Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 39: Nakajima Haruo Returns, Pressure on TBS

"Fight? There's no fight!"

Wan Gujie seemed to have received some key words, and instantly came out from the corner, looking at the two people in front of him with excitement.

Gu Ming could only shake his head helplessly: "No one is fighting, you heard it wrong."

Then, Gu Ming looked at Zhen Xialong and rejected the matter.

"You're overthinking it. I'm not a martial artist, nor am I good at sparring. Acting is fine, but sparring isn't really for me."

Manatsu Ryu sighed, inevitably feeling a little disappointed.

"Muscles don't lie." Manatsu Ryu firmly believed in his opinion that Gu Ming had definitely trained.

But since Gu Ming insisted, he didn't insist. He bowed slightly and changed his clothes before leaving.

Gu Ming was thinking about Zhen Xialong, but he called him again.

"Seto-kun, if it's convenient, please leave your contact information. We occasionally need people with martial arts skills here, and there may be aliens who need to be cast in the future. Perhaps there will be opportunities for cooperation."

Zhen Xialong naturally agreed, left his contact information and the addresses of several bars where he often performed, then changed his clothes and left Wangu.

After Zhen Xialong left, Wangu Jiedun was a little disappointed: "Brother Gugu, why didn't you agree? You are obviously very powerful."

Gu Ming could only sigh, "You've never seen me fight, so why are you so confident in me? Besides, I don't learn things just to fight casually, I just want to keep fit. Most importantly—I'm just an action actor, I'm not good at fighting."

Even so, Wan Gujie still didn't believe it.

He firmly believed that Gu Ming must be a good fighter.

……

……

In this way, time gradually came to the time for the second episode of Ultraman to be broadcast.

This time when I go to Eiji Mantani's house, I don't need to bring any gifts. As long as I'm there, it's fine.

The finished film is completely different from the rough previous shots. Even Gu Ming himself finds the movements captured in close-up shots incredible.

Unfortunately, unlike the first episode, the second episode doesn’t showcase much of Ultraman’s close combat abilities.

This is mainly because the first version of Baltan's suit was not designed for close combat, so it is not suitable for fighting.

But under the design of Toshihiro Iijima, the air combat effect achieved by the two is still quite amazing.

In Gu Ming's impression, after the Baltan suit was designed, there seemed to be very few close combat scenes. Most of them used the superpowers of clones, or various spell-like attacks, and there were very few scenes of fighting like other aliens.

This is true whether it is the several Baltans who appear in Ultraman or other works.

The last time Baltan appeared was in "Ultraman Max", but there was still not much fighting. Instead, he simply grew huge and crushed Ultraman Max with one kick.

It seems that this suit is indeed not very suitable for fighting.

When Gu Ming came to his senses, the lights in the Japanese-style room were on, and Wan Gu Yizheng and Wan Gu Eiji were whispering something.

"Due to work requirements at TBS, I'm currently unable to make time, but Mr. Iijima has agreed to continue filming the second episode."

Mantani Eiji nodded slightly and agreed to this.

From the second episode, we can see that Toshihiro Iijima’s level is quite good, and the third episode can be left to him.

"in addition……"

Wang Guyi hesitated for a moment, then said, "Nakajima-kun asked someone to find me and hoped I could come back to shoot."

Gu Ming pricked up his ears instantly.

Nakajima-kun, could it be Haruo Nakajima?
Judging from Wan Guyi's performance, it seems to be Haruo Nakajima.

Mantani Eiji didn't seem surprised.

"Since he's repentant, let him participate in the filming. However, we must inform him in advance that if he is late again, even for only five minutes, Wangu will terminate all cooperation with him."

Wang Gu Yingji did have some nostalgia. However, that didn't mean he would indulge her without limit over and over again.

After hearing this, Gu Ming's heart moved slightly.

By the way, the transparent monster Nelonga, who was filmed in the third episode, is a ground-dwelling monster. I wonder if having Haruo Nakajima play such a monster will cause any trouble.

……

……

While Gu Ming was showing off his fandom at Mantani Eiji's house, at the same time, the audience in Tokyo was also watching the second episode of Ultraman.

However, compared to the first episode, the second episode has caused some controversy.

Toshihiro Iijima could swear to Amaterasu that he had absolutely no intention of reflecting the domestic situation. The name of the Baltan aliens came from the "Balkan Peninsula". He designed the plot of this episode to metaphorically represent the complicated ethnic issues in the Balkan Peninsula.

But, it's clear that some people identify with it.

On Sunday, Kinoshita Danjiro was busy conducting ratings surveys, just like the previous week.

Xiaoji pestered him to visit Banka yesterday, but Kinoshita Danjiro really didn't have time. The work at TBS is very busy. Although there are holidays on weekends in theory, when it comes to overtime and hiring people, Japan is at the top of the list, even in the whole of Asia.

For example, now he has to survey the ratings on the streets.

"Hello, this is TBS."

Kinoshita Danjiro, who once again harvested questionnaires, was faced with unprecedented questioning this time.

In front of Kinoshita Danjiro stood a somewhat old-fashioned man, whose clothes and appearance were full of the style of twenty or thirty years ago.

"What is your intention in making such a film, TBS?"

"Uh..." Kinoshita Danjiro scratched his face, looking even more like a monkey. "I'm very sorry, but TBS is only responsible for broadcasting this drama, not producing it."

But the old man in front of him didn't care about that. He poked Kinoshita Danjiro's chest with his fingers to vent his dissatisfaction. In the end, Kinoshita Danjiro could only apologize and flee back to TBS headquarters.

According to investigation and statistics, although the ratings of the second episode were not as good as the first episode, they were not much different, at around 38%.

However, the second episode caused some trouble.

Some people believe that Wang Gu produced this episode to reflect certain situations in Japan and his intentions are extremely sinister.

These opinions were also reflected to TBS.

Kinoshita Danjiro was just an employee and of course had no right to express any opinions, but he heard that the senior management of TBS had held a small meeting specifically for this purpose to discuss various matters.

"I don't know how it will be handled in the end..." Kinoshita Danjiro was a little worried.

Although he didn't see the scheduled broadcast, he watched the videotape at home. As Wangu's masterpiece, anyone can see how well it was made.

In just the second episode, there are aerial combat scenes using a lot of special effects.

Such expenses can be considered a luxury for a weekly drama.

Kinoshita Danjiro doesn't care about all that messy stuff like whether it's mapped or not, he only cares about one thing.

If this drama cannot be broadcast, Xiaoji will probably be very sad.

After the meeting, TBS executives kept leaving the conference room.

Kinoshita Danjiro was very concerned about the result, but he didn't dare to ask.

With Japan's strict workplace rules, if you speak casually, you will inevitably be scolded.

Therefore, Kinoshita Danjiro just waited for the higher-ups to send out notifications bit by bit, and finally, it reached the "Section Chief".

"Well... everyone should be aware of the little incident that happened today." The section chief spoke about the whole thing in a rather long-winded manner, and the listeners felt a little drowsy.

Until the end, the section chief suddenly changed the subject.

"But work must continue. Remember to conduct the ratings survey on time next week."

The section chief glanced at his watch before giving the order to leave work.

Kinoshita Danjiro blinked, but his mind was quick to think of the result.

It seems that TBS has decided to continue broadcasting.

In that case, this little bit of pressure is nothing at all, and TBS can definitely handle it.

(End of this chapter)