Now that I have finished my Halloween marathon for this year, I am finally starting to play catch up on the last few episodes of Ultraman Omega before the next episode makes its release later this week.

Continuing my Ultraman 80- journey, I now have seen an equal share of the school setting and the full UGM-switch that happens after episode 12.

To be honest, it’s a real shame they dropped the school setting. It was very unique and fun for an Ultraman series. It really made Yamato / Ultraman 80 feel like the protagonist in his own series, as opposed to a member of a defense team. The setup of monsters being born from “Minus Energy”, negative feelings of humans, and Yamato wanting to nip that evil in the bud by changing society from within as a teacher was awesome.

And I was a sucker for the lighthearted, almost sitcom-like tone; it reminded me very much of Gridman.

But alas, no use crying over spilled milk, especially not since the UGM-episodes are pretty great too. So far I’ve seen some top-tier Ultraman episodes like "The Demon Doctor's Laboratory", "Order to Destroy the Rogue Star" and “Invasion!! The Bloodsucking Ball Army”.

Demon Doctor is about a cute little alien being brought along from a space trip, but a mad scientist experiments on it, turning it giant and hostile. The morale is strong in this one, humanity is not to temper with life and act as masters over all, but I very much enjoyed how 80 was able to reverse the alien back to its original state and return it to space. It is acts like these that make the Ultra almost appear as divine beings.

Rogue Star features a titular asteroid racing towards Earth; the world hatches a plan to blow it up with missiles, but the explosion will sacrifice four other planets. Yamato knows one of them is inhabited, but can’t share that information without revealing his secret identity, so although not selected for the mission, he forcefully takes another crewmember out to come aboard. He can’t stop the inevitable, the asteroid is blown up, and Earth is saved. A survivor of the inhibited planet, now turned into a monster, attacks Earth out of revenge. While Ultraman 80 tries to fight it, he eventually realizes it’s just a sad, lonely survivor. Teleporting it to a planet similar to its original one, the narrator pleads the monster to forgive humanity and live in peace.

“The Bloodsucking Ball Army”, oh boy. Yes it is as ridiculous as it sounds, bloodsucking balls from space attack Earth. But it is also super creepy, as the balls attack and drain humans dry, the special effects for that are quite gruesome. A fun mix of Ridley Scott’s “Alien”, the Tribbles from Star Trek and Count Dracula. Also, this episode features super fun action scenes and 80 in general is really great when it comes to that. Early Ultra was rough, understandably so, but this is the first time I see an early Ultra do flips and lethal looking jump kicks, almost Kamen Rider-like. And 80 has an arsenal of cool powers and tricks to boot.

So yeah I’m hooked still, I’ll continue this show. And availability of it all be damned, I now own merch as well.

https://www.tokunation.com/forums/at...1&d=1762197643

The King of Reiwa Kaiju Pagos is back! Aaaaannnd...he's immediately killed by the NDF. Didn't need Ultraman Omega or the KSCT at all! At least up until he gets reanimated as ZOMBIE PAGOS! See, this is why you need to keep the Attack Team involved in stopping kaiju!

Except it's not truly Zombie Pagos, but Edomaphila, the Ancient Slime Mold Kaiju, using Pagos' body...and its next target is Gram. If I had a nickel for every Kaiju that wanted Gram's body for something...

I feel like working with an experienced professional like Taira has given Kosei a new perspective on his own work and dedication to doing it.

Was Omega actually there when the Edomaphila once ravaged the Earth? What "records" is he referring to? And why did Sorato see a more serious version of himself for a second there?

Finally summoning Rekiness first! Even if it's a rare Rekiness lost, he went out taking a hit for Omega, which was important.

If it wasn't more clear how much Sayuki knows, she sees Omega spontaneously fly off and straight up tells Kosei which Meteor Kaiju to use. Though seeing her say "Godspeed" to a flying Ultra was surreal.

When in doubt, use the power of wind and an old Ultra staple: chucking it into space!


