Best New Anime Kantoku Award.
Best Anime Music Award.
Best Anime Screenplay Award.
No matter which of those categories Sora Kamakawa might ultimately win, the fact that Natsume Yuujinchou had earned a nomination at all was already enough to secure its place in the history of Japan's animation festivals.
And as members of the team who had helped bring that work to life, they too would leave behind, however modestly, their own little mark on the industry.
Before joining the production of Natsume Yuujinchou, something like this was the kind of dream people only ever had in their sleep. That was why, at that moment, no one could stop themselves from drifting into their own private fantasies.
A few more days passed, and the tenth episode of Natsume Yuujinchou, "Asagi's Koto," aired.
Just like the eighth episode, the central theme was still love.
Asagi, a youkai stricken with a grave illness, could no longer play her instrument. In order to reach the one she loved, she possessed Natsume's body, determined to borrow those final moments and use them to perform one last song for the being she held in her heart.
On the surface, the plot sounded simple. But that was true of nearly every episode of Natsume Yuujinchou.
And yet, once the music and visuals wrapped themselves around the story, even the simplest narrative could create an atmosphere so moving it left a tight ache in the chest and tears burning at the corners of the eyes.
That was the magic of animation.
After the episode aired, Sora Kamakawa's account on NatsuYume was once again flooded with messages from fans - complaints, tearful accusations, emotional outbursts from people acting as if the episode had personally wounded them.
At the same time, that very night, his follower count officially surpassed two million.
And it was then that Sora realized something more clearly than before.
For anime fans in Japan, episodes involving romance consistently earned noticeably higher approval.
The tenth episode of Natsume Yuujinchou exceeded every prediction the media had made for the four prefectures of Shikoku. Even after already reaching an impressive 4.77% the previous week, it climbed again and rose to 4.86%.
Meanwhile, Akane no Sora, its biggest rival in the region, closed out its tenth episode at 4.48%, a slight dip from the week before.
Nationwide, Akane no Sora was still, without question, the dominant title of the season in Japan's anime industry. It ranked first in influence, buzz, and overall visibility, and it had also been nominated for Best Anime at the Tokyo Animation Festival.
But within Shikoku, the gap between the two titles had already begun to widen in a way that was impossible to ignore.
At otaku conventions across the four prefectures, the number of cosplayers dressed as characters from Natsume Yuujinchou was at least double that of Akane no Sora.
In the pop-culture shopping districts of major cities, posters of Natsume Yuujinchou had been placed in the most prominent spot possible, right in the center of merchandise shops.
Even outside the Yume Animation building, things had changed completely. Now, every time Sora left work to go home, he had to put on a mask and sunglasses just to slip away unnoticed.
Because almost every single day, there were at least a hundred fans waiting downstairs, hoping to get an autograph or a photo with him.
It was obvious.
Even with the autumn anime season nearing its end, the influence of Natsume Yuujinchou was still expanding.
When a work is truly destined to become a classic, its real stage does not end while it is still airing. More often than not, that stage only truly begins after it is over.
By mid-December, Tokushima was buried beneath another wave of heavy snowfall.
Just the month before, people at the company had still been showing up in short skirts and elegant black stockings, enjoying the early bite of winter. Now everyone had wrapped themselves in padded coats, scarves, and thick layers.
Yumi Noriko, who had grown up in Tokyo, had never spent a winter in a place this cold. Her mood had visibly deteriorated, as though the freezing air had drained the strength right out of her thoughts.
"The eleventh episode of Natsume Yuujinchou ended at 4.78%... It dropped a little from last week." Yumi Noriko let out a sigh as she sat in Sora's office.
"And 4.78% isn't good enough?" Sumire asked softly, looking at her. "It's still the highest-rated anime in Shikoku this week."
"But last week it was 4.86%! I really thought we might have a shot at breaking the 5% barrier this time."
A trace of unwillingness showed on Yumi Noriko's fair, delicate face.
"You can't become a giant in one bite," Sora said.
His tone was calm - almost too calm for the mood in the room.
"Besides, ratings going up and down is normal for any anime. Akane no Sora dropped too. This week it only got 4.41%."
"They're them. We're us." Yumi frowned, clearly irritated. "I still think the outsourced studio did a worse job on this episode, and that's why the ratings fell."
Episodes eleven and twelve of Natsume Yuujinchou had been outsourced. And just so happened, the one episode that slipped after episode ten's high point was episode eleven.
It was hard not to connect the two.
