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

"This Takahashi Yu, don't be fooled by his low profile. It is said that he has been training in a very famous street dance club since he was a child. In terms of dancing ability alone, he is probably the strongest among the trainees..."

Martin's lucky thought that "if I can't jump down, my opponent can't jump down either" disappeared at this moment.

Soon after, several trainees with good dance skills stood next to Takahashi Yu holding envelopes.

"You must be kidding. Did the production team really decide the team by drawing lots?"

"Why is it that that team is mostly made up of 'dance leader' trainees?"

Looking at the opponent's almost full team, beads of sweat began to appear on Martin's forehead.

Different from Xia Fan who turns a deaf ear to the outside world, Xia Fan, who is experienced in the show, has always had the habit of watching the show repeatedly and observing the characteristics of his opponents.

At this moment, although the trainees who were chatting and laughing with Takahashi Yu were all three stars, they were all dance students with professional skills who had practiced dancing for many years.

In the previous episodes, these trainees had shortcomings in vocal music, which led to low ratings, poor performances, and low popularity...

Choosing the difficult dance "Oxygen Bomb" was actually a way for them to make a desperate effort and increase their chances of making a comeback by gaining more exposure.

"Tsk, this lot is really a bad lot..."

Then, Hirano Yuta, who was ranked second, came to Xia Fan with an unhappy expression.

"That's right... Both the music and the people are difficult to deal with."

Following closely behind him was An Ziyao.

Neither of them had expected that they would draw the red team's "Oxygen Bomb" and become teammates with Xia Fan...

"Ahhhhhh, why am I so unlucky..."

"It's all over. My draft career has ended early."

Not long after, the last three trainees who were drawn to be in the same team with Xia Fan also came over reluctantly.

They are all three-star trainees ranked after 40th. They have good looks and a certain level of singing and dancing skills, but none of them can be considered as special talents.

Now that they have chosen such a difficult dance music and are placed in the same team with the first and second most popular dance music, they are destined to be the "background board" before they even go on stage. If they make a mistake in their performance, they may even become a "laughing stock".

In addition, the other tracks require a team of six, but "Oxygen Bomb" requires a team of seven. Even if you win, the reward tickets allocated to each person will be less than for other tracks.

Therefore, these people all had sad faces and sighed.

"Okay, the second performance team has been officially formed. Trainees, please rehearse vigorously. I look forward to your performance in two days!"

Ignoring the different joys and sorrows of the trainees, Goro Kimura said this to the camera, then was the first to loosen his tie and clock out.

……

Three hours later.

Because 51 trainees were eliminated, the entire trainee activity area seemed much more spacious and quiet.

The trainees in Xia Fan's team who had drawn "Oxygen Bomb" were sitting cross-legged in the practice room.

"With this song selection, this staffing, and the atmosphere within the team, it's not an exaggeration to describe it as a death squad, right?"

Looking around at everyone in the team, Martin muttered quietly, noticing that everyone was staring at the floor and not saying anything.

"Ahem, let me make it clear in advance that the dance in 'Oxygen Bomb' looks difficult, but it will be even more difficult to actually dance it..."

Hirano Yuta frowned slightly and broke the silence with a serious face.

"If anyone can't jump down, please go to the production team and apply to withdraw from the competition now, don't hold everyone back."

"Right, Yao."

He seemed to be asking E'an Ziyao beside him, but his eyes glanced at Xia Fan vaguely.

"Yes, you are right."

"Unfortunately, I have already asked the staff to change teams, but they rejected my request with the excuse that 'it's okay if you can't jump down, just find a way to change it'..."

An Ziyao who was standing next to him shrugged and said perfunctorily with a dejected look on his face.

Originally, he fell out of the top nine because of his loss to Xia Fan, and he was still holding his breath, wanting to make a comeback in this round...

Unexpectedly, I drew the dance music that I was least good at, and became temporary teammates on the same boat with Xia Fan. My application to change teams also failed, so I was naturally a little listless.

"When did you apply for a change of team? You spineless fellow... actually wanted to run away without permission..."

He didn't expect that his friend almost stabbed him in the back and ran away, and Hirano Yuta was immediately furious.

"I see……"

"The draw determines the songs, teams, and performance positions. Some trainees will definitely encounter situations that are not suitable for their performance..."

“The production team had anticipated this and opened up the right to stage adaptation in this round, allowing everyone to adapt to their positions.”

Listening to the conversation between the two, Xia Fan suddenly realized.

Chapter 279 Big Move

2024-07-13

"Great, so the reason why we were asked to adapt it is to reduce the difficulty?"

"It's not that simple. Didn't Mr. Kimura say that if the adaptation is too big, too simple or too difficult, it will affect the stage effect..."

After Xia Fan's reminder, the other three trainees who were troubled by the same reason seemed to see hope, but fell into new troubles.

"Anyway, everyone should check the positions first, and then check them against the original stage. If there are any parts that cannot be completed, consider adapting them according to your personal circumstances."

Martin turned on the TV on the wall and played the original stage video of "Oxygen Bomb".

"As soon as the show started, there was such a strong aura..."

“Such a great sense of power and range, with lots of small joint movement!”

"With such a high level of difficulty, they can still dance so neatly. They are indeed the original group of 'Sword Dance'!"

Appreciating the dazzling yet uniform singing and dancing steps of the "Shining Star" members, everyone felt the difficulty of this dance firsthand.

