MTLNOVEL Chapter 106: Chapter 108: The Great Director Matou Arrives at His Loyal Tsuburaya Productions
Shinji's request to the IMAX company was extremely outrageous.
Since its establishment, no one had dared to treat their cameras this way.
Any normal carbon-based lifeform with a functioning brain wouldn't do something as absurd as Shinji did.
Unfortunately for IMAX, Shinji wasn't an ordinary person; there was nothing in this world that he wouldn't dare to do.
What made IMAX even more distressed was that they had to comply with Shinji's demands. Otherwise, this director might not want to collaborate with them anymore.
So, IMAX urgently transported another camera from North America, fearing it would delay Shinji's film production.
As for the dismantled camera, it was counted as part of the film production cost, and the damage fee would be covered once the movie made money.
Fortunately, the sacrifice of the camera wasn't in vain. Medea had already thoroughly understood the structure of the IMAX camera. When the new camera arrived, only minor modifications were needed without dismantling it again.
With the technology and equipment ready, Shinji decided to hold a press conference with Tsuburaya Productions to officially announce the rebirth of the company.
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— Tokyo Shibuya, Johnny's Building —
Johnny Kitagawa, the head of Johnny & Associates, looked at the financial report in his hand and sighed deeply.
As the president of one of Japan's top four talent agencies and a heavyweight in the entertainment industry, he was deeply troubled.
Recently, Johnny & Associates had been performing poorly in various aspects. Sales of idol merchandise had plummeted, and the TV dramas starring their artists were receiving disastrous ratings.
The most critical issue was the new drama "Engine" starring their top idol Takuya Kimura, which aired in April with a first-episode rating of only 25.3%.
Worse still, based on viewer feedback, "Engine" received poor reviews, and the ratings were expected to drop further.
Despite Kitagawa's belief that Takuya Kimura's popularity among female viewers would prevent the ratings from falling below 20%, it was nothing to be proud of.
While this rating might be admirable for others, for Takuya Kimura, the Emperor of Japanese TV dramas, anything below 30% was considered a failure.
Neighboring Fate could be content with a 28% rating and even hold a thank-you event, but Johnny & Associates and Takuya Kimura could not.
Past achievements made it impossible for them to accept such results calmly. Blaming the overall decline in Japanese TV ratings was not an excuse; after all, UBW still maintained an average rating above 30%.
The success of UBW was another reason for Kitagawa's displeasure.
Just a few days apart, the fifth episode of UBW achieved an astonishing rating of 34.7%, nearly 10% higher than the first episode of "Engine".
In fact, 34.7% was only the average rating; at its peak, this episode reached 38%.
This episode's content was almost entirely focused on the Caster group, featuring scenes like the capture of Saber, the attack on the church, and Archer's defection to the Caster camp.
By the end of the episode, viewers realized that the Caster group had essentially won, boasting four heroic spirits and a highly capable teacher.
Fate fans were eagerly speculating how the protagonist team would manage to break the stalemate and win the Holy Grail War.
Kitagawa, being older and not understanding the specific plot of Fate, recognized the positive audience feedback and discussion surrounding the show.
With such positive discussion, UBW's future ratings would unlikely fall below 30%.
In contrast, the situation for "Engine" was dire.
Besides the mediocre plot, another frequently mentioned issue was Takuya Kimura's template-like confident performance, which clashed with his character.
Many viewers stated that they wouldn't watch "Engine" if it weren't for Kimura's face.
If the poor ratings of "Engine" could still be attributed to a poor choice of script, the continuous decline in sales of star merchandise was something that Johnny Kitagawa couldn't calmly accept.
Merchandise sales were Johnny's lifeblood and the cornerstone of its dominance over all other agencies in Japan.
This wasn't just because merchandise sales brought substantial profits to Johnny's, but also because it was the most direct way for their stars to showcase their commercial value.
In the past few years, however, the declining sales of Johnny's artists' merchandise were due to external pressures rather than internal issues; the quality of their artists hadn't changed significantly.
