"The gap is way too big, isn't it?"
Ever since the beginning of the second season, during the Arrancar Arc, Ichigo Kurosaki had already lost to Ulquiorra so many times that even the fans had stopped counting. But nothing could have prepared them for the sight of Ichigo facing him after his Second Resurrección.
In that state, Ichigo's body looked less like that of a warrior and more like a ball being slapped around in Ulquiorra's palm.
With a casual sweep of his hand, Ulquiorra sent him flying thousands of meters across the sky, smashing him violently into one of the towering pillars above Las Noches. Before Ichigo could even fall, Ulquiorra vanished with Sonído, reappeared beside him, grabbed him in midair, and hurled him in another direction as if tossing away garbage.
Ichigo could not even see what was happening. He was thrown back and forth like trash before a power that felt completely beyond reason.
[Brutal. This is way too brutal. At least Yamamoto managed to suppress Sosuke Aizen for half an episode.]
[I genuinely can't figure out how the protagonist is supposed to survive this.]
[Wait a second. Ulquiorra just said something terrifying, didn't he? Only Espada ranked fourth and above can perform a Second Resurrección. That means…]
[Holy crap! Doesn't that mean the three Espada currently beside Sosuke Aizen can also transform twice!?]
That comment immediately jolted a lot of viewers awake.
Until then, everyone had been so shocked by Ulquiorra's Second Resurrección that almost no one had properly registered what he said. But once they thought about it, the implication was horrifying. Ulquiorra was not the only one. The three Espada accompanying Sosuke Aizen in the battle for the real world should also possess that same power.
Yes. Alex had given the Arrancar faction an epic-level enhancement.
Otherwise, there would have been no way to make this war work.
After all, the Royal Guard had not even appeared yet.
Atop the heavenly pillar, Ulquiorra looked at Ichigo, who had been beaten to the edge of death again and again, yet still showed not the slightest trace of fear.
He could not understand it.
Why?
Why did he still dare to fight?
Did he truly believe he could win?
"I'm not fighting because I think I can win," Ichigo said, pushing himself up from the ground for the 873rd time. His body trembled, but he still steadied himself and raised the Zanpakutō in his hand. "I'm fighting because I have to win."
Ulquiorra fell silent for a brief moment.
Then his bat-like wings lifted slightly.
In the next instant, he was already in front of Ichigo. The tail behind him moved like a living shadow, wrapping tightly around Ichigo's throat and lifting him into the air.
At that same moment, Ishida Uryu and Orihime Inoue flew in through the massive hole torn open earlier by Ulquiorra's Cero Oscuras.
But when Orihime looked up, the scene beneath the pale moon made her eyes widen in absolute horror.
"You came… woman."
Ulquiorra only shifted his gaze toward her.
"Then watch closely. Witness the moment the life of the man you placed your hopes in is sealed shut."
His sharp black finger, covered in that bat-like monstrous skin, pressed against Ichigo's heart.
The Cero Oscuras, compressed to its absolute limit, pierced straight through its target.
"STOP!!!"
Orihime's scream tore through the air as the image froze on the bloody hole opened in Ichigo's chest.
End of episode.
"Next episode! Hurry up and click the next episode!"
It was exactly like last week, when Yamamoto had just revealed his Bankai and the episode ended at the most vicious possible moment.
The ending of the third episode had left the audience hanging over the edge, nerves stretched to the limit. Fortunately, there was still one more episode this week. Otherwise, none of them would have slept properly for the next seven days.
They all knew that Ichigo Kurosaki, as the protagonist, would not truly die there. But that only made the tension worse. What they wanted to know was how he would pull back the foot that had already stepped through death's gate.
Across the world, at least two hundred million people opened the second newly released episode of the week without a second of hesitation.
And under the attention of billions of eyes…
Ichigo Kurosaki was reborn.
But at that moment, there was no longer anything Shinigami-like about him.
A demonic, bull-like mask covered his entire head, marked by two long, twisted horns. His long hair streamed behind him in the wind, wild and inhuman. The Hollow hole in his chest was almost identical to that of the Espada.
The viewers in front of their screens widened their eyes.
Was this… an evolution?
Was it like when he had gone berserk during his fight with Biakuya in the Soul Society Arc?
No.
It was obvious at a glance that this was not on the same level.
