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

Chapter 96 Rant and General Duanmu (Seeking monthly votes and subscriptions)

"Does it have to be so exaggerated? Won't it affect the serious performances?"

After the audition, Jun Sakurada was still struggling with his slightly awkward acting style.

Because of the three main generals Hiden Aruto, Kensuke Manaka, and Hotaro Ichinose, Jun Sakurada really finds it hard to like those exaggerated slogan-shouting or action-making scenes.

By this time, the three of them had already left the audition room and were walking away, quite far from where the director and screenwriter were.

Minami Hamabe, who was expected to continue speaking up for the screenwriter, suddenly dropped her composure, shrugged, and began to complain bitterly: "Who knows? They turned a perfectly good character into something bizarre and unsettling!"

"While I can understand their desire to create some contrast in the characters, this approach is just too clumsy!"

As if she had started talking non-stop, Minami Hamabe became increasingly talkative: "Because I wanted to give Hiruko a bit of a natural quality, I made her look like she's mentally challenged!"

"He can get his mouth all greasy just eating pasta, and he'd even say something absurd like asking someone to kiss him if he helps move a corpse!"

"Let someone kiss you? Who?" Jun Sakurada was startled.

"Me." Ryunosuke Kamiki raised his hand with a wry smile. "By the way, my character, Yuzuru Hamura, is basically a useless, love-obsessed person in the show. His main job is to tell Hiruko how cute she is."

"Did they kiss?" Jun Sakurada asked, being a bit too nosy.

"No!" Ryunosuke Kamimi rolled his eyes. "The moment I opened my arms and pouted, my husband's family caught me from across the room! And it was just me pouting!"

"That's terrible," Junichi Sakurada chuckled.

Ryunosuke Kamiki patted him on the shoulder: "So actually, your character is the most normal one among the main characters. Although he was a bit chuunibyou in the beginning, his overall character design is reliable and likable. You got lucky!"

Is it possible that my public image hasn't collapsed because I died young?

The group bickered based on their respective roles in the Corpse Manor. It has to be said that although the original novel of Corpse Manor Mystery has won numerous awards and the film version has a lavish production budget, the adaptation itself is truly disappointing.

Perhaps, for serious mystery works with a slightly scary theme like this, so many nonsensical Japanese comedic scenes shouldn't be added to force the atmosphere. If it were just filmed honestly, the effect might be much better than the current version.

Even though Jun Sakurada had no way of knowing the final quality and reputation of the movie because he hadn't seen the movie version in his previous life, it seemed unlikely to be very good at the moment.

But considering the production cost is considered above average in the Japanese film industry, I'll let him act in it for now.

"So, I'll leave you here?"

As they chatted, the three of them arrived at the entrance of Toho Studio. Minami Hamabe, as Toho's little princess, saw them off at the door, fulfilling her duty as a host.

"Thank you for taking care of me, senior." Sakurada Jun nodded, then looked at Kamiki Ryunosuke, "Then, Kamiki-nii, shall we set off immediately?"

"Okay." Kamiki Ryunosuke smiled.

"Huh? You guys have another event?"

Their words piqued the curiosity of Hamabe Minami, who had originally planned to return home, and she quickly asked a question.

"Yes, I asked Kamiki-senpai to introduce me to a senior from Amuse." Sakurada Jun didn't intend to hide anything.

"Senior? Male or female? Can I go and see?" Minami Hamabe's curiosity was piqued.

Having known Jun Sakurada for so long, Minami Hamabe's clearest impression is that her junior from elementary school is unbelievably good at creating hilarious situations.

Even a senior figure like Hiroshi Nagano, who has always maintained a low profile in the Japanese entertainment industry, was able to be discovered by him and generate such terrifying value and traffic.

So who is this person that he specifically asked Ryunosuke Kamiki to introduce him to today?

"As for whether or not you can go, you're a guy—" Kamiki Ryunosuke looked at Sakurada Jun, seeking his opinion.

"It's not that it's impossible, it's just that the senior might not be able to join the conversation." Sakurada Jun didn't comment on this, since having another person in the business wouldn't be a problem anyway.

That person also speaks Chinese; at worst, we can open an encrypted channel.

So the two-person team became three people again, and led by Ryunosuke Kamiki, they arrived at a private room in an upscale restaurant.

Here, a handsome man of about twenty-four or twenty-five years old was waiting somewhat nervously at the table.

"Professor Xu Feng! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Before Kamiki Ryunosuke could even introduce him, Sakurada Jun, quite naturally, stepped forward and shook hands with the handsome guy in Chinese.

"Mr. Sakurada, your Chinese is even better than I imagined." Xu Feng, feeling a little flattered by Sakurada Jun's enthusiasm, quickly returned the greeting.

"I watched your live broadcast a few days ago, and when I saw Mr. Nagano, I felt like I was about to burst into tears."

"This shows that Chinese audiences still retain that love for their childhood heroes, right?" Jun Sakurada nodded with a smile.

"And Mr. Xu Feng, you are also a childhood memory for many viewers!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Xu Feng, noticing the two looking somewhat bewildered, quickly said, "Let's just use Japanese."

""

"Okay, let me introduce you." Jun Sakurada smiled and looked at Minami Hamabe.