So I guess we're just going to openly acknowledge Kosei as a Kaiju Tamer while leaving it unsaid that Sorato is Ultraman Omega.

"Earth should be protected by Earthlings" -> (eyes immediately dart toward the transforming giant alien who fights Kaiju for Earthlings). Though seems like Sorato is planning to stick on Earth until humans can fight without needing him.

Next week: Alien Barossa!? And no Z!?

Back to actual Omega plot! I will say I really liked the zombifying slime mold kaiju in this one, very cool concept. Would have been even better if it actually aired on Halloween last week! Still not really liking the whole KSTC angle though. I feel like I'm barely registering this as the same show as before to be honest, the style just feels so different now. This episode we learn that, yeah, Sayuki knew about Kosei all along and probably knows about Sorato too. Sorato hallucinated seeing himself again, also I guess Sorato and Kosei have some kind of psychic communication ability that snapped him out of it (?). We end the episode with the classic "Earth should be protected by Earthlings" spiel. Honestly humans are doing pretty well in this show given how little time has passed since they first encountered kaiju, I actually think they can manage it for once!

Next week... please don't be a secret Z crossover.

Sorato and Kosei are on a bro camping trip! Only it's not just for the sake of furthering their bromance, but as an excuse to train with the Meteor Kaiju! Can't remember the last time I saw an Ultra really train, let alone transform for the sake of a non-serious Kaiju fight.

This did make me wonder: can Omega solo the Meteor Kaiju? Well, definitely not Valgeness, but Kosei couldn't hold him for more than a few seconds after summoning Rekiness and Trigaron.

Look, it's an old friend, Alien Barossa! Voiced by Kenta Miyake! And he brings with him some familiar items associated with some familiar names...voice translator from Alien Zarab! Micronizer from Alien Dada! We even threw in a reference to Alien Shaplay! And he wants the Meteor Kaiju!

Notice that Alien Barossa recognized Omega as an Ultra.

I love how they had Sorato and Kosei's face projected on, like, actual figurine versions of themselves. Also that Sorato fell for the "Kosei" left with him.

But Alien Barossa Zhagon isn't alone, he's joined by a partner: Gilda! A Gothic Lolita girl whose conception of humanity is still stuck in the medieval era and wants to use the small-sized humans into her dollhouse.

First Ayu solo mission! And she's believably REALLY out of her element, incredibly freaked out seeing real aliens, and was really not prepared for a combat situation like at all. She even freaked out using the ray gun that enlarged Sorato and Kosei.

A catfight isn't fun when you're small-sized and can easily be crushed. Unless you're into giant women I guess.

So Gilda was actually a female Barossa who doesn't like her alien self. Who would have thought?

I love how Zhagon was playing with the Meteor Kaiju like actual toys...which they actually are, basically. And this was probably the most they'd been CG'ed in their miniature form.

Kosei has mastered rapid Meteor Kaiju summoning! The Meteor Kaiju was basically soloing him!

I love how the conflict is ended by Mama Barossa (voiced by Yoshiko Sakakibara?) grabbing her kids and taking them back home after she misgendered Ayu and Kosei. Even Omega's like "well, that just happened!" before he flew off.

All's well that ends well. Kosei better understands the Meteor Kaiju, Ayu now has a prince uniform for Kosei she likes seeing him wear, and Mama Barossa leaves some nice Mandalin for everyone as a parting gift and shipping AyuxKosei, just not in the way she understands. They even played Sorato protecting the Mandalin for himself over the ED!

I officially have no idea what Omega is trying to do anymore. I think this would be a pretty par for the course gag episode in another show, but it ended up feeling really odd to suddenly have a comedic alien attack plot in a show that hasn't actually featured any aliens before besides Omega and Zovaras. Like, they did something that I simply didn't really consider a part of Omega's setting until now. Something that I am honestly not sure was a well thought out addition. It was also kind of a weird episode in the sense that they already seem to be pushing the defense team angle aside and the whole "learn to use the Meteokaiju" training session made it feel like an early episode that got pushed to late in the show. It was also a gag episode, but it was just mildly amusing, didn't really quite land for me. I liked the "unique" Kosei doll prop though. :lol

I feel like at first Omega really had a strong sense of narrative style and purpose, but has lately just been doing random stuff. Feels like the show is having a mid-life crisis or something.

