They all pushed me!

It’s time to call it a day—I’m going home to watch MEM啾’s live broadcast.

-------------------------------------

Yasushi Gotanda was smoking and watching "Hanzawa Naoki" which was very popular a few years ago. Perhaps it was because of his experience during this period, he now felt that he had a deeper understanding of the lines in the play.

"The credit of subordinates is the credit of their superiors, and the mistakes of their superiors are the responsibility of their subordinates."

Although he is not a young man who has just entered the workplace, just like in RPG games where the higher the level, the stronger the enemies, when industry giants like Burning Production put pressure on him, Yasushi Gotanda can only obediently accept others parachuting in to pick the peaches of the "Homeless Children" IP that he painstakingly created.

Japan has a tradition of placing excessive emphasis on seniority, and this is naturally reflected in the entertainment industry. If you want to become a superstar director who can lead all filming content including the cast and script direction, you not only need to have good achievements, but you also need to reach that age.

Yasushi Gotanda directed "Spider", an award-winning film at overseas film festivals, more than a decade ago. But now, more than a decade later, his title has only changed from "excellent new generation director" to "excellent middle generation director". This deliberate and crude way of dividing directors and even actors into generations according to their time of entry into the industry and their age is actually a manifestation of over-emphasis on seniority.

After drinking another can of beer in a depressed mood, Yasushi Gotanda saw his mother sitting down on the sofa in the living room again and turning on the TV with great interest.

I remembered that today is the day when "Tomorrow" premieres.

Yasushi Gotanda rubbed his brows and sat over there, reeking of alcohol. Although his mother said a few words of disdain, the other party was still generous enough to sit next to him and make room for him.

"Let's invite the couple over for dinner next time."

As soon as Kitagawa Ryo's face appeared, Gotanda Yasushi heard his mother beside him say this, and then laughed cheerfully:

"Oh, this is intentional makeup to make her look older, but it's still the same, she looks serious and down-to-earth."

"Ah."

Unlike last time when he was keen on playing supporting role for his mother, Gotanda Yasushi kept his eyes fixed on the TV screen from the first minute, as if he wanted to see all the details clearly.

On the one hand, in a sense, he can be regarded as a producer of this drama as he participated in part of the script writing in the early stage. On the other hand, compared to another unidentified object that he had been forced to taste several times before it was broadcast, he was obviously more looking forward to "Tomorrow" directed by Hirokazu Koreeda and written and performed by Ryo Kitagawa.

What's more, he also wanted to take this opportunity to see the quality of this Kurokawa Akane who suddenly appeared.

Ever since Yasushi Gotanda fell in love with Kana Arima at the audition for "Spider", he has worked with her many times, and the effect of one plus one being greater than two reached its peak in the first season of "Homeless", which he wrote and directed.

It can even be said that if one were to find a director in the entire industry who most admires Arima Kana, that title would definitely fall on him. In the past few years, Gotanda Yasushi himself couldn't remember how many times he had publicly praised her in front of the mass media.

After all, when Kitagawa Ryo was a child star, he was just a small assistant director and had only seen his acting skills on the set of "He Once Lived". When filming "Spider", Kitagawa Ryo was already fifteen years old, long past the age to be called a child star.

But it is different with Maganai. From the time she first became famous in "Spider" at the age of four to the present, he has witnessed and even directed several of her works, including the first season of "Homeless", a masterpiece that can go down in history even in the entire industry.

And Arima Kana's career trajectory is indeed as he praised. Unlike most child stars, she did not just flash for a moment and then disappear from the public's sight. She became one of the rare child star-turned-actors in the industry whose popularity continues to rise with age.

If the title of 'the next Ryo Kitagawa' that people had previously attributed to her was mostly just a compliment on her acting skills, it now seems that the career trajectories of the two are gradually converging.

However, it is also because of this that Gotanda Yasushi still finds it difficult to understand why Kitagawa Ryo gave the role of the mailbox to someone else, because when the two of them were working together on this story in the early stages, they used Arima Kana as part of the prototype for their conception.

Although it is possible that Kitagawa Ryo later revised the script and character settings when he was the editor-in-chief, Gotanda Yasushi does not think that there is anyone more suitable for the position of this drama than Arima Kana, because "Homeless" and many previous works have proved that Arima Kana is truly capable of carrying a drama alone.

