I have knocked out episodes 31-40 of Ultraman Cosmos over the last couple of days and I have watched Ultraman: The Next movie in between. I have also inexplicably started on watching Ultraman Nexus today.

Maybe a decade or so of watching Ultraman now and with many more shows under my belt, I still think Nexus has probably my favorite helmet design of the Ultrasmen.

I think a lot of people can relate to Aoi's circumstances...having such strong dreams when you're young only to end up in a dead-end job, no prospects both of the financial and relationship variety, and all your friends seem so much more successful than you are. Oh, and she's Rin's friend from high school, because apparently Rin had a bad habit of knowing people in high school who would get into Kaiju trouble.

Never listen to the glowing red orb that says it will grant your wish. Wait, this actually sounds kind of familiar...

Nothing like raising a baby Kaiju creature to get over the ol' writers block!

Honestly, I don't blame Dori at all. It clearly wasn't 100% hostile or outright attacking anyone, and it just got shot for looking scary. Though I wonder if it would've found some way to force Aoi to summon KING OF MONS anyways.

GIVAS RETURNS! This time as back-up for Ultraman Arc and for a stellar and phenomenally choreographed team-up! And Givas making the sacrifice play so Arc could do the Finisher, but thankfully Arc's teleportation powers prevents Givas from biting it! He won't be catching people with his back any time soon, however!

Oh snap, Emi and Ken are coming to Gigabash!

Just like in the Battle of Hyperspace, ultimately the Sphere just wants to be wished away rather than continue to plague humanity. And maybe Aoi now has a better lease on life after her experience and seeing that even the pinnacle of human creation can have problems, so by comparison she can just make the most of the life she has now.

Ultraman Taiga thoughts: I call it "A series of poorly executed ideas"

To recap, Ultraman R/B was a series I wanted to get over with as quickly as possible to reach Taiga, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. Ultraman Taiga on the other hand is a series I was excited to start but ended up wanting to get it done as quickly as possible.

Where to begin... How about the premise? It's a series starring the son of Taro, one of the original six Ultras and only the second son after seeing Zero; the son of Ultraseven getting most of the spotlight for the past several years. This series barely plays that as a factor.

Ultraman Taro, who was a major character appearing in previous shows as a main or supporting character is also barely a footnote. I find it hard to believe that he never once noticed or heard about his son going back to life or even attempting to pay one visit as soon as he heard the news or giving him any advice to carry for his quest, when not that long ago he was happy handing toys to random Ultras from alternate dimensions. Instead, it's ZERO who pays a visit and it's only because he sensed Belial and his meeting was a coincidence.

Then there's Tregear. A villain who didn't even debut here and yet I feel like I know less about him than in the R/B movie. I thought he was an interesting villain, but the more the series goes the more he loses my interest, His shtick got boring and we still don't know his real deal other than he was a scientist and Taro's former friend. Okay, but why did he turn evil? What made him believe the light was the true evil and his way was the truth? 25 episodes and the series never answered this question.

The Tri-Squad is another wasted gimmick to set this series apart. For all the talk about being a "team" they never fought as a team. Instead of having a true team of 3 Ultras fighting together they limited them to your standard multi-forms of Balance/Strength/Speed. Not even for the series finale they managed to pull something to have a true team fight of all 3 against Tregear. They were just taking turns fighting from start to finish.

EGIS as a team could've been more interesting if it was comprised entirely of aliens. 3/4 are already aliens so I feel they should've gone with that openly and turn this to an alien agency that serves both aliens and earthlings seeing the big theme of this series where it's very open about the tension in relationship between the races and the xenophobia it tackles, which is sadly undermined when most of the "alien" characters go for a human disguise without even showing what they look like (damn you budget restrictions) as for the conflict itself, it's only in the last 5 or so episodes when it starts to turn to a really big issue among earthlings and aliens. Wish the series always had this attitude from the very beginning to make the ending more rewarding

Show wasn't super impressive except for the designs of the Ultra hero suits, 6.5/10 for me if I had to rate it. I didn't hate it, but in retrospect there seemed to be a hint of fatigue for a lack of better words. Loved his upgrades, one of them was hilariously very GARO because of the gold and black color scheme. :lolol

Personally, Taiga is one of my fav Ultra shows. I found the show to be very nuance and bold in terms of its themes and what subject matter it was willing to explore. There was a lot of stuff in Taiga that I just didn't expect from a modern Toku.

