I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 430: Were 70s Tokusatsu Sets Really This Wild?
Thanks to Shinji's little camera trick, Olga didn't have to act directly opposite Charlemagne. As a result, her performances in the following scenes went much more smoothly.
Of course, not every shot could rely on clever framing. The later "Fuyuki City Adventure" took place outdoors, so that kind of misaligned filming simply wouldn't work.
But Shinji wasn't worried. By then, Olga would probably have gotten used to Charlemagne and wouldn't be so stiff around him. Besides, at that point in the story, the director girl had already received Ritsuka's help, so her attitude toward him had softened considerably—she wouldn't need to maintain that exaggerated, flustered energy anymore.
Compared to that, Arturia—who played the film's mascot, Fou—was a bit more troublesome.
As the movie's designated "cute factor," Fou needed to stay adorable at all times.
The problem was that Fou was being directly controlled by Arturia. That meant Fou's movements inevitably carried some of the Lion King's personal habits. After several scenes, Shinji couldn't shake the feeling that the fluffy white creature on camera felt… off.
In Shinji's imagination, Fou's cuteness should be more dog-like—rolling around, shamelessly begging for attention. Instead, Arturia portrayed Fou as strangely aloof.
Sure, paired with Fou's adorable appearance, Arturia's version was still cute… but Shinji couldn't help feeling like a loyal dog had somehow been raised into a cynical cat.
"I say, Your Majesty the Knight King of Britain~"
Shinji propped his head on one hand, deliberately dragging out his words.
Arturia hugged Fou tightly in her arms and looked at him innocently. "What is it, my capable and brilliant Master?"
"Don't think flattery will work! You and your white fluffball are learning bad habits!"
Shinji smacked the script against his director's chair, grinning wickedly. "I told you, when Ritsuka is chatting with the doctor, you're supposed to lie on his lap and let him pet you. Why do you keep hopping around Charlemagne instead?"
"Listen, Master." Arturia tilted her head, a Pocky stick between her lips. "Fou is supposed to be Primate Murderer, right? Do you really think a monster like that would let an ordinary human pet it? It's not some teacup puppy."
"That's exactly why it highlights how special Fujimaru Ritsuka is."
Arturia countered immediately. "Why is Fujimaru Ritsuka special, though? Fou liking Mash makes sense. But liking Ritsuka is just 'setting within the setting'—pure protagonist halo!"
Noticing that she showed no intention of putting the fluffy creature down, Shinji's mouth twitched. "Even if you have a point… you just don't want Fou doing affectionate actions because you want to monopolize it, don't you?"
"If it's Mash, I'd be willing to share for five minutes… ah, that slipped out. Sorry, sorry."
Shinji: "..."
She said sorry, yet didn't even bother to look at him. Verdict: the Knight King was absolutely shameless.
"Shinji, it's actually Arturia-chan being shy," Merlin suddenly popped out of nowhere, teasing. "If you make Fou do those actions, it's basically like asking her to frolic in front of people. Of course she won't do it~"
Merlin's words made Shinji's imagination run wild. He pictured Arturia lying on a bed, exposing her stomach like a dog, letting him pet her.
"Cough, cough!"
Shinji coughed hard, forcefully banishing the overly stimulating image from his mind.
If we were talking about pure temptation, it still couldn't beat Mash wearing the "Dangerous Beast" outfit… but the thought of the lofty Knight King voluntarily acting cute had its own unique thrill.
"Merlin! Go die!"
Arturia didn't know what Shinji had imagined, but she was certain it wasn't anything good. She threw Fou straight at the culprit's face, then—using Fou as cover—unleashed a mid-air 24-hit combo on Merlin.
"You bastard—I should've just worked you to death back then!"
"Stop it! Arturia, you golden-haired lion king! Believe it or not, I'll spill all your secrets to Shin—ghk—?!"
Merlin's horseplay with his former boss made Shinji roll his eyes.
Whether Arturia simply didn't want to share the fluffy white creature, or she was too shy to perform cutesy, people-pleasing actions, the conclusion was the same: the dog-like cuteness route for Fou wasn't going to work. So… they might as well switch to a cat-like tsundere approach.
If Arturia couldn't bring herself to go all out, then staying aloof and prickly was fine. After all, "petting cats" and "petting dogs" were equally beloved pastimes among armchair pet owners.
"Arturia, I'll allow the cool-and-aloof cute style—but—" Shinji pointed at her. "Your performance needs to be more expressive. Acting as a small animal is different from acting as a human. Your movements should be bigger—like in tokusatsu shows."
As he spoke, Shinji stuffed a DVD box into Arturia's hands.
"So, watch this."
Arturia slowly read the title. "Spi…der… Man?"
That's right—what Shinji handed her wasn't a North American superhero movie—after all, in this parallel world nobody had produced big-budget superhero films yet—but the late-1970s Toei Spider-Man.
Yes, the one featuring the emissary from hell—"Supaidāman!"
"Master… you're not asking me to stop acting like a dog and switch to playing a spider, are you?"
Staring at the red-and-blue pajama man striking an extremely unusual pose on the cover, Arturia fell into deep thought.
"No. I want you to understand the acting style of Japanese tokusatsu dramas," Shinji replied. "I chose this one because it's fairly representative."
Merlin, who was busy fixing his messy hair, suddenly perked up. "What kind of style? As long as it won't kill you, push it until it does? Does that mean I'll get to see Arturia climbing skyscrapers and running through explosions?"
Judging by his tone, Merlin had clearly watched the show before.
Shinji answered calmly, "Nothing to get excited about. With Arturia's abilities, the dangerous stunts in that show would be easy."
Back then, due to budget and special-effects limitations, the filming of Spider-Man was extremely hazardous. Suit actor Hirofumi Koga suffered through countless hardships.
With almost no safety measures, he performed scenes including—but not limited to—climbing beneath suspension bridges, scaling towering cliffs and building exteriors, sprinting across fields filled with explosions, clinging to cars speeding in S-shaped routes… and even climbing over thirty meters up Tokyo Tower with his bare hands, without safety ropes, just to complete the iconic opening shot.
Even now, many within Toei still remark, "It's unbelievable no one died filming the entire Spider-Man series."
Compare that with the contemporaneous Leo set over at Tsuburaya… All one could say was: tokusatsu crews in the 1970s were truly something else. The actors were practically superhuman.
Of course, Shinji wasn't asking Arturia to replicate those dangerous stunts—though for the Knight King, they wouldn't be particularly dangerous.
What he wanted her to learn was the acting style.
Compared to the more naturalistic performances common in North America, Japanese film and TV acting tended to be more exaggerated, with strong theatrical influences. Tokusatsu works especially leaned into this—actors flailing dramatically, shouting loudly, striking all sorts of bizarre poses.
Such a style might be excessive for the human actors of the FGO cast—but for the mascot Fou, it was just right.
"I understand your idea, Master." Arturia reluctantly accepted the DVD. "But is this work really that outstanding? Worth using as teaching material?"
"Of course not," Shinji denied instantly. "I just think it's fun."
Are you sure the work is fun… and not that you want to have fun with Arturia?
Knowing the actual plot of Toei's Spider-Man, Merlin wore an awkward yet polite smile.
He would never admit he was already looking forward to seeing Arturia's expression while watching Spider-Man. Absolutely not.