Kariya: Why Is It Me Again?

For Bandai's customers, their feelings toward this giant corporation were a mixture of love and hate.

The nickname "Conglomerate B" summed up fans' attitude toward the company perfectly.

Shinji himself didn't have much of a grudge against Bandai. After all, he was an otaku who'd been a tokusatsu fan in both his lives.

Although he wasn't happy with Bandai's sustainable strategy of wringing every last drop out of its customers when selling toys, he couldn't deny the company's enormous support for tokusatsu productions.

If Bandai hadn't maintained its "tokusatsu obsession" for decades, Japanese tokusatsu shows might have completely faded away after their popularity waned in the 1990s.

Even if Bandai's ultimate goal was to make money, there was no denying the company's passion for tokusatsu. After all, back then, no other company was willing to pour money into the tokusatsu industry.

Or rather, a distributor like Bandai, which cared about nothing but money, might actually make Master Shinji's plan to promote FSN go more smoothly.

The one thing Shinji was conflicted about was Bandai Visual's distribution capabilities.

Although this Bandai subsidiary had some reputation in Japan's film industry, it mostly distributed animated movies, with only a handful of tokusatsu films, such as Ultraman Movie, under its belt.

Still, no matter what, Bandai was far more sincere than Toho.

Hata Kengo, the distribution team leader, hadn't contacted Shinji again since the screening. But Bandai had called that very evening to say that its people were willing to take a look at the film.

So early the next morning, Shinji and Matou Kariya welcomed Bandai's representatives at Tsuburaya Productions.

This screening was much more modest than the preview. They simply found a conference room at Tsuburaya Productions and used it as a makeshift screening room.

Every window in the room was completely covered by black curtains, keeping out every trace of light.

A small screen hung on the wide wall at the front of the conference room. Shinji sat behind the projector opposite it, operating the FSN screening himself.

In front of him, Matou Kariya and the Bandai employees sat together, watching the film intently and occasionally whispering to each other as they sang his nephew's praises.

A simple setup like this couldn't do justice to a special-effects film like FSN. Shinji would have much rather taken everyone to a theater and let them experience the impact of the big screen.

Unfortunately, cinemas had their own screening schedules. A preview like the one yesterday had to be booked in advance, and the theater owner wouldn't agree to Shinji's last-minute request to add another screening.

The other cinemas were too far from Tsuburaya Productions, making the trip there and back a hassle.

All Shinji could do was complain about the number of cinemas in Japan. The entire country had fewer than 400, not even as many as a single province in China's developed regions would have in the future.

As with the screening the day before, Shinji kept an eye on the Bandai employees' expressions throughout the film.

What surprised him a little was that the Bandai delegation was led by a dignified-looking businesswoman.

It wasn't that Shinji's playboy side had kicked in and he'd fallen for this woman, who seemed like the girl next door. He recognized her: Udagawa Nao, the future president of Bandai.

But wasn't this woman working in the game division before she became president? What was she doing in the film distribution department?

Despite his confusion, Shinji carried on with the screening as planned.

The film was nearing its end. After Bedivere said goodbye to Artoria, Shinji didn't continue to the end credits. Instead, he switched off the projector and immediately turned on the lights.

"Ms. Udagawa..."

Matou Kariya had just started to speak when Udagawa Nao raised a hand to stop him. "Could we discuss this among ourselves for a moment?"

"Of course. Uncle, let's step outside."

Shinji knew they needed to discuss their opinions, so he readily pulled Matou Kariya up and left the screening room.

Judging by their expressions during the screening, they seemed to have liked the film, at least much more than the film critics had.

But whether Bandai would ultimately accept FSN depended on how they viewed its market prospects.

After all, Conglomerate B was a purely commercial company, not a charity or an art school.

Shinji and Kariya waited in the hallway after leaving the conference room.

Kariya lit a cigarette and said quietly, "That woman, Udagawa Nao, brought a full team from Bandai. That means Bandai is very interested in your film."