Inside the screen, Orihime Inoue and Ishida Uryu, his own companions, stood frozen in place. Their faces showed not relief, but shock.
"You… who are you?"
For the first time, Ulquiorra's face revealed genuine confusion.
But the horned Hollow Ichigo did not answer.
He merely opened his hand.
As though his palm carried its own gravitational pull, the fallen Tensa Zangetsu flew back from the distance and returned to his grip.
The instant he held the sword again, his spiritual pressure erupted, cracking the ground beneath him.
"Can you not hear me?" Ulquiorra's voice suddenly rose. "I asked who you are!"
But if his opponent refused to answer, there was no reason to waste more time.
Ulquiorra raised his index finger again, gathering and releasing another Cero Oscuras.
Across from him, the horned Ichigo lowered his head. Between his two horns, a black-red Cero began to condense.
The next moment, the world seemed split into two colors: red and black.
A massive mushroom cloud exploded above Las Noches, as though the entire dome of the palace might collapse at any moment.
The battle that followed, shown through Ulquiorra's perspective, explained to the audience what had happened to the protagonist.
Ichigo Kurosaki had become completely Hollow.
The techniques he used, whether Cero or Sonído, were without question Hollow abilities.
And at the exact moment Ulquiorra was analyzing his enemy's power, the horned Ichigo appeared behind him with Sonído.
Before Ulquiorra could turn around, one of his arms had already been severed by the blade.
From that point onward, the horned Ichigo completely suppressed Ulquiorra in his Second Resurrección.
With one hand, he grabbed the side of Ulquiorra's head and drove him backward with brutal force, smashing his body into the pillars atop Las Noches. And he did not let go. Maintaining that same posture, he slammed Ulquiorra into the stone again and again until several of the towering pillars shattered one after another.
In that moment, the positions of the two fighters had completely reversed compared to the previous episode.
The wheel of fate really did turn.
[Isn't this cheat way too strong?]
[I know the protagonist needed a power-up to win, but isn't this a little excessive?]
[Is Sosuke Aizen going to get beaten like this too?]
For most of the audience, watching the protagonist finally crush the enemy who had suppressed him since the previous season was undeniably satisfying.
But a considerable number of viewers also began to raise objections.
Wasn't this power-up a bit too much?
Even Alex, who had been a fan of this story in his previous life, had felt that way when he watched this part back then.
The first time, of course, his blood had boiled. After all, who did not like seeing the protagonist dominate an impossible enemy? Everyone, to some degree, enjoyed placing themselves in the hero's position during a moment like that.
But on a second watch, the problem became obvious.
Wasn't this cheat a little too powerful?
Even if Ichigo had awakened some ridiculous power, fighting evenly with Ulquiorra's Second Resurrección would have been enough.
Instead, he crushed him outright.
No wonder, in Alex's previous life, fans had debated endlessly over who was stronger: Mugetsu Ichigo or horned Hollow Ichigo.
After all, this form really had been given far too much power.
So much so that perhaps even the original author had realized the issue. That was probably why horned Hollow Ichigo never appeared again. If he had, the entire power scale of the story might have collapsed.
When the horned Ichigo caught Ulquiorra's ultimate technique, Lanza del Relámpago, with his bare hand, Will, Mark's younger colleague, was stunned.
"Bro, Director Alex gave you way too insane of a cheat, didn't he?"
Mark smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"Don't rush. Keep watching."
Will blinked.
Was there still another twist?
From the look of things, the winner had already been decided.
In the next instant, the horned Ichigo crushed the lightning spear with his bare hand.
For the first time, Ulquiorra's face revealed terror. Instinctively, he tried to retreat and avoid the attack.
But Tensa Zangetsu had already descended.
The slash cut through Ulquiorra's body almost diagonally, nearly splitting him in two.
Dark green blood scattered through the air. One of the horns on his head snapped off, drawing an arc above the battlefield before falling into the dust.
Ulquiorra staggered and collapsed.
In the next second, a massive foot covered with a red mane stepped down on him, pinning him beneath it.
"ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!"
The horned Ichigo released a roar so thunderous it seemed to change the color of heaven and earth. He lowered his head, and another Cero began condensing between his horns.
At such close range, Ulquiorra had no chance of surviving.
"I never imagined that, to deal with a mere Hollowfied human… I would have to bring this out."
Yet at the final edge between life and death, the shock on Ulquiorra's face vanished without a trace.
