Tokyo Reborn: Dark Superstar

Chapter 86 The Greatest Albums of the 20s

In an era when the Jessney Firm was the dominant firm, there were few head-to-head confrontations as exciting as the Golden Screen Incident.

The peak showdown between Kondo Masahiko and the Beasts rock band was a landmark event in the Japanese music scene in 1996.

The production team of the Red and White Song Gala invited Kondo Masahiko to participate in this year's Red and White Song Gala when he topped the Oricon Charts for the ninth consecutive time.

As a result, no one expected that the king of the generation, Kondo Masahiko, made one mistake and the dark gambling agreement failed.

Since then, he has disappeared without any news...

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Faced with the vacancy of Kondo Masahiko, the NHK Kohaku Uta Song Festival production team proposed a variety of alternatives. Among them, the option of inviting Takakura Bunta to participate in the NHK Kohaku Uta Kaisha was also included in the discussion scope of the program team.

Of course, there was some controversy over Takakura Bunta's choice and the NHK Kohaku Utakai production team.

Except for some big singers who are known as national treasures, the singers who have appeared on the Red and White Song Festival are basically monopolized by major agencies.

For independent studios like Takakura Bunta, no matter how strong the momentum is, they may not be able to get invitations.

NHK TV station's Red and White Song Contest has never lacked big stars.

Every year, the NHK Red and White Song Festival features five or six kings and queens, paired with some legendary acts and superstars.

Although quasi-king-level singers like Bunta Takakura are attractive, they are not in the list that must be invited.

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Moreover, Bunta Takakura offended both the Burning system and Jesni.

The Kohaku Utakai production team doesn’t want to cause this trouble at all.

However, Bunta Takakura's songs are so popular in overseas markets.

The album "Kill, Miracle, Heart" triggered a great discussion on the export of domestic cultural products.

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In the late stage of the bubble economy, the export situation of the entire country was very bad.

The cabinet government of "Swordsman Prime Minister" Ryutaro Hashimoto has been looking for new foreign trade economic growth points to boost the domestic sluggish economic situation.

Among them, the export of cultural products is an important policy implementation direction.

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When society is generally confused and hopeless about the future, the best way to change the mentality is to avoid reality.

Such as games, movies, fruits, divination, alcohol, etc.

the rise of tarot in the wake of the European tulip bubble;

the rise of the film and fruit industries during the Great Depression;

The explosion of the game industry and video tape industry after Japan’s bubble economy;

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The album sales of "Kill, Miracle, Heart" exceeded 5000 million, becoming the best-selling album in Japan in 1996 and the only five-star platinum album in Asia this year.

Under this year's bad economic situation, both the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry all want to include this performance in their department's annual summary.

First, the Agency for Cultural Affairs will award the "Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award" to Bunta Takakura.

This is an important award from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, aiming to recognize individuals or groups that have made outstanding contributions to academics, science and technology, and cultural heritage;

Next, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will give an "International Popular Music Award".

This is an award established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990. Its main purpose is to promote Japan's cultural diplomacy and promote music and cultural exchanges between Japan and the world;

Later, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry also joined in, and the cover design of the album "Kill, Miracle, Heart" was shortlisted for the "Daily Design Language Award".

The "Mainichi Design Language Award" is an annual design award sponsored by the Mainichi Shimbun with the support of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

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In this case, NHK TV station acts as a public media independent from commercial capital.

Of course, we cannot hold back the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

NHK Program Production Bureau Director Ebisawa Katsuji personally made the decision to officially invite Takakura Bunta to participate in the 47th NHK Red and White Song Festival.

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Hashimoto Genichi, the deputy director of the Kohaku Utakai, was responsible for contacting Takakura Bunta.

He was told to prepare the songs in mid-December and then go to the NHK TV headquarters for the first round of rehearsals.

Kanda Keiko attaches great importance to the invitation to the NHK Red and White Song Festival and urges Takakura Bunta to prepare carefully.

If NHK Kohaku Uta can increase its presence, it will be a good opportunity for rising singers like Takakura Bunta to stabilize their status as artists and expand their influence.

