I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 418: Why Couldn't The Walt Disney Company Do The Same?
In truth, the rating war between The Garden of Sinners and Pirates of the Caribbean had very little to do with Shinji at the start.
According to Shinji's philosophy of promotion, as long as large-scale, straightforward marketing was possible, he would never resort to underhanded tricks.
Only when a film's quality was lacking—or when its marketing had gone seriously wrong—would he consider taking a more unconventional path.
The reasoning was simple: in the end, films had to bring audiences into theaters. And once they were seated, it all came down to the film's quality.
If you played too many tricks during the promotional phase, audiences might start to feel like they were being misled.
Once or twice, it might feel fresh. But do it too often, and people would inevitably think—
"Am I being played here?"
In short, certain tactics should only be used at critical moments. Overuse them, and when you truly need them, they'll lose all effectiveness.
So after confirming that The Garden of Sinners was steadily releasing across major markets and achieving impressive results, Shinji had no intention of stirring up any unnecessary drama.
As for its rating, having his own hired reviewers maintain scores on IMDb was simply standard procedure. Every Type-Moon-related film followed the same practice.
And yet… sometimes, the turning point of history begins with someone no one would ever pay attention to.
. . .
Yukikaze Manabu.
An ordinary white-collar worker in Misaki Town.
He wasn't a film enthusiast, just someone who occasionally watched movies to unwind and relieve the stress of work.
That night, after finishing The Garden of Sinners, Manabu walked out of the theater with a yawn.
Thinking back on the film, he couldn't help but shake his head.
The atmosphere was just too oppressive. For someone already weighed down by work stress and simply looking to relax, it felt exhausting to watch.
And to make matters worse, his own name happened to match that of a minor character in the film—a senior of Mikiya Kokutou friend.
That alone left him feeling slightly annoyed.
Even though the "Manabu" in the film was just an NPC who assigned tasks—not a bad person—he was still associated with a delinquent character.
In the eyes of most viewers, someone like that probably wasn't exactly respectable.
By comparison, Manabu much preferred Pirates of the Caribbean, which had released around the same time and which he had already seen.
Sure, a few of the skeleton scenes were a bit creepy—but overall, its tone was far more enjoyable than The Garden of Sinners.
Especially Captain Jack.
It had been a long time since Manabu had seen such a fun character on the big screen.
As for The Garden of Sinners…
He didn't think it was a bad film.
But it was definitely not as entertaining as Pirates of the Caribbean.
So when Manabu returned home and checked the movie rankings on IMDb, his half-sleepy eyes instantly snapped wide open.
At the top of the latest trending films list sat The Garden of Sinners with a staggering score of 9.9.
Meanwhile, Pirates of the Caribbean was ranked second… with a score of 8.6.
Seeing Pirates of the Caribbean in second place didn't surprise him. After all, the film wasn't perfect—it had its fair share of flaws.
Seeing The Garden of Sinners in first place didn't surprise him either. Shinji had a massive number of die-hard fans worldwide.
But that 9.9 score…
That was what truly caught his attention.
A film like The Garden of Sinners… scoring 1.3 points higher than Pirates of the Caribbean?
And not just that—
It was sitting at a near-perfect 9.9?
That… was simply absurd.
"What makes this movie worthy of such a high rating? Isn't it just a story about a bunch of lunatics?"
A trace of irritation began to grow in Manabu's chest.
If Pirates of the Caribbean had scored something like 9.7 or 9.8, he probably wouldn't have felt this annoyed.
But the gap between the two films on IMDb was simply too large—far beyond what their actual quality difference should be.
More importantly, the one with the inflated score was The Garden of Sinners—a film he didn't even like!
Staring at the two posters displayed side by side, along with their ratings below, Manabu's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.
Based on his understanding of IMDb, it probably wouldn't take more than a few days. As more people watched The Garden of Sinners, the score would naturally drop.
"But it still pisses me off!"
Muttering under his breath, Manabu clicked into the page for The Garden of Sinners.
He ignored the glaring 9.9 and went straight to the review section, hoping to find comments from people who felt the same way he did.
But what entered his eyes instead were nothing but praises from what he saw as blind fanboys.
Forget negative reviews, there weren't even any neutral ones.
"A perfect movie!"
"The heroine is beautiful, the story is flawless—don't miss it!"
"I gave it a 10.0 because that's the highest score allowed."
…
Reading through these exaggerated praises, Yukikaze Manabu's mood sank to rock bottom.
What he originally considered a "just so-so" film instantly dropped to the level of "trash" in his mind.
And then, one particular comment ignited a deep sense of disgust within him.
"It's already certain that The Garden of Sinners is the king of June. Its IMDb score will likely stay at 9.9 for a long time. As expected, Shinji Matou is the king of commercial cinema!"
"In my opinion, there's currently no one in the world who can challenge Shinji's box office dominance. His only rival has always been himself. The only thing that can break Shinji's records… is his next movie."
"Just look at the films that have tried to challenge him in recent years—Shin Godzilla, and Toho froze the franchise again; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, whose action scenes look like child's play compared to Shinji's; Cinderella, something only fairy-tale addicts would watch; and Pirates of the Caribbean… well, let's just say it had courage…"
The moment he read that last line, Manabu felt a surge of anger rush straight to his head.
What the hell do you mean "it had courage"?!
If Pirates of the Caribbean didn't lack an established fanbase as an original work, how could there possibly be such a huge gap in their opening box office?!
With a loud smack, Manabu slammed his hand onto the desk, grabbed his mouse, and immediately gave The Garden of Sinners a 0.1 rating.
If he could, he would've given it a zero.
But that still wasn't enough.
Wanting to vent his frustration, Manabu opened the comment box and began typing furiously.
