Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 190: Not making money? Then sell the belt!
After the daily shooting was completed, Gu Ming explained the situation to TBS, and TBS indeed had no objection.

It’s enough as long as the three Cat’s Eye sisters are still there, Utsumi Toshio is just an extra.

As for Kamen Rider, Gu Ming also found Hirayama Toru.

"Oh? So, congratulations to Furuya-kun on successfully joining that crew. So, Furuya-kun wanted to talk about the filming here, right?"

Gu Ming nodded vigorously: "Yes, that's exactly what I'm worried about. If I go there, what will happen to the filming of the knights?"

"I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, but although this show has great ratings, there's a big problem."

Hirayama Toru frowned. "It's not making any money! We invested so much, but we can only rely on Honda's advertising to make some money. Even though it's a popular tokusatsu film, it can't turn a profit. I really don't know how Bankai managed to do it. There's so much pressure from above that the section chief is even considering giving up on this project."

Gu Ming exclaimed, "I'm so super:" So you recommended me to go to the killing array opportunity over there?"

Hirayama Toru nodded, his smile particularly carefree. "The section chief said that this is a form of compensation. He values the friendship between Furuya-kun and Toei, so he doesn't want you to sever ties with Toei just because this drama has ended so hastily."

And because the investment is larger than the original, the loss is also greater.

"Of course I won't cut it off... No, I mean, don't cut it off! In fact, Wangu isn't making any profit!"

Every Showa-era film Wangu produced was a loss-making one. But they had advertising money! Because of the high ratings, Takeda Pharmaceutical was willing to sponsor it!
If we talk about the revenue of the work itself, Showa Oku did not make any money, it was all a loss.

Gu Ming scratched his head.

The ratings are not low, why cut it off!
But what Hirayama Toru said is indeed a big problem.

No one advertises, so it doesn't make money! After all, TV Asahi doesn't have the strength of TBS and can't attract so many advertisers.

If you don't make money and just invest, of course you have to cut it. It's true that Toei is a big company, but Toei's money didn't come from the wind.

At least Judo Straight Line didn't lose money, as there were a lot of advertisements for that show.

"Wait a moment, I'll sort it out."

Gu Ming sat down, holding his head and thinking for a while.

"How did Kamen Rider solve this problem originally? They didn't cancel the show even though the ratings were so low, so it must be because they were profitable. But how did Kamen Rider make a profit?!"

Gu Ming suddenly stood up.

"Mr. Hirayama, I have a request. Kamen Rider can't be cancelled. Not to mention the manga of the same name, nor the fact that Mr. Shotaro Ishinomori has been working on it for so long. Just considering the current ratings, it's bound to become another classic after Bankai! I do have an idea, but it may take some time to prepare. Please let me meet with Mr. Watanabe alone."

Hirayama Toru didn't expect Gu Ming to solve this problem, but he agreed to it for the time being.

"Then let's do it this afternoon. I should be able to meet with the section chief after finishing a meeting."

……

……

"Mr. Watanabe, Kamen Rider can't be cut!!"

When Watanabe Ryotoku suddenly saw Gu Ming flying towards him, he was startled and thought that Gu Ming was also going to fly to heaven.

After Gu Ming finished speaking, Watanabe Ryosuke spread out his hands helplessly.

"Furuya-kun, we're not making any money. The pressure from higher-ups on revenue is huge, especially with previous productions like Judo Ichiran that were a hit in both reputation and ratings, as well as sales. Now Kamen Rider only has reputation but no sales, and the higher-ups are very dissatisfied!"

Gu Ming said, "Are the people above you all idiots?" Watanabe Ryosuke was silent for a moment, then nodded. "I've thought so too. If I were the president of Toei, Toei would have already beaten Toho and Shochiku to the punch and kicked them, and unified the Japanese entertainment industry. But let's not discuss this issue for now. If we can't make a profit, the second season of Kamen Rider will be the last."

"Then I think they're still stupid." Gu Ming said: "Of course they sell toys! How can special effects not sell toys? Hirayama-kun mentioned Banku before, and Banku has never made a profit! Isn't it just by selling toys!"

Watanabe Ryosuke became even more depressed when this was mentioned. "It's useless. We have authorized several companies here and produced a lot of toys, but the results are not very good. Children prefer Wangu's fighter planes and soft plastic models. Kamen Rider only has motorcycles. Although young people like to buy motorcycles, they don't watch Kamen Rider. This is very troublesome."

Gu Ming slapped his thigh.

Still haven't gotten it.

"Wang Gu sells transformation devices, so why don't you sell them too? We have belts, right? They're priced at 4,000 yen each. There's a regular version, a deluxe version, and a supreme version. The lowest is 4,000 yen, the highest is 10,000 yen, there's no upper limit. Just get the actors to sign it and sell it!"

Watanabe Ryotoku was stunned by these words.

Four thousand yen, only a fool would buy it!

This is 1978, not 1988!
In 1988, the Japanese even wanted to buy the United States, something they couldn't even think about in 1978.

This is not an exaggeration. According to the recollections of some Japanese bloggers on Niconico, the Kamen Rider belt was sold at a minimum price of 1972 yen in , and the belt signed by Takeshi Hongo was so hard to get.

In her interview, Hiroko Yakushimaru said that when she was filming "Proof of the Wild" in 1978, she ate a bowl of yen noodles with a friend and felt very sad.

Given Yakushimaru Hiroko's family background and the fact that she was already filming at the time, she would have felt bad about eating noodles that cost 200 yen, let alone a belt that cost 4,000 yen.

Eyewitnesses generally said that only children from wealthy families could afford it. Whoever had a Kamen Rider belt at that time was a real treasure!

Just like Nobita who owns Doraemon, like the professor who owns Astro Boy, like Conan who owns Haibara Ai.

So enviable!

After Gu Ming finished speaking, Watanabe Ryosuke fell into deep thought, his business acumen firing on all cylinders.

"Don't say...it really works! If we can't beat Wangu with quantity, then let's go with quality! Even though I don't know the chances of success, I have to give it a try."

Toei owns the copyright of Kamen Rider. This work has been in preparation for so long and has good ratings, but suddenly they were notified that it would be cancelled, and Watanabe Ryosuke did not want to agree.

Gu Ming spoke at the right time: "Actually, I know a toy company. I heard that it's not doing well. If possible, maybe we can discuss cooperation with them to reduce the production costs a little bit."

This time, Watanabe Ryosuke did not agree easily.

"I'll inquire about the production company again."

It was impossible for him to go just because Gu Ming said so. Of course, he had to look at the situation and guard against Gu Ming and the toy manufacturer colluding to cheat him of his money.

Gu Ming doesn't care. As long as the belt goes on sale, Gu Ming guarantees 100% that Kamen Rider will make a profit that month.

The Knight Belt is so cool! And even if it's a number one belt, its playability is much higher than Wangu's transformation device. Wangu had to wait until Ultraman Ginga to start to understand and know how to make some fun transformation devices.

None of the previous Ultra Transformers were fun and could only be kept as collectibles.

Not to mention 1978, he would buy a belt even if he was given one in 2028!

"Speaking of toymakers...what is Bandai doing now?"

Gu Ming scratched his head secretly. He hadn't heard any news about Bandai since he came to this world.

Bandai will be so powerful in the future, and people will call it Consortium B. If we can find Bandai, the effect will surely be good!
(End of this chapter)