Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Racing Force Theater Edition Music Director
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The Japanese Power Sentai series was hugely popular not only in Korea but all over the world.
Their main source of revenue was toys—robots and all sorts of other playthings designed to fuel kids' collecting obsessions—that raked in an average of 100 billion yen per season.
To an adult who knew nothing about Sentai shows, it might seem baffling that such flimsy scripts and visuals could generate that much money. But producing those very scripts and visuals cost far more than you'd imagine.
A typical season ran about 50 episodes, with production costs around 500 million won per episode. Just the skintight suits they wore and the special effects makeup for the villains ate up a fortune.
That's why tokusatsu shows were constantly wringing out every last idea to deliver the best possible footage within their tight budgets.
And in the midst of all that, the music director?
They were practically exclusive hires, rotating among the same small group each season. (In fact, this was true for the writers and directors too.)
But they didn't half-ass it.
You might think a music director was overkill for a kids' show, but it was essential for ramping up the tension in battle scenes and highlighting the heroes' exploits, even for the little ones.
And to them...
"[Yuin? Isn't that a bit much?]"
Word had come that Yuin—whether for the movie or the next season—wanted to serve as music director for Power Sentai.
It was enough to leave them flustered.
Sure, having a famous musician like Yuin on board would be amazing.
But as mentioned, they were a team that had to squeeze maximum value out of minimal budgets.
They simply couldn't afford a music director of Yuin's caliber.
But Yuin, as if fully aware of all this, offered to do it for a ridiculously low fee. He even said they could use his name for promotion.
If they didn't know who Yuin was, they might wonder why on earth. But they knew Yuin was a 7-year-old boy—the perfect age to be obsessed with Power Sentai more than anyone.
Well, if he wanted it that badly, who were they to say no?
So they appointed Yuin as music director for the Racing Force movie—this season's Power Sentai—and hyped it up big time.
[Racing Force Movie: Yuin Appointed Music Director for "Racing in the Dark."]
[Toei: Yuin's Appointment Was at His Strong Request. We Decided to Respect Him.]
[Yuin Loves Power Sentai. He'll Repay the Favor with Pulse-Pounding Music.]
-Wow, isn't that Force Ranger?
-Yeah, they used to call it Force Ranger back in the day. It got famous when the U.S. licensed and aired the Japanese version.
-Why's Yuin doing that? ;;;; I don't get it ;;;
-He wanted to lololol
-Yeah, but why?
-Didn't you watch Force Ranger at 7?
-Fr real lol I used to wear those transformation bracelets as a kid and pretend to be Force Ranger. Yuin's probably the same.
-He's just flexing what he's good at to live his fanboy dreams.
-Our Yuin... is still a baby.
-No way a kid that age could handle Force Ranger.
-Let our Yuin do whatever he wants ^^
-Go Yuin ^^^^
-Imagining him grinning ear to ear while working on it makes me smile too ㅠ
-Dude above, that's kinda ;;;;
-Fr, that's creepy ;;;
Thanks to the massive publicity, not just Japan but even Korean adults were buzzing about Racing Force. Meanwhile, Yeonwoo received the movie footage with trembling excitement.
"[And so, today's screening is the Racing Force movie.]"
At Oh Jaehoon's words, everyone settled onto the living room sofas.
Naturally, Yeonwoo claimed the spot with the best view of the living room screen.
Seeing Yeonwoo's thrilled face, eyes sparkling, Oh Jaehoon chuckled softly and hit play.
The movie started, completely devoid of sound effects.
"[It's way flashier than when I was a kid.]"
"[Yeah. The CG looks way more natural than before?]"
Annosuke and Yuri, who had watched it live on Asahi TV as kids, marveled at how much the production values had improved.
Heo Ok couldn't fathom what was so fun about it, but she just smiled warmly watching her grandson enjoy it.
Yeonwoo, on the other hand, was completely immersed.
And he was newly realizing something.
Just how much difference BGM, OSTs, and sound effects made.
High-octane scenes with nothing but voices felt somehow lacking.
Yeonwoo imagined the music and effects that should be playing right then.
The fairies brought those sounds to his ears alone, following his imagination.
Empowered by the fairies, Yeonwoo layered his imagined music onto the film, crafting the Racing Force movie in his mind.
The key here was the new villain in this movie.
The Dark Racer, as they called it.
It was an ancient racer from the evil Heavy Equipment Empire, revived after being corrupted by darkness.
The main villain of this movie—and potentially the star that could make or break its box office.
The existing Racing Force racers already had theme songs, so he just needed to remix them cooler. But the Dark Racer was different.
Only Yeonwoo's original music would go in there.
For Yeonwoo, it was the character he had to pour the most heart into.
The original members' themes used classic instruments with a touch of synthesizer.
So for the Dark Racer?
A being faster and stronger than the five.
'Metal?'
