Parallel World : The Other World’s Animator

Kageyama Yazaki murmured to himself, his gaze fixed on the animation playing across the screen.

Then, the most shocking scene in Attack on Titan so far unfolded before his eyes.

Petra and her two companions turned back to face the Female Titan as she pursued Eren through the forest. The man at the center launched himself forward with the fastest three-dimensional maneuvering technique Kageyama Yazaki had ever seen in the entire series, charging straight at her without the slightest hesitation. He slipped through the gap between her grasping hands with dazzling speed and precision, but that beautiful movement was nothing more than a lure.

Less than half a second later, Petra and the other teammate burst out from the blind spot within the trees. In a single flash, their blades gouged out the Female Titan's eyes.

The three of them moved at once. Arms, tendons, thighs, shoulders - every vulnerable joint and muscle in the Female Titan's body was severed in rapid succession, too fast for Kageyama Yazaki to fully follow. They were like three hummingbirds cutting through the air, elegant, precise, and terrifyingly deadly.

So cool…

Kageyama Yazaki's eyes widened, his heart pounding hard in his chest.

That action sequence reminded him of the acrobatic performance that had first made Sora famous. Although this story had nothing to do with missiles chasing robots, the composition, rhythm, and expressive force were almost exactly the same.

"Go! Kill her!"

Petra and the others had destroyed the Female Titan's eyes. Since Titans possessed regenerative abilities, full recovery would take around one minute.

But just as Eldo, one of the three companions, was about to slash into the Female Titan's nape, driven by hatred for his fallen comrades, the Female Titan suddenly opened her mouth and bit him in half.

Blood splattered across the screen.

Kageyama Yazaki's fingers trembled.

Why?

But then the Female Titan's eye opened, and Petra's internal realization surfaced in the scene. Only then did Kageyama Yazaki understand.

The Female Titan had prioritized healing one eye first. That was why her vision had returned in only half a minute.

Was that even possible?

Kageyama Yazaki felt his chest tighten.

In the anime, Eren, who had already chosen to trust the three and leave on his own, erupted in fury just like the audience when he witnessed that scene.

But something even more terrifying followed. The Female Titan, having regained part of her sight, suddenly unleashed overwhelming strength. With a strange, twisted motion, almost like some abnormal creature, she kicked the sweet, lovely Petra to pieces.

Yes. Literally kicked her down.

The censorship standards for animation in Japan in this world were far more lenient than those of Sora's previous life. Even if a young girl was struck at the waist so brutally that her internal organs were crushed and scattered, as long as no explicit sexual parts were exposed, it was still considered acceptable animation.

Kageyama Yazaki felt nauseous.

He was already used to the cruelty of Attack on Titan. He knew the series had never avoided death, despair, or helplessness. But when a beloved character was subjected to such a brutal fate, the emotional impact was almost impossible to describe.

The last of the three companions then proved why Levi's Special Operations Squad was so respected.

Although his heart was filled with grief over the deaths of his teammates, reason overcame emotion. While the Female Titan attacked Petra, he seized the opening and struck at the back of her neck.

"We won!"

Kageyama Yazaki slapped his thigh and shot to his feet.

It was as if every ounce of rage in his chest had been released through that single blow.

His leg hurt. His palm went numb.

But immediately after that, a scene appeared in the anime that plunged him into despair.

A crystal-like layer, shining like glass, formed over the Female Titan's nape.

The man's blade shattered the instant it struck her neck.

Then he, too, was kicked apart in midair by the Female Titan.

"What are you doing, Sora? Have you lost your mind?"

Ever since Eren joined the Survey Corps, those three had been tasked with protecting and watching over him. Yet through their competence, their mutual trust, and the patience they showed Eren in crucial moments, they had already become extremely popular among fans.

And now, those three characters were dying one after another, each death more miserable than the last.

Anger continued to build in Kageyama Yazaki's chest. At the same time, millions of anime fans across Japan were glaring at their screens, waiting for Eren to charge at the Female Titan.

There was only one thought in their minds.

Kill her, Eren.

The grand, majestic background music surged. Eren's body was hurled high into the air by the three-dimensional maneuvering gear, tears welling in his eyes as he bit into his own finger.

Amid the smoke, Eren's furious roar echoed as he transformed into a Titan.

That savage, powerful posture, combined with the music, made Kageyama Yazaki's blood boil as if it might burst into the sky.

That roar drew the attention of Erwin, Levi, Mikasa, Armin, and everyone else. They all knew what Eren's transformation meant.

