Attack on Heaven (2)

And so, the day after the first episodes of “Attack on Heaven” and “Lulu’s Adventure” aired.

The imperial citizens, as usual, talked about the anime they watched last night with very excited expressions.

For most imperial citizens, anime was the only drug allowed by the state.

As such, the appearance of a new anime, a new dopamine dispenser, was a matter more important than anything else in this world for them, and.

Therefore, it was inevitable that people would gather in groups the next day to share their impressions related to the anime they watched last night.

“Hey. I’m asking just in case… You watched the anime last night, right?”

“You call that a question? Of course. Even if I forget everything else, how could I possibly forget the airing date of Director Ragna’s new anime?”

“I see, so you also watched the first episode of “Attack on Heaven”.”

“Of course. With a mecha show appearing again like in “Machine God Chronicles”, how could I possibly resist!”

And among the people talking about anime, most men were only talking about “Attack on Heaven”.

That was natural.

What was the reason most imperial citizens were so excited when “Machine God Chronicles” first appeared?

If one’s heart doesn’t pound at the fact that giant mechas that ignite a man’s heart are actually moving, they’re not a man.

Moreover, didn’t a character that seemed to condense men’s romance appear in the first episode of “Attack on Heaven”?

“Credo. That guy, I can’t help but acknowledge him as a true man, if nothing else.”

“Of course! Isn’t he hundreds of times better than works like “Machine God Chronicles” where 90% of the characters seem to have mental illnesses!”

“How frustrating it was that the fate of the Earth depended on a guy who just whines because he didn’t receive enough love from his parents…. A man should sometimes move forward even knowing it’s impossible, like Credo!”

In the past, when “Machine God Chronicles” first aired, many people felt a kind of sympathy for the protagonist Kai.

Because the main content of “Machine God Chronicles” was, after Kai, who had been an ordinary boy until then, was brought to the Illuminati under the pretext of saving the Earth from foreign gods.

He boarded the Machine God just to be acknowledged by his father, and then gradually became mentally devastated.

Of course, people who had watched all of Ragna’s director’s cut knew well that all the misfortunes Kai experienced over 50 episodes of “Machine God Chronicles” were the elders’ plot to cause the Third Apocalypse, but.

Even taking that into account, most men couldn’t help but be dissatisfied with Kai’s half-crazed appearance in the latter half of “Machine God Chronicles”.

To put it bluntly, if Kai had acted a little more proactively in the latter half of “Machine God Chronicles”, wouldn’t many things have turned out differently?

In fact, after turning back time once, just by Kai acting without hesitation anymore, everyone reached a happy ending, and.

But to say it the other way around.

It means that Kai, the protagonist of “Machine God Chronicles”, except for the very beginning when he had quite a hot-blooded personality, gave viewers frustration for almost all 50 episodes.

But Credo from “Attack on Heaven” was different.

First of all, he charged when he saw an enemy.

He only charged forward, saying retreat is shameful for a man.

Viewers also know.

That such behavior of Credo is just reckless action without any thought, beyond the level of being brave.

But.

“Ha, originally there are times when a man must move forward even knowing it’s reckless.”

“Aren’t scars on the back a swordsman’s shame?”

Many viewers were cheering even for such reckless actions of Credo, saying it’s part of being ‘hot-blooded’.

Of course, not all viewers had such opinions about Kai and Credo.

“How stupid. The essence of Credo is just a neighborhood delinquent who’s all show.”

“That’s right. When you actually watch the first episode of “Attack on Heaven”, Cyan ended up solving everything, so why is Credo putting on airs?”

“And Kai from “Machine God Chronicles” is just a 14-year-old kid. With the fate of the Earth depending on such a young child, wouldn’t it be stranger if he was mentally stable?”

They strongly opposed the words of people who mindlessly praised Credo from “Attack on Heaven” and disparaged Kai from “Machine God Chronicles”.

Thus, most viewers were divided into factions supporting “Attack on Heaven” and factions supporting “Machine God Chronicles”, and.

Just as numerous members were continuing bloody battles washing blood with blood in ‘My Struggle’, which could be called the front line of the anime Guildcup.

“Um, excuse me…”

A few members who had watched other anime at that time, probably because mecha shows weren’t really their taste, cautiously opened their mouths.

“Shouldn’t the work “Attack on Heaven” be compared with “Lulu’s Adventure” which aired at the same time? Why do you keep comparing it only with “Machine God Chronicles” which finished airing long ago?”

“…Hmm.”

