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07-26-2017, 05:29 PM | #671 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Well with Geed now in full swing I figure it's a good time to go back and fill a few gaps in Ultraman-wise, starting with Ultra Fight Orb and The Origin Saga.
Ultra Fight Orb is what you'd expect. A quick little thing with a thin plot and tons of action. It's fun for what it is, and I'd be lying if I pretended seeing various Ultramen team up isn't always a good time. It's also sort of an impromptu Geed prequel? Not directly, unless his seemingly nonsensical cameo here actually gets explained later (which would be both crazy and awesome), but Zero is as big a part of the whole thing as Orb, and Belial comes up a few times, so it sorta kinda preps viewers for Geed in that sense. Although the segments aired as part of Zero's own "show" that was definitely meant to catch people up for Geed, so I guess it's not really that surprising. Of course The Origin Saga is the main event here. Overall I'd say that, while it wasn't anything spectacular, it was pretty good and an interesting, experimental take on an Ultraman series. Which was already kind of what Orb was, but this takes it to the next level. The narrative is completely serialized, the tone feels noticeably more "adult" without being too alienating to kids (it's not Amazons, basically), and the style can adequately be summed up as "What if we made Orb the star of a fantasy space opera?". Strangely the actual origin part of The Origin Saga is only slightly less glossed over than in the TV series. I actually really like that they went this direction as I feel it's ultimately unimportant how Gai became Orb. What is important, and what this series does focus on, is how the events taking place immediately after he gains his powers shape him and Jugglus Juggler into the characters we saw on TV. In that respect I think the series succeeds spectacularly, adding a lot of depth to the both of them and giving them each very solid arcs. The actual plot is where things get a little crazy. This post is long enough as it is so I won't go into too much detail, but basically, Gai's adventure here makes everything that happens afterwards feel like a vacation. Dude had to save an entire universe on his first day as a hero. There are a few elements that fell a little flat for me (like everything with Shohei, even though it IS important), but it was still pretty interesting. One thing I was very impressed by was how the other Ultramen didn't feel shoehorned in. Dyna comes the closest, acting as sort of the idealized hero Gai wants to be, except that he never really does any mentoring or anything. Cosmos on the other hand fits in quite naturally, being the pacifist(ish) Ultraman in a story revolving around the irony of trying to create peace by fighting. Similarly Gaia and Agul serve as a nice mirror to Gai and Juggler's relationship as it starts to fall apart. At the end of the day I had a lot of fun watching it. This is sort of a weird compliment but I think you could conceivably watch this and Orb proper in either order and both shows would add to the other. Ultimately I don't think there's much higher praise you can give a prequel than that and it's kind of a shame The Origin Saga isn't more readily available outside of Japan.
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07-26-2017, 07:08 PM | #672 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 843
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Quote:
Well with Geed now in full swing I figure it's a good time to go back and fill a few gaps in Ultraman-wise, starting with Ultra Fight Orb and The Origin Saga.
