Chapter 230: Just Give Us Max
The improved relationship between Arturia and Mordred was just a small episode during the filming of Fate/Apocrypha.
Under Shinji's arrangements, the first phase of Fate/Apocrypha's shooting was basically completed. Aside from the second half of the year's filming schedule, the remaining fragmented scenes were left to the assistant director to finish.
It's not that Shinji was trying to slack off—it's already April, and if he didn't start promoting Super 8 (Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers) now, it would really be too late.
Even though Shinji hadn't done much with Super 8 after finishing the film, his dedication to this childhood-debt project was no less than for the Fate series.
Especially when it came to promoting the film in the Chinese market, Shinji pulled out all the stops to play the nostalgia card to the fullest.
For older franchises like Ultraman, nostalgic marketing is the best approach—but unfortunately, many such campaigns are poorly executed. The main issue is that the people in charge of promotion often have a generational gap with the audience, so they don't know how to truly evoke that fan nostalgia.
That wasn't a problem for Shinji—this director-slash-producer was a hardcore fan himself.
To show just how much he valued the Chinese market, Shinji even had his uncle reach out to the voice actors from the classic Shanghai-dubbed versions, inviting them to dub the Chinese version of Super 8 (Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers).
To make the nostalgia feel more "authentic," Shinji even wrote the dubbing script himself, incorporating lots of classic Ultraman dub references from the Chinese versions into the film's dialogue.
Sadly, due to Shinji's involvement with Tsuburaya Productions, the Ruishi (Sharp Sight) version was axed entirely. That meant the Chinese version of Super 8 lost quirky translated lines like "Thank you, Taro," "Sha Fu Lin," "Superman Bimu"— making the writing process a little less amusing for Shinji.
Still, in Shinji's eyes, giving up those silly lines in exchange for full rights to the Ultraman franchise was a pretty good deal.
By the way, while writing the script, Shinji couldn't help but wonder—how did those Ruishi voice actors manage to deliver such deadpan performances without breaking into laughter? A lot of those lines were outright contradictory!
Shinji's excessive focus on the Chinese version of Super 8 even made Kazuo Tsuburaya jealous.
"Shinji, aren't you playing favorites here?" Kazuo Tsuburaya complained. "Is the Japanese market adopted or something? Why is all the promotional activity just the leftovers from the Chinese side?"
And Kazuo had a point—Super 8's marketing in Japan was so pathetic that even the trailer was just a repurposed version of the Chinese one.
How did Kazuo know? Because the Super 8 (Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers) trailer was only released worldwide after the Chinese dub was done. The only difference between the Japanese and Chinese versions was the voice track and some subtitle text.
Unfortunately for Kazuo, Shinji completely ignored his complaints.
"Bro, I'm reliving my childhood here—who asked for your opinion?"
What's that? You're offended by being called a spoiled brat? Well, who was it that got completely wrecked by TYO back then? Who came crawling to me for help? Should I call up a medium and have your grandpa and dad pay you a visit tonight?
After getting verbally wrecked by Shinji's savage questions, Kazuo had no choice but to retreat in defeat.
With no one left to get in his way, Shinji went all out—pulling every flashy, nostalgic trick he could think of.
And so, for the first time, Chinese moviegoers got a real taste of the legendary director Matou Shinji.
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Li Ri'ang, a young man living in a second-tier city in China.
As a long-time fan of Japanese tokusatsu (special effects) shows, Li Ri'ang had been eagerly waiting for the release of the latest Ultraman movie, Super 8 (Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers), for a long, long time.
Born in the 1980s, Li Ri'ang came from a business family and was pretty much raised freely by his parents.
During his childhood, he often spent time alone at home, and his best friends were the various anime DVDs his father bought for him.
This habit never changed, even as he grew up—he became a full-fledged otaku.
Now, Li Ri'ang was no longer the little kid pestering his parents to buy DVDs. With his knowledge of the internet, he had become self-taught in downloading and watching all kinds of Tokusatsu shows online.
Thanks to the internet, Li Ri'ang had learned a great deal about Tokusatsu that he never knew before.
For example, the Ultraman series had far more entries than he had originally thought. While he was watching the Ultra Brothers series as a child, kids in Japan were already enjoying the Heisei Ultraman Trio (Ultraman Tiga, Dyna, Gaia).
Another example was Kabutack, which he had watched repeatedly on TV as a kid. He later discovered that it was actually just one entry in the Metal Hero series.
He had also once believed that Ultraman Guga was a bootleg production, only to later find out that it was actually Kamen Rider Kuuga, the first entry of the Heisei Kamen Rider series—one of the three major Tokusatsu franchises.
Li Ri'ang still remembered the first time he watched Ultraman Guga. Since it wasn't the Ultraman he wanted, he had thrown a huge tantrum at his dad for buying the wrong DVD.
It wasn't until he revisited it years later online that he realized he had missed out on an excellent series.
But that was just how things were before the internet became widely accessible. Back then, information was extremely limited, and sometimes, just a rumor from a friend was enough to excite people for days.
