Tokyo: My obsession with China led me to become the king of Japanese entertainment.

"China Market Consultant?" When this title was repeated, everyone in V6 was completely bewildered.

When did the firm start hiring consultants?

But soon, they realized the value of Sakurada Jun's previous self-introductions.

A boy under sixteen years old, a blogger with millions of followers? Generating nearly one billion yen in revenue?

Isn't this a bit too exaggerated? It's practically like a monster!

"Runjun is not only a talented young man, but also a marketing genius. You can hardly imagine that he almost turned me and even Johnny into tools for promoting his own channel."

"That's why, when I signed him as a Jr., I also involved him in some of the planning work, and his first project was to ask all of you seniors for help."

Hideaki Takizawa added a timely comment, both supporting Jun Sakurada and subtly reminding the V6 members that this kid wasn't as innocent as he appeared.

"He almost turned Mr. Kitagawa into a tool for his own self-promotion? This kid's got some skills!" Inohara Yoshihiko exclaimed, his gaze towards Sakurada Jun filled with shock and admiration.

Although it doesn't sound nice to use Kitagawa as a tool, Jun Sakurada is standing here, so it's clear that Mr. Kitagawa doesn't care.

That's fine then; it means he's one of our own talented juniors.

"But... Sakurada-kun, you said I'm the most recognizable Japanese face in the eyes of Chinese people born in the 90s?" Nagano Hiroshi touched his cheek, somewhat confused.

The hardships of the past twenty-five years have diminished the youthful vigor of her face, but her gentle temperament and beautiful features have never faded.

Jun Sakurada chuckled, not answering the question directly, but turning to look at Hideaki Takizawa:

"Takizawa-san, Tsuburaya Productions must have asked us countless times over the years to cast Nagano Hiroshi in their films or as a spokesperson, right? Haven't you ever wondered why?"

"Isn't it because Nagano-san is the one with the highest level of fame among all the Ultraman actors?" Takizawa Hideaki asked with some doubt.

What he said was true. Unlike Toei Tokusatsu, Ultraman didn't have as many resources. Even Ultraman was only broadcast on television in some parts of Japan. Their ability to train actors was far less strong than Toei Tokusatsu's.

Kamen Rider can nurture Takeru Satoh, Super Sentai can nurture Tori Matsuzaka, but Okusha's biggest star is only Hiroshi Nagano, who is a top idol even if he doesn't play Tiga.

"Yes and no." Jun Sakurada shook his head slightly: "You only saw Ultraman Tiga's leading popularity in Japan, but you didn't see the precipitous lead in popularity of this tokusatsu series in China."

He suddenly revealed a sly smile: "Want to guess where Ultraman Tiga ranks in the hearts of Chinese people born in the 90s, 00s, and 10s?"

After everyone had guessed several conservative answers, none of which even remotely matched the correct one, Jun Sakurada finally revealed the most terrifying answer in the calmest tone:

"Probably sitting at the same table as Disney's black mouse, Nintendo's yellow mouse, MGM's mice and cats, and so on?"

"Bang!" That was the sound of Hideaki Takizawa slamming his fist on the table, unable to control his emotions.

Ultraman Tiga? Sitting at the same table as Pikachu and the black rat? How is that possible? Are they even in the same league?

In fact, it is indeed limited to the mainland China region.

Masks on the roadside, balloons in amusement parks, patterns on pencil cases and school bags—different trends may exist at different times, but black rats, yellow rats, Hello Kitty, and Ultraman are almost always present, appearing 100% of the time.

In the early days, these Ultraman images were either a hybrid that only had the general characteristics of Ultraman, or they were like Tiga.

This is a collective memory of an entire generation.

"Let's look at some data." Sakurada Jun, who had been eyeing Ultraman Tiga's popularity since he had just regained his memories, took out his laptop without saying a word.

Every time he presented a set of data, the eyes of the seven veteran idols present would widen in surprise.

(Some of the data below comes from reports by Tsuburaya Productions and New Creation in 21 and 22, and there may be some discrepancies. I've tried very hard to find reports from 19 but haven't found anything. Just take it as entertainment.)

As the only Ultraman series to be imported and broadcast on CCTV's children's channel during prime time, Ultraman Tiga has been repeatedly broadcast on children's channels of major television stations across China since 2004.

The total number of times the video was played exceeded five thousand times.

In the streaming era, the total number of views for Ultraman Tiga on China's major long-form video platforms reached a staggering several billion, while the number of views for related fan-made content on short-form video platforms reached tens of billions.

Xinchuanghua conducted a survey with a total sample size of 12,000 people, covering various age groups under 45 years old across China.

The awareness of the concept of Ultraman Tiga has reached a terrifying level of over 95%. If the upper age limit is lowered, this number could even approach 98%.

There are also some data that Jun Sakurada is not comfortable releasing at this time, such as the time when Ultraman Tiga was suddenly reported and removed from all online platforms about two years later.

The related topic garnered a staggering 52 billion views.

"Crack!" This was the sound of an old handrail being snapped in half in the practice room, but the culprit, V6 captain Masayuki Sakamoto, was completely unaware.

Nobody cared about him, because everyone else would just get even more excited than they did.

"What kind of treasure trove did we miss...?" Takizawa Hideaki's tone was almost like a dream.

He knew all too well the significance of these figures; they were equivalent to Ultraman Tiga, equivalent to Hiroshi Nagano's face being etched into the childhood memories of an entire generation in that superpower with over a billion people.

As time goes by, these memories, like fine wine, become increasingly mellow and memorable.

Today, many of these people have grown up to be economically independent.

Will they pay for the nostalgia of yesteryear? The answer is undoubtedly yes.

The most abstract thing is that Johnny's Entertainment... has ignored such a terrifying sentiment and such a terrifying potential fan base for more than ten years?

Ignoring Takizawa Hideaki's shock and dejection, Sakurada Jun, after presenting the data, became slightly more serious and looked at Nagano Hiroshi, who was still in a daze: "Daigo-senpai!"

He used the name from the Ultraman Tiga series.

"Huh?" For Nagano Hiroshi, this call felt like a lifetime ago.

"So, there are about one or two hundred million children and adults on the other side of the sea who asked me to pass on a message to you." Jun Sakurada's tone was solemn yet smiling.

"More than ten years ago, they lent you their light without hesitation, hoping to help you defeat the evil god of darkness."

"Now, more than ten years have passed."

"Shouldn't you go and see the children from back then?"