Chapter 299: When Indecisiveness Strikes
When it comes to a tokusatsu show, what's the single most important thing?
The flashy battles?
The cool, dashing hero personas?
Or perhaps the endless chain of explosions?
No, no, no—those aren't the true essence of tokusatsu.
To kids, no matter how dazzling the fight scenes, one day they'll just blur into sensory overload. No matter how stylish a hero, they'll eventually be overshadowed by the next newcomer. And no matter how epic an explosion, it can still end up as nothing more than a noisy headache.
The real heart of tokusatsu—the part that sticks in your memory forever—is always that one moment.
The hero's entrance.
In industry terms? The transformation scene!
Whether it's a Kamen Rider shouting his henshin call, an Ultraman delivering an edgy monologue in the pitch-black transformation room, a Super Sentai team lining up to announce themselves, or a magical girl's sparkly outfit change—
The moment the hero steps into the spotlight is always the most glamorous, the most unforgettable, and the very soul of the show.
So, by that logic, the transformation scene of two gorgeous ladies like Rin and Luvia should have been something that had kids bouncing in excitement… and had certain adults feeling a different kind of excitement.
After all, Illya and Akiha were cute, sure—but they were far too much on the "little sister" end of the spectrum to compete.
Rin and Luvia, though? They were a perfect set of complementary charms.
Want long legs? Rin's got you covered.
Want curves? Luvia's your girl.
Prefer black stockings? Rin again.
Prefer golden hair? Luvia's your match.
Even if your tastes was those muscular women who could squash your head with their thigh—
Ahem.
Anyway, in the audience's minds, the first full magical girl appearance of Rin and Luvia should've been, if not Precure-level glitter and radiance, then at least something with Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha–tier special effects.
Unfortunately, the viewers forgot one thing—
Magical Illya is a Shinji Matou production.
And the only rule of a Shinji Matou production… is that there are no rules.
What should have been Rin and Luvia's coolest, most heroic entrance in the entire series was, through Shinji's "creative" touch, turned into a full-blown comedy skit.
—Granted, this episode wasn't actually filmed by Shinji himself.
But that didn't stop the audience from tossing the blame squarely onto that blue-headed menace.
Truth be told, if you were a forty-something watching the scene, you'd probably just mutter something like, "Kids these days sure dress weird."
But to younger viewers? Rin and Luvia's magical girl costumes were… just too cute.
At first glance, the outfits weren't that strange—just your standard frilly magical girl ribbon uniforms.
But Shinji had to take it one step further.
He just had to slap on animal ears and tails.
And not the fake costume kind, either—oh no. These were living, moving appendages, complete with twitching ears and swaying tails, perfectly matched to their personalities: cat ears and tail for Rin, dog ears and tail for Luvia.
If only little kids were watching, they'd probably just squeal "Kawaaii~~!" and beg their parents for a pair of animal-ear headbands from the merch store.
But for anyone fifteen and older… Well, let's just say it was a good thing the tails were attached to their skirts and not, uh, lodged into one of their lower holes.
That's definitely not the kind of thing you can air for free on a children's channel.
We've all been through puberty, and while "cat girl" and "dog girl" aren't quite niche enough to count as full-on furry territory, at least 80% of people have some weakness for them.
After all, the more the merrier when it comes to universally loved character add-ons like this.
Still, the viewers at home weren't analyzing it that deeply—they just thought it was… off.
Yes. Off.
Normally, when an animal-eared girl shows up on screen, she should be tilting her head, holding her hands up like paws, and letting out a playful "Nyaa nyaa."
But Rin-sama and Luvia-sama? Completely different story.
They were spouting cool, confident, and utterly shameless lines, striking dramatic hero poses—
All while their animal ears and tails were busy melting the hearts of the entire nation with pure, unfiltered moe.
And so—
"Pfft—hahaha!"
"How the hell are these two managing not to break character?!"
"Hey, look! Look! Rin's tail just went from an S-curve to a B-shape! What even is that?!"
The room filled with raucous laughter, everyone completely floored by the sheer whiplash of the scene's gap moe.
Aoko just pouted silently.
It wasn't the comedy that bothered her—She was jealous.
Specifically, jealous of the wand in Rin Tohsaka's hand. It sparkled, it talked, it acted cute—it looked so high-tech and high-class. She wanted it. Badly.
Alice, on the other hand, wasn't paying the slightest attention to the slapstick.
Her brows furrowed, her gaze fixed on the screen.
The ears and tails were… too lively. Almost as if they had a mind of their own.
An ordinary viewer might just assume it was all computer-generated effects.
But Alice could tell with absolute certainty—this was no CGI.
Those were real, living ears and tails.
"They are too fluid… not like one of Touko's puppets… what kind of magecraft is this?"
Of course, viewers like Alice—whose focus wandered away from the plot—were an extreme minority.
Most people simply thought the scene was hilarious.
Even magus were laughing out loud.
Perhaps the production team themselves knew just how absurd Rin and Luvia's designs looked, because they thoughtfully slipped in a little meta-commentary via Ruby the magical wand, right as Rin struck her "powerful entrance" pose.
"My, my, some things never change~~ You're really too old to be wearing something that embarrassing."
Naturally, Ruby was immediately and repeatedly smashed into the ground by Rin—without a shred of elegance, and with all the force of a professional demolition worker's sledgehammer.
Each blow was accompanied by Rin's hysterical roar:
"This! Was! YOUR! IDEA! Wasn't it?!"
Her sheer intensity left Illya and Miyu huddled in the corner, too scared to even breathe.