Just because I wanted to believe in my comrades… everyone died.

Drowning in grief, Eren charged toward the Female Titan.

The two monsters began a brutal fight for survival in the forest.

Eren's attack against the Female Titan's arm was so powerful that it shattered part of his own Titan's hardened structure.

Yes. That's it. Kill her.

Almost every Attack on Titan fan had lost control.

It's all my fault.

Eren's guilt had reached its peak.

However, by the end of the episode, the audience was still forced to swallow one final, cruel joke.

The enraged Eren fought with everything he had against the Female Titan, whose composure remained terrifyingly sharp. Their battle continued until the very last seconds.

Then the Female Titan dodged Eren's attack. Eren suddenly lost his balance, and she crushed his head with a single blow.

After that, the Female Titan bit into the nape of Eren's Titan and swallowed Eren's body whole.

Mikasa witnessed everything with her own eyes, because she had just arrived at the scene.

Episode twenty-one ended with Mikasa revealing a killing intent cold enough to pierce through the screen.

That night, as the ending theme played, countless Attack on Titan fans stared at the credits with the same murderous resolve in their eyes.

What kind of nonsense plot was this?

Why hadn't Eren fought alongside Petra and the others from the start?

Why had Eren, despite his superhuman Titan power, had his head crushed and been swallowed?

Why did Petra and the others have to meet such tragic ends?

That night, furious fans flooded Sora's account with comments.

"So Sora's supervision has started again, huh?"

"You just can't feel satisfied unless you torture someone, make certain characters suffer horribly, and drag us fans down with them."

"What was the point of killing Petra? What was the point?"

"Is Sora addicted to killing people?"

"Why can't you show even a little respect for the characters you created? Even if Petra had to die, did you really need to make her end so miserably? Did you really need to crush her like that?"

"Mikasa, please avenge us."

"Mikasa is the real protagonist of this anime. Eren was such a disappointment. This is the first time I've seen a male protagonist in a shounen anime get his head blown apart by the enemy while he was in a rage."

"Eren, it's not your fault! The Female Titan's abilities are obviously too abnormal!"

"What's so abnormal about them?"

"She can summon Titans and harden her entire body. As an ordinary Titan, Eren is clearly at a disadvantage against her!"

"That's exactly why we're criticizing Sora! Whether they win or lose isn't the point. He just wants to disgust us, make us suffer, and satisfy some twisted desire of his."

"Please, let the Female Titan be killed brutally in the next episode. This is the first time I've ever wanted to see a character tortured to death. Kantoku Sora, please don't let us down."

"If the Female Titan doesn't die, I'm dropping this anime."

"Stop blaming Eren. He was only following Erwin's orders! Isn't trusting your comrades supposed to be admirable in every anime?"

"So we're still cursing that old bastard Sora, right?"

That was how Attack on Titan worked. Sometimes it shattered the heart. Sometimes it made the blood boil. From beginning to end, it repeated that cycle, using short episodes to stir enormous emotions in its audience.

The Female Titan, despite appearing in only a few episodes, had already earned more hatred from viewers than the Colossal Titan, the one who broke through the wall and caused Eren's mother's death.

Despite all the controversy, episode twenty-one of Attack on Titan achieved a viewership rating above 6.62%, surpassing Clannad's previous record.

Although many fans of Sora still did not believe Attack on Titan had surpassed Clannad in strength at that point, the achievement was undeniable.

Even so, Attack on Titan had succeeded under Sora, a creator who had already become a dominant figure in Japan's animation industry from the very beginning. To some media outlets, the fact that it had taken nearly half a year to surpass Clannad's record was already considered slow.

At the same time, Attack on Titan's overseas ratings began rising at an astonishing pace.

The executives of several television stations working with Sora knew very well how popular and successful his works were in Japan.

But who could have predicted the influence Attack on Titan would have abroad?

It was not only being strongly recommended by famous overseas anime bloggers. Even the most demanding anime critics were praising it.

Ordinary viewers watched Attack on Titan for its novelty, excitement, and battle scenes.

But there was another group of people who loved the core of the story.

The pursuit of freedom.

As long as that central theme remained unchanged, Attack on Titan naturally stood above many other works in terms of quality. Compared with it, other foreign animations released during the same period seemed rather dull.

At Yume Animation, Sora had temporarily handed management and production work over to Sumire. Recently, he and Yumi had traveled overseas to inspect several influential top-tier game production companies, planning to acquire one and establish Yume Animation's game division abroad.

