Gu Xue's Poisonous Oath and Daily Life

"...I don't know who drew this, but I have to say, this is Toe Master! Toe Master!"

A rough, hoarse, highly distinctive voice came from her phone's speaker. Gu Xue gritted her teeth, punched the mattress, and closed the video window.

It was a commentary video on the new season's shows, with the main topic being Ore-sama.

The animation in the final stretch of Episode 6 had led the uploader to forcibly slap the title "Toe Master" on the key animator for that scene—Gu Xue herself. Who would be happy about that?

Gu Xue practically wanted to chop up that uploader with all his fans and a voice uncannily like the manager of some power plant back on Earth...

Is that how you give someone a nickname...

Damn it...

After closing the video window, Gu Xue checked the comments section again. Sure enough, most of the comments were making fun of Ore-sama, and "Toe Master" appeared with alarming frequency.

The more Gu Xue read, the angrier she got, until her cheeks puffed up...

After getting used to things for a while, she had started making that expression more and more often. At first, she would snap back to herself and curse, wondering what the hell she was doing... but now, she did not care anymore.

After reading a few more pages of comments, Gu Xue put down her phone and resigned herself to it.

No matter how unhappy she was, she could not change one fact.

Episode 6 of Ore-sama had exploded.

It was practically a god-tier episode.

This anime, which had been dismissed before airing as trashy light novel slop with nothing going for it besides its title and had never really gained much popularity, had suddenly become a breakout hit.

You could tell from the fact that a popular uploader had specifically made a commentary video about it in the middle of its run.

In this week's new anime rankings, Episode 6 of Ore-sama had shot straight to first place.

Why had that happened?

Gu Xue's animation being incredible was one factor, but it was not the main one. The real reason was the contrast created by the previous episodes.

For example.

After eating shit for five weeks straight, you suddenly discovered that this week's shit had chocolate mixed into it—smooth, silky Dove chocolate...

You would wonder whether you had eaten the wrong shit... No, you would start thinking the anime looked pretty decent. Maybe it was not that bad after all. Maybe it was even kind of awesome. People who watched it would discuss it, others would see those discussions, and since the anime's ridiculous title had already drawn plenty of attention before it aired, people would check it out out of curiosity. Then they too would experience the bizarre sensation of finding Dove in their shit. After that cycle repeated a few times, Episode 6 exploded.

Of course, the director and episode director deserved plenty of credit too. Their sense of pacing and cliffhangers was masterful. After the protagonist dove toward the ground in Episode 6, there was originally a shot of him clashing head-on with the Demon King, but it had been cut. Even the ending had been cut, stopping dead at the climax and greatly heightening the audience's anticipation.

Gu Xue could practically imagine the director and episode director agonizing over it in the editing room.

After all, the runtime of an anime episode airing on television was fixed.

The storyboards had already roughly determined the timing, there were only so many key animation cuts, and Gu Xue's own cuts only amounted to a dozen or so seconds. If they cut the ending for anticipation's sake, how were they supposed to fill that extra minute or so?

The director's solution was to forcibly add still images where characters did not move, especially when the protagonist was talking to people. That made the pacing in the first half of Episode 6 of Ore-sama feel very strange, but it also heightened the contrast between shit and chocolate...

Still, the director and episode director had guts.

In short, the shit-tier production beforehand, the suddenly explosive dozen-plus seconds, the contrast between the two, the anticipation deliberately built by the creators, and the curiosity of viewers who saw people discussing it and wanted to take a look—all of it somehow made Ore-sama popular for a while...

But this definitely would not last long.

After the audience had their fun for a while, they would forget about Ore-sama. At its core, it was still the kind of trashy light novel adaptation that every season had one or two of.

The sole purpose of these adaptations was to boost sales of the original work.

No matter how amazing the direction of one episode was, it could not change that fact.

As long as Episode 7 did not have another big moment, it would quickly return to being ignored by everyone, with barely anyone caring about it.

Of course... there might be an unexpected development, like some of the anime's memes continuing to spread...

After closing the commentary video, Gu Xue opened an anime she had been following and discovered that whenever the animation got good, a few "Toe Master" danmaku comments would always appear.

The trend seemed to be catching on.

This was such bullshit.

It was not really going to become a dark chapter in her history, was it?

The thought of people calling her Toe Master in the future made Gu Xue's expression change.

If I'd known, I never would've gotten a job! And even if I did, I shouldn't have redrawn those key frames! Why was I showing off!? Wouldn't it have been better to just quietly clean up key animation!?

If I show off again next time, I'm a dog!

Staring at the glaring danmaku, Gu Xue made a poisonous oath, viciously tossed aside her phone, then turned over and went downstairs to bathe, preparing for work.

About half an hour later, Gu Xue stepped out of the bathtub feeling refreshed. After drying the water from her body and putting on her underwear, she looked at herself in the mirror, puffed out her well-developed chest, and felt a little proud.

She used to have to turn her back to the mirror and fumble with her bra for half an hour, but after adapting for a while, she did not even need a minute now!

Pretty impressive, right...

After feeling proud for a moment, she suddenly came back to her senses. What was there to be proud of? What the hell was she doing...

This was Gu Xue's true state whenever she was home alone every day: affirm herself—notice something was wrong—deny herself—forget it, just do whatever she needed to do.

She ate the food Re-jie had left in the refrigerator, went upstairs to rummage through boxes for a hair tie, changed clothes in the bathroom, ate, went upstairs to find her headphones, spotted a funny meme halfway up the stairs, and stopped to finish looking at it...

By the time Gu Xue had dawdled through all her preparations, it was already four thirty.

She changed into her shoes at the entrance.

Wearing a short skirt and sandals that exposed her smooth, pale legs, Gu Xue opened the front door. Feeling the heat wave rushing at her, she smiled shyly, then softly barked.

In weather this hot, and with no dress code at work, anyone wearing long pants was an idiot...

It's fine if people look. It's not like I'll lose a piece of flesh.

Think they can come up and touch me?

I studied karate for three years. Back on Earth, to better understand the movement and changes in body posture during fights, I even made time to study grappling and sanda for a while...

Ordinary petty thugs are no match for me.

Besides, I already barked...

After hypnotizing herself for a while, Gu Xue closed the door and happily went to work.

When she arrived at the company.

The moment Gu Xue sat down, she received notice that there would be an animation meeting.

After being delayed for so long, the storyboards for the Final Episode had finally been completed.

Doing the math, Episode 6 of Ore-sama had already aired, and there was only a little over a month left before the Final Episode aired. Accounting for the time needed for the later stages of production, there might not even be a full month left for animation.

The schedule had exploded again.

There was no telling what state the final product would end up in.

Gu Xue glanced at the calendar and silently worried for the main staff. But that was all she did—worry a little. It had nothing to do with her. She was just a key animator; as long as she completed her assigned cuts, the pressure would never reach her.

It had to be said.

At that moment, Gu Xue's thoughts were truly simple and adorable...

She did not even know why the storyboards for the Final Episode had been changed.

She had yet to realize how serious the problem was...