Chapter 238: Losing to a Film Like This is Nothing to Be Ashamed Of
In the early days of the Chinese internet, there was a popular saying:
"What is happiness? Happiness is a cat eating fish, a dog eating meat, and Ultraman fighting little monsters."
This shows that, in the general public's perception, Ultraman taking down weak little kaiju is just part of the natural order of things—something almost comforting.
Now, whether Gubila qualifies as a "little monster" is debatable, but in the Showa era, it was certainly one of the weaker kaiju.
Aside from its distinctive drill-horn design, it didn't leave much of an impression on most people.
Only a few die-hard fans—like those who read the same comic book over and over again during childhood, treating it as an irreplaceable memory—would feel any particular attachment to this deep-sea shark kaiju.
For most longtime Ultraman fans, Gubila was just forgettable.
After all, its most iconic moments all happened in the New Generation era—whether it was playing a role in the dark history of Ultraman Zero in a theatrical release or giving Trigger a hard time in Ultraman Trigger.
But in Shinji's original timeline, all of that only came after 2010.
As a four-legged crawling kaiju that appeared only once in the entire Showa era, Gubila was, frankly, an embarrassment to its fellow kaiju.
To put things in perspective—
Due to the technical challenges of filming, kaiju that walked on all fours in the Showa era were generally powerhouses, at least strong enough to toy with Ultraman for a while.
But Gubila?
It was downright pathetic.
Its only "notable" moment in battle was using a high-pressure water jet attack from its forehead to surprise the Original Ultraman—a 20,000-year-old veteran of the Ultras.
After that, it managed to pin Ultraman down and tried to stab him repeatedly with its drill-horn.
Unfortunately for Gubila, it was so incompetent that it failed to pierce through at all.
Ultraman, frustrated by his opponent's lack of skill, flipped Gubila over and pinned it down instead.
When his attack didn't work, he simply chopped off Gubila's drill with a hand strike before finishing it off with his Spacium Beam.
When you break it down, the fight was basically:
One surprise attack to the face
One failed ultimate move
Zero actual threat to Ultraman
With such laughable combat skills, it was obvious that Shinji wouldn't waste too much time detailing this so-called "super soldier" in the movie.
The fight scene in Super 8 followed almost the same sequence as the original:
Water jet attack to the face
Body pin and drill strike
Mebius, after Daigo's reminder, chops off the drill and finishes Gubila with a beam attack
"We won! Biu biu~ This red Ultraman is so cool!"
Li Ri'ang's little nephew was completely won over by Mebius, becoming a die-hard fan of this Ultraman he had never even watched on TV before.
For kids, it doesn't matter which Ultraman it is—they only care about cool fight scenes and flashy beam attacks.
And now, with just two battles, the film had completely hooked an entire generation of young fans who might not even know Mebius's name.
"Ah… yeah, it does look pretty powerful."
Li Ri'ang nodded absentmindedly, his mind clearly elsewhere.
Logically, a well-executed, fluid fight scene like this should have satisfied him completely.
But instead, he felt a strange sense of emptiness.
The battle between Mebius and Gubila was undoubtedly impressive, yet something about it felt lacking—as if the fight just wasn't quite enough.
"Have I become too picky?"
Li Ri'ang shook his head slightly.
If an Ultraman TV show had fight scenes this good, he'd normally be overjoyed.
But it had only been an hour since the first fight, and he was already craving something more intense.
Truly, humans are the greediest creatures of all.
Of course, Shinji had already anticipated this reaction.
When he was designing the movie's battle sequences, he carefully structured them in layers, ensuring that the fights would gradually escalate in intensity as the story progressed.
On the screen, Daigo had returned to his own world—
And now, he was about to meet Mebius's human host, Mirai Hibino.
The two sat by the seaside, talking. Mirai told Daigu that he was guided to this world by a girl in red shoes.
An evil force was secretly plotting to destroy the world, and as an Ultraman, his mission was to awaken the seven heroes of this world so they could save it together.
When Mirai mentioned the ability to transform into Ultraman, Daigu recalled his dream. He then took Hibino Mirai to meet four great predecessors—Hayata Shin, Moroboshi Dan, Hideki Go, and Seiji Hokuto.
Unfortunately, at this time, none of the four human hosts had awakened. Unaware of the circumstances, they were utterly confused by what Mirai was saying, leading to a series of comedic misunderstandings.
In the end, Mirai received a surprisingly unanimous response from the four "big brothers"—"Get lost!"
This scene was a concentrated Easter egg section set up by Shinji. He incorporated elements from all other Ultraman series that couldn't directly appear, embedding them within these four segments.
For example:
The TV in Hokuto's store was playing the finale of Ultraman Leo.
Hideki Go's car workshop had a display of the Gauss Luminary Stone and the Jonias Five-Star.
When they found Moroboshi Dan, there was a still of Ultraman 80 on the wall behind him.
As Hayata was kicking Mirai and Daigu out, a passerby in the background was none other than Kaito Fuma, the human host of Ultraman Max.
—And many more.
First-time viewers would definitely miss most of these Easter eggs, but sooner or later, someone would compile them all. When that happened, articles and videos explaining the movie's Easter eggs would generate major buzz for Super 8.
Due to the rejection, Hibino Mirai failed to notice all these subtle clues related to his other dear "brothers." Dejected, he wandered the streets with his head down.
