Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

Chapter 127: A Sword Shatters a Chrysanthemum

"Sorry, it's not in the script. This is something that Brother Xia Fan improvised. I'll ask him to..."

Director Nakano made a bitter face and was about to say "Cut" immediately.

After all, no matter how hard you work on filming, all your hard work can be in vain with just one sentence: "revoke the authorization."

"No, there's no need to disturb them. Xia Jun's improvisation was really great!"

"This sword shattering the chrysanthemum not only conveys Kazama Manye's determination to kill the 'Black Rakshasa', but also implies his mourning for the fate of the Shinsengumi's demise, and also creates such a poignant and profound duel scene..."

Looking at "Chikage Kazama" and "Hijikata Toshizo" holding knives and confronting each other in the rain of chrysanthemums, Kawasaki Airi, the original author, felt that all the emotions accumulated when she was creating the work were awakened at this moment.

"Okay, if you think it's okay..."

"Please, let me 'improvise' from the beginning, especially with this kind of 'scene-destroying' action. If it gets 'stuck' later, I will have to 'plant chrysanthemums' again before I can shoot..."

Director Nakano, who was caught between the original author and the actors, felt overwhelmed. He clasped his hands together silently, praying that no more trouble would occur.

"It's not that life and death are in a hurry, but the things we need are too numerous to count!"

Chrysanthemums are like raindrops. Sakamoto Hide, with white hair and red eyes, raises his favorite sword named "Izumi-no-Kami Kanesada" in both hands and rushes towards Xia Fan with a roar.

"Hey."

Facing the enemy, Xia Fan's pupils dilated, he grinned and waved the two swords in his hands...

The two swords collided with each other, producing violent sparks.

The props team staff seized the opportunity and pressed a button.

"Boom..."

The explosive device buried in the chrysanthemum field was activated, and a circle of air waves burst out around the two of them.

"Compared to post-production, wouldn't this kind of primitive 'physical special effects' be very troublesome?"

Kawasaki Airi looked at Director Nakano beside her in surprise.

In the filming of previous episodes, the actors just made a few soft gestures without any special effects. Whether it was sound and light, sword skills or aura, they all relied on more efficient and cheap post-production special effects.

"Hey, although post-production is convenient, the 'actors' are invisible to these effects during filming. Their robes will not be blown up by the air waves, their bodies will not collide with the splashing mud, and their eyes will not avoid the sparks on the blade..."

"As a result, there is no 'sense of interaction' between the actors' micro-expressions and movements and the special effects. Even if the computer special effects are realistic, the audience will inevitably feel that they are 'fake' and 'out of place'."

"So, I personally prefer to use some physical special effects, and then combine them with technical processing during post-production to make the effect more realistic."

Nakano stared at the monitor intently, explaining calmly...

"I see... It seems that everyone who gathers in the final episode has his own reason for existence."

But he didn't notice at all that Kawasaki Airi looked at him with a little more respect as a fellow creator than before.

"Zheng."

"Boom!"

"Buzz!"

While they were talking, Xia Fan and Sakamoto Hide were dancing closely together, exchanging sword blows several times with ferocious expressions, fierce movements, and vicious moves...

The withered chrysanthemums were cut by the wind, and the specially made flint sword blade kept colliding and producing hot sparks.

"Ugh!"

Sakamoto Hide suddenly leaped back to distance himself, but Xia Fan's sword slashed across his chest...

The blood clot under the lapel broke open, staining the surface of the clothes blood red.

"ah!!!!"

He had just bent his knees to steady himself when Xia Fan bared his fangs, leaped high, and stabbed straight down with the double blades in his hands... Sakamoto Hide narrowly avoided it by leaping back again, and watched as the opponent's double swords pierced into the ground close to his body, raising a large amount of dust!
"Xia Jun has such a strong aura and such realistic murderous intent. Can Sakamoto Hide handle it?!"

Seeing this, Director Nakano nervously held the script.

"What do 'aura' and 'being able to catch' mean?"

Kawasaki Airi, who didn't know much about filming, was a little confused.

"In addition to natural and smooth acting and detailed performance, what is more important when an actor is acting opposite another actor is his aura."

"Dancing is like playing ball. When an actor plays his role according to his own understanding, his outstanding performance may disrupt the other actor's position."

"The other actor was not experienced enough and was thrown off balance by the other actor's aura, making it difficult for him to respond appropriately, so there was no way to create a 'give and take' performance."

"This is what is called the 'strength' of aura."

Shirakawa Rika, who knew this well, explained it seriously.

Precisely because she was afraid that her "aura was too strong" and her opponents would not be able to cope with it, her "rivalry scenes" in previous dramas were basically "plain water", only slightly brighter than Sakamoto Hide's, and not at all comparable to the rivalry scene with Xia Fan.

"Just now, you were only three centimeters away from being cut, right?!"

"This guy, doesn't he really want to kill me?!"

"Here it comes again...I'm going to die, die, die, die!"

In the center of the shooting venue, although this was an action that had been rehearsed long ago, Sakamoto Hide's expression seemed resolute, but in his heart he had already been shocked by Xia Fan's violent murderous intent, and he was shouting madly in his heart.

"No, Hijikata Toshizo, who has experienced countless wars and watched his companions die one by one, would never have such cowardly thoughts as I do in a duel like this!"

"If it was Hijikata Toshizo, what would he do..."

But facing the disdain and provocation in Xia Fan's eyes, the cowardice on Sakamoto Hide's face disappeared and turned into a firmness as hard as a pebble.

He raised his sword and ran quickly across the chrysanthemum field.

"Hey!"

Xia Fan, with silver hair, golden pupils, and four horns on his head, bit his lower lip with fangs, and chased after him with a ferocious look on his face, slashing out with great force with the long sword in his hand...

It's like hell has descended upon us, a demon king who won't stop until he kills someone.

"This bastard is more than twice as strong as when we were sparring!"

Sakamoto Hide tried his best to support his sore arms and fought a few sword battles with Xia Fan.

Even his fluttering white wig was cut off by Xia Fan's prop sword with a sound of breaking through the air, and he had no time to care about it.

"As expected of a talented actor like Sakamoto, his improvisation was brilliant..."

"Instead of following the script and competing directly with Xia Jun in terms of 'arrogance' and 'murderous intent', he chose to use 'toughness', which is more in line with Hijikata Toshizo, to highlight the character's characteristics."

The sword fight was so murderous and dangerous that the crew members dared not even breathe.

"Wow, what an intense duel. It's as good as an action movie..."

"Is Mr. Xia just good at kendo? But why does Mr. Sakamoto's swordsmanship seem to be much better than in the previous episodes?"

Kawasaki Airi also subconsciously covered her chest.

"Mr. Sakamoto, it seems that you have been taking kendo lessons recently. As for Mr. Xia, his superb swordsmanship is indeed one of the reasons why I recommended him..."

Director Nakano clenched his sleeves nervously, staring intently at the storyboards on the monitor.

"But more importantly, Xia Jun's acting talent and potential are truly endless. Every time he performs in a role, it has a 'realistic' effect that exceeds my expectations, which makes people look forward to it..."

In the single close-up shot, Xia Fan, who was holding a sword and slashing angrily, had a ferocious expression, clenched teeth, and pupils as sharp as needles...

Every pore on his body exudes bloodthirsty murderous intent like a demon!
(End of this chapter)