They all pushed me!

In fact, from the first second of acting with Kurokawa Akane, Kitagawa Ryo was pulled into the vortex of gravity and black hole by the opponent.

After all, in a sense, on the road of experiential acting, Akane Kurokawa has gone further than him, or, to put it another way, is more extreme.

Unlike many actors in the past who were pushed out by capital in order to replicate the commercial miracle of Arimaka, the popularity of Akane Kurokawa, who suddenly emerged in recent years and truly shook Arimaka's originally unbreakable position in the field of new generation actresses, is not just short-lived. The rivalry that the two marketed when they first co-starred a few years ago has become more and more a consensus among many people a few years later. This means that in the eyes of the public, the two of them have actually been placed on the same level.

Kitagawa Ryo has no intention of being as enthusiastic about electronic cricket fighting and comparison of combat power as many idle netizens on the Internet. To him, both Kurokawa Akane and Arima Kana are his most promising juniors. Although they have different views and understandings on acting, in the end, they both make people feel that "they act really well".

But perhaps because he had just experienced Arima Kana's completely indifferent performance, which instead seemed like a somewhat tsundere performance showing her sincerity to him, the impact that Kurokawa Akane, who had been studying the role of Shoji for almost two years, had on him suddenly became unexpectedly strong.

Frankly speaking, in the original manga "Tokyo BLADE" created by Samejima Abiko, the character of Shoji is mainly portrayed through a lot of psychological descriptions. However, this creative method, which was originally used to show the character's delicate and morbid inner emotions, became a very distressing problem when it was adapted into a stage play.

Compared to animations that can also use hazy sound effects to express the character's heartbeats, this is obviously not feasible on the stage of drama. Although stage equipment can play a certain auxiliary role, the characters are mainly interpreted through the actors' body language and lines. You can't ask the actors to recite all their mental activities word by word.

In fact, this is also one of the fundamental reasons why conflicts arise between the original author and the screenwriter when adapting such a stage play. Just like what Kitagawa Ryo said to Rumi at that time, on such a stage, exaggeration is inevitable, not only for the actors, but it actually starts from the time the script is written, because the creator must be simple, straightforward, or even rude so that the audience can follow the plot, or in other words, know what those people on the stage are acting out.

The novice screenwriter Abiko Samejima naturally encountered similar problems when she was writing the script for the stage play "Tokyo BLADE", because a large part of the charm of the character of Shoji comes from her chaotic psychological activities and rich inner world. After reading other screenwriters' treatment of characters with similar attributes, she found that they usually drastically cut out these psychological activities and only retain the most basic logic of the characters' actions. This was a bit difficult for Abiko Samejima to accept, so she specifically came to consult Kitagawa Ryo on this issue.

Kitagawa Ryo's answer to her at the time was quite concise, which was that you just need to create and trust the actors to handle the rest.

His idea is very straightforward. There are Magana, Kurokawa Akane and even Kitagawa Rumi. If one of these three people can stand out in the end and get the role of Shojima with the recognition of Samejima Abiko, it must mean that one of them can fill this gap with their acting skills.

Perhaps this is indeed something that only a genius can do.

But Kitagawa Ryo can also calmly say that these three people are indeed talented actors...although one of them seems to have too heavy a filter.

And just as he said, what is now presented in front of him, the judges and other actors is the talented and almost eccentric acting skills of Kurokawa Akane.

Out of her eager anticipation for Kurokawa Akane, Samejima Abiko chose for them the scene in the original work where Sakihime and her current rival BLADE meet again after a long time. This part of the plot is called "Sakihime's Blade" by fans because Sakihime's own psychological activities are so numerous that they are close to exploding. There are famous scenes such as "lines that feel a hundred times heavier than the sword in your hand" and "saying them at this time will directly lead to the ending."

Kurokawa Akane pursed his lips and cast his gaze towards his face.

She remembered that this page of the original comic was almost completely filled with Shaoji's dense psychological activities:

[I've been waiting for you, thinking that you would call me. Talk to me occasionally, talk to me. I used to hate it when I was the only one doing that. Can you also...care about me a little? Just a little? Or not at all? Have you never thought about anything? Just childhood sweethearts? Or ordinary childhood sweethearts? We are actually engaged, right? This is an extraordinary relationship, right? It's definitely like that! I want to be extraordinary, just one more thing than ordinary, so I want to be extraordinary, different from others.]