As for the name Kurokawa Akane, Gotanda Yasushi only knew that she was a promising youngster of the LALALAI Theater Company, and had won many awards in the theater industry. She seemed to be known as the 'next Kitagawa Ryo' in the theater field. He also remembered that he had met her once at Kitagawa Ryo's wedding. She was a girl about the same age as Kana Arima.

To be honest, although he has known Kitagawa Ryo for so many years, Gotanda Yasushi is indeed a little worried about his casting this time. After all, there are only so many geniuses in the world. It can't be that the junior in your agency is one in a million, while the junior in the troupe over there is one-of-a-kind.

Just as Gotanda Yasushi was thinking this, the blunt tool that looked a little timid on the TV screen was brought to the "Bear House". Mailbox, who was about to eat, put down her chopsticks helplessly, and under the instructions of the Demon King, she was shown the rules here.

"This little girl is pretty, too. She's similar to Xiaoling. She cries when she's told to cry and laughs when she's told to laugh. She's not squeamish at all. She's quite interesting."

The mother next to me is indeed a loyal fan of "Homeless". She even used the name of the protagonist, Xiaoling, to refer to Arima Kana. However, Yasushi Gotanda did not deliberately correct her. He just stared intently at every shot of Kurokawa Akane's appearance.

The layman watches the excitement, while the expert watches the details. Unlike his mother who was already immersed in the story while cracking melon seeds, Yasushi Gotanda was examining the other person's performance from a director's perspective.

He thought that the performance at the beginning, where she cried and laughed at will, was quite basic body control. To be honest, Arimaka could have achieved this level ten years ago.

But it has to be said that the other party's acting skills are indeed above the standard, and there will not be any tragic acting contrast when he is in the same frame with Kana Arima. However, this is also inseparable from the temperament and personality of the characters played by the two respectively, and there will be a faint sense of suppression.

As the episode progressed, Gotanda Yasushi gradually sat up straighter. When the episode was halfway through, he had straightened his back. The slight drunkenness in his head had disappeared without a trace, and his ears automatically filtered out his mother's nagging comments on the plot.

Kana Arima still performed very well. Even though this time she played a weak character role which she rarely played in the past two years of her acting career, she still portrayed this most innocent image of a poor abandoned little girl vividly.

Kurokawa Akane still gives people a normal feeling, but when he plays opposite Kana Arima, he doesn't give people the feeling of being left behind. His lines, actions and expressions are all impeccable and very natural, and there is no fault to find at all.

"It was so satisfying when Mailbox took Xiaoling to smash her mother's window. Oh, her mother and her boyfriend were still doing it inside? This will probably leave a shadow on her. Hey, but she deserves it."

"Yeah, and it feels like this isn't the first time Mailbox has done this. She seems to be the eldest of all the children in the orphanage. After all, as mentioned before, she was picked up by the Demon King himself and is the first child here. But this scene is really well shot, with suppressed emotions released... well, it's just a way to vent."

Towards the end of the episode, facing his mother's habitual comments, this time Yasushi Gotanda subconsciously took over the conversation and replied with two sentences.

After he finished speaking, he belatedly let out a light exclamation, suddenly leaned forward, stared at the TV screen, and fell into deep thought when he saw the name Kurokawa Akane appearing right after Kitagawa Ryo in the actor list in the ending song.

“I feel it’s better than the second season of Homeless Kids. This kid named Mailbox looks a bit like Xiaoling, but he feels a little different. It’s quite interesting.”

"Ah."

Gotanda Yasushi nodded and agreed with his mother.

After watching the entire episode, he finally realized some of the reasons why Kitagawa Ryo chose her as the leading actress.

While watching this episode, he still had the energy to praise Arimaka Nakadashi's acting, but he rarely expressed such admiration for Kurokawa Akane.

It was as if she was a real living person existing in that world.

It's the mailbox.

"…Are you such a thorough experientialist?"

Yasushi Gotanda pinched his nose and suddenly felt a little envious of Kitagawa Ryo's good luck.

But then he lay down dejectedly on the sofa behind him, said good night to his mother who went back to sleep, and then he couldn't help but take out the cigarette box from his pocket.

