Even Aoki Haruhi felt a moment of trance when he saw the CG, as if he were watching "Your Name" in a movie theater in his past life.
Sure enough, only Shinkai Makoto can surpass Shinkai Makoto.
Even if Aoki Haruhi could imitate this art style, he always felt something was missing.
After seeing the PV for "Your Name," Aoki Haruhi looked forward to Shinkai Makoto's future works even more.
Of course, the current Shinkai Makoto hasn't reached the peak of his past life yet, but he already possesses considerable drawing skills. With Aoki Haruhi's assistance, although "Your Name" hasn't quite reached the level of its past life, it is already quite close, enough to shock this era.
As expected, after the PV was aired, the game immediately sparked widespread heated discussion and debate.
"Is this actually a game trailer?! Amazing, if the game can reflect this kind of image quality, it would definitely be incredible."
"Is this a game at the level of an animated movie? And just seeing this trailer makes me really want to experience it."
"The trailer for 'Your Name' is too good, right? Before this game, I had never seen a game reach this level."
"There is a lot of information in the visuals too. The PV is very short, but it has already told a lot of useful information."
"The male and female leads are both so good-looking. I'm actually a bit hesitant about whether I should get into it."
The promotional video for Pokeni's latest work, "Your Name," can be described as truly remarkable.
The ultra-high-quality visuals of the PV are so stunning that they make people wonder if this is actually a game or an animated film.
You can even faintly detect a sense of beauty reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki, yet the overall art style feels very modern, even pioneering a new aesthetic for the era.
It's a pity that computers have yet to become widespread in Japan, and Windows is only at version 3. If this were in the future, the general consensus on "Your Name" would be:
"Every single frame in this PV could be used as a wallpaper."
"The Wallpaper Master"—a fitting title for Shinkai Makoto indeed.
The promotional campaign for Your Name could only be described as explosive.
Relying on just a single short PV, it quickly went viral beyond its niche.
Regardless of whether they had played Pokeni's games before, anyone who saw the promotional video would inevitably be captivated by it.
The beautiful visuals, the intriguing story of body-swapping, and the various hidden hints were all constantly tugging at the audience's heartstrings.
Many people were eager to see what kind of game this actually was.
Moreover, the fact that it was clearly written in the PV as "Kogahara Tsubakiaki's final work" created a peculiar chemical reaction, making countless people cherish the game even more.
For veteran Pokeni players, Your Name was a continuation of the surprises.
And no one wanted it to be the end.
"Hey, have you guys seen the latest game trailer from Pokeni?"
P Corporation's players gathered together to discuss it after watching the PV.
In an era without the internet, the only way to share games was to talk about them in person.
P Corporation's players gathered together to discuss after watching the PV.
In an era without the internet, the only way to share games was by talking in person.
The number of Pokeni players is gradually increasing, and P Corporation has quite a reputation. Even many people who haven't played Pokeni's galgames have at least heard of them.
At the very least, the names Kogahara Tsubakiaki and Gen Urobuchi are famous, and are closely linked to "blade-like" plot twists.
"Of course I watched it. It's simply amazing. Truly worthy of a Kogahara Tsubakiaki work."
"Yeah, that 'Old Thief Kohara' is really something. No one can surpass him when it comes to galgames."
For long-time fans, Pokeni is synonymous with "anime-quality" games. Ever since Onmyoji, the company has held itself to the highest animation standards in the industry.
At the same time, they haven't failed the players' expectations; every galgame developed by P Corporation has been visually stunning.
At the very least, for that time, their visual quality was absolutely top-tier in the industry.
And this time, Pokeni has taken the image quality of their promotional video to the stratosphere.
"Old Thief Kohara is indeed strong, but I heard the script for Your Name this time wasn't written by Gen Urobuchi. I wonder if there will be any issues."
"Old Thief Kohara is truly something else, but I heard that the script for 'Your Name' wasn't written by Gen Urobuchi this time. I wonder if that will cause any issues."
"What kind of issues could there be? Kogahara Tsubakiaki is a guarantee in himself."
"You can tell just by looking at this game that it's going to be a tearjerker."
"You guys are overthinking it. Has there ever been a game produced by Kogahara Tsubakiaki that wasn't a tearjerker?"
"Without Gen Urobuchi, do you think it might be a little better?"
"Not necessarily... The 'Onmyoji' script wasn't written by Gen Urobuchi either, and it was still a tearjerker. I don't hold any hope for Kogahara Tsubakiaki."
Everyone fell silent at this point.
