Chapter 298: Ultra Seven

Moritsugu Koji's Moritsugu Curry Shop is located on the road from Yokohama to Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture. The shop is on the first floor of his own home, surrounded by residential areas, and there is even a signpost indicating the way to "Moritsugu Curry Shop."

In autumn in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa, scattered leaves are embedded like crushed gold on the stone path, while the maple trees on both sides of the stone steps are burning to their peak—red and ochre leaves weave into a dome, occasionally lifted at one corner by the mountain breeze, letting in a few spots of slanting sunlight. The sun is not out at this moment; under the overcast sky, the firmament is shrouded in a layer of hazy mist.

Ikeda Erena parks the car, and Uesugi Muneyuki holds Watanabe Minami's small hand; the three of them prepare to have lunch together at the curry shop.

It is worth mentioning that Miss Minami is truly petite; her feet are only size 32, and her fingertips reach only to Uesugi Muneyuki's second knuckle. Coupled with her height of 1.6 meters and the fact that she is not wearing high-heeled shoes, she looks two or three sizes smaller when held by Uesugi Muneyuki, giving off the feeling of a father and daughter.

Especially with the 1.7-meter-tall Ikeda Erena nearby, the tall beauty is naturally taller and, having always exercised, is also much fuller; the three of them walking together looks just like a family of three.

Of course, they are indeed a family of three, just not the kind of family of three that everyone understands.

"Is it right here?" The three walk side by side on the streets of the Kanagawa suburbs. One is full and enchanting, the other sweet and lovely; they can be described as each having their own merits, naturally attracting many passersby to look frequently, though most are elderly, as the young people are all working (in reality, most people in Japan under 75 are also working).

On Erena's lightly powdered, pretty face, the features are well-defined and firm, and her sharp eyes are full of deterrence, her pupils crystal clear and filled with affection. Beyond just being out for a vacation and relaxation, she faintly exudes the fragrance of mature fruit, clearly showing that Uesugi Muneyuki's development efforts over the past year have been remarkably effective.

A cool, intoxicating starry leather jacket worn over a red turtleneck sweater looks full of spirit, and the leather skirt, twenty centimeters above the knees, is dotted with shiny silver patterns, looking like a female investigator with a strong heart who never yields. Her brown-dyed, shoulder-length hair falls onto the shoulders of the leather jacket, and a rose-gold cherry blossom pendant (a gift from Uesugi Muneyuki) is adorned on her chest, adding sexiness to her dashing look.

Naturally, Ikeda's miraculous figure, along with the pendant, pushes the neckline of the sweater into a fatal curve, and her slender waist and the abdominal muscle lines are perfectly connected to her plump, perky buttocks by a slightly exaggerated curve; the round moon sways left and right with her light steps, which is quite alluring.

Her long, proud legs are clad in black diamond-patterned semi-sheer Wolford-style silk stockings; her beautiful legs appear even more flawless and proudly upright wrapped in the stockings, with full thighs and slender calves, symmetrical and straight without losing strength, paired with a pair of black chained leather boots reaching the knees, her near-perfect body line is undoubtedly the most eye-catching.

Even Miss Minami, watching from behind, cannot help but want to reach out and pat Erena's buttocks.

It is just that others are destined to only look; this dashing woman in black silk, leather jacket, and long boots has long been Uesugi Muneyuki's possession in both body and mind, and has long since become Uesugi Muneyuki's exclusive property.

"Yes, it's right here." Uesugi Muneyuki nods.

The main hall of the restaurant is a three-story detached house, and the interior has that feeling of a century-old shop in the Japanese countryside—the furnishings are not very new but are kept very clean. The furniture and chairs are placed very narrowly, and any corner with a little extra space is stuffed with Ultra Seven elements: Ultra Seven figures, Ultra Seven masks, Ultra Seven models, monster models, Ultra Seven autographs, Seven Defense Team aircraft, and various photos of Ultraman actors, all old items from a bygone era.

