Tokyo's bubble economy: From literary giants to great entertainers

"This is..."

Upon seeing the name Fukasaku Shinji, Kanbara Shuichi quickly realized what was happening and stood up to look for the old man, but unfortunately, the man had already disappeared into the crowd.

"What a pity..."

Kinji Fukasaku is one of his favorite Japanese directors.

In particular, the Japanese ensemble drama "Battle Royale" is considered the pinnacle of Japanese ensemble dramas and the pioneering work of the battle royale genre.

Subsequent works such as The Hunger Games, The Squid Game, and even games like Danganronpa and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds were all deeply inspired by this work.

The thought of missing such a powerful figure right beside him filled Kanbara Hideichi with regret. However, looking at the booklet in his hand, his expression gradually became excited again.

An enhanced talent for portraying ensemble characters!

This is an extremely rare portrayal of a group of characters!

Whether in novels, films, or animation, ensemble storytelling is universally acknowledged as having unlimited potential and being the type most likely to produce timeless masterpieces!

However, its creative threshold is ridiculously high, and the difficulty of portraying the plot and characters far exceeds that of any normal narrative!

Shuichi Kanbara was very excited, but at that moment, someone even more excited than him came up to him.

"Boss! Please consider casting me in this project!"

Kento Kaku knelt down with a thud, hugging his leg and looking pitiful, begging for pity.

His movement was a bit too big, and the surrounding classmates all looked over, especially a few girls including Eikura Nana, whose gazes towards the two of them gradually became a little strange.

"..."

Shuichi Kanbara, who lived in Bengbu, ripped him off his lap like a skewer of meat, and said with a sullen laugh, "Who was it that just said my script wasn't very good?"

"...Private Marseille! Private Marseille!"

Kento Kaku shamelessly bowed deeply, even with tears streaming down his face when he looked up!

She can cry on cue!

God knows how he developed such acting skills!

However, his action was a bit too big, which drew more whispers and strange looks from the surrounding students, and even some teachers looked over.

Shuichi Kambara finally lost his temper and kicked him hard in the butt.

"Alright! Get up now! I'll take you there in a bit!"

"Red bean paste?!"

Kento Kaku instantly perked up, while Shuichi Kanbara shook his head with a smile, "Why would I lie to you? However, although I think you'd be perfect for the protagonist I'm writing, I'm just a nobody right now. Whether you pass the audition or not will depend on your own performance."

"Don't worry! I will definitely win everyone over with my acting skills!"

"I hope so."

Shuichi Kanbara rolled his eyes and continued writing his script.

Although his script hasn't passed Keiko Matsuzaka's review yet, it shouldn't be a big problem.

Looking at the script of "From Today, It's My Turn!!", it does require a high level of professional ability to understand its intricacies. If a complete novice screenwriter like him were to submit such a script, it would be rejected 99% of the time.

But whether it was his friendship with Takako Tokiwa or the influence of "The White Tower," he was confident he could persuade Keiko Matsuzaka to give him a chance.

All you need to do is shoot a demo on set, using visuals and performances to capture the true essence of the script, and all problems will be solved.

—The screenwriter is a famous writer, but you can't really tell if a script is good or bad just by looking at it, so they actually film a demo. This is a common practice in the Japanese film and television industry.

"For the demo... let's use the scene where Joestar is fixing the well in the abandoned building."

"That was definitely a memorable scene, but who will play Kanai...?"

"Hey, if only I looked a little goofy, I could have a cameo role."

"Forget it, let the production crew find someone later."

"But Rie Miyazawa..."

"I wonder if she can handle the role of Kyoko Hayakawa."

As the image of Rie Miyazawa making an extremely exaggerated facial expression like Kanna Hashimoto flashed through his mind, Shuichi Kanbara's lips unconsciously curled up.

.

Entrance ceremonies are always so boring.

Around 11 a.m., after completing the student registration and card issuance procedures, Shuichi Kambara used the excuse of going to the restroom to sneak out of the gymnasium through the back door with Kento Kaku. They then took a taxi straight to Horikoshi High School.

Keiko Matsuzaka originally wanted to invite him to lunch so they could chat over a meal.

However, he felt that the other party probably wouldn't understand the script for "From Today, It's My Turn!!", so he directly changed the appointment to the film set—a real-life campus shooting location near Horikoshi High School.

Speaking of which, Horikoshi High School has quite a story to tell.

From the Showa era, there were Sayuri Ishikawa, Seiko Matsuda, Yoko Minamino, Noriko Sakai, and Chisato Moritaka.

From the Heisei era, Ayumi Hamasaki, Takako Matsu, Kyoko Fukada, Yu Aoi, Masami Nagasawa, Haruka Ayase, Aya Ueto, Nana Mizuki, Minami Hamabe, Erika Toda...

Almost half of the female celebrities in the Japanese entertainment industry have left their mark here.

As a result, the area around Horikoshi High School has become a miniature entertainment ecosystem.

Everywhere you look, you see small buildings with signs for talent agencies hanging on street corners and alleyways, as well as talent scouts wearing sunglasses, huddled furtively in front of convenience stores.

Japanese women during the bubble economy era were generally in a very restless state.

It's not that everyone is involved in some radical feminist movement, but rather that Tokyo, as an international metropolis, is full of dazzling lights and extravagant lifestyles.

