studiobondurri Chapter 130: The Controversy Sparked by the New Protagonist, Asuka
Chapter 130: The Controversy Sparked by the New Protagonist, Asuka
The summer in Jinghai City was still scorching hot, but even hotter was the nationwide craze for "Ultraman Dyna".
Two weeks have passed since the premiere of "Dyna".
Although it only has two episodes, its commercial dominance is simply astonishing.
That new giant, in red, blue, and silver, with a wildness completely different from Ultraman Tiga, forcefully occupied the television and mobile phone screens of a large number of young viewers.
To ensure the quality of the toys and expedite production, Chen Bo went on a business trip to the toy factory to work on-site.
At the toy factory, Chen Bo called Gu Nan almost every day, crying as he reported on the production progress—he was so exhausted from trying to meet the deadline.
"President Gu! The molds for the Victory Eagle are practically smoking from being pressed! Even with two shifts working, the factory can't keep up with the demand!"
"And that flash sword, although it doesn't have the same 'divine' quality as the Spark Lens, the tactile feedback from its flipping and folding mechanism is so relaxing. Every college student these days has one, and they're always snapping away during class!"
Commercially, Dyna was undoubtedly a success. One could even say it was more profitable than Tiga in its early stages. After all, it took off standing on the shoulders of giants.
However, within the industry and among veteran film critics, the atmosphere is somewhat delicate.
The reason is simple—the lasting impact of "Ultraman Seven: The Origin Project" is too great.
The profound themes explored in the final episodes of "Seven," including its discussions of race, aggression, and original sin, elevated the tokusatsu genre to the level of serious literature.
While the first two installments of "Dyna" boasted explosive special effects and exhilarating action sequences, some self-proclaimed "deep" film critics seemed to find them... "superficial."
Has Gu Nan run out of creative ideas?
"Sure enough, he just wanted to make money. Dyna is just a pure popcorn flick."
"Although it's good, compared to the chilling impact of Seven, Shin Asuka, the protagonist of Dyna, is like a naive kid who hasn't grown up yet."
Online, there is a lot of controversy about Dyna's "artistic" quality.
That afternoon, in an inconspicuous corner of Bilibili, a 30-minute video was updated, and the uploader's name was also very ordinary: Mr. Bear.
The video title is also very simple, without exclamation marks or sensationalism, just a single line of text—
[Let's discuss the first two episodes of "Ultraman Dyna" from the perspectives of audiovisual language and dramatic structure.]
Initially, the video did not attract much attention.
After all, there are countless marketing accounts jumping on the bandwagon and riding the coattails of Gu Nan's popularity. But
As a few hardcore film buffs who stumbled upon the video finished watching it, comments like "I see," "This analysis is quite detailed," and "Amazing" began to appear on the screen.
Riding on the coattails of the inherently trending topic of "Dyna," this video quickly rose to the top of the tokusatsu (special effects) category within just three hours.
……
In a residential area in Jinghai City, Lao Tang was eating his meal, idly scrolling through Bilibili.
"Hmm? In-depth analysis?"
Old Tang glanced at that video and said, "These days, content creators are getting more and more casual with their names. 'Mr. Bear'? I'd rather be Bald Qiang."
Despite his complaints, as the number one "know-it-all" in the tokusatsu section, Lao Tang still habitually clicked in, ready to nitpick.
The video begins.
"Hello everyone, I am Mr. Bear."
Although there's no video of the content creator, the pronunciation is clear.
"I recently watched the first two episodes of 'Ultraman Dyna' and have some details and thoughts that I'd like to share with you all."
In the video, footage from the first episode of "Dyna" appeared on the screen.
"Many people say that compared to Seven, Dyna is a step backward in terms of ideas, and is a commercial film that is purely for selling toys."
"In my opinion, people who hold this view understand neither business nor art."
One sentence sets the tone, exuding domineering power.
A few lines of text floated across the screen:
What an arrogant tone!
【Big Bear, what's wrong with you?】
Don't rush, let's hear what he has to say.
The video shows the plot of the first episode of Dyna.
