Got caught up on the Rin's teacher episode last night. Speaking as a college professor, if I were spending that much time hanging out with a high school girl I would absolutely be fired. There are so many lines being crossed here. Really good episode, still.

SKIP is out in the field and investigating tremors around construction going on in the city! Could it be a Kaiju? Probably!

I mean, Ishido's been with you guys for like 10 episodes, I think that's enough time to be part of the team. You even became VTubers together!

Oka-Gubila! The Ancient Underground Monster! Which I guess means he's a Gubila variant that prefers the Earth to the sea!

But if you thought this was a Gubila episode, you'd be wrong, as instead it's an episode all about the Arc original robot and the only remaining thing in the OP we've yet to see...Givas, the Mechanical Colossus, who has an ear-screeching call out of its name, a piledriver that can match Gubila's drill, an alternate form with a chest claw that can grab you and bring you in close, and even the ability to throw Arc's Ultra Slash back at him. He made Arc bleed!!!

And caught in the middle of this massive fracas is siblings Yumi and Dai, and Yumi despite her young age is the best big sister ever, being there for her little bro when he needs her the most and protecting him from Kaiju! And the first sign that there's more to Givas than fighting is when he steps in to defend the kids!

No time for a flashy transformation, just use Lunar armor and block an attack to save some kids!

Oka-Gubila: "Screw you guys, I'm going home!"

Well, yeah, SKIP is more like a civilian team so it figures they would have to field the calls from the terrified populace than actually do anything about Givas like the GDF is.

I don't get the sense Givas is there for an invasion. I get the sense that it's looking for something to fight (which is why it's in standby mode) and is ALSO meant to be seen as an enemy for people to rally around and defeat?

Oh hey, Numa! Did he offer any insight into Givas or was he just there because he's living at the Science Division?

Yuma runs on emotion, Ishido runs on logic, but that also means Yuma runs his mouth and denies that Ishido was ever really a part of SKIP. Jeez. And what a way to end the episode on with depressed Yuma.

Catch up time! And both episodes involve communication, what is this? Ultraman Blazar?

A sweet episode last week, where there really is no alternative solution to saying goodbye to Fio, and boy... This kind of hurt for me. I don't know if I've just gotten softer since events that happened last year or what, but I feel like either Ultraman and other shows have been hitting harder and getting better or I'm just an emotional wreck. But anyway, fun fights as usual, always neat to see Arc come up with imaginative ways to use his powers.

Now we have The Iron Giant, which is a cool design. I do like how we're getting to see some of that divide between the GDF and SKIP, and the curveballs being thrown this episode are definitely interesting, curious how the Mushroom Alien plays into this, but seeing what's inside Givas is going to be fun as well. Love how Givas just shouts its name like Moguera in the Pipeworks Godzilla Trilogy.

And on another note, I find it funny the propellor hat is still in style.

Next Episode: Are we reenacting that scene from Godzilla X Mechagodzilla?

I like it when an Ultra is dealt such a serious blow that the Host actually shows visible scars from it.

Sometimes after an intense fight where harsh words were said...you need to cool off and let an alien wash your back while you're buck-naked. I'm only disappointed we didn't have Numata in alien form in the bath with Yuma. But at least he got to go back to the inn!

Yuma didn't even need a big apology scene, SKIP has been working tirelessly to figure out what's really going on with Givas, just like Yuma wanted! No matter what, SKIP as a team, and in particular Ishido, believes in Yuma!

Honestly it's usually 50/50 whether an Ultra Mecha actually has a cockpit or not, come to think of it.

If I've learned anything from watching Ultra shows, it's that the Japanese government (or governments in general) never leave well enough alone.

Look at Ishido using his GDF connections to distract them so Yuma can go past! I'm so proud of him!

Climbing a robot has got to be great cardio.

That Alien Meguma corpse was...not pretty.

If I had a nickel for every advanced alien civilization that fell apart and left one last lingering remnant that land son Earth...I'd actually have a lot of nickels, though basically a man and his giant Mecha pal just traveled the stars and now said man wants his Mecha pal to find a friend and a reason to live again.

