Anime Production, Starting by Healing the Audience

Quite a few A Company users logged into their accounts, opened the app, and sure enough, saw the newly uploaded Akame ga Kill! PV on the homepage.

At the sight of this, all the users trembled with excitement. After endless anticipation, they had finally been waiting for Akame ga Kill! to arrive.

Ever since Fang Zheng had proposed the concept of anime, quite a few companies had announced plans to make anime, but those had remained nothing more than announcements.

Looking across the entire internet now, Star Dream on A Company was still the only anime available.

But everyone who knew Star Dream knew what it was like, so many people had no desire to watch it a second time. As a result, most viewers drawn in by anime had nothing to watch.

That drove those fans nearly mad. Every day, they lurked on major forums and social media platforms, waiting for any news related to anime.

Now that Fang Zheng had suddenly posted on Weibo that the Akame ga Kill! PV was out, how could they not be excited?

The PV opened with several characters previously featured in the promotional program flashing by one after another. Compared with the posters, though, the characters on-screen felt far more striking and real.

Against a blood-red backdrop stood Akame, even her long black hair dyed crimson by the light. She held a snow-white blade, her gaze cold and merciless.

Then there was Tatsumi, still wet behind the ears, who gave off the feeling of a hot-blooded young man at a single glance.

Mine against a pink background, the wild Leone against a gold background, the "scumbag" Lubbock against a green background, the moe Shiru against a purple background, and Big Brother Brody, steeped in philosophical air, against a cyan background.

As images of the characters flashed across the screen, the audience also heard the PV's narration.

"Just as people grow old, nations will one day perish. Even the Imperial Capital, prosperous for a thousand years, is nothing but a corrupt hell on earth, where monsters wearing human skin run rampant in arrogant defiance."

"If heaven cannot punish evil, then we shall bring it to an end from within the darkness!"

"We are all members of a professional assassin group—Akame ga Kill!"

The screen finally settled on an image of all Night Raid members. Several assassins with completely different styles appeared in the center of the screen, while the anime's title, "Akame ga Kill!", appeared above them.

To be honest, the narration was not particularly stirring, but paired with those exquisite visuals, every viewer who watched it trembled all over, eagerly waiting for what came next.

They felt that Akame ga Kill! seemed to possess some kind of magic—a magic that made them unwilling to look away after a single glance.

There was no particularly explosive BGM, and the narration was hardly full of dramatic twists, yet when everything came together, it delivered an overwhelmingly hype feeling that made their blood boil.

But just as every viewer waited eagerly for more, the screen suddenly went black. Then, four words appeared in the center: "Replay."

????

At Modu University, Chen Qian and several of his roommates stared blankly at the "Replay" prompt on the screen, unable to react for a long time.

"What the hell... that's it?!"

"That's it?! That's it?!"

"I can practically see Big Shot Fang's ill-intentioned smile and his sheer malice."

Listening to his roommates complain, Chen Qian stared dumbfoundedly at the screen before casually turning on the bullet comments.

Earlier, so they could watch the anime properly without distractions, they had unanimously decided to turn off the bullet comments, watch it once, and then come back to watch the version with comments.

But none of them had expected to return so quickly. In less than two minutes, they had no choice but to come back and check the commented version.

The moment he turned them on, bullet comments swept across the screen like snowflakes. They were so dazzlingly dense that he could not make out what they said, and Chen Qian even felt his computer lag for a moment.

"Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Just like Big Shot Fang said, it's a battle anime! My blood is boiling!"

"What good is awesome? You've left me hanging, you old thief Fang! I swear I'll never coexist with you under the same sky!"

"You old thief Fang, I waited for you this long and you only showed me one minute? Give me your address if you've got the guts, and I'll send you some local specialties!"

"Big Shot Fang, tell us your address. We want to give you some love from your fans~"

Early the next morning, Yang Li arrived at Fang Zheng's residence. The moment she entered, she saw Zhang Siyu, normally quite forceful in personality, sitting oddly in Fang Zheng's living room.

"???"

Looking at the somewhat disheveled Zhang Siyu sitting absentmindedly in Fang Zheng's living room, Yang Li blinked in confusion.

Zhang Siyu might have been one of her closest friends, but their personalities were completely different. Yang Li herself was a little reckless and tended to act impatiently.

But Zhang Siyu was different. She was the quintessential career woman—strong-willed, highly independent, and someone who had her own opinions on most decisions.

It was the first time Yang Li had ever seen Zhang Siyu wear such an expression.

"What happened to Siyu?"

Yang Li eyed Zhang Siyu suspiciously as she opened the door for her. They had not seen each other for just one night, yet Zhang Siyu looked as though she had suffered some kind of blow.

Her expression was blank, her hair slightly messy, and even her normally sharp gaze now carried a hint of doubting life itself. Though she wore business attire, she had none of the imposing presence expected of an overbearing CEO.

Sitting on the sofa with that vacant look in her eyes, she instead resembled a pitiful little kitten that had been thoroughly ravaged.

Wait! Ravaged?!

Yang Li seemed to realize something. In that instant, she felt as though she had suffered an enormous shock.

