As the penultimate week before Slam Dunk ended, the series reached unprecedented heights of popularity. Over the course of the week, its average playback volume per episode surpassed twenty million, making it the third animated series in nearly a decade to break that mark.
To fans of 2D animation in Dragon Country, Lelouch, L, and Slam Dunk were the reason Shui Xin and Zhao Qinyin stood far above other creators in everyone's eyes. Among the creators still active in Dragon Country's animation market, only those two had works whose average playback volume per episode exceeded twenty million.
And in Dragon Country's history, Zhao Qinyin was the only person with two works to reach that milestone.
Before the new episode of Slam Dunk went live at noon, Zhao Qinyin's fans had already started celebrating all over the internet. A bunch of uploaders on Xin Man Net had prepared short videos in advance and posted them simultaneously when the time came. Xin Man Net's official account even organized a celebration event.
On Weibo, Zhao Qinyin, the leading figure in Dragon Country's Animation Industry, shot to the top of the trending list. In second place was "Teacher Shui Xin hasn't lost!" Unwilling to accept defeat, Shui Xin's fans spammed the phrase across the internet, hoping he'd make his triumphant return next July and shatter Zhao Qinyin's fans' illusions with his work.
Online, Chu Yu and Zhao Qinyin seemed to have a rather complicated but fairly good relationship. They helped each other out online, and even the animation sequel to Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal had been handed over to GT Animation Studio, where Zhao Qinyin worked. But their fans refused to give an inch. With no outside enemy to unite against, the two sides fought bitterly over which of the two was better!