Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

After doing all this, his lips were bruised, his face was covered in blood, he was barely breathing, and he didn't even have the strength to cough...

Sorry, I've been super busy at work recently, so the updates may be unstable. I'll try my best.

Chapter 189 Preparatory Meeting

2024-07-13

"I am very grateful for Mr. Matsumoto's support."

"Please have mercy on me, Master Amabie, and purify the sins in Senior Matsumoto's body..."

Shibata nodded with satisfaction and looked at the woman behind him.

"I can only temporarily suppress the 'sin' in him."

"If you want to purify him completely, you need to take him to the "Healing House" and hold a purification ceremony in front of the statue..."

The woman squatted down, held Matsumoto's face and kissed him without any disgust.

"Purification ritual? That's true. I envy Senior Matsumoto."

Makoto Shibata on the side turned a blind eye and lowered his head to operate Matsumoto's mobile phone.

After filling out the registration form and sending it to the “connection” that Matsumoto had just contacted, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I don't think I need to worry about lung cancer anymore, but I don't know if his kidneys can handle it..."

Looking at Matsumoto, whose coughing was gradually subsiding but still unable to move and with blurred consciousness, Shibata Makoto smiled weakly.

……

Late at night, the NHK TV headquarters building in Shibuya is still brightly lit.

In a conference room on a certain floor of the building, dozens of men and women with sparse hair and dark circles under their eyes sat together.

"Everyone, today I am honored to be the chief director and convene the first official preparatory meeting of the "Idol Birth Festival Production Committee."

At the head of the conference table, Akimoto Manjiro, with a face full of flesh, was giving a speech in a serious tone.

Due to the prevalence of two-dimensional online culture, entertainment industries such as virtual idols, e-sports, and mobile games have developed rapidly, squeezing the market space for idol girl groups. Even the advertising space in Akihabara has been eroded by a mobile game from Dragon Country.

Compared with the glory of the first generation of girl groups at their peak, the performance of the current third generation of girl groups can be said to be only one-tenth of what it was.

The new song of the limited girl group "Tetsudo AK" a few days ago was crushed by Yayoi Tsuki's new song, which made the industry begin to doubt the current value of the "idol girl group" business model.

This also led to J Company paying more attention to its original business, which is the "idol boy group".

After all, in the idol industry economy, women's participation and willingness to pay are far greater than men's, and the two-dimensional culture has a serious tendency to charm men, and its appeal to female users is relatively weak.

Therefore, as the creator of the first generation idol girl group, Manjiro Akimoto was immediately arranged by J Company to serve as the chief director of the "Idol Birth Festival" after the failure of "Tetsudo AK".

"Everyone here is familiar with the industry and has cooperated with us to some extent, so there is no need to introduce myself."

"The program will officially start recording next week. Time is very tight. Assistant Director Cao Tian, ​​let's get straight to the point..."

Manjiro Akimoto flipped through the documents in his hand and glanced at the assistant director sitting opposite him.

"Then, the first item on the agenda of this preparatory meeting is that I will represent the preparatory team to report the information of the audition trainees."

"The trainees participating in this program are divided into Group J for local trainees from Region 11, and Group I for international trainees."

"The first to report was Group J..."

Assistant Director Sota, who was tall and slender with a stubble on his face, turned on the projector and played a series of "Trainee Registration Forms" with high-resolution artistic photos.

He has worked with Manjiro Akimoto for many years, and the two have a good understanding of each other. He is also familiar with this large-scale talent show project.

"Hirano Yuta, 22 years old, 183cm tall, has been training overseas for three years, was a member of the overseas limited group "Anal Explosion Boys", but later left the group due to the failure of the plan. He intends to debut as Center, and the company that sent him to is J Company..."

"Kishiyo, 20 years old, 176cm tall, has been practicing for four years, is good at singing, has entered the finals of the talent show "Gary Gai Qi", intends to debut as a vocalist, and was sent to company S..."

"Takahashi Yu, 21 years old, 178cm tall, practiced for five years, good at dancing, former third place in the "High School Dance Club Championship", intended to debut as a dancer, sent to company J..."

