Starting as a Manga Editor-Chapter 127: First Signs

A 2D platform.
A website aligned with 2D games. A promotional hub for games.
So that’s what this was about…
Zhu Mao stared blankly at the screen, lost in thought.
When he finally snapped out of it and was about to take a closer look at the video, his attention was suddenly drawn away by a prompt—strategically placed in that perfect, hard-to-ignore corner of the screen that didn’t interfere with browsing.
[This is a new section~]
A little arrow and caption popped up.
Zhu Mao looked at the top UI bar of the website.
Manga and Games?!
He moved his mouse over and clicked through each section with growing shock.
And then… he was hooked.
Absolutely absorbed.
Even though all the content was Fate-related, he was an old fan. Even if he hadn’t played the game, he’d read Fate/Zero the manga.
And this new section shamelessly featured a ton of FGO–manga crossover side stories.
How could he not click?
And the game section? Even better.
Not only did it have a bunch of info about the upcoming update, but if you linked your ANF account, you’d get a free gift pack!
They even released tons of original artwork—free for users to view or download as wallpapers.
Just reading the manga and browsing the illustrations had already taken him half an hour.
Sure, he knew this was all just advertising—meant to funnel users into playing the game.
But it was done with real effort!
Most importantly, it was a perfect match for ANF’s vibe.
2D mobile games. Bishoujo-style illustrations. Manga.
What part of this wasn’t pure anime culture?
Actually—
This was the first time Zhu Mao ever felt such an intense 2D energy from ANF!
And all this high-quality art was free? For real?
On top of that, many of the site’s old issues seemed to be fixed.
The frequent bugs were gone.
The random site crashes? Gone.
Even though the redesign took some getting used to for an old user like him—
That minor discomfort was nothing compared to how smooth the new experience felt.
And the site wasn’t just a billboard now.
All that Fate content? That was just the tip of the iceberg.
The entire platform had been transformed.
For example, after reading the manga and preparing to replay that promo video, Zhu Mao discovered…
There was a new Dynamic Space.
It supported image and text posts, short videos, event sharing, topic discussions—
You could also now share your favorite videos or articles with just one click.
And that was just the obvious stuff.
There were plenty of subtler changes too.
If the old ANF was a single-function, niche community that relied on user uploads—kind of like your typical anime forum—
Then in Zhu Mao’s view, the current ANF had become a full-fledged commercial website.
And the craziest part?
Despite being the first major overhaul, everything felt incredibly intuitive to use.
It was like the site had gone through countless rounds of user testing—
Striking a delicate balance between its niche community roots and mainstream usability.
It didn’t make him, a die-hard old user, feel like, “What the h*ll is this? This isn’t ANF anymore.”
But it also didn’t feel like nothing had changed.
It was subtle.
But overall, the niche community feel had been dialed back a bit—
And in return, the user experience? Impeccable.
“……”
Zhu Mao browsed for nearly an hour, clicking and exploring everywhere.
And gradually…
As he got used to the new site, he was fully convinced.
Especially after seeing that in the Dynamic Space, not even an hour in, all the UPs and regular users he followed were reposting Fate-related content and praising the new site—
He realized the clone site he’d built?
Might as well chuck it in the trash.
He gave up on the idea of building a competitor.
Why bother?
That’d be like a caveman with a stick trying to fight a fully armored soldier.
Even if you could throw money at the UI to make it look good—
What about Fate?
There was no need to guess—
With this kind of massive cross-promotion, it wouldn’t be long before FGO players who didn’t use ANF would be drawn in.
If ANF were still that broken, buggy mess, then even with FGO’s popularity, maybe it would’ve only brought a brief spike in traffic.
But now that ANF had been overhauled?
Even someone like him—who used to trash Cai Quan, saying even a dog could run the site better—
Even he was impressed.
So what would regular users think?
And earlier, he noticed the cross-promotional event wasn’t even over yet.
It ended with a big “Stay Tuned.”
Most importantly…
FGO had so many players now.
Even casual anime fans—non-core 2D users—were playing.
Wouldn’t they also eventually be pulled in?
That’s… actually terrifying to think about.
If this keeps up and hits a certain scale—
The game and the site could start feeding into each other’s growth.
ANF might become…
The ultimate hub for both core and casual anime fans, and for 2D mobile gamers!
Hiss…
Zhu Mao sucked in a cold breath.
Staring at the website, he finally understood exactly why Avalon had invested in this so-called broken site.
They were the perfect match—
And the only company right now with the ability to bring this platform back to life.
So instead of trying to build a knock-off of ANF—
He should be trying to join Avalon Studio!
Because it was obvious—this company had a huge future ahead of it!!!
With that thought—
Zhu Mao forgot all about ANF and immediately opened Avalon’s official site, desperately searching for job postings.
Screw the imitation stuff.
He was switching sides.
He was getting on the ship.
And he wasn’t wrong.
Zhu Mao had sharp instincts.
The game and the site were already starting to feed each other’s success.
The FGO update promo wasn’t limited to ANF—it had been rolled out across multiple channels.
Yuan Yanbo from Avalon’s ops team, who rarely went all-in on game launches, was going all out this time.
He contacted every relevant platform and placed ads everywhere.
Including the biggest anime forum in the country.
The forum admin was more than happy to run Avalon’s ads.
He was a gamer too—and this game perfectly matched the forum’s vibe.
Definitely a better fit than adult product ads.
A 2D mobile game advertising on an anime forum?
What could possibly be more appropriate?
Who would complain?
So the admin gave the green light and plastered Fate/Grand Order ads across the entire forum.
And the earliest wave of FGO players?
They came from that very forum.
So there was no way they’d ignore the promo.
Soon—
Discussion about the new game update started popping up all over the forum:
“Finally! The main story update’s here! I already cleared the entire story and Observer Route—been waiting forever!”
“This time it’s set at sea? Okeanos? Isn’t that the river god from Greek mythology?”
“Hyped! Super hyped!”
“Feels like both the main story and Observer Route are really starting to hit their stride!”
“You guys seen that FGO short? It’s hilarious! [link]”
“Yo, hold up—ANF account binding gives you a gift pack!”
“Huh??”
“……”
At first, the forum was just full of normal game discussions.
But soon, the name ANF started showing up in a ton of posts.
Mainly because people were sharing the FGO-exclusive side stories and shorts posted only on ANF.
All the promo material Avalon released had ANF’s logo and link attached.
So even players who had never heard of ANF—or had, but never used it—
Now couldn’t resist checking it out.
And once they did—
They stayed.
Sure, building user habits takes time.
But the moment tons of previously uninvolved players started signing up—
That was the first step.
There was so much still waiting for them.
This was just the pre-launch buzz.
A lot of features hadn’t even gone live yet.
At that same time—
Three hours after the site launched.
Avalon Studio.
Cai Quan stumbled in, face flushed with excitement, and rushed toward Tang Yao.
Hearing the sudden pounding of footsteps, Tang Yao looked up in confusion—
Just in time to see Cai Quan charging straight at her.
She flinched, scooting her chair back.
Thankfully,
He managed to stop right before he crashed into her.
Then he threw his arms up in the air and shouted:
“Boss!! Today’s DAU—daily active users—has almost hit five hundred thousand! FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND!!”
Tang Yao, still half-hunched in her chair: “…?”
It’s just getting started.
You’re freaking out over 500K?
What are you gonna do the day we hit 10 million or even 100 million?
Pass out?