Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 277, Fujidai's Ambition

Since the Yoshimoto comedian case, Fuji TV has been trying very hard to improve relations between the Ministry of Justice and the Metropolitan Police Department. Naturally, the Metropolitan Police Department was easy to deal with. As a prominent figure in the Metropolitan Police Department, Uesugi Muneyuki has always been associated with several strong Metropolitan Police Department characteristics. At the same time, the Superintendent General of Police is also his future father-in-law. It was no problem for Uesugi Muneyuki to appear on screen, and he quickly got the green light.

However, dealing with the Ministry of Justice was not so easy. The District Public Prosecutors Office and the Metropolitan Police Department are naturally opposed to each other. After all, Japan has a mixed system of prosecutors and police, so whichever side has more power will naturally have less power. So it wasn't until the incident of Uesugi Muneyuki's brother's wedding that the head of the District Public Prosecutors Office's Special Investigation Team, Kirenagawa, felt a little embarrassed that the District Public Prosecutors Office's Special Investigation Team was being harassed in front of him, and he finally persuaded the District Public Prosecutors Office to relax some of its standards.

In addition, NHK also had strong reservations about Fuji TV's actions... or rather, they directly criticized them, and NHK executives disagreed with broadcasting such content.

Postwar Japan gradually shifted from conservative control to openness and freedom, with masters like Osamu Tezuka and Hayao Miyazaki making significant contributions. A well-known early example is the 1960s episode of Ultraseven. The reason why the alien card in the episode was nicknamed "Nuclear Explosion Alien" by Shogakukan was so shocking that a survivor protested against Shogakukan's use of such a nickname that Tsuburaya Productions had to issue a public apology and permanently revive the episode.

In the 1980s, after Ultraman 80s, which featured Ultraman as a teacher violently fighting monsters in schools, faced a joint written protest from parents across Japan, the number of such films being shot in schools gradually decreased without much impact, indicating a change in public opinion.

The 80s were also an era in which various bloody, pornographic, violent, dark, and brutal themes emerged in Japan, largely due to the support of masters such as Osamu Tezuka who advocated "free expression and free creation".

However, in the mid-to-late 90s, globalization began to lead to the large-scale export of works overseas, and television stations began to propose a concept called "voluntary avoidance." The atmosphere gradually became more conservative again. For example, Miyazaki Hayao complained many times that after the millennium, television stations repeatedly emphasized that certain content should not be written, but he did not understand why it was not allowed. Faced with this master, the television stations had no choice but to let him be. But not everyone is like Miyazaki Hayao, who can ignore the television stations.

Tsuburaya Productions also keenly sensed the overall trend of conservatism, so they cleverly took advantage of the time before TV stations strengthened their "self-avoidance" to produce the hardcore adult masterpiece they wanted, "Ultraman Nexus." The deep dark fantasy plot and various bloody scenes made all the children who love Ultraman fall in love at first sight and ascend to heaven. Congratulations!

Uesugi Muneyuki didn't understand how Fuji TV managed to appease the protesters, including NHK. In any case, Fuji TV began to gradually promote the "God's Hand SP" episode. The first two-minute preview garnered over five million views, and Japanese netizens went crazy discussing it online.

The second 4-minute trailer and the third 5-minute trailer together garnered over 5 million views. Then, in late October, Fuji TV officially announced that this episode of "God's Hand SP" would officially air on Sunday, November 3rd at 6:30 PM, and it would be a super ultimate deluxe SP lasting a full three hours!

The entire Japanese nation went crazy.

Why another week?! I'm dying to see Forensic Examiner Uesugi solve cases on the spot!
Seeing no interaction between Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai makes me feel like ants are crawling all over me!
You're not allowed to insult Uesugi! He's my father!
Mai-sama, take me with you, Mai-sama!

About a week before the official broadcast, Fuji TV officially sent someone to discuss with Uesugi Muneyuki the production of the subsequent program.

Fuji TV offered very generous terms: 20 yen per episode appearance, after tax, and promised to make Mai a regular guest to compete with him. They also promised top-tier benefits and treatment for location shooting.

At the same time, Fuji TV also subtly promised that if Uesugi-san needed anything, the "Rakuya" arrangement would be absolutely no problem.

The person from Fuji TV who came to negotiate the terms was Director Kazuhiko Abiru. As the head of Fuji TV's FNS production department, his personal visit was already a great show of sincerity. Fuji TV only has four main production departments: the Tokyo headquarters and three regional production departments. The large production departments have many smaller production departments responsible for variety shows, dramas, documentaries, news, and sports. As the head of the Tokyo FNS production department, Kazuhiko Abiru is the superior of more than 20 smaller production departments. His personal visit was a great show of sincerity.

Uesugi Muneyuki also put forward his conditions: "One episode per month, with the program focusing on case studies, supplemented by sightseeing and popularizing some forensic knowledge."

"Only one issue per month? Uesugi-kun, isn't that too few?" Director Abiru was not satisfied with the design of only one issue per month.

“No, one episode a month is just right.” Uesugi Muneyuki was very calm about this: “First of all, I’m very busy. Recording this kind of program takes a whole day. I don’t have that much extra time. Secondly, there aren’t that many interesting cases to talk about. This is a world with a saturated supply. If it’s one episode a week, this program will run out of cases in a year or two. Even if it’s one episode a month, we’ll still have to trouble Fuji TV to find cases in the future.”

