56. Magical Girl... Maybe
56. Magical Girl... Maybe
The Magical Mari feature film, <NoForest For Mascot>
NoFoMa for short.
NoFoMa was released in the same week as the main-series episode in which Dina awakened.
In other words, viewers who watched NoFoMa’s post-credits scene could understand Dina’s awakening more deeply.
'Aha, Dina's awakening was no coincidence!'
Chronologically speaking, the time when the mascots awakened the spirits in the forest coincided with the period when Frank was born and Dina awakened.
The timing and manifestation of abilities in these two events were so similar that they could not be dismissed as coincidence.
Fans marveled, calling it the result of Sage Cervantes's meticulously crafted synopsis.
But that reaction depended on one premise.
Only those who had followed both NoFoMa and the regular broadcast could have reached that conclusion.
Put another way, those who had dismissed NoFoMa as a mere spin-off aimed at children and niche audiences suddenly became pitiful souls who had missed its emotional payoff.
Up to this point, it still wasn't a major problem.
They would only receive that payoff a little later, since they still had the option of watching NoFoMa and then rewatching the broadcast.
But that was only the case for the general audience; the situation inside the fan clubs was completely different.
Within fan clubs, the hierarchy among fans was naturally determined by their affection for and understanding of the work.
Outside the fan club, it did not matter whether someone was a chancellor, a count, or a commoner. Inside, rank was determined by how much effort each person devoted to the work.
NoFoMa threw the fan club’s internal hierarchy into upheaval.
No matter the organization, those higher in rank tend to become more conservative and fundamentalist in character.
The fan clubs were no exception. Before NoFoMa’s release, the highest-ranked fans had dismissed it as a spin-off detached from the main work and had not bothered making time to watch it.
But the final post-credits scene and the mascotification of the spirits were major events that would send ripples through the worldbuilding even without anyone pointing it out—
So a mass reshuffling of fan club officers ensued, and the underdogs began to rise.
This event, which occurred simultaneously and purely by coincidence across all fan clubs without any special directive or outside intervention, left a considerable impression on Magical Mari's fans.
Because it all began with the penguin in the post-credits scene linking Magical Mari and NoFoMa, the fans honored his achievement by naming it the “Penguin Revolution.”
*
Nikolai had deeply mixed feelings when he learned all this.
What possible meaning could status in a fan club have that warranted such a grand title?
According to rumor, the commander of the Dina Knight Order resigned after it was revealed that he had not watched NoFoMa, and a civil war—literal and physical—erupted within the faction, throwing the Knight Department into chaos.
While Nikolai was grateful that people loved his work to this extent, on the other hand he wished they would exercise a bit of restraint.
And frankly, he wanted to hold an official interview and tell the fans to calm down a little.
But Nikolai had no time for that.
He had only learned of Dina's awakening scene three days after the regular broadcast aired.
The week the awakening scene aired, NoFoMa was still well into its theatrical run.
At the time, he had been running around doing post-premiere interviews and checking box office performance, so he simply hadn't had time to check the regular broadcast.
Of course, as director he knew this was Dina’s awakening episode, but he could not know the exact staging and direction until he saw them himself.
And when he finally watched the broadcast himself, the shock Nikolai felt... was indescribable.
'What the hell did this man do...?'
The first thing that caught his eye was the scale of the battle.
The originally planned combat power of Legion was not supposed to be that high, nor were the explosions during the battle supposed to be that large.
But what appeared on screen was at least two to three times greater than what they had discussed.
No matter how much of a layman Nikolai was when it came to explosive yields, he could not pretend not to notice a discrepancy that blatant.
And that was not the only problem.
That was clearly not Dina's concept.
The original concept was for her to fight by pulling weapons out of a pocket dimension, but this man had arbitrarily changed it to attaching and detaching parts onto a magic staff.
Not that there was any problem with the story... but at the very least, Nikolai wished he had been consulted about such things.
'Oh dear...'
Those alone were disorienting enough, but there was one final thing that dazed Nikolai's mind.
Barbara system.
According to the plan, she was only supposed to be a military-style girl in a full-body suit. Where had that transformation armor come from?
No, before that. How the hell was it even made?
An otherworldly Iron Man... No, should he call her Iron Girl?
People's reaction to Iron Girl was obvious.
And it was not CG but a genuine creation of the Golden Magic Tower. Men were bound to go wild over it.
The spectacle had already been unleashed, and Nikolai knew there was no taking it back now.
Still, he had to return to the studio as quickly as possible and stop Allen’s rampage.
Only then could it be brought under control to a level that was at least manageable later on.
With that thought, Nikolai rushed back to the studio the moment his NoFoMa-related schedule ended.
At last, Nikolai returned to the academy club room.
Standing before it, Nikolai felt a sense of unease.
'Why is it so quiet?'
The studio office was not always bustling, but it was far too quiet.
It felt as though there was not a single person inside.
And sure enough, the office was empty.
No Allen, no staff, no actors.
Thinking everyone might have gone out to film, he headed for the set, but not even an ant stirred anywhere in Bon Voyage Studio.
As Nikolai froze in front of the empty set, a guard who happened to be passing by recognized him.
"Oh! Isn't that Sage Cervantes? Have you just returned?"
"Long time no see, sir. The schedule took a bit longer than expected, so I returned a little late."
"That only means your feature film is a hit, so it’s good news. My daughter and I are going to see it tomorrow. Can I look forward to it?"
"You won't be disappointed. Ah, by the way, would you happen to know where my studio people have gone?"
"I know about that. Allen told me before he left. He said he had business requiring the special sanctuary in Karamzin Territory."
