But what about now? Would a rapid growth in media culture be possible at this point in time? It seemed possible. There were two reasons for this. First was the existence of my mother, Miki Arakawa. In 2091, my mom’s explosive appearance in the scientific community had ignited a technological revolution. Thanks to her, Earth’s technology had leaped ahead by around 100 years. But even my mom wouldn’t be able to stop the pace of development from slowing down from this point on... probably. If we made a new games console, movie special effects technology, or an anime right now, the quality would remain high enough for people to enjoy it for a good amount of time.
My second reason for deciding that it was possible right now was because I existed.
The Japan where I’d lived in my previous life had been creating a subculture that was known all over the world! With someone who’d been reincarnated from that world working together with someone like Shingo who’d probably love the subculture, and a technological genius like my mom, taking over the world with that subculture would be a breeze.
“Have you ever seen an opera, Shingo?” I asked.
“Hm? I’ve seen one before, but it wasn’t very interesting.”
“Well, what if the opera’s script was in Japanese, and the music was something more upbeat instead of difficult classical pieces? Would you want to see it then?”
“That doesn’t sound like a theater performance. If it was anything like I’m imagining, I’d probably want to see it.”
Okay, so he’s interested in seeing something musical. Hm... Rather than a comedic opera, I wonder if some kind of all-girl opera would be popular? I suppose I’d have to get ideas from someone else about that.
“I was telling you Joachim’s story a while back,” I said. “If you could somehow experience that sort of thing for yourself using your terminal, would you want to try it?”
“Buh hee! Yeah, I’d want to try that!”
Oh ho. Looks like he’d enjoy an RPG or even a complete roleplaying experience that uses VR technology. Given the current level of technology, I think the best thing would be to use a miniaturized VR device. That way people could enjoy fantasy and action games, and maybe even supernatural horror games.
We could greatly reduce development time by producing and researching these things in a dedicated facility on Noa Island. The engineers that my mom employs could do something about the technology. Macho Man could be responsible for device safety and the effect on the user’s mental state because he’s got a heart of steel. It’ll take more than a little external stimulus to make him jump.
“All right,” I said. “Final question. Would you want to see an anime if it was about a stylized cute girl using magic to defeat an evil organization or some cool soldiers trying to prevent a terror attack?”
“Yeah! I’d love to watch that. It would be nice if there was something like that. It’s a nice dream.”
That’s right, Shingo, it is a nice dream. Subculture is all about making the impossible possible and giving you the experience of being a hero, like every man dreams about at some point. It might be that this world is a happy place now that there’s no great war and there are no incurable diseases. But that’s exactly why I dream of something beyond our everyday lives. We have the technology and we know where to find talented people... The only other thing is capital. Since we are doing something new, we should use our own money to take the first step so that we don’t have to answer to any sponsors.
I had $400 million that I could use freely. After making the onsen with Shingo, that was what was left out of the $500 million I’d received as a reward for developing a cure for the European tragedy. If I deducted the amount I’d need to pay for Alice’s birthday present, that left a little over $150 million. It was probably enough to get started, but if I was allowed to be greedy, I wanted a little more.
I need to gather allies to help me make this happen, I thought as I watched Shingo eat his fourth bag of chocolates.
“Shingo, how much of your reward money is left?” I asked in a serious sounding voice.
“I think I’ve got just over $300 million. But I didn’t waste it! I bought a piece of new equipment for my new research lab in your research complex. It was one of just three in the world, so it was expensive.”
“I see. I’ve got $400 million, but I can only spend around $150 million of it because I need to save some for Alice’s birthday present.”
“B-Buh hee?! W-Wait a minute! That’s 24.6 billion in Japanese yen! What kind of present is worth that much?”
“That’s a secret. So you’ve got $300 million?”
If Shingo combines $100 million of his money with what I’ve got left, that’ll be about 25 billion in yen. That’ll be enough to employ some of Noa’s engineers for my personal project with enough left over for miscellaneous expenses. Now’s the time to set things in motion!
I was already sure that Shingo would help me realize this crazy dream as I said to him, “Shingo, create a new age with me. Will you help create new culture?”
“Ah... Kouki, I don’t know what you mean.”
Shingo’s mouth was left hanging open.
It was exactly the reaction I’d expected. I opened a bottle of soda that was sitting on the table as I got ready to give Shingo a long explanation.
August 12, 2102: Kouki Arakawa, a boy referred to as the “greatest genius in history,” the “demon child,” and a “monster of knowledge” by the world’s governments and many researchers and military officers, made a conscious decision to make his work public for the first time.
No one could have imagined that he would later become known as the “father of the new age,” the “media prodigy,” and the “anime industry mastermind” for creating the “Special Media Entertainment Department” that would bring in 40 percent of the overall sales made by the large conglomerate Noa.