Oka-Gubila: "I'm back for revenge!" Also Oka-Gubila "Screw you guys, I'm going home...again!"

I love how Arc gets in-between Givas and Oka-Gubila and catches Gubila's drill and Gubila is like "where the heck did you come from!?"

How does Arc win a fight against a Mecha and a Kaiju? He doesn't. He just gets in-between them and transforms back into Yuma so Givas can realize that he's a friend, and not an enemy, something his old master wanted him to find for so long after his passing.

Farewell Givas. I guess maybe you'll live on the moon now and maybe come back in the final arc?

Next week: Clip show #2, Ishido edition! This might actually have some plot relevancy in terms of how Ishido views Arc and possibly suspects Yuma...

I gave Ultraseven X a watch. I was honestly expecting it to be a bunch of tribute episodes based on Ultraseven stories, so I was pleasantly surprised the show had its own plot (with the reveal at the end that the protagonist was actually the host for THE Ultraseven from the original show). The extremely sincere yet kind of stupid cyberpunk setting was... oddly charming? The plot only tenuously made sense too, but it certainly made for a more memorable miniseries than something like Neos. I'd actually kind of hesitate to call this a tokusatsu though, since there is very little in terms of practical effect work to gawk at. Interesting little experiment of a show overall.

It's kind of surreal seeing a government agent playing with a soccer ball in a suit, but I guess that's how the SSP rolls sometimes. Also I guess Ishido was always investigating exactly WHY Hoshimoto has seen so much Kaiju activity and that it's all connected to the "Onyx."

THE 2ND VERSE VERSION OF THE OP IS BACK!!! Complete with new Kaiju!!!

Monohorn acting up? Definitely a job for SKIP, and Ishido takes plot relevance over YouPi (sorry)!

Aw, Ishido is being considerate of Yuma going back to the place where his parents died! That's really sweet of him.

Giant flying object with sinister female voices? Ishido won't waste time before shooting at it.

You know it's serious when Arc, nay, Rution needs to extend his power when Yuma isn't even transformed or taking him into an imagination space give him all the necessary backstory.

How nice of Rution to make his exposition into a childrens' movie they can sit back and relax to! Granted, it's not a happy story...Rutions' people were much like the land of light until the sun that gives them power, Sonia, was about to implode and take them with it. And radical Ze Su planned to use a wormhole to divert the suns' energy away from them, even if it meant destroying Earth. Points to the people of Rutions' planet for opposing them enough to send Rution to stop it, and that's how he sealed up the wormhole and fought the Monogelos (sent by Ze Su) to protect it. And the sealed up wormhole is the fabled "Onyx."

Obviously we don't want to see Earth destroyed, but will Rutions' allies back home find a way to save their planet? Ze Su and his lackey Sweed obviously don't think so, hence their plot to get the wormhole back up and running.

Arc has nothing to feel guilty about when it comes to Yuma's parents' death, but that he still feels guilty enough shows just how kind and caring he is.

Rution wasn't kidding about that conversation draining their energy, starting off with the color timer beeping is NEVER a good sign, even if it gives them access to Lunar Armor.

Zadime, the Galactic Beast! An imposing energy colossus that can dish as much as it can take! And nothing Arc has can really do enough to damage it.

Brave of Ishido to blast Zadime with his gun, which gives Arc enough of a break to fire everything he has left in an Ultra Beam. But Zadime has a tail that can open up wormholes for him to escape, which feels like cheating.

So, is Ishido going to put two-and-two together after seeing Yuma like that or...? Granted, he has enough else on his mind.

New Arcana Project ED! Still as cute and easy on the ears as the previous one, talking about the stars, the sun, the moon...all of Arcs' powers that we can rely on!

Next week: The Final Form!

I watched Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle, Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey, plus Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie! I got tongue tied just typing all that. In addition, I also think now would be a good time to talk about how my journey with the Ultra series has been so far, since I am rapidly approaching the New Generation stuff. Sooo, I guess I'll get started!