But in fact, there is only one line of dialogue after speaking:

"I don't want to fight with you, but... I also want you to see how I've grown over the years."

Samejima Abiko felt like she was about to cheer out loud, but Kichijoji Raiko, who had been prepared by Kitagawa Ryo's instructions, immediately covered her mouth, forcing her to calm down, but she still stared at that place without blinking.

Although it's just simple lines and actions, you can fully feel the overflowing tangled emotions from the acting that seems to exude a sense of gravity and humanity. Not only that, Kurokawa Akane's performance does not make people feel any sense of artificiality.

Even though all the lines that showed Shaoji's psychology were deleted and could not be expressed, one could still vaguely understand the character's thoughts from her performance, which convincingly made up for all the shortcomings of the stage play script.

In the audience seats a little further away, most of the actors could also feel this inexplicable aura. Arima Kana changed her left hand from supporting her cheek to her right hand, and calmly adjusted her posture. She raised her chin to the MEM next to her who was unconsciously muttering "too amazing":

"She is an experiential person. She has completely entered the role now."

In fact, she had already predicted that Kurokawa Akane would be able to play the role of Shoji very well, because the actor who played BLADE was none other than Kitagawa Ryo himself... For those who are interested in experiencing the script, this is simply the best script experience.

It would be difficult for her to compete with Kurokawa Akane in this form, but if she could get a role that suits her, such as the 'Kengi', Kana Arima would not be afraid to act and play opposite her.

Thinking of this, Arima Kana turned her head slightly to look at Kitagawa Rumi beside her. After all, if she calculated, it would be the other party's turn to play soon. With Kurokawa Akane's good example before her... she was already preparing some lines to comfort her.

But what was somewhat beyond Magana's expectations was that Kitagawa Rumi was still watching the performance in front of her very attentively, without showing any worry or uneasiness at all.

So——

Arima Kana raised her eyebrows slightly, and suddenly had an idea in her mind that even she thought was a bit ridiculous, but the sound on the stage quickly attracted her attention again.

"Well, that's what I thought too."

In response to Kurokawa Akane's words, Kitagawa Ryo still gave an almost cold answer. Unlike the judges and the audience, he actually felt it more strongly than anyone else. However, this also aroused his interest and he showed his most serious attitude so far.

Kurokawa Akane is still savoring the character's psychological activities bit by bit and carefully:

[I hope you understand me, and I also want you to understand, I hope you understand. I hope to be the best for you, I want to be... I want to be your number one, but you, I don’t feel that you value me very much. Value, it sounds weird to say value, but I hope you value me, value me! I don’t want to be treated the same as others, just a little bit, a little bit. But have you really thought about me? We haven’t seen each other much since we grew up, have you thought about me at least once during this period? As for me, I have been thinking about it all the time, and I have only thought about you. It’s all about you, so I would naturally hope that you would think more about me. Of course I know that you are different from me, so your ideas must be different, I know, but! I will look forward to it, I will want to look forward to it, and then...]

She raised the nonexistent sword in her hand towards him and declared war:

"I will make you... and your sword, submit to me completely, with your whole body and soul."

Chapter 11: Let’s Leave Claws

After Kurokawa Akane's audition officially ended, everyone, including Kaminari Sumiaki and other judges, had not completely recovered until Samejima Abiko, who had finally broken free from Kichijoji Raiko's restraints, clapped her hands and excitedly shouted, "Amazing! When I designed the script, I didn't think the actors could really act to this extent. The degree of reproduction of the original work is really high." After that, everyone came back to their senses from the immersive performance just now, and spontaneously gave warm applause to Kitagawa Ryo and Kurokawa Akane, who were more like showing off their skills or teaching than auditioning.