Every Barossa episode is great.

I feel like that's entirely why they had this episode feature so many references to other Ultra Alien races because they hadn't really done much with aliens up to this point. Plus the Attack Team gear actually helped out a little in this instance or why Ayu was aware of the problems or where they were.

I think the first half of the show was pretty much just stumbling into awakening Kaiju, so I don't think it's really changed that much.

This week's Omega was pretty good, I always love it when they put tokusatsu in my tokusatsu! Beyond that I also just appreciated the episode being about how you should dedicate yourself to what you feel passionate about, even if it doesn't necessarily pan out as something you do your whole life. I think this one kinda recaptured the everyday life feeling that I particularly like in Omega. Simple but good stuff.

What do you get when you have a crystal that absorbs the frustration and stress of the populace? The perfect thing to summon Bagrigon, the All Out Kaiju! Who is like a bull when he sees red and lives up to his name because he goes ALL OUT and rushes through everything in his path to get to what he wants!

Omega has the best "well, that just happened" face.

It's nice to see the KSCT being there for the community and being a place for kids to hang out and have fun. Also it's kind of surreal for protagonists of a tokusatsu show to get introduced to tokusatsu as a genre (complete with low-budget tokusatsu). I guess even in a world where Kaiju initially didn't exist, Kamen Rider or Sentai probably still do.

"Megalovonion, the Supreme Infinite Ultimate Kaiju" - Guys, I think we just met the strongest Kaiju in the entire franchise.

Nothing like meeting an old teammate to make you get nostalgic for when you aimed to be an Olympic track star. But don't sell yourself short, Kosei! You're the only one who can summon the Meteor Kaiju to directly assist Omega and you are, on paper, part of an elite special team designed to respond to Kaiju!

So was Bagigron meant to just...run through things so his creators could redevelop whatever's left of the planet he was on? Also I guess his tunnel vision in regards to the crystal is meant to be similar to how people get tunnel vision with their careers or dreams.

It's tough being a budding filmmaker when your parents don't support you and your friends would rather do anything else. Then again, he probably should not have taken them to a Kaiju fight location.

Kosei did Meteor Kaiju bios! And apparently Trigaron is like a pet who always runs after a ball, Rekiness might have been telling Kosei this entire time not to summon him against a threat he can't take on, and Valgeness is so regal and in charge even Kosei shows him deference.

I love how the investigation came together because Ayu just conveniently had a picture of the crystal because they just conveniently had the kid who had the crystal hang out and film his Tokusatsu short.

You know this is a tough opponent when even Valgeness can't do much against him.

I love how the day was saved because Omega learned the power of Claymation...especially when assisted by the four elements.

Nice of Omega to wait and do the Fly Off only after they got the best picture.

Was the crystal meant to direct Bagrigon to whatever planets his creators wanted redeveloped? Was he supposed to be on Earth? Although now the ring is nothing more than a paperweight or a prop.

I love everyone's "a Kaiju is attacking pose!" and Sorato is using his Ultra Beam pose on instinct.

Ultraman 80, I'm at episode 31 now.

Yes it’s true, the show suffered bitterly from the drastic change of direction. What once made it unique is now entirely lost and the show is simply more of the same old defense squad science fiction action. Which isn't bad, but the teacher angle was so much better IMO.

But there is gold in there to be fund still, and episode 31 is such gold, one of the all-time best Ultraman episodes.

The defense squad takes a backseat to character focused story telling as Yamato cares for a kid he saved from a traffic accident, and accompanies her to visit her mother in the hospital. She lies dying, but wishes to return to a flower field, where the whole family, the now dead father included, spend their time together.

The daughter cares for a little garden, hoping to thus bring the field to her mother to give her strength and hope. A mysterious seed from outer space arrives at the garden, and wishing it will bloom into a flower the girl plants it.

