October passed by, marking the end of the first month of the winter TV season.
'Attack on Titan' was riding a wave of unstoppable momentum. Although 'Ultraman Tiga' had held the top spot in viewership last quarter, it had now been overtaken. But both shows were still leagues ahead in influence compared to others airing in the same period.
Meanwhile, Jing Yu's latest film projects were also kicking off production.
The theatrical films for 'Legal High' and 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' would be made with the original cast and crew, so there wasn't much complication.
And so, after a short break, Yu Youqing and Xia Yining returned to the 'Evangelion' production team as part of Jing Yu's shooting schedule.
However, casting for 'Spirited Away' was a much more involved task.
Given Jing Yu's industry status, he could easily get any type of actor he wanted—just saying the word would bring a flood of willing participants. The problem was that there were too many applicants. Every major film company in Great Zhou had its eyes on the female lead role in 'Spirited Away', and the number of actresses meeting Jing Yu's strict requirements was massive.
The three major film studios of Great Zhou were constantly contacting Bluestar Media, hoping to get their artists into the cast.
That kind of behind-the-scenes lobbying wasn't unusual. If Jing Yu didn't want to make enemies across the entire film industry, some degree of "mutual compromise" was inevitable. And it wasn't necessarily about giving away profits—sometimes a project might only earn one billion on its own, but through collaboration, it might expand to two billion, with each side taking a billion. It was a common win-win.
Still, Jing Yu left all those negotiations to his team. He had little personal interest in who acted in his films. As long as someone met his casting requirements, he didn't mind doing a favor.
Online, however, the role of Chihiro in 'Spirited Away' sparked massive debate.
There were too many well-known young actresses under 16 in Great Zhou—good-looking, talented, and already famous.
Even after setting strict audition criteria and filtering out actresses sent in by studios just gambling for luck, more than ten candidates still made it through Bluestar's open call process.
Fan wars between top contenders had reached a boiling point. Even a casual visit to a film forum would show Jing Yu just how intense it had become.
"Feels like Great Zhou has gotten more and more fan-obsessed these past few years..." Jing Yu shook his head.
Back when he was first filming, things weren't like this. But with the rise of the internet, netizens in Great Zhou had become far more aggressive.
"Then again, I do have the most fans in the industry right now. Guess I can't talk."
The difference was that Jing Yu was seen as a triple-threat: talent, hard work, and looks. No one had really managed to dig up much dirt on him.
He sat in his office, going over the paperwork his team had prepared.
Promotional planning for 'Gundam SEED' was set to begin next month.
With a production budget exceeding 400 million, 'Gundam SEED' had become the most expensive TV drama in Great Zhou in recent years, drawing heavy attention from the industry.
Naturally, that included associated marketing and merchandise licensing.
Casting for 'Spirited Away' also needed to be finalized this month. The production team needed to be assembled before next month began.
That meant Jing Yu would soon be juggling promotions for 'Gundam SEED' while simultaneously filming 'Evangelion' and 'Spirited Away'.
The return of full-blown crunch mode.
"Am I the only studio head in the entire Great Zhou film industry still working this hard?" Jing Yu muttered.
Not a complaint—just a thought.
Over 70% of Bluestar Media's profits depended on him. Strip away the income from his projects, and the company's other productions basically broke even. They weren't losing money, but they weren't hitting big either.
Outwardly, Bluestar looked like it had skyrocketed—dominating TV, making waves in film. But in reality, despite three years of recruiting top talent, they had yet to produce a breakout hit outside of Jing Yu's own works.
So no, he couldn't step back and play the relaxed CEO just yet. He had to stay hands-on.
After signing off on the 'Gundam SEED' partnership documents, Jing Yu reviewed the company's financials.
In the past few years, since founding Bluestar, he has released dozens of successful projects—not only dominating Great Zhou, but also building a sizable overseas fanbase.
Every month, the company was raking in massive licensing revenue. Add in box office splits from several of his films, including 'Evangelion', 'Fate/Stay Night', and 'Ultraman', plus merchandise profits... and the company had billions sitting in the bank.
So much so that their bank manager regularly checked in on holidays to stay on Jing Yu's good side.
He didn't even know how to spend all that money.
Jing Yu wasn't into investing, and he didn't trust so-called financial "experts" with the fortune he'd spent 8–9 years earning. But letting it sit in a low-interest account seemed wasteful, too.
He couldn't possibly write enough scripts to burn through all that cash just by making movies.
So he started thinking: what new ventures should Bluestar expand into?
The obvious answer? Games.
