So, when Luffy goes up against Crocodile and Gecko Moria, Ren needs to carefully plan out how the battles play out. After all, facing one Haki user and one without it creates a bit of a gap in the storyline.
Luckily, Oda left some hints. Gecko Moria, with his Paramecia-type fruit, doesn't need Logia-style intangibility. As for Crocodile, the Logia-type sand user, his weakness to water serves as a useful clue.
Ren couldn't help but think: placing two Warlords as early villains who lose to a still-growing Luffy was tricky—it made them feel like weaker Warlords.
But in reality, both Moria and Crocodile had taken on the Emperors and lived to tell the tale, even if their crews paid the price. Perhaps the explanation could be that they were still recovering from past injuries when Luffy fought them? Ren considered keeping Moria injured, but using that excuse twice would seem too convenient and make Luffy's "plot armor" too obvious.
"Wait a minute… I've got it!" Ren's eyes brightened with a new idea.
Inspiration, once it sparks, often floods the mind with ideas. But just as he was about to dive deeper, the ideas paused.
With that sorted, Ren turned to the next series: Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya.
He had thought about the possibility of drawing this one and figured if it came up, he'd go for it—but it was a pleasant surprise to actually get it. After all, out of all the possible series, to land this one by chance felt like a twist of "fate."
Prisma Illya is one of the most unique extensions of the Fate franchise. Incredibly, it got four full seasons, making it one of Type-Moon's most animated properties, even spawning a movie, Oath Under Snow.
For Ilya fans, Prisma Illya was a dream come true—a chance to finally give her a happy ending.
The first two seasons are lighthearted, with a magical girl storyline that won over fans with Ilya's cuteness, Kuro's playful mischief, and Miyu's sweet purity, along with plenty of entertaining fan service. Later seasons brought in intense battles, with storylines that rivaled the most epic action manga. The arrival of Miyu's brother, Shirou, especially electrified fans.
Ren thought, Prisma Illya is one of those rare spinoffs that rivaled the original story. Only Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas left him with that same feeling.
But for now, Prisma Illya couldn't be released just yet. It wasn't that the story needed changes, but that the main Fate series hadn't yet finished airing Ilya's other routes in UBW and Fate. Only after those aired could he release Prisma Illya.
When that time came, he expected fans would say, "Thank you, Porter-sensei, for giving Ilya such a beautiful ending."
Yes, mixing tear-jerking twists with an eventual happy ending was genius, he thought with a smug grin.
Ren gathered the team and laid out the plans.
"For Prisma Illya, don't start serializing just yet, but prepare some early sketches. The other two series, start on them as usual."
Handing out the character designs and drafts he'd sketched, Ren noticed Claire among the staff. When she saw the title of the project she'd been handed, her hand trembled.
"Magical Girl Ilya…" Claire looked at Ren with a questioning gaze. "Sensei, do you really want to put Ilya through this?"
"What do you mean?" Ren raised an eyebrow.
"You're not… tormenting Ilya again, are you?"
Hearing Claire's comment, the Fate fans in the room quickly gathered around. Seeing the title on the sketches, they exchanged weary glances with Ren.
They hadn't read the new Prisma Illya material yet, but it didn't take much to guess what the Porter might have planned for her.
The magical girl genre wasn't always as innocent as it looked, especially after Madoka Magica set the bar for dark twists. Ilya, of all characters, didn't exactly have a track record for happy endings.
Everyone in the room had seen the scripts for the UBW and Fate routes, which hadn't aired yet. In both, Ilya's fate was tragic—death in every timeline.
Combining "Ilya" and "magical girl" in one title didn't look like a recipe for joy.
"…" Ren felt like he was being watched by a group of concerned parents.
For a moment, he almost felt guilty, like a heartless player in a soap opera. Rubbing his temples in exasperation, he rapped a few of them lightly on the head and said, "At least read the storyboard before you complain! Do I look like the type to just mess with fans' emotions?"
"Sensei, be more confident. Drop the 'just'—it's what you do," someone muttered.
"Who said that? Show yourself, or I'll start docking salaries!" Ren shot back, but before he could say more, Felix suddenly shouted, startling everyone.
"What's wrong?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Sensei, you went too far!" Felix gave Ren a wounded look. "These characters are suffering way too much."
Ren looked at the sketch. It was Akame ga Kill. No wonder Felix had been taken aback.
He'd had a similar reaction when he first read it himself. But to him, this was nothing new.
"Too tragic? Try Ultraman Leo, now that's tragic," Ren said with a grin, leaving Felix to wonder what, exactly, Ren thought was "normal."
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