novelraw Chapter 121: The Saotome Zaibatsu Returns to Japan! Nohara Hiroshi's Layout Continues!
Chapter 121: The Saotome Zaibatsu Returns to Japan! Nohara Hiroshi's Layout Continues!
"Department Manager, this is the latest data summary for the nationwide auditions."
Tanaka Kei—this variety show Section Chief who had long since been Reborn—respectfully placed a thick report on Nohara Hiroshi's desk, like submitting a battle report.
His face was currently brimming with an excitement.
"As of twelve o'clock last night, the total number of people who have registered for the Kasou Taishou nationwide auditions has officially broken through the five hundred thousand barrier! Among them, the registration numbers for the three regions of Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka even exceeded the Tokyo headquarters! This... this is simply... crazy!"
Nohara Hiroshi merely calmly flipped through those reports filled with astonishing numbers, a clear smile curving at the corners of his lips.
He naturally knew why.
It had to be said, for the Kansai region, namely the Osaka area, the personalities of the Japanese people there were more pragmatic due to business reasons.
And they enjoyed performing more.
The Japanese citizens in the Kanto and Tokyo areas, on the other hand, appeared to somewhat emphasize their status;
they were always guarded when out and about. Put simply, they were a bit pretentious.
However, the Kanto region and the Tokyo metropolitan circle were originally his own territory anyway.Even if they guarded their status, it didn't matter.
In the end, the meat was still rotting in the pot;
no matter how it was eaten, it was still eaten.
The reason Nohara Hiroshi held the auditions was also because he needed to grasp the audience of those other regions firmly in the palm of his hand.
Now, the good news coming from the Kansai and Osaka regions was indeed worth rejoicing over.
This was a good start.
"Very good." Nohara Hiroshi nodded, shifting his gaze to another document. On it was an operational report regarding Misae's newly established "Future Comic Club."
The report was written personally by Misae. The handwriting was elegant, carrying the seriousness unique to a young girl.
It detailed the five new manga assistants recruited since the company was established half a month ago, as well as the coloring and filling work they were currently undertaking for the first tankobon volume of Doraemon.
Everything was prosperously advancing steadily toward the blueprint he had planned.
"Ring, ring—"
The internal phone on the desk rang at this moment. It was Kitagawa Yao's voice, crisp and fully, clearly enunciated: "Department Manager, Mr. Tadokoro Masato from Shueisha has arrived and is requesting to see you."
"Mhm, let him in," Nohara Hiroshi arranged.
Before long, Tadokoro Masato practically trotted in. His face, which always carried a bit of weariness, was currently occupied by an excitement bordering on fanaticism.
"Department Manager Nohara!"
He even forgot pleasantries, directly and respectfully placing a magazine still wafting with the fresh scent of ink onto Nohara Hiroshi's desk: "Look! The latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump! Your Doraemon, first chapter publication, reader survey favorable rating... 98.7%! It broke all first-chapter records for newcomer works since our Jump's founding!"
He paused. Like announcing an even more heavyweight piece of news, his voice trembled slightly from excitement: "Also! Editor-in-Chief Torishima personally gave the final word! The Dark Tournament arc of YuYu Hakusho will be pushed out as the main feature of our Jump for the second half of the year in a super-deluxe tankobon edition! The cover... will be drawn by you personally!"
This was already treatment at the level of a pillar.
"Mhm, thank you very much." Nohara Hiroshi merely smiled calmly, as if all of this was simply to be expected.
He looked at the sky outside the window, dyed golden by the autumn sun. Above the grand chessboard that had long been laid out in his heart, all the chess pieces were already in their respective positions.
TV dramas, variety shows, anime, manga...
Four seemingly parallel frontlines quietly converged within his mind, ultimately entirely pointing toward that cultural empire capable of making all of Japan turn its head, named "Nohara Hiroshi."
Nohara Hiroshi and Tadokoro Masato chatted a bit more. The other party knew he was very busy, so he took his leave and departed.
"Department Manager, here is today's newspaper."
And at this time, Kitagawa Yao placed a neatly folded Asahi Shimbun near his hand.