"This is Hamabe Minami, a senior from Toho Agency. She's here to watch the fun today."

Minami Hamabe quickly flashed a business-like smile.

"And this one—" Sakurada Jun looked to the other side.

"Xu Feng is the only purely Chinese artist in Amuse Studio and the protagonist of the third installment of the tokusatsu series 'Armor Hero,' which has a huge influence in China."

That's right, the person Sakurada Jun asked Kamiki Ryunosuke to introduce was Xu Feng, the actor who played Duanmu Yan, the third-generation protagonist of Armor Hero, nicknamed "General Duanmu" by people in the future.

Xu Feng can truly be described as a very special person. Although he is Chinese and all his major works are in China, the agency he is signed with is Amuse, a top agency in Japan.

Moreover, this wasn't Amuse's Shanghai branch, but the proper headquarters, where Ryunosuke Kamiki, Takeru Satoh, and Taka were genuine colleagues.

This background allowed Xu Feng to have an exceptionally wide network of connections in the tokusatsu (special effects) industry, even though he wasn't a high-profile celebrity, because Amuse itself liked to send their actors to the tokusatsu sector.

From Den-O Takeru Satoh to Diend Kimito Totani, from Wozniak Keisuke Watanabe to Gochad Junsei Honjima, they are all their people, and also Xu Feng's theoretical network of connections.

It was precisely because of this that Jun Sakurada was able to contact Xu Feng, a promising talent, through Ryunosuke Kamiki.

"To be honest, Ms. Sakurada, I really didn't expect you to contact me first, after all, the guests on your previous episodes were all very famous people." Xu Feng took the initiative to speak, his tone frank.

In the first episode, Jun Sakurada invited Amuse's ace, the absolute top star Takeru Satoh, and in the second episode, he invited China's most popular star, Japan's top idol Hiroshi Nagano.

Neither of these two is someone a nobody like Xu Feng could possibly try to emulate.

Unexpectedly, Jun Sakurada found him in the third episode.

"Haha, when I do this kind of interview program, I mainly consider the guest's popularity in China. As the protagonist of a domestic tokusatsu series, Mr. Xu Feng, your recognition is by no means low!" Jun Sakurada laughed.

"It's a pity that the reputation of Nava's work itself doesn't seem to be very good." Xu Feng smiled wryly.

In 2019, the industry's opinion on the Armor Hero series was that it "declined with Nawa," with Nawa being regarded as the beginning of the Armor Hero series' decline.

Moreover, Xu Feng himself did not really benefit much from the success of Nawa and Duanmu Yan, and his career remained lukewarm.

However, Jun Sakurada has a different view: "The main problems with Nava are funding and pacing."

"The tight budget resulted in a lot of slow-motion fight scenes and transformations in dark rooms, which reduced the viewing experience of the action scenes."

"The excessive number of episodic episodes in the early stages led to an overwhelming pressure to fill in the plot holes later on, causing the story to explode. The combination of these two factors resulted in a less enjoyable viewing experience for Nava."

He smiled and looked at Xu Feng: "But just because the overall viewing experience of the play is not good does not mean that the protagonist himself is not legendary."

Duanmu Yan can definitely be considered one of the most ruthless characters in tokusatsu since 2010.

Rarely confused, decisive and efficient, playing the entire game, with an incredible record, able to single-handedly carry the team forward even when teammates are collectively floundering —

In recent years, when the quality of the Knights Club and the Orlando Club has been relatively stable, these qualities are not as valuable.

Wait until a few years later, when there are more insects...

That's why Jun Sakurada was so proactive in contacting Xu Feng, even though the insects hadn't been born yet, he could still get the preparations done.

First, we need to set the record straight through the live stream and establish General Duanmu's persona.

Even without comparison, the 31/0/9 record and the "Issey is Isaac" meme alone are enough to make the show entertaining.

In the following years, every time a tokusatsu series was released because the protagonist's values ​​were questionable, General Duanmu was able to reap a wave of boomerang-like traffic.

I reckon by then, the most popular meme in the tokusatsu (special effects) community will probably be "General Duanmu's value is still rising!"

Of course, these details about opening one's third eye cannot be stated directly, but they are sufficient as vague ideas to give Xu Feng a glimpse into his future.

Sure enough, as Sakurada Jun analyzed, Xu Feng's eyes grew brighter and brighter, until they were almost the same as the eyes of General Duanmu when he found Oukeser.

Already troubled by his career setbacks, he dreamed of finding a way to boost his popularity.

Nava is the most well-known character he has, but he doesn't quite know how to efficiently convert that traffic into revenue.

Unexpectedly, there was a Japanese boy who understood Nava far better than him.

I immediately felt a sense of regret for not having met them sooner.

Not only him, but Ryunosuke Kamiki, who was standing next to him, also took out his notebook and started taking notes, and began to think about when he could ask Jun Sakurada out alone again.

Don't forget, he also has Tachibana Taki, a character with considerable monetization potential in the Chinese market, waiting to be discovered.

The only one who wasn't doing anything was Hamabe Minami. She didn't quite understand what Sakurada Jun was analyzing, and since the food hadn't been served yet, she idly stared at Sakurada Jun's face.

For no apparent reason, she felt that her junior classmate seemed a little bit more handsome when planning and causing trouble than when he was an actor.