At the guard's words, information about special sanctuaries listed itself inside Nikolai's head.
Normal sanctuaries blessed a tract of land, whereas special sanctuaries were anchored to places or objects rather than the ground.
The technology was used to establish them in unusual locations such as the sea or above the clouds.
Because the technique was so difficult, they were even rarer than ordinary sanctuaries, which were already limited to certain regions.
Most types had fewer than ten examples in the entire world.
Nikolai hurriedly recalled what he knew about the special sanctuary in Karamzin Territory.
He had been introduced to it a month ago for filming, so he had not forgotten.
'If I recall, Duke Karamzin's special sanctuary was... a vehicle, wasn't it?'
Karamzin Territory’s special sanctuary was anchored to vehicles.
He clearly remembered Riv explaining that this was a special case made possible because the Duke's household had maintained a pact with the Temple of Order for generations.
Right.
Vehicles.
Ships, carriages, trains.
Things like that.
They had briefly borrowed the ship during Scapul’s previous prison break.
Knowing Allen's personality, he probably wouldn't use the same production, so what remained were...
'Damn it...'
Carriages and trains.
He did not know what Allen intended, but carriages and trains offered staging possibilities a ship could not match.
After all, being on the ground meant the possibilities were endless.
Before the situation could spiral beyond control, Nikolai booked an expensive same-day portal ticket and headed to Karamzin Territory.
And by the time he finally tracked down the filming location after much inquiry...
filming had already concluded.
=======
Going back in time to one week before Nikolai's return.
I bounced my leg anxiously in the studio office.
Only one week of freedom remained.
Of course, it wasn't as though Nikolai was shackling me, and even after he returned, I could continue with flashy, explosive productions if I wanted—but the sense of liberation when the inhibitor wasn't around was something else entirely.
If I had to compare it to anything, it’d be the freedom of being left home alone while both your parents traveled abroad.
Knowing I had only a week left made me feel compelled to use every moment well.
I thought about my last remaining shoot like an immature son wondering how best to enjoy the house while his parents were away.
Ceres watched me with a sullen expression and objected.
"You've already run wild so well up to now and it's still not enough?"
"Huh?"
"Putting Diane in that weird thing, doubling the originally planned explosives, even ordering the wizard playing Legion to do the same—and it's still not enough for you?"
"Sigh... Ceres."
"What."
"It’s a rule that a great commander must always stay hungry."
"Seems you've gone mad from hunger."
What was I supposed to do with a lead actress who was already satisfied?
Shaking my head, I recalled the next episode.
The next episode happened to be...
"What was the episode number we're filming next?"
"Uh... Episode 30, right?"
Come to think of it, whatever its current genre, Magical Girl Magical Mari was still a serial drama.
It was not an anime that aired a little over twenty minutes of actual content each week and used the remaining five minutes for the opening, ending, and preview.
It was a live-action drama with at least an hour of actual content per episode.
In terms of runtime, that meant more than three anime episodes' worth of content was crammed densely into a single episode.
On top of that, given my nature and the characteristics of the genre, each episode contained at least one intense battle scene...
'Judged by story progress alone, we're at anime episode 100.'
The problem was that even around what would have been episode one hundred of an anime, the story had only revealed what the Twilight Council was and the identities of four executive-level members.
In other words, there was zero story progression.
For now, the novelty of the magical girl concept itself and my provocative production were glossing it over, but honestly, if we kept pushing forward with just this one trick, viewers would start getting sick of it soon.
No, to be frank, at the point where the story hadn't progressed by episode 100, we deserved to be called a trainwreck without complaint.
Yes.
The reason I was accelerating the story this time was that we needed to start making progress—absolutely not to satisfy my personal desires before Nikolai returned.
It was important, so I repeated it twice.
This was purely for the viewers.
"So it's about time to show them a fresh shock."
"What? You mean there's still more to do?"
Ignoring Ceres, who had been nitpicking since earlier, I began explaining to the staff.
"Everyone knows we’re filming our monumental thirtieth episode, and that it’ll be a major turning point in the story."
Nod, nod.
"And a shocking story demands equally shocking direction."
Hesitant nod?
"At a moment this important, it’s only natural that the role should go to an actor with genuine name recognition."
"..."
"So, here's the thing... I'll do it myself."
With those words, I pulled a skull mask from my pocket and pulled it over my head.
Thump.
Carlos, who had been listening to the speech, froze on the spot and dropped his camera on the ground.
That camera was expensive.
While the entire film crew was frozen in silence, the first to regain her senses was Ailey.
"Eeeek! Allen is taking the field himself! We can’t handle this!!"
"What's the problem."
"Why? Whyyy?! After what happened to the Golden Magic Tower when the last episode aired, how can you even ask what’s wrong?!"
"Come on. That’s practically a good death."
From what I heard, after Dina's awakening aired, inquiries about power armor flooded in to the elders and the tower master at a rate of several thousand a day, paralyzing the magic tower's communications network.
Additionally, I'd heard that the number of outsiders infiltrating the tower had roughly quintupled, the proportion of dwarves among those outsiders was overwhelmingly high, and some elders and direct disciples had even blown up an entire research building trying to make one.
Still, I considered those cries of happiness.
"Peace-ful...? Urk."
Huh. Ailey clutched the back of her neck and collapsed.
She certainly had been working hard cleaning up those messes.
Soon, the others who had been listening quietly had a fit for similar reasons.
Waving goodbye to Leon as he was carried out supported by Karl, I contacted the special figure for the special sanctuary we would be visiting the following week.
"Yes, hello. Am I speaking with Mr. Melvin Jenkins?"