Chapter 110: All Set! 《super Change Change Change》 Countdown Begins!
Tokyo Television Station, Production Bureau Headquarters Building, that Executive Deputy Director’s Office at the pinnacle of the power pyramid, was at this moment like the eye of a storm before it gathers, quiet to the point of suffocation.
Toshihide Takada habitually stood with his back to the door, in front of that massive floor-to-ceiling window, holding a cup of top-grade Blue Mountain Coffee that had long gone cold.
The air in the office seemed frozen, heavy enough to crush bones.
Masao Iwata was like a soulless statue, humbly hunching on a low stool beside the sofa, that face once full of arrogance now left only with numbness and emptiness utterly crushed by reality.
He didn’t dare lift his head, not even dare to breathe, fearing that the slightest sound would provoke the thunderous rage of that silent volcano.
Even if he hadn’t made any mistakes now, it was the same.
“Creak—”
The thick wooden door was silently pushed open, two starkly different figures, like two unsheathed sharp blades, one after the other, slicing through the deathly silence, appearing at the doorway.
Yasui Takashi and Ito Chōan entered.
“Deputy Director Takada.” The two respectfully bowed to that mountain-like back.
“Mm.” Toshihide Takada didn’t turn around, merely hummed through his nose in response, then asked in a voice flat to the point of indifference: “Iwata, how’s it going?”
Masao Iwata’s body jolted sharply, he quickly raised his head, his voice hoarse yet filled with eager credit-seeking urgency: “Yes! Deputy Director! It’s all been handled! I used all my connections, from Tokyo Sports Newspaper to Nikkan Gendai, all the mainstream media’s entertainment sections have been squared away! Even the major local papers in Osaka and Nagoya, I’ve reached out to them!”
He tremblingly pulled out several newspaper proofs from his briefcase, offering them with both hands, his posture like a hound eagerly presenting prey to its master.
“These are their front-page previews for tomorrow. I’ve already drafted the headlines—【From ‘Urban Legends’ to ‘National Variety Show’! Can Hiroshi Nohara’s cross-boundary myth continue its glory?!】”
“Very good.” Toshihide Takada finally slowly turned around, took the proofs, glanced at them casually, and a trace of satisfied smile finally appeared on his gloomy face.
He turned his gaze to the two silent Variety Show Aces and asked: “You two went to the site, what did you think?”
“Just so-so.” Yasui Takashi shrugged, his posture like a cat toying with a mouse, full of undisguised contempt: “Deputy Director, forgive my bluntness, that wasn’t even… worthy of a variety show recording.”
“Oh?” Toshihide Takada was curious.
“What I saw wasn’t improvised clashes, not random gags, and certainly not that ‘live feel’ full of uncertainty that belongs to variety shows.”
Yasui Takashi shook his wrist with the gleaming Rolex, a mocking arc curling at his lips: “What I saw was a group of actors, following an excruciatingly detailed script, performing like marionettes in front of the lens, precisely completing every action, every expression.”
“Exactly.” Ito Chōan’s eyes flickered with icy sarcasm beside him, his evaluation even more concise and cutting: “He’s not making a variety show, he’s using a filmmaking approach to shoot a… childish fantasy-filled, kindergarten-level play-pretend game!”
“Play-pretend game? That low an evaluation?” Toshihide Takada’s lips curved further in amusement.
He trusted these two’s professionalism.
“He doesn’t understand the soul of variety shows at all! The soul of variety shows is ‘people’! It’s the irreproducible chemical reaction between stars and audience in that instant! Yet he’s trying to strangle that soul with a script! It’s simply… putting the cart before the horse, utter folly!”
Ito Chōan’s words were utterly confident, articulating an iron rule of the variety show realm that they firmly believed in.
“Very good.” The smile on Toshihide Takada’s face grew thicker.
He looked at Masao Iwata, his expression instantly turning cold: “Iwata, did you hear that?”
“Yes! Deputy Director!” Masao Iwata immediately replied.
