Aoko: Is This a Movie Screening or a Gathering of Mages?

Fortunately, although Shinji wasn't good at music, he wasn't tone-deaf either. After painstakingly reconstructing it, he'd finally recreated the song exactly as he remembered it.

And since there were no messy copyright disputes to worry about, Shinji had simply named the song "Disillusion," rather than "This Illusion," the title used in his previous life.

The former suited the film's story better: in the end, Artoria gave up her fantasies and calmly accepted her fate.

Actually, this slightly melancholy ending didn't fit the rules of big-budget commercial films. If anything, the happy ending of the UBW route's Good End was much more in line with the commercial approach.

Shinji had also filmed material for that Good End as an alternate ending. But during the final edit, Second Master had decided that the original ending better showed Artoria's character growth and made her character more complete, so he'd stuck with it.

Fortunately, art films reigned supreme in this world, and tragic endings were the one thing they never lacked.

So the audience hadn't been dissatisfied with FSN's slightly sorrowful ending. They'd simply found themselves wanting more.

"What slightly melancholy music..." Aoko leaned her head back against the chair and sighed. "Still, it suits the state of mind of that King Arthur. Azu, do you think the real King Arthur found peace and ascended to heaven?"

"It's just a movie. You need to separate it from reality."

Azu gave her opinion with her eyes lowered.

"Is that so..." Aoko tapped her chin, looking puzzled. "But my sister told me the actors in this movie all played themselves."

"Hmm~"

Azu raised her eyebrows at that.

"You're not thinking of going to Fuyuki City, are you?"

Aoko immediately perked up. If Azu really was thinking of going, she could take the opportunity to visit Touko, too.

Azu replied without expression, "Maybe."

"Hey, come on. That's too cruel!"

Aoko was sure her friend had something in mind, but unfortunately, she couldn't read the blank expression on the other girl's face at all.

Fuyuki City premiere screening.

While the audience savored FSN's epic story to the lilting melody of "Disillusion," Shinji and the crew had already left as soon as the movie itself ended.

Before the film started, the audience hadn't known who they were, so everything had been fine. Now that it was over, at least in this theater, their group was bound to be famous.

To prevent anything from happening in the cramped theater, Shinji had promptly led everyone out early.

"Hey, hey, Master."

As soon as they stepped out of the theater, Cú Chulainn moved in and slung an arm around Shinji's neck.

Shinji shot him a sideways glance. "What is it?"

Cú Chulainn grinned. "Master, after how hard I worked during filming, can I be the lead in the next movie?"

Remembering how the audience had forgotten him after his second appearance in the film, Cú Chulainn couldn't help feeling indignant.

Especially since...

[Why did they remember that guy even though he only appeared for less than forty minutes at the end, when I'd been there from the very beginning and they didn't remember me?]

"You, the lead?" Shinji looked Cú Chulainn up and down. "Are you planning to make Death Comes!?"

When it came to his own Heroic Spirit's Luck E, Shinji's first thought was the classic line, "Lancer died again!"

And if there was another one, he could always add, "How heartless!"

Cú Chulainn had no idea what his Master was thinking. As soon as he heard the title Shinji had mentioned, he was intrigued.

"What kind of movie is that? A horror film?"

After spending so long summoned into the present day, Cú Chulainn had gained a basic understanding of movies. Hearing the title, he immediately guessed it was a horror film.

Shinji shrugged. "Something like that."

[For you, it'd definitely be a horror film.]

"Sounds great." Cú Chulainn was tempted. "Hey, hey, Master. How about letting me star in it?"

"Let's talk about it after you've memorized your lines word for word."

Shinji tapped Big Doggy on the head, then gave him that deliberately vague answer.

If he wanted to make Heroic Spirit Actors a selling point for his film company, it was only a matter of time before those Heroic Spirits starred in other movies.

The Heroic Spirits were all handsome men and beautiful women. It would obviously be a waste not to rent out such a valuable resource.