As a member of the Matou Family, Kariya took the film very seriously.

"Probably. This time, there aren't any idiot film critics getting in the way, so things should go more smoothly," Shinji said casually, looking up at the ceiling.

"Hey, hey."

Kariya gave Shinji a helpless look.

Inside the conference room, Udagawa Nao and several Bandai representatives sat around the table, sharing their opinions of the film.

"Ms. Udagawa, I told you, didn't I? It's a great piece of work."

The first to speak was an excited young man—the one who had called out to Shinji at the end of the screening the day before.

His attendance at yesterday's preview had been entirely by chance. He'd originally come to Tsuburaya to discuss toy designs, but after running into some people from Toho, he'd tagged along to the screening.

At first, he hadn't expected to see a good film. He'd just wanted an excuse to avoid returning to the office too early.

But the moment he saw FSN, he was captivated by this film, so different from anything he'd seen before.

He couldn't quite put into words what made the film so good, but his instincts told him it was a perfect fit for his company.

Another Bandai representative agreed. "I think so too. This film takes tokusatsu to the absolute limit. You can't even describe it as 'realistic enough to fool the eye.'"

This world had no such concept as a special-effects film. The representative naturally assumed it was a tokusatsu movie aimed at teenagers.

He wasn't the only one. All the other Bandai representatives present thought the same.

"This film has some potential."

The bespectacled man at the far end of the table said, "Director Matou Shinji did a remarkable job. The camerawork, lighting, and colors are all above the usual standard. But the most impressive part is the dazzling special effects. Their realism is beyond even Tsuburaya's reach. On that basis alone, it meets the demands of today's tokusatsu market. However..."

The man pushed up his glasses and changed tack.

"The plot is a little obscure. The film does explain the heroes' backgrounds clearly enough, but it's still too complicated for children, especially with the romantic elements... Don't forget the lesson of Diga Movie: Final Holy War."

The bespectacled man was referring to Tsuburaya's Diga Ultraman movie, made a few years earlier.

Since several years had passed since the Diga series, Tsuburaya had assumed the children who watched it had grown up. So they wrote a more mature script than usual, even adding romance.

But when the film came out, most of the audience was still children. Those little boys who hadn't even experienced their first crush had no idea what love was, let alone anything about tragic love triangles.

Final Holy War couldn't be called a failure, but its box office results and reviews had certainly fallen short of expectations.

"Of course I know that."

Udagawa Nao closed her notebook and looked at the other three. "In any case, it seems we're in agreement."

"One more thing," the bespectacled man reminded her. "The merchandise for this tokusatsu film must be distributed by Bandai."

"Of course."

Udagawa Nao nodded with a smile.

Even while watching the film, she'd already thought up plenty of merchandise. For example, Saber's weapon, Excalibur, could be made into DX toys based on different scenes in the film: True Name Release ver. (standard edition), Gales Domain ver. (transparent edition), and Noble Phantasm Release ver. (glowing edition).

A few minutes later, Shinji and Kariya returned to the conference room.

Udagawa Nao and the others were seated in a row along the left side of the long table, so he and his uncle took seats on the right.

Udagawa Nao barely looked at Matou Kariya. Her eyes were almost entirely fixed on Shinji.

She hadn't paid him much attention earlier. Only now did she realize how young the director was.

He definitely isn't an adult yet!

With her wealth of experience, Udagawa Nao immediately came to her own conclusion.

No matter how talented young people like him were, they would be extremely lacking in experience, and often full of idealism.

This kind of youngster won't be hard to deal with. A little talk about ideals and the future should be enough to fool him.

With that thought, she turned her attention to Matou Kariya.

The actor, who'd spent years struggling his way through the entertainment industry, was the hard part of this negotiation.

Still, Udagawa Nao didn't think much of Matou Kariya either. He was a fairly well-known actor, sure, but only an actor. He lacked experience buying and selling films and had no idea what one was worth.