Nohara Hiroshi casually flipped it open, his gaze finding the report on the frontpage headlines—
[The Saotome Zaibatsu announces: The group headquarters will officially relocate from New York, USA, back to Tokyo, Japan, within the year. The new headquarters address has been selected in Setagaya Ward...]
Saotome...
This surname, like a faintly perceptible embroidery needle, lightly pricked his memory that had long been wrapped in countless pieces of information.
He felt like he had heard this name somewhere before.
"Saotome Ai? Ai-chan?" Nohara Hiroshi raised his eyebrows, instantly recalling that the two-faced rich young lady who would have a romance route with his fated son, Nohara Shinnosuke, seemingly had the surname Saotome.
And she was also the legitimate daughter of the Saotome family, and even the sole heir to the Saotome Zaibatsu.
This made him somewhat surprised.
As time gradually progressed toward when the plot was about to start, he hadn't expected that various plot characters would also slowly begin to appear.
This made Nohara Hiroshi feel a bit peculiar in his heart.
"Let's hope I don't return to the original plotline again." He couldn't help but purse his lips.
"Hmph, another proxy raised by the USA. Now seeing that the wind is blowing the wrong way, a guy preparing to run back to pick the peaches."
Right at this moment, a cold snort full of disdain transmitted from the doorway.
It was Tanaka Kei, who had turned back.
He had clearly also seen the news Nohara Hiroshi was reading in the newspaper, and disgust surfaced on his face.
"Department Manager, you absolutely must not be deceived by the shiny and beautiful outward appearances of these guys." He walked to Nohara Hiroshi's side and lowered his voice, like sharing some secret not fit for outsiders to hear: "This Saotome family, they are no good things."
"Oh?" Nohara Hiroshi became interested.
"Their family originally made their fortune by smuggling arms in the past. In modern times, they even seized the opportunity of the USA supporting our Japanese economy postwar. Relying on providing oil and logistical supplies to the US military stationed in Japan, they made money hand over fist. Later, they even moved the entire family directly to the US, becoming the most loyal running dogs for those vampires on Wall Street, specializing in helping them harvest our native Japanese enterprises in the financial markets."
Tanaka Kei's voice was full of irrepressible contempt: "Now, seeing that our Japanese economy is getting bigger and bigger, this bunch of guys with noses sharper than dogs have suddenly changed their tune, returning under the banner of 'returning to the motherland and building the hometown.' To speak plainly, they definitely want to come back and do some bad things!"
These words were full of the most unadorned class hatred belonging to the lower-class populace, yet they also spelled out a cruel reality.
A running dog controlled by the USA.
Coming back at this time.
There was definitely a massive problem about to happen!
"Is that how it is?"
Nohara Hiroshi looked at the newspaper, at that amiable, smiling face in the photo of the current head of the Saotome Zaibatsu, Saotome Matsuso. A flash of understanding flashed through his clear eyes.
It seemed the Economic Crisis really was about to arrive.
Otherwise, just as Tanaka Kei said, as the proxy of the USA, or perhaps the white glove, how could the Saotome Zaibatsu possibly return to Japan on the eve of the Economic Crisis, before the Economic Bubble was punctured?
One must know, when an Economic Crisis arrives, for foreign capital, it is a great opportunity to buy at the bottom.
And Japan was a fat sheep raised for who knows how many years after World War II.
The meat all over its body was incredibly succulent.
Who knew how many wicked wolves were glaring Covetously, wanting to take a bite!
...
A month later, Tokyo had already entered autumn.
The wind carried a trace of crisp coolness, blowing away the final trace of anxiety from midsummer, leaving only the high, clear blue of the sky, like fine glazed glass washed by water.
The sign for the [Nohara Hiroshi - Independent Production Department] had long become an unspoken scenic line on the seventeenth floor.
Here was no longer merely a department;
it was more like a highly operating independent kingdom full of miracles and legends.
"This is crazy..."
Asumi looked at the freshly baked September Viewership Ratings summary report in his hands, an astonishment bordering on the absurd surfacing in his eyes.
He held that long-burnt-out cigarette between his fingers.
Ashes fell rustling down.
Yet he remained completely oblivious.
