Chapter 67: The Tension Brought by the Countdown to the Movie

"It's finally starting."

In the premiere theater in Tokyo, Aoko rested her hands on her knees, a smile forming the shape of ω on her lips, and her legs kept swaying.

Due to the collective ticket purchase, the theater had reserved two entire rows for the magus.

"This beginning has a great feel to it."

Seeing the title of Fate/Zero on the screen, Aoko nodded repeatedly.

"The lighting and the atmosphere are much stronger than FSN."

FSN did not delve into the summoning of Heroic Spirits, only having Rin recite a string of spells.

When the female protagonist, Arturia Pendragon, made her appearance, there wasn't even a specific spell recitation, more like a superhero coming to rescue a beauty.

It's not that Aoko disliked the way Saber was introduced, but she preferred the strong sense of ritual in Fate/Zero.

"The display of magecraft is more detailed." Alice commented, pinching his chin. "We might see Shinji Tohsaka's concepts for advanced magecraft."

"I don't know if it's advanced or not, but the magecraft of the Matou Family is truly disgusting."

Recalling the basement with crawling bugs, Aoko felt uncomfortable.

Shibamatsu whispered, "I remember the Matou family's magecraft can make the Crest Worm evolve based on the desired state, a highly changeable magecraft."

"Oh, does that pretty boy also play with bugs?"

Thinking of Shinji's fair face, Aoko's eyebrows furrowed.

"That was many years ago, due to the mysterious decline, the forms the Crest Worm can change into have also decreased. The Matou Family shifted from large-scale breeding to elite cultivation. As for Mister Shinji... he didn't study bug magecraft because he wasn't good at creating magical familiars."

"...Alice, how do you know so much about the Matou Family?"

Aoko's lips twitched.

Alice retorted, "Since I'm going to make him my idol, isn't it normal to conduct a thorough investigation?"

"Do you also know about his time at the Clock Tower?"

"Idols aren't looking for boyfriends. As long as it's not forced, what does it matter how many women he sleeps with?" Alice gave Aoko a glance. "Is there a shortage of magus with decadent private lives in our community?"

"Consider me silent."

Aoko obediently chose to keep quiet.

Unlike the magus discussing magical rituals, regular viewers didn't have such thoughts; they were more focused on a pure aspect—whether the movie was good or not.

From the perspective of the movie's quality alone, Fate/Zero wasn't particularly dazzling, but it conveyed a vast amount of information. Despite this, the audience didn't find it chaotic. Instead, they were deeply impressed by several characters and were drawn to continue watching.

While viewers might not immediately recall the names of certain characters, they could form a first impression based on specific tags. So when these characters appeared again, viewers could instantly remember what kind of person they were and what they had done before.

Achieving such an effect was thanks to Shinji's careful editing and arrangement. In order to swiftly advance the plot, Shinji maximized the compression of information, even emphasizing the use of acting rather than dialogue.

For example, Shinji used the elegant but devoid-of-modern-facilities furnishings in the Tohsaka household to convey the old-fashioned nature of Tokiomi Tohsaka.

He also used Kiritsugu Emiya's crude summoning ritual to showcase his pragmatic side.

Another example was the first scene after the movie title—the summoning of Rider.

In this scene, Shinji played with horror elements to the extreme. The sudden appearance of the Sea Monster swallowing an unfortunate passerby caused most of the audience to be genuinely scared.

Viewers with smaller courage even scattered their popcorn onto the heads of the people in the front row.

Relying on this skill, viewers undoubtedly wouldn't forget this duo, Caster, who were evil to the extreme and ruthless to the point of sacrificing lives for their whims.

With all 7 Servants assembled, the Holy Grail War officially began.

Since it was a war, there naturally had to be scenes of characters fighting each other.

So the audience witnessed Kotomine Kirei dispatching Hassan of the Hundred Face (Yan Qing), to invade the Tohsaka residence.

"Did this guy betray so early?"

Seeing Assassin launching an attack on the Tohsaka residence, the audience had these doubts in their minds.

Audiences who had seen FSN knew that Kotomine Kirei would eventually betray his teacher, Tokiomi Tohsaka, and even snatch away his Heroic Spirit, Gilgamesh.

Even those who hadn't seen FSN could infer from the earlier summoning plot and dialogue that Kotomine Kirei was affiliated with Tokiomi.

But what nobody expected was that Kotomine Kirei would betray so quickly, showing his fangs like a beast in less than 10 minutes.

Because the movie started with the summoning of Heroic Spirits, skipping a lot of preliminary plot, this made Kotomine's "betrayal" appear more authentic. It successfully deceived a large number of people, unexpectedly achieving this effect.

