā Yuu's previous world, an anime on Japan's NicoNico video platform had achieved a similar feat.
In fact, its accomplishment had been even more outrageous and historically significant than those of 'Fate/Zero' and 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'.
'Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V' had monopolized all twenty positions on the lowest-rated episode rankings.
Coincidentally, the story of 'Twilight of the Knights' was also approaching its conclusion.
It had reached the critical point where Artoria, the King of Knights, came into conflict with the Knights of the Round Table.
This happened to overlap perfectly with Saber's impending confrontation with Lancelot in 'Fate/Zero'.
This duet of intertwined destinies would undoubtedly benefit both anime considerably.
The 'Fate/Zero' novel had already been officially declared complete.
With a total length exceeding two million characters, it was considered an exceptionally long light novel.
Of course, two million characters weren't enough to claim the record for the longest light novel.
In this world, that distinction belonged to 'Legend of the Hero from Another World', which had published fifty-one volumes totaling nearly six million characters.
As for the light novel industry in Japan in Kamiyā Yuu's previous world, the record established by 'Guin Saga' had yet to be surpassed.
That novel's position in the light novel industry was considerably more prestigious than the position held by 'Starting from Zero' in the webnovel industry.
Including both the main story and its spin-offs, 'Guin Saga' had published more than 150 volumes.
Each volume averaged between 100,000 and 150,000 characters, and cumulative sales had exceeded ten million copies.
However, if 'Fate/Zero' had also been divided into volumes of 100,000 characters each, its total sales would already have surpassed ten million copies.
In just one year, it had effortlessly broken records that other famous light novels had spent more than a decade accumulating.
Its popularity was obvious.
'Fate/Zero' was held in exceptionally high regard by light novel readers.
Its story was exciting yet profound, its illustrations were of the highest quality, and its characters were richly developed.
Setting aside whether the story suited individual tastes, many readers considered it a practically perfect light novel.
One of the novel's most widely praised qualities was the extraordinary vividness of its descriptive writing.
Kamiyā Yuu's prose was of an exceptionally high standard, and his imagination was remarkably rich.
Many readers found themselves naturally "seeing" the world described in the novel as they read.
For that reason, 'Fate/Zero' had also earned a reputation as the novel that provided the strongest sense of immersion.
Kamiyā Yuu had his consciousness space to thank for that.
Every anime he produced was the result of scenes he had first simulated within his consciousness space.
He was essentially taking events he had personally "witnessed" and translating them into written descriptions.
The novel's conclusion hadn't provoked an especially intense reaction from readers.
Novels offered considerably more room for narrative expansion than anime, and after Kamiyā Yuu's carefully considered revisions, the ending managed to be both expected and unexpected.
More importantly, however, was the announcement Kamiyā Yuu had included at the end of the fifth volume of 'Fate/Zero'.
'Fate/stay night', the sequel to 'Fate/Zero' and the ultimate conclusion to the Holy Grail War storyline within the entire Type-Moon universe, would be released in January.
It would bring the intertwined destinies of three characters to a conclusion.
Shirou Emiya, Kiritsugu Emiya's adopted son, who carried the burden of his foster father's obsession with justice.
Rin Tohsaka, the inheritor of a legitimate magus bloodline.
And Sakura Matou, who had never resisted her own fate, even at the very end.
Kamiyā Yuu had also released illustrations depicting the three characters as adults.
He had warned readers that 'Fate/stay night' would be written with younger audiences more in mind.
After all, although 'Fate/stay night' and 'Fate/Zero' were connected as sequel and prequel, their storytelling styles were by no means identical.
He couldn't produce the anime adaptation in the near future, but he could at least continue writing light novels to give readers something to look forward to.
It would also allow him to finally resolve the enormous unresolved storyline surrounding the Holy Grail War.
Kamiyā Yuu didn't intend to divide 'Fate/stay night' into three separate routes.
He simply didn't have enough time to produce anime adaptations of the entire series.
Besides, apart from the Heaven's Feel route, the other routes could only be considered excellent rather than indispensable.
He planned to reexamine the stories of all three routes, extract their finest elements, and weave them together around Heaven's Feel as the central storyline.
The result would be Kamiyā Yuu's own version of 'Fate/stay night'.
This would be an enormous undertaking, considerably more troublesome than revising 'Fate/Zero'.
After all, each route possessed its own distinctive characteristics.
If he failed to combine them properly, 'Fate/stay night' could end up ruining the reputation of the entire Holy Grail War storyline.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the light novel industry, 'Mechanical Era', written by Akiyama Gojō and illustrated by Kamiyā Yuu, had officially gone on sale following a promotional campaign by Chiyo Bookstore.
Its initial influence couldn't compare with 'Fate/Zero'.
In fact, it couldn't even match the early popularity of 'Fate/Zero' before its anime adaptation began airing.
Nevertheless, it had the name of Kamiyā Yuu, a top-tier illustrator, attached to it.
Akiyama Gojō had also written several well-known light novels in the past.
Naturally, the book had little difficulty attracting attention within the light novel community.
"Its popularity is fairly decent. If it maintains this momentum, entering the bestselling rankings shouldn't be a problem."
Inside his office, Kamiyā Yuu used his computer to log into Chiyo Bookstore's official website and search for the sales records of 'Mechanical Era'.