The representative of the operation company, Sumiaki Kaminari, who had not expressed any opinion on the choice of actors until now, reacted no worse than Samejima Abiko. He kept moving his lips as if he was hesitant to speak, and simply took off his glasses as if to calm down. He wiped them casually on the hem of his shirt and put them back on his nose. He took several deep breaths, and just when he was about to speak, he saw Katsaya Kaburagi beside him winking at him, so he reluctantly swallowed the words "Let's choose her" that were already squeezed in his throat.

As a senior industry insider who has been deeply involved in the 2.5-dimensional field and track for many years, Sumiya Raita is not an outsider who knows nothing about the two-dimensional world. He is only in his early thirties this year and still maintains a very young mentality.

Although Kaburagi Katsuya always thinks of more than a thousand mouths waiting to be fed and always puts commercial interests first, he always stands at the exit of the theater after the official performance of each stage play project he is in charge of, so as to judge the quality of the project by the expressions on the faces of the audience and the content of their discussions.

He likes to see the sincere smiles on the audience's faces and their enthusiastic discussions about the content of the stage play. For Kazuaki Raita himself, this may be a more positive and comfortable positive feedback than those economic benefits... After all, even if he is a commercial creator, there will always be times when he wants to be a pure content creator and present the best content to the audience. However, if he says this to others, he will probably be laughed at by his peers and called an 'artist'.

When Akane Kurokawa was performing just now, he had almost imagined the audience's enthusiastic reaction at that time. That was exactly what he was pursuing, and it was one of the reasons why he immediately contacted the LALALAI Theater Company for cooperation after receiving the "Tokyo BLADE" stage play project.

Although he had seen dramas starring Kurokawa Akane before, in Raita Sumiya's eyes, all the roles he had played in the past two years were not as stunning as the one he had just seen, Shoji. She didn't have formal makeup and costumes, not to mention the auxiliary stage equipment, but she was still so stunning that people couldn't take their eyes off her.

However, after seeing the look Kaburagi Katsuya gave him and the slight shake of his head, Kaminari Sumiaki barely suppressed the urge to speak. His mind came back to what the other party had said to him at a private drinking party a few days ago, as well as the actor named Kitagawa Rumi, who had not yet appeared.

Although Kaburagi Katsuya has been working in the entertainment industry for much longer than him, and Raita Sumiya has always taken his opinions and suggestions very seriously, he couldn't help but have some doubts at this moment, because he really couldn't believe and imagine that Kitagawa Rumi, whom the other party was optimistic about, could be better than the current Kurokawa Akane.

He himself is also a fan of the manga "Tokyo BLADE" and has watched both the animated series and the theatrical version. At least in his current understanding, Kurokawa Akane has portrayed the role of Shoji impeccably, and she is fully worthy of her status as the signature actor of the LALALAI troupe.

While Kaminari Sumiaki was lost in thought, Kindaichi Toshiro still picked up the list in front of him in a businesslike manner and read out the next name in a steady tone. This was also the last actor who came here to audition for the role of Shoji today:

"Kitagawa Rumi."

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It has to be said that Kitagawa Rumi is still very popular among the members of the LALALAI troupe. After all, when she was young, she was the scenery following the troupe's top signature actor Kitagawa Ryo, and her apparent guardian was the troupe's director Kindaichi Toshiro himself. Although she rarely came here later, she has returned to the troupe in the past two years and has been diligently practicing acting skills from scratch, and has become familiar with everyone again.

It was precisely because of this that when Kitagawa Rumi nodded and accepted the cheers from MEM啾 and Arima Kana beside her, and stood up and walked towards Kurokawa Akane who had returned to the audience seats, many members of the LALALAI troupe gave kind cheers just like they did when Kurokawa Akane came on stage. Judging from the momentum, they were even more enthusiastic than Akane just now.

When passing by Kurokawa Akane, Kitagawa Rumi also heard a short but gentle cheer from the other party, and she smiled and said "hmm".

After passing Kurokawa Akane and officially walking towards the center of the venue, Kitagawa Rumi put away her smile again, and took each step firmly with a serious and earnest expression.

She could feel how much consideration and tolerance for the weaker party was contained in the cheering just now, but this was also normal, because in the subconscious perception of the LALALAI troupe members who were most familiar with her and Kurokawa Akane, she and the other party would never be compared as equal competitors.

