If Godzilla Can't Use Atomic Breath, Isn't He Just a Lizard?
In fact, the only difference between the Japan and Chinese version of the trailer is the source of the voice acting and the text of the trailer.
Unfortunately, Kazuo Tsuburaya's complaints were Shinji ignored by Shinji.
My buddy's reminiscing about his childhood, what right does a spendthrift like you have to interrupt!
What? You disagree with the term "spendthrift"? Then who was it that got into such a mess by TYO? And who invited me in? Should I have your grandfather and father come looking for you tonight?
Under the barrage of questions from the Second Master, which seemed designed to kill without breaking the spirit, Kazuo Tsuburaya could only retreat in a miserable defeat.
Then, with no one stopping him, Shinji had even more fun, and started using all sorts of outrageous maneuvers he could think of.
For Chinese moviegoers, this was the first time they had truly and formally encountered the legendary Director Shinji Matou.
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Li Ri'ang is a young man living in a second-tier city in China.
As a fan of Japanese Tokusatsu films, Li Ri'ang has been eagerly anticipating the latest Ultraman movie, "Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers."
Li Ri'ang, born in the 1980s, comes from a family that runs a business, and was raised by his grandparents from a young age.
He spent most of his childhood alone at home, and his best friends were the various animated DVDs his father bought for him.
This habit remained unchanged even as he grew up, turning him into a complete and quintessential Chinese homebody.
Li Ri'ang is no longer the little kid who pestered his parents to buy him DVDs. Having learned how to use the internet, he has started downloading and enjoying various tokusatsu (special effects) works online without any instruction.
It was also through the internet that Li Ri'ang learned a lot of special effects knowledge that he had never known before.
For example, there are far more Ultraman series than he thought. When he was a child watching the Ultra Brothers series, Japan children were already into the Heisei Ultraman Trilogy.
For example, the anime "Kabutack" that I watched many times on TV when I was a child was actually just one of the works in the "Metal Hero" series.
For example, the work he always thought was a knock-off, "Guga Ultraman," was actually "Kamen Rider Kuuga," the first Heisei-era work in the Kamen Rider series, one of the three major Tokusatsu.
Li Ri'ang still remembers the first time he watched Guga Ultraman. Because it wasn't the Ultraman he wanted to watch, he threw a huge tantrum at his dad who had bought the wrong DVD.
It wasn't until he watched the anime online that Li Ri'ang realized he had missed a truly excellent work.
Unfortunately, before the internet developed, people had very limited access to information. Sometimes, hearsay from friends could keep people excited for a long time.
However, that's not the point.
The key point is that after watching a 3D preview of "Super Eight" at the city's only IMAX theater, Li Ri'ang couldn't help but wonder what the full version of "Super Eight" would be like...
I can't help but look forward to it! The Ultraman battles are super cool, and we can finally see our childhood heartthrobs on the big screen again. Only true Ultraman fans can understand this kind of excitement.
There are some regrets, though. Li Ri'ang always thought that the Showa Ultraman was the one he watched when he was a child, but it turns out to be a work from the 60s and 70s. His idol has become an old man, which is a bit hard to accept...
"No matter what, please set a release date soon."
Li Ri'ang muttered to himself as he kept refreshing the movie news website.
Li Ri'ang will definitely go see the IMAX 3D version of this Ultraman movie!!
If the release date isn't set, he won't be able to buy tickets!
Keep in mind that his city only has one IMAX screen, so if you don't rush to get one, you definitely won't be able to see the movie as soon as it starts.
Unfortunately, due to the unique circumstances of China's film market, there is very little promotional material available for imported films outside of the month leading up to their release.
Aside from IMAX preview clips and the fact that the film will be released later this year, Li Ri'ang could find almost no other Chinese promotional materials for the film.
Until he saw the first Chinese trailer for <Super Eight>--
"Holy crap, there's actually a scene like that?!"
Watching the trailer show the Showa Four Elders transforming simultaneously, Li Ri'ang's initial anxiety from waiting gradually subsided.
"If I could see this scene in a movie theater, it would be worth dying for!"
Li Ri'ang was lost in thought when the trailer shifted to a scene of Yokohama.
That's where the main stage of the story takes place.
Just when Li Ri'ang was eagerly anticipating what exciting content the trailer would reveal, he ended up seeing the human hosts' daily lives in Yokohama.
There were no monsters destroying the city, no aliens invading Earth, and no defense forces protecting the planet.
The human hosts in the trailer live urban lives just like ordinary citizens, no different from normal people.
