RBCT Chapter 419 Snowy Pages, Regret Across Time
Chapter 419 Snowy Pages, Regret Across Time
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
It's 8 PM on Friday, Xia time.
The pages of major video platforms refreshed on time, and countless tokusatsu fans had already been waiting in front of their screens.
Gu Nan cut all the later episodes.
After all, it's already reached episode 24, so we have to speed things up and get to the final chapters.
After all, the later episodes of Ultraman Cosmos were notorious for their slow pacing and inconsistent quality.
There is even a risk that the core character's logic may break down.
For example, in episode 51, the monster Masargas, which can be called the natural enemy of the Chaos virus, appears.
The elite youth team originally wanted to use this monster to study how to counter the Chaos virus, a formidable enemy, and even the defense forces had already coordinated their efforts in advance.
As a result, Saijo, defying all odds, chose to eliminate the monster first.
They couldn't distinguish between what was more important and what was less important, Chaos or the monster.
Finally, they destroyed this only Chaos nemesis monster that had ever appeared.
Gu Nan was speechless when he saw this. Does the surname "Saijo" in tokusatsu have some kind of significance?
Is this really something a human being could do?
If Gu Nan were to actually adapt this kind of episode into the soon-to-be-completed condensed version of Gauss, everyone would see that Chaos's natural enemy is dying like a human robot right before the finale, having no effect whatsoever on the final battle. He would only be criticized like Ormega!
Another example is episode 54, "Human Teleporter".
This episode was originally intended to explore the harm that sensationalism by unscrupulous media can cause to ordinary people.
The story tells of a monster girl who has been wildly glorified by the media. In order to return to a normal life, she has to deceive the kind monster who protects her and promise to meet again in ten years.
When the ten-year period came to an end, the monster searched desperately for the girl, but the girl refused to see him because she did not want to get involved in the trouble, which eventually caused the monster to go berserk.
The script had a good initial intention.
However, the overly heavy and stifling realistic tone made the girl's behavior highly controversial, which was seriously at odds with the current main storyline that clearly distinguishes between good and evil and moves at a fast pace, so it was decisively abandoned.
These are two episodes that are of decent quality and above average, which are rare in the later stages of the series.
The other plot points are even more outrageous.
The logic of the script for episode 55, "Final Test," in the original Tsuburaya production was utterly absurd.
Aliens threw a monster resembling a biological weapon onto Earth, causing widespread destruction, and shamelessly declared:
If Earthlings retaliate with force, it would mean that Earthlings are a dangerous civilization that glorifies violence!
This kind of robber logic is like someone throwing a rabid dog into your house, and you killing the dog in self-defense, only to be accused of being a cruel and wicked person.
What's even more unacceptable is that in this script, because of this illogical crisis, our Captain Qingguang missed the chance to say goodbye to Dr. Xu Zekou one last time, which is simply feeding the audience shit.
Furthermore, there is episode 56 about "Kappa Village".
Putting aside the fact that the kappa is a mythical creature in Japanese culture.
This story tells a heartwarming tale of a kappa, a monster, protecting the elderly in a village with a severe aging population.
Although the emotions are genuine, the sense of patchwork in it is just too heavy.
It has the shadow of Leo Piccolo and Redell from Ultraman Tiga, and also the feeling of the Swamp of Sorrows from Gaia.
For longtime viewers who have followed the series from the beginning, such a plot is bound to cause serious aesthetic fatigue, and simply rehashing old material with the same formula is not a viable option.
The worst one is episode 58.
The episode "The Sky of Revenge" is even more noteworthy. In order to forcefully highlight Musashi's "benevolence," the screenwriter even went so far as to ruin his character.
Faced with a ferocious alien who attacked the defense force's fighter jets and nearly killed Vice Captain Mizuha, Musashi surprisingly stopped Kaze from firing a counterattack at the crucial moment!
Instead of showing concern for his teammates who were in danger of their plane crashing and dying at any moment, he sympathized with the treacherous invaders.
It's hard to understand what the screenwriters were thinking when they designed these plot points.
He even pushed away his partner in life and death to help the aliens out of a predicament!
This kind of "saintly" behavior—indulging in persuasion for the sake of persuasion, having no bottom line, and even placing the lives of alien invaders above those of human comrades—is utterly misguided.
She's not a compassionate warrior at all, she's a hypocrite.
So Gu Nan's next episode jumps directly to episode 56 of the Tsuburaya production.
Now, Gu Nan needs to move on to the final chapter as quickly as possible.
This is also the last brilliant chapter before the final chapter.
