----Kouki Arakawa Viewpoint


　Three days after returning from another world... and while I was watching the documentary I'd saved up in my room in my spare time, Con, who had been curled up next to me, looked up sluggishly.

'What's up?'

　As I looked towards the door of the room Con was staring at while calling out to him, I heard Shingo's voice as the intercom sounded.

'Gongju, are you there?'

Yeah, I'm here. You can come in if you want.

　When I answered, Shingo was rustling something outside the door, but eventually he opened the door with his foot and walked into the room. Shingo's hands were blocked by a bag containing a large amount of snacks he had bought at PX.

'What's wrong with those snacks?　I mean, aren't you with Aikawa-san today?

Emi-chan and Alice are going to the Space Development Agency's research facility together. She said something about a research paper.

　Shingo, who explains why he's not with Aikawa-san while sitting down, promptly rips open a bag of chocolates and hands it to Kon, who came by for sweets. So Shingo's guy is too busy to come to me by himself?

In other words, Shingo came to me because he was left behind by his beloved Aikawa-san. If you're so bored, why don't you go to another world for a while?

'Huh!　That's not true. I'm sure you're not the only one who has done this. And I don't want to go to another world, I'm going to die from the pain of not being able to connect to the internet.

　 But once again, when I think about my current situation, I really have a lot of time on my hands.
　In my memory before my reincarnation, there were many things to pass the time, such as home video games, anime, manga and movies. I've lost all my memories of myself, but I probably used these items with my friends in my free time.

'But we don't have them in this world, do we?

'Huh?　What did you say?

No, it's nothing.

　Shingo reacts to my soliloquy, but I cover it up appropriately.... If you said to your best friend in front of you, "Shingo, I died and reincarnated once," you would definitely be considered a crazy person. To begin with, the "otaku-type" things called "subculture" and "media culture" are not widespread in this world, in fact, they don't even exist.
　The first time I found out about it was when I was still small and I noticed that there was hardly any anime on TV except for educational programs. At that time, TV broadcasts had already been switched to satellite broadcasts, so each family could choose what they wanted to watch and receive.
　I didn't think I was getting any anime because of my mom's education policy or something, but one day I picked up the remote control that was on the table and looked at how many programs were registered. As a result, I found out to my surprise that out of nearly 600 internet broadcasts, all but a dozen adult programs were registered.

　Why they registered such a huge number of programs was questionable, but there was something else that bothered me more than that: there were very few programs registered in the categories of music, movies and dramas, even though there were nearly 600 internet broadcasts. And even those few programs were not broadcast 24 hours a day, but were suspended from 2am until 7am the next morning.　When I learned of this fact, I realized how out of whack this world was and asked my mother if she knew the names of all the famous composers, performers, movie directors and cartoonists I knew.
　She seemed quite surprised at my frantic expression - but then she said, with a troubled look on her face, "I'm sorry.

'I'm sorry. I don't know those people, are they famous?'

　Mom said she didn't know the person who was listed in the textbook. If she didn't know him, he probably didn't exist, because she was supposed to have a hundred times better memory than an ordinary person. Then I thought about how that happened, and I put together a hypothesis of my own.

　There are three important pieces to it. First, in our world, it was World War II, which began in 1935... a war that would have been bogged down in history and the victor would have been unknown, but it ended in a year and a half.
　But the people of that time were fortunate enough to avoid a tragic war in a short period of time and were able to see the "hope for tomorrow" on their own without relying on movies and musicals.

　The second is probably due to the tragedy of Europe, a disease that killed about half of the world's population and buried many people and their ancestors forever who would have made it big in the future. In fact, a famous man who was to become a best-selling author around the time of the European tragedy was confirmed to have died in the process. And third, and I think this is the biggest reason why.........
　The pace of development of science and technology and the technology associated with it was abnormally fast. Taking the example of cinematography, even if a revolutionary technique or equipment is developed, why would we bother replacing the equipment to shoot a movie if a new technology is developed in less than a year or so, or even six months at the earliest?　Normally you wouldn't do that. And as technology is being replaced at a breakneck pace, only those who are very curious are getting involved in media culture.