First off, MMB. Tsuburaya was obviously not in a good financial place at this time and it does show. Lots of standing around on green screened sets and nondescript rocky areas. In a way though, this gave the show the freedom to really commit to their setting of a distant planet that is overrun by monsters, with the human outposts there in ruins. Indeed, the show is unique in other ways too, from the monster vs monster battles to Rei just being an unusual protagonist for an Ultra show, not able to become an Ultraman at all! So I think the show made good use of what it had to make something very unique. However, between this show and its sequel I just did not have enough episodes to get fully invested in the characters or the plot and the breakneck pacing definitely resulted in the plot glossing over details. Why does Kate know about Reionics but Rei doesn't? Why the heck was Rei a meteor baby? So much stuff like this. Still, it was a cool show and I appreciated that it tried to do something new even as Tsuburaya was really struggling.

NEO I enjoyed a lot less unfortunately. The 13 episode shounen battle royale situation and Rei's struggles with his Reiblood genes were just painfully predictable and not very interesting. It lost a lot of that sense of mystery and exploration that made the first season work. Since one season of the show doesn't really work without the others I would probably give the two of them a D overall (though I might give the first season a C on its own). I wish I liked them more because I really like the monster tamer idea!

Now for the movie! Honestly, a lot of fun as far as big ol' crossover films go. Lots of wild Sakamoto action and character cameos that are sure to make any Ultra fan happy. This movie also made me realize that whenever Taro shows up in post-Taro stuff I almost always go "he's become such a respectable adult" like some kind of proud parent, lol. This was also Zero's debut. He seems like a popular character so I'm looking forward to seeing more of him! Very enjoyable!

Alright, finally my thoughts on the Ultra series so far. I've been watching vaguely chronologically and have been struck by how many of the shows are just *good* in this series compared to Sentai and Rider. Rider, in my mind at least, is often amazing or terrible, with middling series being fairly uncommon. Sentai is usually fun for me, though rarely super bad or good. But I've honestly given most Ultra shows a B grade! So needless to say, I've had a lot of fun with the series, even if shows often have enough issues to stop me from completely losing my mind over them. I think the biggest real issue I have noticed with Ultraman vs the other 2 big tokusatsu series is that its format is inherently more restricted. Rider shows can really be about... anything and Sentai is similar with perhaps an additional requirement for a team of heroes and mech fights. But Ultra shows are almost always about alien heroes (whether transformed into humans or using one as a host) who are members of some kind of militaristic organization that fights monsters to protect Earth. A lot of variety can still be had with that framework, and there are some shows that fall outside of this (such as Mega Monster Battle), but overall I can't help but feel this blur together sometimes... The New Generation shows excite me because a lot of people really like them, heck some people ONLY like them in the Ultra series! At the same time, the inherent restrictions I mentioned, combined with the increased reliance on legacy elements and 2 cour episode counts make me very nervous! The low episode counts in particular worry me, that was a huge issue with MMB for me and even with a lot of Ultra shows I ended up really liking, I was slow to warm up to them. Part of the reason I became a tokusatsu fan is because 50 episode shows tend to work perfectly for me in terms of getting invested (though things in the 3 cour range tend to work well too). Hopefully it all works out though, at the very least I am sure I will find a few new favorites among them!

I started watching MMB this summer because I just found out this year that Mayu Gamou was in it. Only got a few episodes in, but I liked it and definitely plan to finish it at some point.

Caught up with Arc again and things are certainly heating up for Yuma and 'Rution' (nice to have a name). I'm wondering what's next for our heroes as now the 'Onyx' is uncovered. Does Sweed need a kaiju to break it though? She uncovered it and then ran?

Tried out the Superior 8 Ultra Brothers. I wasn't sure if I would like the whole alternate universe where Ultraman is just a TV show angle, but it was a surprisingly heartfelt film. Perhaps it was made extra poignant because the movie is a reminder to keep the dreams and joys you found from the Ultra series with you, when in real life the series itself would go through a largely inactive period around this time. Sweet little movie, and also a nice last appearance from Daigo's actor.

Specials and movies time!

Ultraman Zero vs. Darklops Zero
Honestly a pretty basic special with Zero and a few Mega Monster Battle cast members. It did make me wonder about what exactly went down in the world the alternate universe Pendragon crew was from. Perhaps they just fled from the Reionics battles, so Rei never really learned to manage his nature?