It turns out to be a monster sadly, which saps the gardens energy, growing giant and attacking the city. 80 defeats it, but the garden and the dream of saving the child’s mother are destroyed. 80, deeply moved, channels his energy to give life back to the garden.

A happy end follows, as the harvested flowers fill the mother’s hospital room, giving her the strength to once again look forward to the future.

I love this simple story, I love that Yamato as a person is once again front and center, the actor is wasted as the stoic defense squad soldier, he's so perfect as a gentle caretaker and friendly guardian. He has such a warm smile too, and I'm glad I got to see it again. They even ended the episode with him smiling into the camera wish happened a lot early on.

My favorite little thing was seeing 80 heal the garden; it’s an almost godlike feat that makes Ultraman appear celestial and alien, yet full of compassion and understanding at the same time.

80 is still a fantastic show, but man what could have been. But maybe it's for the better. Maybe having something unique for a short time made it so different. Who knows what kind of stunts they would’ve pulled to keep the school setting around for 50 episodes.

The Showa Ultra shows suffer so much from retooling. They just absolutely wrecked Ace, Leo, and 80. The first 12 episodes of 80 in particular are so good. Thank goodness Mebius gave that arc some much needed closure.

I'm still kind of amazed how much they blew everything up in Leo.

This week's Omega was interesting, even if I felt like some of the details didn't totally work. I think I need to preface everything by saying that bad CPR scenes are one of my ultimate pet peeves in fiction, so this episode was a lot to deal with on that front. Still, it was... sort of cool to see an Ultra with no healing abilities try and do some first aid? I also like the episode being about finding the best compromise when species inevitably clash. The whole time travel part felt pretty throwaway though. Everyone also seemed a bit too unconcerned about seeing the apocalypse going down in the future, even if it may have been an alternate universe or something. Mixed bag, but I appreciated how unique it was.

There's something kind of funny to me how Ayu was the one who initially most freaked out but then she's also the one that immediately starts blasting.

I don't even think Cosmos/Team EYES ever actually performed CPR on a Kaiju before. Even in Ultra form!

Chronoceros, the Space-Time Drifter! With the cool ability to cross time and space! I really loved the depiction of the time teleporting.

Rekiness and the Rekiness armor! Nice to see those again.

It's definitely an ominous peek into the future where the world is ravaged say for giant creatures like Chronoceros roaming around and being hunted by aliens in ships. Omega was able to defeat them here, but can we really write this future off as just a possible one? When we know so little about how it ended up that way?

This week on Ultraman Omega: Raionji chews the heck out of the scenery. I feel like this episode was the one that made Uta feel the most like an actual defense team. Maybe because they were on the field with so many other officials, including that one very exasperated KSCT member.

With Sayuki away, KSCT will...do radio calisthenics! And await the temporary command of...Makoto Raionji! Sayuki's "eternal rival" and played by perennial Toku star Jubun Fukuzawa!

Uta may have never mentioned him before, but Raionji is determined to prove he's every bit her equal and he knows how to run the Uta Unit! He even has his own book which should be required reading for KSCT members with the patented "Lionel Method," with copies that will come out of their paycheck! This fill-in captain is working out great!

That's not Ice-Tip King, the Onehorn Iceberg Kaiju! It's Gabora, the Uranium Kaiju! Watch out for his fins that can propel him like a helicopter and be the perfect defense and offense for his head!

Ayu is surprisingly more adept at managing a domineering, disrespectful, and arrogant boss. Truly representing what it takes to get by in business in Japan. Also, she actually read the book, which is on-point and actually helped out a little.

My condolence to that one KSCT guy who was getting dragged around by Raionji and his power trip.

Dual Omega/Valgeness Rise Sequence!

Dang, Gabora was even giving Valgeness trouble. He had to straight up set off the armor after recognizing they were in trouble.

I really thought Omega had straight up cut Gabora's head off...but no, he just cut off the fins so he COULD straight up guillotine him in the end!

