I loaded the ghost talk game

Takahashi Fumiya, an amateur film critic.

He runs a personal channel on YouTube with a good number of fans.

Tonight is the first day of the broadcast of GENIE's new show "Karasu Tengu's Yokai Retreat" on TV.

Takahashi has been waiting in front of the TV early. He plans to release a review video about this new show on his channel.

For this purpose, he even set up a video recorder to record the content of the new show completely.

TV broadcasts are like this. There is no way to pause or rewind. So in order to better explore the details of this show and make the videos he makes have more content to talk about, he can only rely on peripherals.

Takahashi has watched the promotional video of "Karasu Tengu's Yokai Retreat" on GENIE's official website several times.

To be honest, he is looking forward to this new show.

After all, he is a loyal fan of GENIE's previous work "Ms. Mary", and he is also a fan of the virtual anchor "Mary-chan" who has a subtle connection with GENIE.

Even if we put aside these personal emotional factors, the quality and sincerity of the new work shown in the promotional video of "Karasu Tengu's Monster Retreat" are impeccable.

The pictures shown in the promotional footage are very sophisticated, gorgeous and brilliant, and the level of the soundtrack is also very high. It can be seen that a lot of money was spent.

In addition, in the promotional video, there is a Gothic doll sitting in a dim cabin.

GENIE has clearly stated that Mary from the previous work "Ms. Mary" will appear as a supporting role in one episode of "Karasu Tengu's Monster Retreat".

This time, you have to watch it!

"GENIE is an animation company that only appeared last year, but in terms of the funds for producing animation, it is even far ahead of most of the major companies in the industry. To exaggerate a little, it feels like they don't care about the cost, and the first goal of making animation is not to make money."

"Perhaps their business policy is to spend a lot of money to polish strong ships and powerful guns, and win with outstanding quality?"

"It is also possible... GENIE is not short of money at all. If so, the somewhat outrageous inference that has always existed on the Internet may be true."

The outrageous inference that has always existed on the Internet refers to-

The person in the virtual anchor "Mary-chan" who has a close relationship with GENIE Studio is actually a rich girl.

Whether it is debuting as a V with a skin or setting up a company to produce animation, it is just that this lady accidentally got interested in experiencing life.

So, whether it is watching live broadcasts or watching animations, everyone should watch and cherish it.

Maybe one day this mysterious lady will get tired of playing and will not continue to play house with the common people.

Because of this hypothesis, Mary-chan's live broadcast room and GENIE studio have attracted many people to watch the fun.

"Is there really such a rich lady who has so much free time? And GENIE is very ambitious, it doesn't look like she's just playing around."

When he thought of this hypothesis, Takahashi Fumiya couldn't help laughing.

It doesn't matter what the truth is, anyway, for a fan like him. In the animation industry, a company that is willing to spend a lot of money to polish its works has appeared, which is a good thing no matter how you look at it.

While waiting for the broadcast of "Karasu Tengu's Monster Retreat", Takahashi's phone kept vibrating.

It was a group chat in LINE called "GENIE Club" that kept popping up messages.

This small group is called a club, but in fact there are only three members, Takahashi and his two high school friends - Hidaka Tsunayoshi and Shimokawa Yoji.

Last year, it was also because of these two good friends that Takahashi watched the TV premiere of the anime "Ms. Mary" together. Not only did he accept the recommendation of the anime, but he also became a fan of "Mary-chan".

Now the three of them are in college.

Because they went to different universities, the three of them have less time to meet each other, but they still chat on LINE from time to time.

Like tonight, because of the first broadcast of "Karasu Tengu's Monster Extermination House", Hidaka and Shimokawa chatted enthusiastically in the group -

"Have you seen the promotional trailer of "Karasu Tengu's Monster Extermination House"? The main theme is "The Beautiful Picture Scroll of Monster Extermination", which is amazing!"

"Of course I have seen it. Ms. Kamiya, the animation producer of GENIE Studio, is super beautiful! She can debut as a star."

"Where are you focusing on!"

"But she is really beautiful, that kind of office lady. By the way, is there a possibility that Ms. Kamiya is the person in Mary-chan?"

"No way, it's impossible to imagine that they are the same I feel like the person in Mary-chan's story is more like the financial backer of that company, and he won't show up in that documentary."

"You don't understand what contrast cuteness is!"

