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The industry had long expected that Haruto would eventually become a target of smear campaigns. While he maintained a stellar reputation among his core followers, who mostly teased him for his sadistic habit of cutting chapters at the worst possible moments, he was viewed as a total disruptor within the animation industry.

For an entire year, Puella Magi Madoka Magica had forced every big-budget production to hang its head in shame. To put it bluntly, once anime fans have tasted gourmet food, it is very difficult for them to go back to eating garbage.

Coupled with Haruto's staggering success over the last few years and the fact that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was showing signs of a massive breakout after just four episodes, the Big Three were never going to sit idly by. However, they had not expected Haruto to come out swinging with such a provocative challenge. In terms of raw scale, the gap between Haru-Yuki Animation and the Big Three was enormous. It was considered the natural order of things for the industry giants to "discipline" an upstart newcomer who was getting a little too loud.

"We smear you, and you take it quietly" that was the expected scenario.

If the work still performed well despite the negativity, the Big Three would simply shrug it off as a loss to a superior talent. But for Haruto to be this much of a thorn in their side from the very beginning? That was unacceptable. Furthermore, his declaration put the Big Three in an awkward position. On the surface, he had just posted a few sentences online without spending a single yen on marketing. But if the industry leaders couldn't even suppress a single creator's defiance, their prestige would vanish overnight. The following morning, the operations departments of all three major studios held emergency meetings.

"So, how are we handling this?" a director asked, leaning over a conference table.

"The situation is already trending at number three on the AniSphere Forums. Half the anime fans in Japan are currently treating this like a spectator sport."

"Where does a college student get off being this arrogant? Does he really think making one Madoka makes him untouchable? Japan has decades of incredible animation history. Our studios alone have produced dozens of classics."

"Yes, but fans don't care about past glories. The reality is that Haruto isn't competing with the legends. He's competing with our current shows. And he's winning."

"We cannot lose. Since he claimed that he won't be overtaken in the ratings until his show ends, we just need one of our shows to take the top spot for a single week over the next two months. If that happens, his bold declaration becomes a joke."

"Does he really think he's that great? Sword Art Online and Initial D have been running for nearly a year, and their tankobon sales still haven't consistently beaten Red Dragon or The Otherworld Reformer. What makes him think a single three-month anime project can suppress the adaptations of those two giants?"

Once Haruto made it clear he wasn't backing down, the Big Three doubled their investment in "black PR" armies to attack Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. The production teams for Red Dragon, The Otherworld Reformer, and Terminal Descent began making frequent appearances on television and in high-profile interviews.

Of course, the content of these interviews was strictly controlled. They would "casually" steer the conversation toward Edgerunners, only to transition into a critique of its quality. They used moralizing language, claiming the show was poorly made, that it would corrupt the youth, and that its protagonist's lack of a moral compass was "harmful to social harmony."

Laws regarding defamation are relatively strict, so they couldn't just invent flat-out lies, but they could certainly spin the truth to mislead casual viewers. Veterans, however, saw right through it. If a protagonist joining a gang was "immoral," then what did that say about the Big Three's countless isekai shows where the leads run around acting like entitled tyrants? If blood on screen was "too violent," then what about the "overpowered" protagonists in their own shows who slaughter hundreds of enemies without a second thought?

When Haruto's fans saw their idol taking a stand, they finally had a rallying point. They swarmed the official comment sections of the three rival shows to return the mockery in kind.

Within days, the major anime forums were a toxic battleground, filled with endless "flame wars" between Haruto's supporters and the fans of the rival productions.

This friction soon bled over into other mediums, escalating the conflict between the readers of Sword Art Online and The Otherworld Reformer, as well as the fans of Initial D and Red Dragon.

Before the fall season began, no one could have predicted that the market would devolve into this level of warfare within a single month.

Kiyozawa Library and Prime Manga, however, knew a marketing opportunity when they saw one. They didn't care much about the firestorm in the animation world, but once it hit the novel and manga sectors, they leaned into it. Haruto was their star player, and they quickly launched a series of aggressive promotional campaigns. The marketing for the latest volumes of Initial D and Sword Art Online was pointed directly at their rivals.

If you're going to compete with Haruto's anime in the ratings, we'll see how your source material stacks up against his in the sales charts.

This was the nature of cutthroat commercial competition. Haruto had never even met the authors of Red Dragon or The Otherworld Reformer, yet they had become enemies through circumstance. With their fanbases now locked in mutual hostility, the creators had no choice but to stand with their followers.

Another weekend arrived. The fifth episodes of The Otherworld Reformer, Red Dragon, and Terminal Descent aired one after another. They pulled in ratings of 4.47%, 4.51%, and 4.37% respectively. Overall, they showed improvement compared to the previous week. While the gains were measured in mere fractions of a percent, the 4.51% achieved by Red Dragon was technically higher than the 4.49% Edgerunners had scored the week before.

This gave the Big Three a momentary sigh of relief. Viewership ratings are naturally volatile; just because Edgerunners had hit a 4.49% with an exciting fourth episode didn't mean it couldn't drop back down to a 4.3% this week. By Sunday, the entire industry was on edge, waiting to see the performance of Edgerunners episode five.