In its place returned his signature coldness.
And something else.
Shame.
Shame toward himself.
BOOOOOOM!
A terrifying dark green spiritual pressure covered the entire dome of Las Noches.
No.
Not just the dome.
It spread through the entire palace, across the desert, throughout all of Hueco Mundo.
This time, Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure gathered like flames, continuously expanding outward. The surface of the dome began to crack with sharp, splintering sounds, spiderweb-like fractures spreading in every direction.
It would not have been strange if the entire structure collapsed at any moment.
Finally, the pillars atop Las Noches could no longer withstand it.
One after another, they began to fall.
"What… what is this spiritual pressure now!?"
Inside Las Noches, Shinigami like Renji Abarai and Rukia Kuchiki, who had not yet fully reached captain level, were already bent under the weight of it, struggling even to stand upright.
Then, Bleach fans all over the world heard Ulquiorra's call.
"Third Resurrección."
For a moment, countless people swore at their screens.
These two were way too in sync.
One cheated, then the other cheated right back.
On the screen, inside a gigantic sphere of energy that resembled a black sun, the horned Ichigo was blasted backward by the overwhelming force, his ferocious gaze fixed on the figure ahead.
The black-green flames slowly dispersed.
Ulquiorra stepped out from within them, revealing his third form.
His hair and tail had turned white. The horns on his head now resembled burning flames. The bat-like wings on his back had transformed into two pairs of enormous black wings, like those of a fallen angel.
"Among the top four Espada capable of reaching Second Resurrección, I alone can reach the third."
Ulquiorra stared coldly at the horned Ichigo.
"I am the only Espada to whom Lord Aizen granted the true power of the Hōgyoku. Through it, I reached this form. Not even Lord Aizen has seen it before… I never imagined I would use it against a Hollowfied human."
His gaze sharpened.
"Now, Ichigo Kurosaki, the real battle begins."
And under the completely stunned eyes of viewers across the entire world, Ulquiorra, in his Third Resurrección, charged toward the horned Ichigo.
You cheated, didn't you?
Then so will I.
The next day, episode 11 of Re:Zero aired without a hitch.
It was the episode where Rem, completely and irreversibly, gave herself over to what she felt for Subaru. The image she had of him ceased to be that of a stranger who had barged into her daily life and became that of someone who had crossed not only into her world, but into her heart as well - a man who had risked his life to save her, and who, in the darkest and most desperate moment of her existence, had given her comfort, courage, and a reason to keep moving forward.
On the surface, it could easily be mistaken for just another familiar romantic setup: the hero saving the girl after a crisis, followed by love at first sight. At first glance, it seemed like the kind of development built on far too many convenient coincidences.
But was it really coincidence?
Every murder, every trap, every dead end that Subaru Natsuki seemed to avoid so effortlessly had been paid for with his own life. Every piece of information he held, every correct decision, every step taken at exactly the right moment had been bought through previous loops - through weeks of death, pain, and failure piling one on top of another.
That supposedly ordinary man, the one so many dismissed as mediocre, had been killed twice by Rem's own hands.
And even so, when she - crushed after failing in the battle against the demon beasts, only surviving because Subaru had thrown himself recklessly into the swarm to drag her back - murmured in a low voice that her sister surely would have done better than she did… his answer came without hesitation, without theatrics, and without the slightest trace of pity.
Maybe that was true. Maybe her sister really would have done better. But the one standing by his side was her. She was the only one he could see. Having her there with him was something he was genuinely grateful for. And because of that, all he wanted was for her to smile.
Beneath the soft light of morning, Subaru's face and Rem's smile were etched not only into the scene itself, but into the hearts of countless fans watching in front of their televisions.
It was almost healing.
After the first loop marked by the curse…
the second, with the curse followed by a brutal death…
the third, with a savage beating and decapitation…
and the fourth, ending in a suicide by freefall…
that resolution in the fifth attempt allowed anime fans across Japan to feel, almost physically, the weight of what it meant to be rewarded after relentless struggle.
The moment the episode ended, the name "Rem" shot straight to the top of the trending list on the NatsuYume forums.
"Damn… I'm so jealous of the protagonist."
"If you're not going to marry her, then stop messing with her feelings. If Emilia is already obviously the main heroine, then why keep making Rem fall harder? Subaru, you idiot, knock it off. Rem is mine."