Daigu encouraged Mirai not to lose hope and tried to cheer him up.
But just then— a monster appeared!
And it wasn't in a dream—it was in the real world!
The red King Pandon was summoned by the Black Silhouette and began wreaking havoc in the city.
Several cars were crushed into metal pancakes under its feet, leaving deep footprints in the ground. Skyscrapers were smashed apart by the monster's body, fireballs struck buildings, causing massive explosions, and debris rained down from above, kicking up clouds of dust.
People in the streets screamed and fled in all directions, shoving and pushing each other in a chaotic panic that resembled the end of the world.
"This is it!"
Li Ri'ang clenched his fist tightly—he finally realized what had been missing from the previous battle scene.
The rest of the audience, however, wasn't as calm as Li Ri'ang. The destruction caused by the monster was devastating, the disaster was overwhelming, but the spectacle was breathtaking.
Everyone in the theater was wide-eyed, their nerves numbed by the sheer intensity, leaving them with nothing but mechanical admiration.
Even the usually rowdy children had fallen silent, staring blankly at the screen as the monster continued its rampage.
The film industry professionals were the first to snap out of their shock. They glanced at the ordinary moviegoers behind them, their faces full of concern.
A glimpse was enough—the audience's reaction told them that once this film officially premiered, the sensation it would cause would be unmatched by any movie before it.
At a Super 8 preview screening in the capital, several well-known Chinese directors sat together. They had all been invited as special guests.
At first, they hadn't wanted to come.
It was just a Japanese animated film, after all—tokusatsu was officially classified as animation in China. No matter how impressive it was, how good could it really be?
Even if the director was a record-breaking filmmaker, it was still just an animated film.
Then, the moment the monster appeared—its destruction didn't just level the city. It shattered these Chinese directors' pride.
Watching the overwhelming spectacle on the screen, their minds were in turmoil.
"This... this..."
One of the directors opened his mouth but didn't know how to put his emotions into words.
Before watching the movie, he had been dismissive, merely attending the screening to fulfill a task assigned from above.
No matter how aggressive Super 8's marketing was, he figured it was just exaggerated promotional hype—like false advertising. The actual film couldn't possibly live up to such claims.
But after watching it for real, he knew—regardless of its box office performance, this movie would become a benchmark. A standard that Chinese cinema would struggle to surpass.
In recent years, with the rise of big productions like Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero, China had also embraced a trend of high-budget, large-scale film productions.
From The Promise at the end of last year to the upcoming The Banquet and Curse of the Golden Flower—
Every single one was packed with star-studded casts.
Every single one had an investment of over a hundred million.
Every single one boasted grand, majestic visuals.
Yet, despite all the bold slogans, when faced with a competitor like Super 8, the outcome was already set in stone—defeat.
This director wasn't worried about the domestic box office. Due to copyright issues, pirated copies of imported films would already be circulating in the market before their official release in China.
Plus, imported films had limited screening periods.
Under normal circumstances, no matter how successful an imported film was, its box office earnings rarely surpassed that of the year's biggest domestic blockbusters.
But did that mean Chinese films had truly "won"?
"If you ask any normal person, the answer's the same— we lost. Badly."
His words reached Director Zhang and Director Feng beside him, who could only shake their heads and sigh.
Between the three highly anticipated Chinese films mentioned earlier, they had directed two of them.
Even though they had confidence in their own works—against Super 8?
Forget it. There was no comparison.
How could they even compete?
The sheer scale and atmosphere of the visuals were on a completely different level.
And then there was this "glasses-free 3D technology"—seriously, where the hell did this alien tech come from?! Could Director Matou kindly return to Mars? The Earth's film industry simply couldn't accommodate a god-tier director like him!
The only consolation was that their films, The Banquet and Curse of the Golden Flower, were historical dramas. Their styles were vastly different from Super 8, making some comparisons meaningless.
If they had been making modern films instead… the box office disaster would've been unimaginable.
"Kinda jealous of Old Chen—his The Promise was released at the end of last year, so he dodged a bullet," Zhang muttered enviously.
If all three of them had to suffer together, that'd be one thing—but why did Chen get to escape?!
"What are you talking about? Our films are still months away. He's the one who'll face the first wave of criticism," Feng chuckled.
"His movie was already heavily criticized before. Now that people have a direct comparison, he's gonna get ripped apart."
Old Feng, who had always been mocked by Old Chen for his "unorthodox" filmmaking background, was secretly looking forward to seeing analytical breakdowns comparing Super 8 and The Promise.
Director Zhang shook his head bitterly. "Stop laughing. None of us are getting out of this unscathed."
"You're at least lucky—your movie releases at the end of the year, long after the hype has died down. I'm the real unlucky one—my film comes out in late August, right at the peak of this storm."
Director Zhang sympathetically patted Director Feng's shoulder. "Don't take it too hard. Running into a monster like this is just bad luck, not a failure of skill."
Director Feng nodded silently. Against an opponent like Super 8, even if he was unwilling to accept it, there was nothing he could say.
At that moment, only one thought occupied his mind:
How the hell did they create such realistic special effects? How did they achieve this kind of out-of-the-screen 3D?!
"Are we really this far behind in technology?"
All the directors fell into deep doubt.
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