In fact, the same is true on the Internet. After MEM啾 was first exposed, the only imaginary enemy and competitor of Kurokawa Akane would be Arimaka. Even if the name of Shiranui Fulilu was forcibly added, few people would care about Kitagawa Rumi as an actress. Even after MEM啾 took the initiative to say that she would also audition, the first reaction of more fans would only be to go for a guest role in a supporting role or even a small role. Some even joked with a smile and asked MEM啾 to audition together so that the ACE trio could be resurrected on the stage.

Kitagawa Rumi is of course willing to admit that her acting talent is not as good as that of Kurokawa Akane and Arima Kana, not to mention compared with Kitagawa Ryo who has the bonus of two lives. Even if compared with Aizo, who is also an idol-turned-actor, the conclusion is only that she is eclipsed.

But it's not that she really doesn't have talent in this area, just like Samejima Abiko said that among the ACE trio, Rumi is the most suitable to be an actor. It's just that the relatives and friends around her are either talented child stars or masters of experiential psychology, which makes her look useless and indistinguishable from the crowd.

At least in the role of Shoji, which she has been dreaming about for several years and has practiced seriously for two years, Kitagawa Rumi has basic skills that are almost the same as Kurokawa Akane, or the lower limit.

What she needs to do now is to raise the upper limit to an impressive level.

Kitagawa Rumi already knew that Kurokawa Akane would appear before her, but just as Kitagawa Ryo had said to her before today's audition, people naturally want to see the weak defeat the strong, and they like dramatic contrasts.

Compared to Akane Kurokawa, who has rich stage play experience and countless representative works, Kitagawa Rumi, who can be considered a complete newcomer, must be subconsciously regarded by everyone as the one being despised. However, when expectations were low and she suddenly showed acting skills above the average, it would naturally make people feel surprised and shocked.

When people are surprised, their emotions will become more likely to fluctuate. When encountering unexpected situations, the ability to collect information from the outside world will be instinctively activated. When the sensory stimulation covers the rational level, the audience will feel more emotional meaning in the following performance, even several times more than before.

Beichuan Ryo stood up straight, quietly watching Rumi walking towards him step by step, and suddenly remembered what he had said to his sister in the morning.

"But these are just tricks or gimmicks. No matter whether it's the judges or the other actors sitting there, their psychological thresholds are not at the same level as ordinary audiences. If we want to conquer their senses, it will ultimately depend on what Ruby can do."

"If Kana's style is as dazzling as the sun, imprinting her shadow on the audience's retina, and Akane's style is to quietly blur the boundaries between the actor and the role, pulling the audience into her own world, then Ruby will try to leave claw marks in the audience's hearts."

"It's like having your heart tightly grasped for a moment."

Kitagawa Ryo's confused thoughts and memories did not last too long, because Rumi was already standing in front of him. She followed the example of Kurokawa Akane and Arima Kana, politely bowed slightly to the judges around her, and made the same self-introduction:

"I'm Kitagawa Rumi from Kitagawa Ryo's agency. Today I'm auditioning for the role of Shoji. Please take care of me."

Then she stood up and nodded to Beichuan Ryo who was about to act opposite her.

"How can I do this? My brother told me before that I could act more exaggerated. Are there any other techniques?"

She remembered that when she asked her brother this question in the morning, he did not answer her directly at the first time, but asked her again:

"During the two years that Ruby has been studying at the LALALAI Theater, Chi Yin has taught her more about acting, right?"

After she nodded in affirmation, Beichuan Liang gave his own suggestions:

"In that case, it's no wonder that Ruby's current performance style is more inclined towards the experiential side. But for this audition, it's actually good news."

"Let me give you an example from my own experience. When Miyazaki was tricked into coming home seven or eight years ago and three years ago by Ruby, who was pretending to be sick, Ruby's eyes and expressions at that time made me feel suffocated. It was like what I said before, the feeling of my heart being tightly grasped."

After the two of them officially opened up about their relationship for several years, Beichuan Ryo was able to calmly talk about many of the embarrassing past events:

"Shaoji is a character that tends to be gloomy and morbid, so I asked Ruby to recall the feelings at that time. If Ruby's audition role is Jianyi, I will have to help you recall the scene when ACE performed at Tokyo Dome."