"Funny how you people are acting now. Weren't you the same ones trashing Rem a few weeks ago? Watching you switch faces like this makes me sick."
"One thing was one thing, and now this is this. Who could've guessed that Rem and Ram's entire village had been wiped out by the Witch Cult? After seeing the full mansion arc, all I can think is that if I were in their place, I probably would've snapped too after running into someone reeking of the Witch the way Subaru did in the third loop."
"Ah, whatever. Let the past stay in the past. Better to just move forward."
"The hard part is choosing between Rem and Emilia. Which one would be the number one wife?"
"Go touch grass. Stop daydreaming."
"Does anyone know when the Emilia and Rem figures are coming out? And when's the Re:Zero BD release?"
"I heard it's early October. Both Re:Zero and Dragon's Breath are releasing their first BD volumes in October. And since Re:Zero's licensed merchandise is being handled by Noriko Animation, the figures should launch at the same time too. No need to worry."
"Noriko Animation's products are great quality, sure, but the prices hurt too."
"You get what you pay for. And apparently the first-edition Rem figure is limited to one hundred thousand units nationwide. If you keep hesitating, you'll miss the preorder."
"If it sells out, it sells out. I don't care. I'm on Team Emilia."
"Guys, let's show Re:Zero some support in October. In terms of ratings, it's probably still too early to talk about surpassing Dragon's Breath right now. Maybe once the autumn cour starts we'll see if that becomes possible. But for BDs and figures… I do not want us losing again."
"You can say that all you want, but ratings speak volumes. They determine the size of the actual viewer base. If Re:Zero wants to turn the tables in BD sales, it needs to overtake its rival in both buzz and ratings."
In early September, with the broadcast of episode 11, the mansion arc of Re:Zero officially came to an end.
That episode's rating closed at 5.09%.
A week later, episode 12 aired.
Driven by the fans' continuing support, it finished with a 5.16% rating.
This was the episode that marked the beginning of the cruelest and, at the same time, most brilliant stretch of the first season: the Royal Selection arc.
It was also the arc that, in Sora's memory, had transformed Re:Zero into a legendary work in his previous life.
The reason he believed so firmly that the latter half of the first season would surpass Dragon's Breath was simple: he had lived through it. He had been one of those viewers who waited week after week for the next episode with the kind of anxiety that came from knowing they were watching something special unfold. He had seen with his own eyes how the series started under a cloud of mixed reactions and skepticism, only to explode completely once it reached the Royal Selection arc and Rem's defining moments - until the entire site was flooded with videos, essays, edits, and tributes dedicated to her.
Episode 12 showed Emilia, Subaru, and Rem heading to the royal capital, where the five candidates to inherit the throne - including Emilia herself - were introduced.
To Sora, that episode served as the perfect conclusion to the first half of the season. It closed one stage cleanly while leaving behind a massive hook: the promise of the Royal Selection arc opening up before the audience.
At the end of the episode, a preview for the second half of the season aired, scheduled to begin on October 3.
Alongside that, the release dates for the first Re:Zero BD volume and the nationwide launch of the series' licensed merchandise were announced as well.
Saturday, October 11.
That date had not been chosen at random. It was the result of calculations Sora had made with painstaking precision.
By that point in the broadcast schedule, the story would have reached the part where Rem was attacked by the Sloth Archbishop of the Witch Cult and brutally murdered while trying to save Subaru.
Just thinking about that sequence made Sora feel physically uncomfortable.
Even while writing the script, that stretch of the story had unsettled him more than once. He was deeply attached to Rem. Even knowing everything that came afterward, even knowing the full structure of the story, that did not make the scene any easier for him to accept.
And if even he reacted like that, then the viewers following the anime week after week would have an even harder time swallowing it.
When that episode aired, discussion around the series would undoubtedly explode.
As for what kind of final sales result the first BD volume would reach…
That was no longer up to him.
From there on, it had to be left to the market.
Inside the office, Sora's thoughts slowly pulled away from the entire production schedule and rollout plan surrounding Re:Zero. His gaze dropped to the stack of scripts resting on his desk.
It was the first draft of 5 Centimeters per Second.
In practical terms, writing a script was not the sort of work that wore down the body. The real burden came from mental effort. The exhaustion did not build in the muscles, but in the mind.
And in the case of the version he was writing now, it was not as simple as copying the original work and calling it a day.
