... What did I just watched?
As the credit scene rolls on the screen, I can only lean on the chair while staring at the screen of my computer with a complex feeling.
I expected this to be a show catered to young girls. It looked vibrant, and their appearances were too colorful and childish to be taken seriously. They fought the evil monsters from our of nowhere, and had their trusty mascot supporting them.
Even someone like me who is clueless about anime knows it has the template of a children's show. Most cartoons are always like that.
Apparently this one isn't.
Nagi's death rattled me to the core. Her head got chomped by that giant witch and without any censorship. I don't consider concealing their faces in dark shadows as censorship because it still shows what happens to them. The blood is also surprising.
It's not a fantasy story where each episode the protagonist defeats the bad guy and saves the day. It's a complex story where good and bad isn't defined and it has time travel in it!
Why would they add time travel in this story!?
It made me like Homuri. A girl who will do everything to save her best friend from the doomed timeline. I think I even shed a tear while watching that.
Anyway, I think this story is not suitable for children. It has graphic contents in it like blood, death, and depression all in one.
It is good though. In fact, it is so good that I plan to look for any sequel it has and watch it.
I am not satisfied with just this. I want to see a happy ending!
So I browse through this anime site after the credit roll ends, and quickly find the sequel which is in movie format. Without delay, I click the first movie and watch it.
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I spent my whole day watching Magical Girl Kamujou. I've watched the three movies, two which were simply recaps of the anime, while the third was the actual sequel. My opinion Homuri rose up, fell through, and repeated until only frustration and disappointment remained. The ending left my unsatisfied.
Even with that, Magical Girl Kamujou pulled me. It wouldn't leave my mind even when another day passed.
The plot of that story still lingered in my mind when I got back to work. I couldn't just focus on my job that I made more errors than usual in my work.
That doesn't matter. I would be resigning on this job sooner anyway. Right now, there is only thing I want to do after this.
I want to make my own take of that story!
I am not a writer. I haven't done it since I was a child. It doesn't matter though because I will make my own story about it. Because I want a happy ending for it!
I might not have a talent for it, but there is something that will help me with that.
When our break comes, I enter the place only available to me.
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"Greetings esteemed customer, what can I do for you?"
I don't have to worry about my break time. Time doesn't move in the real world when I'm in the Shop.
"Show me a list of skills that will help me write and I can possibly afford with my current financial asset."
"Understood."
The usual floating panel appears in my vision. I read through the list.
The talent of writing in cursive, the talent of writing fast, the talent of writing eloquently, the talent of writing in a book, the talent of typing fast, the talent of poetry, the talent of using prose, the talent of rhyming words, the talent to properly use grammar, the ability to understand English, the ability to understand Japanese, and many more.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
I wonder why it includes the ability to understand Japanese when I am a Japanese. That is my primary language.
"Uh... why is this ability included in the list?"
"I apologized if I offended you, our dear customer. Based on my scan, I noticed you only have a basic understanding of your nation's language. This ability will help you understand even obscure kanjis and other obsolete meanings from your language."
"Ah..."
I want to protest but Teller is right. Even as a Japanese citizen, I haven't studied deeply in our literature. I can read things fine, but kanji scripts just made me scratch my head.
If I want to start writing then understanding those words will help me with that.
But should I really do this?
It's not like this will give me any profits. It's just writing my own fan made interpretation of some anime character. So overall it is just a waste of money to learn it.
But is the Shop's purpose only for earning more money to myself?
Of course not!
If it was, I would save up money to buy the talent to understand economy. That costs ten times the amount as the power to predict the stock market, but I know I can get there if I continue using my stock market talent for a few years.
My purpose for using the Shop is not just for becoming rich. I also want to have a leisure life with it. Writing is one of those relaxing thing people do right?
If I am going to be staying in my house, I need the talent and skills that will help me kill time and be productive at the same time. I might also be able to monetize it if the time comes. I think writers can earn money if they publish an original book?
I don't know. I haven't made my research there yet.
Anyway, with those reasons, there is nothing to hesitate here. I pick the talent of typing fast which is the cheapest talent I ever buy, only costing 10,000 Yen. After that I buy the talent of using prose, the talent of poetry, the talent to use proper grammar, and the ability to understand Japanese, all of which ranging from 50,000 Yen to 100,000 Yen respectively.
With all of these talents, I think I can make a good fan made story that will satisfy me. Maybe I can even find a site to post it and see their reaction to it.
After I'm done with that, I return to the real world while planning what I should do when I go back home.
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Watanabe Nobu was an anime weeb. Even when he was at his thirties, he was still a fan of action anime with flashy graphics and cute girls in it. He dreamt of becoming an official illustrator in a Gacha Game, or any promotional arts from a game. He always strived to improve himself, while sustaining his hobbies with his mentally tiring desk job.
One day, he was surprised when their quiet female coworker suddenly approached him and revealed she was an artist. Her art style was a bit uncanny due to how she put realistic details on her line art. It would be good, but hers was just too uncanny to be called good.
He still invited her to their Orderly server as he saw potential in her. She seemed clueless about their hobbies, but that was fine. As a prospective japanese artist, he felt that he had to teach her the norms of the community.
If she truly wanted to draw realistic drawings, she should focus on a different art style like 3D arts. That would elevate her name, and she might find some commissions for her modeling. She could also do concept arts, as she was really good at drawing anatomies and perspectives. He saw the details from the butterflies she drew as part of the background, and mesmerized him as he saw each detail has been drawn to perfection.
He wondered just how many days it took her when she drew that.
Now if she drew anime characters, he knew she would be popular to many people. It was the one popular on the market recently.
He wondered when she would interact with their server. She hadn't posted anything since she joined their community.
*Ding*
"Hm?"
Nobu was currently in his room, his head leaning on his ergonomic chair as his mind wandered when he heard that ping. He was startled and looked at his computer where his unfinished art was displayed in his many layered canvas. He looked at the tab below his monitor, and saw a red dot on the Orderly icon, which indicated a notification.
He leaned on his computer screen closer as he clutched his mouse and then clicked it. A new screen covered it, showing the black chat platform of Orderly. He saw that the notification came from the art-sample channel so he clicked there.
"Wow!"
Beneath his round glasses, his eyes widened as he stared at the beautiful fan art from Tsukiko-chan. It was a fan art of Magical Girl Kamujou, and its style was reminiscent of how it's illustrator drew its official anime art.
"How did she do this!?"
This style was entirely different than her own uncanny mix of realistic and anime style. It felt like she just copied the anime style itself and turned it her own.
Below was another surprising thing.
Tsukiko-chan: Just finished watching Megujo, and I felt inspired that I decided to make a fan made story of it. I don't really like the ending on the third movie, and want to make my own take of it. Can someone tell me where I can post my fan made story?
A complicated feeling filled his heart. He wanted to protest at her words as he found the ending of the third movie good. At the same time he was perplexed. She was already an artist so why was she also writing?
'Is she a good writer too?' He wondered.
He didn't have to respond as his fellow artists quickly replied to her, and many emojis were put in her post as their reaction.
As he read through their responses, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
'Wait... does Amano-san not know about fanfictions?'
He was more confused than ever.