That's a panoramic view of the Mars base.
"First, I want to talk about director Gu Nan's mise-en-scène and art design."
The uploader used the cursor to circle points on the screen.
"Please pay attention to the texture of these pebbles, and the distressed finish on the outer wall of the base in the distance."
"Young directors these days rely too much on green screens and CGI."
"But I'm certain that director Gu Nan used a lot of miniature models for real-life filming in this scene. The granular texture of the sand as it rises, and the diffuse reflection of light hitting a rough surface, are 'physical realism' that computer effects can hardly simulate."
Indeed, that's what makes tokusatsu (special effects) so appealing.
Items crafted with such care truly demonstrate sincerity.
As the video progresses, more detailed images become apparent.
"Look at the lights again."
The scene shifts to the interior of the base, to the Super GUTS command center.
"In previous works, 'Ultraman Tiga' and 'Seven,' the lighting design leaned towards high-contrast 'Rembrandt lighting' to create a sense of mystery and oppression, resulting in very heavy shadows."
The video features an illustration accompanied by lengthy text explaining to the viewer what Rembrandt lighting is.
This is a side lighting technique used during shooting, where the shadow side of the subject's face faces the camera, and the light illuminates three-quarters of the face, creating an inverted triangular bright area near the cheekbone. The contrast between light and dark creates different visual effects on both sides of the face.
It is named for its resemblance to the portraits of the Dutch painter Rembrandt.
"But in Dyna, director Gu Nan boldly used high-brightness key lights, and the overall tone is bright, vivid, and full of vitality."
The uploader's voice was calm and unhurried, yet every word was precious: "This is not 'superficial,' it is 'context.'"
The script is set in 2032, an era of humanity's exploration of the universe. Humanity's technological confidence and desire for exploration must be expressed through this kind of "overexposure" of light. The red team uniforms, the brightly lit base, and even the blinding white light when Scria attacks, all serve the central themes of "hope" and "progress."
Old Tang's fork stopped in mid-air.
Is it that professional?
This uploader... is pretty good!
What he said was something that Lao Tang himself only had a vague feeling about, thinking that "Dyna looks brighter and more upright with the filter of the game." But he directly analyzed it for you clearly from the perspective of optical principles and narrative service.
Is this a top student in film and television studies?
However, before Lao Tang could even be surprised, he saw that the second part of the video had already begun.
This is an analysis of the character portrayals in "Dyna".
This is also the most controversial point online. The protagonist, Shin Asuka, is too arrogant, too haughty, and too unlikable.
Unlike Daigo's gentle and almost perfect "divine" personality, Asuka's character is too "rebellious".
Some people like his authenticity and passion, while others think he is too arrogant, reckless, and even a bit annoying.
"Many people dislike Shin Asuka."
In the video, the uploader casually said, "I think he has no regard for organizational discipline, I think he is a troublemaker, and I even miss Daigo's gentleness, kindness, frugality and humility."
"But, gentlemen."
"If Director Gu Nan were to recreate Daigo, that would be a true failure."
The voice suddenly changed, startling the audience.
"Daigo is the perfect balance of divinity and humanity; he is perfect. But Shin Asuka is flawed."
The screen showed footage from the first episode of Shin Asuka challenging his coach, who was his rival, to a one-on-one duel, as well as the scene where he later deserted his team to attack Scia, resulting in damage to his fighter jet.
"The behavior of birds can be described as lacking in individuality."
The image freezes on Shin Asuka's defiant face.
"To summarize, we can say that this is the gaze of a young man with amazing talent, who is overshadowed by his father's disappearance, eager to prove himself, but not knowing who to prove it to."
"His arrogance is actually a shield to conceal his inner confusion."
[Youthful spirit, huh?]
To be honest, if I could join one of humanity's top organizations in my teens, I'd be more arrogant than him.
【What can my arrogance do to me!】
The voice in the video patiently and persuasively continued the explanation.
"Director Gu Nan's handling of this character is very sophisticated."
"He didn't give the audience a 'hero' right away, but rather a 'troublemaker'."
