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Chapter 154. Pucci: President Cujoh, I Will Never Betray Your Trust!
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Can it really be so similar?
Yes, it's quite similar!
However, Cujoh Jolyne's suggestions still lacked a few elements.
When Pucci realized that Cujoh Jolyne had summoned him not to discuss funding but to offer advice, he had already relaxed. He took her words as those of an audience member who wasn't very familiar with the plot, expressing her thoughts after watching "Stardust Crusaders" for the first time. He used this opportunity to identify potential oversights and deficiencies.
Moreover, there was another benefit to selecting Cujoh Jolyne for this task:
As the president of Green Dolphin Studios and an investor in "Stardust Crusaders," she had some understanding of the storyline.
However, Cujoh Jolyne struggled with comprehending the format of the script, given the uncertainty of a full-dive production, which meant that Pucci couldn't write the script in great detail.
Jolyne's understanding was more of a vague sense.
This allowed her to engage with those who, like her, were experiencing "Stardust Crusaders" for the first time, freely discussing their feelings about the show.
Yet, having a general grasp of the storyline's main arc, she could still offer reasonable suggestions for the filming process.
...This was Pucci's initial thought when he heard that Cujoh Jolyne wanted to give advice.
However, before this thought could fully take shape, he squashed it himself!
This was more than just giving advice.
This was practically Araki-sensei's creative process!
Although Pucci didn't know how Araki-sensei had created "Stardust Crusaders" in his previous life, he imagined that it must have been similar: perfecting the story step by step from the perspective of readers and viewers.
— My DAY has arrived!
Seeing Araki-sensei's creative process through Jolyne's suggestions, Pucci was impressed. "President Cujoh, I completely understand!"
"The suggestions you've made, I will immediately incorporate them into the story of 'Stardust Crusaders'!"
As mentioned before, although Cujoh Jolyne, as a member of "JoJo," had made these suggestions using her Golden Spirit, and they weren't incorrect, she was not very familiar with the industry.
Inevitably, her wording contained some inaccuracies.
For instance, reducing Jotaro's screen time, paired with her subsequent suggestion to allocate more scenes to other characters, seemed to indicate that they should first shape Jotaro's character thoroughly, then use the later storyline to develop other characters.
A story where every character can grow and develop — that is the true "Stardust Crusaders"!
As for cutting down on Joseph's screen time, that was indeed necessary.
However, it also implied retaining some scenes related to Joseph.
For example, in "Battle Tendency," Joseph's line, "You fool!" could be passed down to Jotaro.
If this Joestar tradition were continued by Jotaro, uttered and used by him...
How would the fans of "Battle Tendency" react?
They would surely go wild with excitement!
Such a storyline would also help shape Jotaro's character, achieving multiple objectives at once!
But since Cujoh Jolyne was both the president and the investor, as her subordinates, they couldn't openly correct her mistakes.
Instead, they had to quietly remember the mistake, silently correcting it in their work without drawing attention to the error.
This way, the leader wouldn't lose face, and it would also highlight that the smooth progress of the work was due to the leader's excellent guidance.
The story in "The Emperor's New Clothes," where a person dares to point out the leader's mistakes and gets rewarded instead of punished... that kind of tale can only be found in fairy tales.
Pucci was long past the age where he believed in fairy tales.
Even though Cujoh Jolyne appeared different from typical leaders, Pucci, being cautious, wasn't about to gamble on that possibility.
Thus, when Pucci responded this way, Cujoh Jolyne thought he genuinely intended to modify the script according to her suggestions. And, in fact, he did — though with some additional twists.
She was overjoyed.
After confirming that Pucci was sincere in his words, she patted him on the shoulder and said, "Then I'll leave the next set of revisions to 'Stardust Crusaders' in your capable hands, Director Pucci."
"I have nothing more to support you with... Oh, by the way, don't you need a lot of funding for that new technology you've been working on lately?"
"From now on, don't bother submitting funding requests to me. Just take my stamp directly to the finance department and get the money!"
Cujoh Jolyne placed one of the stamps on the desk into Pucci's hand and continued, "I trust you, Director Pucci. You will never let me down!"
Isn't that right?
With a genius like you, I don't even know how I'm going to make money!
"President Cujoh..."
Pucci hadn't expected the funding issue to be resolved so easily.
In fact, it wasn't even a problem in Cujoh Jolyne's mind.
Holding the stamp in one hand and clutching the invoices and receipts in his pocket with the other, Pucci couldn't help but choke up.
"President Cujoh... Rest assured! I will never betray your trust!"
"Good! That's the spirit!"
…
And so it went.
After successfully persuading Pucci, the director and screenwriter of "Stardust Crusaders," Cujoh Jolyne stayed by the fully immersive helmet, watching as Jotaro and the others broke free of DIO's mental control over Kakyoin and Polnareff.
Whether to repay the favor or seek revenge, Kakyoin and the others joined the ranks of the Stardust Crusaders to follow Jotaro in their quest to defeat DIO. They encountered one Stand user assassin after another sent by DIO...
Then, finally, the plot altered based on her suggestions —
— "The Emperor and the Hanged Man, Part One."