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

As soon as she sat down, she said something without warning that froze the expressions of the other three mentors.

"Don't worry, my condition has stabilized recently, and I can still hear people talk normally..."

"But if you listen to the songs, there will still be some distortion, so in this show, I will not make too many comments on the contestants' singing skills. I'll have to trouble Mr. Oda for this part."

While the three were still thinking about how to react, Yayoi Tsuki had already thrown out a series of "big truths" with an indifferent look on her face.

"Well, you are worthy of being the topic queen. You start with such an explosive dialogue... A topic like 'Yayoi Tsuki revealed her recent medical condition on the show' is definitely destined to be the number one trending search!"

Inside the recording room, Manjiro Akimoto punched hard.

"Well, Miss Yayoi, you are still as quick-witted as ever... Anyway, we are relieved to hear that you are in good health..."

Oda smiled with relief, but in fact, he felt "reased" about something else.

Yayoi Tsuki is famous for her singing skills, and there is a certain overlap between her and him in terms of "mentor attributes". If there is a conflict between them in the evaluation of "singing skills", the situation will be quite embarrassing.

"Ahem, now that everyone is here, let me, as the 'representative producer', announce the start of the first 'mentor meeting'."

After the air in the studio was quiet for a few seconds, Goro Kimura, who was also the "host", abruptly cut into the next process after being reminded by the program team.

"Next, let me introduce the theme and rules of this program."

"First, please watch a PV of the program theme..."

He pointed to the back of the studio, where an ancient open-air stage about one meter high had been set up, which was very common in shrine festivals.

The huge screen that served as the background wall of the stage began to play a video...

"Everyone, welcome to the "Idol Birth Festival." "

"I am Goro Kimura, a former idol who took two and a half years from training to debut, and twenty-five years from debut to retirement."

It was pitch black all around, and under the dazzling lights, Goro Kimura stood alone in the center of the stage.

"Today, I come to this special festival as the 'producer representative' with only one purpose..."

While he was speaking, the screen kept switching between silhouettes of different trainees practicing hard and close-ups of their handsome bodies.

"The producers in front of the screen will select the nine best members from 101 trainees from 24 countries to form the strongest international idol group, aiming to perform on the world stage..."

Finally, it converges into nine handsome black silhouettes of different shapes and colors.

"Wow, it's actually an international boy band. Are there many foreigners among the trainees participating in the show?"

"Come to think of it, there are quite a few foreigners settling in District 11 in recent years. I'm really looking forward to it."

After the theme PV was played, Oda Masaru and Hirai Shota started to praise it in unison.

Compared with previous talent shows, the biggest highlight of this talent show is the addition of the element of "international trainees", and the two of them naturally took the opportunity to brag about this.

But as industry insiders, the two already knew the situation of international trainees...

The gimmick of "internationalization" and "confrontation" is one aspect. The fundamental reason is that there have been too many talent shows in recent years, which have almost squeezed the local trainee resources. The urgent need for foreign trainees to supplement them is the fundamental reason.

"Of course. District 11 is the most internationalized region in the world, so idol groups must keep up with the times."

Kimura Goro echoed it, then turned to Yayoi Tsuki: "Ms. Yayoi, what do you think?"

As the most popular "traffic-generating" mentor on the show, Yayoi Tsuki naturally had the most shots in the first episode.

According to the program team's requirements, Goro Kimura will continue to give Yayoi monthly topics, create space for her to express opinions, and try to create more segments that will hype up hot searches.

"In recent years, the activeness of foreign artists has indeed been constantly bringing fresh elements to the entertainment industry in District 11."

"However, based on past experience, most of the foreign trainees trained in the local model of District 11 have difficulty adapting to the local environment due to differences in culture, language, and aesthetics. Therefore, I am not optimistic about the subsequent stage effects of this program..."

As a top female star, Yayoi Tsuki has also participated in the recording of music-themed variety shows before, so she naturally took over the topic.

But while she was speaking, the other three people at the table looked at each other with complicated expressions, and they all understood what the other person was thinking: "Here it comes, Yayoi Tsuki's unique venomous tongue..."

Half a year ago, when Yayoi Tsuki was a judge on a music variety show, she directly ignored the "industry's unwritten rules" and mercilessly criticized a "predetermined" contestant who sang half-open mic and over-voiced, leaving her with no chance to even raise her head. Public opinion exploded on the day the show was broadcast.

After that, Yayoi Tsuki was given titles such as "The Queen of Not Pretending", "The Venomous Tongue Iceberg", and "The Sharp Comment Machine Gun" by a group of online comedians.

