T/N: I forgot to wish you guys a Merry Christmas—it slipped my mind 😅 Hope it's not too late. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
-------
"The 'Gundam' series I followed for half a year wrapped up last quarter, and 'Attack on Titan' — which I chased for nearly a year — just ended too. I'm devastated!"
"Honestly, the ending caught me off guard. I thought the creator was going to frame Eren as a world-ending demon king. Instead, he and his companions pulled a 'good cop, bad cop' routine to earn the support of ordinary people worldwide for Paradis Island, giving them a chance to develop."
"Eren was still too kind! His safest route would have been to actually use the power of thousands of Colossal Titans to activate the Rumbling and destroy the world. If he'd leaned into idealism, believing 'anyone not of my people is meaningless,' he could've just wiped everyone else out. With sufficient food and the adoption of advanced tech from the outside world, the million-strong population of Paradis could've repopulated and restored humanity's glory within a hundred years."
"But if that had happened, it would've rendered Eren's entire life meaningless. His fight began because the Colossal Titan — Bertolt — destroyed his hometown. If in the end he destroyed the world with the Rumbling, then he would've become the same as Marley — doing to the world what was done to Paradis. Just a new dragon slayer turning into the dragon."
"He took a risk, but it gave his homeland a chance to coexist with the rest of the world. Personally, I thought the ending was pretty good. The first episode of 'Attack on Titan' began with Eren's hometown being destroyed by Titans, and the final episode ends with him letting go of his hatred — allowing himself, the so-called demon king with Titan powers, to be defeated."
"Looking at it this way, yeah... It's actually a pretty decent ending."
"Just not very hype. The storyline is great, but with Eren dead, it just leaves this hollow sadness."
"Come on now, you're expecting too much! I actually doubted the whole show halfway through its run. I thought the writer had completely gone off the rails with the world wars and political plots — like, how do you even wrap all that up? In the end, maybe the finale wasn't as hype as the earlier arcs, but it was still solid."
"If this had been a rookie writer, everyone would be saying it was an amazing finish — no loose ends, logical pacing. But since it's Jing Yu, of course, expectations were sky-high. Don't forget, this guy was juggling 'Ultraman', 'Gundam', game adaptations, and 'Attack on Titan' all at once. He's still human, after all."
"No matter what you say, I still think 'Attack on Titan' is a masterpiece! The ending may not have been as exciting as before, but it wasn't bad either. It just didn't hit the same peak — but it was still a good ending. Not even close to a bad one."
"Agreed."
Even though 'Attack on Titan' had ended, audience reactions and reviews were still mixed.
That was inevitable — the earlier plotlines had set the bar at 100, and the finale only delivered 70 or 80. Naturally, that created a sense of disappointment.
But Jing Yu couldn't do much about that. Based on fan feedback from his past life, he has already cut or revised the most criticized parts. However, the overall direction of the finale arc was something he couldn't control. The structure itself simply wasn't as thrilling as earlier parts — no matter how much he polished the details, the effect was limited.
Still, for viewers in Great Zhou, it was an above-average ending. Many people just grumbled during the first couple of days after the finale, and then — as nothing happened — went right back to praising the show across the internet.
Meanwhile, in all corners of Great Zhou, media outlets continued riding the wave of 'Attack on Titan's lingering popularity, launching one final blitz of praise.
[Historic First! Full-Series Ratings for 'Attack on Titan' Released — Tops the All-Time List]
[At a time when the TV drama industry is supposedly in decline, Jing Yu single-handedly created 'Attack on Titan', breaking viewership records once held by 'Great Zhou Court'. A miracle.]
[After 'Attack on Titan' ended, fans across Great Zhou fell into a massive drama drought.]
[Over the past two years, big-budget dramas like 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', 'Ultraman', 'Gundam SEED', 'Fate/stay night', and 'Attack on Titan' aired one after another. But for now, Bluestar Media & Film Company has no upcoming blockbusters — fans are desperate.]
['My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected' aired its first season to rave reviews. While ratings didn't match 'Gundam', its scores were higher. Season two is scheduled for next quarter and could dominate the ratings.]
[With 'Attack on Titan' finished, Jing Yu's new dramas 'Hyouka' and 'Ef: A Tale of Memories' are next up. The TV industry in Great Zhou now officially enters a "1 superpower, 3 contenders" era. Xingtong TV, Imperial Capital TV, and Huanshi TV's production quality is now publicly considered lower than Bluestar Media.]