However, I do think the biggest issue with the show and what I feel is the reason it has a somewhat tepid reception from most people, is that the aesthetics of Taiga doesn't really match what the show is about.

Taiga was advertise as being the son of Taro and that he would be part of a team of Ultras from other worlds, fighting a former friend of Taro. Thus, I assume most people went into the show expecting it to be a Taro tribute show with maybe a Den-O esque dynamic with the Ultras.

What the show actually ends up being about is exploring its world setting of "aliens secretly living amongst humans", using that setting to explore all kinds of stories and other sorts of allegories. The stuff with Taro, the Tri-Squad and Tregear is present, but its really more in the background until it comes up for story purposes.

Like I said, I really do love Taiga and what it set out to explore. However I do feel its aesthetics end up setting the wrong expectations for the show. It made people think the show was going to be about something else rather than what it actually ended up being about.

I've finally done it...

My 4 years journey in the Ultra Series... It's finally over. Could you believe it? And it's all because Tsuburaya made Ultraman Z easily accessible worldwide. If it weren't for that then this entire franchise would never go beyond a pinned note on my back.

Getting caught up on Arc and I finally hit the much-anticipated Blazar crossover. What the fuck was this bullshit? You couldn?t get a single cast member back? Why even go to Blazar?s world if all you going to do is stick the same cast in different costumes? Loved seeing and hearing Blazar again, but this episode was incredibly disappointing.

Apparently, the creators felt obligated to pay tribute to Senpai, but at the same time, Tsuburaya did not prepare anything for this. Personally, I also think that at least a couple of actors from Blazar would have helped a lot even with this crossover concept. And ideally, I wouldn?t mind seeing a complete exchange of roles.

I thought this whole crossover arc would be far better as a plot line for Ultraman Arc’s own post-series movie complete with a more straight forward crossover with Blazar and actually feature most of the main cast from that series.

Personally, I liked the Arc/Blazar crossover. I understand some are dissappointed that none of the Blazar cast appeared, but I found it to be a unique take on a crossover ep.

In other news, a whole lot of Zero related stuff.

First, a special pv for Zero's 15th anniversary.
https://youtu.be/A6cZ07-CCEg

Next, a new season of New Generation Stars, with Zero and Z as the main leads.
https://youtu.be/lpKZth2fXS4

Finally, the Zero related movies: Mega Monster Battle, Ultraman Zero and Ultraman Saga are receiving brand new english dubs
https://twitter.com/TsuburayaGlobal/...30929540506101

Eh, it is what it is. I'm not personally disappointed considering I saw Blazar and Earth Garon do their thing, but at the same time I think people who are have all the reason to.
But that aside, Z finally gets a cape! :rock:

Just an average day for SKIP! Yuma and YouPi antics, Rin having to put up with it, and just a bright and sunny day! Pay no attention to the black and white filter!

Also totally normal for Ban to bring up running a cafe like it's something he's totally always wanted to do and for there to be no Kaiju attacks for over a month! Everything is completely normal!

Except everything is NOT normal. The concept of rain doesn't exist, SKIP doesn't exist, people are forgetting Kaiju, Chief Ban is running a coffee shop, YouPi is now literally a DOG. What is going on!?

Honestly I would distrust any search engine named after Yapool.

It all comes down to an erasure of imagination, the thing that drives people, and the thing that powers Yuma...and is being slowly eroded by the mysterious man in the white mask, a man who has found the power of a floating stone pillar he's using to create a paradise free of Kaiju even if he has to sap away peoples' thoughts and imagination to do it. It's just like how people cover up rivers and said rivers become forgotten, simple and straightforward. And he's become so dedicated to his mission, that his face has literally become a green apple dedicated to bringing people to paradise whether they like it or not.

I see we've run into the AU where everyone at SKIP works at a coffee shop.