However, that wasn't the point.
The point was that ever since watching a 3D preview of Super 8 (Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers) at the only IMAX theater in his city, Li Ri'ang had been eagerly fantasizing about what the full movie would be like...
How could he not be excited? Super cool Ultraman battles, childhood heroes returning to the big screen—only a true Ultraman fan could understand this level of hype.
Of course, there were some disappointments. Li Ri'ang had always thought that the Showa Ultraman series had been made during his childhood, only to realize that they were actually from the '60s and '70s. His beloved heroes had now aged into grandpas—something he found a bit hard to accept...
"Whatever, just announce the release date already."
Li Ri'ang muttered to himself as he kept refreshing movie news websites.
There was no doubt in his mind—when the Ultraman movie came out, he would absolutely go watch it in IMAX 3D!
But if they didn't finalize a release date soon, he wouldn't be able to buy a ticket!
His city only had one IMAX screen—if he didn't book early, there was no way he'd be able to see the movie as soon as it was released.
Unfortunately, due to the special circumstances of the Chinese film market, foreign films weren't allowed much pre-release publicity more than a month before their premiere.
Aside from the IMAX preview footage and the vague announcement that the movie would release within the year, there was almost no other promotional material available in Chinese.
That was, until he saw the first Chinese-language trailer for Super 8—
"Holy crap, that scene actually exists?!!"
Seeing the Showa Four Legends(1) transforming together in the trailer, Li Ri'ang's restless impatience slowly gave way to a sense of calm.
'If I can witness this scene in the cinema, I could die happy!'
He thought to himself in awe.
But then, the trailer shifted to a scene of Yokohama, the film's main setting.
Just as he was brimming with excitement, eager to see what kind of thrilling story the trailer would showcase, he was instead greeted with... the everyday lives of the human hosts.
No city-wrecking kaiju.
No alien invaders threatening Earth.
No defense team protecting humanity.
The human hosts were simply living ordinary city lives, no different from regular people.
Daigo was a tour guide.
Asuka was a ball boy at a baseball stadium.
Gamu was a museum guide.
Even the Showa Four Legends were just running their own small shops.
The only indication that this was a Tokusatsu trailer and not just a slice-of-life drama was the occasional flashbacks to scenes from classic Ultraman episodes.
"Is this supposed to be a story about the human hosts enjoying their peaceful retirement after fighting for so long? Damn, this is way too laid-back."
Li Ri'ang couldn't help but sigh in disbelief.
Especially when he saw the sweet and playful banter between Daigo and Rena—it triggered an instinctive feeling of warmth in his heart.
"Maybe one day, when I get a girlfriend, I can do a princess carry like Daigo?"
Lost in this thought, Li Ri'ang conveniently ignored the fact that he had been single since birth.
"But—"
He clicked on another video window, which showed an entirely different kind of footage.
On the screen, Ultraman and kaiju were locked in an intense battle, with the city beneath them reduced to ruins.
"Is this really the same movie?"
Li Ri'ang asked himself in genuine confusion.
The video he was watching now was the U.S. version of the Super 8 trailer—and it was completely different from the Chinese version.
There were no slice-of-life moments.
Just fights. Fights. And more fights.
The stark contrast between the two trailers made Li Ri'ang question whether Tsuburaya had accidentally mixed up the editing materials.
And he wasn't the only one baffled.
Many other fans shared his confusion, wondering why Yokohama looked so peaceful in the trailer—far from the usual destruction-ridden cityscape of an Ultraman setting.
Sure, the nostalgic references in the trailer were nice, but nostalgia alone wasn't enough to satisfy everyone.
Was this really an Ultraman movie focused on fighting kaiju? Or was it just a story about retired heroes settling into mundane civilian life?
As the debate continued, skepticism grew among Chinese fans, and soon, a wave of criticism emerged online, accusing Tsuburaya of another cash grab.
— "Oh god, is this just another lazy re-edit of old footage?"
— "They probably just got the old actors to shoot a few new scenes and filled the rest with recycled TV footage. Why hasn't Tsuburaya given up on making these cheap compilation movies?!"
— "Why do they always pull this kind of nonsense? Just give us a Max movie instead, wouldn't that be way better?"
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Tn:
(1): The "Showa Four Legends" (昭和四老) in the context of Ultraman typically refers to four iconic Ultraman protagonists from the Showa era (1966–1989). Based on Superior 8 Ultraman Brothers (大決戰!超奧特八兄弟), the four veterans usually referenced are:
Ultraman (Hayata Shin, 1966) – The original Ultraman from the first series.
Ultraseven (Moroboshi Dan, 1967) – The protagonist of Ultraseven, a fan-favorite.
Ultraman Jack (Go Hideki, 1971) – From Return of Ultraman, also known as "New Ultraman" in Japan.
Ultraman Ace (Hokuto Seiji, 1972) – The protagonist of Ultraman Ace, notable for his teamwork-based transformation with Yuko Minami.
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