…………   Takakura Bunta plans to sing a new song.

On the one hand, through the NHK Red and White Song Festival, he established his personality as a singer-songwriter, calmed the scene, and stabilized his status as a quasi-king.

On the other hand, it will warm up next year's new album and increase exposure.

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In addition to busy preparations for the NHK Red and White Song Contest, the Night Tokyo Charity Welfare Institute in Shinjuku is also holding a charity party at the end of the year.

Takakura Bunta, the top volunteer at Night Tokyo Charity Welfare Home, also participated in the event.

Among them, Mrs. Rikako Takemoto, the wife of the executive director of the Film Ethics Management Committee, brought a new group of generous charity fundraisers.

Bunta Takakura specially customized a batch of limited edition dolls as their future roles in the illusion network.

In addition to the copyrighted "Sailor Moon", "Detective Conan", and "Inuyasha" character dolls.

Takakura Bunta also designed some original character dolls that were born in later generations.

Among them, the charity auction price of a Joan of Arc doll was 2300 million yen.

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During the second half of the charity fundraiser, Bunta Takakura led VIP charity donors into the box.

Takakura Bunta's first battle turned out to be Yumiko Hanaretsu, the director of Kyushu University Medical School Affiliated Hospital.

Thanks to her for helping with the treatment of the injured at Masuka Girls' Academy, and for generously waiving medical expenses.

Of course, the main one is Dr. Yumiko Karetsu. She has recently been preparing for Kyushu University School of Medicine to be listed on the NASDAQ in the United States. She has been busy working overtime and has average physical fitness, so it is easy to handle it.

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In this kind of wheel battle, the most important thing is the rhythm of the first battle, which determines the rhythm and pulse of the entire war.

As the saying goes, hit with one punch to avoid hundreds of punches.

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However, Kadokawa Ryoko, director of Kadokawa Bookstore, head of the Hong Kong office and mainland market, is a tropical martial arts master.

At the last moment of the charity fund-raising, it was suddenly announced that an additional 1800 million yen would be donated to the Toariu City Youth Life Assistance Fund.

Kadokawa Ryoko's cumulative donation amount at the charity night reached 4900 million, breaking the record for the highest single-game charity fundraising record of Night Tokyo Charity Welfare Institute.

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Dr. Yumiko Karetsu gave the opportunity for the first battle to the female martial artist Ryoko Kadokawa.

This directly resulted in Takakura Bunta not punching a single punch, and the first match lasted for forty minutes, and it became even more embarrassing...

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The next morning when I returned to my apartment in the Shibaura Building in Minato-ku, Tokyo, I used the shower instead of using the toilet.

It’s really too much to fight in a team fight alone.

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Throughout December, Beasts Rock Band continued to dominate the major music charts.

In early December, the single sales of "Kill That Tokyo Man" finally reached 12 million copies. This is the first song released by Bunta Takakura and was officially upgraded to a platinum single.

The fourth song in the album, "Heart Made" (Psychological Effect) by Akina Nakamori of the Beast Rock Band, has a cumulative sales of 902 million copies and has dominated the charts for ten consecutive weeks.

Currently, there are still more than 12 copies sold every week. Before the end of December, it will definitely exceed 1000 million copies and achieve the achievement of a platinum song.

In this way, in the first year after the album "Kill, Miracle, Heart" was released, all four songs in the album were platinum songs, and the album itself was also a five-star platinum album with sales exceeding 5000 million copies.

In the music critic column of authoritative music magazines such as "Japanese Pop", some music critics have listed "Kill, Miracle, Heart" as the greatest album of the 20s.

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1996 is coming to an end, and the singers are beginning to prepare their plans to hit the charts in 1997.

The new songs released in the last half month also refresh the chart data of 1996, which is completely meaningless.

So, this is half a month of list garbage time.

There is no doubt that "Heart Made" (Psychological Effect), the lead singer of Akina Nakamori, will be upgraded to a platinum song.

The 1996 Beasts rock band's "Kill, Miracle, Heart" album is about to come to a perfect close.

At this time, a new song is released...

(End of this chapter)