Heading to China / Shinji-What's It Like to Court Disaster on a Plane?

Not only that, Rin frantically squeezed the head of the cane with her hands, as if she wanted to crush it.

"Such an arrogant tone, Ruby!" Tohsaka Rin shouted through gritted teeth. "In that case, I'll train you until you willingly change masters!"

"What a warm-hearted person!"

True Magic Ruby magic wand, asked teasingly, "You... like Magical Girl that much?"

"How could I possibly like that?! I'd rather die than be seen like that!!"

Illya, dressed in Magical Girl outfit, immediately retorted, "Should I go commit suicide now?"

Upon hearing this, the young Magecraft were laughing so hard they were clutching their stomachs, and tears were almost streaming down their faces.

By this time, everyone was laughing so hard they were almost exhausted, but the Tokusatsu showed no signs of stopping.

Seeing that Tohsaka Rin still refused to give up, Ruby could only urge Illya to deal with the woman with twin tails.

In any case, people are the root of all problems. If you can't solve the problems, then solve the people.

"Then Illya, while saying 'You bastard,' swung her cane at Rin."

"You bastard."

Following Ruby's instructions, Illya swung her staff while yelling "You bastard!"

A beam of light shot out from the tip of the staff, engulfing Rin in dust.

"Holy crap! What did you just come out of there?!"

Terrified by the magic wand, Illya questioned Ruby with a tearful voice.

"I responded to Illya," Ruby said smugly. "[I won't give the cane to anyone, go back to your country! Over-aged twin tails!]... That's what you said."

Illya loudly denied it. "I didn't say that! I didn't say anything like that!"

However, Rin, who had been attacked, was not going to listen to Illya's explanation. She emerged from the smoke and dust, looking like a cavewoman, and immediately went berserk.

"Who are you calling an over-aged twin-tailed girl!?"

"I never said that!"

Boom boom boom!

The Magic Bullet were fired at Illya without restraint. At this moment, Tohsaka Rin was like a T-800 wielding a Gatling gun, determined to turn Illya into mincemeat!

"Hahahaha! The Tohsaka family's over-aged twin tails... Hahahaha! It's not that funny! Hahahaha!"

The room erupted in laughter like popping beans; several audience members were laughing so hard they could barely stand up straight and had to hold onto their chairs for support.

Shibamatsu was laughing so hard he was exhausted, and he leaned against the wall, panting heavily.

The most outrageous one was Aoko, who rolled right onto the ground.

Although the current run of <Magical Girl Prisma Illya> is not yet over, judging from the "disastrous" premiere scene at the Magecraft's Club, this Tokusatsu can at least be considered to have had a successful start.

Chapter 277 Heading to the Celestial Empire

In the control room of TBS Television, Kazuo Tsuburaya kept squirming his hips in his seat.

Logically speaking, he shouldn't be here.

However, given the unique nature of <Magical Girl Prisma Illya>, a tokusatsu work by Tsuburaya Productions that was not part of the Ultraman series for many years, Kazuo Tsuburaya felt that it was best to obtain the information as soon as possible.

To be frank, this guy was really unsure of himself and didn't have high hopes for "Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya," a work that was rushed into production.

Therefore, even though Kazuo Tsuburaya knew that his visit was pointless and would not change the show's performance, he still chose to wait for news in the control room, hoping for peace of mind.

At this point, the first episode of the TV series was nearing its end. Tohsaka Rin, relying on her extensive combat experience, outmaneuvered Illya and took her down.

"I command you!"

Tohsaka Rin, looking down at Illya, said, "You will become my Familiars!"

Haha~

The two staff members in the control room who were watching the monitors chuckled softly.

It wasn't that they didn't want to laugh louder, but after such intense laughter earlier, they simply didn't have the energy to laugh out loud anymore.

Any fan with even a slight impression of the Fate series knows that this scene of Tohsaka Rin and Illya is a replica of a classic scene from FSN—Saber asking Shirou Emiya.

However, the positions of the two sides in the scene are completely reversed. Saber is asking Shirou if he is her Master, while Tohsaka Rin is declaring Illya as her Servant.

When Shinji was creating "Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya," he made a point of reviewing the anime and manga versions of the series, and then he came to the conclusion that part of Oonuma Shin's tragic death was indeed his own doing.

