Chapter 243: The Ultra Brothers Arrive
The appearance of the Heisei Ultraman Trio was undeniably one of the highlights of the Great Battle! Super 8 (Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers).
Up until this moment in the film, no matter how many monsters showed up, there was always just one Ultraman fighting at a time.
But from this scene onward, multiple Ultramen appear on-screen together.
For kids and Ultraman fans, seeing a bunch of Ultramen show up is always exciting. As long as there are enough Ultramen, the kids are guaranteed to be thrilled.
Still, it almost feels like Tsuburaya Productions is under some sort of curse—ever since the Showa era, whenever more than three Ultramen appeared together in a TV episode, things always turned oddly chaotic.
From Ultraman Ace to Taro, and later Leo, multi-Ultraman episodes in the Showa era were notorious for having a ton of weird plot holes and nonsense.
We don't even need to mention "Execution! The Five Ultra Brothers" featuring Alien Hipporit—that one was bad enough. But the fact that the whole Ultra Brother squad came to fight and in the end only Ultraman Taro actually did anything? That one's practically unforgivable.
Then there's the two-part episode in Ultraman Taro featuring the Emperor Seijin, where the Ultra Brothers claim they're here to "teach Taro a lesson," but end up standing around watching their little brother get publicly whipped like some kind of twisted SM punishment. They might not be blood-related, but it sure looked like a classic case of "not real brothers, but might as well be."
And of course, we can't forget that infamous episode in Ultraman Leo — "Babarue, You Son of a B**" — basically a black mark on the whole franchise's record.
Yet, no matter how absurd or poorly written those episodes were, the ones featuring the Ultra Brothers remain some of the most iconic in the entire series — simply because of how many Ultramen showed up.
Come the Heisei era, Tsuburaya seemed to pull back a bit. Instead of forcing random cameos, they started putting more effort into actual storytelling.
But maybe because of the "trauma" from those Showa-era disasters, they began strictly limiting the number of Ultramen who could appear in a single story.
Even in Ultraman Mebius, which was built around guest appearances and nostalgia, most guest Ultramen only showed up one at a time, with the final episode being the only real exception.
Of course, that restraint didn't apply to the movies.
And honestly, Tsuburaya's logic isn't wrong, a TV episode only lasts about 20 minutes. If too many characters show up, things spiral into chaos fast.
But that doesn't mean fans are any less hungry for Ultraman cameos.
In fact, if you take a broader look at modern entertainment — novels, comics, anime, live-action, even reality shows — you'll notice something:
Audiences love crossovers and surprise appearances. Even if the story is a bit of a mess, as long as it's exciting and full of fanservice, people will happily eat it up.
Take Marvel's Secret Wars comics as an example, just like those overcrowded Ultraman episodes, the story might have been a hot mess, but it sold like crazy.
Still, Shinji clearly isn't the type to milk characters like that for quick commercial gain.
After all, too many characters would dilute the story's emotional focus and make the plot feel shallow. At the very least, a movie should still maintain a coherent narrative, you can't have audiences spotting massive plot holes left and right.
And that's where the director's skill in pacing and visual storytelling comes into play.
Take this moment, for instance:
Once Dyna and Gaia appeared, they didn't waste time with flashy speeches. They launched a direct attack on the sealing device and immediately freed Tiga from captivity.
Next up was the moment for the audience to release their emotions—time for a righteous 3-on-1 beatdown!
"Haah!" ×3
The three Ultras struck their poses and charged toward Alien Hipporit.
This poor guy was just born unlucky. He's basically a glass cannon—his sealing device is powerful as hell, but once it comes to close combat? Dude's a total pushover.
Dyna and Gaia pinned him by the arms, and then Tiga came in with a brutal karate chop right to the forehead.
Luckily, this version of Alien Hipporit had a relatively soft... uh, "thing" on his face. If it had been the Showa-era version—the one that always looked... ready—Tiga probably would've lopped that thing right off with that chop.
But to be fair, Tiga wasn't the first "Horn Breaker" Ultraman. Before him, Leo, Taro, and Ace were all pretty talented when it came to slicing off monster limbs and alien body parts.
Trace it back even further, and you'll see that this whole "Ultramen love slicing off external alien organs" thing really started with Ultraman the Original.
So yeah, it makes sense—Daigo's horn-chopping skills? Definitely something he learned from his father-in-law.
A tribute. It's all just one big damn tribute.
But just when Hipporit was getting completely smacked silly, the real boss behind him—Black Silhouette—couldn't stay put any longer.
"Hey! You guys just beating up my dog without asking permission? You Heisei Three clearly don't respect the hooded OG right here!"
So the Black Silhouette starts casting another summoning spell.
He sacrifices the downed Golza and Melba, and calls forth the future nightmare of the Heisei Ultraman Trio and the New Generation Ultras—Five King!
"Raaaaargh———!!"
This monstrosity, a fusion of five powerful kaiju—Golza, Melba, Reicubas the space sea beast, Gan-Q the bizarre monster, and Super C.O.V.—is notorious among Ultraman fans.
So infamous, in fact, that it's often dubbed the "Heisei-era Tyrant."
Now, Five King may not be Tsuburaya's most elegant monster suit design ever, but it's definitely one of the most iconic.
