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

2024-07-13

Just as Xia Fan started to listen to the class seriously, his cell phone vibrated slightly.

"Horiie Tsubasa: Did the second round of performances go smoothly?"

"Xia Fan: Well, thanks to the concerted efforts of my teammates, we were able to escape without any major incidents."

It was Horie Tsubasa, who was sitting a few rows behind me, who sent the message as usual.

"Horiie Tsubasa: Congratulations! The final round of performances will be in two days, and your big star debut as center is just around the corner."

"Xia Fan: Although it may sound a bit pretentious to say this now, I really just plan to go for the 'one-round tour' to hang out."

Xia Fan had always wondered where she put her phone so that she could listen attentively, take notes, and text him freely.

"As long as you are proficient in using the 'head voice', you can easily produce penetrating high notes. Remember the training method of 'soft voice with falsetto, falsetto looking for head voice'..."

"Ahem... Xia Fan, come up here and show us some high notes..."

Just when Xia Fan and Horie Tsubasa were chatting enthusiastically, Professor Fujino politely called his name.

"Oh, okay... maybe, which scale do you want to demonstrate?"

Under the subtle gazes of the whole class, Xia Fan reluctantly stood beside the podium.

"Just start from C1, follow the sound of my piano, and go up..."

Professor Fujino said calmly.

"Whatever you call C1, that's fine..."

"Can old Fujino sing up to C1 by himself?"

Such a boastful request naturally aroused the criticism of the students below.

Among the boys in the entire classroom, except Xia Fan, there are probably few who can sing up to C1 stably.

"Everyone listen carefully and pay attention to the resonance of the head cavity in Xia Fan's voice."

Professor Fujino touched the teaching piano and pressed the C1 key.

"How would I know what head cavity resonance is..."

"Ah~~~"

Muttering something, Xia Fan followed his feeling and produced an ethereal high note.

"Wait, you still need to work on your pitch, it's already up to C3..."

"I'm sorry, I just ate ramen and the oil is a bit greasy in my throat. I'll have one more time, ah~~~"

Xia Fan's high notes, like the stairs in the classroom, rose step by step and hovered on the ceiling of the classroom...

"Eh?"

As he and his classmates were listening to Xia Fan's high notes in amazement, a reminder popped up on the phone that Horie Tsubasa held comfortably on his chest inside his collar...

The fourth episode of "Idol Birth Festival" is officially aired.

"I'm really curious about how Xia Jun performed in the second round..."

Her eyes were troubled for a moment, then she took out a Bluetooth headset and put it into her ears using her long hair to cover it.

Skillfully turning the pages of a book with one hand and taking notes with the other, with his phone held steadily against his chest, Horie Tsubasa secretly watched the latest episode of "Idol Birth Festival".

"strangeness……"

"Why is it that Xia Jun is basically nowhere to be seen in the first part of the show?"

As the playback progress bar moved forward, she seemed to notice something was wrong and frowned slightly.

……

Shibuya, "Idol Festival Production Committee", Publicity and Marketing Department.

"Chief Director, the fourth episode is officially aired."

"New support activities and online sales channels for support products are all online."

“Promotional videos and copywriting are being sent out on social platforms.”

The program staff are busy arranging various tasks while paying attention to the feedback data of the latest episode.

"Cao Tai, didn't I ask you to delete all the close-up shots of Xia Fan?"

Manjiro Akimoto stood with his hands behind his back, carefully examining the online public opinion data.

"Director, we did follow your request and deleted all the scenes involving Xia Fan appearing alone from the main film, except for the group shots."

Assistant Director Souta, who was waiting on the side, reported with some confusion.

In order to fulfill the director's request to "minimize Xia Fan's appearance rate", the post-production staff of the program group plucked out all the remaining hair...

It is necessary to remove all close-ups of Xia Fan while ensuring the continuity of the program, especially the viewing experience of the public performance, which cannot be achieved by ordinary editing techniques.

In the feature film produced in this way, not only did Xia Fan not appear alone in the early "tearful rehearsal" segment, but the group shot was only a fleeting corner shot.

Even in the second round of performances, he could only be found in the group dance scene...

Even the final "single elbow loop" that shocked the entire audience under the beam of light was shot with a maximum long shot in order to weaken Xia Fan's eyes and appearance.

