Chapter 32

Upon arriving at GONZO, Xiaoming found that there was no bustling work scene, but rather everyone was gathered for a meeting. Yota Tsurugai, Atsushi Takeuchi, Masahiro Yoshikawa, and Yūsuke Takeda, who had already been appointed as the joint supervisors of "Battle Angel Alita," were sitting solemnly in the seats closest to the projector. Almost all the animators who were about to participate in the production were gathered around the conference table, roughly twenty to thirty people, including five Chinese.

Chapu Zhangshi was introducing the situation.

According to the discussions between Zhenghui Shen and Chapu Zhangshi on the plot, Zhenghui Shen felt that the adaptation of the original story should be placed later, and the focus should be on the air combat history from the past thirty-three years to the present. Based on the story's timeline, the JAM invasion of Earth was estimated to be around 1970. Therefore, it was an opportunity to produce a film that included the fighter aircraft models from the 1970s to the 1990s. If the film performed well, they could then produce a movie about the air combat thirty-three years later, featuring Snow Wind.

Zhenghui Shen had this idea for two reasons. One was his personal interest, which we will discuss later. The other was that the performance and combat effectiveness of various mainstream fighter aircraft since 1970 on a large-scale battlefield was a thrilling concept for true military enthusiasts. After all, the Cold War did not turn into a hot war, and the millions of troops on both sides never engaged in battle, which was somewhat regrettable for those who admired violence. On the other hand, seeing Soviet and American aircraft fighting side by side on the same battlefield was also an exciting prospect.

Zhenghui Shen's personal interest was that he hoped to see the Chinese Air Force in this animated film. Whether it was to praise the fighting spirit of the soldiers, mock the "air beauties," or show the foresight of the J-20 and J-31 in the air combat, just like the F-22 and F-35, the thought of F-22 squadrons and above appearing in the scenes made him feel that even if the film lost money, it would be worth it. Of course, he knew that it was unlikely to lose money. "Battle Angel Alita" was one of the pillars of GONZO, and it had cultivated a large number of Snow Wind fans, despite the name being so unlucky.

The Japanese meticulousness was well reflected in this meeting. Of course, without money, there would be no meticulousness. With money, Chapu Zhangshi would suffer from "middle school syndrome," a common problem among Japanese animation directors. They would strive to improve quality when they had money, but would be perfunctory when they didn't. As a result, GONZO's works often ran out of money halfway through and then collapsed.

However, they were lucky this time. Fukumi Shigenori had substantial funds, and "Blue No. 6" was very popular, boosting everyone's morale. Chapu Zhangshi and the other supervisors felt that it would be interesting to produce an air combat story based on the 1970s to 1990s, featuring the mainstream fighter aircraft of that period. They immediately began writing the script and setting up the details. Since the story was a prequel to "Battle Angel Alita," the setting was detailed and extensive, with a vast amount of data. At this point, the mainstream fighter aircraft of the US and the Soviet Union were fully covered. Zhenghui Shen particularly emphasized the inclusion of China's role, as the absence of one of the world's five major powers would make the work incomplete.

Thus, this meeting was essentially a preliminary design meeting for the production. Looking at the task list that Chapu Zhangshi had drawn up, Zhenghui Shen felt a bit overwhelmed. The collected data included parameters and images of over twenty types of fighter aircraft, and there was even a plan to record the sound of aircraft engines in real life. They even hoped to collect data on China's J-8, and Chapu Zhangshi even thought that Zhenghui Shen had strong connections on the mainland to achieve this, which made Zhenghui Shen somewhat amused.

Since the J-8 had appeared, the J-10 couldn't be far behind. It would be good to design a scene where the J-20 made an appearance. Zhenghui Shen, with the same personal interest, fully utilized his initiative in the Chinese role, which further solidified Chapu Zhangshi's ideas.

In short, the prequel to "Battle Angel Alita," tentatively titled "Earth Air Combat Story," thus began its production process. At the same time, forty Chinese animators and technicians also set off for Japan, and GONZO's personnel expanded by more than double, making Zhenghui Shen start to imagine that GONZO's production speed could also double.

In addition to Liu Xin, Fukumi Shigenori also arranged for someone to accompany Zhenghui Shen to Hong Kong. Besides discussing the release of "North High School Cruel History," they would also try to enter the Hong Kong market through Jiahe and Ringya, and then use Hong Kong as a stepping stone to enter the mainland market.

Fukumi Shigenori arranged two people: one was Yamaoka Gen, the deputy manager of the distribution department of Kasuga Eiga, and the other was Inoue May, a young and capable woman who also served as a translator.

According to Yamaoka Gen, they had already reached a preliminary agreement with Jiahe, and this visit was actually to sign the contract and explore further cooperation. Of course, the specific negotiation content was authorized by Fukumi Shigenori to be handled by Zhenghui Shen. Yamaoka Gen looked somewhat unhappy, as Zhenghui Shen had no connection with Kasuga Eiga, yet an outsider was leading the cooperation negotiations. Although he had heard that Zhenghui Shen was Fukumi Shigenori's partner and even rumors of their marriage, Yamaoka Gen had his own thoughts about his work.