Just when you think this was a fun, one-off, Ultraman Omega episode...the other Sorato shows up to tell Sorato that he may have lost his true purpose/mission thanks to the fun he's been having on Earth. And he may not be able to keep that up. Are we heading into the endgame?

A new season of New Generation Stars was announced, starring Z, Geed and Omega. It introduces a new Meteokaiju named Gamedon and a new armor for Omega. Geed also gets an Ultra Mantle similar to Z.
https://tsuburaya-prod.com/news/9010

There's the obligatory black tortoise to round out the Four Symbols theme of the Meteokaiju!

The final Meteor Kaiju and my boi Riku finally gets his own mantle!

I feel like Omega might have the record for most "straight into the action" episodes. Boy does the Rekiness Armor chop up Dugrid good!

It's rough being an Attack Team Captain when you have to deal with constant meetings as Earth grows to continue to weaponize itself to annihilate all Kaiju threats which, historically in this franchise, has NEVER turned out well. Though it was nice of Sorato to do an indirect show of support from Ultraman Omega.

I guess when you think about it Ayu is kind of the KSCT Vice-Captain? Or at least Uta's secondary. Which just made the boys kind of ditching her with no explanation kind of hurt.

Sorato thought he could avoid his past, though he was taken care of by a kindly old man on his first landing on Earth...and then he ends up getting his past thrown straight into his face.

Spot the iconic Kaiju sillhouette!

Would you want to live in a universe that inevitably runs on an inevitable civilization vs Kaiju survival of the fittest slugfest every millennia? The Gnessians were just an advanced civilization that thought they could control Kaiju, made Kaiju worse (naturally), and then proceeded to head to the stars for a new home...and become an alien invasion force in the process.

Omega is not part of the Space Garrison but the Star Gazers, a group of Ultra beings who monitor planets through their life cycle and protect them from invading space threats and ONLY space threats. They're not meant to fight their battles on the actual planet like Omega has been doing with resurfacing Kaiju.

And there's the rub for Ahden. He was a man who advocated for peace, he didn't want to invade Earth, he understood why the Star Gazers did what they did...but he just could not accept the idea of one of them, Ultraman Omega, breaking his vow and fighting to protect a planet unlike what happened to Ahden's. So his last will was to sick Taganular on Omega as a small form of revenge.

Sorato seemed to transform into a different person for a second there. And then there was Omega's rage out moment at having his truth throw into his face. I feel like it's only going to get worse from here.

Looks like we are entering the endgame of Omega. There were a lot of reveals this episode, debating what I think of them for now.

I am once again finding myself wondering why they introduced the KSCT part of the show when it seems to actively get in the way of the story they want to tell at times. Sorry Ayu, the boys have to run off to hear Omega lore! I also thing it would have been more interesting to approach the whole "there is a international anti-kaiju force being created" from the perspective of outsiders. Would have been fresh. Aaaanyways, besides that we learn that Ultras are apparently supposed to be rather passive in this universe and not interfere with what happens on a planet, but Sorato just forgot what with his amnesia and all. This IS a pretty fresh concept which I rather like. It also turns out that Ultraman Omega has a setting somewhat reminiscent of the Godzilla animated film trilogy, with kaiju awakening on planets as if to challenge the superiority of the dominant species there. So it seems Sorato will now have to choose between his loyalty to the friends he made on Earth and his duty as a Space Gazer, while also considering that getting involved in battling the kaiju could make the situation escalate out of control. I'm hoping the ending has something unexpected happen, because right now I am getting the impression this is going to be very reminiscent of Arc for the finale.

I feel like that's more of an Ayu character problem.

I'm always happy to see Yukijiro Hotaru pop up again, even if his role is just 95% standing still and dumping exposition via hologram.

Definitely some heavy stuff for the KSCT to deal with. With all the Kaiju awakening across the world, is it finally time for the true awakening and the final conflict between humans and Kaiju?

