In the morning, because Yugo Ohara had things to do, he got up early, brushing his teeth and washing his face in a daze.
After finishing, he sat down at the dining table. Before he could even eat breakfast, his father, Keiichiro Ohara, suddenly said, "Let me show you something."
"What is it?" Yugo Ohara asked, a bit puzzled.
Keiichiro Ohara reached out his hand and opened his palm. Lying in it was actually a horse racing betting ticket.
Yugo Ohara was confused at first, but immediately realized what it was: it was a betting ticket for that race in the final episode of the Uma Musume 2 anime, and it was specifically a ticket betting on Tokai Teio to win. However, the amount wasn't very large.
"You went to watch that race back then, and you even bought a ticket for Tokai Teio to win?" Yugo Ohara was somewhat surprised.
"Ah, back then I just thought that since it was so rare to be able to see a Tokai Teio race again, I'd just place a small, blind bet to show my support. I never expected her to actually win," Keiichiro Ohara said with some emotion.
"Then why did you keep it instead of cashing it in?" Yugo Ohara asked again.
"Cash it in for what? It's not much money anyway. It's better to keep it as a memento of witnessing a miracle," Keiichiro Ohara said, shaking his head.
In fact, there were quite a few people back then who did the same thing as him. After all, Tokai Teio winning that race really felt like a miracle.
Yugo Ohara hadn't thought of that, but once he did, he could understand it.
He stared at the betting ticket in his father's hand, his eyes rolling, and quickly said, "Dad, can you give that betting ticket to me?"
It was a rare item, after all. If he could get his hands on it, he might be able to show it off to others.
He thought this to himself, but the reply he got was, "Get lost! I specifically didn't cash it in so I could keep it as a memento. Why would I give it to you?"
Yugo Ohara's face immediately fell. But before his father could put the ticket away, he had another idea and quickly said, "Then let me take a picture. Just a picture is fine."
If he had a photo, at least he could still show it off.
This time, Keiichiro Ohara did not refuse and put down the horse racing ticket.
Yugo Ohara hurriedly took out his phone and snapped a photo, "click, click, click."
Watching the father and son chatting about horse racing and showing off the racing ticket, the mistress of the house was a little puzzled. However, she was happy to see the two getting along so well, so she didn't ask any further questions.
After breakfast, Yugo Ohara tidied his hair a bit and went out.
He had some business to attend to.
It was already past eleven when he returned. He went straight to his room, turned on his computer, and started browsing videos on N Station.
He soon noticed a piece of information stating that N Station would be streaming the entire first and second seasons of the "Uma Musume" anime over two consecutive days in a few days.
Reservations could be made in advance.
Yugo Ohara had already watched both the first and second seasons of the anime; he even owned the complete Blu-ray set of the first season. However, since it was a rare full-marathon stream, he still clicked "Reserve."
The anime Uma Musume 2 has indeed come to an end.
However, the miracles it has created have only just begun.
First of all, when the first season of the Uma Musume anime was broadcast in a marathon on Niconico, it drew an audience of 1.45 million. This attendance figure alone is enough to rank it second in the history of anime series on Niconico. Furthermore, the audience's approval rating for this anime reached a staggering 98.8%, which successfully placed it in the top ten in history solely in terms of approval rating.
This was the situation for the first season of the Uma Musume anime on the first day.
For the second season of Uma Musume, which was broadcast on the second day, the attendance was relatively lower—1.15 million—simply because it was already so popular while airing, meaning more people had already seen it.
Even more terrifying is that the second season of the Uma Musume anime achieved an approval rating of 99.3% on Niconico, with over 1.13 million people giving it a perfect score. As a result, this anime took the number one spot on Niconico in terms of approval rating.
Although this is only the rating on Niconico and does not represent the ratings across the entire internet, these achievements still created history and performed miracles.
However, the even greater miracle created by this anime was yet to come.
On April 7th, the first volume of the Uma Musume 2 anime BD went on sale.
Because the pre-order quantity alone already exceeded 100,000, many fans were guessing that the first-week sales of this BD would surely be at least 120,000.
However, many people guessed wrong.
First-week sales were far more than 120,000.
In all major audio-visual stores and anime specialty shops, this BD sold out completely, and it wasn't just one shop that sold out, but all of them.
Since the initial goal was to surpass "EVA," when Lin Zhiyan had the BDs prepared, he had 160,000 copies ready, thinking that no matter what, it would be impossible to sell out 160,000 copies in one week. He planned to decide how many more to prepare based on the market situation afterward, so as to avoid preparing too many at once and risking unsold stock, which would be a waste.
In another timeline, the first-week sales of the first volume of "Uma Musume 2" BD were over 120,000, but this sales figure was mainly because it was bought out; the initial number of discs prepared was simply not enough. If enough had been stocked, the first-week sales would certainly have been even higher.
Lin Zhiyan had considered this point, otherwise, even with all his confidence in himself, he wouldn't have prepared 160,000 BDs all at once.
It's just that he found he still underestimated the fighting power of the "Uma Musume" fans in this timeline. Preparing 160,000 copies for the first week was still not enough; it was still bought out.
There was no other way; they could only ask for expedited restocking.
In the other timeline, before Uma Musume 2 burst onto the scene, the anime with the highest average Blu-ray sales per volume was EVA, followed by Bakemonogatari.
In this timeline where Lin Zhiyan resides, the anime that originally held the second-highest average sales per volume was Puella Magi Madoka Magica, with about 130,000 units per volume.
Now, the first volume of the Uma Musume 2 BD has already crushed the cumulative average sales of Puella Magi Madoka Magica in its first week alone. What's more, it's not even meeting demand; if there had been enough stock, the first-week sales would certainly have exceeded 160,000.
Breaking the first-week sales record is beyond doubt, and the record for initial sales has already been shattered. As for the all-time record for average sales per volume held by EVA, it hasn't been broken yet, but as long as this momentum continues, surpassing EVA's record should be easy.
In this era of streaming, where many high-quality anime struggle to reach even one or two thousand sales—or even just a few hundred—the appearance of an anime with 160,000 sales in its first week can only be described as a "miracle," even with the draw of Lin Zhiyan's reputation and the "King's Power" of the game backing it.
Consequently, when the news spread, both regular viewers and industry professionals were left utterly stunned.