"Old Thief Kohara is truly inhuman. If you think about it carefully, this bastard really hasn't produced a single galgame that wasn't a tearjerker."
"It's every game produced by Kogahara that ends up stabbing the players in the heart. Remember the last one, 'The Entropic Man'? Didn't he promise it wouldn't be a tearjerker?"
"It technically wasn't a tearjerker—the main characters both lived—but it would've been better if they had died. I still can't bear to think about the ending; it's the most devastated I've ever been."
"Yeah, by comparison, the Onmyoji series where the heroine dies doesn't seem to have as strong an impact. This feeling of unrequited love, of losing someone forever, is just too painful."
"Two parallel lines that never intersect—this is the most painful game ending I've ever seen."
"But... how should I put it? You have to admit one thing: Old Thief Kohara's games are truly good."
"Indeed, other companies can't even imitate it if they wanted to. A game that can only be experienced once—there's none other like it."
"Every time I play one of Old Thief Kohara's games, I muster up the courage, but every time he makes me lose so thoroughly."
"But every time Old Thief Kohara releases a new game, aren't you all still eagerly rushing to buy it?"
"Because it's one of a kind. The galgames made by other companies are far inferior to P Corporation's in terms of story."
"Sigh... what a pity. Old Thief Kohara is really retiring."
"What are we going to do? This is Old Thief Kohara's final work; there won't even be any chance to be tortured anymore."
"Yeah..."
"What should we do? This is already Old Thief Kogahara's last work. We won't even have a chance to be tormented by him in the future."
"Yeah..."
With the ultra-exquisite promotional video superimposed with Kogahara Tsubakiaki's [Final Work], the popularity of "Your Name" continued to soar.
"Your Name" had already become the most attractive game at the end of 1992, even overshadowing the current Super Famicom release of "Dragon Quest V".
"Retirement?! They must be crazy."
Over at Nintendo, President Hiroshi Yamauchi sneered and slammed the Gorotsu magazine onto the table.
Shigeru Miyamoto didn't speak; he quietly observed the expression on the president's face. Today, Yamauchi had a smile on his lips, but the words he spoke were puzzling.
You never knew whether this man was happy or unhappy.
"It's a publicity stunt, but retiring on purpose just to promote 'Your Name' seems a bit unworthy," Miyamoto said, honestly sharing his inner thoughts.
Since last year, the president had been mentioning Aoki Haruhi more and more.
At first, Miyamoto didn't quite understand why President Yamauchi was always paying attention to this person, but now he seemed to have gained some new insights—
Pokeni, as a company, really did have some capability when it came to game development.
He had heard about Aoki offending President Yamauchi. At the time, Miyamoto had assumed the company was finished, after all, Nintendo controlled ninety percent of the Japanese game market.
Yet he hadn't expected Pokeni to tie itself to Sega and actually end up doing better and better.
Especially since the release of Pokémon, its popularity had been continuously rising.
Yet, unexpectedly, P Corporation teaming up with Sega has seemingly made them perform even better.
Especially since the release of Pokémon, they have been consistently on the rise.
Achieving this is truly no small feat.
So, had President Yamauchi seen P Corporation's potential early on, which is why he paid attention to Aoki Haruhi and Kogahara Tsubakiaki?
To some extent, Shigeru Miyamoto actually hoped that Kogahara Tsubakiaki's retirement was real and not just a marketing gimmick. At least from his understanding of Pokeni, Kogahara Tsubakiaki could be considered half of Pokeni.
If it weren't for Kogahara Tsubakiaki, Pokeni's new games would likely suffer a massive drop in quality.
For the industry titan Nintendo, they wouldn't necessarily be so jealous of talent.
But based on Miyamoto's understanding of Hiroshi Yamauchi, he has always been one to constantly suppress challengers.
"That is why I find Pokeni truly ridiculous," Hiroshi Yamauchi said with a shake of his head. "Every producer only gets one such opportunity for a 'retirement' marketing campaign in their lifetime; if they do it too often, their credibility cannot be guaranteed."
Shigeru Miyamoto nodded in agreement.
However, there was one prerequisite the President hadn't mentioned—
This marketing strategy of 'retirement' has a prerequisite: the person must have sufficient influence.
If Kogahara Tsubakiaki's retirement can bring about such a huge advertising effect, it only goes to show that he really has done quite well in the industry.
The popularity of "Your Name" continued to grow, garnering widespread attention.
The date arrived at December 1, 1992.
"Your Name" was officially released.
On this morning, long queues formed in front of major game stores.