Kitagawa Rumi didn't even bother to refute her brother's implicit statement that "she also played a gloomy and morbid character during that period of time." She just chewed on these words thoughtfully until the last moment before going on stage for the audition.

It must be said that the performance costume of Ryo Kitagawa helped Rumi to quickly separate herself from the identity of 'Ryo Kitagawa' and half-forced her into the character image of BLADE. When she opened her eyes again, her eyebrows became cold again, and a faint sense of alienation overflowed little by little.

"like……"

Just as Kitagawa Rumi had struck her pose and adjusted her expression, Kaminari Sumiaki, who was sitting on the judges' panel, subconsciously let out a low sigh.

Unlike Kurokawa Akane, who gave people such a strong feeling only after the audition officially began, Kitagawa Rumi was just standing there with the same posture and expression as the comics' Shoji, and the sense of familiarity and similarity in her eyebrows and even demeanor immediately burst out.

In many 2.5-dimensional projects, the most basic and most fatal problem that troubles producers and operators is actually very simple, that is, real-life actors are often not like the characters in the comics. After all, one is three-dimensional and the other is two-dimensional, and it is a bit difficult to require them to be exactly the same. After all, no actor's nose is the same point, and no one's eyes are all watery and round, which are the characteristics of the two-dimensional world.

But the first impression that Kitagawa Rumi gives people is counterintuitive, just like BLADE played by Kitagawa Ryo who she is facing. The first impression that this brother and sister give to everyone is surprisingly similar, that is, the amazing resemblance that is almost like walking from comics into reality.

"Because it was originally based on Ruby..."

Kurokawa Akane in the audience naturally heard the whispers of discussion coming from the surroundings. As one of the people who knew the truth, he could only shake his head helplessly and sigh softly.

But this doesn't mean she has given up.

Kurokawa Akane held his chin and shifted his gaze from Kitagawa Rumi to Samejima Abiko who was sitting on the judges' panel next to him. The other person still had a serious expression on her face, and was concentrating on waiting for the next move of the two.

After all, the person who would use the world's most stringent eyes to examine Kitagawa Rumi's interpretation of the role of Shoji has not spoken yet.

If it's just similar in appearance, it's totally, totally not enough.

Chapter 4: The Words That Cannot Be Said (5k)

If Samejima Abiko were asked to choose her best friend so far at this time, the only option would be Kitagawa Rumi.

Although there is a two-year age difference between them, they went to the same kindergarten and high school. In addition, they spent four years as debut idols together. The time they trained and worked hard together added a lot of luster to their friendship.

In fact, Samejima Abiko's social circle has always been very small. To be honest, even MEM-chu and Kurokawa Akane, who I am familiar with now, gradually became close because of Kitagawa Rumi. It was a transition from friends of good friends to my own friends.

In a sense, it was Kitagawa Rumi who took the initiative to pull her into her social circle. In fact, the other party has always been the backbone of this small circle. This is why when Rumi was distracted by her plan to take over Kitagawa Ryo, she and MEM啾啾 noticed it at the first time and took the initiative to come to her house to ask if they could help.

But as Kitagawa Ryo said, she could slightly change the character's personality and background according to Rumi's wishes during the draft stage of the comics because of her coquettishness and pleading, and she could also overcome her inner obstacles and challenge the idol industry that she had never been involved in for the sake of her best friend, but when "Tokyo BLADE" has reached the stage of planning a 2.5-dimensional stage play, these off-site personal relationships will not play any role at all.

In other words, knowing that the prototype of the character of Shoji is Kitagawa Rumi, Samejima Abiko will examine her performance with a more critical eye. After all, this is Rumi's innate advantage compared to all other actors.

Compared to Kitagawa Rumi who is now in casual clothes, Samejima Abiko has seen her wearing a cosplay costume of the character Sayahime in a video that Rumi sent her in the past. That was an even more amazing sight, almost exactly the same as in the comics. Her appearance was visibly more outstanding than Kana Arima and even Akane Kurokawa.