But there was no way White Mask man could completely erase Yuma's imagination! It's too important to him and to his relationship with Arc! And with their power they're able to Ultra Beam the pillar (which I guess fused with the White Mask guy considering the mask was on the pillar) to explode it into raindrops of color and imagination!

The day is saved, SKIP is back, and I've never seen people happier to see a sun shower!

Next week: Yuma is getting the Seven finale treatment and the return of the Gelos'!

Sounds very Ultra Q.

Yeah, despite of my own nitpicking from my earlier post even if certain elements are really not all that surprising in retrospect, I really did the enjoy the Arc and Blazar crossover arc for the most part

New trailer for the Ultraman Arc movie and full reveal of Guil Arc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIaU0sOrV8s

Yuma is feeling that unfinished report! Among other issues...does he have Ultraseven combat fatigue!?

A new heat haze up in the sky promises the return of a new Gelos sibling, but is Yuma up for it when his body is basically falling apart? At least he's still got enthusiasm.

Nice of Rution's pal from his homeworld, Biorno, to posses YouPi and inform Yuma that, yes, they have found a way to stabilize the problem and make it so they don't have to destroy the Earth! The bad news is that frickin' Ze Su doesn't believe they have that kind of chance and still intends to carry out the plan...especially when the Onxy still exists in Arc.

That's not Digelos, it's Trigelos! The three-horned Galactic Beast!

Okay, so I guess Yuma's been outed more than he already has been, but Shu has come to care about Yuma so much that he'll respect his privacy and do everything he can to protect Yuma, because Trigelos is obviously after him. It's with that same care that Yuma knows he has to face his fate and battle Trigelos.

Arc punching Trigelos' pincer during the transformation was...Chef's kiss.

Respect to Arc for holding his own in his base form, it's just too bad Trigelos was designed to match Arc in every way possible, down to being able to fend off Arc's armors. He even blew the Solaris Armor off!

Rin, Ishido is just naturally the type to analyze everything, it doesn't mean he's not freaking out too. Especially when he probably knows Arc is Yuma at this point.

Oh snap, they had Arc do the Jesus pose! We haven't seen an Ultra do that in a while!

Look at the GDF coming in like a proper attack team to bail out Arc! Just in time for him to pull out the Galaxy Armor which is the one thing Trigelos can't fend off, especially when they match each other in drill attacks and the Galaxy Claws give Arc an opening to Ultra Beam Trigelos...and get caught in the massive explosion.

So Trigelos is gone, Arc is gone, and all that is left is a giant crater. And following up on that cliffhanger...a cutesy ED and the promise of everyone's favorite character, Nakamura, who isn't even in Japan anymore!

Ahh, a good old-fashioned Ultra Crucifixion. Good times.

This has been a while coming, but I finally wrapped up Ultraman Orb, along with some of its related specials/movies/miniseries. But for now I want to focus on Orb itself. I was pleased with it in the sense that it was probably the most unique and daring of the New Generation shows so far, but at the same time I think I fell squarely outside of the sort of person this kind of show appeals to. I like that it focuses on a bunch of lame reporters (who unleash a torrent of madcap dialogue in all their scenes) instead of a defense team and tries to go for a slightly darker angle than most Ultra shows, both of which felt very Kamen Rider to me. But it was also a show where I felt like the lighter elements and darker elements of the story didn't really work well together, resulting in an inconsistent tone and a story that would often stop short of going anywhere too interesting. A lot of the fights were done in an unusual style that really emphasized collateral damage, further enhanced by the amount of from the ground shots due to our defenseless reporter squad, but the show never really went anywhere with it narratively, which disappointed me since I thought that would be interesting. Jugglus Juggler was... fine. I kind of expected him to ham it up more with a name like that. I kept joking as I watched it that he would have driven me insane if I was straight though. :p His background with Gai is kept really vague in the show and his redemption is very abrupt too. On the other hand, I really liked Gai! I thought his actor gave a really charming, nuanced performance that had a lot of warmth to it. Really sold the emotionally wounded Ultra Warrior angle. But then he has these stupidly long transformation and form changes that completely mess up the flow of fights! It was also heavy on the romance angle, even for an Ultra show, and I can't say I was particularly into this one. I know that sort of thing is often just a hard sell for me.

So ultimately? Lots of good ideas and lots of stuff that just didn't live up to expectations. I think this would be a good show for anyone who watched Kamen Rider Kiva and liked its ideas, but wished it was a bit less janky or a bit less Inoue. For me though, I once again came out of it with mixed emotions. Another C.

I also watched Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga. It was bizarre to be honest! The style is so different from Orb itself that I have a hard time even seeing Gai and Juggler as the same characters, even knowing its supposed to be a distant prequel. I wish some of the basic Gai and Juggler details were incorporated in the original show because honestly some of my understanding of their background was WAY off. I get the impression Tsuburaya was hoping to make more adult fan oriented miniseries judging by the Ultraman Heroes branding at the start of episodes, but it never went anywhere as far as I know. It was fun seeing some of the older Ultras again of course, but that doesn't really sustain the show. Psychi's whole plan was also kept really vague for most of the show, which made things needlessly confusing. Maybe I'm wrong, but it doesn't seem like the kind of thing Orb fans would have been all that into.

Finally getting back to the swing of things in my Tokusatsu viewings now with the holidays being effectively over, albeit slowly but surely, with watching a few more episodes of Ultraman Nexus on which I am already up to Dark Faust's first official appearance in the series. I even finally got around to watching the English dub version of The Dream Bird episode of Ultraman Arc since I already watched the original Japanese version of it some time ago.

The "Father Of Ultra Music", Toru Fuyuki, has passed away at the age of 89.

http://ukiyaseed.weebly.com/ukiyasee...as-passed-away

RIP.

RIP

RIP.

RIP

EDIT: Just finished watching the most recent episode of Ultraman Arc in both languages and with that, I am now officially caught up with the series once again and eagerly awaiting for the show's finale arc over the next two weeks. I am also 11 episodes into Ultraman Nexus and I might finally start watching Taiga very soon since I managed to get the Blu-Ray set for this series as well as Blazar for Christmas which also happened just last week.

I can't believe they used the Blazar OP for the recap of the Blazar arc when they didn't even use it for the actual arc.

Is it just me or did Shout quietly take down or private most of their Ultra Series stuff?

Looks like all of it is gone.

I've been thinking of showing Ultraman Mebius to someone else. I definitely think the show would be fun even for someone without much background on the Ultra series, but I personally found the whole experience to be enhanced a lot by having seen all the Showa Ultra shows first. So I found this Reddit post where people suggest select episodes for people to watch beforehand:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ultraman/co...ces_in_mebius/

I'm sure this isn't an exhaustive list though, no one even suggested Return of Ultraman episode 33! Anyone else have some episode suggestions to round this out?

I am finally back to watching Ultraman Cosmos and I am already less than ten episodes away from finishing up the series. Oh, and I am also 18 (soon to be 19) episodes into Ultraman Nexus and I even watched for the first Ultra Galaxy Fight special not too long ago. Despite Cosmos' not entirely necessary high episode count, I am seriously enjoying the series and it may be considered as one of my top favorite seasons of the franchise.

I like how they put in just a shot of an encroaching Trigelos behind a stationary "Arc" so as to not spoil any of the plot.

Dang it Arc, haven't we gotten enough trippy episodes!? Now you're suddenly telling me the entire show has been a dream of a 7 year old as he tries to survive being trapped in rubble? I mean, I know most 7 year olds would probably LOVE to imagine their own entire Ultra show, but despite Yuma's incredible skills at drawing Ultra armors, I don't think he could come up with a plot and characters this complicated. Although they just had to throw in a "your parents are still alive!" tease.

Rution definitely sounded off enough that it got even more suspicious.

Yuma, saved with the power of his bromance with Shu! Also "Arc" technically wasn't lying about him being buried under rubble I guess.

Ah man, frikkin' Sweed is back. Now with an eyepatch to highlight even more how evil she is.

Guilebaku, the Dream Beast Kaiju! here to give you pleasant (and dangerous) dreams while also having a bunch of weird tentacles coming out of his ears!

YouPi has a bad habit of getting possessed, but it's necessary for exposition.

Ze Su, you petty piece of @#$%! Infecting Yuma and Arc to weaken their bodies to make it easier to defeat them!

