Animation Producer in a Fantasy World

[“Sky of Destiny” Episode 14, The Girl’s Identity Revealed… Her True Identity is Actually the Knight King of the Rihart Kingdom?]

[Director Ragna’s New Work, “Sky of Destiny” Episode 14… Causes Considerable Controversy by Depicting the Knight King as a Woman…]

[Male in Fairy Tales, but Female in Animation? Is This Really Right?]

[An Anonymous History Professor from the Academy Says, ‘Personally, I Think It’s Okay to Change the Gender of Mythical or Fairy Tale Characters’]

[Viewers Divided Over the Knight King’s Gender, ‘Historical Distortion’ VS ‘It’s Just Animation, Freedom of Expression is Fine’]

“Kehehehe.”

A few days after the airing of “Sky of Destiny” Episode 14, in the morning.

I smiled darkly as I looked at the articles prominently featured in the morning newspapers.

Look at this.

Whether you look at this newspaper or that newspaper, there are only articles related to “Sky of Destiny” everywhere.

Of course, this isn’t particularly surprising.

Because after “Sky of Destiny” aired, for several days afterward, they would enthusiastically publish articles related to the unfolded story, hidden foreshadowing, or plot hooks.

It was to the point where you couldn’t tell if this was a newspaper publishing news about the Empire or a newspaper publishing setting books related to “Sky of Destiny”, so what more needs to be said?

But this morning’s newspapers were somewhat different.

Instead of the usual mindless praise related to “Sky of Destiny”, they were filled with articles related to cautious criticism of the developments so far.

Probably, the newspaper companies might have wanted to make sharper criticisms, but they’re clearly holding back a bit because the number of “Sky of Destiny” fans in the Empire is enormous.

But that too will be soon.

To be honest, you don’t have much to write articles about these days, do you?

Then can you really hold back on this amazing news that the Knight King’s gender was depicted as female in the anime?

Really?

No, absolutely not.

Soon, the unleashed newspaper companies will further tear into “Sky of Destiny” regarding the fact that the Knight King’s gender was female.

If the media continues to pour out criticism, it’s clear that public opinion will gradually change as well.

Although it’s not their country’s hero, there will still be people who feel uncomfortable about making someone who was male into a female.

If public opinion turns to criticize me like that, even the imperial family won’t be able to ignore the eyes of the citizens in the end.

No matter how much of a class-based society it is, they can’t completely ignore the majority opinion including the citizens.

And by now, wouldn’t the Rihart Kingdom side be in an uproar?

Probably, it wouldn’t be strange at all if the kingdom’s citizens rose up like a swarm of bees and insisted on immediately cutting off cultural exchanges with the Empire.

What will happen after that, well, there’s no need to say.

Just like they did in 21st century Korea, hold a press conference and spout nonsense like ‘I apologize for what happened due to my short-sighted judgment’ and ‘I will step down from the director’s position for now and repay with a better animation in the future’.

And a few years later, when they judge that public opinion has calmed down, they can release new merchandise of the animations made so far and suck money from people like mosquitoes.

Just as I was looking very interestingly at the newspaper editorials pouring out criticism against me with an extremely refreshed expression.

“Di-Director! Director!”

Bang!

Kaya rushes into my room, panting.

And in her hand was a newspaper.

“Have you seen the newspaper? Could it be, could it be that you were aiming for all of this too? Good heavens, I was wondering why the Director wasn’t doing anything and just staying quiet, but you were aiming for this from the beginning!”

“…?”

For a moment, I couldn’t understand what Kaya was saying at all.

Aiming?

What on earth did I aim for?

I didn’t aim for anything except quitting being an animation director and going home?

And looking at me like that, Kaya thrust a newspaper article in front of my eyes.

It wasn’t a newspaper from the Empire, but from the Rihart Kingdom side.

And it was a fresh morning newspaper just published this morning.

And the content contained in that newspaper was none other than-

[The Knight King… Possibility That It Wasn’t a Man but a Woman?]

[Royal Historical Expert… ‘No Clear Evidence in History That the Knight King Was a Man… We Should Stop Hasty Criticism Towards “Sky of Destiny”…’]

[A Royal Insider… ‘The Possibility That the Knight King Was a Woman in Actual History While Being a Man in Fairy Tales, Not Entirely Impossible….’]

“…?”

No, what the hell.

What is this now.

“Your Majesty, what do you think about really making the Knight King a woman on this occasion? That is, announcing at the national level that the Knight King’s gender might have been female.”

“…What did you say?”

For a moment, the King of the Rihart Kingdom doubted his ears.

No, has this bastard really gone mad?

Even without this, the King was already feeling like he was committing some sin against his ancestors every time he saw the Knight King, the hero led by the protagonist Yuri in “Sky of Destiny”.

And now, without even considering the King’s feelings, what is he saying?

