The studio got on track quickly.
This was already a very mature studio, with excellent resources in all aspects—precisely because of its excellence, it caught the eye of Mi Xiaolin's venture capital group. Taking advantage of an investment opportunity, they used various underhanded methods to oust the original manager and turn the studio into their group's property.
Many of the assets split up in this auction were such high-quality resources. Xie Wenyuan, Zhong Yi, Lao Zhu, and even Xia Junjie profited immensely from this, but for Chu Ge and his wife, this studio was incredibly useful.
Not only did they have experienced and skilled illustrators, but they also had copyright and operations departments, and connections with major websites. The studio had several works currently being submitted, including some well-known ones. Previously, Chu Ge didn't pay attention to comic artists and didn't even know who drew them; now he knew it was his own company…
Because the company moved to Nanjiang, a small number of local Shanghai employees resigned and didn't come, but the vast majority of out-of-town employees did. Aside from locals, most people in this industry are young, unburdened by family. For them, working anywhere is the same, and Zhu Mengmeng even offers better pay.
Therefore, the studio's overall structure remained relatively intact, allowing for immediate operation without any post-restructuring stagnation. It felt like simply moving to a different location… and the boss was beautiful.
In fact, most of the animation staff were seasoned internet addicts and anime fans, some even being fans of the "Early Autumn Love" couple… They were overjoyed to discover their new bosses were that couple.
The other female boss was a single, wealthy woman. Anyway, it was much more comfortable than the obnoxious manager assigned to them at their previous company.
Everyone worked together, and within three days, they had drawn the first three chapters of the script adapted by Chu Ge.
Qiu Wuji was very satisfied. Visuals were indeed far more expressive than text, and Chu Ge's adaptation was excellent; even the initial formulaic elements of his writing were minimally softened by the adaptation and the artist's superb drawing skills.
She knew little about the comic book market, but based on her own observations, she figured it would be very popular.
"President Qiu, this comic is going to be a hit! I guarantee it with all my years of experience in the industry! I've never seen a comic drawn so vividly, President Qiu is truly amazing!" The operations manager patted his chest confidently, saying, "I'll coordinate with the comic book team at Qidian.com, and it'll be online this week! President Qiu can check the data then!"
November 11th, Singles' Day.
The comic *Chu Tian Wu Ji* officially launched on the Tencent Comics platform and was simultaneously released on multiple comic book websites, releasing three chapters initially, updated every Tuesday.
Whether the operations manager patted his chest or not didn't matter; the comic's initial popularity within the first hour of its release had already surpassed his expectations for a new comic's launch.
Because the CEO had invested in Xie Wenyuan's project, which was, in a sense, one of the group's own projects, it received relatively high attention. Xie Wenyuan had even allocated extra funds for promotion, resulting in the comic launching with a prominent recommendation slot—a million times better treatment than when Chu Ge launched his new book. Qiu Wuji posted a new Weibo post: "My comic is adapted from my friend Chu Ge's book. What do you guys think of the cover?" Chu Ge himself also posted a chapter in the book: "Comic Released, Script I Adapted, Drawn by Qiu Qiu."
Both characters emphasize each other, and that's exactly what people love. The title alone was enough to send all the CP fans and original book readers into a frenzy.
With official promotion and a massive influx of original book and CP fans, the comic soared into the top ten of Tencent Comics' new release chart within ten minutes of its release, and within an hour, it jumped to number one.
The operations manager was stunned. Only the first three chapters were released, and it had only been an hour—and that was with channel distribution… Having worked in the comic industry for so many years, he'd never seen anything like it. Even if you had Xiao Zhan (Xiao Wuji) releasing a comic, the effect would probably be the same.
Yeah, pretty much. Anyway, it's number one.
But initial popularity isn't everything; word-of-mouth and user retention are the most important. Otherwise, if everyone just comes for a token team-building event and has some fun, and the comic isn't good, it'll all be for nothing.
