February flew by in a blink, and with early spring's chill slowly fading, temperatures were rising across Great Zhou.
Employees at Jing Yu's company had put away their down jackets, and suits, short skirts, and other spring outfits began appearing in the office.
Work progress was also moving swiftly.
'Attack on Titan' was in its final stages of filming, and 'Gundam SEED' wasn't far behind. The main task left was completing the VFX for the final episodes.
While the second season of 'Gundam SEED' didn't quite live up to the first, and the new protagonist wasn't as likable as Kira from the original, Jing Yu had already committed to developing 'Gundam' as a series. That meant the second installment had to be made.
The production plan for 'Gundam SEED' season two was approved last week during a company meeting, with Jing Yu signing off. So now, while the current crew was wrapping up season one, pre-production for season two was already underway. It wouldn't be long before things officially kicked off.
Of course, in an industry like this, even the smallest move from Bluestar Media & Film Company couldn't stay hidden. Many actors who considered themselves talented had already begun taking action, trying every way possible to connect with Bluestar's team.
At this point, even the assistants of Jing Yu's assistants were seen as VIPs by countless celebrities across Great Zhou. Many has-beens and underused but skilled actors were desperate to land a role in Jing Yu's new projects.
Although Jing Yu himself had consistently ranked first on the national celebrity charts—largely due to his screenwriting and music achievements—when it came to pure acting popularity, the real #1 was always whoever starred in his current drama.
Just 'Attack on Titan' and 'Gundam SEED' alone had launched over 20–30 actors into stardom. Out of the current top 20 in the popularity charts, 16 or 17 were from those two shows. No wonder the whole industry went scrambling at the mere hint of a new project from Jing Yu—even if they knew approaching him directly was impossible. Everyone knew he was a workaholic with no interest in social networking.
Cheng Lie had become a major figure in the industry, too. It was well known that Jing Yu had entrusted him with managing all of Bluestar Media's external business affairs. But Cheng Lie was constantly traveling between top cities like Modo, handling major deals. Actor casting? That was far too low-level for him to bother with—unless he had spare time, and that wasn't often.
In the early days, when the company was still small, Jing Yu and other higher-ups had to handle everything themselves. But now, with a full team of capable staff, Jing Yu simply handed over the script and let the team take care of the rest—unless he personally wanted to get involved.
Aside from the ongoing blockbusters 'Attack on Titan' and 'Gundam SEED', Bluestar's drama department was also preparing to launch several new self-produced projects for the next two or three seasons.
To be fair, experience had shown that Bluestar's self-produced dramas generally performed only so-so, with profits not even matching a fraction of what Jing Yu's own scripts pulled in. But it wasn't something he could abandon entirely.
'Attack on Titan' and 'Gundam SEED' were both finite-length series and would finish airing within a season or two. And while Jing Yu had no immediate plans to launch another massive new drama—after all, works on the scale of 'Gundam SEED' or 'Attack on Titan' weren't something you could just crank out continuously—he had already written scripts for a few more conventional, smaller-scale projects.
Of course, these weren't meant to chase profits or ratings.
He simply liked these stories and also wanted to keep his team employed over the next season or two.
'Hyouka'
'My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected'
'Ef: A Tale of Memories'
Jing Yu had always loved romance-themed anime like these. They were light, relaxing, and easy to watch.
While they didn't perform as well financially, he hadn't abandoned the genre. It was just that after going independent from Yunteng TV, he'd focused on more profitable projects.
He wasn't sure whether 'Hyouka', a half-mystery, half-romance school life story, would catch on with Great Zhou audiences. Would they resonate with Oreki Houtarou and the "I'm curious!" girl's daily adventures?
But when it came to 'My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected', Jing Yu had faith.
Audiences in Great Zhou were under heavy stress, and many felt emotionally drained. A story like 'My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected', with Hachiman's blunt commentary and emotional insight, might just give viewers the therapy they didn't know they needed.
As for 'Ef: A Tale of Memories'... well, the tone was emotionally intense and tragic. Back when Jing Yu was still working at a TV station, he'd worried it might hurt his career, so he'd held back.
But now that he no longer needed to worry about budgets or profits, he planned to gradually bring out all his personal favorites over the coming years.
That said, he wouldn't be starring in them anymore. He was in his thirties now, and playing high schoolers would feel awkward, even if audiences couldn't tell.
"Go find a few good-looking young male actors to sign, see if we can make a star or two,"
—was what Jing Yu instructed his team.
Right now, tens of millions of viewers were focused on Jing Yu alone. He wanted to spread that attention by helping his signed actors rise up.
"If everything goes smoothly, I'll do a big production every one or two years. The rest of the time, I'll write and film more mid- to low-budget dramas,"
Jing Yu thought as he worked.