The novel had been released in early December, and its first-week figures were encouraging.
Kamiyā Yuu chuckled as he evaluated the work.
"A post-apocalyptic world, machines, and human nature. It's a pity this world hasn't yet developed a major public debate about artificial intelligence, and 'The Terminator' hasn't appeared either."
'Mechanical Era' had almost nothing in common with the light novel genres currently in fashion.
It deviated even further from the conventional definition of a light novel than 'Fate/Zero' did.
More precisely, it deviated from the definition of a commercially marketable light novel.
It was somewhat like otaku-oriented fiction in the webnovel industry, appealing to a relatively small segment of readers.
In reality, however, Kamiyā Yuu's illustrations had elevated the reading experience of 'Mechanical Era' by more than just one level.
The post-apocalyptic world he had depicted, combined with Akiyama Gojō's meticulously crafted storyline—which had undergone several rounds of revisions over a period of years—left readers with an extremely favorable impression.
The officially published version of 'Mechanical Era' had undergone a few additional minor revisions compared with the version Kamiyā Yuu had previously read.
He remembered that the core themes of 'Mechanical Era' were remarkably similar to those of 'Mushishi'.
Both told stories that were healing and emotionally moving while also possessing considerable depth.
They were the sort of stories that rewarded repeated viewing or reading.
Unfortunately, that was precisely why they appealed to such a niche audience.
Thinking about the thematic perspectives of these two works, Kamiyā Yuu recalled another relatively famous title with a similar approach.
'Natsume's Book of Friends'.
"'Mushishi' explores the relationship between mushi—or, more broadly, nature—and humanity. 'Natsume's Book of Friends' explores the relationship between yokai and humans. And 'Mechanical Era' explores the relationship between machines and humans."
Kamiyā Yuu rested his right hand on the desk and unconsciously tapped his fingers against its surface.
Closing his eyes, he listened to the rhythmic sounds coming from the wooden desk while recalling the details of all three works.
If Kamiyā Yuu had to rank them, he would place Akiyama Gojō's 'Mechanical Era' first, 'Mushishi' second, and 'Natsume's Book of Friends' third.
However, judging by popularity, the ranking seemed to be almost exactly the opposite.
Kamiyā Yuu understood why 'Natsume's Book of Friends' was so popular.
Its stories were comforting, its art style was attractive, and its voice acting was excellent.
If someone were to list the anime most beloved by female viewers, 'Natsume's Book of Friends' would undoubtedly be among them.
However, the anime also had an obvious weakness.
It was too shallow.
Despite having four seasons, practically every episode of every season repeated the same basic storyline.
It continually served viewers the same comforting, inspirational messages.
No matter how delicious a bowl of chicken soup might be, drinking too much of it would eventually become tiresome.
Especially when the flavor never changed.
'Natsume's Book of Friends' lacked narrative depth, yet it handled certain commercial elements exceptionally well.
Consequently, it was undoubtedly a famous anime, but not necessarily an outstanding work.
This raised a question.
What exactly did people mean when they talked about the depth of an anime's story?
Simply saying that a story was thought-provoking was far too narrow a definition.
In simpler terms, narrative depth could be understood as a work's central theme and the values it expressed in a way that audiences could recognize and appreciate.
To put it bluntly, even mainstream shōnen series like the "Big Three"—'Death Note', 'Naruto', and 'One Piece'—promoted straightforward, easily understood values such as justice and friendship.
The same was true of 'Pretty Cure', an anime aimed at children.
These stories built upon people's existing understanding of certain values and explored the possibilities within them.
Looking a little deeper, 'Fullmetal Alchemist' possessed an exceptionally clear thematic foundation.
Its principle of equivalent exchange had become an idea that continued to circulate throughout ACG culture.
The same could be said of 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' and 'Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion'.
Every anime Kamiyā Yuu produced possessed a clearly defined central theme.
'Natsume's Book of Friends' used the Book of Friends to tell individual emotional stories about yokai.
That premise was already somewhat limited.
The questions surrounding intelligent machines in 'Mechanical Era' were issues humanity would inevitably have to confront in the future.
Yokai, on the other hand, didn't actually exist in reality.
Furthermore, in stories about yokai, the protagonist often wasn't truly the central character.
Finally, because the supposedly moving stories were presented through an episodic structure, they ultimately felt rather insubstantial.
When combined into a complete series, the individual stories remained scattered and disconnected, failing to express a clear central theme or coherent set of values.
If a single episode were enough to communicate an anime's entire thematic message, there would be no need for long-running series like the Big Three to exist.
'Mushishi' was somewhat similar to 'Natsume's Book of Friends' in this respect.
It also adopted an episodic structure.
However, the central themes and values expressed throughout 'Mushishi' were considerably more profound and thought-provoking.
Every episode explored and deepened the same underlying themes.
Having reached this conclusion, Kamiyā Yuu shook his head and smiled faintly.
"That's precisely what makes it so valuable as an anime adaptation."
This time, the effort he had invested in drawing illustrations hadn't been wasted.
He had invested his time and talent in something genuinely worthwhile.
After checking the performance of the various novels, he returned to his writing.
Between 'Battle Through the Heavens' and 'Fate/stay night', which he was preparing to release in January, he had very little free time left.