Chapter 200 Cherish words like gold

2024-07-13

"Three cameras are synchronizing to give a close-up of Yayoizuki, let's capture this footage well..."

Inside the recording room, Manjiro Akimoto, who was paying attention to the recording situation, also became excited.

In his mind, the scene of the first day of the program's broadcast, when the social media topic list was trending with "Yayoi Tsuki is not optimistic about foreign trainees", had already emerged.

"Although I don't have high expectations for international trainees, there should be one who will surprise us more or less..."

But Yayoi Tsukki thought of something and squinted her eyes happily...

"Why don't we just go and see which trainees there are?"

She suddenly changed the subject and stopped speaking sarcastically.

"Eh?"

This made Akimoto Manjiro a little disappointed.

"Ahem, what Yayoi said is right. It is worth waiting to see how the trainees perform in the end..."

"Well, next, let's watch the individual interview videos of the trainees participating in this program."

Originally, the next step after watching the promotional PV was to watch the trainees’ personal videos.

Goro Kimura was originally thinking about how to guide the process naturally, but he didn't expect that Yayoi Tsuki would help him CUE first.

"Hello everyone in front of the screen, my name is Grandson Tatsuya, I'm eighteen years old... My hobbies are playing games and sleeping..."

"Specialty... Is 18cm considered a specialty... Hey, can't this sentence be broadcast? Sorry."

The big screen on the stage played a pre-recorded interview video of the trainees...

"Hey, judging from his appearance and hobbies, isn't he just an ordinary otaku?"

The program crew was still looking forward to Yayoi Tsuki's sharp tongue. After watching the interview video of the first trainee, the first one who couldn't help but complain was Hirai Shota.

"Haha, maybe 'cultivation of otaku idols' is also one of the cute things these days..."

"This is just the first one, let's keep watching."

Noticing that this person was a "nerd trainee" selected by his company J to try his luck, Goro Kimura gave a dry laugh and tried to smooth things over.

“Ichi-Ni-San Yuta… 23 years old… His specialty is dancing… His hobby is… playing the role of a zombie… Uh ah ah ah…”

The second trainee, after introducing himself, when everyone thought he was going to perform a talent show, suddenly turned around, bent down, and crawled with a ferocious expression while looking up at the ceiling in an inhumane posture...

Yayoi Tsuki yawned silently.

"Although it's an alternative imitation, it also shows quite strong basic dance skills." Upon discovering that the student was a contestant selected by his own S company, Oda Masaki smiled and praised him.

"Yo, wow, I'm the 21-year-old rap trainee Shangchuang Shengnan, my hobby is rap, my specialty is rap...Please remember my name is Shangchuang, but rap is not for getting into your bed...Next, I say Shangchuang and you say yo..."

"What, your voice can't be recorded... Then I'll do it solo... Wait, the time is up already?"

The third trainee ended with a messy rap.

Yayoi Tsuki rested her chin on her hand in silence, her impatience evident in her words.

Hirai Shouta gave a weak smile: "Well, this kid has a pretty good flow, hahahaha..."

Obviously, this is a trainee selected by a label under Company A.

"My name is April 24st, I'm years old, and I'm very confident about my appearance... Specialty... I can wink in different ways..."

"You mean this is the same as the previous person? No, I have carefully crafted the details of the blink, so it must be different..."

As for what happened next, the burning trainees who crazily showed off their greasy smiles and blinked convulsively in the talent segment were met with collective silence from the mentors, and fell into the embarrassing situation of being "unclaimed".

"Director, what should we do? The others, please at least take care of your juniors..."

"Yayoi Tsuki, even though she's a Burning-type trainee, she has no intention of giving REACTION!"

Inside the recording room, an executive director looked at Manjiro Akimoto with some worry.

According to today's recording script, in addition to making a shining appearance and meeting each other, the mentors will also watch the personal interview videos of all the trainees from beginning to end and give certain evaluations.

A two-minute video of a trainee, and one hundred and one videos, represents more than three hours of long and boring viewing time.

Of course, when the final show is broadcast, the production team will only edit the interesting or highlight parts to form a collection similar to "Mentor RECTION", and the overall duration will not exceed 30 minutes.

Therefore, whether the trainees are criticized or praised, it is better than "no comment".

This is because trainees without mentor REACTION have basically no chance to show up in the first episode of the show, and can only gain meager exposure through personal interview videos published on the program website.

