Crazy! Seiya Became an Instant Sensation!

With Seiya's current physical abilities, breaking free from Yuko's embrace would have been effortless.

But he had to act like a child now. Moreover, Seiya's near-disaster had clearly touched Yuko's fragile emotional defenses, inevitably reminding her of the day her sister was attacked.

She herself was only a child barely into her twenties, and she had lost everyone she could rely on that day.

Now, Yuko not only had to pay all kinds of medical expenses for her sister, who was still receiving treatment, but also take care of five-year-old Seiya.

To others, Yuko was probably a very strong girl, wasn't she?

But Seiya knew that this seemingly strong girl often secretly cried late at night.

After all, no matter how hard she pretended to be strong, Yuko was still a university student who had yet to graduate. Under such immense pressure, the fact that she had struggled on until now was already incredibly difficult.

Perhaps sensing Yuko's vulnerability as well, Seiya stopped struggling and obediently remained in her arms, enjoying the soft, fleshy cushion of her thighs and the equally soft pillow of her chest as they finished the entire movie.

Being able to sit in Yuko's lap while watching a movie was probably one of a child's privileges.

"Young Soya's performance was way too amazing! Let's watch the next showing too!"

"Where the hell did this production crew find that actor? That kid was insanely good!"

"Hey, Young Soya almost perfectly recreated the character from the anime. But compared to him, Sōya after growing up was such a disappointment."

"Seriously. Young Soya's earlier performance even got me looking forward to the later plot, since Adult Sōya was supposed to be even stronger.

But who knew the later parts would be such a huge letdown? Not only were the anime's iconic scenes cut, but Adult Sōya just felt like a pretty-boy idol.

Other than being a little handsome, he was practically useless. He had none of Young Soya's heroic spirit, and even his swordsmanship became unbearable to watch."

As Seiya and Yuko walked out of the theater, they heard quite a few viewers making comments like that.

Overall, because of Seiya's performance, this live-action anime adaptation had indeed become much higher in quality and faithfulness than it originally was.

But at the same time, Seiya's performance had also had a certain impact on the movie itself.

Most live-action anime adaptations tended toward romance, even though hot-blooded battle series had a larger audience among anime fans.

But when adapting anime into movies, most investors and directors chose slice-of-life or romance series.

The reason was simple. Battle-focused hot-blooded anime might be more thrilling, but they were far too difficult to faithfully recreate.

If they were willing to burn enough money, perhaps the intense battle scenes could be completed with advanced special effects.

But actors' action skills depended heavily on their own abilities. Especially since the male leads in hot-blooded anime were generally young and handsome.

But where could they find actors like that in the real entertainment industry?

Action actors generally needed years of training. Young pretty-boy idols usually couldn't handle such roles, while veteran actors with real skills couldn't play hot-blooded teenage protagonists. It became a vicious cycle, leaving no one willing to make live-action adaptations of hot-blooded anime.

Like this time's I'll Protect You From This Moment On, there were fight scenes in the original anime, but not all that many.

So after it was adapted into a movie, its main genre still leaned toward romance.

But because Young Soya, played by Seiya, was just too faithful to the original, viewers felt an enormous sense of disparity the moment they saw Sōya after he had grown up.

Whether it was film, manga, or novels, there was no problem with starting low and rising high. As long as the later parts were satisfying, it was fine.

But if you started high and then crashed downward, who the fuck could take that? I was already having the time of my life, pants already off, and then you told me you were actually a man?

The male lead who fell off the cliff was supposed to return after training as an overpowered badass, but in the later plot he became a piece of trash who could only talk big and flirt with girls. Who the hell could take that?

He was clearly supposed to return stronger, yet he somehow felt even weaker than he had as a teenager. Naturally, the audience couldn't accept that.

Several days had passed since the movie's premiere, but discussion surrounding I'll Protect You From This Moment On was still continuing to ferment.

A low-budget romance movie like this normally wouldn't have attracted such attention, but Seiya's performance in it was simply too stunning.

Anyone who watched the movie would say, "Young Soya is fucking awesome!"

And upon hearing that kind of praise, people who had originally been uninterested in the movie or simply hadn't cared naturally became curious. They wanted to see just how awesome the young character was.

Then, after walking out of the theater, they would quickly join those before them in saying, "Young Soya is fucking awesome!"

The internet was already highly developed. As this meme became increasingly popular, within just a few days, major YouTubers and content creators online were constantly blurting out that line, causing "Young Soya" to explode across the entire internet!

Yet compared to Young Soya's outstanding performance, the rating for I'll Protect You From This Moment On kept falling again and again, until it became one of the biggest flops of the year.

Besides the fact that Adult Sōya was complete dogshit compared to Young Soya, a major reason viewers were dissatisfied with the movie was that they resented the director and producers for not giving the younger versions of the male and female leads more scenes.

Anyone with eyes could see that the two children in the movie were far better than their grown-up counterparts, both in acting and overall performance.

Compared to those two children, the grown-up male and female leads had almost no distinguishing traits beyond their looks. It was as if they had been forcibly shoved into the production.

That was right. Since the movie's release, nearly every character and member of the production had been cursed out by viewers. Arima Kana, however, was one of the few people besides Seiya who had not been criticized and had even received praise.

After all, Kana and Seiya were a couple in the movie, and audiences were clearly more tolerant of children.

Honestly, for a six-year-old like Arima Kana to have acting skills at that level already made her outstanding.

Compared to her, the acting of those two male and female leads was simply unbearable to watch!

Looking at the unanimous praise online for Young Soya's acting and performance, Yuko wore a proud expression, as though she shared in the honor.

Yet Seiya, seeing this, could not feel happy at all.

Of course he was happy that his performance had been recognized, but he was just a rookie. He had barely set one foot into the entertainment industry, and he had already ruined the very first movie he appeared in. Would anyone still ask him to act in the future?