Jing Yu had built up a massive portfolio of hit IPs. Many of them could have gotten sequels, but he'd waited—letting demand simmer, and brand power grow. Now, he could take those stories and adapt them into games.
Like 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal'. The original manga was too long, and he hadn't had time to write out the full follow-up arc. But fans were still begging for a sequel.
Same with 'Steins;Gate'—fans wanted the continuation.
Even 'Natsume's Book of Friends', which remained the highest-rated exclusive on Qinyun Video, had room to expand.
But with all his duties and so many projects tied to his name, Jing Yu just didn't have time to do it all himself.
So he came up with a new plan: write the scripts, and let the game team adapt them.
For example:
'Rurouni Kenshin''s sequel could be adapted into a samurai-style single-player action game, like Sekiro.
'Steins;Gate''s sequel? A visual novel or puzzle-based story game.
'Natsume's Book of Friends'? A supernatural pet-collection mobile game for casual players.
'Initial D'? A racing game, of course.
And that's not even counting 'Evangelion' or 'Ultraman'.
In Jing Yu's previous world, anime, manga, games, dramas, and novels were all tightly interwoven. He wanted to bring that cross-media strategy to Great Zhou as well.
That's why he'd been meeting with Bluestar's game department heads to evaluate feasibility.
The conclusion: it was possible. But it would take massive investment—and more importantly, they needed to upgrade their development team.
The technical gap between this world and his original one wasn't huge anymore—just a few years behind. With enough money, they could totally produce AAA-level games.
"Time to seriously consider expanding in that direction." Jing Yu mused.
TV and film were lucrative, sure—but virtual entertainment? Gaming was the real money-maker.
At this point, diversification was the only path forward.
After sitting in thought for a while, Jing Yu looked up. It was already evening.
He walked out of his office and into the hallway. Every employee he passed greeted him with a cheerful "Hello, Boss!"
Last year, Bluestar had moved out of its old rented space and into a newly renovated 4-story office building in the heart of Modo City's commercial district—complete with underground parking.
Jing Yu had bought the property himself.
Looking back, it was hard to believe how far they'd come since he left Yunteng TV. Back then, he didn't even have enough funds to shoot and had to ask Yunteng TVfor an interest-free loan.
But to be fair, Yunteng TV hadn't done anything to upset him after he left. If they had, 'Ultraman Tiga' and 'Attack on Titan' might never have aired on their network.
Even the top three networks would've fought to air series with ratings like those.
Jing Yu greeted a few employees absent-mindedly, then drove home alone.
When he got back, Yu Youqing was already lounging on the sofa. She smiled when he walked in.
"You're home? Oh, right, there's something I need you to deal with."
She handed him a folder.
Jing Yu skimmed it—and laughed.
Xingtong TV had sensed the threat of 'Attack on Titan', afraid it might beat the viewership record of their crown jewel: 'Great Zhou Court'. So they were shuffling their broadcast lineup, shifting several popular programs to Saturday nights.
Their goal was obvious.
They knew their tactics wouldn't drastically affect 'Attack on Titan''s ratings—but even a tiny shift mattered when it came to breaking historical records. Even if it meant sacrificing the performance of those shows for a quarter or two, they were trying to preserve their title.
"Yeah... that won't do much." Jing Yu said after a pause.
"But it still leaves a bad taste."
"I already placed 'Attack on Titan' at 11 p.m. Saturday to give them some breathing room. If it still ends up breaking their record? Then it earned it. But now they're resorting to petty tricks."
He wasn't obsessed with ratings. Whether a show ranked 1st, 2nd, or 3rd didn't matter much to someone at his level—just like how Jay Chou didn't need to win every music award to prove his worth.
But that didn't mean he'd quietly accept his well-earned credit being stolen.
"So what's your plan?" Yu Youqing asked.
"Forget it. The season's halfway done. I'm not shifting anything now. It's a pain to coordinate with Yunteng TV. When 'Gundam SEED' airs in the spring, we'll see when their primetime drama airs—and squeeze in right next to it."
"So you're just going to let it go?"
Yu Youqing looked surprised.
She knew Jing Yu well. He was generous in fair competition—but once someone tried dirty tricks, that switch flipped.
"Their tricks aren't threatening enough for me to care," Jing Yu replied.
"The early episodes of 'Attack on Titan' already hit those numbers. What, Xingtong TV thinks they can suppress it later on?"
"Let them try. I want to see what their Saturday 10 p.m. variety show, 11 p.m. mid-tier drama, and 12 a.m. singing competition can really do to stop 'Attack on Titan'."
T/N: Did the author forget what he said in earlier chapters about making 'Spirited Away' genderbent? Now it's suddenly not genderbent anymore.