I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 453: Merlin-kun, Always Watching the Show
"Seriously, the post-credit content of this movie was so boring! Just because it's a free movie, can Shinji Matou really get away with being this sloppy?"
After ending her call with her sister, Aoko continued complaining about Prologue, clearly very dissatisfied with the film.
Alice rolled her eyes at the noisy Aoko.
"The visuals during the credits were oil-painting-style illustrations of the characters and iconic scenes. That was pretty nice, wasn't it? Why are you being so fussy?"
"Because there wasn't any information about the next movies!" Aoko bit her fingernail and grumbled unwillingly. "He gets people's excitement all worked up and then just leaves them hanging. Shinji Matou is such a scumbag!"
Alice: "..."
Because Aoko's wording was far too open to misunderstanding, Alice couldn't even be bothered to respond.
What Aoko didn't know was that Shinji had originally planned to include previews for future FGO movies in Prologue's post-credit scene.
Just like Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon from his previous life, Shinji's initial idea was to reveal concept art for the seven Singularities so that audiences would know what stories were coming next.
After all, the original purpose of Prologue was to promote the subsequent films. Compared to that, audience impressions of the movie itself were less important.
Unfortunately, things didn't go according to plan.
The other Singularities weren't a problem, but the scripts for the Second Singularity, Rome, and the Fourth Singularity, London, were proving extremely difficult.
Even after gathering several screenwriters and revising the scripts countless times, Shinji still wasn't satisfied with them.
Keeping the original story outlines intact while turning the Rome and London chapters into exciting and engaging films was simply too difficult.
It wasn't that those chapters lacked highlights entirely. Certain moments—such as Waver's interactions with the young emperor or Solomon's shocking first appearance—could be adapted into very interesting scenes.
However, a few standout moments couldn't conceal the failure of the overall story. Many events in the original plot couldn't even withstand basic logical scrutiny.
To be honest, Shinji wasn't surprised that the Rome and London movie scripts were so difficult to adapt.
If Sakurai's writing had truly been that good, FGO wouldn't have been flamed so hard by fans that Nasu himself had to step in and save the day.
Although Shinji believed that, given enough time, they could eventually polish the scripts into something that at least deserved a passing score of sixty points, the release schedule for the FGO film series had already been finalized.
To maintain audience engagement, two FGO films were scheduled to be released each year over the next several years.
Under such a tight production schedule, Shinji simply didn't have time to endlessly revise the scripts.
As a result, he decisively moved the Third Singularity, Okeanos, forward and made it the second Singularity of this world's FGO adaptation.
According to his current plans:
In the first half of 2008: Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons
In the second half of 2008: Final Fantasy: The End of the World
If the Rome and London scripts still failed to satisfy him after Okeanos was completed, Shinji planned to replace them with the first two pseudo-singularities: Shinjuku and Agartha & Laputa.
In other words, even at the moment Prologue was released, Shinji's version of FGO still hadn't finalized all the Singularities for Part One.
Given such uncertainty, there was no way he would publicly announce FGO's future plans to the audience.
Of course, since Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons was already confirmed to enter production soon, Shinji still intended to give viewers something to look forward to in Prologue.
"I bet the viewership has already dropped quite a bit by now. After all, this isn't a movie theater—nobody's going to sit around waiting through a black screen at home."
Looking at the second section of the staff credits rolling on-screen, Shinji couldn't help but sigh.
No matter the movie, this second credit sequence—nothing but white text on a black screen—is always the most boring part.
The thing is, even though every filmmaker knows audiences are least interested in this section, they still have to include the staff credits.
It's kind of like how everyone knows the most boring part of a Fate livestream is the merchandise promotion segment at the beginning, yet event planners still have no choice but to include it.
Of course, for filmmakers, displaying the staff credits has nothing to do with promotion. The people who actually need publicity have already appeared in the first part of the ending credits.
The reason filmmakers include a full staff list is to give proper recognition to everyone who participated in the production.
Therefore, whenever circumstances allowed, Shinji would habitually stay until the very end of a movie even if there were no post-credit scenes. To him, it was the most basic form of respect toward the film crew.
However, just because someone in the industry like Shinji would do that didn't mean ordinary viewers would.
If the movie were being shown in a theater, Shinji could at least use a post-credit scene to force audiences to stay until the movie had completely finished.
But Prologue was being broadcast on television and online.
Shinji estimated that by this point, the overwhelming majority of viewers had already switched to another program or gone off to do something else.
