Parallel world Manga Artist-Chapter 233: End of the Year

This chapter of the Chimera Ant arc can be said to have finally put the hearts of all Hunter fans at ease.

Although a vocal group of fans expressed disappointment on the day of publication, finding the fate of Meruem and Komugi too bleak and despairing, the wider reception shifted dramatically from the second day onward. Numerous media outlets and manga fans alike unanimously praised the arc with overwhelming enthusiasm.

The Hoshimori Group moved quickly in response, with promotional funding following suit almost immediately. They announced that the upcoming anime adaptation of the Chimera Ant arc would receive a comprehensive budget increase, with its production quality benchmarked against the One Punch Man anime in every aspect.

For a time, the entire Japanese animation industry was blanketed in the hype surrounding Hunter x Hunter's Chimera Ant arc. This left Rei's spirited promotional campaign for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime completely overshadowed, even with the series set to premiere in just over a week.

Rei was powerless against it.

While he hoped Hunter fans would gradually shift their attention toward Demon Slayer, the upcoming parallel storylines in Hunter x Hunter, the Hunter Association Chairman Election arc and Killua's mission to save Gon, were largely transitional chapters setting the stage for the Dark Continent arc. They served as a resolution to the Chimera Ant arc rather than driving the main plot forward in any significant way.

Still, since fans were fully immersed in the Hunter x Hunter narrative for now, he decided to let things run their course. Besides, Demon Slayer was a slow burn in its early episodes anyway.

Inside the Illumination Animation offices, the entire company had grown fully accustomed to the three-track workflow of producing two Demon Slayer films and the TV anime simultaneously.

With year's end approaching and the New Year's holiday just around the corner, an air of quiet anticipation had settled over the staff, and for good reason. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba was set to premiere on January 4th. There were only a few days left.

"Not bad."

"Impressive."

"No issues."

In the screening room, a group of company executives had just finished watching the edited version of the second episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba together. Once Rei gave a nod of approval, his subordinates understood that the cut had passed his review and could be submitted to Ion TV for broadcast.

"Time flies so fast. Another year has already gone by," Himari said with a quiet sigh, after most of the others had filed out.

When she thought about it, she and Rei had been working together for three years now. His inspiration had never stopped flowing, script after script arriving at her office in a steady stream. Those globally acclaimed productions had transformed Illumination from a struggling firm of a few dozen people into one of the premier animation studios in Japan.

Even with countless peers across the industry waiting for Demon Slayer to stumble, Himari felt surprisingly calm. She had been through too much to be rattled by outside noise. The early episodes of Demon Slayer were admittedly slow-paced, but for reasons she couldn't fully articulate, she had come to trust that whatever this young man put his name on, no matter how understated the beginning, would eventually ignite in public consciousness, just as Hunter x Hunter and One Punch Man had before it.

"I know. I'm already twenty years old, a junior in college now," Rei said softly. "At the rate things are going, I'll probably have graduated by the time the Demon Slayer project wraps up."

Himari said nothing for a moment.

According to Rei's own projections, the TV adaptation of Demon Slayer would run for at least fifty to sixty episodes, with several theatrical films to follow on top of that. Graduation wasn't just a distant milestone, the series itself might not even be finished two or three years from now.

"Speaking of which," Rei continued, "next quarter I'll need to dedicate a significant amount of time to wrapping up Hunter x Hunter and keeping the Demon Slayer manga on schedule. Even with a buffer backlog built up, the serialization pressure is still enormous. I'll likely be coming into the office less frequently. Miss Himari, I'd really appreciate it if you could keep a closer eye on the Demon Slayer animation production while I'm less present, especially the theatrical films."

The TV series, at least, gave him some peace of mind. For content airing on television, minor imperfections in execution rarely dealt a significant blow to a work's overall reputation.

The Demon Slayer films, however, were an entirely different matter. Rei was pouring hundreds of millions into those short two hours of storytelling per film. His minimum requirement was for the production quality to surpass, in every aspect, anything that had come before in his previous life.

Strictly speaking, Rei had always felt that animated theatrical films had far more untapped potential than the industry had yet dared to explore. The original Mugen Train film, for instance, hadn't quite managed to distinguish itself as a cinematic experience separate from the TV series it extended. Viewed through the lens of a television production, the quality had been commendable. Viewed through the lens of a standalone theatrical film, however, it had only scratched the surface of what was possible.

But the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Arc film under his direction was going to reach far beyond that ceiling.

With animation, you truly get what you pay for. Looking at the current prototype footage for the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Arc film, even Rei himself was quietly stunned.

"Don't worry, I know that, of course," Himari said with a smile. "The Demon Slayer anime is this company's flagship now. I've spent years building our reputation in this industry, and I won't let it be tarnished here. The Mugen Train Arc film releasing in July will absolutely exceed the expectations of Japan's animation fans when it reaches its final form."

She paused briefly before adding, "And then there's the second Demon Slayer theatrical film coming out next February."

She let the words hang in the air for a moment.

Demon Slayer was the first project in her entire career where two films had already been scheduled before the TV anime had even begun broadcasting. What was more, the combined investment across the TV anime and both films had surpassed 500 million, making it, without question, the most heavily funded anime IP in the Japanese animation industry at this moment.

"Rei, with an investment this massive... how high do you think the box office for these two films will go?"

The production costs alone were already in the hundreds of millions, and the promotional expenditure upon theatrical release would add another substantial sum on top of that. Just thinking about it made Himari uneasy. The pressure to break even was immense. Even though, as producer, the box office earnings from the Demon Slayer IP had no direct bearing on her own income, she found herself deeply invested in its outcome regardless.

"If everything goes smoothly, the box office performance of the Demon Slayer films will exceed your imagination," Rei said.

"One billion?" Himari ventured after a moment's thought.

"My expectations are somewhat higher than that," Rei replied. "At the very least, it has to claim the number one spot in the history of Japan's animated theatrical films." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Himari looked at him steadily.

To put it plainly, the box office of any spinoff film is ultimately determined by the popularity of the original work. Rei's confidence wasn't unfounded bravado, it meant something far more telling.

'He isn't worried about the TV anime's performance at all.'

In the final week of December, the latest issue of Dream Comic was released.

The Demon Slayer serialization within it was relatively understated this week, functioning as a closing chapter to the Chimera Ant arc in Hunter x Hunter. The plot unfolded largely as fans had anticipated, beginning to lay the groundwork for Killua's mission to save Gon.

There was also a quiet but notable development in this particular issue. A manga that had long struggled with low readership in the magazine reached its "technical conclusion" that week. The author offered heartfelt thanks to readers on the final page, and then, in keeping with the Hoshimori Group's tradition, a teaser appeared for the new series that would take over the serialization slot the following Friday, January 5th.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.

As Hunter x Hunter transitioned into its setup phase and the intensity of its conflicts eased, discussion threads about it across online forums began to taper off noticeably. Meanwhile, topics surrounding Demon Slayer surged to the top.

Hundreds of media outlets and tens of millions of manga readers across Japan now had their eyes fixed on this new work by Shirogane.