　But isn't it possible to develop media culture rapidly now?　There are two reasons for this - the first is because my mother, Miki Arakawa, a rare genius and my mother, who appeared like a meteor in 2091 and continues to create technological innovations. Thanks to my mother, the technology on Earth has blown up and advanced for nearly 100 years. Even for her, the technology on earth can only advance slowly.................I think.
　Then I think that even if you create a new video game console, a video work using special filming techniques, or an animation, you will still be able to enjoy a certain level of quality for a certain period of time. And the second reason why I think I can do it now is because of me.
　Before my reincarnation, Japan had created a subculture culture that it could be proud of in the world!　If you've got me and my mother, who is a genius technician, and Shingo, who is probably into that kind of thing, it should be easy to fill this world with subculture culture.

You know, Shingo. Have you ever seen an opera or something like that?

Hmm?　Oh, there is one, but I guess it wasn't very interesting.

So, if the lines from the opera were in Japanese and the music wasn't hard classical, but more cheerful, would you watch it?

'Well, it's not like theater, is it?　If what you're saying and what I'm imagining matches what you're saying, I'll probably watch it.

　I see, people are interested in musicals, right? Hmm.........so you're not going to go with opera-like comedy, but girl's opera?　Well, I'll have to ask other people later to spoon feed me this area.

You know that story I told you about Joachim the other day? What if you could relive that story for yourself using a device or a video camera?

'Huh!　I want to try that!

　Well, I think they'd enjoy it in an RPG, or even a complete role-playing game that uses VR technology. In fact, with the current level of technology, I think it's more efficient to miniaturize and use VR equipment, if you can use it well, you can enjoy fantasy and action, and above all, you can enjoy "psychic horror games" which are difficult to express.
　As for production time, if we set up a dedicated department on Noah's Island to research it, we can greatly reduce the time, and the technology can be managed with a group of engineers led by Mom. The safety of the equipment and the impact on the mind should be handled by a macho who has an iron heart that won't falter at the slightest external stimulus.

Okay, last question. It's a good idea to have a cute deformed girl who uses magic to defeat an evil organization or a group of good-looking soldiers who are trying to prevent a terrorist attack in the future.

'Yes!　I think I'll definitely watch it. It's kind of nice, that kind of thing is a dream come true.

　That's right, Shingo, you have a dream. Subculture culture is what makes the dream of becoming a 'hero' come true, something you can't do yourself or something a man has at least once imagined. It's true that this world is currently a very happy world with no more major wars and incurable diseases, that's why I want to see extraordinary dreams.　We have the technology and the human resources... the only thing we lack is money. If I'm going to start something new, I want to use the money I have to take the first step without the sponsors complaining about it.
　I currently have about $400 million at my disposal, which is the remainder of the $500 million I received as a reward for developing a cure for the European tragedy when Shingo and I dug a hot spring. Subtracting the cost of purchasing the thing I'm arranging for Alice's birthday present from this, the remainder is a little over 150 million, which might be enough to fund the first phase of the project, but if I wanted to, I'd need a little more.
　I should gather a group of people who are willing to walk together, so I ask Shingo, who is already eating the fourth bag of chocolate candy, a serious question with a serious expression.

''Shingo, how much is left of the bounty?''

It's only $300 million and change. Oh, it wasn't a waste of money!　I installed a new piece of equipment at my own expense in my new research room at the research building in Koki. There are only three of them in the world and it cost me a lot of money.

Well, I've got 400 million, but I'm spending it on Alice's birthday present, so I've got a little over $150 million to spend in real terms.

'Huh, huh!　Eh... wait a minute!　What's a gift that costs nearly 24.6 billion yen in Japanese yen?

It's a secret. But I see, you've got 300 million.

　That means I should be able to get 100 million yen from Shingo and the rest of my money, which is about 25 billion yen, which should be enough to hire Noah's engineer for my personal business and pay for all the other expenses. As I thought, now is the time to put the plan into action!　And I'm sure that Shingo will walk with me toward my stupid dream. So I ask him.

I ask him, "Shingo, would you like to join me in creating a new era, a new culture? Would you like to create a new era...a new culture with me?

''Heh..., what is Gongju saying?''

　At my words, Shingo's mouth dropped open and he froze. I grinned at his completely predictable behavior and opened the lid of the carbonated beverage on the table in preparation for the long explanation I was about to give to Shingo....






　On August 12, 2102, Arakawa Kouki, called 'the greatest genius of all time', 'the son of the devil' and 'the monster of knowledge' by the governments of the world and some scientists and soldiers, decides for the first time of his own volition to step onto the public stage in a clear way.
　The founder of the Special Media Entertainment Division, which would later account for 40% of the total sales of the giant conglomerate Noah, is called "The Father of the New Age", "The Kirin Child of Media", and ... "The Master of the Anime Industry". No one could have predicted it yet at this time.