Girls who never lack money are a bit better off, as they won't be dazzled by the glitz and glamour of the world. However, Horikoshi High School itself is not a prestigious school, and its students mainly come from lower-middle-class families.

Girls like Ayumi Hamasaki and Noriko Sakai came from very poor families and were even abused by their parents. They ran away to Tokyo alone and were discovered by talent scouts, which allowed them to enter this school.

Moreover, the school has a very relaxed atmosphere and doesn't really care about grades. If you had to describe it, it's more like a vocational high school specializing in entertainment.

It would be strange if a girl from an ordinary background didn't become restless in this kind of environment.

Students at Horikoshi High School all aspire to become celebrities, but most of them fail to debut.

Some women with decent figures and looks may be tricked into signing exorbitant contracts by their agents as soon as they enter the industry because they have no one to guide them. This leads to huge debts and being forced into nightclubs and bubble baths, eventually sliding deeper into the dark world.

Only a very small fraction of them will actually debut as idols, but...

Throughout the Showa era, there were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of girls working as idol entertainers. However, those who remained active in the public eye after the age of thirty without becoming depressed, going insane, or committing crimes could be counted on two hands.

But as the saying goes, no girl stays sixteen forever, but there will always be sixteen-year-old girls.

Entertainment companies don't care what happens to these girls in the future; they just want them to contribute to the company during their prime.

This is a vortex that devours youth and hope.

Most students at Horikoshi High School are unaware of this, but Rie Miyazawa has already learned about the cruel and dark side of the entertainment industry and this world.

.

The second floor of the cafe opposite Horikoshi High School, by the window.

Rie Miyazawa gently bit her straw, her moist red lips glistening slightly. Her gaze drifted casually to the window—several girls were chatting and laughing with a talent scout, their eyes filled with anticipation and excitement.

She looked at them, a hint of pity rising in her eyes, mixed with an unspeakable longing.

Although she is only sixteen years old this year, she debuted when she was eleven years old and became the cover model of the magazine "Weekly Seventeen".

She became a sensation in Japan at the age of fourteen for her role as "Reiko Shiratori" in Mitsui Fudosan's "GG" series, and was hailed as "the most beautiful girl of the Heisei era".

If this experience happened to other girls, they would definitely jump for joy, but she... at the time, she was also very happy, feeling that her life would be different from then on.

But that year, in order to get her into the entertainment industry and make a lot of money, her mother drugged her and sent her to Takeshi Kitano's room. In the end, Kitano had a bottom line and kicked the mother and daughter out, thus escaping a disaster.

Since then, she has never gone to school again, and her entire life has fallen into a nightmare.

If time could turn back to the year her mother forcibly took her away from the aunt who raised her, she would definitely muster the courage to resist.

If she could go back to junior high school, she would definitely choose to continue her studies and live the life of an ordinary girl.

But it was all too late.

According to Japanese civil law, all income of minors under the age of 18 is managed by their parents, who have no right to open accounts independently. The primary responsible party for this responsibility is the parents.

In other words, she could never escape her mother's grasp.

She thought her life would end like this, but to her utter surprise, fate smiled upon her once again.

"That big brother..."

"So even my mother has people she's afraid of."

She unconsciously stroked the area below her collarbone with her thumb.

As a public figure, her mother never dared to hit her face or limbs, but constant scolding, verbal abuse, and beatings of her private parts were commonplace.

Physical abuse and psychological manipulation (PUA).

In her previous worldview, her mother was someone she could not resist.

If the child resists, the punishment ranges from verbal abuse to hair-pulling and physical violence; if all else fails, they threaten suicide—"If you don't obey, we'll die together!"

But to her utter surprise, less than half an hour after her mother was dragged into the warehouse by the gangsters that older sister had brought, she came out with only a fawning expression on her face, apologized to her, and then disappeared without a trace.

Like a lapdog.

This change puzzled her, but it also made her feel as if she had come to understand something.

She had just heard from her mother-in-law that the older brother who saved her had received help from her mother-in-law before. But that help amounted to nothing more than a few lunches and a few tens of thousands of yuan.

Is this small favor really worth using personal connections to ask the underworld for help?

At a crucial age when her values ​​should be forming, Rie Miyazawa was trapped in the quagmire of the entertainment industry, which left her somewhat bewildered. She rested her chin on her hand, bit the straw, and took another gentle sip.

At that moment, her eyes, which were looking out the window, suddenly lit up slightly.

Under the bright spring sunshine, Shuichi Kambara, dressed in a school suit, strode towards them. Just like that morning, he had a calm expression that gave off a sense of composure.

only...

This composure crumbled in less than two seconds.

A boy with a blonde perm approached him, leering at the girls in short skirts walking by on the street, and excitedly muttering something while covering his mouth.

Shuichi Kanbara wore a speechless expression, but still subconsciously glanced over, only to be thoroughly ridiculed by the blond-haired guy. The result, naturally, was that the blond-haired guy was grabbed by the neck and given a beating.

It was just ordinary college boys fooling around, but seeing this scene, Rie Miyazawa, who was used to the glamorous surface of the entertainment industry, blinked and then her eyes curved slightly.

"This older brother... doesn't seem like a bad person."