More importantly, her company, Bandai, was a renowned film distributor in the industry. Against a novice director and a second-rate actor, it had an overwhelming advantage from the start.

Maybe I can get the whole team to join the company.

Udagawa Nao looked Shinji up and down. His team had excellent technical skills. If she could poach the whole group, they would be a great asset to Bandai's film division.

Shinji, meanwhile, stayed quiet. As Udagawa Nao observed him, he considered how to get the greatest possible benefit from Conglomerate B.

The seating arrangement of the Bandai team made it clear that Udagawa Nao was the one in charge.

Shinji wouldn't underestimate her just because she was a woman. If anything, he took her even more seriously. Everyone knew how serious gender discrimination was in the Japanese workplace. To rise above that environment and eventually become Bandai's president, Udagawa Nao was no ordinary person.

I wonder if she's married. She's a rich woman, after all. Should I have Uncle offer his body? He's getting on in years, too. It's about time he settled down and started a family.

Shinji glanced at his uncle out of the corner of his eye, wondering if it was possible.

"Hm? Why do I suddenly feel cold?"

Matou Kariya shivered for no apparent reason.

Shinji had only entertained the idea of selling his uncle to a rich woman in his head.

Whether it would work or not, even if it did, she might not be willing to compromise her company's interests because of it.

"Director Matou."

After a long wait, Udagawa Nao finally spoke.

"My colleagues and I are very interested in your FSN. We're willing to bring the film to market."

She opened the notebook where she'd taken notes, holding a pen in her right hand and resting her chin on her other hand. A professional smile graced her face.

Even Shinji couldn't help feeling a flicker of joy at her words.

After years of preparation and months of hard work filming, at last they could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Shinji smiled and nodded to Udagawa Nao.

"Thank you, Ms. Udagawa! It's an honor."

Shinji's attitude pleased Udagawa Nao. She continued, "I take this collaboration with TYPE-MOON Film Company very seriously, but we'll need to discuss the specifics."

"No problem. We have plenty of time to talk."

Matou Kariya, eager to see the collaboration succeed, jumped in impatiently.

Shinji discreetly kicked his uncle for speaking out of turn.

Kariya turned to him in confusion, only to see his nephew's displeased expression.

After chastising his clueless uncle, Shinji returned to the negotiations.

"The specifics?" Shinji folded his arms. "Wouldn't your company simply become FSN's distributor?"

"Bandai will, of course, distribute Fate."

Udagawa Nao lightly tapped the table with the pen in her right hand. Her slightly emphatic tone made it clear that she held the initiative in these negotiations.

"But our terms for distributing FSN are that we own all the rights to the film."

"You want to buy the film outright?"

Shinji frowned slightly, looking displeased.

Matou Kariya stared at Shinji in surprise.

Wasn't it perfectly normal for a distribution company to buy an independent film outright?

Unaware of his nephew's plans, Kariya was puzzled by Shinji's reaction.

But after that kick, Kariya could only keep quiet.

The old man at home had called earlier to let them know that Shinji was in charge of the negotiations. Kariya was only there to back up his nephew. Even if the negotiations fell apart, he wasn't to overstep.

Unlike Matou Kariya, who wore his frustration on his face, Udagawa Nao showed no sign of surprise.

She made a gesture inviting him to speak. "Director Matou, feel free to tell us what you have in mind. As long as it's reasonable and benefits both sides, we'll consider it."

Udagawa Nao's words were impeccably high-minded, as though she had Shinji's best interests at heart.

It was like a boss telling an employee, "Go ahead and ask for whatever you want." Anyone who believed that was an idiot.

But who was he, Shinji?

As someone who could chat and laugh with the old fossils at the Clock Tower, Shinji wasn't about to hold back.

"I hope TYPE-MOON Film Company can sign a distribution agreement with Bandai..."