'Attack on Titan' might be over, but media coverage continued. Attention quickly shifted to Jing Yu's next projects: 'Hyouka' and 'Ef: A Tale of Memories'.
While these weren't massive, high-stakes action dramas, the competition wasn't exactly fierce.
Among the six major networks, none of them dared to challenge Jing Yu directly anymore.
They'd given up. When Jing Yu's dramas were getting 7-8% ratings, others could still hope to compete. But now that he was pulling in 10%? Compete with what?
At the end of September, Jing Yu accepted an invitation from Yunteng TV and participated in a 3-day 'Attack on Titan' finale event — answering live audience questions about mysteries from the show.
For instance, in the original story, it's said that the Founding Titan can influence past and future inheritors of Titan powers. Like that Marleyan officer who gave the Attack Titan to Eren's father, Eren clearly affected his thoughts.
So why didn't Eren do the same thing to influence his past self, to stop his mother's death?
Jing Yu explained: Eren tried — but failed. It's a chicken-and-egg paradox. If he'd succeeded, his mother wouldn't have died in the first place. Since she did, that proves he failed. The story's "you can't change the past" rule had to stay intact — otherwise 'Attack on Titan' would become a time-travel sci-fi like 'Steins;Gate'.
Regardless, in Great Zhou, 'Attack on Titan' ended on a high note — a far cry from its controversial ending in Jing Yu's past life.
After taking part in some wrap-up events at the end of the month, Jing Yu's company held a long-overdue celebration party.
In the past two years, the studio produced one hit after another — 'Ultraman', 'Gundam SEED', 'Attack on Titan' — each more insane than the last.
But 'Attack on Titan' was the highest-rated drama in Great Zhou history. Even though its merchandise sales still lagged 'Gundam SEED', the celebration was well deserved.
Media outlets were invited. Everyone in the production crew got bonuses and promotions. Jing Yu never cut corners when it came to rewards.
Even though 'Attack on Titan' was over, Jing Yu was busier than ever at the end of the month.
But once October arrived, things finally started to calm down.
In April, three new dramas would air: 'My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected' Season 2, 'Hyouka', and 'Ef: A Tale of Memories'.
'My Youth Romantic Comedy' aired Sundays at 8 PM
'Hyouka' on Saturdays at 8 PM
'Ef: A Tale of Memories' on Fridays at 8 PM
Jing Yu had locked in all three primetime weekend slots, leaving no room for competitors.
Even so, none of the six big networks responded with counterprogramming. Jing Yu had expected someone to try to fight back. Instead, all of them quietly switched to variety shows and sports broadcasts during those times. Competing directly with Jing Yu was suicide.
As for ratings:
'My Youth Romantic Comedy' did well, carrying over hype from last season. First episode: 9%.
'Hyouka' was slightly lower, at 7.12%. Its slow pacing and minimal romance made it harder to hook viewers early, despite strong ratings and critical praise (9.8/10).
Still, the biggest buzz wasn't around either of those. It was 'Ef: A Tale of Memories'.
Though niche in his past life, it was well-known among romance and drama anime fans. Jing Yu adapted it more from the anime version than the original game, keeping its multi-threaded narrative: two love stories in two towns, with central figures Himura Yuu and Amamiya Yuuko.
What drew early attention was casting: Jing Yu played Himura, and Yuuko was played by Xia Yining — both huge names.
Though the first episode only scored 7.63% ratings, both actors crushed the supporting character popularity rankings, with over 10x the votes of second place.
In the first episode, Jing Yu focused on the story of Asou Renji and Chihiro, a girl with only 13 hours of memory retention. Some viewers even confused her with Chihiro from 'Spirited Away'.
Confusion aside, 'Ef' was more mysterious than 'Hyouka'. Despite big-name actors, ratings were solid — not spectacular.
But once again, Jing Yu's three shows swept the top 3 spots in first-week winter ratings.
As expected.
Jing Yu looked at the ratings and sighed.
"Turns out you still need big budgets and crazy effects to break double digits. Romance dramas just don't pull the same numbers anymore."
No surprises — just a bit of disappointment.
"Well... one step at a time."
He looked down at the report on his desk.
Now that winter had arrived, his company had two major priorities.
Both projects had budgets higher than all three of his current dramas combined:
The release of the 'Rurouni Kenshin' video game
The premiere of 'Spirited Away.'