“Add their ‘professional commentary’ too. Find some sharp writers, set the tone high, say… ‘Genius’s Arrogance’, ‘Outsider’s Obsession’, ‘Challenging variety show iron rules with movie logic is destined to be A Splendid Suicide’.”
“I want everyone to know that young person paraded on the altar of godhood can’t make variety shows at all!”
Toshihide Takada’s words were even more incisive.
“Yes!”
Masao Iwata nodded vigorously, a faint ghostly glow of malice and excitement reigniting in his hollow eyes: “Deputy Director, rest assured! I’ve got pager numbers for plenty of presidents and editors-in-chief at various papers! I guarantee to push this flood of public opinion to its peak in the shortest time!”
“No worries about the budget.”
Toshihide Takada waved his hand, his posture like a king controlling everything: “I don’t want a simple victory. I want a public execution that presses the entire Kanto Faction’s face to the ground and rubs it repeatedly!”
……
The next morning, as the first ray of sunlight pierced the clouds, a long-premeditated public opinion storm swept across the entire neon land with an unstoppable force.
Crowds gathered in front of major newsstands.
All mainstream newspapers’ entertainment sections used the most eye-catching headlines and most inflammatory brushstrokes to thrust that young person named Hiroshi Nohara and his yet-to-air mystery variety show Super Change Change Change onto a dazzling altar built of countless praises and expectations.
《Asahi Shimbun》: 【From late-night slot to prime time slot, from television drama to variety show! Hiroshi Nohara’s “Midas Touch”, can it turn stone to gold again?!】
《Yomiuri Shimbun》: 【”Hiroshi Nohara’s Super Change Change Change!”—Can Hiroshi Nohara’s variety show revolution overturn an era?!】
Yet, amid this near-deification frenzy, a few seemingly objective but actually loaded “professional” voices were mixed in.
The poison-pen Shukan Bunshun once again featured senior film critic “Spicy Tang Lion” with a deep-dive commentary titled 【Genius’s Achilles’ Heel: When Movie Logic Meets Variety Show’s Iron Wall】.
“…We never deny Hiroshi Nohara’s astonishing talent in ‘storytelling’. But we must recognize clearly that variety shows are never an art of ‘storytelling’. It’s an art of ‘crowd control’.”
“According to a Tokyo Television Station insider variety show director who wished to remain anonymous, Hiroshi Nohara’s Super Change Change Change completely abandons traditional variety show production modes, adopting an almost obsessive ‘cinematized’ filming approach. Every segment, every punchline, is pre-written into the script. This is undoubtedly the greatest strangling of variety shows’ ‘live feel’ and ‘improvisational charm’.”
“We’re very concerned that this genius accustomed to controlling everything from behind the scenes, when he tries to challenge variety show’s fiery, passionate iron wall with his icy movie logic, will ultimately expose his fatal Achilles’ heel…”
Praise, and kill-by-praise.
Expectation, and doomsaying.
Two starkly different voices, under deliberate guidance, quickly fermented into a nationwide discussion.
In an instant, Hiroshi Nohara’s name and his yet-to-unveil Super Change Change Change became August’s hottest and most controversial topic.
……
While in distant Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka…
The local powerhouses who had just formed the “Anti-Hiroshi Nohara Alliance” laughed uproariously upon seeing these overwhelming reports.
“Hahahaha! I told you! That Tokyo kid is just an outsider!”
At Kansai Television Station, Production Bureau Deputy Director Ichiro Iwaya slammed the newspaper on the table, his ashen face full of gleeful schadenfreude: “Treating variety shows like movies? What a joke! It’s suicide!”
“Who says otherwise.”
Nagoya Chukyo Television Station’s Head of Production Ken Yamada also chuckled with schadenfreude over the phone: “That old fox Toshihide Takada played this ‘kill-by-praise’ beautifully. Now all of neon is waiting to see that kid’s flop. Once his kindergarten-level play-pretend game airs and ratings tank, let’s see how arrogant he can be!”