Glad Biorno was able to tell Yuma to unleash his imagination since Arc can't talk right now.

"Ze Su - The Dark Space Lord" Well that's a fitting a name for the main villain. At the same time, isn't this dude just some scientist from Arc's planet? How did he became the Dark Space Lord!? Also he's like some kind of floating crystal head. I honestly have more questions.

I'm glad SOMEONE finally voiced the suspicion that Yuma is Arc. And Yuma saves SKIP the trouble by transforming in front of them. I liked Arc looking back at everybody before consuming Yuma.

Okay, using the Galaxy armor in a weakened state and with a poisoned body was definitely NOT a good idea since it proceeded to then tear Arc a new one and weaken him even more...so he could then get caught in dreamland. Looks like it's up to ghostbusting Shu to save the day!

I am now down to the final three episodes of Ultraman Cosmos. Depending how the remaining episodes would turn out and/or how the show would ultimately end, Cosmos may just effectively be among my Top 10 favorite Ultraman series.

I've only just realized that a lot of Arc is just...Yuma waking up.

The last temptation of Yuma, finally throwing his alive parents in his face to make him seriously consider giving up. Granted Yuma as a 20+ wage slave still living with his parents and kind of surly doesn't actually seem like that ideal a dream to be honest.

(Honestly I totally forgot about Yuma's grandma. She's like Kanata's grandpa, she shows up in one or two episodes but then never appears again)

I really have to respect that reporter actress for pulling off the shift to Sweed so well and then how creepy the giant encroaching reporter was.

It's kind of funny how Ze Su and his peoples' motivation is basically "we were too smart to have enough imagination to find a better solution than this plan."

What If Yuma's parents could just shrug off the debris that killed them? Even Kid!Yuma was a little thrown off by it.

I think I underestimated how much emotional trauma Yuma was still processing even up to this point. Good thing he had Arc!Dad to show up to remind him of what he's fighting for and what his parents would really want for him. Actually, I wonder if Arc may have in some form absorbed the essence's of Yuma's parents?

RUN YUMA! Also kid form transformation!

When there's a Dream Kaiju in the neiborhood, who you gonna call? Shu Busters! And complete with his proton pack and traveling via Pii-Body segway, we get some busting that makes me feel good! And frees Arc to use the power of his imagination to defeat Guilebaku! And giving Arc Galaxy it's last win of the finale!

Did you really think Guilebaku was the Final Boss? No, it's Sweed in her own humanoid form as the Dark Galactic Warrior! And she looks appropriately sinister! And having a giant hole where her eyes would be!

Arc and Sweed engage in a intense aerial combat, and it seems like Arc can't overpower Sweed. Luckily he finally puts that Monohorn to use to weaken her and then ARC BEAMS ALL ACROSS THE WORLD AND WHIPS IT TO HEADSHOT HER IN THE FACE! That's using your imagination!

Ze Su, cursing Rution's name as he loses his greatest warrior! Take that!

Ah, the classic "Ultra Host goes into space to deal with unresolved plot." It's nice to see Yuma acknowledge Arc as family even if he also has to leave his SKIP family. But losing Shu is the hardest, especially when they embrace one last time before Arc embraces everybody to take Yuma with him.

Good news, Kaiju are on the decrease and the world may not need Ultraman Arc any more. But SKIP still misses Yuma. Good thing he arrived just in time to call and let everyone know he's back! Time for the Arc movie!

"Yuma's new adventure lies in your imagination!" - Dang, that's a terrific ending line.

Well... Ultraman Arc has come to an end.

I know I haven't been talking as much, but to put it simply, it was nice.

I definitely enjoyed a lot about this show and there were a lot of fun action scenes, enjoyable storylines, and amazing shots (Gomess standing over the mountain was just glorious). But I do feel like something felt lacking as the show went on.