The past two years had been intense—one world-class IP after another. It wasn't that releasing so many hits was a bad thing.
But if he kept pushing at that pace, he'd just end up competing against himself.
Case in point: this season's 'Attack on Titan' and 'Gundam SEED'. At first, both shows coexisted peacefully. But now they were clashing head-on, with fan arguments spilling over and affecting both shows' ratings.
That was something Jing Yu would have to manage better in the future.
After finishing his work and a video call with overseas branch managers, Jing Yu rubbed his temples.
Early March
On Bluestar Media's official arrangement, Jing Yu started a livestream on Qingyun Video.
It was his first public appearance in over a year, and more than 2 million people tuned in.
But the content wasn't anything groundbreaking—just production updates on his self-made projects.
He answered fan questions, revealed some new info, and chatted with viewers.
The livestream went something like this:
"Mr. Jing Yu, why don't you act in your own dramas anymore?"
"Because I can't keep up with the physical demands of both creating and acting."
"Oops! My bad! I take it back! Uh—can you tell us what the story will be in the new 'Rurouni Kenshin' game? Will Yukishiro come back? Who's the new enemy?"
"'Rurouni Kenshin' was one of my early favorite projects. I always wanted to continue it, but didn't have the energy. As for the game's story… no spoilers. It would ruin the fun. As for Yukishiro's return—this is a historical samurai story, not sci-fi. She was cremated. No coming back. But yes—there will be a new female lead! And the villain? You've seen him already—in the 'Trust & Betrayal' movie."
This comment caused an uproar.
"A new heroine? Kenshin wouldn't fall for someone else, right?!"
But then again, maybe it wasn't romantic. Maybe it was just friendship—like in 'Hikaru no Go', where characters had no romantic subplots.
Fans gradually calmed down.
However, the comment that the final boss already appeared in the movie sent everyone scrambling. Forums exploded with theories, and video rewatch sales for 'Trust & Betrayal' soared.
In the same stream, Jing Yu shared upcoming info:
The real goal of the masked man in 'Gundam SEED.'
The true nature of the Titan powers in 'Attack on Titan.'
The worldbuilding in 'Pokémon.'
Rule details for the 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' card game
Plot hints for the 'Steins;Gate' sequel (like the final phone call from part one)
Release window for 'Castle in the Sky.'
New angles explored in the 'Evangelion' movie about Shinji Ikari's future
And for the not-yet-announced titles—'Hyouka', 'My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected', 'Ef: A Tale of Memories'—he revealed minor, non-spoiler details.
"There's a lot to look forward to in the next year or two. Stop complaining, my works are short! I seriously wonder if you all even have time to consume everything I've made. Even I'm surprised by the number of projects I've created recently—it's insane. One year of my output equals a lifetime of work for others."
Before ending the 2-hour stream, Jing Yu cracked a few jokes.
Even though it wasn't a formal press conference, the stream shook the entire fanbase.
"This guy is unreal."
"How is he juggling 10+ projects at once?"
"Four or five games, two movies, two major dramas… and he still has time to write three rom-coms? Is this guy human? I'm an intern writer at a TV station, and I can't even wrap my head around his output."
"Our writer got locked in his apartment by the producer for three days to write a single episode. Meanwhile, Jing Yu is a machine. I finally get that saying—'The difference between people is greater than the difference between a person and a dog.'"
"Don't even try comparing yourself to Jing Yu. That way lies despair."
"After tonight's stream, I'm too hyped to sleep. The 'Kenshin' sequel game drops in December, 'Attack on Titan' and 'Gundam SEED' will still be airing next season, and we've got three new romance shows greenlit. That means no content drought even after the summer!"
"He used to release one show and then rest for half a year. Now he's gone full workaholic."
"I'll admit it. I love his romance stuff most. 'Attack on Titan' and 'Gundam SEED' are cool, but my favorites are 'Kimi ni Todoke' and 'Your Lie in April'. 'Attack on Titan' ranks somewhere around 6th or 7th for me."
"Different strokes. I think 'Gundam SEED' and 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' are his peak."
"Am I the only one who misses 'Hikaru no Go' and 'Initial D'? I want more competition-based stories!"
"He didn't forget! You missed it—someone asked about sports series. Jing Yu said: 'If people enjoy this genre, there might be a long-form basketball drama someday.'"
"Basketball?! If he pulls that off as he did with 'Hikaru no Go' and 'Initial D', he'll get me as a fan for life. That's my favorite sport!"
"I'm still stuck on Kenshin. I just want to know what he's like after Yukishiro's death…"
There was so much info dropped that even after the stream ended, the internet was on fire.
If Bluestar Media were a public company, the hype alone would've driven the stock up by 10%.
Of course, the hype would fade with time—especially since most of the projects hadn't even aired yet. Discussions would cool off within a week or two.
Before long, it was the end of March…