On the report, three curves were like three giant dragons that had broken free from all restraints, occupying the summit of the data chart with a tyrannical and unreasonable posture.
Yamishibai Season 4, after experiencing the "setting things right" of the third season, saw both its reputation and Viewership Ratings warm back up, ultimately stabilizing at a terrifying high of 15%.
For a late-night anime, this was already a myth worthy of being recorded in the annals of history.
Tales of the Unusual Season 2 was even more like an unshakable, lofty mountain, steadily, even carrying a bit of arrogance, maintaining its Viewership Rating at the 22% peak, suppressing all Prime Time opponents until they couldn't catch their breath.
The Goddess of Romance Matsumoto Keiko's Yesterday's Cherry Blossoms had already concluded, and what came up now was another program that had long been scheduled for Prime Time back in the first half of the year.
A heartwarming project program about children and a single mother.
Yet the Viewership Rating in Prime Time was only 18%.
It was completely suppressed beneath Tales of the Unusual, impossible to even pant for breath.
So much so that every time that Level 1 Director heard the Viewership Ratings, her face was dark.
But the most terrifying was still that Kasou Taishou, which had just finished broadcasting its first season.
Final episode Viewership Rating—29.8%!
This number, like an invisible sledgehammer, viciously slammed into the heart of every television worker.
It not only refreshed all records in the history of Japanese variety shows, but even declared to the entire industry in a manner bordering on humiliation—in the realm of "entertainment," Nohara Hiroshi was already the undisputed, sole king.
A terrifying Viewership Rating that almost broke through 30%.
Although the Viewership Ratings for variety shows were inherently high.
But to be high to this extent.
It was simply too outrageous!
"He single-handedly feeds half our Production Bureau."
Asumi exhaled a long breath of stale air mixed with tobacco and astonishment. On his refined face surfaced a Dumbfounded, bitter slice.
However, when his gaze fell upon the public opinion report concerning the massive "nationwide auditions" for the second season of Kasou Taishou, that bitterness transformed into deep confusion.
"Hiroshi-kun, I still don't understand."
He looked at the young man casually sipping black tea opposite him: "The model for the first season has already proven to be perfect. We use the most professional actors to present the most perfect creativity;
this is a surefire profitable deal. Why... why must we do these nationwide auditions? Letting a group of completely inexperienced amateurs onto the stage, this... the risk is too great. What if... what if we botch it?"
These words spelled out the heartfelt thoughts of everyone in the entire industry.
They didn't understand.
They truly didn't understand.
In their eyes, Nohara Hiroshi's current move was like an owner of a gold mine who had already struck gold, suddenly giving up the gold easily within reach before his eyes, and instead going to a wasteland full of unknowns to cultivate anew.
This defied logic.
Nohara Hiroshi set down his teacup. In his clear eyes sparkled the light of absolute confidence.
He asked: "Deputy Bureau Chief Asumi, what do you think was the core of our first season's success?"
"It's creativity." Asumi answered without thinking.
"Correct, it's creativity." Nohara Hiroshi nodded, "But creativity can dry up. Those fifty creative ideas from the first season that were enough to astound all of Japan were forcefully squeezed out from my barren mind. I can squeeze out another fifty, another hundred. But eventually, there will come a day when it's like a well drained of water, unable to flow out a single drop of sweet spring water ever again."
"And the nationwide auditions serve to find new water sources."
He stood up and walked to the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the scenery of the Tokyo urban area beneath his feet. His voice calmly expounded:
"The wisdom of one person is limited, but the wisdom of millions upon millions of people is limitless. What I want is not a simple variety show. What I want is a platform, a platform capable of stimulating the purest imagination of all the citizens of Japan—imagination suppressed by life and ground down by reality."
"I want every single ordinary person to become the creative source for this program of ours. I want to make Kasou Taishou an inexhaustible creative empire possessing one hundred and twenty million scriptwriters!"
Nohara Hiroshi spoke with resounding impact, like a flash of lightning slicing through chaos, instantly illuminating Asumi's brain!
He finally understood.
This young man, he simply wasn't producing a program.
He was... constructing an ecosystem.
An unprecedented entertainment ecosystem capable of self-circulation, self-creation of blood, and self-evolution!