Whether in terms of script, performance or actors' acting skills, the second season of "Homeless" is completely inferior to "Tomorrow".

But on the other hand, this seemed to be the time for him to launch a counterattack.

After all, we can't put all the blame on him, right?

-------------------------------------

On the night when Yasushi Gotanda was ready to retaliate tenfold and make a sacred separation with the production team of the second season of "Homeless", at Kitagawa Ryo's personal office, there was an atmosphere of champagne flowing. If it weren't for the fear of being reported for disturbing others in the middle of the night, many of the staff gathered here would have wanted to do a group love dance together in the office building.

After all, the most famous version of this dance is the one performed by their president and his wife, which can be considered as company culture if you round it off. The main reason they want to find a way to release the emotion is after Kitagawa Ryo announced that everyone will have a day off tomorrow and that specific performance-based increase benefits for salaries and bonuses will begin next month. So everyone found their own small groups and went to Format Izakaya to perform.

However, Kitagawa Ryo can also understand their feelings. After all, this is the result of their agency's first independent attempt. Except for the director, most of the actors and even the logistics are the original crew. This commercial success can be regarded as the best result for the previous six months of hard work. It is indeed quite encouraging.

The final results of the first broadcast of "Tomorrow, Dad and Mom Are Not Here" were only passed to him five minutes ago, but in these short five minutes, Kitagawa Ryoya had read that short paragraph of text over and over again countless times.

The average time-sharing ratings of 30.7%, the peak ratings of 32.1%, and the audience share of 41.5% are undoubtedly a perfect answer. Except for the peak ratings, all other aspects are even a few tenths of a percentage point better than the first episode of the second season of "Nowhere". This also indirectly reflects that the vast majority of the audience watched the first episode from beginning to end, and rarely changed the channel in the middle.

In fact, if we only talk about the ratings, there are TV dramas that Kitagawa Ryo has starred in before that have higher ratings than this, and even quite a lot of them, but this new drama does mean something different to him. In addition to being a new project that is fully handled by the personal agency he founded, this is also his first work as the chief screenwriter.

In line with this viewership rating, discussions surrounding the drama "Tomorrow" quickly became heated on the Internet. Even though it was almost two o'clock in the middle of the night, a large number of viewers could still be seen sharing their thoughts on related film and television forums and Twitter trends.

In fact, after the second episode of the second season of "No Way Home" was aired last week, many loyal fans of the series could no longer bear it. Coupled with the decline in ratings, some of the previously rampant comments quickly disappeared and turned into condemnations of the production team.

Just as Beichuan Liang happily browsed his phone for a while and replied to all the congratulatory messages from other friends in the circle, he was the only one left in the company.

Because it was so late, Kitagawa Ryo did not ask other members of the creative team to stay up like him, just to see the results first. After all, director Hirokazu Koreeda is already quite old, and the starring cast including Akane Kurokawa, Kana Arima, Furilu Shiranui, and Daiki Himekawa are all minors, and it is not convenient for them to stay up so late. As for Ai, Kitagawa Ryo specifically told her to go to bed early so that she doesn't have to wait for the results with him, the person in charge.

But when Beichuan Liang drove back home, he saw that the light in the bedroom on the third floor was still on.

His steps couldn't help but quicken, as if he went from the first floor to the third floor in two steps. Beichuan Liang passed the dark second floor and pushed open the bedroom door.

He initially wanted to say “We did it!”.

But when he saw Ai half-lying on the small table in the room, nodding her head up and down like a chick pecking at rice, and when he met her amethyst-like clear eyes that were half-open because she was half asleep and half awake and glanced at him after hearing the sound of the door opening, Beichuan Ryo lowered his voice unconsciously.

He suddenly remembered a sentence in Tokyo Tower that he had remembered for a long time:

[No matter how successful a person's career is, it is more difficult for him to have a complete family and make his family happy]

So he said:

"I am back."

"Ah, Liang is back."

Ai rubbed her sleepy eyes, her long hair was lazily and casually tied into a bun and draped over her shoulders. She was still wearing the pink bunny pajamas. She stood up unsteadily, and suddenly raised her arms like a child and waved them at him twice:

"Um... welcome back."

