At the beginning of June, "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train" was finally pulled from theaters, with a cumulative box office of 40.9 billion yen and a total attendance of around 30 million.
Although there were people who watched it twice, three times, or even five or six times, 30 million viewers is still a staggering number, especially considering the entire country only has a population of over 100 million.
And this is just the situation in Japan.
Outside of Japan, the film's box office performance was equally formidable. For example, on the peninsula, the number of viewers on the opening day alone was close to 70,000. By the second week, the number of viewers was close to 500,000, ranking first in both attendance and box office for the weekly charts.
In the United States, the animation grossed over $20 million in its opening week, becoming the foreign film with the highest opening weekend box office there.
As of early June, the animation's overseas box office had far surpassed the record previously set by "Your Name," making it the Japanese film with the highest overseas box office in history.
In short, this animation is not only strong in Japan, but also highly successful on a global scale.
Furthermore, perhaps because of its incredibly strong commercial performance, this animation also won quite a few animation and film awards, such as the Best Animated Film at the Hochi Film Award, the Best Animation Award at the Japan Academy Film Prize, and a Special Award at the Elan d'or Awards.
It might not be accurate to say it won awards until its hands grew soft, but it could at least be called "full of honors."
Regardless, after the movie finished its theatrical run, the final results for this animation were more or less settled. What remained to be seen was the performance of the second, third, and even fourth seasons of the TV series.
However, although Lin Zhiyan would still serve as the producer for the subsequent seasons, their performance would have nothing to do with his goals; as long as they performed normally, there was nothing else to be concerned about.
What concerned Lin Zhiyan more was the BD sales for Uma Musume 2.
This animation had a total of four BD volumes. By early June, the sales of the first volume had already exceeded 220,000 and were marching toward the 230,000 mark, though it looked unlikely to reach it.
Since it had already far surpassed the per-volume sales of EVA, it didn't really matter if it didn't reach 230,000.
What Lin Zhiyan was even more concerned about were the sales figures for the final three volumes; even though he felt confident, he still needed to see it with his own eyes to be at ease.
The third BD volume was released in mid-June, and the fourth in mid-July.
By early September, Lin Zhiyan finally relaxed completely. One and a half months after the release of the final volume, the series' average volume sales had successfully surpassed 210,000, exceeding the 209,466 average volume sales of "EVA." From this point on, any further sales would be pure growth.
It certainly wouldn't reach an average of 220,000 volumes, but considering this was the initial release and the subsequent re-releases hadn't come out yet, there was no need to ask for too much. Surpassing the cumulative average volume sales of "EVA" was already satisfying enough.
With this, both of Lin Zhiyan's goals as a producer were officially achieved.
Naturally, there was an outpouring of congratulations from the outside world. Animation-related media outlets successively published special reports, and netizens were all discussing it. Furthermore, some people were urging Lin Zhiyan to quickly announce information about the new animation that he would be personally directing.
As for information on the new animation, Lin Zhiyan did not go back on his word; he announced it that very day, including the title and the initial promotional poster.
"The First Evolution"
Sunday, September 5th.
In the evening, during dinner, Lin Zhiyan opened a bottle of wine, a rare occurrence, and poured himself a glass to celebrate simply.
"Pour me one too," his wife Mayumi said suddenly.
"Okay."
Lin Zhiyan nodded and poured a glass for Mayumi as well.
After receiving the glass, Mayumi immediately said to Lin Zhiyan, "Dear, congratulations on officially achieving your goal as a producer."
"Thank you."
Lin Zhiyan clinked glasses with Mayumi and took a sip, unable to help feeling a wave of emotion inside.
The two goals he set as a producer were proposed in 2014, and now, in 2021, seven years later, they had finally been achieved.
It had taken quite a long time.
However, since both goals had been realized, his animation production career could be considered complete.
From entering the animation industry in 1995 to 2021, a span of 26 years, he had built Produ into something that could be called an industry legend, and he himself had become a legendary figure.
In the realm of TV animation, the anime with the number one and number three highest average volume sales were both produced by him, and among the top ten in average volume sales, four were Produ's animations.
Among the top twenty, Produ's animations accounted for eight.
In the top 50, their animation titles are even more numerous, with a full 22.
As for the animations that squeezed into the top 200, Produ's and animation's titles are a dime a dozen.
It goes without saying for the top 500—almost all of them are, with only a very few failing to make it into the top 500.
As for animated films, because they haven't made many, their achievements in this area aren't very deep. However, the number one and number three highest-grossing animated films are both from Produ, and the other few animated films produced by their company also have decent results, so there is nothing to be dissatisfied with.
Future goals?
There are no more goals. After all, higher goals are simply impossible to achieve, and ordinary goals just don't match his current status and position.
At the end of the day, when it comes to being this successful in animation, there is no one else like him.
There is no need for any more goals; from now on, he can just drift along, then prepare to train a successor, and prepare for retirement.
Thinking of this, he looked at his daughter, Lin Youxiang, beside him.
However, before he could open his mouth, he heard Lin Youxiang say: "Dad, I'm only in middle school; I haven't even started high school yet."
Lin Zhiyan was stunned for a moment: "You know what I was going to say?"
"I know, it's about making me your successor, right? It's too early for that. It's still your era, and it's not my time to step onto the stage yet," Lin Youxiang replied with a smile.
"My era, is it?" Lin Zhiyan muttered to himself.
Strictly speaking, no era belongs to any single individual. He was just the person who had achieved the most in this golden age of animation. However, looking at it from that perspective, calling it his era wasn't entirely wrong.
Unfortunately, his era was largely built upon his rebirth and the cheat-like advantage he brought with him. From here on out, without the advantage of his past life, he would, at best, rely on his max-level keyframe skills and the fame and experience accumulated over more than twenty years of animation production to maintain his position at the forefront of the era. It was unlikely he would continue to lead the times or continue creating myths.
That said, he was already satisfied with what he had achieved over these past twenty-plus years, so...
He raised his hand and gently patted his daughter on the head: "It's fine, no rush. You just keep focusing on your studies. Dad will keep making new animations while waiting for you."
Regardless, even if his career was already fulfilling, he would still make new animations until the day he truly retired.
Indeed, there was no rush.