"The Garden of Sinners is a severely overrated work!"
At this point, his mind was filled with nothing but hostility toward the film.
They even used my name in the script—maybe I should charge them copyright fees!
"Putting everything else aside, one of the biggest reasons people overrate this movie is the character everyone finds so appealing—Ryougi Shiki."
"Even ignoring the acting of the rookie actress, what kind of character is she, really? She's basically an extreme antisocial personality!"
"Not to mention her abilities—using a gun would be ten thousand times more practical than using a knife. Even her behavior and logic barely hold up…"
"Ryougi Shiki wants to kill Fujino Asagami because she thinks they're the same kind of person—but that's nothing more than her own wishful thinking. And the reason she lets Fujino go is ridiculously forced. Just because her powers are gone, she stops? Then what was the point of losing your arm?!"
"If we're talking about Shiki's biggest flaw, it's her attitude toward the male lead, Mikiya Kokutou. Up until the ending, their relationship is basically him acting like a desperate simp while she barely acknowledges him. Then suddenly, in the final scene, she claims she cares about him—no buildup, no development. Honestly, it's less convincing than Fujino Asagami liking him!"
"As for director Shinji Matou saying future installments will flesh out their relationship—just spare us, okay? Why cling so hard to such a terrible movie? Are Arturia Pendragon merchandise sales dropping, or is no one buying tickets for the Fate series anymore?"
"Compared to a pretentious, incomprehensible film like The Garden of Sinners, something fun and entertaining like Pirates of the Caribbean is way more suitable for the summer season!"
After posting this review—and giving Pirates of the Caribbean a perfect 10.0—Manabu finally felt a bit of relief, as if the anger burning inside him had been partially vented.
But this… was only the beginning.
He decided to contact people around him, urging them to give The Garden of Sinners low scores while boosting Pirates of the Caribbean with high ratings—to "correct" the imbalance.
Manabu believed that if he could influence enough people, and enough low scores piled up against The Garden of Sinners, others who were dissatisfied with the film would take notice.
And once that happened, more and more people would step forward, until, eventually, the ratings on IMDb would return to being fair and just.
Of course, Manabu had no idea that IMDb's own PR department was currently acting as the "paid reviewers" for The Garden of Sinners.
The fairness of IMDb's rankings?
That had never truly existed—not from the very day the site was created.
The number of people Manabu could influence was extremely limited. Compared to IMDb's massive user base, it was practically insignificant.
And yet… Sometimes, fate worked in strange ways.
Manabu's review caught the attention of the PR department at The Walt Disney Company.
In fact, his review had gained quite a bit of traction. After all, among the sea of praise in The Garden of Sinners' comment section, it was one of the rare negative reviews—and a long, detailed one at that.
If a user searched specifically for negative reviews, his would be the very first to appear.
And by sheer coincidence, it was noticed by Disney's PR team—and soon delivered to the desk of Robert Iger.
At that moment, Robert Iger was already feeling a growing sense of anxiety.
The pre-release marketing for The Garden of Sinners had been outstanding, and its post-release audience reception remained sky-high—clear signs of a strong and steady box office performance to come.
As for Pirates of the Caribbean…
While its reviews were also solid and its marketing efforts substantial, it still lacked that explosive spark—the kind of buzz that could dominate public discussion.
If it wanted to truly break out at the box office, it would have to rely on word-of-mouth spreading over time.
But how long would that take?
This wasn't the old era, where a film could stay in theaters for half a year.
Shinji's fast-paced commercial film model had drastically shortened theatrical lifespans.
And it was at this very moment that the PR department placed Manabu's review and related information onto Robert Iger's desk.
Looking over the contents, he opened the IMDb page.
There was no need to search.
Right there, in the most prominent position, was the link to The Garden of Sinners and that towering, eye-catching score of 9.9.
For someone like him—an insider of the industry—Type-Moon's use of online "paid reviewers" on IMDb was hardly a secret.
So the absurdly high score of The Garden of Sinners didn't surprise Robert Iger in the slightest.
What caught his attention instead… were the users deliberately giving The Garden of Sinners low ratings.
It didn't take him long to find their reviews.
The problem was—their numbers were far too small. Against the overwhelming flood of perfect scores, they barely made a dent.
Still, perhaps influenced by that one standout review, many of these users—while criticizing The Garden of Sinners—would also, more or less, praise Pirates of the Caribbean.
Maybe… I can make use of them.
The thought crossed Robert Iger's mind.
IMDb's ratings might not be entirely professional, but they still influenced a significant number of viewers. And as the world's largest film review platform, its reputation alone carried immense promotional value.
If Shinji could use "paid reviewers"…
Then why couldn't the Walt Disney Company do the same?
And just like that, a plan began to take shape in Robert Iger's mind.
Not long after, a wave of new users appeared on IMDb.
They gave Pirates of the Caribbean high scores and The Garden of Sinners low ones.
These people were, of course, Disney's own hired reviewers.
In terms of sheer numbers, they far surpassed the handful of people Manabu could influence. And being English-speaking users, their reach was naturally much wider than Manabu's Japanese posts.
However, under Disney's instructions, these reviewers all followed the same narrative.
They unanimously acknowledged Manabu as their "leader," claiming they had been inspired by the righteous call of the user "No Glasses, No Work"—his online alias.
According to them, they were simply answering that call—
Rising up against the so-called "evil villain," The Garden of Sinners.
And so, through their relentless efforts, the gap between the ratings of Pirates of the Caribbean and The Garden of Sinners began to shrink—little by little.
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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.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 455: Shinji — My Awesomeness Has Exceeded Even My Own Expectations[1]
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-160861502?collection=31097
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/im-not-master-im-160861502?collection=31097