Daigo became a tour guide, Asuka was a caddie at the baseball field, Gamu was a museum guide, and the Showa Four Elders simply ran their own small shops.
Only the occasional flashbacks to scenes from Ultraman series let viewers know that this trailer was for a tokusatsu (special effects) film, not a slice-of-life movie.
"Is this a story about the human host retiring after finishing the battle? This is so damn leisurely!"
Li Ri'ang uttered this sigh.
Especially when Li Ri'ang saw the sweet and sour flirting between Daigo and Lena, he instinctively felt a surge of warmth.
"Maybe after I find a girlfriend, I can learn from Daigo and give her Princess carry?"
Thinking this way, Li Ri'ang completely forgot the fact that she had never been in a relationship.
"But--"
Li Ri'ang opened another video window, which showed an extremely fierce battle between Ultraman and monsters, with the city beneath his feet already a ruin.
Is this really the same movie?
Li Ri'ang posed a probing question.
The trailer playing on my computer is the American version of "Super Eight," which is completely different from the Chinese version.
The daily life without a human host is just a series of fight clips, fights, and more fights.
The fact that two trailers with such different styles came from the same movie made Li Ri'ang wonder if Tsuburaya Productions had mixed up the editing footage.
There are actually many viewers who share the same confusion as Li Ri'ang.
People were surprised that the peaceful Yokohama City in the trailer didn't seem like the city from the Ultraman movies at all.
Although everyone is very interested in the passion for Oscar-worthy cuisine shown in this trailer, passion alone cannot put food on the table.
Is this retired hero-style art style really what makes an Ultraman movie that's primarily about fighting monsters?
Coupled with the fact that tokusatsu (special effects) shows are funny, a view that "Tsuburaya Productions is ripping people off" began to emerge on Chinese social media.
[Oh my god! Is this going to be another Ultraman movie that's been mixed up and re-edited?]
[Finding veteran actors to shoot a few scenes, then using footage from old TV dramas to fill in the gaps—why hasn't Tsuburaya Productions abandoned this trashy movie-making formula?!]
[<Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers>, this title sounds just like <Ultraman Story> and <Ultraman: Ultra Warriors VS. Monster Army>, another money-grabbing movie!]
[They always pull these kinds of stunts when they get to the M78 Nebula Land of Light movies. Wouldn't it be better to just release Ultraman Max theatrical film?]
[You!!! Give me my money back!!]
Chapter 231 Godzilla can't breathe atomic air, so isn't it just a lizard?
It's no wonder that fans in China are so surprised, given Tsuburaya Productions' past record of this.
After all, fans in China, except for some southern regions, are not very familiar with the Heisei Ultraman. The Ultraman that everyone knows, whether it's TV or movies, are all Showa-era productions.
It's important to know that the Showa-era Ultraman movies are quite different from the Heisei-era and newer generation ones. Although there are only three Ultraman movies, including "Kamen Rider VS Ultraman," all three are re-edited versions of old material.
Despite the addition of some reshoots to piece together these fragmented scenes, it doesn't change the fact that this is a compilation film designed to rip people off.
Based on the released trailers, some fans have even speculated that this will be a story about human beings meeting in a peaceful world and then reminiscing about various fragments of their past.
Fortunately, this tone didn't last long, because soon someone released the North American version of the trailer, featuring brand-new fighting scenes that domestic Ultraman fans had never seen before.
With the added testimony of many viewers and fans who had seen the preview screenings in IMAX theaters, the online uproar gradually subsided.
Following the release of the North American trailer, Tsuburaya Productions officially released another trailer featuring numerous fight scenes and issued a statement clarifying to fans that "Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers" is a brand new Ultraman movie.
The reason for the misleading Chinese version the trailer is that Tsuburaya Productions considered Ultraman to be a childhood hero for Asia fans, so they specially edited this trailer featuring the series' original actors to awaken everyone's memories.
Listen to how tactfully this is said! This is a trailer specially made for the fans' feelings, not something we did to be lazy!
In fact, the promotion of "Super Eight" goes against common business sense.
Apart from some completely stream-of-consciousness films, most movies release several trailers before their theatrical release.
However, they basically just gradually increase the content of the trailers, slowly revealing a corner of the story to the audience. The style of the trailers is consistent, all in order to let the audience know what kind of movie it is.
This approach undoubtedly reduces the surprise for viewers when watching the actual film, which is what people often refer to as the best parts being revealed in the trailers. However, compared to the lack of surprise for viewers, the inability to accurately target the intended audience is a much bigger problem for the film producers.