"Even my followers were convinced episode eleven would break 5%," she said, her voice carrying genuine regret. "A lot of people in my fan group were already waiting for the ratings announcement so they could go celebrate on NatsuYume and promote the series together. I'd even set aside money to push trending keywords for it. And now all of that went to waste."
Sora and Sumire exchanged a glance.
Neither of them had expected Yumi Noriko to be preparing something that big entirely on her own.
Sora cleared his throat before answering.
"While the production quality in episode eleven did have a few flaws, the problem wasn't serious enough to explain everything. The real reason the ratings dipped was more on the script side than the execution."
He leaned back slightly in his chair before continuing.
"Episode ten did so well because its theme was love. I'd already noticed it before - Japanese anime fans respond especially well to that kind of episode in Natsume. Episode eleven, on the other hand, is about Nyanko-sensei running away from home and a gentle story involving a little girl who got separated from her parents. It's warmer and more intimate. So the drop mostly came from that difference."
Then, with a faint smile, he added:
"But I do agree on one thing - outsourcing an entire episode like that is too unstable. For the next production, once we have more money..."
He let the thought hang for a moment, as though he could already see that future in front of him.
"We'll hire more people. I want to reach the point where every episode can be handled by our own staff."
Yumi Noriko rested her chin on her hand and looked at him in silence for a second before speaking.
"You say that so lightly... but do you even understand what it means for an anime to break 5% ratings in its broadcast region?"
Sora did not answer right away.
She continued.
"Last year, in the entire Japanese anime industry, there was only one anime at that level. This year, there hasn't been a single one yet. That's one of the conditions for a work to be called a nationwide phenomenon. Natsume Yuujinchou got so close... and still failed to cross that line. Sooner or later, you're going to regret it."
After she finished, the office sank into a brief silence.
It only lasted a few seconds, but the air suddenly felt heavier.
Then Sora let out a quiet chuckle, breaking the tension.
"And why would I regret that?"
There was such effortless confidence in his eyes that, for a moment, it was impossible to tell whether he was joking or utterly serious.
"Maybe my next work will beat that number."
Hearing that, Sumire turned to look at him properly.
She genuinely tried to figure out whether he was teasing... or if he meant every word.
"Then I'll be looking forward to it," Yumi Noriko said after a short pause.
Then her tone shifted, growing firmer.
"Oh, and I got some more information. After the Tokyo Animation Festival awards ceremony, both Seiun TV and Southern Alliance TV finished their internal meetings... and approved the idea of reaching out to you. If, when the time comes, the project you bring them is something those two networks like, then the goal you just mentioned - the one about breaking 5% - won't be limited to the four prefectures of Shikoku anymore. Your target audience will expand into a much larger viewing region across Japan."
She paused briefly, then concluded:
"And that increases the difficulty severalfold."
"Two networks?" Sumire spoke up from the side. "But last time, didn't you say Aobane TV was also interested in Kantoku Sora...?"
"Their internal vote didn't pass," Yumi Noriko answered bluntly. "No one denies that Sora's potential is enormous. But he's too young, and he doesn't have enough experience yet. From Aobane TV's perspective, the risk is too high. And it wasn't just them. As far as I know, someone at Shirakawa TV also suggested partnering with him... and the idea was rejected on the spot."
It was understandable.
Japan's anime industry still had no shortage of capable, well-known Kantokus. From the point of view of a television network, Natsume Yuujinchou was certainly an astonishing success - brilliant enough to make people take notice.
But what about Sora Kamakawa's next work?
Who could guarantee what level it would reach?
All it would take was a single failure for that brilliance to crack apart.
While the two women spoke, Sora's attention had already locked onto the most important part of what she had said.
Two networks...
Southern Alliance TV.
Seiun TV.
He thought for a moment, then smiled.
"Yumi Noriko, your connections really are something else. You can even find out the contents of internal meetings from those networks."
She shrugged, as though none of it was worth making a fuss over.
"It's nothing special. Those networks are commercial companies. The Noriko Animation group behind my family does business with them, so naturally there are people we know on the inside."
Then she looked straight at him again, without softening the weight of her words.
"Still, I'll say the same thing again: prepare as much as you can. If you seize an opportunity like this properly, you'll become famous across the entire country. You could break through in one leap and rise straight into the ranks of Japan's top anime Kantokus."
Her voice lowered slightly, but only grew more serious.
"But if you mishandle it... if you produce an immature work... then the humiliation will be national too. It'll be in front of viewers all across the country, and it could become a stain you carry for the rest of your life. Broadcasting an anime you made on a network at the level of those major Tokyo stations comes with enormous benefits..."
She paused for a brief moment, as if making sure he would hear every last word.
"...but the price of failure runs just as deep."