Submarine Mobilization: Dragon Quest (in Chinese, 潜艇总动员: 寻龙) is the tenth animated film based on the Dive Olly Dive! series. It was released in 2024, following 2023’s Submarine Mobilization: Around the World in 80 Days and preceding 2025's Submarine Mobilization: Adventure Island.
Down in an undersea volcano, a mother dragon keeps her hoard, and broods a nest of eggs- until happenstance sends one small egg on a journey around the ocean until one day, little Xiaolong hatches all alone.
Meanwhile at the submarine base, Pitu has convinced the others of the dangers that dragons pose, and- with a weapon developed by the scientist Flower Butterfly- sets out to put an end to this threat. And then our hero Comma encounters Xiaolong and, after an initial fright, realizes that he’s no monster, only a scared, lost, lonely child.
With the help of Pearl, he sets off to help Xiaolong find his mother- a journey with many perils, both from the overzealous Pitu and from one who wishes to study the strange powers that Xiaolong displays. But there are still those who would help Comma and his charge, and a very, very old ally ends up making his return…
No relation at all to the Dragon Quest series. One might be forgiven for mistaking the movie for an odd Crossover by the title alone.
Tropes in Submarine Mobilization: Dragon Quest include:
- Art Shift: The movie’s intro sequence is animated in 2D.
- Audible Gleam: One of these shines on a plate in a shipwreck before Xiaolong grabs it.
- Be the Ball: At one point, Xiaolong, being playful and not really understanding his surroundings, takes a pufferfish that had been scared by his presence and starts hitting it around like a beach ball, eventually sending it flying straight into Comma.
- Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Flower Butterfly shoots an energy gun out of Pearl’s hands in the climax.
- Brick Joke:
- At one point, Pearl nabs a photo of Olly in an… awkward pose; later, when she actually meets Olly while imprisoned in a cave by Flower Butterfly, she makes him match the pose to confirm it’s really him. And the joke gets a second reprise when Comma meets Olly and makes him do the same thing.
- When introducing himself to Pearl, Olly does a series of dramatic poses. When he meets Comma, he tries to do the same thing, only for Pearl to interrupt him.
- The Bus Came Back: After being sidelined in favor of Comma back in the eighth movie, Olly is finally back in the film series.
- Call-Back: Flower Butterfly's motivation for stufying Xiaolong's healing ability is bringing back the colleagues she lost to the mosasaur attack.
- Captured Super-Entity: This happens to Xiaolong in the climax, as he’s trapped in a Containment Field by Flower Butterfly. Allegedly she’s just trapped him to study him, but the way the Containment Field is set up threatens to kill him if he’s left in there for too long.
- Chekhov's Gun: While searching for the dragon, Flower Butterfly notices that the drops of orange goo from his egg seem to have a rejuvenating effect; one is later used to heal Xiaolong after he’s shot in the paw by Pitu during the chase.
- Collapsing Lair: After Xiaolong is freed, Flower Butterfly’s base starts falling apart (probably because all of the damage she did to it with her Energy Ball cannon) and the machinery in it starts malfunctioning- which proves problematic when the Containment Field unexpectedly reactivates while Pearl and Meisha are right in it, and the ceiling above them is threatening to give out.
- Continuity Nod: While discussing Olly, Pearl and Comma explicitly bring up (complete with a flashback) the time in Dive Olly Dive: Deep Sea Adventure he disarmed Captain Nemo’s massive undersea bomb.
- Creative Closing Credits: The credits are accompanied by schools of fish swimming past and coral scrolling by with the text, all done in 2D animation.
- Cut the Juice: When the Containment Field suddenly traps Pearl and Meisha, and hitting the off button fails to work, Comma has to resort to taking a buzzsaw to the power cord- which takes a long time, as the cord is tough.
- Disney Death: Xiaolong seemingly dies after the combined trauma of Flower Butterfly’s Containment Field, overtaking his Healing Hands powers to save Pearl and Meisha, and having the lair collapse around him; fortunately, at this point his mother shows up, and she’s powerful enough to bring him back.
- Double Take: While searching in the abandoned shipwreck, Comma encounters a rude eel, makes a comment about it to Xiaolong beside him, and then realizes a second later that there’s a baby dragon beside him.
- Dragon Hoard: Xiaolong’s mother has one of these, although it’s not seen outside of the opening and ending sequence.