The reaction of popular mentor Yayoi Tsuki is of utmost importance in post-production editing, but for some reason she was particularly frugal with her words today, and had a cold expression of "that's it" on her face the whole time, as if all the trainees who appeared on the stage did not arouse her interest.

"In order to enrich the content of the program and get the most reactions from the instructors, I made some special arrangements yesterday. Otherwise, why do you think the previous content was so weird?"

"Don't be impatient, this is just the beginning, the best is yet to come..."

Akimoto Manjiro seemed to have expected this and smiled grimly.

If all 101 trainees gave routine self-introductions and performed singing and dancing, the mentors' comments would become repetitive and lackluster over the three hours of watching...

Therefore, when recording the interview, Manjiro Akimoto specifically asked the executive director to guide the trainees to act a little more "exaggerated" on the grounds of "stealing the spotlight".

In this way, the funny content of "cannon fodder trainees" can be used to hype and attract traffic, while also highlighting the characteristics of "seed trainees".

"An Ziyao, 20 years old, is quite confident in singing. Next, I will show you a little shock of dolphin sound..."

"Hirano Yuta, 22 years old, my specialties are dancing and singing... Sorry, I can't introduce myself in words, so I'll just sing and dance!"

"Takahashi Yu, 21 years old, has been learning to dance since elementary school, and has even participated in national sprint competitions. His special skill is continuous front flips... Do you want to do it now, hey!"

Fortunately, in the increasingly bizarre "personal interviews", several "seed trainees" seemed to have received "correct guidance". They not only fully demonstrated their personal charm, but also their talent shows were normal and exciting.

The style of the program gradually returned to the theme of "idol audition", which made the three mentors except Yayoi Tsuki breathe a sigh of relief.

But when it was the international trainees' turn, they soon discovered that they were too happy too early...

Perhaps, there is a generation gap between the definition of "exaggeration" by contemporary young people and the program team, or perhaps the international trainees misunderstood the meaning of the word "exaggeration"...

If the local trainees are just "slightly exaggerated", the international trainees have completely "let themselves go".

Chapter 201 Beauty is Justice

2024-07-13

After the "local group" video was played, the first person to appear in the international group was a non-local trainee whose only visible whites of his eyes and a row of white teeth when he smiled.

"Yo, I'm Martin Luther King, the rap king of Africa, and I'm good at handstands in hip-hop. I'll seize every opportunity and make sure I perform well, and I'll completely destroy this stage..."

He demonstrated a very hardcore stunt, doing a handstand and turning his head while rapping at high speed.

"I'm Xi De, 21 years old, from India. I'm going to perform a flute for everyone... No problem, it's something that can be played..."

"How did a cobra come out of my sleeve? This is a snake flute, a traditional art from my hometown... Wait, why did the director and cameraman run away? Should I continue recording alone?"

When everyone suspected that the Indian trainee was making dirty jokes, he actually took out a flute and started playing it. A dancing king cobra crawled out of his sleeve to the sound of the flute...

When the entire recording scene became extremely chaotic, he quite politely picked up the camera on the ground and insisted on taking a selfie to complete the snake flute performance.

"My name is Basong, I'm 19 years old, Thai, and my specialty is catwalk..."

"You're asking me how to dress like a woman? Didn't the director say it should be exaggerated?... Are you asking about this couple? They're just silicone props bought online. If you get closer, you can see the flaws..."

The androgynous, feminine and beautiful Thai trainee appeared in charming women's clothing, making the photographer's camera focus on his towering and deep pectoral muscles throughout the interview.

As the program recording progressed, the international trainees' self-introductions and talent shows were like a train that had derailed and started to deviate in an uncontrollable direction...

"You bastards, what on earth did you tell those trainees? I want you to exaggerate a little, not act crazy or do performance art!"

Not only were the instructors subjected to the "powerful silencing spell", even Manjiro Akimoto behind the scenes couldn't hold it in anymore and scolded the executive directors around him.

"Is this camera too close? Sorry..."

At the same time, as the video switched, a handsome face with delicate and three-dimensional features and impeccable contours suddenly occupied the entire screen.

The most eye-catching thing is his pair of eyes that are as bright and lively as stars. They seem to have some kind of strong attraction that makes it difficult for people to look away even through the screen.

"Hello, producers. I'm Xia Fan, a trainee from Longguo who has been training for two and a half years..."

Then, the young man in the video took a few steps back, found the right position, bowed obediently to the camera and introduced himself.

Yes, this handsome Dragon Country trainee is none other than Xia Fan who came to participate in the program recording as promised.