A Bad Egg

The next day, the explosive animation in Ore-sama's final episode, the twist that left everyone at a loss for words, and the production team's decision to bring the story to an abrupt halt all sparked widespread discussion.

No, "widespread" didn't even begin to cover it...

The comments under the official Twitter account's post were full of dogshit...

The comments on a single tweet telling everyone to watch the final episode outnumbered those on all the other tweets combined.

The forums were full of similar comments.

Amid all this, something both ridiculous and amusing happened.

After Ore-sama's original author tweeted to tell everyone to watch the final episode, he posted again two hours after the late-night broadcast ended.

First, he thanked the production team and all the staff, saying they'd done even better than he'd imagined. Then he changed gears and announced that he was going to the hospital. Having to wait for an ambulance in the middle of the night was awful.

Someone asked why he was going to the hospital.

He replied that he'd watched the episode while sitting on the toilet, and whenever something good happened, he'd slapped his thigh so hard that his years-old hemorrhoids had burst...

When Gu Xue saw the tweet, she could practically picture the author lying on his side on a stretcher, bleeding from a very specific area, yet stubbornly insisting on posting with his phone...

What kind of person was this...

Well, Ore-sama's final episode really had been impressive, and it had sparked plenty of discussion. Although people everywhere were talking about dogshit, that had actually been one of the production team's goals.

It was a good thing.

The clearest sign came the very next day, when Abe Shinichi got a call from the producer at the main production committee. The producer didn't hold back in praising the team.

Abe Shinichi told the news to Misawa Hiroshi, who'd been fretting over how things would turn out. Misawa Hiroshi even jumped up on the spot...

That day, Misawa Hiroshi called Gu Xue to thank her, then posted on Twitter to thank her for all her hard work and so on.

Unfortunately, not many people cared.

Aside from a few who made a point of following the role, ordinary viewers didn't pay attention to key animators. They were more familiar with the director, scriptwriter, and other top members of the production staff.

Even though Gu Xue had been listed separately in the ending credits as a key animator.

The fact that few people had noticed didn't mean nothing had happened. The only reason nobody was talking about Gu Xue's name was that the right moment hadn't come yet. Her contribution was still there, and nobody could deny that the final episode of Ore-sama had excellent animation.

People only became known for their experience after they'd made a name for themselves with a major success.

Even if the viewers didn't care, once another day or two had passed and more people in the industry saw the animation in Ore-sama's final episode, they'd pay attention to Gu Xue's name.

It had only been one night, and plenty of industry professionals were already discussing how Ore-sama had managed to pull it off...

The reason was simple.

Some viewers were using the Country Boy as a way to stir things up.

Whenever an anime with questionable quality, budget, and schedule aired a broken, ugly-looking scene, the comments would say things like, "Even Country Boy did better than this," and "Country Boy wiped the floor with you. Pathetic. You should quit the industry."

The production staff on other shows who kept an eye on viewer feedback were furious.

What the hell was this Country Boy?

Did they think the Country Boy they kept talking about was easy to pull off? Even big-budget productions couldn't manage it... A team like ours could sell the whole studio and still not be able to make something like that.

Why couldn't you do it if Ore-sama could? I, I, I had no freaking idea how they pulled it off. Just assume they stole bikes to increase the budget!

That was probably what every anime industry professional had been thinking after watching Ore-sama's final episode and seeing the Country Boy discourse.

It was both frustrating and hilarious.

Gu Xue had no idea about the discussion sparked by Ore-sama's final episode when it aired that night. During her break, she'd adjusted her sleep schedule, and she'd been going to bed early for the past few days.

After getting up, she didn't watch it right away. She took her time browsing the news and looking at silly pictures. It wasn't until almost noon that she finally finished the episode.

As for how it felt...

"So embarrassing, so embarrassing, so embarrassing. So cringe, so cringe, so cringe."

Gu Xue tossed her phone aside, covered her face, and rolled over and over on the bed.

Even though she'd drawn it herself, this was the first time Gu Xue had seen the finished animation.

With the voice actors giving it their all, it was really embarrassing.

She'd seen the storyboards and knew roughly what the dialogue and plot were going to be, so she hadn't felt that inexplicable shock at the twist. As a result, aside from thinking they'd done a good job building anticipation, all she felt while watching was embarrassment.

Well... the animation was great, too.

After complimenting herself, Gu Xue had had enough. She lowered her hands, picked up her phone again, rolled over, and hugged a pillow to her chest, resting her chin on it as she carefully rewatched the parts she'd animated.

It really was good. The in-betweens and linework had no issues. In the shot where the protagonist shot up into the sky, Misawa Hiroshi hadn't understood why Gu Xue had added so many black-and-white frames, but he hadn't made any changes on his own and had followed her instructions almost to the letter. What a good guy.

The shot was heavily influenced by another animator's style. Without the black-and-white flashes, it would have been much less effective.

When Gu Xue had first entered the industry, she'd loved challenging herself with action cuts. The first person she'd tried to imitate was Nakamura Yutaka, who was known as a national treasure. She was quite familiar with his work and style, so that night, when Mihara had asked her to draw the key animation for six cuts, Gu Xue hadn't had time to carefully plan the shots. Remembering Nakamura Yutaka's tweet about flying out of the atmosphere, she'd simply imitated it and drew the shot. Looking at it now, it had turned out pretty well.

As for the cuts after that, those weren't imitations. They were all Gu Xue's own hard work...

There was nothing wrong with imitating someone when you were starting out. But after all those years in the industry, Gu Xue would have starved to death long ago if she still had nothing of her own.

After watching the parts she'd animated for a little longer, Gu Xue closed the video and set her phone aside. She glanced at the bed, then down at her chest.

It was all a lie. What cushioning effect? If anything, it just made things more tiring...

After complaining about the inconvenience of her body, Gu Xue sat up, got out of bed, opened the door, and headed downstairs.

Gu Rou was home and cooking. It seemed she didn't have to work today.

When she saw Gu Xue coming downstairs, she turned around and teased, "Xue, it's fine to go without pants at home, but you can't do that outside."

It was no wonder Gu Rou teased her. Gu Xue was wearing nothing but a pair of very short shorts, and the T-shirt she had on was so long that only her two long, rounded, fair thighs were visible. They were so white they practically gleamed. No wonder someone might get the wrong idea.

Gu Xue glanced down at herself and blushed. "I am wearing them!"

Gu Rou usually wasn't home, so Gu Xue dressed as casually as she liked. Nobody said anything, and as long as she was comfortable with it, it was fine.

But now that someone had suddenly pointed it out, she felt a little embarrassed.

"Let me see." Seeing her sister's flushed face, Gu Rou immediately came over in her apron and reached for the hem of Gu Xue's shirt.

"Go away, go away." Gu Xue's face grew even redder. She stepped back and slapped her hand away.

Seeing her sister's embarrassed expression, Gu Rou grinned mischievously. She pinched Gu Xue's cheek, then ruffled her hair.

"Then you have to tie my hair back for me!"

Gu Xue slumped her shoulders and protested, but she didn't knock her sister's hand away. It had been so long now that she'd grown used to almost everything.

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