Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 644 So, filming the final episode of Yakuza
After the 1990s, Japan rarely produced high-rated shows. Apart from Taiga dramas which could achieve a 20% viewership rating, most TV stations were lucky to produce shows with a 10% viewership rating.

But things were different in 1992.

High cost, big production, each episode features familiar guest actors, and the story background is so fitting for this broken era.

By the time the story was nearing its end, "Yakuza" had achieved a viewership rating of almost 30%.

Many families stay up all night to watch dramas.

Perhaps, in a certain episode of a TV series, you can find a similarly lost and dejected version of yourself in one of the guest characters.

The first season of Yakuza has only thirteen episodes, revolving around the missing 10 billion yen and the only girl who knows the clues, 'Haruka Sawamura'. Now, it is coming to an end, and Kazuma Kiryu, who has learned the truth, is preparing for a final battle with Akira Nishikiyama.

The brothers have turned against each other, and now it's time for a decisive battle.

Kyoto.

The elderly Kyoto gentleman, Matsunaga Hideki, sat cross-legged in a small Japanese-style room watching television.

The family mansion had been sold, and the dry landscape garden was gone, but he couldn't give up the enjoyment of life; he had simply moved from the big house to the small house.

The thing Matsunaga Hideki regretted most in his life was being tricked by a friend into buying stocks in 1990, only to lose them all in 1991...

Fortunately, he has a large family business, and as a professor, he can also write articles to make money; otherwise, he would probably only be able to eat plum rice and tofu miso soup now.

But.

Whether you have money or not, life goes on! At least he didn't have five sons, and he still pushed him out to cut ribbons in temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius.

"What's money to us? Let's just have some fun. Only people from the Kanto region think about money all the time. We Kansai people don't care about that at all!"

Matsunaga Hideki automatically removed Osaka residents from the Kansai household registration.

Around 9 p.m., Matsunaga Hideki was already waiting in front of the TV. The tea snacks on the tea tray had been replaced with cheap chilled rice cakes, but even if they were cheap, there still had to be something on the tea tray.

At 10 o'clock, "The Dragon Among Men" finally began airing.

Matsunaga Hideki sat cross-legged in front of the television, enjoying tea and snacks while watching the episode.

After what happened before, Kiryu Kazuma has almost gotten to the truth of the matter. However, at this time, Kiryu Kazuma is being hunted down by many parties and can only temporarily hide in the safe house in the fish market.

The owner of this safe house was an old friend of his, a migrant worker named Chen Rong, who currently makes a living by killing fish at the seafood market.

The two fought with the pursuing enemies, and Chen Rong's skills were surprisingly good. He used two fish to defeat his opponent in the seafood market, and the fight was quite spectacular.

Finally, Kiryu Kazuma learned the whole truth and prepared to leave. Chen Rong also told Kiryu Kazuma that he was preparing to leave Japan. He had saved enough money to start a business and probably would never return to Japan.

As this episode ended, Matsunaga Hideki noticed something different.

As the economy slows down and the market becomes sluggish, the small commodity market becomes hot, and the aquatic product market also changes.

All of this is expressed through Chen Rong, a fishmonger at the seafood market.

Now that he has saved enough money to leave Japan, Matsunaga Hideki has a different feeling about it.

Japan's economy is really in trouble! That's why Chen Rong returned to his hometown in Chaoshan!

Matsunaga Hideki couldn't help but slap his thigh.

Hi!

Then he should find a way to go out and make money!
For example, he also went to Zhou State to invest!

This place is all about business!

……

...Some people see investment opportunities, while others see action design.

Jackie Chan is already very popular in Japan, and this episode perfectly showcases his consistent characteristics.

An ordinary person with great skills and a witty sense of humor.

The scene of driving away the enemy with just two fish is particularly striking.

Who the hell can chase someone away with just two fish?!

However, if the character were played by Jackie Chan, no one would question the plausibility of this plot.

This episode truly amazed many people, and the viewership ratings, which were already very high, increased by another two percentage points.

As the plot nears its end and the first season is about to conclude, some people are pondering another question.

Since Jackie Chan has made a cameo appearance, then as the owner of the agency, the planner of this work, and the director, he should also be involved.

Will Akira Furuya perform himself?

The answer is, yes.

The final episode was prepared by Gu Ming for himself.

Inside the planning room, Gu Ming sat cross-legged, discussing the script for this episode with the crew members opposite him, including Takashi Miike and Zhen Zidan.

"This is a story that takes place on a film set. Kazuma Kiryu is chasing Akira Nishikiyama, who runs all the way to a nearby company called 'X-Valley,' where filming is taking place..."

"The character in this episode is an actor, a suit actor, but he always dreams that one day he will not wear a suit, but become a great hero outside the suit."

"After acting for a long time, the suit became like the real him."

"But in fact, he wasn't even an actor in the TV series. He was just a stage actor who couldn't even do the basic movements properly. He was the lowest level of a costume actor."

Gu Ming recounted the contents of this episode in detail.

His part is only a small part; the main part is the final battle between Akira Nishikiyama and Kazuma Kiryu, the former brothers.

Everyone listened attentively until Gu Ming finished speaking before Zhen Zidan finally spoke.

"Brother Gu, are you sure you want to act like this? They're all fighting so well, and when it's your turn, you don't fight at all, you just rush in and get beaten up. Isn't that a bit much?"

"The protagonist of the final episode isn't me, it's Kiryu Kazuma and Nishikiyama Akira. It's not appropriate for me to steal the spotlight at a time like this."

Gu Ming said, "Besides, this statement also tells everyone a truth. With the economic downturn, even TV dramas can't attract investment, so they can only use this cheap method of filming. And the character I play is just an ordinary person trying to muster the courage to go against the tide in this declining era."

Gu Ming raised his hand and tapped his temple.

"Wearing a suit doesn't make you a true hero, and taking off the suit makes you even less of a hero. But sometimes, you don't have to be a hero. In the grand scheme of things, we're just ordinary people. Or rather, when Kiryu Kazuma and Nishikiyama Akira were fighting, daring to rush out and throw a punch already makes you a hero in your own right."

Yes, Kiryu Kazuma is a yakuza, striving to recover 10 billion yen. Nishikiyama Akira has his reasons for turning to the dark side and his ambition to rise above his circumstances. The two engage in such a struggle.

But what does that have to do with the character played by Gu Ming?
They are just actors; they just want to make movies.

Now that their duel was about to begin, and everyone else had fled in panic, he would naturally rush out to try and stop them.

Gu Ming rubbed his temples and suddenly gave Miike Takashi a few more instructions.

"Remember to film a special episode tomorrow, to be used as the ending for the video version."

"In this version, the person actually under the suit is a real hero."

Of course, this is only the ending of the video version, not the officially released ending. It can be said that it fulfilled some viewers' wishes.

(End of this chapter)