“”Lulu’s Adventure”, you say…?”

At those words, the people who had been excitedly holding a Guildcup over “Attack on Heaven” until just now trailed off.

Because.

“That anime… honestly, it was a bit bland…”

“Right. It’s not that it wasn’t interesting, but should I say it lacked something stimulating? Or should I say it was a bit dull and boring…”

That’s right.

In fact, people of this world don’t know this at all, but.

21st century modern society was a hell crawling with people who couldn’t even properly endure a mere 5-second ad while watching YouTube videos.

And Ragna was a person who would mercilessly hit the skip button if a three-line summary and dopamine release weren’t completed within 5 seconds in an ad video.

As such, he preferred developments that give viewers dopamine from the first episode of anime, in line with the latest trends.

In the first episode of “Machine God Chronicles”, the scene where Unit 0 goes berserk.

In the first episode of “Book of Life and Death”, the scene where Louis and Alpha resolve to kill each other without knowing each other’s face or name.

In the first episode of “Sky of Destiny”, by inserting the scene where the protagonist is killed by the hero Chris from the beginning, he made viewers crave the second episode, but.

The first episode of “Lulu’s Adventure” directed by Kaya had a somewhat different character from Ragna’s anime.

In the first episode of “Lulu’s Adventure”, there were no scenes where someone suddenly dies, or jaw-dropping action scenes.

It just calmly depicted the events that unfold when a boy called ‘Ian’, adopted into the Luizer family, meets ‘Luka’, a young master of the same age.

Of course, there were scenes where Ian plots various evil deeds to take over this family someday as he enters the Luizer family, but.

It couldn’t help but be too different from “Attack on Heaven”, which showed developments of breaking mechas with hot-bloodedness and guts and coming out to the surface from the first episode.

In other words, for imperial citizens addicted to the stimulating dopamine given by Ragna’s anime, “Lulu’s Adventure” couldn’t help but feel like bland hospital food.

Meanwhile, the staff who had come out to check public opinion related to “Attack on Heaven” while listening to such talk from people, unconsciously let out a sigh.

‘Is this really right?’

Yes.

It’s not bad to attract people’s attention with shocking developments from the first episode.

And it’s not bad to throw plausibility to the dogs and rush madly like a train with broken brakes.

That could be seen as being faithful to the original purpose of anime, which is to provide dopamine to viewers.

But the people gathered there talking about “Attack on Heaven” don’t know anything.

Currently, Director Ragna wasn’t just ignoring plausibility while producing the anime called “Attack on Heaven”.

He was going beyond that level, completely ignoring settings for future developments.

People won’t know.

The terrible fact that the enemies appearing after the first episode only have completed designs, but no related settings exist at all.

‘The protagonists Cyan and Credo are just going to drill through all the enemies anyway, so do we really need settings? People probably won’t be very interested in the backstories of such extra nobodies anyway.’

‘…..’

Thanks to that, even the staff producing the anime “Attack on Heaven” knew nothing about this work.

Probably, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that in terms of understanding of the work “Attack on Heaven”, there was little difference between the staff and the viewers gathered there.

‘Damn, I hope the anime doesn’t really go to space at this rate?’

In the past, when designing the protagonist’s main mecha, Kouen (Red Flame), Ragna did say that Kouen would eventually become larger than the universe, but.

Among the staff, no one believed such statements from Ragna.

Come on, no way.

No matter what, having the work’s development go beyond the moon to space is going too far.

Honestly, Director Ragna must have just said that as a joke.

…Right? Probably?

As the staff returned to the production room of “Attack on Heaven” with somewhat resigned expressions.

There, an even more surprising event than viewers’ evaluations of “Attack on Heaven” was waiting for them.

“At this point, I want to decide on the special moves.”

“…Pardon?”

So… what are you deciding?

“The special moves. In a mecha show featuring giant robots, special moves are essential elements that must not be missing. Considering their importance, it’s a bit late to be deciding on them now.”

“…..”

“I have two candidates for special moves in mind. First, one that fuses opposing energies into one and then shoots the resulting mass at the opponent, and a technique that generates a giant drill and then charges to pierce through the opponent. Which of these two do you think is better?”

“…..”

The staff were finally at a loss for words as they watched Ragna spout nonsense about special moves without showing any interest in the work’s settings.

But that was only for a moment.

‘…Indeed, special moves are unavoidable.’

‘We have to acknowledge the special moves at least….’

No, to be honest.

Even if nothing else, don’t we have to acknowledge cool special moves?