"... Stop it, your otaku vibe is overflowing through my phone screen."

"Oh, what a pity. Speaking of which, Mary-chan's live broadcasts have dropped a lot this year. If she had been more diligent in live broadcasts, Mary-chan would have had a good chance of becoming a top anchor this year."

"Maybe it's because GENIE is too busy? Isn't it said that the second season of "Miss Mary" is already in production, and now a new monster show has been launched. "

"That's what I said. But I still want more people to feel the charm of the goddess of fortune. No matter who it is, become a believer of Mary-chan! Mammon forever!"

"Mammon!"

"..."

Takahashi casually flipped through the chat records of his friends, and then found that the topic now shifted to the joke that Miss Mary is the "goddess of fortune".

Both the virtual anchor Mary-chan and "Miss Mary" have created such an image.

In a sense, Hidaka and Shimokawa are both "loyal believers" of Mary-chan.

Especially Hidaka, who always says that he can be admitted to Hokkaido University in a "burst" because of Miss Mary's good luck.

...I don't know who was doing the questions until the early morning every day during the preparation period.

Takahashi thinks that Hidaka can be admitted to a good university entirely because of his last effort.

However, there may also be the influence of the so-called "goddess of fortune". That guy seems to really want to prove to everyone that being a fan of Mary will really bring good luck...

Childish! Ridiculous!

After saying a few words in the group, Takahashi locked the phone and put it back on the desktop.

Then he looked at the TV that was still playing ads, and silently clasped his hands together: "Ms. Mary, you must continue to bless my channel data to rise."

But then again-

Anyway, "believing" in Miss Mary doesn't cost money, it's just a matter of talking and thinking.

Takahashi, who is always rational and serious, also believes a little.

…

Twelve thirty in the morning.

"Karasu Tengu's Monster Retreat" was broadcast on TBS TV on time.

After a passionate and gorgeous OP, the screen faded into black.

The first thing that came into view was the city streets with a strong Edo period style.

The whole piece was a two-story building composed of brick and wood structure, with a heavy black tile roof. Then the picture zoomed out, and several tall Western-style buildings with different styles appeared on the opposite side of the street of "Kura-zukuri buildings".

On top of the Western-style buildings, you can also see the American flag flying.

This is the first stage of the story of the show. Yokohama was at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Western-style building that appeared in the picture was the American Consulate that first blasted open the door to Japan.

Japanese people wearing kimonos or suits can be seen on the streets, and there are blond and blue-eyed Westerners next to the consulate.

The opening shot is delicately painted, showing the heterogeneous mixed style of Japanese style and Western culture during the anti-shogunate movement.

And such a sense of conflict in the picture with a special background of the times immediately caught Takahashi Fumi-sai's eye.

He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "Sure enough, GENIE is not only good at making the pictures in the promotional video."

The camera pushed forward in the street and entered a Japanese mansion. Because the family crest appeared in the picture, this should be the mansion of a certain daimyo.

A boy of five or six years old in kimono walked along the empty corridor.

"The upper teeth are placed under the floor of the outer corridor, and the lower teeth are thrown on the roof. I lost my upper teeth, so the floor... the floor..." The boy said vaguely.

In traditional Japanese buildings, the floor is a certain distance from the ground to prevent moisture, so there is a small dark space.

The boy came to the outside of the corridor, squatted down, raised his hand and prepared to throw his baby tooth into the floor.

But his action suddenly stopped.

A subtle and very dense sound, like the sound of insects vibrating wings, sounded under the floor of the corridor.

Click!

Then, groups of winged "flying insects" flashing with strange glimmers suddenly emerged from under the floor of the corridor!

The boy fell to the ground all of a sudden.

And the sound of wings vibrating on the floor of the corridor was still ringing, but this time it was no longer dense, but even louder.

The little boy pinched his baby tooth and trembled as he looked at the small space under the floor again.

He only saw a twisted woman curled up in the small darkness.

The woman had transparent wings like insects on her back, which hit the bottom of the floor violently with a click.

"Tooth..."

She moaned and reached out to the camera.

"Wow!!!!"

The scene stopped abruptly with the boy's scream, and the story officially began here.

Takahashi Fumiya's interest was successfully mobilized by the opening plot, and he began to write down the main points of the plot: "The first episode is actually a Western ghost story? It's related to teeth... Tooth Fairy? Interesting."