The scene with Rin and Illya is a classic recreation of the Hiroyama series by Hiroyama. It's not just the posture of Illya and Rin sitting and standing, but also the composition of the two under the moonlight, or even the words Rin says to Illya. Who would believe that Hiroyama isn't paying homage to it?

As it turned out, Oonuma Shin didn't consider this aspect at all when creating this part of the story.

As the scene was being recreated, Rin surprisingly uttered lines related to Ruby's True Magic and the card recycling system.

If the rough fight scenes in "Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya" were due to budget constraints, then the lack of attention to detail in these areas is undoubtedly Oonuma Shin's own problem.

The anime series Fate/stay night: Prisma Illya is a spin-off of Fate, so its primary goal was to appeal to Type-Moon viewers. But it couldn't even satisfy its fans; what else can be said?

Of course, given Oonuma Shin's teacher Shinbo's nickname "Original Work Destroyer," it's likely that Oonuma Shin never really took the original manga seriously in the first place.

However, Oonuma Shin didn't learn the skills from Shinbo properly. Although she learned Shinbo's cost-saving style and artistic visual style, her grasp of the plot was truly terrible.

So, the overall effect of the recent seasons of the <Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya> anime...

Type-Moon fans are relatively forgiving. As long as it's not a drastic change like a kodachi (a type of Japanese sword), Type-Moon fans have always been happy that it can be animated at all, and don't expect it to be any better.

If this were an anime of any other genre, the idea of "Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya" having three seasons plus a feature film would be like Chen Peisi a famous Chinese comedian) playing the lead role—a pipe dream!

Compared to Shinji Oonuma Shin's budget-constrained work, Shinji's live-action tokusatsu version of <Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya> had much more freedom in various aspects, and the addition of various personal touches from fans of the series has greatly satisfied Fate fans.

At the end of the first episode, Rin makes a promise to Illya, while the protagonist Illya is completely bewildered, sensing that she is caught in a very troublesome situation, and the scene freezes there.

After the first episode ended, Kazuo Tsuburaya was the first to stand up. He craned his neck to look at the monitors of several staff members, trying to secretly check the data.

At first, the staff didn't react much; many were still immersed in the comedic scenes of "Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya." Some were even still a bit stunned because they had laughed so hard.

Kazuo Tsuburaya's palms were sweating; he was now waiting for the moment that would decide his fate.

Even though there's still one more episode airing, if the first episode's average ratings are too low, the second episode won't be able to salvage it.

After a while, the staff, having recovered their senses, began to check the data and then looked up at Kazuo Tsuburaya.

Seeing the staff member's warm smile, Kazuo Tsuburaya breathed a long sigh of relief. He took out a handkerchief and wiped his glasses, which were already covered with fine beads of sweat.

"Average viewership rating: 23.7%."

Upon hearing this, cheers erupted in the control room. The staff celebrated and cheered each other, and even Kazuo Tsuburaya clenched his fists tightly.

This data is definitely not comparable to last year's UBW, but the two shows are completely different in genre and target audience, so there is no basis for comparison.

For a Tokusatsu, a viewership rating of over 20% is an achievement that hasn't been seen for a very long time.

Of course, this is all thanks to the scheduling. Once it's changed to Saturday mornings, Kazuo Tsuburaya believes the ratings will definitely plummet to below 10%.

"That's not bad either," Kazuo Tsuburaya thought happily. "Ultraman hasn't achieved a 5% score in a long time."

Kazuo Tsuburaya's initial doubts and anxieties about "Prisma Illya" had vanished, and he had even come to genuinely like the show.

"This series is only planned for one season. Should we ask Shinji brothers to try and make a sequel? Or maybe we could make it a series like Ultraman, and call the next one <Magical Girl ☆Saber>?"

Just as Kazuo Tsuburaya was having a brainstorming session, the TV station staff gathered around him.

While congratulating Kazuo Tsuburaya, they tried to extract some information from him.

"Tsuburaya Productions consultant, what average viewership rating do you think this drama series will achieve after its official broadcast?"

"Of course, the more the better. I have confidence in Director Matou."

This wasn't the first time Kazuo Tsuburaya had faced such a situation, so his response was naturally flawless.

The other party seemed determined to cause trouble, and he continued, "Tsuburaya Productions advisor, do you think this 'Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya' can become this year's ratings champion?"

"How could that be? This is a tokusatsu film; there are restrictions on its subject matter."

"What about the annual champion of tokusatsu films?"

Kazuo Tsuburaya curled his lip and said with displeasure, "Are you a gossip reporter? Why do you keep asking these kinds of questions?"

