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

On both sides of the conference table, a group of executive directors had dull eyes and pale faces, and strands of hair fell onto the table from time to time.

Although recording programs during the day, reviewing at night, and doing post-production all night long are already the norm in the industry...

But for them, watching their hair decrease and their hairline rise is an incurable torment.

“During this recording session, we gained a lot of wonderful content, but there were also some unexpected situations.”

"The principle of post-production for the second episode is to focus on the shots and performances of local trainees, with international trainees as the adjustment and highlight, and the instructors' comments and reaction shots should be inserted at the right place..."

"For example, in this section, you need to pay attention when editing... and in this stage performance, you need to make sure to highlight the pronunciation..."

Manjiro Akimoto is much more energetic than an average person. He plays the material on the projection screen and explains the key points of post-production with great enthusiasm.

"Hey, Director, the scene with Xia Fan should be the highlight of this episode of International Trainee. How should we handle it?"

A staff member in charge of post-production editing asked in a low voice.

"Xia Fan..."

This question made Akimoto Manjiro frown and fall into deep thought.

This staff member actually asked a fairly tactful question.

Whether it was Xia Fan's singing that made the audience burst into tears, or Yayoi Tsuki's "tears" later, plus the final seven-star rating result...

Not only among the international trainees, but also among all the debut stages in this entire episode, it is the most exciting and dramatic scene.

However, Xia Fan is a "burning type" and an "international" trainee...

The program team can make him a representative figure of international trainees, but he must not deviate from the role positioning of "background board".

If Xia Fan performs too well in the early stages of the show and steals too much limelight, it is likely to affect the early popularity accumulation of several "seed players".

Now, as the chief director, he needs to make trade-offs among various aspects, including the excitement of the program content, the direction of popularity growth, the growth curve of the contestants, and the intentions of the agency.

"Well, Xia Fan's part...just focus on the 'key points'...the first stage performance doesn't have to be broadcast in its entirety..."

After racking his brains, Manjiro Akimoto finally made up his mind.

"When Yayoi Yue left the stage in tears, the subtitles and close-up shots led the audience to believe that she was moved by the song itself, not by Xia Fan's performance..."

"As for the seven-star rating, just publish it exactly as it is..."

He confirmed word by word the post-production requirements for Xia Fan's first stage performance.

That’s right, Manjiro Akimoto chose to sacrifice some of the highlights and weaken Xia Fan’s stage performance, while retaining the “Seven Star Trainees” part that could create topics.

Anyway, Yayoi Tsuki's scenes and speeches were not cut, and only Xia Fan's part was dealt with, so it is not considered a breach of contract, and Bethesda cannot intervene.

As the "creator of a girl group", he knows very well that, in the final analysis, this is still a talent show more than a variety show...

The current highlights and content of the program are not as important as the long-term strategy of the capital behind it to "create stars" and create a cash cow.

……

Three days later.

The second episode of the "Idol Birth Festival", which has attracted much attention due to the participation of Yayoi Tsuki and the hype, will be broadcast on time in the form of "VIP members' advance viewing".

Because it includes the first performances and ratings of 101 trainees, this episode lasts more than two hours.

Even with this exaggerated broadcast length, the first performances of many three-star and four-star trainees were compressed to "performance + rating results" of no more than 30 seconds...

Most of the one- and two-star trainees don’t even have any stage performance footage, and are only left with a uniformly published rating results sheet.

This situation is very common in the first few episodes of previous talent shows.

After all, with 101 trainees, even if each of them gets one minute on average, the entire program length would be almost gone, so they can only "select and edit carefully."

As the focus of the program, the first stage performances of most of the five-star trainees and the evaluation sessions by the mentors were broadcast quite completely.

Especially the debut performances of those “local seed trainees”…

It was originally a plain scene without any stage effects, but after the program team's painstaking post-production, with the addition of such secrets as 100,000-volt sound editing, devilish dancing camera movements, and indiscriminate mixed editing, it became as wonderful as an MV.

During Xia Fan's first stage performance, the scene where Yayoi Tsuki was moved by her new song and left the stage in tears naturally became the most explosive content of this episode...