Because the old audience had the expectation of Kotomine's successful betrayal, they all thought Assassin's assassination would be very successful.

But the result exceeded everyone's expectations.

This guy in a black tight-fitting suit, who invested all his talent points in gymnastics, showed off for a few minutes with acrobatics and explosives, and was unexpectedly taken away by Gilgamesh.

It was like everyone thinking a pigeon would coo, but it didn't, a kind of reverse cooing.

The strong contrast not only made people unable to sympathize with Assassin, but even made them want to laugh.

"Hahaha."

A certain man with his back to them laughed directly.

Not only did he laugh, but he also poked Cu Chulainn's waist with his hand and said the classic line he learned from Shinji.

"Cu Chulainn is dead again. It's so inhumane."

"Shut the hell up!"

If the aisle in the theater is not too narrow, causing him to be unable to wield his Gáe Bolg properly, Lancer would definitely use Gáe Bolg to repeatedly thrust into EMIYA's body.

"That face looks somewhat familiar."

"It seems like the actor who played Lancer in the previous movie."

"He got sold by Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald again."

"Yeah, is he a specialized actor for roles where he gets betrayed?"

The comments from the audience in the back row reached Cu Chulainn's ears, and his face turned almost purple.

"What do you mean by a specialized actor for getting betrayed? How could I play such weird roles!"

Cu Chulainn wasn't on the same level as the ordinary audience, but he was determined. If he wasn't the protagonist in the next movie, he definitely wouldn't participate!

The death of Hassan didn't create much of a stir among the audience. Instead, the magnificent entrance of Gilgamesh caused numerous screams from fangirls.

"Ah——! Gilgamesh!!"

"Lord Gilgamesh is really handsome!!"

"This dominance, this disdainful gaze! Ah— I'm intoxicated~~"

"More, I want more scenes of Lord Gilgamesh!"

...

Fortunately, there weren't too many scenes featuring Gilgamesh. After a brief appearance, the next scene was Kirei Kotomine seeking refuge at the church.

Here, the audience saw the various other personas of Caster and learned about the battle plan between Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kirei Kotomine.

Not only that, this segment also included flashbacks of Kirei Kotomine's memories. Through these flashbacks, the audience learned how he was chosen by the Holy Grail and how he came to know Tokiomi Tohsaka.

Not only is there Kiritsugu Emiya, but also several other important characters in the movie have flashbacks of their past each time they appear.

Shinji does this not only to save time; indeed, slowly laying out the timeline like in the anime "Fate/Zero" would definitely be too time-consuming, but just inserting segments can save a lot of time.

There are drawbacks as well; the back and forth switching of time may confuse some audience members who aren't keen on using their brains.

So, in order to lower the barrier to entry for viewers and allow them to easily distinguish between the scenes in the movie, Shinji intentionally uses colors to differentiate between memories and the present.

Scenes during the Holy Grail War are in dark colors, highlighting the seriousness and brutality of the war's tone;

The brightness of the characters' flashback scenes is higher, and the colors are more vibrant;

As for the memories of the Heroic Spirits from their past lives, there are blurred traces around the edges of the screen, creating a kind of hazy beauty.

As a result, as long as they're not colorblind, viewers can easily distinguish the timeline of the current scene being played in the movie.

But Shinji isn't satisfied with just this; to emphasize the importance of time in this movie, he studied the novel and anime of "Fate/Zero," and each transition is accompanied by a countdown timer in the corner of the screen.

Countdowns are almost a standard plot device in big-budget films, and creating a tense atmosphere through countdowns is a very simple and effective way.

But Shinji's approach is clearly a bit exaggerated; he put a countdown timer on the entire movie, pushing the time limit to the extreme.

Audiences know that when the countdown reaches zero, the war will end, and the Holy Grail will descend, so every time they see the countdown, they can't help but feel a hint of tension.

"That Matou lad is really bad; this countdown is just teasing me," said Aozaki, biting her straw. "I wasn't nervous at first, but he's making me nervous without realizing it."

Alice Kuonji lightly brushed the popcorn crumbs off her shoulder and exclaimed excitedly, "This is the power of Mister Shinji, not using magecraft, but controlling people's emotions through visuals."

In this mix of tension, excitement, and anticipation, the audience welcomed the opening battle at the dock.

<+ >

If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind paying $5 each month to read till the latest posted chapter, please go to my Patreon1

Current Chapter In Patreon: Chapter 155: Arturia: "So, I was just a backup option?"

https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl2