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This week's episode #11 of "Ultraman Chronicle D" continues to retell the stories from Ultra Galaxy Fight:

 

Ultraman 80 is trying some interesting new things in the second half-season. They did an episode where there was no kaiju; the enemy was a computerized cargo ship that had gone amuck and used its magnetic-alloy cargo to accrete other ships onto it and become a giant juggernaut, sort of a maritime Borg Collective. Similarly, they did one where the threat was a giant fish that came to rescue its baby fish, and Ultraman held it off in the water until the guest kid could return the baby fish he'd adopted as a pet. I guess they paid to build a water tank and really want to get their money's worth out of it.

The show's pretty good overall, but whoever wrote the narrator's lines lately had no respect for the ability of the children watching to follow the story without having everything explicitly spelled out for them, even suspense ("What is this strange thing? Could it be a monster?").

 

This week's episode #39 is the finale of the original "Ultraman":

 

And the debut of Zoffy, who appeared here as Ultraman's superior ordering him to return home, but was later treated as the eldest Ultra Brother who fought alongside the others. And I have no idea why they called him "Zoffy."

 

In episode #44 of "Mirrorman", an alien spaceship crashes into an appartment building, and while the SGM mounts a rescue attempt for a girl trapped under debris, the Invaders send a monster to complicate matters:

 

In episode #28 of "Ultraman Mebius", Konomi is visited by a childhood friend, and Phoenix Nest is haunted by a red ghost:

 

Just in time for Easter, episode #2 of "Ultraman Ace" (which does look like it's going to be a new series for regular uploads) gives new meaning to the phrase 'egg hunt':

 

I just finished Ultraman 80. They brought in a female Ultra as the new female lead (killing off the previous female lead in the process), but she only transformed and fought once, in the penultimate episode, which makes the banner of ShoutFactory's series page rather deceptive, since it features her and 80 equally. The final episode had the UGM captain figuring out that his team members were Ultras and ordering them not to transform, since he wanted to prove that humans could defend themselves, so they only transformed at the end to go home. Kind of disappointing. It looks like the character (Yullian) doesn't return until the Ultra Galaxy movies decades later.

By the way, they wanted to bring back all their departed cast members for the finale (except for the school characters from the first dozen episodes), so in the final celebration, they randomly had the killed-off female lead appear as an android double that the supporting characters had built because people missed the real one, and that is just incredibly creepy.


So now I think I've seen all the Showa Ultraman series except the anime, and all of the original-continuity series except Mebius and the various crossover things that came after it. I think I'm probably going to get started on both The*Ultraman and Mebius soon instead of continuing my one-at-a-time approach, since I'm curious about both and they're in different continuities anyway. Although I also want to check out the Netflix CGI series whose second season just premiered. That's only 22 episodes in all, I think. I'd been waiting to watch it until I'd seen all the Showa characters it referenced, but it turns out I could've watched it anytime after Taro, since it doesn't include versions of Leo or 80.

 

And then there's a new trailer for Shin Ultraman:

 

This week's episode #12 of "Ultraman Chronicle D" continues retelling the stories from the "Ultra Galaxy Fight" series:


I've also learned that the new "Ultra Galaxy Fight" series will actually not be uploaded to YouTube officially, but will instead be streaming on the Ultraman Connection website, probably behind a paywall like the Ultraman Trigger movie.

 

I've started in on both the Netflix anime and the 1979 anime. The Netflix show is a lot darker and more cynical than I expected, and doesn't feel a lot like Ultraman. It's weird how it treats the original Ultraman series as part of its continuity and ignores the sequels, yet incorporates alternate versions of the sequels' lead characters. I find the cel-shaded 3D rather stiff where character animation and expression are concerned.

As for The*Ultraman, it's still early, but so far it feels like a pretty normal Ultraman series writing-wise, with the robot-Pigmon mascot and his pet monkey being the only particularly cartoony thing, aside from the silly monster designs. I don't think I'm going to like the animated format as much for the monster battles, because the appeal of those in the live-action shows is largely in the impressive miniature landscapes they build.

I'm wondering when the Ultraman Joneus name is introduced. There was an Ultraman 80 episode preview where the narrator mentioned that the returning Baltan Seijin had fought previous Ultras including "Ultraman Joe," which apparently is an alternate name for Joneus, so it must've been established during the series's run.

 

From what I remember, the Joneus name doesn't get mentioned until an episode about his backstory, which I think is around half way through the series.

