ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 495 Part 1
ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 495: That’s Just How TV Channels Are Rolling Part 1
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And just like that, here we are.
「Ah, ah, testing, testing. Everyone, can you see me? You can? Great! Then please just leave the channel as it is! Coming exclusively from TV Yugata to all of you with love, it’s time for your beloved Sasahara Eight’s Eight Channel! Let’s get things started!」
SNAP! With a sharp snap of her fingers, the screen behind the gorgeously smiling woman lights up, and the “show” starts right away. There are small stars falling from the top of the screen to the very bottom, a whole lot of cute and sparkling special effects play out one after another and at the very end of this sequence, which one would think was supposed to be the TV show’s intro of some sort, a very pop star-like logo was displayed in bright and colorful font right above the woman’s head.
Seeing it all happen in real time was actually kind of impressive, but at the same time the sugary-sweet style and design of the effects and logo were really embarrassing and cringey to look at.
「Now then, everyone! Please have a look at this! This thing right here! Actually, I don’t really know what it is myself, as the details are all but a mystery even to me, but apparently today’s program is going to be quite special! Special, indeed! It is so special, that even the studio itself was changed for this special broadcast! I don’t know if you are able to tell, but instead of the usual studio, we are coming to you live from TV Yugata’s Second Studio! Amazing! Just take a look at this place! It’s completely covered from head to toe with AR equipment!」
The woman spins around after saying all of that with a machine gun-like pace, sounding all sweet and sugary…… Ahh, now I remember. That woman is actually Sasahara Eight, a really famous idol who was also providing additional commentary to the Exhibition Matches during this year’s GGC. Then, as if to drive the point of this place being entirely AR space across, she brings her index finger forward and starts to spin it round and around like a whirlpool, and as a result of that action a small whirlpool-like image of a galaxy was created around her finger.
This kind of technology is really amazing when it comes to the number of things it can be applied to, even though it has been defeated by the Virtual Reality technology when it comes to access to the general public and the cost—efficiency. But right here we can see the appeal of this technology in full swing, as it can also lower the costs of special effects when it comes to the company’s planned events.
But this is what AR technology is in a nutshell. And needless to say, it is something that you would come to expect from Augmented Reality.
Virtual Reality, VR for short, is a technology that allows you to create whole new worlds inside of the specified system, ones that can be whatever the creator wants them to be, with their own set of laws, history, social dynamics and people leading their everyday lives. Augmented Reality, on the other hand, is a technology that operates on a somewhat similar principle, but its application is fundamentally different. Instead of taking its users into the virtual world created within the confines of the system, it takes the elements of the created worlds out of the system and projects them onto the real world. And the kind and amount of things that Augmented Reality systems can project can vastly vary as well. You can project a single effect, a single person, or even a whole lot of elements that can simulate an entire scene or a place in the real world in real time. Thinking about it that way, the simplest definition of Augmented Reality should be that: “a system that allows for breaching the worlds of fantasy and reality, and then mingling those two together”.
And it seems that this studio, even though it looks really small compared to some other studios you see on TV, is equipped specifically to harness the true power and potential behind Augmented Reality technology. And it would also seem that for the sake of today’s event this very studio was given to the producers of the “Sasahara Eight’s Eight Channel!” program to do as they see fit with it.
I mean, it should come as no surprise that someone as giant as TV Yugata has funds to maintain a studio like that, with five great Augmented Reality projectors and a whole lot of machinery supporting those projectors to boot. They also have enough money to make sure that this special event, which was bound to cost a miniature fortune, would be broadcasted during the day’s golden time. That way they could get back all of the cost and make a huge profit for themselves for sure.
「No, I mean really, you can’t even imagine just how happy I am to be here right now! Even though I’m not all that well familiar with all that stuff…… I just hope that I will be able to wrap my head around all this. But if anything else, will Eight-chan be able to maintain her mental state after witnessing all of those fantastic attractions that are to come in just a moment?」
(*Director’s Note: Augmented Reality technology brings no potential harm to the users, so there is no risk involved when it comes to using the system or witnessing it in the working.)
「Hieh!? And you say that it is even the technology used when designing Space Camps and other projects like that!? This thing is just getting more and more amazing by the minute, I tell you guys……! Ah, it can even be used to project in real time the comment section from the video stream that is currently going on online…… So this means that everyone watching right now can be a part of this grand Augmented Reality debut! Really now, this is all so amazing…… What a time to be alive…… I’m so looking forward to seeing where this technology is going to go! I hope that you guys are looking forward to it as well!」
It just so happened that those particular lines were a cue for all the staff members that were currently working backstage. They started to operate some consoles and as a result of their work there was the image of the UFO that appeared right behind Sasahara Eight’s back. For a moment out there the UFO was circulating behind her, emitting bright light from the bottom of its deck, as if it was trying to suck Sasahara Eight inside of itself and spirit her away. It was honestly a pretty good maneuver to raise the tension around the studio and for the ones currently watching, I’ll give them that.
With all that being done, Sasahara Eight turned towards the cameras and flashed them a bright and cute smile.
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