But other directors wouldn't be as patient as Director Matou, and before handing them over to anyone else, he felt they needed to meet at least the basic standards of acting.

At the back of the group, Risei Kotomine watched Shinji and the others playfully bickering up ahead, a relieved smile on his face.

As he put on his coat, he said to Tokiomi Tohsaka, "Those children who barely reached my knees back then have all grown up now. It really makes me feel old."

"Mm..."

Tokiomi, who'd been silent all night, finally spoke.

"Tell me, has Shinji already reached such a high level of Magecraft? The way he depicted the Jewel Magecraft formulas in the film showed advanced applications that even Rin hasn't learned yet..."

As he spoke, Tokiomi tilted his head up and gazed at the moonlight overhead.

"Are there really such prodigies in this world?"

"Hey, you've been quiet all night, and that's what you've been thinking about?!"

Risei Kotomine nearly spat out his drink.

Shinji and his group in Fuyuki City were having a relaxed, cheerful time, while the employees of Bandai in Tokyo, led by Udagawa Nao, were celebrating just as enthusiastically.

After everyone had worked overtime to get it done, the audience survey results from the Tokyo premiere screening were finally ready.

"Ms. Udagawa, here are the results from the Tokyo premiere screening."

An employee from the survey team reported to Udagawa Nao, holding the report in his hands.

"We handed out 345 audience questionnaires and got 302 back." The employee summarized as succinctly as he could. "There were 275 excellent ratings, 15 good, five satisfactory, and seven poor. In addition..."

The employee paused briefly. He glanced at Udagawa Nao, then continued, "Among the specially targeted audience group mentioned by Director Matou—ages fifteen to thirty-five—only two rated it satisfactory and one rated it poorly."

The office fell quiet for a few seconds, then the employees burst into loud cheers.

"Haha! That's amazing!"

"Long live Director Matou!"

"Her Majesty Artoria really is the best!"

"Fate is the greatest!"

The office turned chaotic in an instant, with clutter from the employees working overtime strewn everywhere.

Bandai's employees hadn't seen audience reviews this overwhelmingly positive in years.

One excited guy even took off his shirt and started swinging it around, prompting shrieks from the female employees.

Compared with her subordinates, who were already acting like a bunch of lunatics, Udagawa Nao was much more restrained. Still, the radiant smile on her face gave away exactly how she felt.

The excellent survey results, along with the audience's enthusiasm for the film that she'd felt in the theater, had only strengthened her confidence in the movie.

"Very well done."

Udagawa Nao casually picked up an audience questionnaire from the desk and read its contents aloud.

"The Magecraft formulas in the movie felt incredibly real, as if I'd personally taken part in an actual Holy Grail War. The heart-pounding feeling of being on the battlefield never let up from beginning to end. The story was a little exaggerated, and the effects of the formulas had all been amplified, but that actually made the action scenes more satisfying. The battles between the Heroic Spirits in particular showed them at the height of their power."

Some of the odd remarks recorded in the questionnaire involuntarily reminded her of the two chūnibyō girls who'd sat beside her that evening.

"Though it was a little exaggerated, and some people couldn't tell reality from the story..."

No matter the circumstances, it was a good thing if the audience liked the movie.

In fact, the kind of fan so passionate they couldn't tell the movie from reality was exactly the audience Bandai needed most. If they didn't sell their toys and merchandise to those fans, who would they sell them to?

"As expected, just like he said, young audiences are more receptive to this movie."

Thinking back to the supplementary notes at the end of the survey report, Udagawa Nao smiled without comment.

"Since the results turned out as he expected, it's time to put the distribution plan he left behind to use."

As she spoke, Udagawa Nao took a promotional plan proposal Shinji had written long ago out of her desk drawer.

While Shinji and Bandai were both looking forward to the film's future, the Japanese Magecraft community was in an uproar.

"Hey, have you heard about that movie?"