"You know, this technique of first suppressing and then elevating is very common in the creation of traditional art forms such as drama, but it takes a lot of courage to use it so thoroughly in a hero theme like Ultraman."
"Moreover, in order to tame this wild horse, the screenwriter carefully crafted another set of character relationships."
The scene shifts, and Captain Kibi's face appears.
"Kihi Gosuke."
When the uploader read out the name, there was a hint of admiration in his tone, "I also compared it with the defense forces of the Showa era, and even compared with Dan Moroboshi from Leo, it has more personality."
"This is a rare 'wolf-like' captain in the history of tokusatsu dramas. He is rude, loud-voiced, and acts in a whirlwind manner, but he is like a pillar of strength."
"Pay attention to this scene."
The video is playing from the middle of the second episode.
Shin Asuka, feeling somewhat smug after gaining Dyna's power, overlooked the fact that Koda had almost been killed.
The scene where Captain Hibi is lecturing him in the command room.
"Here, there was no conventional 'harsh criticism.' Captain Hibiki's gaze towards Asuka contained reproach, but more than that, it was a kind of 'looking at his younger self' with a sense of acceptance."
"The design of these lines—'Who do you think you are? Don't think that you can do whatever you want just because you have power'—is not only for the birds, but also to instill the right values in all the children in front of the screen who yearn for power."
"There's also Zhongdao's tech-geek nature, Gongliang's older sister-like strictness and gentleness, Xinshuya's kind-hearted personality, and Xingxing's composure. This is an extremely standard 'Five Elements' team configuration, with each character's function perfectly allocated."
Old Tang nodded repeatedly as he read.
indeed!
When he watched the first episode, he wanted to jump into the screen and beat up Shin Asuka.
But after listening to the UP's analysis, isn't this a typical "growing male protagonist" template?
If we don't let him stumble first, how can his subsequent growth be moving?
The subsequent video features a battle commentary that has already been analyzed frame by frame in other videos to death.
After all, Dyna's debut was truly amazing, and his creation of a black hole with his bare hands shocked many viewers.
This has led to the primary goal of various commentators being to analyze Dyna's battles.
However, the analysis of Dyna's character portrayal alone is enough to make this video stand out from other explanations of "Dyna".
At the end of the video, the uploader summarized:
Overall, the first two episodes of "Ultraman Dyna" showed a direction that was different from its predecessors and more modern and youthful.
"It excels in commercial entertainment, but it still maintains considerable sophistication and ambition in its cinematography, art direction, and character design."
"The controversy surrounding Shin Asuka precisely illustrates that this character is not a stereotypical hero, and his growth trajectory is worth observing further. In this era of numerous fast-moving consumer goods, it is a delightful thing to see a tokusatsu drama with such ingenious production."
The video ends.
On the black screen, comments kept scrolling by:
[The analysis is quite professional!]
So Asuka's personality was intentionally designed; now that makes sense.
This content creator is pretty good, I've followed them.
There has been a lot of discussion in the comments section, mostly focusing on rethinking Dyna's design and Asuka's character.
……
At the same time, the online discussion surrounding "Dyna" has begun to subtly shift due to the emergence of these in-depth analytical videos.
With a more professional and detailed perspective, those viewers who were initially discouraged by Asuka's early performances or simply felt that "Dyna" was shallow began to try to look at it from a different angle.
When they took off their tinted glasses and rewatched the first two episodes, they were surprised to find that this seemingly reckless young man actually had so many subtle micro-expressions.
Zhang Ye's acting skills have also been brought under scrutiny again.
Although there are only two episodes left so far, a lot of information can still be extracted from them.
However, what everyone hopes for even more is to see how Asuka will grow into a true warrior in the future.
In the comment section of the first episode of "Dyna" on Bilibili, a new top comment has been pushed to the top:
At first glance, Asuka seems like a slacker, but upon closer inspection, I realize he's just like us—fresh out of college, eager to prove ourselves but constantly hitting roadblocks. I look forward to Asuka's awakening, to that true light!
[You old scoundrel Gu! Hurry up and serve up episode three!]