If Haruto had just boasted to twenty million people about never losing, only to be knocked off the pedestal immediately, it would be the most embarrassing moment of his career.

Unfortunately for the haters, that humiliation never came.

The plot of the fifth episode moved directly into the main narrative arc. Maine's crew needed to extract information from a high-ranking Arasaka executive named Tanaka. As it turned out, Tanaka was the father of the academy classmate whom David had pummeled earlier in the series, the same boy who had insulted David's mother. The entire episode focused on the high-stakes kidnapping of a corporate elite.

While it wasn't the "sweet romance" between David and Lucy that some fans were craving, the pacing was relentless.

The next day, Tokyo TV 1 released the data: 4.52%. It was exactly 0.01% higher than Red Dragon.

Sitting in his office, Haruto let out a breath of relief.

He realized he had been a bit too optimistic. He had assumed that since Red Dragon and The Otherworld Reformer followed established light novels, and their fifth chapters weren't particularly explosive, he would have an easy time holding the lead. He hadn't counted on the production team for Red Dragon adding "anime-original" content, specifically, a mandatory swimsuit episode that served no purpose other than to provide fanservice. This had successfully lured in a massive crowd of "cultured" viewers, artificially boosting their ratings.

He had come dangerously close to being humiliated. But as he put down the report, a look of calm returned to his eyes. If Edgerunners hadn't faltered at episode five, it was unlikely to falter ever again.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was a ten-episode series, and the script for the second half was on a completely different level from the first. The first five episodes were merely a prologue, showing how a promising student falls into the underworld to become a merc. The final five episodes were designed to be an emotional explosion, showing the world exactly why the name David Martinez would become a legend in the Afterlife bar, a true icon of Night City.

In this world, there was no Cyberpunk 2077 game to provide context, so the viewers only knew what the anime told them. They didn't yet know the phrase that defined the setting.

"In Night City, there are no living legends."

Holding the top spot for two consecutive weeks was a serious blow to the pride of the Big Three. As August began, all three giants increased their promotional spending. The coordinated efforts to downplay Haruto's work continued.

Haruto, however, had stopped paying attention to the noise. He was busy in meetings with major distributors, finalizing contracts for the Blu-ray releases and various merchandise lines.

Unlike the early days, Haru-Yuki was no longer a tiny startup. They were now partnering with the top-tier manufacturers.

"You won't regret this, Haruto-sensei," the executive of a major toy manufacturer said, leaning back in his chair and slapping Haruto on the shoulder with a hearty laugh. "The Big Three tried to lean on us, telling us not to work with you. We told them exactly where they could shove that request."

Haruto offered a polite smile, but the comment confirmed his suspicions. The giants were really pulling out all the stops. If Haru-Yuki had been a small, unknown studio, those threats might have worked, making it impossible to find high-quality partners. But Haruto was no longer an unknown. His Madoka Magica Blu-rays held the industry record. Even if Edgerunners was only half as popular, it was still a multi-billion yen business. No company was going to turn down that kind of profit just to keep the Big Three happy.

This was why Haruto felt comfortable taking them on directly. The ACG industry was too large for any one group to have a true monopoly. As long as you provided value, you would always find someone willing to do business.

"So, the release date for the first Blu-ray volume is set in stone?" the executive confirmed.

"Yes. Three days after the final episode of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners airs," Haruto replied with a grin. He felt he was being quite merciful by giving the fans two whole days to recover from the ending before asking for their money.

"Understood. It's been a pleasure." The man extended a large hand.

"Likewise."

That Friday, the sixth episode of Red Dragon aired. Its ratings dipped slightly from 4.51% to 4.37%; "slice-of-life" episodes in an action series rarely hold onto the casual viewers. On Saturday, The Otherworld Reformer episode six hit a strong 4.54%.

While the plot was standard, the production quality was breathtaking. Haruto watched it and couldn't help but admire the skill of the staff. The Big Three weren't giants for nothing; they had real talent in their ranks.

However, the true surprise of the week was the sixth episode of Terminal Descent. The pacing, the animation, and the soundtrack all converged into the series' best episode to date. In a sports anime, the moment the protagonist wins a major match is always the emotional peak of the series. When the ratings came in the next day, the entire industry was stunned: 4.59%.

While the fanbases were busy insulting each other, everyone had to admit that all four shows were phenomenal. In any other year over the last decade, any one of these four could have easily won "Anime of the Year." Now, they were all crashing into each other in a single three-month window.

With Terminal Descent sitting at 4.59%, Haruto's fans began to panic on Sunday morning. Edgerunners had only managed a 4.52% the previous week. To hold onto the number one spot against a 4.59% was a huge task.

The fans of Terminal Descent were relatively quiet; as fans of an original series, they were mostly just enjoying the ride.

But the fans of other shows couldn't contain themselves.

Even though it wasn't their specific show that had hit the high mark, they saw it as the perfect weapon to use against Haruto. They flooded the forums with mockery, laughing at the "inevitable" moment tonight when Haruto would be forced to eat his words.

The general consensus was that Haruto's streak was about to end. Tonight, the "arrogant" creator would finally be humbled.