In the last scene in the box left by Yayoi Tsuki, the willful "five stars" made Xia Fan a "seven-star trainee". The post-production of the program also used a technique comparable to that of a suspense film, which whetted the audience's appetite.

As for Xia Fan's first stage performance, it was edited down to just a few shots, his singing was sporadic and there were no complete sentences, and most of his singing became the background music for the close-up of Yayoi Moon...

Due to the "Spring and Autumn style" of post-production editing, the audience naturally only remembered the unexpected rating result and did not have much impression of Xia Fan's performance itself.

Chapter 218 Black Hot Search

2024-07-13

Soon after the program was broadcast, keywords such as "Yayoi Moon triggered emotional scenes", "Yayoi Moon is biased", "Burning series malicious hype", and "Seven-star rating does not live up to its name" were successively listed on the hot search list.

Under the deliberate guidance of public opinion by certain companies, Xia Fan's song selection for the first stage and the extremely high evaluation of "Seven Star Trainee" were naturally regarded by netizens as the result of the Burning System manipulating behind the scenes and arranging Yayoi Tsuki to hype up her own trainees without caring about her manners.

Under several "black hot searches", Burning Xi, Yayoi Tsuki, and Xia Fan are all bearing the wrath of netizens at the same time.

The "extreme background" of the Burning System, the fact that it has monopolized half of the entertainment industry for many years, and its various "barbaric operations" in the past have once again been routinely dug out and repeatedly criticized.

Even Yayoi Tsuki, who is extremely popular and known for her "authenticity", cannot avoid being questioned such as "turning to variety shows when she can't sing anymore", "disregarding her manners for hype", and "repeatedly hyping up the last song".

As the focus of contradictions, Xia Fan, the "Seven-Star Trainee", was labeled as "only his face is good-looking", "a two-star Dragon Country expert", and "Yayoi Yue's thigh pendant".

And several "specific" five-star trainees in the local group were "naturally" considered by the audience to have been "suppressed" by the Burning System and Xia Fan's co-mentor Yayoi Tsuki, and they gained a lot of sympathy from passers-by.

Regarding this sudden storm of public opinion, the publicity and promotion department of Company Be, which had never paid attention to this kind of talent show and only sent people to "catch the popularity" as usual, naturally had no time and no plan to make any response.

Yayoi Tsuki, who has always been aloof and never even posts photos on her social media accounts, was even more disdainful to respond, leaving her many die-hard fans to "scold each other for 300 rounds" with netizens on the Internet.

Of course, some fans who call themselves "Summer Disease" are also active in this online war of words...

But because its size was too small, it was instantly overwhelmed by the huge amount of public opinion and failed to cause any waves at all.

As for Xia Fan himself, he was completely clueless about this.

Because, after the first stage, the third episode of "Idol Birth Festival" has already started recording non-stop...

He was busy pressing the recording notification, packing his luggage, and checking into the trainee dormitory. He had no time to recharge his VIP account to watch the second episode that had just been aired.

……

Shinjuku, Shibuya, NHK Studio Park.

"The dormitory environment looks pretty good, but it smells like renovation..."

Dragging his suitcase and holding the room card, Xia Fan walked along the long and narrow corridor.

The trainee dormitory for the "Idol Birth Festival" was temporarily built with steel and wood structure in a container-like photography building.

During the one-month recording of the entire program, the trainees will be required to live a closed-management collective life here, so in addition to dormitories, there are also dining areas, practice rooms, and rest and entertainment areas. It can be said that although small, it has everything.

"Let me see, 501, here we are..."

After swiping the room card to open the door, Xia Fan saw a spacious dormitory with a seating area, a private bathroom, and four beds with upper bunks and lower tables.

Inside the room, several trainees had already arrived and were packing their luggage.

"Oh, the last person in this room is actually the famous 'Seven Star Trainee'. It really brings honor to this humble place."

Before Xia Fan had time to take a closer look at the people in the room, a big warm hand patted him on the back and dragged him and his luggage into the room.

"Martin? Why are you using the 'business voice'..."

Xia Fan turned around and just as he saw the dazzling white teeth, he called out the visitor's name with some surprise.

It was the "fake foreigner" Martin Luther King whom he met on his first stage.

