Chapter 117: Ji Xin, the Ultimate Winner in Life

Setting Tsuyoshi Domoto aside for the moment, Yukihiko Tsutsumi turned his focus toward child actors. "Actually, if we could find a child actor with solid acting skills to play Maeda's role, the results might be quite good."

Japanese child actors are truly monstrous in their talent; even at a tender age, they are like reincarnated stage veterans, their performances absolutely beyond reproach. If a suitable candidate could be scouted, it would certainly be a viable path.

"However, we need someone who is a former child actor, under twenty years old, possesses solid acting skills, fits the image, and doesn't command too high a fee. Do you have anyone in mind, Tsutsumi-san?"

In the original film, the character of Ryoya Maeda was played by Ryunosuke Kamiki, who was himself a child actor. Ye Zhao would be more than happy to see a performer with a similar background cast. The problem was that he was completely unfamiliar with Japanese male actors who started as child actors. The few he knew—Shun Oguri, Haruma Miura, and Takayuki Yamada—were completely off in terms of age for this project.

"Hmm..." Tsutsumi was also momentarily stumped; he couldn't think of such a perfect candidate off the top of his head.

"In that case, perhaps we should set aside the male casting for now and proceed with the auditions for the actresses," Ye Zhao suggested.

...

The casting for the female roles primarily revolved around four characters: Kasumi Higashihara, Aya Sawa-shima, Risa Iida, and Sana.

For the role of Aya Sawa-shima, Tsutsumi quickly thought of someone. "If we could invite Miki Sakai, the results would be excellent. I watched *Love Letter*, and her performance left a deep impression on me."

Miki Sakai had just garnered significant attention for her successful portrayal of the young Fujii Itsuki in director Shunji Iwai’s *Love Letter*, making her one of the most popular beautiful young girls of the moment. Her non-threatening aura was quite compatible with the character of Aya Sawa-shima. If she could be convinced to accept the role, she would indeed be a top-tier candidate.

Ye Zhao recalled the clips of Miki Sakai in *Love Letter* and nodded. "If it's Sakai-san, she is indeed a great choice."

"I just don't know if she would be willing to take this role, and besides, after the success of *Love Letter*, her schedule must be packed."

"In any case, let's send an invitation and see. If it doesn't work out, we'll figure it out then." Ye Zhao drew a triangle next to the name "Aya Sawa-shima" on his paper, then immediately brought up the casting for Kasumi Higashihara.

In the original film, this role was played by Ai Hashimoto, whose spiritual and ethereal performance was quite brilliant. However, at this point in time, Ai Hashimoto hadn't even been born yet, so that was a thought he didn't even need to entertain.

Yet, in this era, finding a spirited and beautiful young girl was actually quite simple. Even in Ye Zhao’s own circle, there was Yukie Nakama.

Beyond that, there were others of similar age, such as Ryoko Hirosue, Yuko Takeuchi, Ko Shibasaki, Miho Kanno, and Takako Matsu. The most wonderful part was that these actresses, any one of whom would be a massive star in just a few years, were at this moment either just starting out as extras, still attending school in their hometowns, or had only just signed with an agency.

Except for Takako Matsu, whose illustrious family background meant her debut began with NHK dramas and who would likely be impossible to secure, and perhaps Miho Kanno, who had just landed a morning drama role this year and might be a stretch, the others were all at a stage where they would jump at any opportunity, no matter how small.

Thinking of this, a thought occurred to Ye Zhao: why not use this film to bring all these people together and create a project that future audiences would call "luxurious" or "all-star"?

At this moment, Tsutsumi poured a little cold water on the idea, advising, "If we lock in Sakai-san for the role of Aya Sawa-shima, it would be best not to cast a novice with no experience for the role of Kasumi Higashihara."

In this film, if one were to rank the female roles, the protagonist was undoubtedly Kasumi Higashihara, followed by Aya Sawa-shima. While Miki Sakai wasn't yet at the level of an A-list star, she was no longer an empty-slate novice. It would be fine to have her co-star with someone of similar stature, but if a newcomer who hadn't even formally debuted were cast above her, even if she didn't mind, her agent would likely decline the role out of concern for her career trajectory.

"That's true." However, following the standard set by Tsutsumi, among the actresses he had just thought of, only Ryoko Hirosue—who debuted via the PG facial cleanser commercial last year and had already appeared in several films and dramas—met the criteria. Yet, the 1995 version of Ryoko Hirosue was still a fresh, sunny, healthy, and somewhat tomboyish idol; she really didn't fit the slightly dark image of Kasumi Higashihara that Ye Zhao had in mind.

Just then, a flash of inspiration hit Ye Zhao. "I actually have a candidate in mind."

"Who is it?"

"Mai Hosho. What do you think?"

Who was Mai Hosho? The most famous role she was known for was Maruhashi Ume in the drama *GTO* (Great Teacher Onizuka) and *Shomuni*. The latter had been imported to his home country, and that was exactly how Ye Zhao remembered this pleasant-sounding name, even though, at the time, he only saw Mai Hosho as a pretty and memorable actress.

It wasn't until later, when he saw the photobook shot by Kishin Shinoyama, that he truly understood why Shinoyama praised her as "Japan's most beautiful girl." She was so ethereal at seventeen or eighteen that Ye Zhao felt she should have remained a young girl forever.

Unlike Miki Sakai, who debuted as a singer in 1993 and as an actress in 1995, Mai Hosho had debuted as an actress when she started her career in 1993. Although she hadn't found a great role like young Fujii Itsuki in the past two years and had mostly been doing bit parts, she already had considerable experience as an actress.

"Mai Hosho?" Upon hearing the name, Tsutsumi looked a bit confused.

"Didn't *Weekly Young Jump* hold a national high school student uniform beauty pageant? Hosho-san was the third-year champion," Ye Zhao explained.

Tsutsumi wore a subtle expression. "I see. Someone of your age, Ye-kun, naturally knows more about these things."

*But as far as I know, it's usually older men who like uniform-clad beauties...* Ye Zhao pretended not to notice the "aha!" look in Tsutsumi's eyes and explained, "I saw her in the movie *Big Disaster* (Daitsuren) starring Miki Nakatani earlier this year, and I thought her performance was quite good. Why don't we invite her to audition?"

Ye Zhao was the investor, so his word was law. Even so, despite his recommendation, Tsutsumi immediately pulled up the VHS tape of *Big Disaster* to find the scenes where Mai Hosho appeared... and then, he found that her total screen time probably didn't even exceed five minutes.

"She really is a beautiful girl," Tsutsumi muttered. "No wonder you couldn't forget her even with so little screen time. However, don't you think she's too pretty? According to the film's premise, she's just an ordinary, average girl. I don't mean we need to find a plain-looking girl, but based on the setting, this little group should rank in appearance: Risa > Sana > Kasumi > Mikoto. If the actress playing Kasumi is this beautiful, what are we going to do about the actresses for Risa and Sana?"