“Moreover, maintaining a certain level of mystery can also attract viewers.” Uesugi Muneyuki continued, “Nowadays, some agencies try to maximize the peak of their actresses’ careers by airing dramas all year round (meaning they play major roles in dramas for all four seasons), which quickly lands them on the most hated lists. I’m not an entertainer, and the public will get annoyed if I appear on screen too much.”

So the two sides finally agreed on a production plan of one episode per month.

After finishing his conversation with Fuji TV, Uesugi Muneyuki turned his attention to other matters.

The first thing that came to mind was his resignation from Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Although he kept it low-key, it still got the news from some people in the industry. At the same time, Uesugi Muneyuki had not yet officially joined the University of Tokyo, as he still needed to negotiate his salary and terms with them. For the time being, he could only work full-time for the Metropolitan Police Department.

Professor Higashi's daughter, Higashi Saeko, was deeply shocked after learning about this and came to the Metropolitan Police Department to express her gratitude. However, she was stared at by Ikeda Erena with the eyes of a thief. Uesugi Muneyuki told Higashi Saeko that he would appear in court on time to testify, but he would only explain the facts clearly and not take sides.

Then there's the other world.

Mariko Hironaka told Muneyuki Uesugi that Yasue Saijo had probably returned. She could sometimes faintly sense her presence around Tokyo, but it was very weak and she was very careful, and she couldn't pinpoint her exact location yet.

That bastard, crazy woman! There's no such thing as a thief who can't be guarded against. Uesugi Muneyuki thought that maybe he should just use a sting operation to find a way to completely get rid of this trouble.

As for the male escort, he was even more well hidden, so much so that no one could sense him. However, the other party also didn't notice him, which made him relatively safe.

Toru Miyahara, the smoker, has gradually begun to adapt to his abilities in the Otherworld.

Finally, of course, it's a matter within the Metropolitan Police Department.

At this crucial moment, Watanabe Eiji was about to reach the end of his term as Superintendent General of Police. He finally managed to get the Metropolitan Police Department to raise salaries by virtue of a series of achievements and outstanding performance in major cases, which greatly enhanced his prestige and made him plan to make a run for the position of Commissioner of Police. However, although Commissioner Tamaru of the Metropolitan Police Department was a puppet of the Prime Minister's Office, he had just taken office and it would be a bit abrupt to change the term of office in less than a year.

Recently, Minami has also been having a tough time. The 20,000 yen raise in salary this month is meaningless to Minami, who comes from a wealthy family. What she is really afraid of is: the physical fitness test is coming up!

Failing the physical fitness test means no promotion! Failing the physical fitness test could result in being reassigned to an office-level position!
The position of head of the Special Missions Department is an incredibly lucrative one, and everyone is eyeing it!
Therefore, in recent weeks, Minami has been working hard to improve her physical fitness under Erina's special training, improving her 800-meter run time to 5 minutes and 30 seconds and her 100-meter run time to 18 seconds.

But the result was still the same: he failed the physical test!

Uesugi Muneyuki also went to the physical test that day. When she failed despite trying her best, Minami landed on all fours and unlocked the defeat CG.

It burned, burned out, leaving only white ash.

Eiji Watanabe was at his wits' end with his daughter, so he had to ask the University of Tokyo Hospital to issue a medical certificate stating that Miss Minami might have bronchitis caused by hay fever, which allowed her to temporarily escape the physical examination.

The young lady isn't sick at all! She's just a jerk!

As for Erina Ikeda, she passed all the physical tests with ease, scoring almost full marks in each one. Only her 14-second 100-meter dash time was not particularly outstanding. According to Erina, even though she wore a chest binder, her body still shook too much, affecting her balance and making her prone to falling, which slowed her down.

No wonder she gave up judo and karate.

According to Erina, she once considered and tried to book breast reduction surgery, but she has given up on it now.

Another noteworthy point is Hayabusa Igarashi from Yamanashi Prefecture.

This guy didn't start working immediately but had to undergo a period of training at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police University, but he still participated in the physical fitness test.

This guy's time in the 100 meters is 10.4 seconds, and his time in the 1500 meters is 3 minutes and 48 seconds. He hit all the fixed targets in shooting, and all of them were above the eight ring. He also easily hit all the moving targets. He got full marks in push-ups and sit-ups. His overall physical fitness and combat skills are outstanding.

It's gotten to the point that even the SAT wants to recruit people from there.

As November 3rd drew ever closer, it seemed as if even fate was on Uesugi Muneyuki's side. During this period, there were no particularly unusual murders or suspicious corpses, and the Special Missions Division remained relatively calm.

On November 3rd, almost everyone in Tokyo, the Kanto region, and much of Japan stopped what they were doing around 11 PM and switched their televisions to Fuji TV to watch the highly anticipated program, the crime-solving reality show featuring Uesugi Muneyuki.

On the same day, the conference room in the Fujidai Odaiba building was packed, with everyone staring intently at the real-time viewership statistics on the screen.

President Kameyama gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot, his heart filled with boundless ambition, but also with a touch of fear.

He went all in! He summoned top representatives from Fuji, Sankei, Dentsu, Hakuhodo, Toyota, Sony, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, UFJ, SoftBank, Shiseido, Kao, Toho, Shueisha, Amazon, and ANA!
He believed in Uesugi Muneyuki! He believed that this man who had created countless miracles would make Fujidai great again!

Starting with today's program, Fuji TV, under Kameyama's leadership, will reclaim its position as the number one commercial radio station among the five major broadcasters.

They even challenge NHK and surpass the Kohaku Uta Gassen!
(End of this chapter)