When Takahashi started writing, the plot continued to advance.

The scene has turned to a bookstore building, and one of the protagonists of this work, Igarashi Ryuken, is smiling and talking to a man dressed as a samurai with a long sword.

Samurai: "...That's it, I'll leave the monster extermination to you, Igarashi."

"Okay, say hello to your master for me."

Igarashi is a feminine young man with squinting eyes. He looks shrewd and not easy to mess with.

"Yeah." The samurai got up and left.

Igarashi and a kimono maid were the only ones left in the bookstore.

"What? You clearly asked Ryuken to do something, but you are still arrogant." The maid was indignant.

"Haha, don't worry about it."

"He doesn't say it, but he just looks down on us!"

"Well, well." Igarashi shrugged and walked to the counter of the bookstore:

"Samurai-sama, they always look down on us businessmen. It has always been like this. They say that townspeople are calculating, greedy, and short-sighted. I am so tired of hearing them."

"But if you ask me, the samurai who only speak clichés and have no idea of ​​adapting are the ones who are really short-sighted."

Igarashi opened the secret drawer of the counter, and saw a long gun and a short gun neatly placed inside.

He took the short musket that looked extremely sophisticated in front of him, opened his slightly squinting eyes, and made an illusory shooting gesture towards the camera: "After all, times have changed."

...

The opening of "Karasu Tengu's Monster Retreat" is fascinating.

The suspense created by the Western ghost story Tooth Fairy who appeared in Yokohama is enough to make the audience concentrate and look forward to the subsequent plot development.

Then, through Igarashi's perspective, some background settings of this work are gradually unfolded-

Because the Black Ship Incident opened the door to Japan, the shogunate's rule was in turmoil.

The pro-shogunate faction, which was loyal to the shogunate, was fighting openly and secretly with the anti-shogunate faction, which was under the banner of "respecting the king" but actually intended to overthrow the shogunate's rule. In addition, Western forces were mixed in.

The whole Japanese people were in chaos and unrest.

Such a situation led to frequent monster incidents. Moreover, as Westerners and Western thoughts entered Japan, some strange stories that originally existed in the West also appeared in Japan.

The tooth fairy that appeared in the first episode came from this.

As Igarashi began to investigate the tooth fairy incident, an old woman with black teeth began to appear in the audience's field of vision in the daimyo's mansion...

The suspense of the story was further raised.

Takahashi: "So, the new work not only depicts the background of the conflict between Japan and the West during the anti-shogunate movement, but also the strange story is developed based on this tone? The tooth fairy of Western children changing teeth and the Japanese custom of blackening teeth are a very clever combination..."

"So is this also the reason why Mary appeared in Japan during this period?"

The monster stories written by Mr. Soru are still as wonderful as ever!

Good at creating suspense, but never dragging, the plot is smooth and hearty.

Moreover, the new work gives people a completely different impression from the story told in "Miss Mary". Because it takes a different approach, it is very novel and there is no feeling of rehashing old things.

Takahashi had previously highly praised "Soryu", the animation scriptwriter who suddenly emerged, in his interpretation of "Miss Mary".

Sure enough, Mr. Soryu will not disappoint people. The new show he directed is very exciting in the plot.

The expectation value is full!

Because it is the premiere tonight, TBS TV station broadcasted two episodes of "Karasu Tengu's Monster Extermination House".

In the second episode, after the truth of the tooth fairy incident was revealed, Igarashi fought with the tooth fairy with a musket, accidentally unlocked the seal of an ancient shrine, and released Karasu Tengu's divine power "Crow" as the ending.

Because "Karasu Tengu's Monster Extermination House" obviously has sufficient funds, the fighting scenes are very sophisticated and gorgeous.

Moreover, the setting of Igarashi using a musket to exterminate ghost stories is also particularly interesting.

The picture on the TV finally stopped at——

Under a large moon, the black Tengu "Crow" stretched out its dark wings, covering most of the sky, silently suspended in the air, and stared at Igarashi's shot with his eyes down.

Takahashi Fumiya was so fascinated that he took a deep breath and came back to his senses after the ED was played.

"…It's over?"

The clock had turned to two o'clock in the morning.

This one and a half hours passed too quickly, it was not enough to watch.

Another protagonist "Crow" also appeared. I really want to know what happened next!