They wouldn't come back until the post-credit scene actually started.
The reason Shinji knew this so well was simple:
Because he himself did exactly the same thing.
"Hey, how's the Oscar ceremony going?"
Instead of asking Archer, who was holding the remote, to switch channels, Shinji directly called Cloris, who was far away in North America.
The awards ceremony itself wasn't worth watching.
It consisted of nothing but tedious award presentations and song-and-dance performances so outdated that only a bunch of old men could possibly enjoy them.
And backstage statistics such as ratings data would never be released while the program was still airing.
So, unwilling to contribute even 0.001% to the Oscars' ratings, Shinji chose to ask someone directly.
"There's no exact data yet, but a rumor coming out of ABC's control room is pretty interesting."
Shinji could tell that Cloris was in an excellent mood.
He could practically picture the girl grinning from ear to ear on the other end of the line.
"Interesting how? Tell me in detail."
Good moods were contagious.
Hearing Cloris's cheerful voice made Shinji's own lips curl upward.
Even though she called it an unverified rumor, if it were completely unreliable gossip, his little rich girl wouldn't be this delighted.
Eager to share, Cloris told Shinji about how the ceremony's ratings graph had apparently looked like an electrocardiogram.
"Hey, Shinji, do you think those old men will be so angry after seeing the ratings report that their heart rates end up looking just like the ratings graph?"
"How could that be?" Shinji snorted.
"After seeing those ratings, the old guys' heartbeat charts should look as stable as the ratings for our Prologue."
Cloris froze for a moment.
Then she realized that if an ECG were a perfectly stable straight line, it would mean the person's heart had stopped beating altogether.
"As expected, when it comes to being vicious, nobody beats you, Shinji."
"I'll take that as a compliment, Lissy."
Shinji proudly lifted his chin and said smugly:
"I think we should find a way to publish the ceremony's ratings chart in the newspapers. The article itself can focus on criticizing how outdated the Oscar broadcast has become."
"But the image caption absolutely must be 'A Prophecy in a Line Graph: Will This Become the Academy Judges' Final ECG?'"
"Why a newspaper?"
"Because those old guys only get their news from newspapers," Shinji said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "You don't seriously expect their brains to learn how to use the internet, do you? No way. No way."
"Shinji, leave some ammo for the rest of us."
Cloris joked verbally, but her actions were much more honest—she was clearly excited.
"Hey, all of you, get moving and contact every major newspaper you can. As many as possible."
Without even hanging up her call with Shinji, Cloris used the office intercom to issue orders to her subordinates.
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While Shinji and Cloris were busy plotting mischief, the staff credits finally ended, and the post-credit scene that countless viewers had been waiting for began.
The first thing to appear on screen was Romani's speech from the end of the movie.
However, ripples continuously spread across Romani's image.
Only when the camera pulled back did the audience realize that someone was watching Romani's speech through the surface of a pool of water.
The observer never appeared on screen, but the distinctive flower petals drifting through the air immediately reminded longtime fans of the legendary mage Merlin, who had previously appeared in Fate/Apocrypha.
"–-No matter what kind of ending awaits us ahead!"
As Romani spoke those words, the unseen spectator, Merlin, offered his own commentary as though responding.
"Yes. No matter the ending, that King will never acknowledge their existence."
The camera showed Merlin sitting casually atop a tower, his iconic staff resting in his arms.
"Many hardships await them on the journey ahead. They may even choose the wrong path—one that cannot bring about the outcome they desire."
"But regardless... I am merely a spectator, quietly admiring how their story ends."
Merlin gently traced a finger across the water's surface, and the image shifted from Romani to Fou, who had served as the movie's mascot throughout its entire runtime.
"What they seek, what they leave behind, what they give to you—"
A fond, almost indulgent smile appeared on Merlin's face.
"Cath Palug, all of these things must surely have value to you."
The camera passed through the water's surface and entered Fou's perspective.
The fluffy white creature was no longer acting cute.
Instead, it calmly gazed at the boy and girl standing before it.
The destination toward which their journey pointed was The End.
This was the story that would bring color to the miniature garden enclosed within flowers.
"Come—"
The camera began to rise.
Above Ritsuka and Mash fluttered two banners.
One was blue, bearing the fleur-de-lis.
The other was black, emblazoned with a wing-spread evil dragon.
"Let the battle begin!"
The post-credit scene ended.
Immediately afterward, the release date for FGO's next movie appeared on screen:
Coming Winter 2008
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
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