...
Meanwhile, in Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka...
Those regional powerhouses who had previously clamored about joining forces to "encircle and annihilate" Nohara Hiroshi were miserably tasting a series of crushing defeats full of dark humor under a gloomy cloud.
They invested massive resources, hired the best scriptwriters, utilized top-tier special effects, imitating the art style of Yamishibai and referencing the plot twists of Tales of the Unusual.
Yet ultimately, what was served on the table was a series of clumsy knockoffs—things that looked similar but lacked the spirit, full of the awkwardness of a poor imitation.
"...No good! Still no good!"
At Kansai TV, Deputy Bureau Chief of Production Waya Ichiro viciously slammed the Viewership Ratings report in his hands onto the floor. On his pale face was written irrepressible fury: "Why?! We've clearly learned all the elements, so why aren't the viewers buying it?! They all say our stories don't have the 'flavor of Nohara Hiroshi'!"
Because written clearly on the report, the Viewership Rating for the Urban Legends program they produced was only...
A mere 2.77%.
Although it was still decent.
However, compared to Nohara Hiroshi's programs, this was simply like a joke!
"The 'flavor of Nohara Hiroshi'..."
Inside the Meeting Room, a scriptwriter in charge of scripts muttered to himself. On his face, which had been worn sallow from pulling all-nighters, surfaced a deep fear, as if he had seen a ghost.
"I... I perhaps... understand."
His voice was dry, full of despair: "What... what we lack isn't creativity, isn't technology. What we lack is that man's accurate insight into the human heart, an insight bordering on demonic!"
These words plunged the entire Meeting Room into a long silence.
They finally understood that what they were facing wasn't a simple competitor.
But rather a Dimensional Striker who already stood in a higher dimension, overlooking the entire chessboard in a manner they completely could not comprehend.
...
Tokyo in October, autumn was like a silent painter, quietly dying the sharp edges of this steel metropolis with a desolate swathe of gold.
Kanto TV.
As a directly affiliated subsidiary of TV Tokyo, for a long time, it had been like a dim satellite revolving around its parent planet.
As the acquired party, they undertook the eliminated proposals from their parent company, TV Tokyo, broadcasting television dramas that had long been outdated. In this cruel war called Viewership Ratings, they played an awkward role that was better than nothing.
Suzuki Kiyoto, this Production Department Manager who had struggled in Kanto TV for nearly ten years, had his edges smoothed out by reality long ago.
His life was like an Asadora drama with an already-written script—bland, dull, with the end visible at a single glance.
He had originally thought he could accomplish something upon returning to Kanto TV by relying on his reputation of becoming a Level 2 Director.
Yet all of this was vain illusion.
After returning to the Kanto TV he had once dreamed of day and night, Suzuki Kiyoto thoroughly entered an atmosphere of helplessness.
No authority to produce high-level proposals.
No sufficient funds.
He didn't even have talented personnel.
All he had was a boring life, a future of muddling along waiting for death, and a muddle-headed crowd of people.
However, half a month ago, a piece of transfer orders from headquarters acted like a clap of thunder slicing through the dead-silent night sky, thoroughly waking his long-silenced heart.
"Kasou Taishou Audition Version? Handed over to us to do?"
When Deputy Bureau Chief Asumi personally handed this Proposal to him, Suzuki Kiyoto almost thought he was experiencing auditory hallucinations.
He looked at that thin, yet heavy-as-Mount-Tai Proposal. In those eyes that had long been tormented somewhat turbid by reports and meeting minutes was written an unbelievable shock.
He naturally knew what Kasou Taishou meant.
That was a myth, a legend, the scepter of a god used by Nohara Hiroshi to subvert the entire era.
And now, the "scraps" of this myth, this "Audition Version" full of a consolation-prize nature that seemed established to pacify those rejected candidates, had actually... fallen onto the head of him, this "second-class citizen"?
"Deputy Bureau Chief Asumi, this... isn't this inappropriate?" He stuttered, attempting to politely refuse this hot potato: "The resources of our Kanto Station... simply cannot compare to headquarters. Such an important project, what if... what if it gets botched in our hands..."
After all, Nohara Hiroshi was real gold that he had personally promoted back then.
The other party was flourishing right now.
Handing it over to him.
If there was any mistake, Suzuki Kiyoto would be ashamed that his reputation in his late years was ruined!
Right now, Suzuki Kiyoto didn't dare say Nohara Hiroshi was someone he had cultivated. Every time he spoke of it, he merely said he had discovered a piece of gold.
If he still claimed he had cultivated Nohara Hiroshi, he would be laughed to death.
"This is Nohara's intention."
Asumi merely patted his shoulder, his gaze carrying trust: "He believes in you. He says this program doesn't need gorgeous packaging, doesn't need top-tier stars. It simply requires recording the most genuine, most clumsy, yet most shining moments of those ordinary people;
that is enough."
Thus, under the perplexed and uncomprehending gaze of the entire industry, this program called Kasou Taishou Audition Version—which sounded just like a "loser's compilation"—was scheduled for 4:30 PM on Saturdays, this awkward timeslot that could be called "garbage time," and quietly began broadcasting on Kanto TV.
Osaka, Kansai TV.
Waya Ichiro looked at the program scheduling chart, letting out a mocking scoff full of contempt: "Hmph, exhausted his tricks. It seems that brat's creativity is also about to be squeezed dry. To actually start using these unpresentable amateurs to make up the numbers, it's simply destroying his own Great Wall."
However, they were all wrong.
They completely could not comprehend Nohara Hiroshi's nearly demonic "ecosystem mindset" that surpassed this era.
On Saturday afternoon, when countless viewers were laughing until they had abs over Tokyo TV's Kasou Taishou—which was full of professionalism and perfection—and still felt they hadn't had enough, they pleasantly discovered that simply by pressing a button on the remote and switching to Kanto TV...
This carnival of creativity was actually... still continuing!
Gone was the precision of professional actors, replaced by the clumsy cuteness of ordinary people full of the breath of everyday life.
They saw a middle-aged uncle trying to use cardboard boxes to imitate a Gundam, only to end up tripping over himself on stage and falling spread-eagle. That heartfelt awkwardness caused the entire audience to erupt in laughter.
They saw two high school girls trying to use their bodies to imitate a "washing machine in spin cycle," only to end up rolling into a ball laughing due to uncoordinated movements. That pure happiness belonging to youth infected every single viewer.
They even saw a white-haired grandpa using the simplest puppets to perform a "first love shadow play," full of love and memories, for his equally aged wife. That rustic romance made countless people shed tears of being moved amidst the laughter.
Failure, was equally interesting.
Clumsiness, was equally cute.
Genuineness, possessed unrivaled power!
When the first episode of the Audition Version finished broadcasting, the phones at Kanto TV were nearly dialed off the hook!
And when that freshly baked Viewership Ratings report reached Suzuki Kiyoto's hands, he looked at the glaring number on it—enough to make a heart stop beating—and his entire person froze in place, as if struck by lightning.
16.3%!
"Boom—!"
This number, like a true atomic bomb, boomed and detonated throughout all of Kanto TV, throughout the entire Japanese television industry!
"We... we... did it?" Suzuki Kiyoto opened his mouth, trembling.
Like a traveler who had trekked through the desert for decades and finally saw an oasis, he let out a cheer of wild joy that had been suppressed for far too long.
He won.
No, it was that man who had won again.
Using a god-like method that all of them completely could not comprehend, yet had to bow down to in worship.
He won!
TV Tokyo, seventeenth floor.
Nohara Hiroshi merely looked calmly at that report, a Calm and Indifferent smile curving at the corners of his lips.
This was only the beginning.
The true fatal blow was still yet to come, to be found on the soon-to-be-broadcast—and already pre-warmed—Kasou Taishou Season Two!
Because Nohara Hiroshi had also received information. It was precisely because of the pre-warmed Kasou Taishou Audition Version that those viewers in various regions who originally disliked Kanto Station or TV Tokyo, and had quite a bit of regional protectionism, were also attracted.
They wanted to see exactly how those actors belonging to their local regions—who had entered the finals and entered TV Tokyo to record the variety show—would perform.
Even the competition between regions was provoked!