He hung up and called someone else, explaining the matter.
“Exactly! This is a godsend! Tokyo TV is fighting internally! So entertaining!”
Fukuoka Kyushu Broadcasting’s Shigeru Tanaka’s voice brimmed with irrepressible excitement: “The more arrogant and talent-wasting he is, the more time he gives us to breathe and catch up! Everyone, we must accelerate our ‘Urban Legends’ proposal too! Next month, when that kid’s myth crumbles, is our best chance to swarm, divide up the market blank he leaves!”
Conspiracies intertwined over the airwaves.
They could almost see that young person elevated to the clouds crashing down under reality’s weight, shattering to pieces miserably.
They even started celebrating in advance their impending victory.
……
In the late-night diner, those night-shift guards who had cheered An Shizhi’s triumphant return now frowned at the variety show promo on TV.
“What’s going on? Why’s Teacher Nohara doing variety shows?” The crew-cut strongman’s voice was full of confusion: “He’s clearly a genius at urban legends, doing that giggly comedy stuff is wasting talent, right?”
“Who says otherwise.” The scar-faced man chugged beer, smacked his lips, “And his rebooted An Shizhi Season 3, though a hundred times better than Iwata’s trash, still… doesn’t feel as astonishing as the first or second seasons. A bit… overdone.”
These words voiced the sentiments of countless An Shizhi veteran fans.
Like the pickiest gourmets, they could taste the subtle compromise for the market beneath that familiar flavor.
In University of Tokyo’s male dormitory, the debate was even fiercer.
“This is betrayal! Betrayal of the ‘Urban Legends’ brand!” Takuya Suzuki waved his newspaper agitatedly: “Teacher Nohara’s head’s turned by victory! Thinks he’s omnipotent, forgot his foundation! Variety shows? What’s that? Garbage for thoughtless plebs!”
“Yeah! Why’s Teacher Nohara doing variety shows! Urban legends shows are so much better!” The other college students nodded indignantly too.
This flood of disappointment and worry even seeped into Hiroshi Nohara’s core team.
Backstage at Studio Number Three, Xiao Xunhua and Fujii Tree, just finished rehearsing, sat exhausted in the corner.
Their faces showed no excitement for the new stage, instead shrouded in thick, inescapable worry.
“Fujii… was our performance just now… really funny?” Xiao Xunhua’s voice carried a doubt she herself hadn’t noticed.
She recalled onstage, her and companions in ridiculous tights mimicking a working typewriter with their bodies, the heartfelt shame still burning her cheeks.
“I don’t know.” Fujii Tree shook his head with a bitter smile, lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, but the swirling smoke couldn’t dispel the confusion in his eyes: “We’re just performing per Teacher Nohara’s script. But… will audiences buy these fully designed punchlines? I feel like it’s… too deliberate.”
They were actors, not comedians.
They could precisely replicate every action, every expression in the script, yet couldn’t predict what bizarre creation these disassembled “parts” would form when pieced together.
They feared that they, the highly hoped-for “Kanto Faction Actors”, would become the last rice straw breaking this genius.
After all, they’d failed too long.
Finally got a strong leader who led them to an invincible comeback win.
Now thrown into another battlefield.
An unfamiliar one.
They didn’t know the outcome.
All very worried inside.
Yet, amid this nationwide clamor and doubt, the young person at the storm’s center seemed in another dimension’s time-space, deaf to the outside world.
Hiroshi Nohara was drawing Yu Yu Hakusho manuscripts, after all, he was still a manga artist who needed to meet deadlines.
And when Hiroshi Nohara drew manga, he entered a state of calm.
Nothing to worry about.
Hiroshi Nohara had countless neon film and television works from his previous life as foundation, confidence, ace card.
Whenever he wanted, he could transplant all those previous-life neon works to this neon.
So he had no need to worry.
Those who should worry are others!
PS: Keep asking for votes~
