I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 432: Shinji Matou, Be a Decent Human Being
Shinji had no idea that his offhand remark had actually made Arturia start yearning for her other class forms.
Of course, even if he did know, Shinji would only be happy. Happy, happy, and damn well ecstatic.
Everything that made the original flat-king Arturia adorable and appealing—Lancer Arturia had it all. At the same time, Lancer possessed one advantage the original Arturia could never hope to match: motherhood. A kind of overflowing, white, and—well—very prominent maternal aura that practically burst out of the character art.
So if Arturia really told Shinji she wanted to switch Spirit Origins, he'd probably laugh himself sick. Why would he ever refuse?
Anyway, in the FGO series, the flat-king version of Arturia barely appeared in the story at all—she was basically just there for the menu screen.
If that was the case, what was wrong with switching to Lancer Arturia instead?
In short, after Arturia seriously studied Spider-Man, the filming of "FGO: Prologue" suddenly became incredibly smooth. Shinji even felt like he'd returned to the days of shooting Fate/Zero and Garden of Sinners—everything went right, and the project advanced with unstoppable momentum.
After all, Prologue didn't involve many technical innovations. Aside from testing the workflow for temporary Servants on set, everything else relied on already mature technology.
And since Prologue was mainly intended for streaming platforms, Shinji even reduced things like glasses-free 3D to cut costs.
As long as the actors were in good form, finishing five or six groups of shots in a single day became normal.
Before long, filming approached its final stage…
"Cut!"
They were now shooting the near-final scene in which Lev pushes Olga into the globe.
Suspended by wires, the Director was slowly drawn toward the floating globe prop.
But before Olga's face reached it, Shinji suddenly called for a stop.
"Hey, Marie, come over here for a second!"
He beckoned to her—only to receive an eye roll in return.
"I'd like to come over. You think that's possible?"
She deliberately swayed in midair as she spoke.
These days of filming had worn Olga Marie out. She was either complaining about something or scolding someone, and then she had to jump around with the protagonist group.
Did Shinji really see her as some ill-tempered wild girl? Where exactly had he put the dignity of the Lord of the Department of Astromancy?
When Shinji first approached her and asked her to star in the film, she thought he had finally realized her charm.
But…
"…I should've just sold him my likeness rights," she muttered gloomily, shooting him a resentful look from above.
Unfortunately, Shinji had no intention of indulging her. He snapped his fingers, and Olga Marie's body suddenly dropped toward the ground.
"Shinji Matou! Th-That's too much! What if I got hurt?!"
Startled by the sudden descent, she stomped her foot in protest.
"No worries. There's a healing magi over there. As long as it's not a shattered bone, he'll fix you up in minutes."
"You—!"
She tried to complain further, but Shinji cut her off.
"—Your emotions here are off. According to the script, you initially can't accept Lev's betrayal or the fact that you're already dead. But as you get closer to CHALDEAS, your mindset should shift—from resistance to growing despair. Deep down, you realize you can't escape this fate, yet you still cling to a faint hope. In the end, even someone as proud as you abandons her dignity and cries for help. You need to show all those emotional transitions."
"But…"
Olga Marie looked troubled. She glanced around to make sure no one nearby was paying attention, then lowered her voice.
"I've never felt despair or given up before. I don't really know what that kind of emotion is supposed to be like…"
Shinji: "..."
This is totally humblebragging, isn't it? It has to be, right?
Faced with Olga Marie's reasoning, Shinji genuinely found himself at a loss for words.
If any other actor had said something like that, he would've torn into them without hesitation. If it were a Servant, he might've even used a Command Seal to force them to do a lot of embarrassing things.
But Olga Marie wasn't a real actress.
In fact, Shinji knew very well that the reason her earlier performance had been so good was simple—she was just being herself.
Throwing a tantrum when things didn't go her way? That was Olga Marie to a T. She didn't need to "act" at all—just replicate her everyday behavior back in the Department of Astromancy.
However, when it came to despair… that was something Olga Marie had never truly experienced.
And honestly, that was partly Shinji's fault for spoiling her too much.
In this world, Olga Marie had never gone through the pain of being ignored by her father. Marisbury—that old man—had already kicked the bucket before any of that could happen.
After that, with Shinji and the backing of the modern Magecraft Department, she smoothly secured her position as Lord. Unlike the FGO timeline, where her authority was practically nonexistent and she was constantly surrounded by doubt and criticism, this version of Olga Marie had never faced such pressure.
So while she was still as tsundere as ever, she had never developed the kind of inferiority complex described in the script.
"Shinji, are you trying to make things difficult for me? Just how much do you hate me to toy with me like this in your script? Don't tell me you're actually a sadist?"
Perhaps because she got too carried away complaining, Olga Marie ended up voicing her honest opinion of Shinji's script out loud.
Shinji waved his hand dismissively. "Relax. Even though you get killed off right at the beginning, you'll come back later as the final boss. By then, you'll basically be the head of Earth's governing body."
"Really?"
Olga Marie's eyes lit up with excitement, her brows lifting. "I'll become that amazing of a character?"
Shinji nodded. "Yeah."
What he didn't say, however, was 'it might take a while.'
After all, Olga Marie only reappears as Beast VII in the latter half of Part 2, Chapter 5.
The time span of that script was absurd—like discussing how to film Avengers 6 while still working on Iron Man 1.
"…If you've never experienced despair, that's going to be a problem."
Years of directing experience had taught him one thing: with actors like Olga Marie—who relied heavily on acting as themselves—forcing retakes over and over after they hit a wall was meaningless. In fact, it often made things worse, causing their performance to deteriorate with each attempt.
That was exactly why, in earlier scenes between the Director and Ritsuka, Shinji had opted for clever shot composition and misdirection rather than trying to fine-tune Olga Marie's acting state.
Unfortunately, this time, there was no room for tricks.
This scene was entirely Olga Marie's solo performance—a close-up-heavy sequence where the camera practically had to be glued to Marie's face.
Based on past experience, Shinji didn't have many options. Aside from waiting for Olga Marie to suddenly "get it" and click into the right emotional state, there wasn't much else he could do.
But the problem was…
The Prologue had already reached 90% completion.
Letting something this minor delay the entire production schedule was something Shinji simply couldn't accept.
"…Tch. Being stuck like this is seriously frustrating."
After several failed takes, Shinji leaned back in his director's chair, his face full of helpless annoyance.
Sakura handed him a bottle of water while gently trying to comfort him.
"Still, we're ahead of schedule overall, right? We've got time, don't we?"
"But every extra day this production stays running is money being burned!"
That response made Sakura sigh in exasperation.
"The budget is still more than enough, so can you not stress out so much~?"
"This is like a game update stuck at 99.99%. It's driving me insane… Ah, I've got it."
Shinji suddenly straightened up in his seat.
"Why don't we just let Marie actually experience despair?"
"…How exactly?"
A bad feeling crept into Sakura's heart.
"For example, she could personally experience betrayal. Like, I could just back her senior—Wodime—and push him to become the Lord of the Astromancy Department instead… Hmm, no, that guy wouldn't take it as a joke. He'd actually go through with it. Then how about I date her for real and dump her afterward—"
"—Onii-sama, please act like a decent human being for once!"
Thud!
Sakura's fist came crashing down onto Shinji's head, forcibly shutting down her brother's dangerously unhinged train of thought.
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