The Revenge of Belial
A very whimsical space adventure with some fun action. This is honestly the first time I really had a chance to see Zero not just engaged in constant battles too, which was nice.

Killer the Beatstar
It's nice to see Zero's team bantering, haha. Pretty interesting idea with the dimension crossing destroyer of organic life.

Ultraman Saga
I don't always vibe with Keiichi Hawagawa as a writer and was vaguely nervous they would butcher Cosmos's characterization but this was a really good movie! It kind of surprised me too because I think a lot of Ultra stuff doesn't feel similar to other tokusatsu from the same time period, but no, this felt like a 2010s tokusatsu movie! Musashi tries to help the monsters when he can and still has that effortless softness to him, the new character Taiga's vehement avoidance of turning into Zero was both funny and sad, and even though I'm not a big Dyna fan it was nice to see Asuka and get a bit of followup on that show's ending!

The Ultra Host being in a coma after a big battle reminds me of Musashi/Cosmos.

Wow, watching a real time cover up happen on twitter.

So the Onxy was what drew all the Kaiju out. Look, it's Takkong! Eleking! Peguilla! Bemstar!

Sweed seems to enjoy humanity's impending doom wayyyyy too much. Like the only thing respectable about her is her willingness to die for the sake of her galaxy, but she doesn't have to act so depraved about it.

Ishido isn't just part of the GDF now, he's part of SKIP! And as such it's up to him and his team to deal with this problem in their own way!

Rution genuinely fell in love with humanity, their virtues and vices, and everything that makes them them...and he truly became himself through Yuma's imagination. This isn't about his job, this is about protecting a planet he's found a home in. And together with Yuma, they can do what Sweed can't and believe in the impossible and achieve it as one...as Ultraman Arc.

YouPi comes through when you least expect him to! I guess his robotic sensors detected Sweed as a being of light? Too bad she popped out before Ishido could shoot her.

What a role reversal where now it's Yuma appearing in reflections and telling Arc to use his imagination! And what's more imaginative than spiraling straight into the Onyx and absorbing its power into a new cube and Arc's final form?

Galaxy Armor Arc! With the power of teleportation and four crescent moon blades that can fly around and combine into a weapon capable of channeling all the power of Arcs' cubes into a powerful Ultra Beam! I feel like we've only gotten a glimpse of the great power of this armor for Arc.

Smart plan trying to protect Zadime, Sweed! It put you right in the firing line of Arc's Ultra Beam! I hope that really eradicated her.

Arc COULD have flown off, but it's more convenient to just teleport! Especially to slip Yuma back into his hospital room.

The good news is that the Onxy has seemingly been absorbed by Yuma/Arc, the Earth is saved, and Sweed has been defeated...but it seems like there's still a lingering tear. Oh, and next week we have another recap with Nakamura. But I guess he finally gets to meet Arc...?

Next month's set of Ultraman Arc episodes will be a Blazar Crossover
https://www.cinematoday.jp/news/N0145623

I recall somewhere a listing getting out that was fairly accurate and said we were going to get our second SP episode after 16 aired.

But considering 16 seems to be the start of an interesting arc of episodes, I guess they didn't want to interrupt that flow and changed its spot to put it after a more conclusive episode (15).

Not a fan of that. Episodes as in multiple? I hope not.

I am ready for this, was only day dreaming about how a potential crossover would work not that long ago. Hopefully it's not just Blazar/Gento appearing but the full Skard team. Would certainly be some fun interactions

Well, let's cue the hype music. :rock: :rock:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCwyWxES3AU

Nothing good ever comes out of a dimensional tear in my experience.

Man, it's a real bummer Ishido is going back to the GDP! I mean, we spent half a season on him forging a bond with SKIP, especially Yuma! You can tell Yuma is genuinely bummed out.

They added the Galaxy Armor to the OP!

Ishido cares about SKIP so much he was even willing to leave the coffee maker with them. That's a sign of love and respect.

You ever find out someone is leaving and then find yourself asking them all the questions you wish you had asked them before?

Ishido really never experienced what it was like to have a team and be able to rely on someone until he joined SKIP. And now he's terrified of losing it.