The operations manager nervously stared at the comments section, then slowly let out a relieved sigh and a relaxed smile.
"Holy crap, this is the Chu Tiange I've always imagined! It was Chu Tiange at first sight! He's captured my heart perfectly!"
"Holy crap, holy crap, I didn't know until I saw it! This was drawn by Qiuqiu? This drawing skill is incredible!"
"Compared to all the comics these days where everyone looks exactly the same except for their hair, this is a breath of fresh air. How did she draw this? It's too exaggerated."
"Yeah, I thought I was just looking for some fun, but this scare me! I'm going to tell everyone in the group chat, you'll regret it if you don't see it!"
"No need for you to tell them in the group chat, both the 'Cao Ge' and 'Zhen Ge' groups are exploding, 99+ comments per second, I can't even keep up."
"The key is that the plot is very faithful to the original work. I hate those adaptations that are so bad they're unrecognizable, but this one, while not exactly unchanged, has some changes, but it flows so smoothly!"
"Because Chu Tiange himself revised it!"
"A divine combination!" The original work fans are celebrating like it's New Year's.
CP (couple) fans were similarly impressed: "Wow, I thought 'Early Autumn Love' was just a marketing gimmick by internet celebrities, but this comic is amazing!"
"I even participated in a fan meeting on the original novel's page, but I only read half a chapter. I don't like reading... The comic is so great, the art is truly fantastic!"
"Qiuqiu posted a draft of the comic before, and back then she said she was an apprentice. I immediately said that her character illustrations were beyond what an apprentice could produce; she's a master!"
"Don't just talk about the art style, the plot is good too. Don't forget this is Chuchu's book."
"So this is a match made in heaven! Otherwise, why would we be supporting this CP?"
While some of these fans might have a biased appreciation, many others were purely drawn by the app recommendation and had no idea... Everyone was baffled by the discussion:
"What are you guys talking about? What's with this 'Chu Chu' thing? There's no one named Chu Chu in this comic."
"You guys are newbies? Hey, tell me, from your perspective, is the art good or not?"
"...Although I don't know anything about this 'Chu Chu' or 'Qiu Qiu' nonsense, with my years of experience in the comics industry, the art alone is enough to keep me watching. As long as the plot isn't garbage, I'll probably keep watching."
"Don't worry, how could my Chu Chu's plot be garbage!"
"The first three chapters look pretty captivating. How often do you update?"
"Oh, two chapters a week...that seems alright. Ugh, I can't wait. I'll go read the original work first." The operations manager knew this was going to be a hit.
What's the worst thing about comic adaptations? It's that the original fans won't accept it. Relying on word-of-mouth from newcomers who haven't read the original is too difficult. The show is currently receiving rave reviews from all sides. Although it seems to be generating a lot of buzz, the actual number of viewers isn't that large, and it's only been three episodes... As long as the quality stays high, it's bound to become a hit at this rate.
Chu Ge and Qiu Wuji were also scrolling through the comments in their room, both of them dumbfounded.
After observing for a while, Qiu Wuji muttered under his breath, "Why do I always feel... your books might not be as popular as the comics?"
"Be more confident, remove the 'might.' Or rather, the comics might not be, but if the animation is done well, it will definitely be more popular than my original work." Chu Ge remained calm. "There are countless examples of works that weren't popular in their original form but became popular through animation and film."
"But your original work is also very successful. Without the original work's success, you wouldn't have the initial popularity of the comics. A large part of the reason people buy IPs is because of the popularity of the original work, right?"
"Hmm... they complement each other. But my original work has a certain reading threshold, so there's bound to be an upper limit, while the visuals have no threshold. That's why I've been so determined to adapt it... Only in this way can we achieve our world's acceptance, and now we've successfully taken the most crucial step." Chu Ge remained more clear-headed than anyone else.
Others want to be popular as an end in themselves; he wants to be popular simply as a means to achieve the world's reality.
Everyone's pursuits have long since diverged.