Malicious Intent

The next day, the explosive animation in the final episode of Ore-sama, the plot twists that left everyone speechless, and the production team's decision to end the story so abruptly all became subjects of widespread discussion.

No, it should be said, extremely widespread discussion...

The official Twitter comment section was flooded with people calling them "dog-brained."

The number of comments on the single tweet urging everyone to watch the finale was higher than the total number of comments on all their other tweets combined.

Similar sentiments were being echoed across various forums.

In the midst of this, a rather ridiculous incident occurred.

After the original author of Ore-sama posted the tweet telling everyone to watch the finale, he posted another one two hours after the late-night broadcast ended.

He first thanked the production team and all the staff, saying the work exceeded his wildest imagination, but then his tone shifted, stating he had to go to the hospital because waiting for an ambulance in the middle of the night was just terrible.

Someone asked him why he was going to the hospital.

He replied that he had been watching the anime while squatting on the toilet, and whenever a good scene came on, he would slap his thigh in excitement, causing his chronic hemorrhoids to burst...

When Gu Xue saw this tweet, she could practically picture the original author lying on his side on a stretcher, bleeding locally, yet stubbornly holding his phone to post the tweet...

What kind of people are these...

Well, the performance of the Ore-sama finale was indeed eye-catching, and it sparked plenty of discussion. Although people were calling them "dog-brained" everywhere, that was precisely one of the production team's goals.

This was a good thing.

The most direct proof was that Abe Shinichi received a call the very next day from the producer representing the production committee, who didn't hold back in praising the production team.

Abe Shinichi shared this news with the anxious Misawa Hiroshi, and Misawa Hiroshi actually jumped for joy...

That same day, Misawa Hiroshi called Gu Xue to thank her, and later posted a tweet thanking Gu Xue for her hard work and contributions.

Unfortunately, not many people paid attention.

Except for those specifically looking, the average viewer doesn't care about the position of key animator; to them, the more familiar names are the director, the scriptwriter, and other top-tier production staff.

Even though Gu Xue was listed separately in the ending credits as a lead key animator.

However, just because not many people noticed doesn't mean nothing happened. The fact that Gu Xue's name wasn't being discussed just meant the right moment hadn't arrived yet. Gu Xue's contribution was still there, and no one could deny that the animation in the Ore-sama finale was excellent.

Seniority is something that only becomes recognized after one truly makes a name for themselves in a battle.

Even if the audience didn't care, as another day or two passed and more industry professionals saw the animation in the Ore-sama finale, they would start paying attention to the name Gu Xue.

It had only been one night, and already many in the industry were discussing how exactly Ore-sama had pulled it off...

The reason for this was simple.

There were viewers currently stirring up trouble using the "country bumpkin" meme.

Almost every time an anime with questionable quality, budget, or scheduling aired a scene that looked broken or ugly, the comments would be filled with things like, "This isn't even as good as the country bumpkin's work," or "You're being crushed by the country bumpkin; how embarrassing, just quit."

The production staff of other anime who monitored viewer feedback were absolutely furious.

What the hell is a "country bumpkin"?

Do you think what you call the "country bumpkin's work" is easy to achieve? Even many big-budget productions can't do it, okay... Our entire production team couldn't pull it off even if we sold ourselves out.

If Ore-sama could do it, why can't you? I—I—how the hell do I know how they pulled it off? Just pretend they stole car batteries to increase their budget!

That was likely the thought process of every person in the animation industry after watching the Ore-sama finale and seeing the "country bumpkin" trend.

Helpless and amused.

Gu Xue was unaware of the discussions sparked by the Ore-sama finale that night. During this break, she had adjusted her biological clock and had been going to bed very early these past few days.

After waking up, she didn't check the news right away. She dawdled, scrolling through news and looking at memes, and didn't finish watching the finale until nearly noon.

As for her impression...

"So embarrassing, so embarrassing, so embarrassing. So chuunibyou, so chuunibyou, so chuunibyou."

Gu Xue tossed her phone aside, covered her face, and rolled back and forth on her bed.

Even though she had drawn it herself, this was the first time Gu Xue had seen the final finished footage.

Combined with the voice actors' intense performances, it was just so embarrassing.

She had seen the storyboards and knew the general dialogue and plot direction, so she naturally didn't feel that sense of inexplicable reversal. This meant that while she felt the anticipation was built up well, all that was left for her was embarrassment.

Well... and that the animation was really good.

After complimenting herself, Gu Xue had had enough fun. She let go of her face, picked up her phone again, turned over, lay on her stomach on the bed, hugged her pillow, rested her chin on it, and seriously watched the parts she had animated one more time.

It was indeed very good. There were no issues with the line work or the in-betweens. For the shot of the protagonist rising from the ground, although Misawa Hiroshi didn't understand the purpose of Gu Xue adding so many black-and-white frames, he hadn't acted on his own to change them and had followed her instructions almost entirely. He was a good man.

This cut had heavy traces of imitation; if the black-and-white flashes were removed, the effect would be much worse.

When Gu Xue first entered the industry, she loved challenging herself with action cuts, and the first person she imitated was Nakamura Yutaka, who held the title of a national treasure. She had a considerable understanding of his work and style. So, that night, when she was entrusted by Mihara to draw six key animation cuts, she didn't have time to carefully conceive the shots. Remembering the tweet Nakamura Yutaka had posted about flying out of the atmosphere, she directly imitated it and drew the shot. Looking at it now, the effect was good.

As for the subsequent cuts, they weren't imitations; they were all Gu Xue's own hard work...

It's not shameful to imitate others when you're just starting out, but after so many years in the industry, if Gu Xue didn't have her own style, she would have starved to death long ago.

After watching the parts she was responsible for a while longer, Gu Xue exited the playback window, set her phone aside, and glanced at her bed and her own chest.

It's all a lie; there's no cushioning effect at all, it's even more exhausting, okay...

After grumbling about the inconveniences of her body, Gu Xue sat up, got out of bed, opened the bedroom door, and walked downstairs.

Gu Rou was at home cooking; it seemed she didn't have to work today.

Seeing Gu Xue walk downstairs, she turned around and teased, "Xiao Xue, it's fine to not wear pants at home, but you can't do that when you're out."

It wasn't strange for Gu Rou to tease her like that, mainly because Gu Xue was wearing a pair of ultra-short shorts, and the hem of the T-shirt she wore on top was so long that only her two round, slender, fair thighs were visible, shining with a blinding whiteness. It was no wonder others would misunderstand.

Gu Xue glanced at her lower body, her face turning bright red as she said, "I am wearing them!"

Usually, Gu Rou wasn't home, so Gu Xue dressed as casually as she pleased. No one ever said anything to her, and as long as she was comfortable with it herself, anything went.

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

"Let me see." Seeing her younger sister blushing, Gu Rou, who was wearing an apron, immediately walked over to Gu Xue and reached out to lift her shirt.

"Go away, go away." Gu Xue's face turned even redder as she took a step back and swatted her hand away.

Seeing the shy expression on her sister's face, Gu Rou smiled mischievously, first pinching Gu Xue's cheeks, then rubbing her head.

"You have to help me tie my hair back later!"

Gu Xue slumped her shoulders in protest, but she didn't swat the other woman's hand away. After such a long time, Gu Xue was now used to almost everything.

Thank you everyone, please vote for me...