Mogusion, the Vison Kaiju! Once again, watch out for it's flashing spore hands and it's razor sharp quills!

I love how their solution for blocking Mogusion's attack was a biker helmet, sunglasses, a welding mask, and...a black parasol. I mean, if Rin's going to protect herself from a Kaiju attack, she'll do it in style!

ZANGILL!? You're here now!? Um...I guess this counts as a Blazar crossover? But I'm glad to see him!

How do you fight something you can't hit and has no physical corporeal form? It seemed like Zangill needed to create the right frequency to tether Mogusion to this plain of existence so they could hit him.

I don't know what was cooler, Arc using the pieces of his barrier to block Mogusion's attack or giving Mogusion a taste of his own medicine and making him face HIS greatest fear (Hellnarak!).

Points for not immediately using the Final Form again and actually finishing it with the sword + Ultra Beam!

Did Yuma ever find his sunglasses!?

Look at how close Ishido and Yuma are now! How much Ishido has learned from and come to appreciate Yuma! Enough to want to stick around and finally get called "Shu!" It's a really nice moment. Oh, and Zangill is here too!

Next week: The return of the Blazar Ghost Kaiju!

Fuck yeah Zangill. Wait, didn't Zangill die? Is he a ghost thing as well? Still, Zangill is cool. I look forward to him being coffee bros with Shu.

Shu's fear is leaving his new friends. It's :( and :) at the same time.

I do like that recent Ultraman shows don't have the hero using the new toy/power every episode until the next toy is released. It's fun seeing Arc use his barrier in creative ways.

Now I hope we have another character who likes coffee in next year's show and Tsuburaya just keeps it going until people are fed up or we get a special one-shot spinoff where all the characters who love coffee star in it Kamen Rider Outsiders style. But instead of fighting each other and brooding it's just them complementing their cup of coffee. :lolol

So I recently heard that manga artist Kazuo Umezu, who is known for his contribution to the horror genre within manga, has passed away. The reason I mention this here is because when learning about his passing I also learned that he drew an Ultraman manga back when he was younger.

Zangill has returned! And has seen better days judging by his exits!

Aw, Shu-dono has found a coffee buddy! And is laughing creepily! And SKIP has found a ghostly alien samurai ready to help them fend off an alien invasion by the Dark Shogun Hellnarak and his army of Ghost Kaiju from Ultraman Blazar!

Yuma gets his identity nearly outted and gets introduced to the Ultraman Multiverse! Including mentioning GENTO and alluding to ULTRAMAN BLAZAR holding off Hellnarak in the ghost dimension!

I guess while Zangill is there, it won't hurt to mentor Yuma a little and teach him what Zangill knows, especially when it comes to wielding a blade!

Anyone who watched his appearance in Blazar probably realized Zangill was one of the ghosts summoned and this is likely to be his (second) last battle, but he's still willing to fight for the sake of Earth!

Nice of SKIP to make a real effort here, especially once they learn how to utilize the frequency Zangil had to effect the Ghostly Kaiju!

Gedos and Taganular! Nice to see some old Blazar Kaiju!

Aw, I missed a good Ultra Throw and bisection!

Okay, a swarm of Taganular is the LAST thing I want to see, but it's a good thing Arc's Galaxy Armor can not only teleport but LITERALLY SUMMON COPIES OF ARC'S OTHER FORMS TO DO BATTLE!!! And then to finish it off with Arc having learned Zangill's signature move and a bow and arrow finisher to wipe the rest of them out! It's so impressive Zangill is straight up seeing Blazar's silhouette in Arc!

I don't think this will be the last time we see Zangill, but at least he got to go out with his favorite coffee.

I don't comment episode by episode but I just had to make one for this one... and that's mostly because...

I think Zangill has cemented himself as one of my favorite Kaiju/Aliens of the franchise thanks to these episodes.

I already enjoyed him a lot when we first saw him in Blazar, but this follow-up to his appearance there was a legitimate incredible thing to see. The interactions he gets to have with SKIP and the little references to his past final battle in Blazar, it's great stuff. Especially with that final scene at the end, like, that was just incredible.