As Assistant Director Souta announced, the information of each trainee appeared on the projection screen.

"Well, the market is not doing well, so S, J, and A have all released their best products..."

"The core training debut position should be this one... and this one... this one has good potential too..."

Manjiro Akimoto read the personal information with a keen eye, and quickly made marks on the paper documents in his hand.

In fact, before this preparatory meeting, he had already met with the top executives of J, A, and S...

The three companies have reached a tacit understanding on the "debut quota", each occupying three seats and selecting corresponding "seed players".

As the chief director, his job is to control the effect of the program recording and ensure that the nine people who finally debut are the ones decided at that meeting.

The staff in the conference room were also concentrating on reviewing the trainees' information and taking notes quickly.

Anyone who has worked on talent shows knows that from this moment on, these trainees will be labeled with various labels by the program team, holding arranged personalities and scripts, and embarking on a destined destiny.

The first factor that determines these "labels" is naturally the "sending company", followed by appearance, talent, personal characteristics, fan base, etc.

"Nagase Kaito, 20 years old, 185cm tall, has been training overseas for three years, is good at rap and dancing, intends to debut as a rapper, and is being selected by company A..."

"Shibata Makoto, 21 years old, 180cm tall, has been practicing for two and a half years, is good at guitar and singing, intends to debut in the center position, and is a temporary replacement for the original player selected by J Club..."

"The above is the information of the 51 J-Club trainees. If you have any questions about any of them, please ask now."

After reporting the information, Assistant Director Souta looked at everyone in the room.

"Sorry, I found out that this trainee seems to have a financial dispute with his former agency. Will his hard work in filming turn into mosaics during the broadcast?"

"Received, recorded, legal department will verify."

"And this guy, he seemed to have had a scandal with an older female star some time ago. Will this affect the reputation of the show?"

"It was because of this scandal that we asked him to come over to add more topics to the show."

"This guy has already failed to form a group three times. Is it really okay for him to still participate in the show?"

"No problem, this person has been jointly reviewed by the selection company."

The representatives in the conference room raised the doubts recorded in their notebooks one by one.

The current "qualification review", also known as "mine clearance", is to give companies the opportunity to "stab each other in the back" and eliminate "toxic trainees" to avoid trainees withdrawing from the show halfway through the show due to scandals, contracts, physical conditions and other issues.

But the atmosphere in the conference room also became tit-for-tat...

After all, all the program preparation group managers who are qualified to attend this meeting have "company positions".

So, from this moment on, the "elimination phase" has already started ahead of time.

Chapter 190 Tianlong people

2024-07-13

"Okay, I've written down all the questions you have, and I'll verify them later."

Assistant Director Souta answered the questions one by one calmly and wrote down the situations that needed to be verified.

"The next thing to be announced is the 50 international trainees in Group I..."

After taking a look at Manjiro Akimoto and getting his confirmation that he had no objection, Assistant Director Souta reported the information of the trainees who were not from District 11.

"Ken, 20 years old, 175cm tall, Filipino, has been training for 3 years..."

"Xide, 21 years old, height 171cm, Indian nationality, practiced for 10 years..."

"Basong, 19 years old, height 173 cm, Thai nationality, training time 3 and a half years..."

"Martin, 23 years old, 188cm tall, non-citizen, has been training for 4 years..."

"Jack, 20 years old, 184cm tall, American, has been practicing for three years..."

One by one, "international trainees" with different skin colors, facial features, body shapes, and nationalities began to appear on the projection screen.

"Hey, replay it. Martin's appearance is completely invisible. When he smiles, only the whites of his eyes and teeth are visible..."

"That Sid has been practicing for ten years, which means he started at the age of 11. This is definitely a common resume-faking trick used by the Indians!"

"Has the gender of this Basong been confirmed? She's prettier than the members of the girl group. Is she really on the right show?"

At this stage, the tense atmosphere in the meeting room, which was full of people reporting on each other, suddenly disappeared.

The representatives were taking notes casually and teasing the contestants with "international characteristics".

Within the program team, the "International Group" is pronounced as the "Cannon Fodder Group" and written as the "Foil Group".

