I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 151: Kodansha is completely ruined. The controversial ending of "Secret"
In the Japanese entertainment industry, it is a recognized fact that TV dramas are bigger than movies.

Generally, only those stars who have just debuted, are not famous enough, and want to use movies as a stepping stone to become TV actors at well-known TV stations will dive into this sea of ​​suffering.

Kitagawa Hide picked up the information of Kimura Takuya and found that the future emperor of Japanese television was trapped in a vicious cycle of ratings poison and unable to extricate himself.

In 95, he starred in a total of six TV dramas, in addition to a large number of variety shows, special episodes of Taiga dramas, and countless commercial performances. Johnny's Office really tried their best to fleece the sheep once they caught it.

But among these six TV series, only "Life First" performed so-so, with an average viewership of 20.3%.

This viewership rating would have killed everything 20 years later, but in 1995 when television was still everyone's main form of entertainment, this low viewership rating for a prime-time show was actually not worth the production cost.

He made six films in one year, five of which were flops. As of April 1996, Kimura Takuya, who was very popular last year, is at risk of sudden death.

The fact that Johnny's Office actually asked Kawaide Shobo to only pay 250 million yen if they could let Kimura Takuya play the leading or second male lead shows how anxious Kimura and the financial backer behind him are.

And just like the current lifeless Japanese literary world, screenwriters in the film and television industry seem to have lost their inspiration. All the TV and movies that Hideto Kitagawa could talk about have disappeared, and no one knows where "Long Vacation" that could save Takuya Kimura's life is.

"Kitagawa, you are the author of the original novel, why don't you just pick a few actors you like and interview them?" Saito Rena leaned her head over, stood on tiptoe, and stared at the pile of actor information sheets with him.

Kitagawa Hide just went through all the data sheets and refocused his attention on the sheet of Kimura Takuya. He hummed, but the faces of the leading actors in several relatively successful adaptations of "No Longer Human" quickly flashed through his mind.

The latest version is "No Longer Human: Dazai Osamu and Three Women" starring Shun Oguri. The script is okay, but the leading actor is not so good. His acting skills and character have problems, and he was directly passed by Hide Kitagawa.

Among the other versions, the one that suits his taste the most is actually "No Longer Human" starring Toma Ikuta. Not only does the plot closely follow the original work, the costumes and props are also very colorful, and the final box office and response are also good.

But Toma Ikuta is only twelve years old this year, so he can play the young Oba Yozo. If Kitagawa Hide remembers correctly, Toma Ikuta just joined Johnny's office this year and is a cheap child star. If Takuya Kimura is asked to play the male lead, it would be a good opportunity for them to package Toma Ikuta and send him along.

"If I were to choose, Kimura Takuya would be just right for this salary." Kitagawa Hide handed the data sheet to Saito Rena and expressed his opinion truthfully, "Of course, it's better to let professionals do the auditions and so on. I won't get involved."

"Okay. Then I'll pass your opinion on to the public relations department." Saito Rena didn't understand this either. She just wanted to get through this casting issue as quickly as possible and then devote herself to literature-related work.

After the casting came to a temporary end, the two briefly discussed the mono no aware literature presented in "Lost Paradise". The more they talked, the more Rena Saito felt it was a pity. If nothing unexpected happened, "Lost Paradise" might very well be the pioneering work of pure literature under the mono no aware literature.

But Kitagawa Hide had made up his mind, so she had to take on the job of publishing the physical book and gave up the idea of ​​persuading Kitagawa Hide to serialize the book in "Wenyi".

The way she interacts with her authors is still the old way, putting the writers' personal interests first and the company's interests second.

However, I still have to remind the publishing department to remember to use the slogan "The pioneering work of mono no aware literature"!

As it was approaching dinner time, Kitagawa Hide said goodbye and went back to the cafe, politely declining Saito Rena's suggestion to have lunch together.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to build some relationship with the editor, but he and Yumeko are going to meet Professor Takeuchi Osamu at noon today. After discussing the concept of literary research, the two of them will go to Aoyama Building to see the new house under renovation.

A down payment of 4 million yen, followed by a monthly mortgage of about 220 million yen, and the renovation cost Kitagawa Hide another 1500 million yen, which really drained all his savings.

As for the appreciation or depreciation of housing prices, it actually has little impact on this kind of luxury homes.

In the Asian financial crisis of 97, Soros, the mastermind behind the financial crisis, mainly targeted Thailand and directly brought down the Thai baht monetary system.

Japan and China were relatively less affected. The main victims were the middle and lower classes in South Korea and other countries. The rich suffered some losses, but not serious ones.

Only less than 1% of the country's truly wealthy people can afford this kind of luxury home, and housing prices will not fluctuate much in the next years.

However, people who bought commercial housing at this time should be careful.