- Early-Bird Cameo: One of Flower Butterfly’s security robots brings her and Pitu the new Static Stun Gun they were showing off, although at that point of the film the audience would probably mistake it for a regular submarine.
- Electric Jellyfish: During the “Never Say Goodbye” montage, Xiaolong accidentally eats one of these, although he’s none the worse for the wear after Comma hits him on the back to make him spit it out.
- Energy Weapon: Pitu and Butterfly have invented one of these, a gun which shoots balls of electricity; they intend to use it to capture the dragon.
- Evil All Along: Flower Butterfly, in a complicated way- while she first appears as a Well-Intentioned Extremist like Pitu, she then “turns out” to secretly care about Xiaolong and want to help him… and then it turns out that that was an act, and what she really wanted was to capture Xiaolong and study him.
- Explosive Instrumentation: When Comma tries to use the matter-analysis device on a fragment of Xiaolong’s eggshell, it ends up blowing up. Fortunately, Xiaolong’s Healing Hands also work on machinery, and the second time around he’s able to get a proper result.
- Failure Montage: There’s one of Comma asking various fish if they’ve seen the landmark (actually Flower Butterfly’s base) that the matter-analysis machine pointed him to.
- Faint in Shock: The penguin does this when a switch is hit during the fight in Flower Butterfly’s lab, suddenly broadcasting the whole thing onto a screen set up on the stage.
- Fluffy the Terrible: The movie’s true villain has a name that translates to “Flower Butterfly”.
- Freeze-Frame Ending: The movie ends on a still image of Xiaolong swimming with his dragon siblings, with his mother in the background.
- Gale-Force Sound: This can be observed when Xiaolong’s mother roars upon seeing her dead (well, “dead” son.
- Gratuitous English: The title card has “The Adventure With Dragon” written on it. There’s also the title of the song “Never Say Goodbye”, and a few of its lyrics as well.
- Hand Blast: Iron Rabbit’s ride-in sub is capable of emitting blasts from its “palms” (well, the space between the prongs of its manipulator claws); this shocks everyone when he blasts a robot with it in the climax, as they’ve apparently forgotten that he did it in the last movie.
- Harmless Electrocution: When Comma cuts through the Containment Field’s power cord in the climax, the electricity that surges into him, while painful, doesn’t damage his systems in any way.
- Healing Hands: Xiaolong has this power, which works not only on organic life but on the submarines (and even normal, inanimate machines) as well. In the climax, he “heals” a Collapsing Lair to prevent a piece of the ceiling from crushing Pearl and Meisha, although he’s not powerful enough to actually keep it in place forever, and the strain of doing so almost kills him.
- Hey, Wait!: When Comma just barely manages to hide Xiaolong from Pitu, Pitu looks at him suspiciously, and then calls at him after he goes to leave. Comma fears the worst, but…Pitu: It’s dangerous outside. Go home and study the Sea Monster Defense Guide.
- Idiosyncratic Wipes: The Myth Prologue uses falling gold from a Dragon Hoard as a scene transition. Later, bubbles are used to transition between scenes a few times.
- Is This Thing On?: While the trope-naming phrase is never said, Pitu does tap the microphone a few times before beginning his presentation.
- Just Between You and Me: With the heroes vastly outnumbered by security robots, Flower Butterfly takes the time to explain how she’s experimenting on Xiaolong in the hopes of using his Healing Hands powers to resurrect the fallen members of her scientific squad.
- Meaningful Name: Flower Butterfly’s tailfins look like butterfly wings when viewed from the right angle.
- Monochrome Past: The images that accompany Flower Butterfly’s monologue have washed-out colors, although they’re not entirely grayscale.
- Myopic Architecture: The cave Pearl and Olly are imprisoned in suffers from this- the emitters for the electric barrier are durable enough to resist everything they can throw at them, but there’s a thin spot in the wall that can just be drilled through.
- Myth Prologue: The movie opens with a legend telling how dangerous dragons are, which turns out to have been a presentation by Pitu.
- No Infantile Amnesia: Xiaolong can, somehow, remember seeing his mother through the walls of his egg.
- No Peripheral Vision: When Pitu and his group spot Comma and Pearl with Xiaolong, they pursue them… but lose sight of them after a bit. No, they didn’t outspeed them- they just hid in a trench.
- Offscreen Crash: Comma slamming into a rock at breakneck speeds (after Xiaolong activated the “speed booster” option on his holographic menu) is presented as one of these.
