The Red-and-Blue Couple: An Eternal Classic (Continued)

"It looks really good!"

Looking at herself in the mirror, Illya wiggled her little bottom, watching the ribbons fluttering behind her.

Illya had seen the character design drafts before joining the production team, but there was still a considerable gap between her actual appearance and the image of Magical Girl.

Well, Illya believes she is clever, witty, and cute, but lacks the innocent and pure qualities of Magical Girl.

That's actually a valid point, since the true core of [Illya Einzbern] in <Final Fantasy> is actually Illyasviel von Einzbern.

Knowing that there is a gap between herself and the character, Illya willingly becomes Shinji's real-life Barbie doll and plays dress-up games with him.

Now, except for the lack of a magic staff, she looks exactly like Magical Girl from a comic book.

"That's amazing! I never imagined that makeup could create such a completely different look."

Illya stared at herself in the mirror, then waved blankly.

Yes, the person in the mirror moved too; it was definitely myself.

But what's with this naive and innocent vibe? Is she really that kind of pure and innocent child?

"Of course it's not just simple makeup."

When faced with Illya's question, Shinji simply shook his head.

"Besides makeup, I also used Magecraft to further amplify the difference between your original and current appearance."

"Using Magecraft to do makeup?"

Rin, who was standing nearby, was astonished.

"Hmm... It's a little trick I learned from Yan Qing, Magecraft Disguise technique he used to infiltrate enemy lines and hide his identity. I simplified it and used it for makeup here," Shinji explained simply.

"Does this mean actors won't need to hone their Acting Skills anymore?" Tohsaka Rin wondered.

Shinji slapped Rin on the head with a chop. "What are you thinking? If you don't practice your Acting Skills, even if I make you up to look like a disheveled old lady, wouldn't it look out of place if you were jumping around on camera like that?"

Second Master ignored Rin, who was clutching her head and complaining, "Why did you have to give me this kind of example?": "This kind of makeup can only enhance the existing beauty, it can't save you from a crisis. You'd better work on your Acting Skills!"

Although Artoria is the mascot of Fate and even Type-Moon, her actual appearances are actually quite few.

On the contrary, those with Artoria's face, as well as various subspecies of Artoria, frequently appear in Type-Moon's various works.

In contrast, although Rin has never been the female lead, she appears in the works far more often than Artoria.

It's pretty self-evident which of these two is the biological daughter, isn't it?

Shinji was quite glad that Rin owed him a large sum of money, which forced her to appear in various works as he had instructed.

"As expected, I'm a genius! Hahaha~"

The thought of being able to ask Rin to pose however he wanted in front of the camera made Shinji burst into laughter.

"Illya, let's go over there and rehearse for a bit."

Rin quickly took Illya away.

"What's wrong with Shinji- san?"

Illya tilted her head and asked, puzzled.

"Sudden paranic nerve twitching, an old problem, it'll be fine in a bit."

Rin explained without turning her head.

"I see..."

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Illya's temple.

"You two should rehearse."

Shinji, having finally finished laughing, turned and reminded him.

"We don't have much time; the first shoot starts tomorrow. Make sure you're all well-prepared, otherwise it will be very tiring."

"Understood." *2

Illya and Rin exchanged a glance and nodded helplessly.

If Shinji says it's going to be tough, then it definitely will be tough; he never jokes when it comes to filming.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

"The new Magical Girl, Kaleido Ruby — Illya, is born!"

As the dazzling light faded, Illya, dressed as Magical Girl, appeared before the camera.

Suddenly transformed, Illya was completely bewildered. She grabbed the red staff and shook it vigorously.

"What is this?!"

"Is she really Magical Girl?!"

"How embarrassing! I feel so ashamed to be seen by anyone!!"

As a result, when confronted with Illya's questioning, the staff emitted a laugh that resembled that of an old man.

"Oh ho ho~ As expected, lolis are the best Magical Girl ~"

Ruby the Wand wriggled Ruby a snake, saying smugly, "Lolis are so great! They're completely different from that overaged True Magic grandma!"

Before she could finish speaking, a hand suddenly reached out from outside the window and grabbed Ruby.

"Who the hell are you calling overage?!"

Ruby only had time to let out a duck-like scream as her neck was being squeezed before the owner of that hand dragged her out of the window, taking Illya with her.

Illya, who had been pulled to the ground, got up and saw a girl with tattered clothes and pigtails glaring angrily at her—along with the staff in her hand.

"Hey, Rin, you're still alive."

Ruby made a suicidal sound.

"Yes, thanks to you~ It's truly incredible to be alive."

Rin walked toward Illya while clenching her fists so tightly they cracked.

"Ruby, come here right now! Let me teach you who the real Master is!"