Every Pokeni player wanted to come and purchase a copy of "Your Name."
By this point, this game, which was inextricably linked to [Kogahara Tsubakiaki], was no longer just a game.
It had taken on a different significance.
Because this was Kogahara Tsubakiaki's retirement work.
In ancient China, this would be called a swan song.
There were many players here who had played P Corporation games, but those who had played every single one were few and far between.
There were many players who had played the galgames produced by Kogahara Tsubakiaki, but those who had played his entire collection were rare.
Many players were here today to "buy their tickets."
And it wasn't just about "buying tickets"; purchasing "Your Name" held even more symbolic meaning.
Some players even wanted to buy three copies straight away: one to play, one to collect, and one for evangelism.
"Even if we can't play Old Thief Kohara's games in the future, we can at least let others who haven't experienced them give them a try, and tell them there once was such an amazing game producer."
"That's exactly what I'm thinking, I'm buying three copies."
"It's just a pity that I couldn't catch the Onmyoji era back then. Nintindo won't even let P Corporation re-release the games anymore. Now, it's impossible to collect the complete works of Kogahara Tsubakiaki."
"Damn it, me too."
Kogahara Tsubakiaki stood in line, listening to the discussion among the players ahead of him, his feelings indescribably complex.
At first, he thought the news of Kohara Tsubakiaki's retirement was fake, but after it was confirmed in the PV, he felt devastated.
This feeling was even harder to accept than playing one of Old Thief Kohara's games.
"Do you think Kohara Tsubakiaki will ever return to making games?"
"Hard to say. Usually, once someone retires, they don't come back."
"The key is that to this day, we still don't even know what Old Thief Kohara looks like, which is the most frustrating part."
"But didn't Hayao Miyazaki say he was retiring, only to come out of retirement later?"
"Yeah, Miyazaki came back because he truly loves animation, and we love him and the animations he makes."
"I also hope Old Thief Kohara makes a comeback."
"Me too."
"Even if he does come back, it'll probably be years from now, right? Otherwise, wouldn't his retirement seem too cheap, too much of a joke?"
"Ah... just the thought of not being able to play an Old Thief Kohara game for several years, or maybe even for the rest of my life, makes me feel miserable."
The raw, rough wind and rain, blowing in the face, made Hirozawa Furukawa want to cry.
However, he couldn't, because he was currently standing on the street, and in front of him, there was a long, winding queue.
He wasn't the only one; all the people around him were just like him, looking at the screen in their hands, with a mix of anticipation and nervousness.
"Do you think, with 'Your Name' being so hot, will there be enough copies? I've been waiting for three hours!"
"Don't say that, even if I have to stand here until tomorrow, I must get it! I'm a loyal fan of Old Thief Kohara!"
"Old Thief Kohara... sigh, just thinking about it, I could cry. A game he spent so much effort on, it's finally released!"
Listening to the people around him discussing, Hirozawa Furukawa nodded in agreement.
These comments were obviously from die-hard fans of Old Thief Kohara.
Hirozawa Furukawa recalled the scenes he saw when watching the PV earlier. Even now, the images were still so clear in his brain, as if they had been etched into his mind. It was mainly because "Your Name" left such a deep impression; he couldn't forget it even if he wanted to.
After standing in line for about an hour, it was finally Hirozawa Furukawa's turn.
As soon as he entered the store, the store manager warned, "Currently, the
The dealers had long expected Your Name to be a massive hit, but they still underestimated just how explosive the game's release day would be.
Even Hattori Yuji, who had taken stock of 50,000 copies this time, found himself running low on inventory in less than five hours on the very first day.
In the retail stores, Your Name was given prime placement, right on the shelf in the center of the shop.
It would be more accurate to say that the small mountain in the middle was composed entirely of game boxes.
Except that now, this little mountain was losing its shape, with not much left.
This was the first time a P Corporation game had enjoyed such "center stage" treatment.
Furukawa Hirozawa didn't hesitate. He joined the queue and, when it was his turn, consciously picked up one copy.
If anyone tried to reach for a second copy at a time like this, they would be glared at to death by the fellow fans around them.
In a country like Japan, very few people could withstand the social pressure to do something so "shameless."
So, after grabbing his copy, Furukawa quickly followed the line to the checkout counter to pay.
Back home, he carefully wiped down the game box.
The cover featured the beautiful image of the main characters.
In the background, a shooting star glowed with an enchanting light.
He sighed silently—
"This is the final work of Kogahara Tsubakiaki."
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