Seeing the sight of a prince of a country not just being deeply immersed in anime but now boldly suggesting historical distortion, the King as a monarch could not help but feel utterly dismayed.

But fortunately or unfortunately, Kaisel had given such advice out of concern for the country.

Because instead of bringing up disgustingly otaku-like stories to persuade him, he simply handed a newspaper to the King.

“…What is this?”

“It’s a newspaper article published recently by the Silgea Federation. Please read it.”

[Empire Travel Recently Gaining Explosive Popularity Among Citizens…. The Reason Turns Out to be “Sky of Destiny”?]

[People Wanting to Travel to the Empire to Find the Footsteps of the Great Hero Chris Increased by More Than 50% Compared to Before….]

[A ‘Core’ Tourism Course That Only Visits Places Where Key Scenes of “Sky of Destiny” Were Filmed is Hugely Popular….]

That’s right.

It was none other than a newspaper article saying that the number of people wanting to travel from the Federation to the Empire has greatly increased.

And the reason they’re traveling to the Empire was, needless to say, because of “Sky of Destiny”.

Because when Ragna produced “Sky of Destiny”, he created the animation by directly copying buildings and streets that actually exist within the Empire.

Of course, Ragna simply brought in actual places because he didn’t want to draw new backgrounds.

Thanks to that, there has been a sharp increase in cases of people from other countries coming directly to the Empire for tourism to see the places appearing in the animation in reality.

So it’s something similar to the pilgrimages that anime fans on Earth often did.

Anyway, you could say that all sorts of tourists from all over the continent, including the Federation, are flocking to the Empire even though the Empire side hasn’t particularly done anything.

So much so that it would be no exaggeration to say that the Empire is currently experiencing the most economically prosperous period since its founding.

“The Empire is currently attracting all sorts of tourists and making enormous profits through marketing using ‘Sky of Destiny’. Because otaku… no, anime fans are people who would willingly sell not just their money but even their souls for their favorite characters. So, we should use this too.”

“…Hmm, how do you mean?”

The King, realizing that his son wasn’t talking nonsense, asked with a serious expression.

“As Your Majesty well knows, currently the most popular character in ‘Sky of Destiny’ is the Knight King. No, it’s no exaggeration to say that she’s not just popular, but is keeping the animation ‘Sky of Destiny’ alive.”

In fact, within “Sky of Destiny”, the Knight King was enjoying popularity on par with Yuri’s classmate Sein, but.

Kaisel opened his mouth, completely ignoring such cold reality.

“And now, with the Knight King’s identity revealed in episode 14 of ‘Sky of Destiny’, there’s considerable controversy in the world. But at the same time-”

“Interest and attention towards the Knight King is higher than ever before. As they say, crisis is opportunity.”

At the King’s words, Kaisel nodded his head.

“If, and this is just a hypothetical… What if the word spreads across the continent that the Knight King’s identity was ‘really a woman’? Especially if there are some plausible pieces of evidence to support it?”

“…Probably, people from all over the continent would try to visit our kingdom. Similar to how people are visiting the Empire for tourism now, or perhaps even more so.”

And the money earned in that process would clearly be a great help to the finances of the Rihart Kingdom, which is always struggling with budget due to its location at the northern end.

No matter how you look at it, it was a brilliant idea that would only benefit the kingdom.

…So, except for one small drawback.

“The Knight King… You’re saying we should not only make the Knight King, the hero of the kingdom, a woman in the animation, but now even distort history…?”

At the King’s words mixed with lamentation, Kaisel tilted his head as if he genuinely couldn’t understand.

“What’s wrong with that? I think I would be very happy if my descendants depicted me as a beautiful girl in an animation?”

…That’s probably because you’re abnormal, no matter how you look at it. My son.

In the end, after a long conflict, the King agreed to only publish newspaper articles containing suspicions that ‘there might be a possibility that the Knight King was a woman’.

And as a result.

[A Woman Depicted in a Mural Inside a Tomb Made a Thousand Years Ago… Could Her Identity Actually Be the Knight King?]

[An Anonymous Political Scientist (Female, 29) Who Received a Knighthood… Makes a Bold Statement ‘It Seems Clear That Director Ragna Calculated and Designed All of This.’]

[Not ‘Historical Distortion’ but ‘Uncovering the Truth’… Count Ragna Tersion, How Far Ahead Did He Look When Producing the Animation?]

“…..”

Looking at the newspaper articles that were busy criticizing Ragna until just recently, but suddenly changed their stance, Ragna tightly closed his eyes.

I thought it was perfect this time, but all plans have been ruined because of that bastard Kaisel.

Then, there’s only one means left for Ragna now.

‘Has the time finally come to introduce the Hero King?’

The Hero King, the founder of the Empire and standing at the pinnacle of all heroes.

Even if it becomes a ridiculous development where that Hero King gets his arm cut off by a mere high school student… no, an academy cadet, will it be able to defend me?