I don't know if I'm finally starting to get Toku Burnout or that I've been so busy I've not been having as much fun as I used to, but despite the imagination theme (that I did worry was losing its charm down the road) and spectacle (the Pillar Episode was beautifully bizarre and reminded me of episodes like the Butterfly Dream from Ultraman Max), it felt a little... mediocre for me.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy the show! Far from it. That final fight absolutely brought things back for me, from the shot around the world (I love Arc's Beam Shenanigans), Shu wielding a Proton Pack, to Sweed's bizarrely Ultraman-esque look for her final form, and the Ultraman Arc hug at the end, really reminded me of that charm that won me over in the beginning. Strange how that golden armor form from the stage didn't end up appearing in the series.

It was a fun ride, even if I was either not in a good place (funny, because Kamen Rider Gotchard was helping me through that one), or just need a break from Tokusatsu (which I kind of doubt, since I've been enjoying a lot, both new and old), Ultraman Arc really did help me realize the value of Imagination. No, I'm serious, this actually helped me.

In other news, while we look forward to Ultraman Omega, Z finally gets a Cape!

I finished Ultraman Cosmos two days ago and I am also currently finished watching its second movie (I already watched the first one sometime ago). Only one movie to go and I will officially be done with everything related to that particular Ultraman series. I am also officially halfway through Ultraman Nexus. Not entirely sure how I feel about that show just yet. About to start watching the final episode of Ultraman Arc right now both in Japanese and in English.

I don't know if we have any watch aficionados around here, but this seems to be the G-Shock that Yuuma had on if anyone's interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6XSW3TSaxU

Ultraman Arc.

Probably the best Ultraman show that I have ever seen – yet cannot bring myself to care for.

It has great characters, great stories, a fantastically unique Ultra, a strong theme that carries forward until the end, and many creative ways to portray it. Imagination doesn’t simply mean being good at coming up with things, or drawing or writing stories. It also means putting yourself in another person’s shoes, being empathetic. It also means strength, it can visually your growth and pave the way forward.

Ultraman Arc bursts with imagination and creativity in so many ways – like how Yuma and Arc communicate, how reality, space and time are being constantly twisted.

This show has amazing action sequences, fighting choreography, effects and lots of cool new monsters and aliens. It also has superb actors that do a great job conveying emotions, pleasant and unpleasant ones.

This last episode played all the cards right: From strong character moments right to what is probably the most amazing beam finisher in Ultraman history. As expected of a show that has imagination as its core message.

But, with all of this being said, all of this being my true sentiments – this show bored me to death. I constantly found myself dozing off or having it run in the background to kill the time. This show just isn’t compatible with me. Watching Arc I often found myself fatigued and wishing I was watching something else. For how great Ultraman Arc is, it just completely failed to capture me. I can look back at it as an experience fondly and praise its obvious high quality, but I can’t say I enjoyed watching it.

Maybe it came at the wrong time in my life and I will have a blast watching it again in a decade or two, but I right now I’m kind of glad it’s over and I can move on to the next show.

This kind of reminds me how I felt watching Decker. Maybe not so much that I was bored or didn't enjoy it, but the cast and stories felt so stiff at times to me.

Final episode in a nutshell.:lolol

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Sn-gojcqQHc


Great ending. The last few episodes were great. :rock:

Took me a while to write out my thoughts on Arc but here it is. Overall I quite like Arc. It's very much a back to basic Ultra show, in terms of its aesthetics and tone which is very much inspired by the Showa shows. While its not doing anything all that different or unique from other Ultra shows, it is however executing its fundamentals very well. Arc is a show that I would recommend to newcomers of Ultra, as a gateway to how Ultra shows operate, as it hits all the fundamental points of Ultra really well. Whatever complaints I do have about Arc, honestly are just reocurring complaints I have about New Gen Ultra in general, namely that I wish the shows would have a few more episodes to allow it breathe. I'm not even asking to go back to a year long schedule, I think about 30 episodes would be a good sweetspot.

Its apt that there is a crossover between Blazar and Arc, as I feel both shows are really interesting coming out back to back. The aesthetics of both are about as far apart from each other, with Blazar being a more complicated design and his show having a more grounded tone, while Arc design is far more simple and his show having a more fantastical tone to it. Creatively however, I feel both shows are very much on the same page. They're both shows wherein the creatives were free from most of the usual Bandai oversight and thus were able to do what they wanted. They very much feel like two sides of the same coin.