"These new project names... they just sound badass!"
"Attack on Titan? Is that some kind of fantasy fairy tale? Great Zhou mythology does have legends about giants... is Old Thief finally dipping his toes into mythological storytelling?"
"What the hell? That's wild."
"People often joke about how slow Old Thief is at putting out new work, but this time, I've got nothing to say."
"Saying he's slow is just a meme — it's really about how we can't get enough of his stuff. Honestly, in just seven years of writing, he's probably created more content than 99% of Great Zhou's screenwriters do in a lifetime."
"But three new projects at once? That blew my mind. I can feel my DNA buzzing."
"That Ultraman thing — okay, I don't really get it just from the name. But 'Mobile Suit Gundam'? Come on, if you know, you know."
"What's wrong with that name?"
"You seriously don't get it? It's clearly the same genre as Neon Genesis Evangelion!"
"Think about it — from Evangelion to Voices of a Distant Star, it's obvious Old Thief's always had a soft spot for mecha stories. Now he's launching Mobile Suit Gundam? Say no more. This was clearly planned."
"Honestly, I think the genre has a huge market. Merch sells well, ratings are solid... Why hasn't anyone in Great Zhou done it before? You can't copyright 'robot' after all."
"It's not that no one wants to — they just don't dare to. With Evangelion already a genre-defining classic, anything less than perfect will get ripped to shreds. And high quality requires massive investment, which TV stations are too scared to risk."
"Don't let Old Thief's quiet demeanor fool you — he spends big on his shows. Everyone in the industry knows he's insane when it comes to production budgets, and he doesn't care about ROI. He dropped 50 million on The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and made 700 million at the box office. Then, they turned around and spent 50 million on Voices of a Distant Star, a short film that barely broke even. A normal person would've used that money to make a sequel to Girl Who Leapt, but he just doesn't think that way."
"Maybe that's the mindset of a true creator. He's not chasing profit, and yet his works end up being the most commercially valuable in Great Zhou. Meanwhile, all those other TV stations are stuck thinking about ROI and end up getting wrecked."
"Okay, okay, stop hyping him up. If Old Thief reads these comments, he's gonna blush."
The sudden release of information about three new Bluestar Film productions sent shockwaves through the industry.
Over the following week, even more updates came from Jing Yu's team.
The first to drop: investment budgets for the three series.
'Attack on Titan' – 290 million
'Ultraman Tiga' – 190 million
'Mobile Suit Gundam SEED' – 470 million
When this news broke, the entire entertainment industry of Great Zhou went into a frenzy.
And Jing Yu's fanbase? They practically exploded.
Of course, 'Attack on Titan's budget was just for season one, 'Ultraman Tiga' covered the entire series, and 'Mobile Suit Gundam SEED' was for the full main production.
To be fair, even though 'Ultraman' and 'Gundam' had huge commercial value in Jing Yu's previous life, their actual production costs differed significantly.
Ultraman was clearly the cheapest — most scenes involved close-quarters fights in urban settings, often using costumed actors in model suits. Going full CGI might actually look worse than the original tokusatsu effects. Jing Yu planned to use a hybrid of both, meaning lower costs overall.
On the other hand, 'Gundam' was full of large-scale space battles between mobile suits — meaning almost everything would be CGI. The per-episode cost would naturally be much higher than Ultraman, though not unreasonably so.
But the real budget monster? 'Attack on Titan'.
Forests, walls, wide-open battlefields — and nonstop action scenes with characters flying around on wires. Just hiring extras was a major expense. Wire rigs alone took up half the set. Coordinating mid-air choreography between multiple actors? That wasn't cheap.
And your average extra couldn't pull that off. Even the lowest-ranked Survey Corps soldier needed to pull off stylish mid-air moves. Sure, Jing Yu could save money by hiring generic performers… but after thinking it over, he decided it wasn't worth it.
Spending an extra tens of millions now might multiply returns down the road. If he tried to save costs and ended up with something like that Titan movie from his past life? The audience would tear it apart — Jing Yu understood this clearly.
As far as Jing Yu was concerned, the investment was worth it. The special effects studios he was working with also felt his demands matched the price tags they quoted.
But for Great Zhou's TV viewers — and Jing Yu's fans — those numbers were just jaw-dropping.
Only Jing Yu could greenlight something like this. If another screenwriter tried to do it, what would they be thinking? Even with ratings above 7.5%, recouping 300 million in a single year was nearly impossible. Merch sales might help, but it could still take 2-3 years to turn a profit.
No investor would fund something that took that long to pay back.
So when his industry peers saw the figures, they were floored.
"You think it's bad having a strong rival? Try having a rich one who's also stronger than you."
In the past, Jing Yu's shows got high praise, but he always lost out in platform exposure and budget to the Big Six.
Now? Yunteng TV might not be stronger than the top three TV stations — yet — but with Jing Yu at their side, they didn't have to fear anyone in any time slot.
And when it came to production budgets? Jing Yu was downright extravagant.
"What is he even doing anymore?"
The industry had no words left.
"The guy takes one quiet quarter off, and now he's launching another massive wave."
"I've never admired anyone in my life... except him. Seven years in, and his creativity shows no sign of drying up. What terrifies me the most is his stamina."
"Let's be real — what kind of confidence do you need to throw 400 million at a TV drama?"
"Supposedly, 'Mobile Suit Gundam' is one of those long-form series that airs for over half a year. But still — 470 million? That's nearly 20 million per episode."
"Most films in Great Zhou get 40 to 50 million in funding for a two-hour runtime. 'Gundam' is under an hour per episode and costs twice that? He's literally filming TV with movie budgets!"
"You know what's even crazier? Someone I know at Yunteng TV told me that top-tier actor Tao Changqi wanted to play the male lead in Gundam, but got rejected — because his 13 million fee was 'too expensive.'"
"You're telling me that in a drama with a 470 million budget, 13 million for the lead is too much?"
"Yep. They capped the male lead's salary at under 10 million. No actor is allowed to earn more than that. The main cast combined salaries can't exceed 70 million. The rest of the 400 million? All going into production quality."
"Apparently, Bluestar is even considering using newcomers. They're confident that the name Jing Yu alone is enough to draw the audience, without relying on celebrity clout."
"Well damn... now that's confidence."