Under these circumstances, in early September, episode twenty-two of Attack on Titan began airing.

The first half of the episode revolved around Mikasa's pursuit of the Female Titan. At the critical moment, Captain Levi appeared and saved Mikasa, who was on the verge of losing control. Then, together with Mikasa, he rescued Eren, who had been eaten by the Female Titan.

Mikasa had long been widely recognized by fans as the strongest fighter.

But in episode twenty-two, that perception changed.

The Female Titan had beaten Eren badly. But in this episode, Captain Levi showed everyone what it truly meant to beat someone down.

He dismantled the Female Titan from head to toe. If Mikasa had not gotten in the way, distracting Levi and causing him to be injured while saving her, he might have cut the Female Titan into pieces on the spot.

The second half of the episode shifted from thrilling intensity into grief.

When Levi returned and saw the horrifying corpses of his lively, beloved subordinates - including Petra, who had followed him for so long - the sadness was already heavy enough.

But at the end of episode twenty-two, the cruelty had not yet ended.

On the journey back, the Survey Corps tried to escape from Titans attacking them. With no other choice, they began throwing the bodies of dead soldiers from the wagons to draw the Titans' attention.

During that chaos, Levi kicked a body bag off the wagon.

As the corpse rolled across the ground, he realized it was Petra's half-destroyed body.

And so, that beautiful young woman was sent into the midst of the Titans by the very person she had admired most.

When they saw that scene, Attack on Titan fans felt as though something inside them had been torn away.

Captain Levi… he must have been in so much pain.

At that moment, the forced calm Levi tried to maintain and the grief-stricken sobs of millions of anime fans across Japan formed an especially devastating image.

That part of the story was tragic beyond words.

It was madness.

Everyone had thought that, after episode twenty-one, after being criticized for an entire week, Sora would realize his mistake and put the plot back on the right track.

Who could have imagined that he would become even more perverse and cruel?

What exactly had Petra done to offend Sora?

Was it not enough that she had died? Did her funeral also need to be so humiliating?

Why force her to endure such disgrace again and again after death?

Among the three, she had died the most horrifying death. Her internal organs had been crushed, and only half of her body had been found and preserved.

Even after dying, she still ended up as Titan food.

And Sora, you bastard, why did you include so many close-up shots of Petra being eaten by Titans?

Even someone as cold as Levi almost lost control after realizing he was the one who had kicked Petra's corpse into the swarm of Titans.

And you, Sora? What about you? Do you not have a heart at all?

The world was certainly cruel. But there was no way one girl should have to bear everything, right?

The fans' anger kept rising.

That Female Titan…

Why had they still not captured her?

"So that old bastard Sora's original specialty is torturing women! I get it now. He's a psychopath."

"In Re:Zero, the main female characters were killed in all sorts of ways. In Steins;Gate, Makise and Shiina were also killed in different ways. Nagisa Furukawa died once in Clannad. In Attack on Titan, Eren's mother died at the very beginning, and now Petra is being tortured."

"Even if Petra wasn't a main character, she was still an important female supporting character. She liked Levi, didn't she? But in the end, she was kicked into a pile of Titans and eaten. That made me feel so depressed I wanted to die."

"I don't understand why Kantoku Sora is taking so long to kill the Female Titan. The first time they captured her, they let her escape. The second time, Mikasa and Levi could have killed her smoothly, but then something inexplicable happened. Captain Levi got injured protecting Mikasa, so he saved Eren and left, allowing the Female Titan to escape again."

"Petra…"

"Rest in peace, Petra. You did nothing wrong. The one at fault is that old bastard Sora."

"I would gladly sacrifice fifty years of Sora's life in exchange for Petra meeting Captain Levi one more time."

"The first season of Attack on Titan will end in less than a month, and to this day there hasn't been a single serious plot hole. That's incredible."

"Calm down. If they're going to reveal the secrets, I think it'll happen in season two."

"Even after the first season ends, we still might not know whether they can capture the Female Titan."

"And there are still the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan. We don't have any information about those two either. How exactly are they connected to the Female Titan?"

"I don't care what their relationship is. I want to see the Female Titan die in the first season."

The more Petra suffered, the deeper the hatred toward the Female Titan became.

And the more emotional the fans became, the more emotional points Sora accumulated.

At that moment, the fans of Attack on Titan had only one thought.

They wanted to know the Female Titan's true identity.

And then they wanted to see her die.

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