With the countdown ending, episode 24 of "Ultraman Cosmos" officially began.
The title of this episode slowly appears in the center of the screen, carrying a touch of artistic and melancholic atmosphere—"The Snow's End".
Accompanied by the gentle sound of guitar strings, the scene did not immediately cut to the command room of the elite youth team or the battlefield ravaged by monsters, as is usually the case.
Instead, it depicts a slightly melancholic, ordinary afternoon.
Bright sunlight streamed through the window, falling on a boy named Xiao.
He stood alone by the window, clutching a strange card that looked quite old and emitted a faint glow.
This card is the legendary "Snowy Page".
"In the other world behind this door lives Geralfan."
Xiao's eyes were somewhat unfocused as she softly murmured the words that sounded like a spell.
"That's what Mr. Kuno told me."
As the boy whispered, a long and slightly bittersweet flashback unfolded slowly on the screen.
That's a story that happened in the height of summer.
The scene shifts to the scorching hot track and field stadium.
At this time, the Xia Kingdom was experiencing an unusually hot summer.
The air was slightly distorted by the scorching sun, and cicadas chirped tirelessly in the trees.
"On your marks—get set!"
With the sharp sound of the starting gun, the boys on the track shot off like arrows.
Xiao is one of them.
He gritted his teeth, sweat dripping down his face, every muscle in his body working overtime.
Through his inner monologue, the audience came to understand the weighty significance of this match.
This is not just an ordinary regional selection competition, but a life-or-death battle that will determine whether he can break through the encirclement and stand on the national stage.
He had poured his heart and soul into this day for three whole years.
Before the starting line, the straight track in his eyes once shone with the light of hope.
He firmly believed he could win, and that he could reach that seemingly unattainable dream.
However, the cruelty of competitive sports lies in the fact that all efforts are ultimately judged by the cold, hard clock.
The image freezes on the finish line. Xiao, with a slight disadvantage that is barely perceptible to the naked eye, comes in second place.
"0.02 seconds."
Just as Xiao said.
The cruel number popped up on the screen.
11.56 seconds.
Just because of this difference of 0.02 seconds, Xiao completely lost his chance to advance to the national competition.
"Because of this 0.02-second difference, my summer... is over."
Xiao collapsed onto the scorching hot plastic track, staring blankly up at the deep blue sky.
The immense emptiness of having worked hard for three years only to fail at the last moment instantly engulfed him.
While her friends were busy preparing for their college entrance exams and running forward, Xiao seemed to be trapped in that failed afternoon forever.
He didn't know what the point of continuing to run blindly every day was. He only knew that he didn't want to stop, but he couldn't find a direction to move forward.
What a pity, just a little bit short!
Three years of youth, separated by just 0.02 seconds.
[You're a sports student, right?]
No way, you need to pass the Level 2 athlete exam for that.
[How did it suddenly turn into a coming-of-age melodrama? But the production quality is really good.]
[Why is this episode so confusing at the start? Is the strangeness in this episode related to sports?]
That's life; not all efforts will have a perfect ending.
Just when Xiao was at a loss for what to do next.
A melodious, gentle, yet endlessly sorrowful violin tune suddenly drifted into his ears on the breeze.
The music seemed to possess some strange magic, drawing Xiao to stop in her tracks.
He followed the sound to its source and saw an elderly man with white hair, a kind face, but a deep sense of loneliness on the steps at the street corner.
The old man had a strange name: Kuye.
At this moment, he was holding a strange card high in his hand, with an old-fashioned vinyl record player next to him.
That moving violin piece flowed from the huge speaker of the record player.
"Excuse me... what are you doing?"
Xiao couldn't help but step forward, curiously breaking the old man's reverie.
The old man from the bitter field turned his head, looked at the bewildered boy in front of him, and smiled slightly:
"I am inviting Geralfan to listen to the music from my memories."
"The air here is so fresh that it makes the melody of this piece sound even better."
"Glarfan?"
Xiao frowned.
"Yes, Geralfan."
The old man pointed to the card in his hand, his eyes gleaming with longing.
"It lives in another world inside this door."
"That was a very cold world."
The old man patiently told the boy, whom he had just met, a vague and ethereal legend.
If that melody filled with memories can move the legendary monster Glalfan, it will cross the gates of the void and descend into this world.
"Glarvan can bring back to life the most important and cherished memories deep within a person's heart, without alteration."
The old man's voice was soft and ethereal.
"It can even open a door, allowing people to enter the scene of that memory."
"When it arrives, time in this world will stop."
After hearing these words, Xiao felt they were utterly absurd.