Zhenghui Shen thanked Yamaoka Gen for his previous work and expressed that he would respect his and Inoue May's opinions during the negotiations. Inoue May's Cantonese was quite fluent, but Zhenghui Shen and Liu Xin spoke Mandarin, which made it difficult for her, especially when they spoke Sichuanese together, which drove Inoue May to the brink of madness. Before the plane landed at Hong Kong Airport, Zhenghui Shen looked down at this "Oriental Pearl" and deeply felt the truth of the saying "if you don't seek death, you won't die." This was the difference between Li Jiacheng and Li Jiapo. Now, Hong Kong was already showing signs of decline, but many Hong Kong people had not yet realized it. They were so accustomed to living off the mainland that they had the illusion that this could continue forever.

Upon exiting the airport, Jiahe staff came to greet them. They seemed to be familiar with Yamaoka Gen and Inoue May, as if they had met before. However, their attitude towards Zhenghui Shen and Liu Xin was somewhat colder, and one of the staff members almost had his eyes on the top of his head when he heard them speaking Mandarin.

Yamaoka Gen, a seasoned worker, took the opportunity to introduce Zhenghui Shen's identity to the Jiahe staff. Upon hearing that Zhenghui Shen was the partner of the owner of Kasuga Eiga and the screenwriter and lead actor of the film to be released, the Jiahe staff, regardless of who they were, looked surprised.

Zhenghui Shen did not mind these small details, politely shook hands with them, and then got into the car to head to the hotel. Along the way, he discussed the distribution of Jin Hong Animation in Hong Kong with Liu Xin. Aheng and others had already opened up the market in Hong Kong, and the combination of Hong Kong and Japanese styles attracted many young people. Apart from changing the dialogue to traditional Chinese, the comics published here were no different from those on the mainland, and even "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" was sold in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong TV stations also aired it.

People who understood Mandarin were secretly shocked by this information.

Jiahe received the four of them with a vice president. Although this level of reception was not inappropriate, Yamaoka Gen still felt unhappy. He specifically mentioned that Zhenghui Shen was the partner of the owner, but they still could not meet the top management of Jiahe, which disappointed him.

However, Vice President Wang Jiasheng was friendly and natural, giving high praise to the cooperation with Kasuga Eiga and showing great sincerity in discussing further cooperation.

Jiahe was no longer the giant it once was in Hong Kong. The market was limited, and the Southeast Asian financial crisis had closed the markets of these countries to Hong Kong, making it difficult to sell Hong Kong films. Therefore, Jiahe's production had decreased year by year, and maintaining its current scale was already a challenging task.

This time, Fukumi Shigenori and Jiahe's cooperation mainly relied on their theater chains, and Jiahe also had the intention to further expand the Japanese market. However, with Jackie Chan aging, Jiahe was gradually losing its strength.

Wang Jiasheng kept probing into Kasuga Eiga's distribution capabilities in Japan, possibly hoping to push "The Storm Riders" to the Japanese market. The film had earned over 40 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, with a production cost of over 70 million Hong Kong dollars, and it was counting on the overseas market to make a profit, but it could not be released in the mainland.

This guy was looking for a lifeline everywhere.

In 1998, a major battle in the Hong Kong stock market almost turned the "Oriental Pearl" into a garbage dump. The painful victory served as a warning to everyone, signaling the decline of Hong Kong. The Southeast Asian film market began to protect itself, opening to Hollywood but closing to Hong Kong films, which was a significant blow to Hong Kong's film industry. The 1.3 billion people market of the mainland could not be fully open to Hong Kong, making it seem that Hong Kong's local film industry had no way out. Thus, the appearance of Zhenghui Shen and his team became a lifeline for Vice President Wang of Jiahe. No matter what, it was worth a try.

"Actually, we also have distribution capabilities in mainland China," Wang Jiasheng began to boast, "We have cooperative relationships with many distribution agencies in the mainland." The latter statement was true, but the level of intimacy was a big question.

"Mr. Wang, since both parties have the intention to cooperate, why don't we discuss it further?"

"Oh? How further?" Wang Jiasheng asked with interest.

"Hong Kong is a free port, and we are very interested in the entire East Asian market. We hope to expand and tap into this large market," Zhenghui Shen said.

Wang Jiasheng's eyes widened.

"We can cooperate to utilize the film production resources of Japan, Hong Kong, and the mainland to radiate the entire East Asian market. What do you think?"

"About this, do you have any specific suggestions?" Wang Jiasheng asked cautiously.

"Why don't we join forces with Jiahe to establish a distribution company, specifically to invest in and distribute films in the mainland?" Zhenghui Shen said.

Wang Jiasheng swallowed, "Mr. Shen, it's very difficult to distribute films in the mainland."

"I know, so it's not just us two. We should also involve some major film groups in the mainland. Jiahe is a veteran in the film industry with many connections. Why not give it a try?"

"This..." Wang Jiasheng hesitated, "I need to report to the chairman."

For Jiahe, which would go public in 2004, accepting shares at this time seemed unacceptable, and they could only cooperate within the framework of the company. Therefore, the result of the report seemed to be no result.

Fortunately, this was expected, so Zhenghui Shen and Yamaoka Gen prepared to continue contacting other companies in Hong Kong according to the plan. During the preparation, Zhenghui Shen had a sudden idea and said to Yamaoka Gen, "Why don't we look at some promising female stars in Hong Kong? I suddenly have some ideas for the next film."

Yamaoka Gen responded with a look that all men understood.

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