Kitagawa Hide thought of this while driving, and when he returned to the cafe, he immediately called acquaintances such as Saito Rena and Aso Mayumi, warning them not to buy a house in the next two years.

Rena Saito, who received this sudden call, was in Shizuko Kawaide's office at the time, explaining to her boss why Hide Kitagawa wanted to serialize "Paradise Lost" in the newspaper.

"It's Kitagawa who called." Saito Rena glanced at Kawaide Shizuko, whose face was still calm. She also admired this big boss.

Only during the trip to Kyoto did the big boss show some joys, sorrows, anger and happiness similar to those of ordinary people like them. Usually in the company, no matter how big the problem was, Shizuko Kawaide always maintained her usual image of an icy beauty, and was not afraid even if the world fell.

Saito Reina knew that she could never do this. Her own practice was indeed far behind the president's.

Once she has something on her mind, dark circles under her eyes and puffy face will appear and she can’t get rid of them!
"Yeah." Shizuko Kawaide nodded lightly, but her heart was in turmoil. She had not yet gotten over the fact that "Paradise Lost" was not serialized in "Wenyi".

Does Mr. Kitagawa have any opinions about Kawade Shobo?

Do you think the royalty rate for Border is too low?
Should we simply treat Mr. Beichuan as the best in the world and adjust the royalty rate directly to 25%?

Or is it that the buyout price of 2.5 million yen for "No Longer Human" is a bit too low, or the money is coming in too slowly, and Mr. Kitagawa is beginning to doubt Kawaide Shobo's cash flow?
Whenever the usually calm Shizuko Kawaide encountered issues related to Kitagawa Hide, she would unconsciously lose her composure.

She was daydreaming over there, while Saito Reina listened carefully to the warning on her phone, then looked up and said to Kawaide Shizuko: "Kitagawa told us to be careful not to buy real estate in the next two years."

After getting a promotion and a raise, Saito Rena's income increased significantly. Considering that her younger sister was about to start elementary school, she originally planned to move out of Kokubunji City and move to the more prosperous Tokyo.

But after hearing what Kitagawa Hide said, she began to hesitate again.

"Don't want to buy a property? Has Mr. Kitagawa started to pay attention to real estate investment?" Shizuko Kawaide pricked up her ears quietly. If Mr. Kitagawa was interested in investing, she could use Kawaide's relationship to help Mr. Kitagawa a little to enhance their relationship.

"I'm not sure. But according to Rei-chan, Kitagawa seems to have a very sharp intuition about some strange things." Saito Rena suddenly remembered a small thing.

"Rei-chan?"

"Yes, it's Yumeko's classmate Jabami Rei, who played the literary girl in 'Akadashi'." Saito Reina briefly recounted how Kitagawa Hide advised them not to go to the Tokyo subway, and then the sarin gas incident happened shortly afterwards.

This was a life-saving favor for Jabami Rei. Although this tsundere didn't say it, she remembered it very clearly in her heart.

"I see." Shizuko Kawaide fell into deep thought again.

After visiting Professor Osamu Takeuchi and inspecting his new home with Yumeko, Kitagawa Hide returned to the cafe and resumed his cycle of running the business, guiding his apprentices in writing, and revising "Paradise Lost".

April 4. The April 18 issue of "Wenyi" was released. A group of readers were eagerly waiting for it. When they arrived at the bookstore and found that the new issue of "Wenyi" did not serialize Mr. Kitagawa's new book, the expressions on their faces were all visibly disappointed.

Fortunately, this issue still has new works by Keigo Higashino and other two being serialized, and "The Secret" has reached its final climax, which made readers who have been following this book exclaim that it is so exciting, and they have spread this unique ending everywhere.

In the final chapter of "The Secret", Heisuke and his wife Naoko have a showdown. Heisuke decides to let Naoko continue to live as a daughter, while he will take on the responsibility of a father and accompany her to the end.

After the showdown, the daughter's soul inexplicably returned to the body. From then on, the daughter's and wife's souls appeared alternately in the same body. As the number of alternations increased, the wife's soul appeared less and less frequently.

Until the last time the two of them sat on the bench.

"Thank you, goodbye, please don't forget me!"

After saying the last sentence, Naoko's soul gradually dissipated, and Heisuke realized that this was the farewell ceremony carefully prepared by Naoko, and that day was the final farewell between him and Naoko.

Afterwards, Heisuke gradually accepted the fact that his wife had left him and started a new life with hope.

He and his daughter returned to their normal relationship, and his mood became relaxed and happy.

Nine years later, his daughter Manami and her boyfriend Wen are getting married. Heisuke is very happy. He is glad that his daughter can be happy.

But on the eve of the wedding, Heisuke accidentally learned that Manami's wedding ring was actually recast using Naoko's wedding ring.

He was struck by lightning. Naoko's wedding ring was sewn into the teddy bear. Only Naoko and he knew this secret. How could Manami know it?