"So, from a bystander's perspective, magical girls are kind of embarrassing, huh~?"
Illya's offhand comment hit on something very real—the gap between how something feels in your head and how it looks to everyone else.
It's like hearing your own recorded voice for the first time—it's nothing like what you imagine.
The same goes for those cringey adolescent "cool" moments we all think were epic at the time.
Case in point—just compare Star-Lord's opening music scene in Guardians of the Galaxy with the exact same scene shown again in Avengers: Endgame.
People say you're not truly young unless you go through a chuunibyou phase, but still—shame is a necessary function of a healthy moral compass.
Take Luvia, for example.
She didn't feel even slightly embarrassed about her magical girl costume.
In fact, she puffed her chest out and declared with pride:
"Fufufu~ To wear such an outfit this perfectly, one must have impeccable taste! Just like the flawless me!"
The sheer confidence left not only Rin and the others stunned, but also had the viewers at home staring in disbelief.
Was this elegant European noblewoman… just a little too into her own fashion sense?
And it wasn't just outsiders who were starting to question her tastes, even members of the wider Type-Moon circle had their doubts.
"Come to think of it, I've always thought Luvia's fashion sense was a bit… off."
Illya struck the classic "Detective Conan" thinking pose, face deadly serious as she spoke.
"Really?"
Akiha tilted her head, looking doubtful.
Illya nodded with utter certainty.
"Of course. Every time we come up with some weird, crazy outfit, she never says a bad word about it, does she?"
"I… I guess… that's true?"
Akiha blinked innocently.
She had always assumed Luvia's positive comments were just to spare the feelings of two little girls.
But now—It turned out she genuinely liked them?!
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
While Japanese viewers were completely swept away in the ocean of laughter that Magical Illya had whipped up, Shinji was already far from Fuyuki.
He was in Italy, leading the Ultraseven X production team to the annual Venice International Film Festival.
Unlike Cannes—a coastal city Shinji had visited before—Venice was also by the sea, but the similarities ended there.
Where Cannes had its air of chic restraint, Venice was a bustling commercial hub, busier, more vibrant… and, of course, more expensive.
To Shinji, the most distinctive impression Venice left was that it had more bridges than roads.
As with Cannes, the arrival of the film festival brought in tourists and media from all over the world, filling Venice's narrow streets and winding canals with a heady festival atmosphere.
Especially the countless handsome men and beautiful women chasing their dreams of stardom, they gathered in every corner of the city, hoping to catch the eye of industry veterans or be discovered by a talent scout.
For Shinji, this place was nothing short of a paradise on earth.
"Ahh, wonderful… absolutely beautiful."
At a little open-air café by the street, Shinji, Denis Villeneuve, Cu Chulainn, and a few others each occupied a seat around a round table shaded by a big parasol.
Shinji, looking far too lively for a supposedly serious festival trip, held a small travel telescope in hand, sweeping it across the city's streets—more precisely, across the city's women—wearing a grin that could only be described as suspicious.
"Mmm grapes… apples… peaches… oh-ho, this one's got cantaloupe-level potential Summer really is the best season for fruit, isn't it?"
"Grapes… wait, Master, you don't mean that girl over there in the green dress, do you? That's barely grape-sized. Way too small."
Cu Chulainn glanced toward the bridge nearby, effortlessly keeping pace with Shinji's "fruit classification" commentary.
"Gentlemen…"
Denis sighed, his voice dripping with helplessness.
"Now is not the time to go hunting for girls, is it?"
"And why not?" Shinji shot back immediately.
"It's a rare occasion when none of the ladies we know are tagging along. If we don't have some fun now, when will we? This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance!"
Indeed, this Venice trip had zero familiar women in the group. Shinji had already resolved to make sure his brothers-in-arms got some much-needed "relaxation."
Denis took a slow sip of coffee and reminded him, "Shinji, don't forget why we're here."
"Of course, of course."
With a tone of regret, Shinji finally set down the telescope and shifted gears to business.
"This year's jury president is Catherine Deneuve—you know, the French actress. She's the by-the-book type, so odds are, like every other year, they'll stick to the 'one award per film' tradition."
Denis had arrived in Venice even earlier than Shinji and had already done his homework.
Unlike Shinji—who was now a seasoned veteran of film festivals—this was Denis Villeneuve's first time attending one of the Big Three, and Ultraseven X was also his first high-budget film. That made him take this year's Venice Film Festival far more seriously than the rest of the team.
Unfortunately, the "one award per film" insight was hardly breaking news for Shinji.
To him, it was one of those "hearing you talk is worse than hearing nothing" statements.
After all, the "divide the cake evenly" system had been a long-standing tradition at Europe's three major festivals.
Granted, Shinji wasn't aware that—historically—this very year's Venice Film Festival would break tradition: The Queen would go on to win both Best Screenplay and Best Actress. But such cases were rare, and a clean sweep by a single film was practically unheard of.
For most films, the "everyone gets a slice" approach was actually a blessing—it increased the odds of winning something, avoiding the tragedy of going home empty-handed.
But for Shinji, it wasn't nearly as rosy.
After all, splitting resources between categories meant he had to carefully decide where to focus lobbying and PR efforts.
And Type-Moon didn't exactly have much experience here—targeting one award was already the limit. The rest of the nominations would have to fend for themselves.
Without PR, winning anything was going to be tough.
"So… which one should Ultraseven X go for?"
Looking at the list on his notebook—Best Actor, Best Picture, Best Screenplay—Shinji tapped the table, face twisting into a troubled frown.
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