novelraw Chapter 154: ANF
Chapter 154: ANF
During this period, ANF’s registered user count continued to rise, though the rate of increase wasn’t as explosive as during the FGO new version’s promotional campaign.
At the same time, some issues were starting to surface.
Although the content uploaded by users was very entertaining, it was clear that the old-school anime fans still had a demand for watching anime and reading manga.
The problem was, in ANF’s current setup, those two sections only had Fate series content.
No choice.
Users had to go watch anime on other licensed platforms or buy magazines to read manga, then come back to ANF to discuss it.
But ANF didn’t hold the rights, so a lot of scenes couldn’t even be clipped or shared.
That made things really inconvenient.
While users weren’t abandoning ANF over it, they definitely felt it was a shame.
More and more people had begun discussing the issue lately. “What a pity. If ANF had anime licenses, that’d be amazing. If it had manga to read, even better. That way we wouldn’t need to use those mainstream video sites anymore. I’m getting sick of ads—especially after getting used to ANF.”
“Yeah, didn’t ANF get acquired by Avalon? Come on! Please buy some licenses already!”
“Doesn’t look likely. Avalon clearly bought ANF for the game. Didn’t you see the massive promo for the FGO update? Now that that’s over, they’re probably still internally debating where the site should go next. No way they’re ready to buy licenses yet.”
“Exactly… even the Rin Tohsaka account hasn’t updated! Ridiculous! It’s already close to being the most followed on the platform! That gameplay video nearly became ANF’s crown jewel! Why aren’t they following up on the momentum? Definitely still undecided on the next steps. But I sincerely hope Avalon keeps the site’s essence—give us more anime content!”
“Have you ever considered this: maybe it’s not that they don’t know what to do—but that Avalon’s still a scrappy operation. They’ve got plans but no time to execute yet?”
“No way. FGO’s raking in cash, and Avalon’s been hiring like crazy on their official site… Also, there’s no way one person’s making all the user-favorite content, right? If they really had plans but no way to act on them, how hard would it be to just bring in a voice actor? Even if the avatar's rough, they could still interact with fans!”
“Exactly! Where’s Rin Tohsaka’s second video? And what about Third-Rate Sensei’s new work?”
“Ugh, I just want to watch anime, read manga on ANF, and watch cute virtual girls play games.”
“I believe in Avalon! They understand the anime community! They won’t let us down.”
“……”
Su Deqiang sat at his computer, reading through the user discussion, then left a comment of his own.
He liked each of the different opinions one by one.
Truth be told,
He also really wanted to watch anime and read manga directly on ANF.
In fact, you could say he cared even more than native ANF users… after all, Fate/Zero was what got him into FGO in the first place.
But it was such a shame…
Su Deqiang sighed, exited the topic thread, and clicked again on the new sections added after ANF’s redesign.
Only Fate-related content was available.
If only the anime and manga sections of this site could take off.
He thought to himself as he returned to the homepage and refreshed the site.
And just as he refreshed it,
A bold, highly saturated image appeared in the rotating hot topic banner at the top-left—blood red clashing with metallic silver, a man with chainsaw blades jutting from his limbs and head stood in the center of the picture.
Like a raging, out-of-control killing machine.
It was eye-catching as hell.
[Blood and Gore! Roaring Chainsaws! Third-Rate Sensei’s New Work—Chainsaw Man! Now Serializing!]
“…?”
Su Deqiang stared at the banner image and slowly raised a question mark.
Holy sh*t? Speak of the devil!?
Before he could react,
Whoosh!
The image rotated.
A new image appeared.
This time it featured the site’s two mascot girls in celebratory poses, with very prominent text—[Licensed Anime Completion Project! — YOU Decide What We Buy!]
“?”
Su Deqiang blinked again at the screen, slowly raising another question mark, until the third image loaded.
Only then did it hit him. He grabbed his mouse, eyes wide with joy, and quickly scrolled back to the first two images, clicking the first one.
[Classic Anime Archive Project Launch —][Our vault is fully funded! But which shows do we buy? That’s up to YOU! Cast your sacred vote now!][Event Rules…]
Su Deqiang read through it carefully, then broke into a knowing grin.
ANF was buying anime licenses!!
Even though they’d only mentioned classic anime for now, no word yet on current series—
Just reading the rules made it clear how much care ANF had put in. They didn’t throw out a preset list of titles and make users choose.
Instead, they let users nominate titles first.
Then came a second phase: segmented voting, with three categories—User Nominations, Hidden Gems, and Editor’s Picks.
The top fifteen vote-getters would become ANF’s first batch of officially licensed anime.
You could say they were truly respecting user choice.
…Even if it was just classic titles for now!
But this was a massive first step!
Anime was really happening!!
Su Deqiang read the explanation on the page and got excited at the thought of watching anime directly on ANF soon.
As expected.
Avalon wouldn’t let fans down!
Oh right, the manga.
Remembering that, he returned to the homepage and found Chainsaw Man.
But.
Upon clicking the image,
When the page jumped to the manga section,
Su Deqiang’s attention was grabbed by the banner ad across the top.
[Original Manga Contest Begins!][Upload your wildest ideas and split a million-yuan creation fund! Outstanding works will be signed to ANF directly! Your debut as a mangaka starts here!]
…Another event.
Except this one targeted manga.
Su Deqiang didn’t draw manga himself, but after all this excitement, he was curious and clicked to learn more.
And after reading it,
He nodded in understanding.
Of course.
This was to attract other mangaka to publish their work on ANF…
And as a long-time reader, Su Deqiang had a decent grasp of how the manga industry’s page rates worked.
So when he saw that ANF’s base pay for serialized works started at 300 yuan per page, his eyes went red.
On paper, that looked lower than print media.
After all, the top mainstream manga magazines now paid around 450 yuan per page.
But the fine print said it all!
That was just the starting rate! And manga serialized on ANF had a minimum page count requirement only—in other words, you couldn’t upload too little, but there was no max limit! If you could really draw, go ahead and upload an 80-page chapter!
Way more freedom than the rigid page limits in magazine serialization!
And if the series did well and the artist wanted to, they could license the IP to Avalon’s games—
Earning licensing fees and… a share of the profits!
In other words, if one of these comics became popular, its characters could end up in FGO!
And a portion of the gacha revenue would go to the mangaka!
And right now, FGO was still insanely hot…
Who wouldn’t be tempted by that?!
Not to mention, there were contest prizes too!
Tsk tsk tsk!
Su Deqiang stared at the page, clicking his tongue nonstop.
He had a feeling.
ANF was about to be completely reborn… and rise to the top!