How could a tiny card and a tune playing on an old record player possibly summon a monster that can control time?
He figured the old man in front of him must have something wrong with his head, so he gave him a few perfunctory replies and prepared to turn and leave.
However, just as he turned around, his backpack accidentally knocked over the old man's treasured record player.
The horn rolled to the side, and the music stopped abruptly.
Feeling guilty, Xiao could only squat down and clumsily help the old man reinstall the speaker, fixing the old antique.
An elderly man and a young boy sat on the steps and began a conversation that transcended age on this sweltering summer afternoon.
Xiao poured out her pain—the pain of losing the game by 0.02 seconds and losing her dream—to this stranger without reservation.
"That's such a shame."
After listening, the old man sighed deeply, his eyes filled with pity. "Just because of that tiny difference..."
The old man was so gentle, like a good listener.
It feels so good to meet someone by chance and confide in them.
This boy is also an outstanding individual, one in ten thousand. But in our country, even one in ten thousand can produce 140,000 outstanding individuals.
[But can this music really summon monsters? Where's the elite team? Why haven't they appeared yet?]
This piece sounds like Massenet's "Meditation on Thales".
Xiao originally thought it was just a wonderful chance encounter on a summer street.
The legend of Geralfan is nothing more than a fairy tale used by a lonely old man to comfort his soul.
However, reality played an unbelievable joke on him three days later.
The scene shifts.
In a city where it should have been the hottest time of summer with temperatures soaring to over 30 degrees Celsius, the sky suddenly turned incredibly gloomy.
Immediately afterwards, pure white snowflakes fell from the sky, gently landing on the asphalt road that had been baked by the scorching sun!
"It's snowing in this sweltering summer?!"
People on the street stopped and reached out in disbelief to catch the cold snowflakes.
[As expected, it's the monster from the legend the old man told me about.]
Wow, it's so hot now, I wish it would snow...
Snow in June? I thought it was a great injustice.
In the entire Xia Kingdom, only this one place seemed to be under a spell, instantly transitioning from the height of summer to the depths of winter.
This extremely unusual weather, which defied common sense, immediately alerted the elite youth team.
The patrol car of the youth elite team sped through the snowstorm and came to a stop on the street.
Just as the elite team was conducting an intensive investigation, Akatsuki encountered Reina, a team member who had come to investigate, on a snowy street.
Looking at the uniformed defense officers, Akira instantly recalled the words Old Man Kuno had spoken a few days ago—
"Winter will come to the city when Grarfan approaches us."
The fairy tale has actually come true!
"You...you're here to investigate this city?"
Xiao ran forward, somewhat incoherently, and stopped Musashi.
"Little brother, do you know something?"
Rena keenly sensed Akatsuki's unusual behavior.
Xiao hesitated for a long time, but in the end, she still didn't tell the whole story about the old man Kuye.
He just shouted at Rena in a panic:
"You'd better not stay here tonight! It's dangerous here!"
After saying that, he ran into the snowstorm without looking back, leaving Rena standing there dumbfounded.
Xiao ran all the way and finally found the old man Kuye again at that familiar street corner.
The old man was still sitting on those steps, letting the wind and snow fall on his white hair and shoulders.
He clutched the card called "Snowy Page" tightly in his hand, his eyes filled with anticipation.
"Grandpa Kuno!"
Xiao ran over, panting.
"What exactly is going on?"
"Could that legend be true?"
"Is Gerrfan really coming?"
The old man turned his head and looked at Xiao, a smile of immense satisfaction spreading across his aged face.
"Oh, it's Akatsuki... Look at this."
The old man handed the card in his hand to Xiao.
"Glarfan will be here soon. He understands my music."
"It will take me to the world on the other side of that door."
"Go to that world full of memories."
Looking into the old man's resolute eyes, Xiao felt a sudden surge of unease.
Why?
"Grandpa, why do you want to go back to the world of your memories?"
A cold wind howled and swept through.
The old man's gaze pierced through the wind and snow, slowly turning to the old house behind him.
"That was forty years ago..."
The old man's voice sounded particularly weathered in the wind and snow, as if it had traveled through endless time.
"Back then, my wife and I were very young."
"We also have a lovely son."
The old man's eyes gradually reddened.
"But my wife left this world five years later."
"Actually, I was also a violinist, but I never became famous."
"Now that I've lost her, these past few years have felt like being a walking corpse to me."
The old man's hands trembled slightly as he stroked the old record player.
"Those memories feel like they happened just yesterday."
"I want to go back... I want to see that time again, even if only for a moment."