But in fact, it is only limited to the appearance. Whenever Samejima Abiko presses the play button of the video, switching this 100% restored picture from static to dynamic mode, and turning Kitagawa Rumi, who is absolutely impeccable as a Coser, into an actor, Rumi's somewhat fragmented lines and expressions compared to the other two will feel very inconsistent, like a blow to wake her up from her previous fantasy.

Frankly speaking, after Kurokawa Akane's performance just now, not only Kaminari Sumiaki couldn't contain himself, but even she, the original author and screenwriter, couldn't help but speak up to confirm the spot. Although she couldn't help clapping her hands and shouting "OK" at that time, this was treatment and recognition that no other actor who had auditioned for the role of Sheji had ever had before.

However, when Kitagawa Rumi, who was not far away, quietly closed her eyes for a while and then opened them again, and officially began to act with Kitagawa Ryo, Samejima Abiko's mood, which had gradually calmed down, suddenly began to surge again. She even subconsciously held her breathing, and her pupils subconsciously widened, looking straight at the two people over there.

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Unlike the audition scene of Kurokawa Akane, the script randomly assigned to Kitagawa Rumi this time is the second meeting between Blade and Shoji, and the first time she confesses her true feelings to him in a rather awkward way. Unlike the first meeting which was quite accidental last time, this time she took the initiative to go to the other party's base camp, and after bypassing the others, she ran into Jian Yi who was guarding the other party's door as a guard.

Among the dozens of videos received from the Arima Kana trio in the past year and a half, Samejima Abiko has seen Kurokawa Akane's interpretation of this scene. The look in his eyes that suddenly became a little scary at that moment still leaves a deep impression on her.

But the style displayed by Kitagawa Rumi now is not consistent with that of Kurokawa Akane. Her expression is still pleasant, the corners of her mouth are still raised, and her eyes have not changed much. In sharp contrast, her tone and intonation have suddenly become gloomy, which instantly captured everyone's attention.

"Jian Yi...really? Tsk, let BLADE come out to see me."

Although she said so, she immediately ignored Kengi who was standing there and stretched out her hand straight forward. What made Samejima Abiko a little concerned was that she only wrote the action of 'pushing the door in' in this part of the script, but Kitagawa Rumi, whether intentionally or unintentionally, improvised an extra detail of the performance, and her outstretched right hand paused in the air as if holding a door handle, and slowly made a motion to turn it open.

Just when Samejima Abiko was still thinking about whether to add this seemingly good detail into her script, Kitagawa Ryoya, who was sitting there, finally spoke formally and made eye contact with Shoji, played by Rumi.

"...Why is it you again? Trouble."

After seeing Rumi for the first time, Beichuan Liang rubbed his brows with a headache, and waved casually to Jian Yi who hurriedly followed in:

"Go out, I know her, it's okay."

After Jian Yi closed the door again in confusion and left, Beichuan Ryo stood up again, casually threw the sword in his arms upwards, caught it steadily in his hand, made a sword flower, and then pointed the sword straight at Rumi who was not far away:

"Are you here to challenge me to a duel? Huh?"

This almost showy move was also improvised by Kitagawa Ryo. From the beginning, he had no intention of letting up, and deliberately lowered his presence to cooperate with and highlight Rumi's performance. Because even if he could get away with it during the audition, when it comes to the official performance, he will still show his acting skills to the fullest to match the identity of the "leading actor".

In other words, if Kitagawa Rumi really wants to act with him, she must have a crucial quality, which is to grab some of the audience's attention to herself when she is in the same frame with him.

If in TV dramas, the audience's perspective can only move compulsively following the camera lens, then in stage plays, especially large-scale group dramas with multiple people appearing at the same time, you have no control over where the audience will focus their attention or on which actor. It is easy for a popular actor's every move and smile to be focused on by a large number of eyes, while the second character with a similar role will receive no attention, and even his mistakes will hardly be noticed.

The last actor who could do this perfectly was Hoshino Ai. Starting from "Oedipus Rex", the Queen Jocasta she played was called the most beautiful Jocasta in history by fans. Quite unreasonably, she won a lot of attention from the popular and dazzling Kitagawa Ryo at that time. This is something that many people have not done.

But Kitagawa Rumi can do that too.