Seven~ Seven~ Seven~ Seven Seven Seven~ Seven Seven Seven~ The distant planet is my hometown~

Uesugi Muneyuki sings it subconsciously, and seeing Minami and Erena both looking at him with strange eyes, he touches his nose with a bit of embarrassment.

This was my childhood in my previous life.

At the same time, Ultra Seven is also the favorite science fiction character of his grandfather, Uesugi Kuninori, bar none.

Many people find it hard to understand why Tsuburaya Productions likes the character Ultra Seven so much, that every work has to worship Seven, and the elements of worshipping Seven are so numerous that it is somewhat repulsive.

In fact, this largely stems from the reasons of the era.

To the people of China, the Ultraman series was introduced all at once in the nineties and is our childhood, but for the Japanese, it is not like that. Just looking at the Showa Ultraman, the original Ultraman was from 1966, and Ultraman Ace was from 1980, with a full 14 years, a whole generation, in between.

And for the generation of Uesugi Kuninori, the original Ultraman and Ultra Seven are undoubtedly epoch-making masterpieces, especially the deep humanistic implications in the story of Ultra Seven and the profound philosophical thinking and fierce confrontation brought about by the identity dislocation formed by the intersection of the Ultraman perspective and the human perspective, which just matched the vigorous vitality of all things in Japan from poverty to take-off in that era.

Therefore, many people still believe that Ultra Seven is the best science fiction work in Japanese history, especially among the older viewers of Uesugi Kuninori's generation who have status and the ability to speak.

To be harsh, Ultra Seven might be the only work from Tsuburaya that can be brought to the table, so naturally, they reminisce whenever they have the chance, pay tribute whenever they have the chance, and crazily worship Seven whenever they have the chance.

But that is as far as it goes. Uesugi Kuninori likes Ultraman and Ultra Seven the most, then evaluates the third, The Return of Ultraman, as watchable. After that, his grandfather's evaluation is uniformly "this is shit," and his evaluation of Ultraman Leo and Ultraman Ace is "this is the shit of shit," especially since Leo turned his beloved Moroboshi Dan into a "super-masculine low-ability Captain" and "Jeep Demon," leading to his grandfather's extremely poor evaluation of it.

The evaluation of Japanese society is the same. Starting from the third, Return of Ultraman, the tokusatsu genre began to be completely infantilized and commercialized, and the reputation of Ultraman began to decline all the way, becoming a second or third-rate IP. Even Shinoda Saburo, who played the human host of Ultraman Taro, and Hasegawa Hatsunori, who played the human host of Ultraman Ace, did not like being labeled as "Ultraman series performers." Shinoda Saburo never played Taro again in his life, while Hasegawa reconciled with himself after a long time and eventually only returned for a cameo once.

Yet these two are the ones with the highest status among all the main actors of the Ultra series, and they have also appeared in the most Taiga Dramas.

The remaining few can only act in stage plays, appear in other tokusatsu works, or play supporting roles in other dramas, saying, "The end of Kamen Rider has arrived!"

Just as Uesugi Muneyuki arrives, Moritsugu Koji is squatting at the door smoking: "Welcome!"

"Hello, Moritsugu-san, I am..." Uesugi Muneyuki greets him very politely.

"I know who you are, Uesugi Muneyuki, Kuninori-san's grandson." Old Master Moritsugu jokes: "I watched that program too."

Starring in Ultraman might be a great achievement, but for a University of Tokyo professor, it is nothing.

"Yes, Grandfather asked me to bring you something." Uesugi Muneyuki hands the large gift box to Old Master Moritsugu, which contains the Daiginjo sake and a pair of wine glasses carefully selected by Uesugi Kuninori.

"You are too kind, Kuninori-san." Old Master Moritsugu immediately gives back a box of Ashigara Tea.

"By the way, let's try your wife's cooking." Uesugi Muneyuki smiles.