Ultra Fight Orb is what you'd expect. A quick little thing with a thin plot and tons of action. It's fun for what it is, and I'd be lying if I pretended seeing various Ultramen team up isn't always a good time. It's also sort of an impromptu Geed prequel? Not directly, unless his seemingly nonsensical cameo here actually gets explained later (which would be both crazy and awesome), but Zero is as big a part of the whole thing as Orb, and Belial comes up a few times, so it sorta kinda preps viewers for Geed in that sense. Although the segments aired as part of Zero's own "show" that was definitely meant to catch people up for Geed, so I guess it's not really that surprising. Of course The Origin Saga is the main event here. Overall I'd say that, while it wasn't anything spectacular, it was pretty good and an interesting, experimental take on an Ultraman series. Which was already kind of what Orb was, but this takes it to the next level. The narrative is completely serialized, the tone feels noticeably more "adult" without being too alienating to kids (it's not Amazons, basically), and the style can adequately be summed up as "What if we made Orb the star of a fantasy space opera?". Strangely the actual origin part of The Origin Saga is only slightly less glossed over than in the TV series. I actually really like that they went this direction as I feel it's ultimately unimportant how Gai became Orb. What is important, and what this series does focus on, is how the events taking place immediately after he gains his powers shape him and Jugglus Juggler into the characters we saw on TV. In that respect I think the series succeeds spectacularly, adding a lot of depth to the both of them and giving them each very solid arcs. The actual plot is where things get a little crazy. This post is long enough as it is so I won't go into too much detail, but basically, Gai's adventure here makes everything that happens afterwards feel like a vacation. Dude had to save an entire universe on his first day as a hero. There are a few elements that fell a little flat for me (like everything with Shohei, even though it IS important), but it was still pretty interesting. One thing I was very impressed by was how the other Ultramen didn't feel shoehorned in. Dyna comes the closest, acting as sort of the idealized hero Gai wants to be, except that he never really does any mentoring or anything. Cosmos on the other hand fits in quite naturally, being the pacifist(ish) Ultraman in a story revolving around the irony of trying to create peace by fighting. Similarly Gaia and Agul serve as a nice mirror to Gai and Juggler's relationship as it starts to fall apart. At the end of the day I had a lot of fun watching it. This is sort of a weird compliment but I think you could conceivably watch this and Orb proper in either order and both shows would add to the other. Ultimately I don't think there's much higher praise you can give a prequel than that and it's kind of a shame The Origin Saga isn't more readily available outside of Japan. Something that I'm also excited to see is the rest of the Ultraman Orb 10 Episode Plan. I'm specifically interested in seeing how Orb got the Orb Ring and Juggler got the Dark Ring. |
07-26-2017, 11:35 PM | #673 |
Banned
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Englewood CO
Posts: 10,893
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I haven't seen Origin Saga as I'm waiting for it to come out in the US subbed.
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07-29-2017, 02:38 AM | #674 |
Sky Henshin!
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Henderson, NV
Posts: 4,778
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Juspion Episode 29: Well, I skipped a few episodes because I heard they weren't very plot important and I watched parts of episode 27 which was important because of the Nanbara Family leaving. This was great bringing back Sachi and Lott from earlier in the series and finally getting them to safety. Also, Mad Gallant vs Juspion was amazing, especially that ending there. Though Gilza was something else and it was great to see Satan Gorth actually talk. I am excited to see what happens next.
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07-29-2017, 07:19 AM | #675 |
Kawaii 5-0
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Cardiff, United Kingdom
Posts: 12,851
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How are the Origin Saga subs? I know of their existence yet know very little about their quality or even where to find them.
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07-29-2017, 09:09 AM | #676 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 843
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I can't say anything about the quality of the translation since I don't know Japanese but I thought they were pretty good. No major grammar issues come to mind, or any grammar issues in general honestly, and the video quality is really good. They're available on Facebook, by the way.
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07-29-2017, 04:04 PM | #677 |
Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 685
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I'm up to episode 15 of Armor Hero now. Apparently the main villain up till now was actually just a minion for some other evil old guy. And now there's a fourth Armor Hero, who's based off a Mastiff (a Tibetan dog) for some reason.
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07-29-2017, 07:58 PM | #678 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Well first off, here's a link:
Quote:
https://www.facebook.com/UltramanLea...25457104148812
I was able to track down some Orb Origin English Subs!
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08-05-2017, 03:58 PM | #679 |
Webmaster, Administrator
@TokuChris Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 4,697
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Unstuck for a moment.
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08-07-2017, 04:58 AM | #680 |
Kitty Robo
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Germany
Posts: 200
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Just finished Solbrain the other day. All in all it's a worthy successor to Winspector and I like how it sheds some light on the issue of criminals being in fact victims of society (which was already addressed in the last episode of Winspector).
Afterwards I gave Lady Battle Cop a try and yeah, it's a pretty mindless flick. It doesn't even really qualify as a proper Robocop ripoff, as the titular character barely received any development aside from turning into a cyborg and exacting her revenge on a crime syndicate. As Exceedraft still needs to get subs, I thought about trying out the other few fully subbed Metal Hero shows. So I decided to go with Gavan and I already like this show after two episodes. The return to the usual Toku MotW routine slightly threw me off, as I got used to the human villains of the Rescue Police shows. |
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