"What is this work?!"
"I don't understand it! But it's incredibly powerful."
"This guy's imagination is just ridiculous."
"So this is the 'Blue Star' that's been mentioned multiple times in his dramas? Not only did he create the history and culture of Blue Star — bringing in historical figures like Alexander, Diarmuid, and the King of Heroes — but now there are even nations of Blue Star, and he's gone so far as to set up Blue Star's outer space?"
"He knows so much! I mean, never mind the sun and moon — he can even design a gas giant like Jupiter with ease?"
"Just these two minutes of the trailer gave me an inexplicable emotional surge! Lovers separated across infinite space-time... this guy really dares to dream."
"Most couples would break up the moment they move to different cities, let alone eight light-years apart."
"And that mecha — it's way cooler than Unit-01."
"Is it set in the same universe as 'Neon Genesis Evangelion'? There are aliens, too. Could this be a side story?"
"Obviously not. They're both Blue Star, but 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' and the 'Fate' series are examples of different stories with similar cultural and historical settings that diverge in modern times. Don't just assume everything set on Blue Star is part of the same universe."
"Exactly. You can think of it as alternate versions of Blue Star in parallel worlds under his scripts. Though they're all called Blue Star, the developments are completely different."
"Damn it, I wasn't even interested in shorts, but this guy's got me hyped up — I won't be able to nap this afternoon."
"Same. My Unit-02 figure is still in transit, and now he's already introducing new models in 'Voices of a Distant Star'. I'm crying…"
"I've got a feeling… now that he's diving into mecha-war dramas like this, he's probably going to develop more in that direction. Looking at the current industry trends, this genre really prints money — and he's the pioneer. There's no way he'll just ignore it."
"Though I hope that's the case, I'm not gonna make any conclusions. I've yet to see anyone successfully predict this guy."
After the 'Voices of a Distant Star' trailer dropped, it gave fans of Jing Yu — who'd been in a slump for a while — a shot of adrenaline.
Everyone agreed that short films posed no threat to the Big Six, but even so, the insane level of discussion around this project made the Big Six a little sour.
This was right when the Big Six TV stations were promoting their flagship winter dramas. Without Jing Yu participating in the season, they were confident and eager to win first place. But despite pouring tens of millions into promotions for weeks, a 20-minute short film's trailer suddenly stole the spotlight…
They had already been suppressed by Jing Yu for several years, and while they might have accepted it when it came to long-form dramas, the fact that even a project like 'Voices of a Distant Star' could trample over them so easily — that was hard to swallow.
Whether to save face or out of jealousy, some drama team members from these winter releases — during interviews — responded with obvious bitterness when asked about 'Voices of a Distant Star', directly stating that short films weren't a threat to them.
Of course, Jing Yu understood this well. He wasn't trying to compete with the Big Six in the winter season — airing 'Voices of a Distant Star' through Yunteng TV was simply a way to expand the project's reach.
Time passed slowly, and another week went by.
Jing Yu emerged from his office retreat.
People at the company had guessed right — Jing Yu had spent most of the past two weeks holed up in his office preparing a new project.
When he created 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', that too had been an experiment — to test the current technical capabilities of the Great Zhou film and TV industry, to see how such a project would turn out. And truth be told, he was satisfied.
At least within reasonable budget constraints, Jing Yu — with the vision of both his previous and current life — genuinely thought the special effects of 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' were solid.
That success sparked more ideas.
In the catalog of works that Jing Yu knew well in his past life, mecha and robot genres took up a significant portion of his viewing.
'Neon Genesis Evangelion' was an obvious example, but in his past life, among the three major sci-fi anime milestones in Japan, aside from 'Evangelion', there were also 'Space Battleship Yamato' and 'Mobile Suit Gundam'.
Of course, this "three milestones" thing was more of a Japanese-defined label. For Jing Yu personally, only 'Evangelion' and 'Mobile Suit Gundam' had a major impact. As for 'Space Battleship Yamato', not only had he not seen it, but barely anyone even knew of its existence.
So, having already found success with 'Evangelion', Jing Yu naturally started to consider other works of the same genre — particularly three.
Aside from 'Evangelion', in his past life in China, the majority of the Japanese mecha or giant robot/monster battle genre people knew included just a few key titles: 'Mobile Suit Gundam', 'Ultraman', and 'Attack on Titan'.
The first two needed no explanation — they were peak-tier IPs, commercially and critically, with global brand value in the billions in his past life.
As for 'Attack on Titan', while the ending was a mess, the first 99% of the series was absolutely legendary. It's a ludicrous conclusion, frankly, that could be fixed — as long as he didn't stick to the original manga's ending. If he used the interpretations and theories fans had before the finale, it could still be a powerful story. A lion's tail is still better than a trash ending. It might get some criticism, but Jing Yu wasn't worried. He wasn't stupid — while he usually wouldn't alter a story's plot, these things were all decided on a case-by-case basis.
Besides, compared to 'Attack on Titan', the other two series were absurdly long. Filming them fully could take ten years and require cumulative funding of more than a billion.
And that suited Jing Yu just fine. Running a company that fed hundreds of people was mentally exhausting — constantly worrying about how to keep them employed. By bringing out these two long-running series, the entire company would have plenty to work on for years.
Of course, these three series also wiped out the majority of Jing Yu's saved-up fan value. None of them came cheap — and it pained him for a long while.
But this development was inevitable. Projects like 'Initial D' or 'Slam Dunk' might have great reputations, but compared to these three in terms of profitability, the gap was astronomical.
If Jing Yu's company wanted to grow, making seasonal hits wasn't enough. Like Nintendo in his past life — mention the company, and everyone thought of Pikachu. That character was born decades ago but continued to generate annual profits in the billions. Jing Yu understood the power of IP incubation.
Whether it's the 'Fate' series or 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', their most profitable periods weren't necessarily right after airing. It was years later, when the fan base had grown large and dedicated, that their real potential began to show.
That was also Jing Yu's hope for 'Gundam' and 'Ultraman' — that they would become the flagship titles of his company.
He wanted people to say, "Oh, 'Ultraman' and 'Gundam'? Those came from BlueStar Media & Film!"
As for 'Attack on Titan', truthfully, while its popularity among younger audiences might be slightly higher, its long-term commercial viability didn't compare. Even if it had a perfect ending, it still wouldn't beat 'Ultraman' or 'Gundam'.
Let's face it — people are far more willing to buy merch of cool-looking Gundams or Ultramen than creepy, naked giants with exposed teeth and missing genitals. You could see the commercial potential just from character design.
The only reason 'Attack on Titan' was grouped with the others was because the plot was thrilling — Jing Yu just personally wanted to make it.
So, when Jing Yu laid a thick stack of preliminary drafts and planning documents — the product of two weeks of sleepless effort — in front of Cheng Lie, the man's eyelid twitched.
It was so fast. And this time, it felt like Jing Yu was more serious than ever.