- Once More, with Clarity: During the climax, Comma deflects one of Flower Butterfly’s energy balls with a plastic shield; she laughs at him, only to be suddenly hit by an energy ball from the side. A comment by Pearl later, we get a flashback showing that Comma bounced the ball to Iron Rabbit, who deflected it back into Flower Butterfly.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons in the movie are Eastern-styled (as you’d expect), live underwater, and possess Healing Hands powers. They (or, at least, their eggs) are also heat-proof enough to survive being immersed in lava and spat out of a hydrothermal vent with no ill-effects.
- Papa Wolf: During the climax, Sharkskin and Baoluo see that their respective daughters- Meisha and Peach- are in Flower Butterfly’s lab, and immediately dash off to help them, although various obstacles such as security doors prevent them from actually reaching them before the climax is up.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Comma sticks a wooden helmet of sorts (with horn-holes) in Xiaolong as an attempt to keep him from being spotted. Not only does this not disguise him to the audience, it also fails to fool Pitu.
- Picture-Perfect Presentation: The Myth Prologue ends with a cut to the same image that was just showing, presented on Pitu’s projection screen.
- Pinball Projectile: Flower Butterfly is knocked from behind her cannon by her own cannon’s lightning-ball shots, which Comma and Iron Rabbit deflected with plastic shields.
- Punishment Detail: At the end of the movie, Olly gives Flower Butterfly her punishment sentence- cleaning up garbage in the ocean.
- Reactive Continuous Scream: Comma and Xiaolong do this when they first encounter each other.
- Really Was Born Yesterday: Xiaolong hatches near the beginning of the film, and, quite understandably, is very playful but doesn’t understand how much of the world works.
- Robo-Cam:
- A similar concept- we get a shot from the POV of Comma looking through various technical displays on his visor when the pufferfish hits him in the face.
- Much later, we get a straight example in the form of the POV of a robot guard. This time, the displays are red.
- Seeks Another's Resurrection: Flower Butterfly used to be a member of a quartet of scientists who were famed for their discoveries- until all of them except her were killed in a tragic accident. She captures Xiaolong with plans to experiment on him until she can figure out how to use his Healing Hands powers to bring her former teammates back.
- Shipshape Shipwreck: The location where Comma first encounters Xiaolong.
- Split-Screen Reaction: When Xiaolong uses his powers to stop the ceiling from falling on a trapped Pearl and Meisha, we get one of these, with four shocked reactions in the corners and Xiaolong straining in the center.
- Static Stun Gun: Pitu’s lightning gun has this as a possibility, although it can also be set to do more damage; late in the film, he shoots Pearl with it, causing her to be knocked out; when she wakes up, she’s imprisoned in a cave.
- Teleporters and Transporters: Flower Butterfly has Comma put Xiaolong in a “space transmitter” to send him home, although it turns out this was a lie, and he was actually sent to Flower Butterfly’s other lab so she could experiment on him.
- Telescoping Robot: Pearl and Comma suddenly develop these tendencies, as Pearl attempts to deploy a buzz-saw and a drill to get out of the cave she and Olly were in, while Comma later deploys a similar buzz-saw to cut the power cord for a Containment Field.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Flower Butterfly has eyelashes and visible lips.
- Triumphant Reprise: “Never Say Goodbye” gets one at the film’s end, when Xiaolong and his mother are reunited.
- Wasn't That Fun?: At one point, Xiaolong activates Comma’s speed booster, causing him to shoot around out of control (with Xiaolong riding him) and eventually crash straight into a rock. After the crash, Comma is stunned, but Xiaolong is enthusiastic.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist:
- Pitu is simply trying to defend the ocean from what he perceives to be a dangerous monster, while being unaware that the baby dragon he was chasing is adorable and harmless.
- Flower Butterfly captures and experiments on Xiaolong because she wants to use his Healing Hands powers to bring back her deceased friends, with a throwaway line even revealing that she’d be willing to use the resultant technology to help the populace at large. Unfortunately, she’s still torturing an innocent creature to do this.
- Wham Shot: When Pearl is in the cave prison, and we see that there’s another submarine there. Not just any submarine, though- Olly is there.
- Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: The wall of electricity blocking off the cave Flower Butterfly imprisons Olly and Pearl in is made of blue lightning, while Xiaolong’s Containment Field is surrounded by yellow lightning.