The dance of "Oxygen Bomb" makes extensive use of street dance moves such as vibration dance, jazz dance, and locking dance, and has very high requirements for sense of strength, sense of rhythm, and joint and muscle control.

In addition to the "knife group dance" in the front that is as neat as a machine, the climax of the whole dance is that the team members take turns standing in the middle of the stage to perform SOLO, showing off their extremely difficult "personal dance skills".

"We've finished watching the original performance. Everyone, take out your drawn lots and check the positions of the original boy band."

"I'm Center. Humph, I'll be the captain this time. Do you have any objections?"

The person who got the C position at the opening was Yuta Hirano.

"..."

The program is so difficult, and no one wants to be the "captain" which is a thankless job, so naturally no one has any objections.

"I'm the one on the right in the back row. It should be this person..."

"I'm the first on the left in the front row, here..."

"I'm the second from the left in the front row, this one..."

According to the positions at the beginning of the song, everyone found the corresponding members in the original boy group.

According to the program rules for this round, members must "adapt to the roles" and cannot switch positions with each other.

Only then did Xia Fan understand why Hirano Yuta seemed strong from beginning to end but was actually tense due to excessive pressure.

After all, no one wants to stand in the middle at the beginning and then present a shoddy performance of "a group of demons dancing in disorder", which will leave a mostly negative impression in the minds of the audience.

"You must be kidding. This guy's solo skill is a handstand split. There's no way I can do that. I have to modify it!"

Looking at the members in the video who were in the same position as him, frozen in the air in a handstand split, Kishiyo found the first part that had to be adapted.

"I'd like to state in advance that although this dance is difficult, I have no intention of giving up..."

"Based on my understanding of Takahashi Yuu, his team's adaptation may replace some moves, but it will definitely not reduce the overall difficulty..."

"So, the group dance at the beginning must follow the original version, and the individual parts can be designed according to the situation."

"Does anyone have any questions?"

Before anyone else could express their opinions, Hirano Yuta spoke in a deep voice.

"Yuta already said, of course no... no problem..."

An Ziyao echoed softly.

"It's fine if we just dance together."

"If you sleep less and practice more, you can get it..."

The other three trainees all came from J-company or S-company, so naturally they followed the lead of Hirano Yuta and Kishi Sho.

"After all, I have participated in street dance competitions before, so I won't hold you back."

Martin, who came from a street dance talent show, looked even more indifferent.

"I have no objection. I can try my best to follow the original dance."

Seeing Yuta Hirano looking over, Xia Fan also expressed his agreement.

The other party's proposal was very professional. The "sword dance" with stunning visual effects was the essence of the original stage and was a "work of art" that had been carefully choreographed and polished. Changing the movements and rhythm without authorization in order to "reduce the difficulty" would very likely backfire.

Although Shining Star is a top male dance group, they also take the average dance videos of the members into consideration, so the whole group dance movements are not so difficult that they cannot be performed. It is more of a test of rhythm, members' tacit understanding and degree of practice.

With the protection of [Puppet on the Campsite] and [Naked Body], this kind of group dance is actually his comfort zone.

"Follow the dance? That alone is not enough..."

Hearing him say this, Hirano Yuta sneered.

"You are in the back row, right one. Although you are not the center of the front row, you are the real 'dance leader' of the entire show."

"Look, this position not only has the most movement and rotation, but he is also the last one to appear in the final climax of the solo session..."

"That is to say, for Xia Fan's position, not only is the synchronized dance the most difficult, but at the end he also has to come up with a finishing move that's powerful enough to 'blow up the crowd' and push the climax to its peak."

He replayed the original stage and explained it to everyone.

"Well, come to think of it, it seems to be true..."

Looking carefully at the original stage, Xia Fan confirmed that Hirano Yuta was not lying.

The member in his corresponding position seemed to be inconspicuous, but in fact, he constantly made up for the gaps in the formation rotation through large-scale movement, maintaining the overall visual effect of the formation...

In the climax, the members' solo individual movements are as difficult as stairs...

He went to the members in the same position as him and ended with a difficult "king bomb move", completing the entire shocking stage.

"I secretly looked at it when we were drawing lots earlier. Takahashi Yu and you are in the same position."

"Who can give the audience more impact at the end of your two individual moves will largely determine the results of the two teams' performances."

"How about it, Xia Fan, do you have any special skills?"

After playing the video again, Hirano Yuta asked simply and directly.

Several other teammates also looked over with some curiosity.

According to limited information available on the Internet, Xia Fan was just an ordinary student before he was admitted to the Music Department of Tokyo University of the Arts. He did not even have any amateur dance training experience such as joining a dance club.

In the previous episodes, Xia Fan's group dance had standard movements and accurate rhythm, but they were all simple movements. As long as they practiced hard for a long time, they could achieve the same effect...

No matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like Xia Fan will be able to use a "big move" to blow up the scene in the end.

"Uh, ultimate move, refers to a relatively rare dance move, right..."

"Before participating in the show, I took street dance lessons, but I haven't had time to practice the difficult dance moves yet."

Xia Fan shook his head decisively.

He has been so busy recording shows recently that he has even neglected Kitamura Hanamichi's basic ligament flexibility skills, so how could he have the time to learn any dance moves?

"Don't worry, I'll come down and catch up on it in the next two days after rehearsal."

Seeing disappointment in everyone's eyes, Xia Fan added another sentence.

Chapter 280 A hundred times, a hundred times

2024-07-13

"..."