Spirit Adventure (2)

And so, the new PV for Ragna’s work following “Sky of Destiny” was released to the world.

Naturally, the PV for this new work became a huge topic among people.

The reasons were mainly two.

First, those who love Ragna’s animations more than anyone else were finally given new material to speculate about following “Sky of Destiny”, and.

The other reason was none other than-

“…Hmm, this PV. I’m an ignorant guy so I don’t really understand, but it seems to have incredibly profound content.”

“The song is good, it makes your heart swell, and above all, doesn’t it seem full of foreshadowing?”

This released PV was somehow full of something that stimulated men’s emotions.

A man, whose appearance is unknown due to shadow effects, stands on a space battleship and gives attack orders towards the enemies.

The man’s spirited declaration that if all the starlight adorning the night sky is his enemy, he’ll turn the universe itself into an enemy.

To be honest, wasn’t that scene itself imbued with the ‘romance’ that would make any man’s heart race?

Even that scene alone was more than enough to capture the hearts of all viewers, but.

The video that followed was, in some sense, something even more shocking than what had just happened.

It was none other than the scene of a boy walking silently.

A small and petite boy on the outside, walking silently towards somewhere with his back turned to the viewers.

The video of the boy, who keeps walking without stopping, suddenly growing into a young man wrapped in a cloak.

When seen just by itself, it might have felt like nothing special, but.

When combined with the OST that somehow makes people’s hearts race, its impact was truly tremendous.

Moreover, there were too many meaningful aspects to dismiss that video as really nothing.

The spiral patterns that seem to follow the path the boy is walking.

A flower that suddenly appears beside the boy and walks the same path with him.

This was clearly some kind of hint related to the story of the new work that will be aired, no matter who saw it.

Therefore, in ‘My Struggle’, they formed a task force team mobilizing various scholars and intellectuals from the Academy, including Professor Hermione, and.

“First of all, it seems certain that the boy walking silently towards somewhere is the protagonist of this new work.”

“The various symbols that briefly flash across the screen at 1 minute 37 seconds. Couldn’t those be symbols representing the various companions who will be with the protagonist?”

“Oh, that’s quite a convincing statement. I agree as well.”

“Then, what’s the identity of that flower that seems to be guiding the protagonist’s path in front of him?”

“Ha, it’s obvious. No matter how you look at it, isn’t that a symbol representing the heroine who will be with the protagonist in this new work!”

“That’s right! Where in the world is there an animation that can be called a work without a heroine? As was the case with “Machine God Chronicles” or “Sky of Destiny”, a heroine is an essential element in animation!”

“Hmm, while the statement itself is not wrong, I think it’s dangerous to draw such a hasty conclusion. I’m thinking that what that symbol represents might not be the heroine but a visualization of the ‘dream’ the protagonist has-“

“What? You… Did you just make a statement of opinion that Ragna the director’s new work doesn’t need a heroine? Is there such a heretical bastard!”

…They were in the middle of having a lively discussion after analyzing the PV frame by frame in this kind of way.

And of course, people’s hot reactions related to this PV reached Ragna’s ears as well.

“…According to my brother, these kinds of words are currently being exchanged among people.”

Saying so, Serika’s eyes were sparkling as if Ragna was amazing.

“It’s incredible, Ragna. To think you could completely capture people’s hearts with just a 3-minute PV. You aimed for this from the start!”

“…..”

To be honest, Ragna just found Serika’s gaze very uncomfortable.

Why?

Well, because Ragna had really made that PV without any thoughts.

To be more precise, he had gone all the way to the Rihard Kingdom to get an awesome OST like ‘Seeds of Sadness, Fruits of Happiness’.

He just thought it would be a dereliction of duty not to create ‘that video’ of the protagonist walking silently towards somewhere with that OST.

To be frank, how could one resist making that video that strikes the heartstrings of men?

Right?

Serika, who had been exclaiming in admiration, looks at the original drawing work that was currently in its final stages with a very curious gaze.

“By the way, now the production of “Spirit Adventure” has really entered its final stages. At this rate, it seems fully possible to release it in theaters within a month.”

“We were working at this speed to match that schedule in the first place.”

Originally, Ragna should have released a mecha work as a theatrical version instead of “Spirit Adventure”, but.

Due to suddenly receiving a request from the Emperor, all the schedules he had planned in advance got messed up.