The real issue lay in market competition—two main forces were encroaching on the market that once belonged to Johnny's: the influx of K-pop stars and the emergence of the domestic upstart, Type-Moon.
In terms of market share, K-pop stars had clearly taken a bigger slice. However, Kitagawa wasn't overly concerned about the seemingly formidable K-pop wave. These foreign stars were essentially rootless in Japan, bolstered by Fuji TV's support.
Fuji TV promoted K-pop to curry favor with the "Emperor" of the Japanese entertainment industry, Dentsu's president, Narita Yutaka.
Born in Korea, Narita had deep feelings for his birthplace and was a strong advocate of integrating Korean and Japanese entertainment, actively pushing for K-pop's smooth entry into the Japanese market.
Fuji TV played the role of a loyal servant to this "Emperor."
To their credit, Fuji TV put great effort into promoting K-pop. They provided abundant resources and even had days when all programs featured K-pop stars. Faced with such blatant favoritism from the higher-ups, even Kitagawa had no effective countermeasures.
After all, the "Emperor" supported K-pop, and Kitagawa was at most a prominent feudal lord.
The good news was that the "Emperor" backing K-pop was just one individual. Narita Yutaka was already very old, with one foot in the grave.
Once he passed away, K-pop would naturally lose its special treatment and be pushed out of the Japanese market.
Kitagawa was confident he would live to see that day, given his own robust health.
In contrast, Kitagawa viewed Type-Moon as a real threat.
Despite their male stars being foreigners, their agency and productions were entirely Japanese.
Generally, it was difficult for stars born in other countries to succeed in foreign markets—except in the United States.
Yet, Type-Moon's male stars managed to do just that, and the reason was simple—they were incredibly handsome.
Handsome enough for the audience to overlook their gender and nationality, purely admiring them for their looks.
This was a fatal blow to Johnny's, which had built its empire on handsome male idols.
Kitagawa could responsibly say that, apart from a few exceptions, Johnny's idols were the pinnacle of Japanese male stars.
Now, there was an agency with even more attractive male stars, threatening their livelihood.
Type-Moon also liked to sell star photo books, directly competing with Johnny's merchandise.
"Type-Moon..." Kitagawa picked up the relevant documents on Type-Moon, his face wrinkled in frustration.
He was most conflicted by knowing the opponent but having no way to counteract.
Despite their ventures into movies and photo sales, Type-Moon didn't overlap much with Johnny's in other fields.
Concerts, TV variety shows, national tours, CD releases—areas most idols would venture into—were almost untouched by Type-Moon.
Type-Moon seemed to challenge Johnny's in the most core area without expanding their victories into other fields, as if they were solely out to spite Johnny's.
"If only there were a way to communicate with them," Kitagawa sighed again.
There was no interaction between Johnny's and Type-Moon, and the latter seemed to ignore Johnny's dominance in the Japanese entertainment industry.
Kitagawa, upholding his dignity, couldn't bring himself to reach out first, as it would imply weakness.
In Japan, seniority and status were critical not just among employees but also between companies.
Though Type-Moon was flourishing globally, they were still considered a newbie in Japan's entertainment industry, having been around for less than five years.
Just as Kitagawa was pondering this dilemma, his sister, Yasuko Fujishima, who was five years older but even more sprightly, entered his office. "Aki (Kitagawa's nickname)! Look at the TV! TBS is broadcasting Tsuburaya Productions' press conference!"
"What's so special about a press conference from a small company like Tsuburaya?" Kitagawa muttered, but he obediently turned on the TV and switched to TBS.
The blue-haired young man on the screen made him sit up in shock. "Ma-Matou Shinji?! Since when is he involved with Tsuburaya?"
On the screen, Shinji, smiling brightly, announced, "At the earnest request of most Tsuburaya employees, I, Shinji Matou from Fuyuki City, officially become the largest shareholder of Tsuburaya Productions! Also, I will be directing an Ultraman movie scheduled for release next year, featuring both Showa and Heisei era Ultramen. Stay tuned, Ultraman fans!"
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