"Very~ very~ welcome!" Old Master Moritsugu enthusiastically signals them to hurry into the shop and sit down, "I will cook for you myself!"

Uesugi Muneyuki and the others have a simple meal in the Ultra Seven curry shop. It must be said that the cooking is indeed quite average; one can only say it is not hard to eat, and a meal for nearly 1000 yen is not cheap. However, Old Master Moritsugu is particularly enthusiastic and even chats about the stories of when he was filming Seven.

The filming conditions at that time were very hard, and the budget was very limited. Renting a venue could take up half of the crew's budget, and many staff members had to hold multiple jobs. After filming was finished, they were not paid much. Old Master Moritsugu filmed the work Ultra Seven in such a harsh environment and left his mark on the history of Japanese science fiction.

"I was very poor at the time, and I had to take the train for two hours every day from here to Tokyo to film. Tsuburaya often delayed my salary, making me afraid to socialize, and I had to eat cheap boxed lunches every day to barely make ends meet." Moritsugu Koji says exaggeratedly: "But I have never regretted playing the role of Moroboshi Dan."

Holy crap, how can Tsuburaya be so bad!

Minami and Erena next to him think subconsciously.

"What about the Moroboshi Dan in Leo?" Uesugi Muneyuki smiles.

"That was a problem with the script. It was originally designed that the Captain was named Kawakami Tetsutaro, a tough, iron-blooded, strict father-type captain. But at the time, I said I had already played the role of Moroboshi Dan (Tsuburaya's early script characters were written as Moroboshi Dan), so the role was replaced temporarily without rewriting the whole story. As a result, the performance effect was not satisfactory." Moritsugu Koji shakes his head and sighs: "They said it was the culmination of the 15th anniversary, but in the end, the ratings fell below 10%, almost causing the Ultraman series to be cut off right there."

"After that, I didn't want to play this role for a long time, until the late 90s, when the Seven OV Series project was restarted..."

Old Master Moritsugu and Uesugi Muneyuki chat about the past for a long time. As long as they talk about Seven, the old man's eyes open wide with light, the wrinkles on his face stretch, and there is a smile on the corners of his mouth, showing that he truly likes this character.

What a pity... Uesugi Muneyuki just sighs.

Moritsugu Koji at this time is still very talkative and willing to chat, but by the time of his previous life, Old Master Moritsugu's mentality had changed greatly: no photos, no talking, no autographs, and mandatory minimum consumption in the curry shop. A photo together cost 500 yen, and he even specifically printed Chinese on the back of the menu to emphasize it. Even in the shop, he would keep a straight face and not say a word.

There is a theory that some Chinese purchasing agents in Japan would come in without consuming and directly ask for a large number of autographs and photos to resell, and there is also a theory that after the relationship between the two places deteriorated, some Chinese people deliberately used inductive questions to try to get Old Master Moritsugu to express political opinions and record them.

Of course, there is also a theory that Moritsugu's wife and daughter were cold to guests and clearly did not like Chinese people, requiring Japanese reservations and Japanese communication, as well as high prices to fleece fans (it is indeed expensive and the taste is average).

In short, since then, this place has only been operated as an ordinary theme restaurant, and it is not so welcoming to Chinese people.

Ultra Seven also eventually inevitably moved toward a cold and indifferent ending.

After lunch, the whole family of Old Master Moritsugu comes out to see them off. Uesugi Muneyuki takes the initiative to take a photo with the old man, and they hold the Ultra Eye together and shout "Jong~", bringing this meeting to a successful conclusion.

Before getting into the car, that sentence appears in Uesugi Muneyuki's mind again.

Never lose your heart of passion, sympathize with the weak, help each other, and be able to be friends with people from any country, even if this feeling has been betrayed a thousand times.

And this is exactly the spirit that the Ultraman series wants to convey to everyone, and it is also the reason why the suit-actor battles are still full of charm to this day.

(End of chapter)