"Because, from the moment we stepped into the studio, the recording of Di Sanji had already begun..."

Martin Luther Silver pointed to the camera on top of the dormitory and winked cunningly.

"I see……"

Xia Fan suddenly realized.

When checking in, the program team required the signing of a relevant disclaimer and solemnly informed each trainee that cameras would be installed in every area except the toilet and bathroom after check-in.

The trainees’ every move during this period may become “program material” for the official broadcast, so they must be “careful in what they say and do” and pay attention to “image management.”

"Come on, let me introduce you to my roommate. This is a Thai trainee, Basong, with a five-star rating..."

"And this one is an American trainee named Jack who likes pop music. Five-star rating!"

"As for this Xia Fan, the famous 'Seven Star Trainee', there is no need for me to introduce him in detail..."

Martin Luther King, speaking in his "foreigner-only business voice", enthusiastically introduced the other two people in the room to Xia Fan.

"The production team deliberately assigned the only three five-star trainees in the international group, plus me, a four-star trainee, to the same dormitory, just to make it easier to collect materials and see if there could be some different interactions..."

He switched to the fluent District 11 dialect and whispered an additional sentence in Xia Fan's ear.

"Xia Jun, swipe my card..."

Basong, who has medium-length hair, beautiful features and a slender figure, clasped his hands together implicitly in front of Xia Fan.

With his androgynous clothing, feminine temperament and charming expression, if you ignore his firm chest and not-too-obvious Adam's apple, most people would think he is a tall and graceful woman.

By the way, Basong’s personal interview video ranked fifth in views because of the sexy women’s clothing that made him look so sexy that “how can you tell whether I am a man or a woman?”

"International student Jack, nice to meet you... Let me correct you. Although I am American, I am of Canadian, French, German, Irish, Scottish, and British descent."

Jack, who was sitting on the corner of the bed, listening to music with headphones on, didn't seem to be very talkative. He put two fingers together in front of his forehead and waved, greeting in a casual manner.

With fair skin, blue eyes, three-dimensional facial features and a tall and thin figure, he possesses all the beautiful (stereotypical) features of a "Western man" as perceived by the people of District 11.

Although his District 11 dialect still has some foreign accent, it is considered very standard among international students.

"We'll be roommates for the time being, please give us your guidance."

After greeting the three people, Xia Fan found his bed and started to pack his things.

He didn't bring much luggage to begin with, so after sorting his belongings and putting them in the closet, he was done packing.

"..."

His eyes swept across Basong on the next bed, and several suspicious triangular and eye-mask-shaped lace fabrics came into Xia Fan's sight.

"Ah, are you looking at my underwear?"

"Boys don't usually wear this style and material, so it would look weird, right?"

Basong folded up the brightly colored, thinly made, feminine underwear and smiled shyly.

"No, I just saw it accidentally, sorry!"

Although it was clearly a boys' dormitory, Xia Fan, driven by some instinct, turned his head away to explain.

Chapter 219 Theme Song MV

2024-07-13

"When I was young, my family was very poor and several of my brothers and sisters starved to death..."

"My parents couldn't support me, so they had to send me to a special institution, preparing me to become a demon when I grew up..."

"For about six or seven years, I was not only taking medicine at the institution, but was also raised as a girl. They taught me etiquette, singing, dancing, catwalking, and some unspeakable skills..."

"My teacher said that I was very talented and had a chance to become the queen."

Her eyebrows drooped slightly in sadness, but Basong didn't care at all and talked about his past frankly.

"what?"

The overwhelming amount of information made Xia Fan unable to react for a while.

“So, what happened next?”

Martin came over at some point and asked curiously.

Even Jack, who was sitting in the corner listening to music, cast a concerned look.

"Later... my father came to District 11 to do labor export business. He suddenly made a lot of money, so he took me from the agency to live with him."

“Although I don’t have to be a ‘demon’ anymore in the future and can do what I want, I still yearn for the stage and have been working hard to become a debut artist.”

"So, sometimes I still retain some of the habits of a girl, please bear with me."

Basong smiled sweetly, two dimples bloomed on her cheeks, and her watery eyes were full of natural charm.