Due to differences in culture, aesthetic tastes, and language barriers, international trainees can only be "appreciated" by the audience at best, no matter how excellent their personal talents are. It is difficult for the audience to "empathize" with them and "feel involved" and spend real money to get on the charts.

Therefore, in the history of District 11 idol talent show variety shows, there has never been a record of contestants from outside District 11 debuting as a group.

The program sets up an "International Group" and a "Local Group" with the real intention of allowing the audience to not only have the "pleasure of cultivating idols", but also the pleasure of "the perseverance of the people in District 11, defeating international powerhouses and making their successful debut". With the double impact of personal XP and national honor, the audience will be more generous in spending their money to vote.

All the brokerage companies are well aware of this, and they select "international trainees" more with the mentality of "riding on the popularity".

"Tsk, these crooked melons and cracked dates, really dare to stuff them in..."

"This Jack has a good appearance, with blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin. He should be quite popular..."

Only the chief director Manjiro Akimoto examined the application form more carefully.

"Can't we have a few more to brighten our eyes and liven up our spirits?"

He circled the information of "Jack" and complained somewhat dissatisfiedly.

Even if it's a "supporting group", there should at least be a few who are a little bit more capable...

Otherwise, the script of how hard the contestants from District 11 worked and tried their best to defeat the "international powerhouses" would not be able to be filmed.

"Xia Fan, 19 years old, height 180cm, Dragon nationality, training time two and a half years..."

Director Souta yawned and clicked on the next registration form.

"This boy... is so handsome!"

In the upper right corner of the table, Xia Fan’s impeccably handsome face came into everyone’s sight without warning.

Eyes as bright as stars, delicate and three-dimensional facial features, and thin lips that were pursed in a cool and stagnant manner, made the people whose eyes had just been polluted by a group of "monsters and devils" feel moved to be "purified" in their hearts.

"Pause for a moment..."

Akimoto Manjiro's eyes also lit up. He called a timeout for the first time, then silently looked at Xia Fan's registration form.

"It's rare for someone of Dragon nationality to participate in the District 11 talent show."

"He should live in District 11."

"Based on her looks, it's enough for her to just be a 'face' for those small, obscure groups."

The representatives in the conference room also began to discuss in low voices.

To be fair, Xia Fan's appearance is slightly better than those "seed players" marked by Akimoto Manjiro in Group J, and his cold temperament is even more personal.

The entertainment industry in Long Country across the sea has been extremely developed in recent years. Given his appearance, it would naturally be a better choice for him to go back and develop.

"A native of Longguo, a freshman at Tokyo University of the Arts, good at acting and playing the electronic keyboard..."

"The management company, GTE Entertainment...selected by the Burning Department?"

"good, very good, excellent!"

After reading Xia Fan's registration information, Akimoto Manjiro couldn't help but admire him repeatedly.

"It's simply...a perfect...backdrop..."

"We must pay special attention to Xia Fan... During the initial stage, let him appear on the show as the most dazzling trainee in the international group..."

"When the first performance of the 'competition match' comes, let him fall hard and become a stepping stone for the 'seed players', so that the audience's sense of national honor can be sublimated to the highest level..."

He put his hands together on his nose and gave a satisfied grin.

Xia Fan's appearance is excellent, and his racial characteristics are no different from those of people in District 11. He also has a series of plus points such as "academic master" and "musical instrument", making him very suitable to be developed into an "internationally outstanding trainee".

Coincidentally, Xia Fan is the only Dragon nationality trainee in the entire Group I.

After all, Dragon Country is the sovereign state of District 11. Both its economic size and the level of development of its entertainment industry far exceed those of District 11. The people of Dragon Country are often privately teased as "Dragon People", and they are the envy, jealousy and hatred of the people of District 11.

It must have been a very touching and tear-jerking scene when such a good-looking and talented trainee from Longguo was defeated by the passionate and hard-working trainees from District 11 in the show.

What’s even more perfect is that Xia Fan was actually selected by the Combustion Department.

You know, in this talent show where the debut positions are monopolized by the "JAS Alliance", all the Burning Series contestants, regardless of their nationality, are originally predetermined to be "first-round cannon fodder."