Neo Ultra Q complete! In a sense, this was a perfect stylistic sequel to the original Ultra Q, with its largely standalone episodes with a high degree of surrealism. I mean dang, that episode with the monster that runs a dry cleaning business might be one of the greatest things I have ever seen! In the end though, I just didn't find it as brilliant as the original Ultra Q. Fundamentally, the episodes were in a huge variety of different styles and levels of quality, much like the original. But between the lower emphasis on cool special effect shots and the incessantly ambiguous endings it was hard to say it reached the same heights. The main trio of characters also largely feels like an afterthought, while the recurring cast in Ultra Q did a lot to help bring consistency to the show. Finally, perhaps the biggest strike against the show vs the original is the fact it just does not have the level of visual flair Ultra Q achieved. Ultra Q was in black and while, but always used excellent contrast to really bring shots to life. Neo on the other hands tends to have poorly lit dark scenes and an excessively washed out color palette for no reason. It looks like a 2010s show in the worst way possible in that sense. Interesting little diversion, but it isn't one of the greats. C tier!

Shu & Zangill: Super Coffee Bros :lolol
And that dynamic exit in the beginning was :lolol

I am finally back to watching Ultraman Arc and I am slowly but surely catching up on the show's latest episodes both in Japanese and in English. Just finished up on its recap episode that officially marks the halfway point to the series.

I'm about 2-3 weeks behind on Arc. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but the show really isn't gripping me.

Watched and finished Ultraman R/B.

At first I wasn't really into it. I was in the mindset that I wanted to get this over with so I can't move to Taiga, but I found myself actually enjoying it. Aizen was a refreshing villain and he was oozing with personality and his relationship with the brothers was an interesting take. So, it was a shame he got instantly kicked out and replaced with the so, so boring Mitsurugi; a character I swear I've seen done so many times in Super Sentai to the point it became a lame cliche token. The second half had also this subplot around Asahi that came out of nowhere but all of a sudden it became a recurring plot that I didn't really care much.

If you're talking about the revelation that Asahi originally didn't exist, there was a lot of hints about that in the first half of the show. Various characters not remembering certain details about Asahi, and the most notable one is that Asahi didn't appear in the first episode until after Katsumi and Isami became Ultramen

Also while I do like Aizen, I also like Saki a lot. She contributes more to the show's theming of family and her relationship with Asahi is one of the highlights of the show for me

R/B had probably my two favorite antagonists from the New Generation era. Not to disparage Juggler or Tregear, but Aizen and Saki were both just so great and in such different ways from each other.

For me, I don’t really mind Saki as a villain, conceptually speaking especially considering her backstory, but she is a bit of step down in comparison to Aizen and the way he is written out of the show is very clumsy and rather dumb and how she is executed as a character is mixed at best. I liked her better than Agams in the second half of Decker though. Still, I managed to enjoy R/B for the most part despite this. I especially love the family aspect of the series and the movie that took place after it is nothing short of fantastic. Anyway, I have just watched the original Japanese version of last week's episode of Ultraman Arc and I'm about to watch the English dub of it and with that, I am finally all caught up with the series just in time for tonight's episode. Still have yet to continue right where I left off on Ultraman Cosmos though.

Oh no, not more Taganular! Luckily we've got some great teamwork from Arc and the local Defense Team! And Arc using the Final Form within the first few minutes!

I can imagine how so many back-to-back fights and transformations would be exhausting. If only Yuma could meet another Ultraman, preferably one from the season prior to his own!

Bathroom excuse for a transformation? Hebikura would respect that.

I mean, I guess SKIP is the group most closely associated with Arc? Even if it's mostly just been them being at places where Arc shows up. But yes, he did overhear their conversations once!

It honestly would not surprise me if Shu already knows and is just humoring Yuma...though at times it did feel like he was still oblivious. I guess it could go either way.

How do we communicate with this alien being who is totally not one of the people involved in the planning session for how to communicate with him?

YouPi gets an allowance!? Man, Rin really is his mom!

Those are some Abare Red level of poses, Ban.

Imagine writing a letter to yourself! I would probably be pretty stiff too.

Arc was so nice to let everyone do their own method of communicating at the same time! Thank goodness he already knew the plan though otherwise nothing would have happened.

