135: An Extraordinary Woman / 136: Hokkaido

Inoue Hikoo has been quite free lately. He finished making the Alien Baby Hikari-chan, and doesn't have any plans for the future.

Hanazawa Sakura is busy, but she doesn't have to work during the New Year holiday.

The next thing worth paying attention to is the Red and White Song Battle Gassen ratings, which were released on January 2nd.

Chapter 149, Page 135: A Remarkable Woman

The ratings for the Red and White Song Battle are always a focus of attention.

This year's Red and White Song Battle is especially special, as it spans a century and marks the beginning of a new millennium.

The average viewership ratings for the two parts of this year's Red and White Song Battle season were 56.5% and 65.9%, respectively.

This viewership rating is so high it's like stepping back into the 70s and 80s.

Because the ratings for the Red and White Song Battle Festival after the 1990s hovered around 40% to 50%.

The most noteworthy peak in viewership ratings occurred during Hanazawa Sakura and Shuya's third song, "Small Love Song".

The viewership rating for those few minutes reached 75.8%.

This is an astonishing achievement.

It really is the influence of the Alien Baby Hikari-chan.

The Alien Baby Hikari-chan caused that mess around Christmas, leaving people in dire need of comfort.

As we all know, the biggest audience for Alien Baby Hikari-chan is not otaku, but families.

Older people are actually more able to feel the emotions that animations are trying to convey than younger people.

These kinds of people often hold the power of life and death over the TV remote control in their homes.

And so this ratings miracle occurred.

Many people saw what Hanazawa Sakura looked like for the first time.

They knew what Shuya looked like, but their impression of him was still from the advertisements where he crawled around in diapers.

MHK's casting of this mother and son duo generated more buzz than expected.

News of the ratings made the front pages of major newspapers, and more people began to pay attention to the voice acting industry.

I received numerous invitations from TV series and movies.

But neither Hanazawa Sakura nor Shuya reacted much.

Hanazawa Sakura wasn't interested, while Shuya had already made plans with her.

Moreover... these invitations to kill might not necessarily be good things.

Most dramas try to capitalize on the popularity of Hanazawa Sakura and Shuya to increase viewership.

It wasn't out of kindness.

It's better not to accept those kinds of offers, to avoid damaging your image.

Anyway, the mother and son run their own agency, so there's no risk of being exploited or forced to take on roles.

This is a very happy thing.

Hanazawa Sakura's agency doesn't have as many resources as the big agencies, but it has the advantage of freedom.

She and Shuya in a hurry for money, so they didn't need to take a sham job just for it.

Shuya is quite selective; even when she accepts advertising contracts, she considers many factors before taking them on.

Otherwise, Shuya have only landed one children's clothing endorsement in a whole year.

This made those firms feel like they were going to die.

In their eyes, Shuya a perfect money-making machine.

If they were in charge of the planning, Shuya could create hundreds or thousands of times more profit than they do now.

As for whether he's tired or not, nobody cares.

Don't be fooled by Shuya's seemingly carefree life; the entertainment industry is still quite dark.

Hanazawa Sakura didn't decide on a job for Shuya; she simply had Maeda Saori prepare the materials for him to choose from.

Shuya is currently focusing on preparing for his Morning Drama and hasn't taken on any other work.

Hanazawa Sakura let him be and didn't interfere.

Inoue Hikoo didn't ask Shuya to do the voice acting either; he's still doing nothing, at most handling some merchandise development for the Alien Baby Hikari-chan, and making money while lying down.

Shuya was studying the role.

He genuinely wanted to play the role of Ikeda Ichinosuke well.

Shuya learned the Northland New Snow Thousand-Fold Style, and strictly speaking, Ikeda Ichinosuke was his master.

Although I've never seen their faces, this is a fact.

Li Shuhong was essentially passing on his skills on behalf of a friend. The fact that he didn't allow Shuya to call him "Master" suggests that he had this in mind.

Ikeda Ichinosuke undoubtedly deserves the title of Shuya's master.

Shuya has recently been consciously improving his swordsmanship according to Li Shuhong's description.

According to Li Shuhong, Ikeda Ichinosuke's swordsmanship is more stylish, dreamlike, and elegant.