"I never thought you... you were that kind of person!!"

Yang Li glared at Fang Zheng with her beautiful eyes, her expression declaring him a scumbag. With the way she bared her teeth and claws in fury, she looked exactly like a mother leopard.

"What kind of person?"

Seeing Fang Zheng play dumb, Yang Li angrily threw her bag at him and said indignantly, "Fang Zheng, I kindly introduced Zhang Siyu to you so she could help manage your company, but while I wasn't around, you forced... forced..."

"Forced?"

Fang Zheng looked at the incoherent Yang Li. The way she stammered somehow seemed rather adorable.

He casually placed Yang Li's shoulder bag on the sofa, utterly unable to understand why this slightly reckless girl had gone crazy so early in the morning.

"You... you bastard!"

Yang Li shot Fang Zheng a disappointed look, then quickly walked over to Zhang Siyu and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Siyu, I'm sorry. I didn't know Fang Zheng was such a bastard. This is all my fault."

Yang Li looked at Zhang Siyu with deep guilt. She felt that her longtime friend becoming like this was entirely her responsibility.

It was all because she had failed to see Fang Zheng's true nature sooner that Zhang Siyu had suffered such a grievance.

"You already knew?"

Hearing Yang Li's words, Zhang Siyu, who had been sitting on the sofa questioning her life, snapped back to her senses slightly and looked at her in disbelief.

"I... I didn't know Fang Zheng was that kind of person. When I heard he was hiring staff, I thought of you. I never expected he..."

Watching Yang Li's anxious attempt to explain, Zhang Siyu sighed. She felt the world's malice slowly closing in around her. It seemed she really lacked experience and was still far too naive.

"It's not your fault. I simply didn't think things through."

"How could it not be my fault?" Yang Li grew anxious at Zhang Siyu's words and grabbed her hand. "I was the one who introduced you to that bastard. I was the one who pushed you into the fire pit. I was also the one who failed to see that bastard's filth. I..."

"Hey, hey, hey. Calling me a bastard every other sentence is a bit much!" Fang Zheng walked over carrying a pot of tea. The moment he approached, he heard Yang Li calling him "bastard" over and over, and his whole mood instantly soured.

"Even if what I did was a little improper, how did I become a bastard?"

Seeing Fang Zheng act so "shamelessly," Yang Li was just about to get up and argue with him when Zhang Siyu beside her looked at Yang Li in confusion as well.

"Lili, although Director Fang really isn't very reliable, there's no need for you to be this angry, right?"

Zhang Siyu looked at Yang Li, who was even angrier than she was, and felt deeply moved. This was her longtime friend, after all. She truly had not misjudged her. Their friendship was so pure~

"No, why are you still speaking up for that bastard? Didn't he force you to... you know?"

"You know?"

Fang Zheng and Zhang Siyu exchanged a look, both filled with suspicion. Fang Zheng in particular had felt from the start that something was off about this reckless girl's expression. Could it be that she had misunderstood something?

Zhang Siyu suddenly caught on. Looking at the anxious, stammering Yang Li, she pinched her in irritation, her face flushing slightly as she said, "What are you even thinking?! Director Fang and I are completely innocent. As innocent as scallions mixed with tofu!"

"Huh?!"

"Huh, my ass! What do you spend all day thinking about?!"

Zhang Siyu was about to explode. Looking at the confused Yang Li, she roared inwardly, Give me back the gratitude I felt just now!

When she learned that Yang Li was so angry not because of their friendship at all, Zhang Siyu nearly lost it. She had just been marveling at the purity of their friendship.

Then reality slapped her in the face so quickly. She truly had not expected Yang Li's mind to be this dirty!

"Ah, someone judged a gentleman's heart with a petty mind. Tsk, tsk. Morals are declining, and people's hearts are no longer what they used to be." Fang Zheng gave the flustered Yang Li an amused look and spoke while shaking his head.

"I... you two..."

Under Fang Zheng and Zhang Siyu's gazes, Yang Li felt uncomfortable all over. By now, she knew she seemed to have misunderstood something. Things did not appear to be what she had imagined.

Or rather, from the very beginning, all of it had been nothing but her own imagination.

Only after quite a while did Yang Li finally understand everything, including why Zhang Siyu had seemed so off the moment she entered.

"I'm sorry~~"

Yang Li sat on the sofa with her head lowered, not daring to look at either of them. She felt that she had utterly humiliated herself today.

Her friend's strange expression had not been caused by the scenario Yang Li had imagined. Fang Zheng had not violated her at all. It was because of Zhang Siyu becoming the CEO of Fang Zheng's company yesterday.

Zhang Siyu was a career woman. Early in the morning, she had come to Fang Zheng's residence, planning to ask about the upcoming work plan so she could get started.

But after arriving at Fang Zheng's place, she received news that nearly made her break down.

"I'll come clean. I'm done pretending. There are only two people in the company right now—you and me. I'm the chairman, you're the CEO, so the work plan is to build up the company structure first."

There are only two people in the company right now—you and me~

Even now, she still remembered exactly how that news had felt the instant she heard it~

"What do you mean two? Doesn't this young lady count?"