Compared to Tyrant—who's kinda been downgraded to elite mob status—Five King's appearance still packs a punch.
At first glance, audiences were straight-up spooked.
And when Five King spread its massive wings and let loose its ultimate finisher—Catastrophe Spark, a fusion attack combining the signature moves of all five monsters—everyone, both the people on-screen and the audience off-screen, were left absolutely stunned.
Buildings collapsed.
Cities burned.
Ports shattered.
And in an instant, all of humanity's fragile civilization was reduced to ash.
In Shinji Matou's eyes, though? This city destruction scene wasn't perfect.
For him, top-tier urban destruction sequences look more like the final battle in the Godzilla vs. Kong reboot in Hong Kong, or the city-destroying scenes from Independence Day: Resurgence.
Now, that's what the real apocalypse looks like.
Super 8 still had a ways to go in terms of miniature detail and scene choreography compared to those.
That said, in terms of script quality? Shinji still believed he could blow those Hollywood blockbusters out of the water.
But to today's audience, Super 8's effects were already as top-tier, realistic, and elaborate as it gets.
In a theater in Times Square, New York, a packed crowd stared at the screen with wide, round eyes, their jaws slowly dropping—like they had just witnessed something even more unbelievable than the U.S. President publicly crapping his pants.
They didn't start out like that.
Western audiences didn't have the same nostalgic bond with Ultraman that East Asian viewers did.
They only went to see Super 8 because it was directed by Shinji Matou, the guy who directed Fate.
But now?
They weren't just watching for the director anymore.
"Oh my God, why must you do this!?"
A white guy clutched his chest, overwhelmed with emotion.
"After seeing this, how the hell am I supposed to be satisfied with other movie special effects anymore!?"
His friend nodded vigorously. As the flames on screen slowly faded and the movie shifted into a transitional scene, he seized the chance to chime in:
"Shinji Matou didn't just destroy Yokohama with this movie—he destroyed every other special effects film this year! Godzilla next week? It's done for."
"Totally done for!"
The guy echoed without hesitation.
They had seen the Godzilla trailer too. Even though Big G himself hadn't fully shown up yet, the teaser had its fair share of monster-destroying-city shots.
But let's be real—trailers for effects-heavy films are judged mostly on their VFX quality, and Super 8? It was clearly a cut above.
Even without the advantage of glasses-free 3D, Super 8's effects looked like a generational leap beyond what Godzilla was offering.
It was like comparing Jurassic World to Jurassic Park—not quite incomparable, but definitely a leap in time.
So it wasn't really surprising that these effects-obsessed North American audiences were already losing interest in Godzilla before it even hit theaters.
To them, the one thing that mattered most was this: which movie had the cooler fight scenes?
Back on screen, the battle between the Heisei Ultraman Trio and Five King had reached a fever pitch. It was clear that these two forces were evenly matched.
Using Gan-Q's absorption ability, Five King absorbed a ton of the light attacks the Ultras fired and then reflected them right back—gaining strength with every exchange.
But the Big Three weren't pushovers.
Under Daigo's lead, they started to shift the tide, gradually pushing the fight in their favor.
Spectators—both in-universe and around the world—cheered them on, hearts pounding as it felt like victory was just a moment away.
Unfortunately, the shady Black Silhouette wasn't going to just roll over and lose.
Once again, he activated his summoning powers—this time fusing Pandon and Zetton to create a terrifying new kaiju: Zepandon, and ordered Alien Hipporit to launch a surprise attack on the Big Three.
Just like that, the battle morphed from a righteous 3-on-1 to a full-on 3-on-3 brawl.
But this time, the people didn't lose hope.
"Ultraman, don't lose!"
"Get up! Fight!"
"Ultraman!"
"You can do it!!"
"Go, Ultramen!!"
...
Not only the citizens of Yokohama, but people all over the world watching the fight were shouting, sending all their energy to the embattled Heisei warriors.
And four men watching from the sidelines were deeply moved.
"These two monsters are powerful," said Seiji Hokuto, eyes fixed on the screen.
"But Ultraman will never lose!" said Hideki Go, with total certainty.
Moroboshi Dan, hearing the global cries of support, nodded solemnly. "Yes, everyone understands that."
"Everyone believes the Ultramen will win in the end."
Hokuto added, emotionally, "We used to fight on fueled by these same voices—cheering us on until the very end!"
The scene faded into nostalgic battle flashbacks of the four Showa heroes in their prime.
Longtime Ultraman fans in the theater were suddenly transported back to childhood, watching moments burned into their memories unfold once again.
And then—memories merged with the present.
Akiko's voice echoed as Hayata transformed among the rubble.
Dan transformed after saying goodbye to Anne—his final transformation.
Go swore to dying Aki that he would win, and transformed into Jack.
Hokuto transformed into Ace, waving farewell to Yuko Minami after their painful separation.
As the montage ended, the four veterans in the present world transformed once more—their bodies glowing, rising tall.
"Ahhhhhhh!!"
Seeing the four massive new silhouettes on screen, the crowd erupted even louder.
"That's—"
"Seven! Jack! Ace! Ultraman!"
One salaryman lost all composure, hurling his briefcase into the air and shouting at the top of his lungs:
"It's the Ultra Brothers we grew up with!!!"
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