Chapter 4: Ruby, everyone is counting on you (5k)

To be honest, the explosive popularity of the drama "Tomorrow, Mom and Dad Are Not Here" was not beyond the expectations of major marketing accounts and tabloids. When the golden signboard of Beichuan Ryo, a guarantee of ratings and box office, is no longer glorious, it will be truly big news. Therefore, most of the self-media of the film and television columns only mentioned Beichuan Ryo casually. On the contrary, the number of times his love for starring in non-sequel film and television works again after a long absence was mentioned more than his starring role.

After all, the hottest topic right now is the news about Magana and the production team of the second season of "Homeless". Except for a few cautious self-media that dare not make a direct conclusion, most newspapers and Internet self-media helped to open the champagne on the second day after "Tomorrow" was broadcast, praising the excellent production of the drama, Hirokazu Koreeda's successful transformation from film director to TV director, and of course, there was no problem with Magana's departure. He gave up the hottest IP before and calmed down, without being arrogant or impatient. He is simply a role model for contemporary child actors.

Just two days later, the third episode of the second season of "Homeless" continued its previous downward trend, with both the time-sharing ratings and the highest ratings falling again year-on-year. As word-of-mouth plummeted, other self-media that had been waiting and watching for fear of a reversal also quickly joined the battlefield.

They did not follow suit in promoting the good points of "Tomorrow", but chose to take a different approach and analyze the reasons for the collapse of the second season of "Nowhere Man". In the end, it was unknown which industry insider leaked the news that there were disagreements within the production team. A large number of reporters immediately swarmed in like leeches smelling blood, and immediately dug up a lot of true and false inside stories, causing an uproar among the netizens.

However, just when the situation seemed to be improving for "Tomorrow", Beichuan Liang, who had been paying attention to online public opinion, was keenly aware of another possible hidden danger.

-------------------------------------

As another leading actor of "Tomorrow", no matter how modest Kurokawa Akane is, the facts now clearly point to one point:

Her fame and popularity are growing rapidly.

Unlike dramas, which have an inherent threshold and are declining year by year as entertainment options become increasingly diverse, starring in a currently popular TV series can be said to have made Kurokawa Akane clearly feel for the first time the fact that she is being watched by many people. Even her parents would chat at home about being approached by neighbors or colleagues while at work or shopping, asking if the recently popular Kurokawa Akane is their daughter.

The rise of the Internet has not yet completely taken away TV audiences. Moreover, unlike the last century when people had to borrow tapes from others to catch up on a show if they missed it, the development of the Internet has actually provided a more convenient platform for the popularity of TV dramas. In fact, in addition to the ratings on TV, the number of views of "Tomorrow" on the Internet is also quite exaggerated, and the discussion atmosphere in the relevant communities is even more heated.

Even though Kitagawa Ryo and Arima Kana, who have the largest fan base among the main cast, together account for more than half of the discussion, for the audience who value freshness more than anything else, Kurokawa Akane, the other leading actor in the play, naturally jumped into their field of vision and became a new hot topic.

Under such circumstances, Kurokawa Akane's past acting career and experience were naturally quickly exposed. Whether it was the in-depth introduction by the self-media or the friendly popularization from old fans, Kurokawa Akane, who had a clean and beautiful resume in the drama industry, quickly established an image of a serious, hard-working and talented newcomer, allowing her to quickly gather the first batch of fans outside the drama circle.

After the last round of electronic cricket fighting ended with the disastrous defeat of "Homeless", a new round of electronic cricket fighting officially began. Soon, the topic of "Who has better acting skills, Akane Kurokawa or Kana Arima" began to arise among the audience of "Tomorrow", and the popularity continued to rise.

Kitagawa Ryo was not surprised by this situation. After all, there was a rumor outside the play that the "Homeless" production team had deliberately instigated a "competition for the first place". In the play, the mailbox and the blunt weapon played by the two were almost incompatible in the early stage of the story, and they had a lot of rival scenes in the same frame. With the blessing of both, it is better to say that Magana's fan group has been able to stay well until now thanks to the wonderful assists of the "Homeless" production team.