"But why are all the topics discussed on the show now still related to Xia Fan?"

"How much traffic did the Burning Department invest in these social platforms?"

Akimoto Manjiro's thumb swiped quickly on his phone, his brows furrowed as if they were locked.

"Xia Fan Street Dance", "Xia Fan Elbow Loop", "How difficult is a single elbow loop", "Xia Fan Oxygen Bomb"...

The show had only been aired for less than three hours, and the hot search terms related to "Idol Birth Festival" were all related to Xia Fan.

Since the broadcast of "Idol Birth Festival", he seems to have never been off the hot searches related to the program.

"Director, Xia Fan's last set of moves seemed to be quite difficult in street dance, so it caused a lot of discussion."

"Takahashi Yu, didn't he also do something that looked similar? Why didn't I see anyone discussing him?"

Souta's answer made Akimoto Manjiro even more confused.

"The most heated debate right now is about this issue. According to netizens, Xia Fan's 'elbow loop' is several times more difficult than Takahashi Yu's 'giant loop'..."

"Even the original street dancer, world champion Mr. Hanamichi Kitamura, liked Xia Fan's moves on his personal account and explained the specific differences between the two moves."

"Because of his speech, many street dance enthusiasts were attracted to watch our show and join the discussion..."

Souta forwarded the popular science article about Kitamura's flower arrangement to Manjiro Akimoto.

Although the production crew intentionally pulled the shot from a distance, Xia Fan and Takahashi You's "air battle" and the explosive "single elbow loop" under the spotlight were still the most eye-catching highlights in the main broadcast.

Therefore, after watching the show, many netizens discussed the difficulty of Xia Fan and Takahashi Yu's moves in the "Idol Birth Festival" topic section, and how big the gap is...

Not long after, the account "Street Dance Scholar Kitamura Hanamichi" published a teaching science article and tagged it with the topic tag "Idol Birth Festival".

In the article, Kitamura Hanamichi listed two sets of numbers for comparison...

The current world record for the number of consecutive completed giant loops in street dance is about 120.

However, the world record for the number of consecutive elbow loops is only ten.

The difficulty behind this is a world of difference.

At the end of the article, Kitamura Hanamichi specifically mentioned that Xia Fan first performed seven big loops on the stage, followed by seven elbow loops, and finally ended the action because his clothes slipped off.

Based on this, he judged that Xia Fan actually had enough strength left, and suggested that he try to perform eleven elbow turns to break the world record.

Chapter 299: Cruel Hands

2024-07-13

As soon as the article about Kitamura Hanamichi came out, many hip-hop fans, because they didn't believe that anyone on the idol talent show stage could perform such difficult moves, made a special trip to watch the full film...

They came with a skeptical attitude, and then left comments such as "I found myself kneeling when I finished watching it", "I cried when I could only do three after practicing for ten years", "Did I really come to the wrong set?", and left with a sad heart.

"Aren't veteran street dancers like Kitamura Hanamichi the ones who disdain the idol stage the most?"

"It's impossible for him to accept the money from the Burning Department... Is he joining the discussion to try to take advantage of our traffic?"

"In short, being able to break through the circle and attract traffic is certainly valuable, but why is it always Xia Fan..."

Turning his eyes away from the screen, Akimoto Manjiro felt a mixture of emotions.

The entertainment culture of District 11, from anime, Gundam, home consoles to idols, capital has deliberately created numerous rules and a long history, built high knowledge barriers, and focused on being self-contained and self-sustaining to avoid user loss.

All previous talent shows for male and female groups have spent a lot of money on publicity in an attempt to break out of the circle and attract traffic, but have rarely been successful. Instead, they have been criticized for their low talent level, greasy looks, and ugly money-making habits.

But this time, the "Idol Birth Festival" has attracted unprecedented fanatic fujoshi fans who only live in the second dimension since Xia Fan participated in the program...

The international version of the theme song MV, called "Demon's Dance", with Xia Fan as the center, has attracted many people in the abstract circle who are happy to make ghost-like secondary creations to "drain traffic for free".

In the first round of performances, the "deep sea fisherman"'s "authentic identification" of Xia Fan's high notes also converted many viewers who only watched music variety shows...