There is only one truth: it is still Naoko in Manami's body, and Naoko has never left.

Naoko directed this drama secretly and selfishly abandoned her husband in pursuit of a new life.

At the end of the story, Heisuke once again chooses to keep the secret.

When he discovered that his wife's soul had possessed their daughter, he chose to keep the secret in order not to be separated from his wife. This time, he chose to keep the secret in order to allow his wife to leave.

"Higashino! Isn't this ending you wrote too bad?" After reading the last word, Dangui Shirou wanted to throw the "Literature" in his hand at Higashino Keigo's face.

Keigo Higashino, who was discussing the subject of his new book with Hide Kitagawa, was suddenly startled and hid behind his teacher in panic, not daring to look at his best friend.

This ending was discussed jointly by him and Mr. Kitagawa.

Kitagawa Hide's advice to him has always been "write what you want to write, write what you find interesting", and he also agreed with him to add his personal experiences and insights to the protagonist Heisuke.

This will make the character of Heisuke fuller, more three-dimensional and more realistic.

that's the truth.

The ending of "The Secret" has aroused discussions among countless readers. They agree that this is a way to untie the knot of the illicit love between father and daughter. Whether it is Heisuke or Naoko, their choices are in line with the values ​​recognized by most people in today's society.

To put it bluntly, this thing is a typical product of Japanese political correctness.

To readers from other countries, Heisuke's tolerance of humiliation may seem a bit like "kame mentality".

Shirou Dango, who has always written erotic novels, has a more open mind and naturally cannot accept Heisuke's choice.

"I think it's not bad." Mayumi Aso said while secretly looking at Kitagawa Hide, not knowing what she was thinking.

Her "Childhood Sweethearts" performed the worst among the three, but it received unanimous praise.

A single mother returned to her old job, became the first female haiku poet of our time, and wrote stories criticizing social classes under the guise of love. With these few points added together, it would be hard for her not to be famous.

"Parent-Child Meal" by Dango Shiro is a typical example of a book that is well received but not popular. His book will come to an end next month. "Parent-Child Meal" has snatched a large number of readers from "All the Stars". He doesn't know yet that Kawade Shobo is planning to offer him a long-term contract as a top "vulgar writer".

The three apprentices gathered together and played and fought, while Kitagawa Hidenori returned to his computer to check the sales of "Gunzo" which was released on April 4, and the March issue of "Wenyi".

After the failure of the joint essay contest and the Yomiuri Okamoto scandal, "Gunzo" completely fell out of the ranks of first-tier pure literature magazines.

Even if they decisively pushed Muramatsu Tomosuke out as a scapegoat and let a dead person take the blame for the joint essay contest, it would be difficult to get the lost readers to go back and read their magazine, which is completely inferior to "Wenyi".

As Hide Kitagawa said, for top pure literature magazines, what readers value is the quality of the magazine.

Mayumi Aso and these three new writers who emerged out of nowhere and whose abilities are comparable to those of the winners of the Newcomer Literature Award suddenly lifted the last fig leaf of "Gunzo".

The latest issue of "Group Portrait" was released on April 4th, and the total sales volume was just over 15 in three days, which is even worse than before Kitagawa Hideaki!
In contrast, the March issue of "Wenyi" achieved another success, relying on the popularity of the final chapter of "National Border" and set a new record of 3 million monthly sales.

This is also the second time that "Wenyi" has won the title of monthly sales champion among Japan's local pure literature magazines. Now no one will say that "Wenyi" is the perennial last-place among the five major pure literature magazines.

Thanks to the excellent results of the past two months, more and more new writers have come to Hechu Bookstore to submit their works.

The publishing house he belonged to and his friends around him were all thriving, and Kitagawa Hide was becoming happier and happier, and he felt more motivated to continue writing.

"Wenyi" is just around the corner from overthrowing the second-placed "Wenxuejie" and the perennially number one "Shincho". It's time for Kitagawa Hideya to develop to a higher level!

In the first quarter of 1996, the only thing that made him feel a little regretful was that "Border" failed to bring him further advancement in the literary world.

Rena Saito helped him apply for the Tanizaki Prize, but due to the interference of the Ministry of Education, Kitagawa Hide was only shortlisted and missed the award because he was too young, had relatively few literary works, and "Border" lacked breakthrough achievements compared to his previous works.

This also gave Kitagawa Hide more motivation to write "Paradise Lost"!
Lack of breakthrough achievements, right?
See if this pioneering work of mono no aware literature is groundbreaking enough!
Just as Kitagawa Hide continued to look up information and prepare to write the subsequent chapters of "Paradise Lost", Rena Saito called.

After answering the phone, he remembered that there was a book signing event for "Border" at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo that afternoon.

The repetitive lifestyle during this period of time almost made him forget about it!

(End of this chapter)