But this does not mean that he will condone the continued expansion of the storm of public opinion. The number of fans that Arima Kana has at this stage is not comparable to that of Kurokawa Akane. Moreover, unless the gap in acting skills is quite obvious and the contrast is tragic, most of the audience will actually have their own opinions, and in the end it will come down to whoever has the loudest voice making the final decision.

Although Kurokawa Akane had an experience of losing his balance and being bullied online two years ago, the drama industry is still too small compared to the entire entertainment industry. If this topic really becomes a hot topic, Kitagawa Ryo has no doubt that Kurokawa Akane will encounter a larger scale of online bullying, and once this happens, Arima Kana's image will definitely be affected.

“So, before the self-media outlets that prioritize traffic arbitrarily create news and misinterpret your interview content, we must do the work in advance.”

Kitagawa Ryo handed the two documents in his hand to Arima Kana and Kurokawa Akane in front of him, crossed his hands and rested them on his chin, smiled and said:

"To put it simply, you need to give the public the impression that you two have a very good relationship and are good friends who compete with each other in a healthy way and make progress together."

After listening to Kitagawa Ryo's words, Kurokawa Akane and Arima Kana turned their heads to look at each other in sync, then immediately smacked their lips together and awkwardly looked away.

"...Well, after all, the trend on the Internet is a bit wrong now. I don't want to be known as someone who uses his seniority to bully the younger generation in the industry. And in the final analysis, if we only talk about the role of 'Mailbox', I am indeed not as good as Akane in interpreting it."

Arima Kana was the first to agree, and she spread her hands helplessly:

"After all, I can't completely control the comments of people who I don't even know if they are my fans, so this is indeed a good solution."

"I think so."

Unlike the slightly awkward Kana Arima, Akane Kurokawa's attitude was much more generous. The widespread praise she received on the Internet this time greatly shaped her confidence, and her first victory in the audition competition with Kana Arima also allowed her to realize her long-cherished wish for several years. The whole person, from her mentality to her external temperament, seemed to have risen to a higher level:

"I don't know what Kana thinks, but just like what Ryo said, I have always regarded Kana as my best competitor, a friend who inspires me and can improve with me. I also always remember Kana's words when I was in Miyazaki a few years ago, asking me to focus on drama performances and hone my acting skills."

"Whatever you think."

Arima Kana reached out and gently pushed a few strands of hair back behind her ears. She had only hoped that one day she could compete with Kurokawa Akane again under the fairest conditions possible. Her attitude towards Kurokawa Akane might be more of a competitor than a friend, especially after she was defeated in the audition for this new drama.

but--

In a sense, the relationship between the two of them is no less than that between the closest friends in the world.

Just like how Kurokawa Akane had deliberately pointed out that location just now, even though their state of mind had changed a little compared to four years ago, they still kept this secret tacitly. This fact alone was enough to explain what they each thought now.

The Arima family's kitchen is rarely used, and the oven is only turned on on certain days of the year. The Kurokawa family's kitchen is always bustling with people meticulously following the cooking instruction videos and practicing continuously.

In the final analysis, they are just different manifestations of the same almost similar little thoughts.

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LALALAI Theater Building, Tokyo.

"Well - I went to Uncle Min to get some videos from that time. Fortunately, the troupe has a tradition of keeping archives, otherwise it would be a bit difficult to find these things from several years ago."

Beichuan Liang inserted the USB flash drive containing the video file into the computer. After finding the corresponding date, he double-clicked the mouse to select and play it. Soon, a video clip from seven or eight years ago appeared in front of the three of them. It was the scene of him teaching acting lessons to the two children individually.

After all, there are surveillance cameras in every practice room of the LALALAI Theater. Kitagawa Ryo changed several angles and finally found a low angle from the front, which allowed him to release the sound.

"Okay, I've already explained to you the seven basic powers and four senses of an actor. After you've mastered the basic acting skills, it's time to choose a performance genre."

"Kana, Akane, which performance style do you think you like better?"

“Expressionism.”

“Experience-oriented.”

The familiar voice and conversation immediately awoke the memories of Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa. They moved closer to the computer screen at the same time, sandwiching Ryo Kitagawa who was sitting in the middle on the left and right. The burgundy and bluish-purple hair swayed in front of them, completely blocking his vision.