"I have. I heard the way it portrays Magecraft formulas is incredible!"

"That's not all. I heard that the director brought all kinds of formulas that were originally just theories to life!"

"And that ritual called the Holy Grail War is supposedly capable of reaching the Root!"

"The Root!!! Seriously?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen the movie."

Although Bandai hadn't held many premiere screenings, and mages made up only a small proportion of Japan's population, quite a few mages had attended them besides the Fuyuki City group and the two girls, Aoko and Azu.

After watching the movie, they immediately reported what they'd seen to their families.

FSN became a hot topic in the Magecraft community in no time.

The information networks between mages were not to be underestimated. Although only a handful had watched the film, word soon spread throughout the entire community.

The reason it spread so quickly was that much of what Shinji had shown in the film—the powerful Magecraft formulas, the heroes' Noble Phantasms, and the possibility of reaching the Root—was exactly what the Magecraft community desperately wanted.

"Hey, find out what's going on!"

"The film was made by the Matou Family, right?"

"Was it filmed in Fuyuki City?"

"Hurry up and find out whether the Holy Grail Summoning ritual is viable!"

In an effort to find out what was real and what wasn't about the Magecraft in the film, quite a few Mage Families began to take action.

But FSN hadn't yet gone into wide release, and it was difficult to get a clear picture based only on the accounts of people who'd seen it.

As a result, most mages only knew there was a movie about Magecraft, and that it revealed a lot of secret techniques. They didn't know any of the specifics.

In any case, FSN had spread throughout the Magecraft community.

Chapter 27: Aoko: Is This a Movie Screening or a Gathering of Mages?

Shinji still didn't know that he'd become famous in the Magecraft community all over again.

But even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared. After all, he had something more important to do right now—promote FSN.

After three long days of waiting, Bandai had finally finished compiling the audience feedback from all the premiere screenings across the country.

That couldn't exactly be called fast, but considering this was a country that, twenty years later, would use only three fax machines to compile nationwide infectious disease statistics, Shinji hadn't expected them to do it any faster.

The nationwide premiere screenings had been a tremendous success. The audience reviews had been overwhelmingly positive, and many viewers had explicitly said they'd watch the film again once it was released.

Sure, plenty of the people who'd said that were probably the kind who'd never actually follow through, but it was still a good sign that audiences liked the movie.

Taking advantage of the buzz from the premiere screenings, Shinji had also sat down with several of the main cast members for a media interview arranged by Bandai.

With Bandai's conservative release strategy, they couldn't possibly attract the major newspapers. And since Shinji had strongly insisted on holding the interview in Fuyuki City, even fewer reporters had come. Only reporters from a few lower- and mid-tier media outlets had been willing to attend the somewhat unusual interview.

Their attention was focused mainly on the two lead actors, Artoria and Shirou Emiya. Shinji had been mentioned too, but he'd received far less attention than the two of them.

That also had to do with Bandai's promotional strategy. Shinji was an unknown rookie director with little to promote, whereas Artoria, who'd won a huge number of fans at the screenings and already had commercial appeal, was far more likely to attract the attention of moviegoers and the media.

So Bandai's promotional strategy for FSN revolved around the actors.

If FSN became a big hit, they could promote Shinji's next movie using the label "Director of FSN."

The reporters who'd come to conduct the interview had all seen the movie, so compared with the male lead, Shirou Emiya, they actually wanted to interview Gilgamesh more.

Shirou had given a respectable performance in the film, but his nice-guy character had left a far less striking impression than Gilgamesh.

But how could Director Matou possibly dare to let Gilgamesh out during such a crucial period of promotion?

Even the Wise King version of Gilgamesh had a way of speaking that was anything but pleasant. He might not say "mongrel" every other word, but he still had his nose in the air.

Actually, as long as Gilgamesh didn't keep calling people "mongrels," his arrogant attitude could even be sold as a "tsundere" character type.