However, when you play the same trick too much, the trick will be reversed. Some movies that don't lack popularity will deliberately cut out some ambiguous trailer plots to fool the audience and increase the film's popularity by making the audience discuss it intensely.
Marvel is the master of this trick. There are plenty of cases where trailers turn out to be misleading, but only Marvel dares to openly tell its fans that this is how they do it.
In this Parallel world, only Shinji, this prodigy, could pull off such amazing feats.
If others try to run before they've even learned to walk, they're bound to fall and die.
Every time, the "public relations crisis" that <Super Eight> encountered in the Chinese market was deliberately arranged by Shinji.
As the saying goes, even negative publicity is still publicity; the most important thing is to build a reputation first, regardless of whether it's good or bad.
After the clarification was made, the reputation of "Super Eight" and Tsuburaya Productions did not decline; on the contrary, it rose even higher.
The reason for this result is simple: Shinji didn't release a so-called "China-exclusive" trailer, but treated all of Asia equally.
Shinji knew very well that what Chinese audiences disliked most were certain "special features," such as Chinese-exclusive versions, Chinese-exclusive plots, Chinese-exclusive 3D, and so on.
Well, we can skip the "special 3D release". Many movies offer a special 3D release because 2D slots are so limited that they have to compete for 3D slots.
On the contrary, those special scenes not only felt incredibly awkward and ruined the viewing experience, but also gave the illusion of being discriminated against, because Chinese audiences see this as "preferential treatment for idiots."
Having lived in this land for decades, Shinji is very familiar with the Chinese market. As long as you don't cause any trouble and treat everyone equally, your reputation will be absolutely top-notch.
As for editing <Super Eight> into two completely different trailers...
Sit down, sit down.
This will be standard practice for video creators 15 years from now. If you can't edit FGO into a seamless JOJO video, you'd be embarrassed to say you're in the video industry.
This technique only felt novel before it became widespread in online and Bilibili communities, and before Fist of the North Star: Fist of the North Star Homura Akemi became a huge hit.
Indeed, quite a few casual viewers did start paying attention to this movie about their childhood hero because of this controversy.
Those casual viewers who watched the two trailers gradually changed their preconceived notions about Super Eight from "Ultraman is for kids" to "It's not bad to watch it to reminisce about my childhood."
The "black-and-red" transformation marketing strategy employed by "Super Eight" is not universally accepted.
"I have never seen such a shameless person!"
After reviewing the marketing process for "Super Eight," Hirotaka Matsuoka, the managing director of Toho, suddenly had this thought pop into his head.
Don't assume that Japan don't read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." The so-called abridged version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is Japan- exclusive edition.
Moreover, the Japan have a particular fondness for Zhuge Liang. The abridged version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" condensed the events from the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the Battle of Guandu into just a few episodes, precisely to allow Zhuge Liang to appear as soon as possible.
The battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao... what a load of crap! It's nowhere near as good as the battle Zhuge Liang!
When the stars fell at Wuzhang Plain, the abridged version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" came to an end.
Lord Zhuge Liang is dead, what's the point of looking at the rest!
In any case, in the eyes of the Japan, the only designated male protagonist of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is Prime Chancellor Zhuge; everyone else is just a supporting character.
People like Hirotaka Matsuoka, who work in film and television, can even recite the original lines of Zhuge Liang scolding Wang Situ from memory.
However, even if Hirotaka Matsuoka remembered all the lines, he couldn't possibly curse that shameless guy Shinji Matou to death.
Godzilla and Super Eight are the two most anticipated tokusatsu blockbusters of this summer.
Even without Shinji's bet with the Jidai Group, these two films would still be compared.
One is the King of Monsters in film history, and the other is Giant of Light. This kind of box office battle between two films is the kind of news that reporters and the general public love to watch while they eat.
Hirotaka Matsuoka was certainly aware of this situation; he even knew that Godzilla simply couldn't afford to lose.
As a reboot of Toho's signature tokusatsu series, this movie has to make money, and not just a small profit, but a huge one.
Only in this way can Toho's precarious reputation as Japan's number one Film Company be secured.
The problem was that Hirotaka Matsuoka had no confidence at all, because the Godzilla project had encountered a major problem— Godzilla's design had been altered.
The originally imposing Atomic Dinosaur was changed into a large lizard in this movie that couldn't even breathe atomic energy.
If Godzilla can't even breathe atomic air, it's like Beckham can't even shoot a goal—isn't that ridiculous?!
"I regret it so much!"