Chapter Eighty-six: A Flower is Settled

  After dealing with Miyazaki Aoi, the only one left is Yakushimaru Hiroko.

  TV dramas have a characteristic, that is, the performances of the actors in TV dramas are often exaggerated. This is actually normal, because unless it's a century-old masterpiece, few people will sit in front of the TV and watch the show with full emotional investment. The low level of audience engagement is the most obvious difference between TV dramas and movies. In movies, actors' subtle expressions and movements can be fully absorbed by the audience, but on TV, it's different. If you make those small expressions and movements, housewives knitting in front of the TV might miss them if they blink, and if that moment is crucial to the plot development, they might not understand what's going on, leading to a loss of viewership.

  This is why "Legal High" and "Hanzawa Naoki" received high ratings, while "Ando Lloyd" and "SPEC2" only had average ratings. The first two dramas were a bit over-the-top but managed to grab the attention of most people watching TV, whereas the latter two clearly targeted young audiences who would focus on watching them seriously. However, housewives didn't like them as much, not just because they were sci-fi themed. "Ando Lloyd" is actually a romance drama at its core, despite being labeled as sci-fi. The reason for this is that both dramas employed a more cinematic storytelling approach (although, as TV dramas, they were still somewhat over-the-top...).

  What is filmization? In LH and Hanzawa Naoki, Sakai Masato's performance was exaggerated to death. Some audiences said "I don't like the male lead's over-the-top acting" or "The male lead's acting skills are too flashy and boring". This is actually not Sakai Masato's overacting, but rather what the film required him to do.

  Yakushi Maru Hiroko... Her acting style also belongs to the "exaggerated" school.

  In the Japanese drama "1 Litre of Tears", Takako Tokiwa's portrayal of Aya Kito's mother was decent, and her slightly exaggerated acting could be understood. However, in Zhou Xiao's movie, it's hoped that Takako Tokiwa won't continue to overact like this. After Kuroki Hitomi recommended her, Zhou Xiao also expressed this concern when he was with Nagata Kyoko.

  Nagata Koto hesitated for a moment before saying, "I think you don't have to worry too much about her. She's not someone who hasn't acted in movies before. W's tragedy is quite a good movie, and Japanese films are like that anyway. If we just tone down a bit, I believe she can contribute some pretty good acting."

  Yakushi Maru Hiroko quickly passed on the news of her agreement to star in the film to her company after reading the script, and it was convenient for her to return to Japan. After Uncle Inoue and Zhou Xiao had discussed and settled the remuneration with the company, they waited for her to return to Tokyo before starting filming immediately.

  At this time, Japan had entered the early autumn of September, and the Olympics had just ended. The pressure from Johnny's to hide their admiration for Arashi or Matsumoto was getting more and more severe. During this period, none of Arashi's juniors dared to say that they admired Arashi or Matsumoto. On TV, Arashi faced a predicament. On August 30th, they had just released their 32nd single, but in terms of promoting the single, they were unable to get almost any variety show promotional opportunities. Despite this, the sales of this single continued to rise steadily, and many people estimated that if this trend continued, Arashi's third million-selling single would be born.

  But in terms of music, this was their last glory before 2003. In the history that Zhou Xiao has experienced, **AP released two singles in 2000, but by 2001, which was supposed to be their tenth anniversary, they didn't release a single until July 28th. Moreover, the quality of this single was extremely poor, and after its release, it was only performed once in public before being shelved.

  The year passed quickly, and by 02, **AP's predicament with Johnny's still seemed to show no signs of improvement, the sales of their 34th single were also disappointing. It wasn't until the release of "One" in 2003 that they finally made a comeback in music, regaining their million-selling status.

  Although in the movie industry, Zhou Xiao is just an inexperienced newcomer who is not valued by anyone, but in the music industry, almost all Japanese companies have shown a very welcoming attitude towards Zhou Xiao. A new songwriter with a million singles is absolutely a golden signboard, let alone his contract is signed with his own company, which means that no one can stop him from providing songs to other companies.

  So, when Zhou Xiao expressed his desire to provide a song for **AP**, people like Kimura Takuya were initially surprised. The encounter on MS didn't leave a deep impression on the members of **AP**, and Inoue's words seemed more polite than anything else. Even though Zhou Xiao agreed on the spot, the five of them gradually forgot about it. Now, those who should have remembered have forgotten, while those who should have forgotten still remember very clearly.

  "What kind of song is it?" Nakagawa Shingo asked over the phone.

  "I haven't written it out in detail yet, but I think it will be a simple and easy-to-sing route. I'm contacting you now to ask if you have plans to release a single next spring. This song of mine is simple, bright and easy to sing, and should also be related to flowers, so you know, it's spring after all." Zhou Xiao said on the phone, his meaning was clear, he wanted **AP to release their single during the cherry blossom season in the spring.

  "Our current situation, how could anyone possibly give us a song?" Nakai Masahiro said with a somewhat self-deprecating laugh.

  "Hey, I don't care about that kind of thing, but even though I don't care, I still want to say one thing, Mù Jiāng (Wooden Village) is a real man!" Zhōu Xiǎo said with complete clarity and without any pressure, however this sentence was very important for the current **AP. The nearby listening Mù Jiāng, even though he wasn't the kind of person who would easily be moved to tears by sentimental words, still felt slightly touched by Zhōu Xiǎo's words.

  "It won't work no matter what, you don't know how big the company and organization are above us, with such a strong backing..." said Nakauji.

  "What's the point of being stronger if I still don't have anything to do with them?" Zhou Xiao said carelessly, looking like a typical 18-year-old boy, but in reality, he only dared to say this after having found his true purpose.

  "By the way, Nakai brother, you haven't mentioned your plans for next spring yet." Zhou Xiao said.

  "Of course not, now Johnny's won't find songs for us. The two singles released this year were actually found and recorded by Rina herself."

  "So it's settled then? I'll write the new single for next spring! Of course, if you're not satisfied with the quality, you can always return it. I'm not someone who can't take that kind of treatment." Zhou Xiao said with a pretended air of nonchalance. If all the songs in the world were returned, then that person would simply have no musical aesthetic at all.

  "Alright! It's settled then! Thanks!" Nakagawa said.

  "Next spring, huh...... You guys should let me know the exact time after you've decided on it, don't clash your single with mine, I won't be able to beat you!" Zhou Xiao said.

  "Are you going to release a song next spring too? Is it also a cherry blossom song?" Nakai asked strangely. Next spring, when he himself is releasing a song, he's writing songs for other groups? Isn't this equivalent to cultivating his own rivals? Has Zhou Xiaozhen become so heartless and ruthless?

  "My song can't be considered a cherry blossom song, it will be released before the cherry blossom season arrives, to be strict, it's a winter song." said Zhou Xiaodao.

  What is called "powder snow", sounds like pink snow, so it's a cherry blossom song, but actually it means powdered, finely divided snow, so after all, it's still a winter song, just like Aya's life gradually entering the cold winter.

  "Is that so? Well, we're really looking forward to it," said Nakai Masahiro.

  After finalizing the single's release with AP, Yakushimaru Hiroko finally returned to Japan after completing all NHK filming. After arriving in Japan, she rested for only one day before appearing in front of Zhou Xiao and the entire production team, and "One Litre of Tears" is finally going into production!

  Is this considered a doujinshi? Not even in Doujinshi circles is anyone discussing it... Hmph...

  ，！