Ruby's wing-like structures Ruby both sides fluttered.

"My Master? This is something you, an over-aged woman, don't need to teach me."

Ruby points at Illya, accompanied by a "bang bang bang" background music.

"This is Illya over here, she's my new Master!!"

"What?!"

Rin clearly couldn't accept it.

Illya quickly waved her hands, "I was tricked too! This guy cheated me!"

"Okay, okay, I got it. Just give it back to me first."

Rin sighed, rubbing her forehead with one hand, and grabbed Ruby, trying to snatch her away.

But no matter how hard they tried, Ruby wouldn't leave Illya's hand.

"Hahaha!"

Ruby laughed arrogantly, "My Master information has been changed. No matter what the person's will is, it is absolutely impossible to change the Master without my permission!"

Bang!

The next second Ruby was embedded in the wall.

"Don't talk to me like that!" Rin Ruby into a ball. "Change back right now, or you'll be sorry!"

"You're really enthusiastic. Do you really like Magical Girl that much?"

"How could I possibly like that! I'd rather be dead than have someone see me like that!"

Rin immediately denied having girlish feelings!

"I just can't do anything with you."

Ruby grumbled and complained, then commanded her new owner, Illya, who had been watching the drama unfold, "So, Illya, while saying 'You little devil,' wave your cane at Rin."

"Oh? I see..."

Knowing nothing about it, Illya followed Ruby's advice and swung her cane at Rin.

"You bastard."

The next moment, a red laser beam shot out from the front of the short staff, engulfing Rin in the smoke and dust of the explosion.

"Okay! Cut! Passed!"

With Shinji's command, Illya and Rin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is this the sixth time already?"

Illya asked Rin quietly to her side.

"Yes!"

"Finally passed!"

How dare you say that?

Rin glanced at Illya with annoyance. "If you hadn't kept laughing during takeoffs, we wouldn't have had to film so many takes!? It's making me look more and more pathetic."

That's why I burst out laughing.

Illya was equally frustrated.

Because this scene itself begins with Rin appearing in a disheveled state and ends in the same disheveled state.

So after each explosion, Shinji was too lazy to have Rin touch up her makeup and would go straight into the next shoot in that state.

This resulted in Rin's appearance becoming increasingly disheveled. If she weren't cleaning the dust off her face to ensure her expression wasn't obscured, Rin would definitely look like an African woman at this point.

Shinji was also somewhat speechless about the two girls.

He had considered the possibility that the two actors would have to repeatedly NG due to their poor Acting Skills, but he hadn't considered that they would have to repeatedly NG because of laughing during the take.

Shinji was completely dumbfounded every time he saw Illya point at Rin and laugh uncontrollably halfway through her performance.

While it's true that what you two are performing is a comedic scene, what I need is for the audience to laugh. What are you, the actor, laughing about in front of the camera?

Do you, Illya, also want to become the Smash Bros. of the tokusatsu world?

Fortunately, this scene is quite noisy, so as long as you don't burst out laughing, the minor flaws will pass quickly.

[Sigh, it seems Illya's current abilities aren't enough to carry Lead Actor in a TV series.]

Shinji was thinking in his mind.

Fortunately, "Magic 1" is ultimately a children's tokusatsu series.

The most important aspects of tokusatsu films are the story itself and the various surreal scenes that are beyond people's imagination.

As for the actors' performances, as long as they are satisfactory, that's fine.

While it may feel unfair to the Acting Skills tokusatsu actors, this is generally the case across the entire tokusatsu industry.

This is why Tsuburaya Productions and Toei prefer to cast newcomers as Lead Actor; affordability is the bottom line.

Acting Skills just need to be passable; if you encounter someone with outstanding Acting Skills, just consider it like pulling an SSR from a gacha pool.

While thinking about the actors, Shinji continued to supervise the next scene's performance through the monitor—Rin and Illya were passionately shooting Magic Bullet at each other.

"Tsk tsk, this is really intense. I wonder if Illya will still be so lively after the actress playing 'Miyu' enters the scene."

Miyu Edelfelt is the second main character in the series.

Although Illya is the protagonist in the storyline, possesses great talent, and has a significant secret about her background, her overall performance is extremely poor.

The Class Card were mostly recycled by Miyu.

Compared to Illya, Miyu, although also a rookie Magical Girl, displays exceptional maturity and possesses abilities that surpass Illya's usual level, constantly overshadowing the protagonist.

It's clear that Hiroyama originally designed the character Miyu with the duality of Illya in mind.

After all, this combination of an active and passive protagonist, a hot-blooded idiot paired with a cool and excellent supporting character, is basically standard in Japanese anime.

From Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede in Slam Dunk, to Naruto and Sasuke in * Hokage *, and then to Nanoha and Fate in Nanoha...