 

Another trailer for Shin Ultraman:

 

In episode #45 of "Mirrorman", Kyotaro and Asako take a vacation on a farm, but the orphan boy living there keeps a cow-shaped monster in the woods, and of course, there are Invaders involved:

 

I finished season 2 of the Netflix anime. It feels different from season 1, not as dark or grim, and doesn't really advance a lot of the dangling threads from season 1, instead telling a story centered mainly on establishing its version of Taro. I'm wondering if it was even adapted from the manga like season 1 was.


I've started on Ultraman Mebius now, and I'm liking it quite a bit. It's very binge-worthy. It's got some silly aspects, and I don't like the comic-relief bureaucrat guy, but mostly I'm really enjoying the rich character development and story arcs. I love it that even Mebius had a learning curve, needing Ryu to shout at him about his failure to protect the city.

It also makes good use of past continuity, at least so far. It's not just "let's throw in homages to show off our knowledge of continuity," but weaving a more cohesive world out of the bits and pieces of previous shows and deepening the lore, with the team using the knowledge gained from past kaiju to develop new methods. It's certainly a more natural approach to an anniversary season than something like Gokaiger, Kamen Rider Zi-O, or Zenkaiger.

Also, the refrain of the Mebius theme song has a startlingly similar melody to the refrain of the Kiramager theme song.

 

^Glad you like Mebius. It's probably my favorite, though it being my first Ultraman series to watch full episodes of probably had a lot to do with it, too. And, yes, the characters and their interactions are some of the best in the entire franchise.

Speaking of, episode #29 of "Ultraman Mebius" has Mirai ordered back to the Land of Light for his own protection, so he endeavors to say goodbye to his teammates while keeping his secret identity:

 

It's definitely my favorite of the ones I've seen so far, though outside of Showa I've only seen Tiga, Dyna, the direct-to-video Neos, Cosmos, this, and Trigger.

I'm glad I waited until I saw the whole Showa run first, since I'm able to get a lot of the references (though I often need reminders from the wiki). I love the worldbuilding, how it develops the idea of this being a world that's been visited by many Ultras and monsters in the past, and how a whole generation has grown up with that history shaping their culture and worldview.

But the best part is one I'll discuss in a spoiler box, so as not to spoil upcoming episodes that you post here:

Spoiler: Ultraman Mebius

The team learning Mirai's identity as Mebius midway through the series is a fantastic development. It really lets them delve into what it means to be an Ultraman on Earth and what it's like for the team to relate to an Ultra partner, and to tell stories about Ultraman's interaction with aliens in ways other than fighting (like the one where the alien pretends to be his sister). It's so much richer than the franchise usually gets. Trigger had several main characters in on Trigger's secret -- the other two lead characters plus Ignis, with the captain suspecting for the latter part of the season -- but it didn't do that much with it, since it wasn't a very character-driven show. So this is the first time I've seen an Ultraman series really develop that aspect on an ongoing basis, and it's terrific.

It just reinforces my conviction that secret identities are a bad trope. There's really only one story to tell about a character hiding their identity from their friends or colleagues, and it's a story that makes them kind of a jerk. When other characters are in the loop, there are just so many more story possibilities, so many opportunities to explore questions and ideas that are forever off-limits while the identity remains secret.

One weird thing is that I've been getting a strange sense of deja vu about the cast members and some of the situations, as if I'd seen the series before years ago. But that can't be, since as far as I can tell, it never showed in America except on streaming, and I never subscribed to the services it appeared on. I guess maybe it's just a symptom of my binge-watching -- I'm filling my head with so much of it so fast that it feels familiar.

 

Well, there have been fansubs in the past, before the shows were licenced in North America, and occasionally fansubbed episodes did pop up on YouTube (that's how I got introduced to DekaRanger). Mebius did get that fansub treatment, so it might very well have been that you came across some episodes that way about ten to fifteen years ago.

 

Can't be. Prior to the past four years, the only toku fansub I ever watched was Go-Busters back when it was on YouTube. So it's probably just my mind playing tricks on me.

 

In episode #3 of "Ultraman Ace", Minami sees a monster from a crack in the sky, but nobody believes her (even though the monster caused an airplane to crash), except for Hokuto who starts his own investigation resulting in his own credibility being doubted:

Suspensions were thrown around a lot in that episode, and probably in the whole series.