The original 5 Centimeters per Second film did not even reach one hour in length. Turning it into a commercial feature film in that state would have been impossible. But there was an obvious solution: Makoto Shinkai's original material contained a wealth of narrative details, emotions, and supplementary scenes that could be woven into the screenplay. By carefully expanding those elements, Sora could shape the Yume Animation version into a full-length animated film without betraying the heart of the original.
He rose to his feet and pushed open the office door.
Outside, the entire company was buried in work.
Between mid-September and early October, Re:Zero would go on a two-week broadcast break.
Even so - or perhaps because of it - Yume Animation was even busier than before.
At the meeting the day before, Sora had already presented the scripts for the first ten episodes of Re:Zero Season 2 and sent them off to the relevant departments for review and evaluation.
The reviewers at Southern Union TV had spent the entire night studying the first half of the new season.
That morning, their answer came by phone: they were extremely satisfied with the initial draft.
The practical result did not take long to arrive.
Shortly after that call, ten million yen was transferred into the company's account.
According to the agreement Sora had reached with the broadcaster, the total licensing fee for Season 2 - forty million yen - would be paid in four installments across the production period. This was the first one.
Everyone in the company already knew.
A new production team would be formed.
Re:Zero Season 2 was officially moving forward.
And once Sora had money in hand, he naturally stopped working with the hesitation of someone forced to second-guess every move before making it.
At the beginning of October, Re:Zero merchandise - figures, BDs, and everything else - would hit the market on a large scale, and he was confident that the fifty million yen invested in the series would begin returning in force within a short time.
Those freshly transferred ten million yen from the broadcaster would be used to launch, at the same time, the production of Re:Zero Season 2 and the animated film project for 5 Centimeters per Second.
After that, once the profits from the first season started coming in, he would gradually fill out the remaining investment for both productions.
And on that particular day, the script meeting would be held for the animated film whose concept he had been mentioning for an entire week - despite the fact that no one in the company even knew the title of the work yet.
The three major shareholders had to be there.
Beyond them, the entire upper management of the company would also attend.
Altogether, there were more than a dozen people in the meeting room.
By the time Sora walked in, everyone was already seated.
He had timed his entrance precisely. In his arms was a thick stack of freshly printed pages, still warm from the printer.
After handing a copy to every person present, they were finally able to see that plain cover and the title scribbled across it in Sora's disastrously ugly handwriting.
5 Centimeters per Second.
Neither Sumire nor Yumi had the slightest idea what to expect from a title like that.
Their first impression was simply that it sounded strange - awkward, obscure, and hard to interpret.
But before they could open the material properly, the company's Kantoku of photography - one of the people in charge of the visual side of its animation productions - muttered under his breath,
"Only five centimeters… and per second, no less?"
In an instant, the rigid atmosphere in the room collapsed.
The tension dissolved, replaced by a wave of suppressed laughter and expressions straining to maintain some shred of professionalism.
Sora cleared his throat.
"That's enough. Stop letting your minds wander. The purpose of this meeting is simple. First, I want everyone to understand what kind of film our company is about to make. Second, if there's anything in the script that feels strange, misplaced, or unconvincing, I want you to point it out without hesitation."
In the original, the story had unfolded in a different part of Japan.
But for the version he intended to produce now, a great many things had to be adjusted so they would fit naturally within the chosen setting, the cities, the train routes, and the regional sensibility he wanted the adaptation to carry. For that reason, Sora had spent a great deal of time researching cities, rail lines, and travel routes that aligned with the progression of the story, rearranging everything into something coherent.
Even so, he knew he might still have overlooked something.
Some minor geographic inconsistency.
Some small local detail that did not quite fit.
After all, no matter how careful he was, he had not grown up immersed in those realities the same way the others in that room had.
That was why he wanted their opinions.
With the thin script booklet in their hands, Sumire and Yumi still felt a little too embarrassed by the Kantoku of photography's interruption to look at the title naturally.
But when they opened to the first page, the sentence that met their eyes dissolved the joke in an instant.
They say this is the speed at which cherry blossom petals fall.
Five centimeters per second.
So that was what it meant…
As the meaning settled in, Yumi lifted her gaze for a brief moment, looking first at the Kantoku of photography, then at Sora.
Silently, she thought only one thing.
The gap between people really did begin at the level of their thoughts.
___________________________________________________________________________________
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