Hey gang, it's Bazanga! The original Ultraman Blazar Kaiju!

Rare you get the Final Form twice AND going back to the baser forms rather than letting it end the fight.

Arc making the sacrifice play of pushing Hellnarak into the portal even if it closes behind him, trapping him. But, uh...is anyone going to wonder where Yuma is? Did he go to the hospital for his obvious stomach problems?

Oh snap, did Yuma get ported to Blazar's Earth? I mean, it's Earth Garon! And Shu if he were a member of SKaRD!?

Next week: Like a blazar, Ultraman Blazar returns!

I watched Ginga and Ginga S. I went in with pretty low expectations given what I knew about the show's and Tsuburaya's situation at the time.

Ginga was a particularly odd show, sort of like an extra cheap version of Gridman, what with the school-aged protagonists, the socially awkward classmate guy working for the villain, and the love triangle situation going on. The video editing is often very sloppy, and the plot is running at turbo speed so things often get resolved very quickly, which gives the whole thing a certain amateur charm. It was also nice that the protagonist would fight a bit in monster form before turning into Ginga, something Ginga S largely dropped. Still, it's such a slapdash effort overall that I can't say I would really recommend the show. As a side note, this is the last Ultra thing Keiichi Hasegawa wrote for, kind of glad to be leaving him behind to be honest.

Ginga S is a substantially better crafted show overall, with much more ambition both narratively and visually. It ultimately just kind of ends up as such an archetypical tokusatsu that it's hard to find much excitement in it though. It does have a few episodes that were interesting though, especially later on! I liked the one where Shepherdon dies, the one with the girl who was from the exiled group of Victorians, and the ones with the Alien Metron who got really into idol culture (which also has him do a Kaiketsu Zubat parody at one point? What the heck, lmao.)

I also have a few observations that really apply to both shows. Listen, people always say you will ultimately come around to the wrestling-inspired fights in Ultra shows, but I never really did. Like... as far as choreography goes I pretty much only liked Cosmos before this with his tai chi moves and emphasis on subduing his opponents most of the time. But I liked the style in both of these shows a lot! They were more like what I would generally associate with tokusatsu shows, with cool martial arts combat. I also liked Victory being more of a kick fighter than Ginga, which made him stand out. Really hoping this style sticks around in future shows. My other observation was... more of something I HEARD. I noticed that both these shows, but especially Ginga S has a lot of moments where the audio peaked (but perhaps that was due to Ginga S having a lot more shouting, haha). It got me thinking about how a lot of older tokusatsu records all the footage without sound, then dubs the audio track on later, even for out of suit scenes. Was Ginga or Ginga S Tsuburaya's first show that tried to record audio alongside the footage? It would explain the issue.

Anyways I feel comfortable ranking these 2 shows separately since I feel like they both stand on their own fairly well. I'll give Ginga a D since its just a bit too janky for me even if it has some charm, while Ginga S gets a C for being perfectly acceptable but wildly unambitious.

Welcome to Hoshi-Moto City Yuma! Home to SKaRD, Earth Garon, and another Ultraman!

I'm like 80% sure both Shu's know Yuma is Arc. Even Arc!Shu just had this...look to him like he knew.

When Earth Garon takes an L and you hear the HOWARARARARA you know ULTRAMAN BLAZAR in all his unga-bunga glory has arrived!

Sorry for anyone who wanted to actually see any of the actual Ultraman Blazar cast, but instead we get the members of SKIP as AU versions of themselves, including Yuma. Y'know, it's kind of sad that their in different divisions rather than on a team.

It's team-up time! Honestly Blazar takes to the sudden arrival of another Ultra more smoothly than I expected, but there's a Hellnarak to fight! Cue an epic tag-team culminating in a Spiral Burrade + Arc Beam combo!

It's weird how they only used Bazanga's subtitle in this episode even though he was in the last one. Also, poor Earth Garon, can't even beat Bazanga!

Yeah...the secret identity is definitely going to take a major hit when you suddenly vanish for four days straight. Curse that time dilation!