"Yes, I'm a reporter for variety shows."

"..."

Kazuo Tsuburaya's disdainful gaze spoke volumes, so everyone had to change the subject.

"Tsuburaya advisor, with the success of <Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya>, have the Lead Actor considered participating in variety shows?"

It's notorious in the industry that it's difficult to invite actors for the Type-Moon series. The Servants can't leave Fuyuki City, live-action actors like Shirou and Rin aren't interested in variety shows, and actors like Shinji and Touko, who are focused on behind-the-scenes work, have absolutely no interest in variety shows.

This has resulted in Type-Moon artists appearing on variety shows only a handful of times, because these artists are extremely difficult to invite. Some shows even take pride in having Type-Moon artists appear on their programs.

This is just a nice misunderstanding. If the production team is willing to let the Servants film the show in a local studio in Fuyuki City, Shinji would still welcome them to invite the Servants to participate in the show.

Kazuo Tsuburaya was aware of this matter, but it would seem arrogant for him to say it. It would be better for the agent to bring it up under the pretext of scheduling when the production team invites the actors.

Therefore, Kazuo Tsuburaya could only reply expressionlessly, "I will apply to Director Matou and try my best to get him to make arrangements. You can ask the actor's agent for specific details."

As for the specifics of the invitation, Kazuo Tsuburaya was vague, and he remained completely silent about whether there would be a sequel to "Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya".

Because Shinji Matou was mentioned twice, a curious staff member asked about Second Master.

"Does Director Matou have any plans to come to Tokyo recently? With the box office records being broken for 'Super Eight' and 'Mission Impossible: Impossible,' our TV station would like to invite him to do a program."

"You probably won't have a chance," Kazuo Tsuburaya said regretfully. "Shinji Matou has a very full schedule. He has to go to China for an event first, so he simply doesn't have time to come to Tokyo."

"The Celestial Empire? The Shanghai Film Festival?"

An entertainment reporter present at the scene lit up after hearing Kazuo Tsuburaya's words.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Under the scorching June sun, several staff members unloaded luggage from two cargo carts and, under the captain's direction, pushed the items one by one to the front of the aircraft's overhead bins.

Shinji stood at the boarding gate and watched as his belongings were taken onto the plane by staff before he boarded.

"Phew~ It's not as extreme as Tokyo, but Fuyuki City's summers are still pretty hot."

Shinji casually remarked, enjoying the air conditioning in the cabin.

"If you feel better, hurry up and go in. Don't block the passage, brother!"

Sakura, standing behind Shinji, offered a disgruntled reminder.

"Okay, okay."

Shinji grinned awkwardly and walked to his first-class seat, while Sakura deliberately sat down in the row behind him.

At that moment, Udagawa Nao walked over with his phone in hand.

"We've already contacted the people in Shanghai," Udagawa Nao told Shinji. "The film festival organizing committee and the local branch office will be there to pick us up at the airport."

Shinji nodded and smiled, "You don't have much official business in Shanghai this time, so you can have fun, Nannou- nee."

Not many Type-Moon artists attended the Shanghai Film Festival this year. Besides Shinji, Sakura, and Yoruichi who is already in China, only Udagawa Nao was present.

Logically, since the main purpose of this trip was to promote "Super Eight", Hiroshi Nagano and others should have been brought along.

However, Hiroshi Nagano also has idol work with V6 and can't spare the time. Moreover, due to copyright issues, Johnny & Associates's business in China is basically zero, so going there to promote it would be like promoting nothing at all.

In addition, the Chinese government has always been very strict in its review of official visas, so Shinji simply gave up and only took Sakura and Udagawa Nao with him, treating it as if the Matou Family was going on a trip to China.

"That's easy for you to say, you didn't even call him Grandpa."

Sakura, sitting in the back row, coldly retorted.

"There's nothing I can do if the old man doesn't want to come; he went to Gunma Prefecture for hot springs with a group of old friends. But..."

The thought of the task the old man had assigned him made Shinji feel a sharp pain in his testicles and anus.

"It's the middle of summer in June, where am I supposed to buy him crickets?!"

Starting with complaints, Shinji's journey to the Celestial Dynasty began.

Chapter 278 Shinji: What's it like to do something reckless on an airplane?

The plane quickly climbed into the sky, and once it reached a stable flight condition, Shinji asked the flight attendant for a drink.

"Tsk tsk."