Heavy metal popped into Yeonwoo's head. The suit design had that heavy metal vibe, but more than anything, the sound was brutal.
'Yeah, metal it is.'
Yeonwoo watched the whole movie, mentally sketching out his ideas.
"Wow...!"
At the climax, Yeonwoo gaped in awe, eyes and mouth wide open.
Red Force had shattered the black gem embedded in the Dark Racer's chest. The brainwashing broke, and with a dazzling burst of light, it reverted to its true form.
An ancient racer—and Racing Force's seventh member, the Gold Racer.
Then its personal mecha, a jeep, combined with Super Racing King to form Super Turbo Racing King, finally delivering the death blow to the Heavy Tank Empire.
Yeonwoo was so entranced by the spectacle that even as the end credits rolled, he stared blankly at the screen, lost in the afterglow.
Heo Ok stroked his head with a smile and asked,
"How was it?"
"So... so awesome, Grandma!!"
Yeonwoo shouted, buzzing with excitement.
"Super Turbo Racing King! They're gonna make toys of that, right, Grandma? I want it. I'll buy it with my own money!"
"Who knows? This grandma thinks if you ask nicely, they might just give it to you as a gift."
"Huh? Why? You think they'd really do that?"
It was such a low-budget gig for the music director that if he asked, they'd probably say, "Of course, kiddo!" and hand it over.
"Ask politely. They might. You're working together, after all. Remember how Hades gave you an album? And they sent merch for High Teen Romance too."
"Oh, right! I gotta ask."
Yeonwoo bounced in his seat. He was dying to dive into composing right now.
"Jaehoon hyung, when are Wakana noona and the others coming?"
"Tomorrow?"
"I hope they get here soon."
Yeonwoo couldn't wait to start the music and meet the Toei team.
* * *
Separate from the near-volunteer music director gig that was basically ultimate fan service, Yeonwoo was also prepping Yuri & Annosuke's single.
"[What style of song are you two going for?]"
"[Hmm... Dunno?]"
Annosuke glanced sideways as he spoke, so Yeonwoo pressed.
"[Come on, be honest. Like the genre or whatever.]"
Annosuke made a "well, if you insist" face and said,
"[Honestly, I'd like hip-hop...]"
"[No way, hip-hop? I don't know the first thing about hip-hop.]"
"[Then what do you want to do?]"
"[Hehe, let's do jazz.]"
"[Rejected.]"
"[What? Why!!]"
"[I don't know jazz. Or rather, I don't wanna.]"
Yeonwoo watched their bickering patiently, wondering how long it'd go on.
Soon enough, suggestions flew: rock, another city pop, maybe bossa nova? Why not enka at this point?
Coming from Japan's southernmost and northernmost islands, one guy one girl, total opposites in personality—they couldn't agree on genres either.
This could drag on forever.
"[I'll just decide.]"
Fed up, Yeonwoo spoke up, and they both nodded.
"[Yeah, probably best.]"
"[Yeah, we'll break up before we even drop the single.]"
Yeonwoo crossed his arms, deep in thought. What to do?
Then an idea struck.
He'd heard Japanese people didn't like change much.
So would the fledgling fandom just starting to form around Yuri & Annosuke embrace a whole new genre?
Yeonwoo doubted it.
"[Let's go with city pop.]"
"[Aww, we fought for nothing. I thought we were trying something new.]"
"[On second thought, it's too soon. A lot of your fans probably love city pop.]"
"[Makes sense.]"
At least until they built a rock-solid fanbase that wouldn't budge no matter what they tried, they needed to stay the city pop duo.
Come to think of it, Nanase...
"[Right, Nanase noona said to do one more teen concept.]"
"[One more?]"
"[After this promo, it'll be next year. Then Annosuke hyung will be an adult.]"
"[Not 'one more'—'last time' is more accurate.]"
"[Yeah.]"
"[Hey, Yeonwoo.]"
"[What?]"
Yuri ventured cautiously.
"[Make it good, but... no more love songs, okay?]"
"[Agreed.]"
"[Why? The songs were great.]"
Yeonwoo protested, but Yuri recoiled.
"[You try acting lovey-dovey on stage staring at this bear of a man. It's torture.]"
"[Tell me about it. Nearly barfed singing it.]"
As they started growling again, Yeonwoo sighed.
"[Then what's a good concept? You're the teens—give me ideas.]"
Yuri lit up.
"[Me! Me! Teens means school stuff, right? I wanna do a school song!]"
Yeonwoo nodded.
"[Okay, you two write the lyrics then. I don't know school.]"
"[Sweet!]"
They chimed together, and Yeonwoo nodded in satisfaction before saying,
"[Alright, before we really get into composing—let's grab something yummy!!]"
They perked up.
"[What're we eating?]"
They shouted in unison again.
"[Steak!!]"
Total opposites in every way, but when it came to food, their tastes synced like telepathy.
"[Yay! I was craving that!!]"
...Actually, all three of them.