Therefore, Ragna hastily changed the plan to release “Spirit Adventure” as a theatrical version and the mecha work as a TV animation version.

But because of that, “Spirit Adventure”, which was not far from its release, was in a state where it couldn’t do proper promotion, let alone a PV.

Of course, as a temporary measure, posters and placards had been plastered all around the theaters where “Spirit Adventure” was scheduled to be released, but.

Serika was worried that Ragna’s new theatrical work might not become widely known with just that much.

“Well, don’t worry too much. It’ll work out somehow.”

However, unlike Serika, Ragna was maintaining a very carefree attitude.

Because if “Spirit Adventure” became a hit, there was a very high chance that a sequel would be produced.

For Ragna, who already had a pile of things to make like the mecha work or the sequel to “Sky of Destiny”, that wasn’t such welcome news.

Rather than being hugely successful like “Machine God Chronicles” or “Sky of Destiny” and making people suffer like this.

Just being moderately successful at the level of a masterpiece known only to those who know, like “The Disappearance of Elli and Hamel”.

A situation where it doesn’t torment his future self with sequels or whatnot, that was exactly the future Ragna hoped for.

“Well-made works become hits on their own without having to advertise hard anyway. So there’s no need to worry too much.”

Ragna spouted nonsense that seemed to completely ignore 21st century advertising and marketing techniques without a care, and.

“U-um… Okay.”

The innocent Serika, unaware of Ragna’s pitch-black inner thoughts, nodded her head carefully.

‘Well, this should do it.’

Judging that “Spirit Adventure” wouldn’t be a hit beyond a certain scale with this, Ragna smiled with satisfaction, but.

Ragna ultimately failed to notice until the end.

‘…..’

The presence of Evangeline, who happened to be listening to the conversation between Ragna and Serika from outside the room.

Evangeline pondered Ragna’s words slowly for a long time, then quietly nodded her head.

It seemed that the time had come to show her power as a VVIP member of ‘My Struggle’ after a long while.

---

And so time passed.

The release date of “Spirit Adventure”, Ragna’s new animation following “Sky of Destiny”, was approaching.

And on the day Ragna’s new animation was to be released, the Capital maintained its usual quiet atmosphere, hardly believable for such a day.

In fact, that might be natural if it’s natural.

For some unknown reason, the animation called “Spirit Adventure” wasn’t as widely promoted as previous works.

In reality, among the citizens of the Capital, far more people knew about the existence of the mecha work whose PV had come out but didn’t know about the existence of “Spirit Adventure”.

However, that wasn’t such bad news for parents with young children.

Because it was much better than the theater being packed to bursting with people trying to watch the animation, as had happened with “The Disappearance of Elli and Hamel” in the past.

So, this time there wouldn’t be any unsavory incidents like waiting in line for hours for their turn or buying scalped tickets.

“Dad! I want to see the animation. I want to see the animation quickly!”

“Yes, yes. I got it.”

So parents with young children left their homes with somewhat light hearts and headed towards the theater where “Spirit Adventure” was opening, and-

“I’m sorry, but currently all the seats are sold out.”

“…Pardon?”

They heard an unbelievable thing from the employee at the ticket office.

“Um… When is the earliest time tickets are available?”

“…So all tickets up to a week from now are sold out. I’m afraid it will be difficult for you to purchase tickets for “Spirit Adventure”.”

“Then how about tickets for children’s seats instead of adult seats-“

“I’m sorry, but tickets for children-only seats are also sold out for the entire week. I’m sorry.”

“…..”

For a moment, the parents had to taste something that felt absurd.

All tickets are sold out?

Today is the very morning of “Spirit Adventure”‘s opening day.

How long has it been since the theater doors opened and already a week’s worth of tickets are sold out?

And what does it mean that all the tickets for children-only seats are also sold out?

Does this mean that all the young children existing in the Capital came to this theater from dawn and hoarded tickets?

But, that’s when.

“No, gentlemen. Even if the tickets for regular seats are sold out, I think it’s a bit wrong for older people to buy tickets for children-only seats…”

“Even though I’m nearly 30 years old, my heart is still young, you bastard!”

“I’m 19 years old this year. I’m much younger than you old fogey.”

“I’m a 17-year-old student and I’m super popular in class thanks to “Spirit Adventure”!”

“…..”

The parents tilted their heads seeing the people gathered in front of the children-only screening room who were clearly not children to anyone looking.

Hmm…

Are those… children?