Depressive Screenwriter

March arrives, and temperatures rise across Xia Country.

Rurouni Kenshin Part II has grossed nearly 2.8 billion in its first three weeks, and breaking the 3 billion mark in its remaining three weeks is only a matter of time.

Moreover, this year's Spring Festival films performed worse than last year's, with the runner-up film only grossing 1.8 billion so far.

The total box office for the period is down 20% compared to last year.

Now, the Rurouni Kenshin craze is waning, while the viewership of FSN has unknowingly surpassed 6.5%.

Meanwhile, far away in Tokyo, Su Yan has been busy with the post-production review of Weathering with You and Code Geass.

Weathering with You is generally fine, as it's another work by Makoto Shinkai. Su Yan's staff worked with him on The Garden of Words, 5 Centimeters Per Second, Your Name, and other Shinkai films, so they understand Su Yan's requirements immediately.

But Code Geass...

Inside the screening room set up by Dimensional Pictures' Tokyo branch.

Su Yan, Ayumi Shinozaki, Shen Liqian, Zhuang Yuxin, Gu Qingyuan, and others gathered together, watching the scenes unfold on the screen, their eyes wide.

Magnificent mecha armies, advancing ground armored divisions, missiles streaking across the sky, and explosions blooming on the ground.

Basically, everything in Code Geass besides the human drama is created with special effects.

Two seasons, over twenty episodes in total, with an investment exceeding 600 million, setting a record for the Xia Country television industry.

Even in Su Yan's previous life, such an investment would be outrageous.

In his past life, a drama costing 100 to 200 million was for at least fifty episodes or more. Code Geass, with a cost of 600 million for twenty-plus episodes, has essentially reached movie-level visual quality.

Moreover, Su Yan used the vast majority of this money on special effects modeling, keeping the actors' salaries very low.

The reason is simple: for actors, fame is the most important thing. Starring in Su Yan's dramas provides plenty of opportunities to monetize their popularity after the show airs, so these stars aren't shortsighted.

After Su Yan poured a lot of investment into special effects, the visuals presented by the special effects company collaborating on Code Geass were a bit shocking even to him.

Can my money really produce this level of special effects?

Or is it because...

Because Ayumi Shinozaki manages things well, and there were no 'Smith agents' embezzling money during the entire project execution, so...

Su Yan looked at Ayumi Shinozaki, who happened to turn her head to look at Su Yan, a smile blooming on her face, raising her hand to give Su Yan a 'V' sign, her face full of triumph.

"Impressive," Su Yan commented on the special effects footage.

Next, other scenes were shown.

In the Code Geass series, there are many mecha battle scenes. Among them, the clashes between the Guren series mecha piloted by Kallen, one of the female leads, and the Lancelot series mecha piloted by Suzaku Kururugi are the biggest highlights of the show.

The drama in Code Geass is mainly about Lelouch's intellectual battles, while the action is in the battles between his subordinates and Britannia.

And the scenes produced by the special effects company are these...

Lancelot, Guren series, Avalon, Lelouch's vehicle Sutherland, Glasgow, etc... more than twenty series of mecha's practical special effects footage appeared one by one.

Su Yan was somewhat mentally prepared, after all, he would occasionally take time to inspect the special effects production process.

But Shen Liqian, Zhuang Yuxin, and the others were greatly shocked.

"So, the character scenes I filmed every day in the constructed driving simulation pod, she was piloting this thing in the story?" Shen Liqian excitedly looked at the Guren Kallen aircraft flashing on the screen, her eyes shining.

"What, you girls are also so excited about this stuff?"

Su Yan turned to look, and not only Shen Liqian, but Zhuang Yuxin and Gu Qingyuan all had the same expression.

Although Euphemia, played by Gu Qingyuan, didn't have many scenes piloting a mecha in the story, and the only one or two times she did, she was shot by Lelouch as soon as she got out of the mecha.

There were also shots of it flashing just now, but her tranquil face was still full of excitement.

"Su Yan, what are you talking about? Can't girls like giant robots?" Ayumi Shinozaki also looked at these with shining eyes.

"When our company produces the Code Geass mecha models, I'm going to pre-order a batch of limited editions and put them at home to collect."

"Me too," Shen Liqian quickly said.

"Me too," Zhuang Yuxin said quickly.

"I... I want them too," Gu Qingyuan said softly.

Su Yan looked at them speechlessly, and finally said.

"Have the manufacturers under my command produce according to this model. When any type of mecha is produced, reserve two copies for me, one for collection and one for people who come to my house to visit and show off..."

Only the sixty-something-year-old Shi Peihua looked at this group of people with a bored expression.

She couldn't understand why Su Yan and the others were interested in a pile of plastic toys.

Not to mention things produced by her own peripheral manufacturers.

Anyway, she remembered that her mother used to run a small stall and the business was very good, but she never liked to eat her own things. Su Yan himself produces these things and still likes them, she couldn't understand.

"Then, the review of these special effects shots..." Ayumi Shinozaki began to bring the topic back to the point.

Su Yan operated on the computer software a few times.

"Except for these, these, and these three shots, everything else is fine," Su Yan said.

The three shots he pointed out were the worst made by the several special effects companies he cooperated with. After all, dozens of episodes of TV series are a huge workload for one special effects company.

These shots will be sent back for modification, and Su Yan won't consider the other party for future new drama collaborations.

"Understood..." Ayumi Shinozaki breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Although it's only March now, the production of Code Geass, which will premiere in July, is also entering the post-production synthesis stage.

If too many of the shots that Su Yan reviewed today are unqualified, then the company's partners and employees will have to rush to work in the next few months.

"By the way, Su Yan, let me tell you, FSN has topped the list of paid views and popularity among online dramas broadcast at the same time on NK network abroad, and FAN is broadcast in three Western countries, ranking second in viewership in two of them and first in one of them. Foreigners' enthusiasm for the character Artoria is no less than that of Xia Country drama fans," Ayumi Shinozaki told Su Yan the overseas information she received this morning.

"In addition to the popularity of Rurouni Kenshin overseas, your popularity abroad has also begun to skyrocket. A considerable portion of overseas drama fans have already begun to actively pay attention to you. If this situation continues to develop, and with the quality of the Code Geass series, when Code Geass premieres in July..." Ayumi Shinozaki paused and then smiled.

"In all likelihood, Code Geass, and you, will reach a new level of fame, even abroad!"

Shi Peihua, Shen Liqian, Gu Qingyuan, and Zhuang Yuxin's eyes all narrowed upon hearing this.

They are now strongly tied to Su Yan, and they all participated in the filming of Code Geass.

If Code Geass becomes popular, their fame will naturally break out of the Xia Country film and television industry.

"This kind of thing..." Su Yan thought for a moment and then smiled.

"This kind of thing, originally when Code Geass was launched, we were working towards this direction... Let's wait until Code Geass premieres and really becomes a global hit before we're happy."