I didn't know Blazar could do the "passing my power onto you and your gimmick!" I was half-expecting a Blazar armor but I guess channeling Blazar's power in Arc's sword works too.

Why didn't Blazar use the Firdran Armor and Arc the Galaxy Armor? Team-up logic!

I kind of wanted to see the Blazar Beam...but honestly it would be overkill on Bazanga.

Okay, I guess we're just sticking with Yuma's bathroom excuse until he opens up to the team. Honestly he should be lucky SKIP gives him as much leeway as they do.

Next week: Gomess and Chief Ban's daughter!

I gave Ultraman X a watch. It was decent, but lacked a hook to make it stand out from other Ultra shows. Probably the biggest thing it did that was new was really strongly differentiate the Ultra and human host as characters. It is generally a nice looking show, more polished than Ginga and Ginga S and it definitely has a few nice episodes later on (I particularly liked the one about the captain and his estranged adult daughter who was getting married). Greeza was also a very cool and uncanny final villain. Still, overall the cast was just explored in much depth, made worse by the amount of episodes that are dedicated to crossovers with other Ultra shows. I also found that the show's way of trying to tell a story about coexisting with monsters just wasn't as interesting as say Cosmos or Gaia either.

I also think this might be the show where it felt the most bizarre that the main character didn't reveal their Ultra identity earlier on. Due to the crossover aspect, Xio encounters multiple other Ultras, sees humans turn into Ultras, the vice captain turns into Nexus, and no one on the team seems all that bothered by any of it. Yet Daichi only comes out of the Ultra closet during the climax of the show! Very weird.

So yeah, it was another one for the "decent but uninspiring" pile. Orb is up next though, which definitely seems to be one of the big ones people love. Even I know that it has Jugglus Juggler in it, a character I have never seen someone talk about normally. So that's exciting!

Maybe it's because X was my fifth Ultraman show but I really enjoyed it. "24/7 Xio" basically cemented it as one of the best Ultra shows in my opinion and I really liked Daichi/X's dynamic and X's whole aesthetic.

I think we also got some solid cast focus episodes, even in the crossovers (like Tachibana in the Nexus crossover).
I always felt like it was building up to the reveal of Daichi as X because by then they'd started getting inklings that other Ultras can have human hosts.

24/7 Xio was a good episode, I really liked how they framed it as being a TV special on their organization (complete with shaky camera and TV infographics). I also totally agree on X's aesthetic, it's a very cute design with the headphones and all. Not a huge fan of the bulky armors, but to my understanding they become a very common thing with the Ultra series so I may as well get used to it. I also really liked Cyber Gomora, a very slick take on the classic monster.

Still, with stuff like X and Daichi's dynamic it just left me wanting more I guess. Same with the episode with Tachibana and Nexus, which was neat but also pretty much the only episode focused on her in the entire show. Some of this is honestly just a "me" problem though. I don't tend to get invested too easily, so shows with episode counts in the 25 range and a large cast are just going to need to have some dense storytelling and characterization! I guess I have also just seen a lot of Ultra at this point, and Ultra shows tend to have a much more restricted format than Rider or Sentai, so certain storylines tend to reoccur a lot.

Yeah, this is certainly what the show was going for, but it just left my wondering why they kept the secret for so long. In some other shows it's clear that the Ultra and/or host is worried their teammates might react badly or they fear that Ultraman will become too relied upon, but Xio demonstrated how willing and reasonable they were with other Ultras multiple times, but neither Daichi nor X seemed to even consider revealing their secret. Felt sort of strange to me.

I feel like that's a side effect of X being a very Ultraman-flavored Ultraman show: classically, if a host reveals that they're Ultraman it isn't until the end of the series. X wasn't really designed to swerve from tradition like that.

I've taken to saying "We live in a post-Mebius world!" a lot lately. But it is just me, alone in a room watching decade old tokusatsu so it doesn't really affect anything. :lolol

I will say though, I really hope there is at least one Ultra show where the protagonist plans to keep a secret identity, but accidentally transforms in front of everyone really early on. The idea of this just really amused me, regardless of how it plays out.

I guess that's one way Geed really stands out Riku's identity gets pretty much figured out by everybody in the main cast by like episode 8 or 9.