In the anime world, this sort of thing was more common than people liked to admit.
Before a premiere, there was always someone - a director, a producer, a famous voice actor - throwing out grand promises as if they were vows carved in stone. "Fifty thousand Blu-rays per volume.""We'll break 4% ratings.""The score will stay above 9.0." In the end, most of those "bold declarations" were just marketing: a way to spark talk, become a topic, drag eyes toward the project.
That was why, when Yumi posted that update on Natsuyume, even Tokushima's broadcaster didn't take it as something serious. From their point of view, it was the investor creating buzz - a carefully built lure to give the project visibility, manufacture anticipation, plant the name Natsume Yuujinchou in the public's head.
The industry reacted the same way.
Plenty of people working in anime read the "target" attributed to Sora and let out a small, knowing laugh. They recognized talent in the kid. Nobody could deny he'd done something rare with Voices of a Distant Star. But beating the major national networks in ratings, even if it was "only" within a region… that was a different story. Across the recent history of the Japanese market, there were only a handful of cases where a series airing on a regional station managed to outdo the big networks in the same time slot - and when it happened, it was the kind of anomaly that showed up once every several years.
They didn't believe Natsume would be that exception.
But… for certain people, that post wasn't just marketing.
It was an insult.
The winter season had just ended, and the numbers were still fresh in the mind of anyone who breathed anime.
That winter, the second season of Chronicles of the Sea of Clouds - airing on the major Ten'un TV network - had dominated the market. Its average Blu-ray sales per volume reached 113,000 copies, taking first place among all titles that season.
Right behind it were the main pushes from the other big networks - Seichou TV, Hakuchi TV, and Kaion TV - at 107,000, 99,000, and 91,000 per volume, respectively.
Only after that, in fifth place, came Voices of a Distant Star - which, by June, had sold 85,000 copies of Blu-ray in total.
And the man who found Yumi's post too glaring to ignore was a well-known figure in Tokyo's anime scene: Maki, the director of Chronicles of the Sea of Clouds - Season 2.
By any standard, his numbers were flawless.
On Natsuyume, with over a million ratings, his series held a 9.0 score. Nationally, it averaged 4.5% viewership. And in sales, it blew past the 110,000 mark per volume.
For a director only thirty-two years old - elite university background, eight anime credits as director, not a single one losing money for investors - this should've been another clean trophy in an already enviable career.
Except… that winter, Voices of a Distant Star appeared.
Up until the end of March, Chronicles had stayed in first place among that season's titles in terms of score. Comfortable. Continuous. Unchallenged.
Then, on the last day of winter - March 31st - Voices of a Distant Star premiered.
And it opened at 9.2.
It shoved Chronicles into second place instantly.
Two months passed… and Voices climbed even higher, reaching 9.4. In terms of online fan approval, the message was clear: no matter how strong Maki work was, it didn't inspire the same love that Voices did.
And when it came to creativity, the gap hurt even more.
The entire industry - colleagues, studios, specialized media - wouldn't stop praising Voices of a Distant Star's direction: its pacing, its daring, the so-called "circus" storyboards that detonated on-screen with almost violent beauty. The rural kid, the teenage director from a provincial station, was showered with praise that bordered on myth-making.
And in contrast, the most common thing people said about Chronicles was basically:
"Pretty. Well-made. Expensive."
Which, translated, sounded uncomfortably close to an insult: other than money, what's the point?
Maki still had the one argument that mattered on paper.
He sold more. He was the champion.
But the dominant conversation in the industry was toxic in a very particular way - repeated like consolation, like a ritual:
Either people said Voices was too short to properly build momentum, and that if it had more episodes, it would inevitably surpass Chronicles in sales once popularity accumulated.
Or they said Voices only "lost" because it aired on a weak platform. Japan had countless stations and networks, but that provincial station's signal covered only four prefectures. Even with professionals in Tokyo praising the work and boosting its visibility, it couldn't erase the natural handicap. And that's why a lot of people mocked:
"Chronicles only won because it had a big network. If it aired where Voices did, it would've been crushed."
Maki had been hearing variations of that for over two months.
And it didn't matter how often he told himself that numbers were numbers… the feeling wouldn't go away.
Why does everyone feel sorry for the other guy? Why do they treat my success like it's less legitimate?
He had credentials. Results. Market trust. Eight titles as director.
So why did the industry insist on turning the boy from Tokushima into a symbol - and turning Maki into a director "propped up by capital"?
The irritation wasn't rational.
It was accumulated.
And to make it worse, in October, Maki would premiere a new anime on Ten'un TV: The Dragon King Next Door!
Same season.
Same window.
Then, suddenly, that post appears - the investor behind a regional project declaring, loud and clear, that Sora believed Natsume Yuujinchou would be "king" of the fall, pushing even the major networks into "second place."
Sora hadn't mentioned Maki by name.
He'd said he wanted first place against everyone.
But to Maki, it sounded personal.
Like a message.
Like that "provincial teenage director" was pointing straight at him and saying, I'm taking you down.
And that was when the tide turned.
Maki haters - people who had always existed and only needed a reason to crawl out - flooded the comments of his verified Natsuyume account, dumping sarcasm and venom. And the anime market, already infected with fandom-as-faction behavior, did the rest naturally.
Fans of Witch's Tears, which had placed second in winter sales, seized the chance to step on him.
And mixed among the mockery were plenty of Voices of a Distant Star fans, too.
Maki felt pressure tighten around him.
Even convinced it was impossible… he couldn't stop the question from forming, persistent as a needle behind the eyes:
What if I lose?
If The Dragon King Next Door! - airing on a major network - lost regional ratings to Natsume Yuujinchou…
Or if its Natsuyume score fell below Natsume's…
That would become a real earthquake.
And already in a foul mood, he saw yet another jab in his comment section - short, venomous, smug.
It was enough.
Maki replied.
Without thinking it through.
"There's no way I'm losing to some no-name, low-level amateur who crawled in from the sidelines. Anyone hoping to laugh at me in October can wash up and go to sleep."
The moment he posted it, regret hit.
Because from a status standpoint, it was ugly. Unnecessary. A director at his level replying to haters - and worse, placing himself in the same ring as some kid from a provincial station?
It looked cheap.
But he stared at the chaos in his comments again, took a breath, and decided not to delete it.
Let it at least disgust the Voices fans who had come here to stir trouble.
"Amateur" meant exactly what the industry heard: Sora wasn't a graduate of a traditional animation program. He hadn't come up through the "proper" path. He hadn't even gone to university; he finished high school and went straight into working at his father's studio.
"No-name" was pure contempt: no status, no position, no right to be compared.
And "low-level" was the final blow - a public doubt thrown at his competence as a director.
Maki reply didn't stay confined to his own profile.
In less than two days, it had spread and fermented through the community like wildfire.
Friction between industry people wasn't rare - but usually it happened among creators tied to the big networks, among those who shared the same circles. Watching someone like Maki take a shot at a teenage peer from Tokushima made a lot of Tokyo insiders frown.
Because in the end, the feeling was simple - and unpleasant:
You can be angry at fan behavior. You can curse the people provoking you.
But opening your mouth to attack Sora directly?
That was something else.
And it said more about Maki than he realized.
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