The second round of performances was even more exaggerated. Not only did it attract Kitamura Hanamichi, but the group of street dance enthusiasts who entertained themselves and thought that idol dance was "soft noodles" actually recharged their memberships and watched the full film...

The backend data cannot be false. This situation of breaking the circle several times in a row has to be said to be a miracle in the history of idol talent shows.

"This Xia Fan is simply an idol saint body that appears once in four thousand years. Why is he a burning type..."

"Souta, how is the effect of the topic I asked you to find a 'marketing team' to promote?"

With a sense of regret for "cruel destruction of an ass", Akimoto Manjiro asked softly.

"Don't worry, we have applied for a large amount of additional publicity and promotion funds from the company and found the best marketing team in the industry."

"Before the episode was aired, they had already prepared different versions of articles, rhetoric, and comments, arranged marketing accounts and water army accounts to lead the rhythm, and hyped the topic simultaneously on various platforms..."

"Look, these hyped words have already climbed into the top ten of the "Idol Birthday Festival" topic list."

Assistant Director Souta opened a row of web pages on his computer and showed them to him flatteringly...

Driven by marketing accounts and online trolls, keywords such as "Xia Fan Tianlongren", "District 11 should choose its own idol", and "Can't stand up after kneeling for too long" are becoming increasingly popular...

These various articles, some explicit, some implicit, and some satirical, all point out Xia Fan's identity as a "Dragon Countryman" from different angles, secretly stirring up national self-esteem and instilling in readers the idea that "the No. 1 idol in District 11 cannot be a Dragon Countryman"...

The netizens who commented on the article cited various classics, ranging from the cultural invasion of various countries after the defeat to the neglect of the small island of District 11 by Dragon Country as the suzerain country, and tried to use logically rigorous rhetoric to label Xia Fan as a "Celestial Dragon" who stood on the opposite side of "District 11".

"Hey, in the face of national justice, no matter how outstanding you are, Xia Fan, the audience will not easily buy into it..."

Akimoto Manjiro folded his arms across his chest and nodded calmly.

This move was the "family-destroying plan" he came up with after thinking hard after leaving the second round of performances.

The people of District 11 have been xenophobic since ancient times. After being defeated in the war and deprived of their country's name and autonomy, they have become even more sensitive and vulnerable to topics involving ethnicity.

As long as they make a fuss about Xia Fan's dragon nationality and put him in this dangerous political arena, they won't have any hope of getting "fanatic fans to come back", but at least they won't have any problem ruining his popularity in the second half of the show.

"So, the other trainees' votes should be narrowing the gap with Xia Fan, right?"

With a pleased look on his face, Akimoto Manjiro looked at the real-time popularity rankings expectantly...

Three days after the show is broadcast, the results of the second round of survival battle will be announced. At that time, about half of the trainees will be eliminated again based on the vote rankings. Now is the critical period for increasing votes.

"What's going on... the vote gap has gotten even bigger?!"

Strands of blood spread from the whites of his eyes like living things.

At this time, the name "Xia Fan" is still ranked first in the popularity ranking.

But his number of votes has reached a terrifying 14 million!

According to the careful calculations of the program team, even if Xia Fan received the upper limit of 3.5 million reward tickets, the current estimated number of votes is only over 10 million.

You know, even though Hirano Yuta, who ranked second, won with Xia Fan on the same team and received more than two million bonus tickets, and with the outstanding performance of the other side, he only barely broke through nine million votes...

"Where did these 4 million votes, which were more than predicted, come from? Did the Burning Department spend a lot of money to get them?!"

"With this kind of lead, even if Xia Fan loses the last performance, he will most likely still be number one!!!"

"We've hired a top marketing team to lead the discussion, and it's such a sensitive 'ethnic topic', so it can't be ineffective!"

Akimoto Manjiro grabbed Souta's collar with both hands and lifted him in front of him, and his saliva turned into a torrential rain along with his roar.

"Director... bah bah bah... The netizens' reactions to the 'ethnic topic' you designed... seem to be different from what you expected..."

Like a withered flower swaying in the wind and rain, Cao Tai grabbed the mouse like a life-saving straw, clicked on the comment section, and turned the computer screen towards the crazy director.

"no the same?"