News Stay At Home With ULTRAMAN| Ultra Science Fiction Hour on YouTube

^Hm. I didn't remember that before, but now that you mentioned it, yeah, there was something about that. Well, I guess consistency wasn't really a priority for the writers on that original series.


Even the showrunners of "Gridman" thought that clowns were the ultimate nightmare figures. That, or clown costumes are cheap. See episode #21:

 

Yeah, I just saw one in episode 23. He got all dramatic about having to fight a monster that was a mutated Earth astronaut. It would've been more interesting if Hayata had been given that storyline, since he was the one who'd inevitably end up fighting the monster and he could've wrestled with that. But heaven forbid Hayata have any personality.

 

This week's episode #12 of "Ultraman Chronicle Z: Heroes' Odyssey" concludes the retelling of the team-up movie "Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light":

 

Spring time is good for sports, so the Spring Special Campaign presents the baseball-themed episode #4 of "Ultraman R/B":


And also the international re-upload of "Ultraman Z" episode #8:

 

Fuck.

Shin Ultraman delayed indefinitely.

 

I just saw episode 26 of the original Ultraman, and there was a scene with a bunch of kids insisting that kaiju don't exist. That seemed implausible at first, given how many highly public kaiju attacks there have been by this point... but then I remembered how many Americans still don't believe in COVID.

The bigger reach, as it turned out, was the kid who tried to summon Ultraman by holding up a stick in mimicry of Hayata's henshin pose -- which Hayata always performs in secret with nobody watching, so how the heck does the kid know about it?

 

They did release an updated version of the teaser though:

 

And here it is, episode #39, the grand finale of "Ultraman Max":

 

Ultraman Trigger teased









Trigger is rumored to be a sequel to Tiga

 

Ultraman Tiga seems like it was a popular season, at least in Japan. I might have to start watching it after I finish Orb, although by that time Trigger will probably already be airing.

 

Yes, Tiga is one of the seminal shows in the Ultra Series. It also celebrates its 25th anniversary. I wonder if they'll use the formula of Ultraman Leo and bring Hiroshi Nagano back to have Daigo act as mentor to the new Ultraman. We'll see.

In the meantime, Tsuburaya's Spring Special Campaign continues with episode #38 of "UltraSeven":

 

It was the first Heisei-era revival series after a long hiatus from TV, wasn't it? Like Kuuga for Kamen Rider (only I liked it better than Kuuga).

 

Yes. The last full Japanese Ultra series before Tiga was Ultraman 80, and there was a fifteen year gap between the last episode of 80 and the first episode of Tiga. There were the Australian co-production Ultraman Great, the American co-production Ultraman Powered, as well as a few low-budget films. There also were some attempts to get a new series started that didn't go anywhere.

Tiga not only brought the franchise back, it also re-invented it. It was the first Japanese production that was a full on reboot set in a different universe to the Showa-era shows, it put the pre-historic civilization concept hinted at in some episodes in earlier series to the forefront, and also played with some Lovecraftian mythology. While it didn't get phenomenal ratings, it did great business for Bandai, and the popularity with fans caused Tiga to appear in crossover films with Dyna, Gaia, and even Mebius later on, as well as have his own movie three years after the series ended.

 

In this week's episode #22 of "Gridman", our villainous incel sets out to destroy a dinosaur fossil. No really, see for yourself:

 

This week's episode #13 of "Ultraman Chronicle Z: Heroes' Odyssey" starts a three-part serialization of "Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna & Ultraman Gaia: Battle in Hyperspace":

 

The Spring Special Campaign continues with "Ultraman Dyna" episode #41, in which Dyna has to protect children born on a space station on their first flight to Earth:


And then, of course, there is the international reupload of "Ultraman Z" episode #9:


Edit: Just saw the Ultraman Dyna episode doesn't have English subs.

 

The newest entry in the Spring Special Campaign, episode #9 of "Ultraman Cosmos", has once again English subs. Enjoy:

 

In this week's episode #23 of "Gridman", our villainous incel sends his digital kaiju to attack the town's power supply. So how can Naoto turn into Gridman when the computer doesn't have any power?

 

I just finished Ultraman Orb and its movie. It was a decent series, with a great lead and villain but a supporting cast that held them back a lot, and sometimes iffy writing. Orb himself is probably one of my favorite Ultramen as a character, and Juggler is just great, but the show overall has a few too many mediocre episodes, and the SSP suck in general, even if I don't hate them as characters individually.

I'd put Orb as a character above Ultraman X or Z (both of whom I did like a lot, to be fair), but his show I'd put a bit below either of them. Still a decent show, but if it had dropped (or at least toned down) the SSP and gotten more consistent writing it could have been a classic, instead of just pretty good.

The film I though was very good, and not just because the appearance from Ultraseven (whose show I finished a few weeks ago) was great. It could have used more screentime from X, who was barely more then a cameo, but it was a fun adventure with some good action.

Next up I'll be watching Ultraman Orb: Origin Saga (more of Orb and Juggler with no SSP? I'm definitely excited), and I also have Ultraman (the original) and Ultraman Ace on Blu Ray, with Ultraman Ginga/Ginga S coming soon, so I got a bunch of Ultraman to watch.

Also, just because, a ranking of the Ultraman shows I've finished so far:

1. Ultraman Geed
2. Ultraseven
3. Ultraman X
4. Ultraman Z
5. Ultraman Orb