Watching him wield his sword is like watching a dance.

Watching Ikeda Ichinosuke murder is like watching a magnificent performance.

Every drop of blood from the enemy, every wail, every sound of a bone breaking, together create a mesmerizing sonata.

In addition, Ikeda Ichinosuke is even more handsome than Shuya, making him a character straight out of a dream.

It's a pity he died so young.

However, if he hadn't died so young, the female lead probably wouldn't have had her later romantic escapades.

Asagami Miin's story... can be described as a particularly girlish and reverse harem tale.

In her childhood, Asagami Miin had a handsome father and older and younger brothers who took great care of her.

There's also Ikeda Ichinosuke, a hardworking and loyal dog who is indifferent to everyone else but would die for her alone.

As she grew older, she was surrounded by countless admirers... well, let's just say they were simps.

And she always had Li Shuhong, a handsome older brother with superb martial arts skills, helping her.

There's also the timid but handsome classmate she knew from school, the considerate and handsome older senior, and the cute younger junior.

During the war, I also met various soldiers, superiors, colleagues, and wealthy people...

Handsome men from all over the world after the war...

Let me put it this way.

Asagami Miin is destined to be a harem protagonist.

Her descendants are sometimes unsure whether their father is actually their father...

She has been with many men, and although she hasn't made it public, people have always been talking about her having a reverse harem.

Neither she nor those men ever denied it, nor did they ever confirm it.

No one knows the truth, and it wasn't recorded in her autobiography.

Let the world speculate...

She is truly an extraordinary woman.

That 'Shuya could say.

According to popular belief, Asagami Miin was not a flirtatious woman, but rather a very gentle and Book Girl with a classical temperament.

She may look delicate, but she has a strong spirit.

She possesses all the qualities a harem male protagonist should have.

She has a special constitution and often unintentionally witnesses various handsome men emerging from or entering the bath, and in various unexpected falls, wall slams, ground slams, and bed slams, she ends up embracing them in an inescapable situation.

In short, it's absolutely amazing.

The script that Shuya recently received also contains several scenes like these.

Asagami Miin accidentally stumbles upon him taking a shower and changing clothes after sword practice.

What's most impressive is that she managed to trip up Ikeda Ichinosuke, a martial arts master, and get him to do all sorts of things to her, including princess carries.

That's truly terrifying.

Accidental kisses do happen, but they probably wouldn't be real.

Borrowing space can solve the problem.

Shuya's focus in life was still on improving his techniques, and he even asked Shizuka Hiratsuka to help him with deductions.

How exactly can one combine coolness and lethality?

Shuya sure how well he had designed his movements, and since Li Shuhong wasn't around, he couldn't ask him.

That's all I can do.

The good news is that this is just filming; if necessary, lethality can be sacrificed in favor of flashy moves.

This might seem a bit unconventional, but it's still a possible solution.

In addition to improving his moves, Shuya also has an additional activity.

Acting opposite Mai- chan.

Mai- chan received the script, studied it for a few days, and then pulled Shuya along to prepare it together.

According to the script, she and Shuya don't actually interact that much. Ikeda Ichinosuke is a rather quiet person, and his main activity is in action scenes.

The character Asagami Miin is different; she has scenes with many different people.

But since Mai- chan knew Shuya, she had no choice but to ask him to act alongside her.

And so, the time to power on finally arrived.

In mid-January, Shuya and Mai- chan arrived in Hokkaido with the main group.

Section 150, Hokkaido

"Has it finally come to this...?"

On the plane to Asahikawa Airport in Hokkaido, Mai- chan and Shuya were sitting in the two seats on the left.

Her mother sat in front.

Mai- chan looked somewhat uneasy.

Shuya asked, bored, "Is this Mai- chan's first time on an airplane?"

"No, that's not it..."

Mai- chan shook her head.

"Then why are you nervous?"

Shuya casually picked up the menu and began to study it.

"Of course it's for filming, you know the answer already."

"Oh, this looks good."

Shuya didn't listen to her at all, leaving Mai- chan sulking.

"Okay, okay, don't be angry, pat pat."