Poor Sorato having a heavy dissociative episode as hie original self, Omega, chastises and tries to remind him of who he TRULY is, not what this amnesia has made him. Though I did kind of like how the mute Kosei in his in his head was yelling and gesturing just like the real Kosei would!

Gairyuga, the Light Wave Kaiju! Basically what happens when you mix an alligator and a T-Rex and give it Atomic Breath. But that suit is a beautie.

Omega is not an Ultraman. He's not a protector of the Earth. He's just one of many Space Gazer's whose mission is purely to observe and not interfere beyond repelling invaders with cold, clinical, efficiency. Even the Omega Eye isn't just for gauging battle, but the Space Gazers' MO. And Omega isn't going to let Sorato transform and interfere any more.

(Though are the other Space Gazers like Alpha/Theta/Delta, etc.?)

Sayuki vibes with a lot but I don't feel like she's really all that proud of building a Kaen-102 powered laser cannon, even if the idea of it going head-to-head with Gaiyruga who operates on a similar principle feels fitting.

Pegunos the Lightweight Kaiju!? What are you doing here!? Kaiju brawl!

I did not have "Rekiness redirecting the Kaen-102 cannon beam until it hits Gaiyruga" on my bingo card, but BOY was it epic.

I love how the one thing that can make Sorato overcome his "programming" is Kosei.

They were JUST close to the Finisher before Omega retook control of his body. Which, technically, is his right since it was HIS body before Sorato became a thing. But poor Kosei having to see his buddy...not as his buddy.

Oh, so the Meteor Kaiju are supposed to be stored in the Color Timer?

So I guess we're just going to drop all pretenses with Sayuki and Ayu to ask what the heck is going on with Sorato.

Is uh...is that the Final Boss?

With all this dramatic plot going on...what a perfect time to bring back Nariak Akaji! The character everyone has been demanding more screentime from!

Yeah you know what? I really like the way this episode of Omega approached the Space Gazers. They way they are portrayed as some kind of order-keeping hivemind throughout the universe that Sorato just happened to break away from due to amnesia? Actually a very cool origin for the first Ultra in this universe that isn't really quite like anything the series has done before. Of course, Sorato still needs to go through hell getting dragged back into the hivemind first. I also really liked that the kaiju this week was a spinosaurus one, complete with modern details like the tail fin! We are almost at the end now though and I have to admit I am a bit worried that they're never going to explain the reason Meteokaiju work they way they do at this rate. Recap next week!

I liked watching Omega at the start, just well done Toku with real standout episodes, didn’t care much for the defence squad thing was going on lately, but man I am so back for the endgame. The whole Space Gazer mythos and how they portray Sorato falling apart as his original personality slowly regains control is excellent stuff.

The characters were always a strong part of the show with lots of time dedicated to make them grow together and it’s paying off big time now.

I'm still watching 80, but since I'm caught up on the official upload schedule, its one episode per week now for me. The series has improved lately, more fun, character driven plots and less of the same-y UGM battles.

But that's not why I’m writing this post, I have completed a show I've never seen before - Ultraman Nexus!

This was one of the shows I initially heard the most praise for when I started watching Ultraman. The franchise wasn't as accessible back then as it is now, so I had no real chance to watch it and bookmarked it in my mind to watch later. And when Tamashii Nations announced the new Figuarts Nexus I remembered - and could just pick up the entire show for 20 bucks on eBay. Crazy how easy all of this has become!

So I watched all of it (+ "The Next" movie) and, well, it was not what I expected. At all :eyebrow

It was good, really good, I binged one disc each Sunday, which is like 7 episodes, and it was never once boring. But I was speechless how far, very far removed it seemed from the Ultraman shows I know. It is really scary, super dark and plain unfriendly. Like, everyone hates and mistrusts each other, the monsters are frightening to look at and act brutal and cruel, it’s more like a horror series than anything.

That's what I thought at first and was feeling quite unwelcome, at that point I was very much ready to quit and go back to a simple, colorful and fun Showa series!

But I couldn’t stop watching. The strong narrative and serialization kept me hooked. This isn't one monster per week in a self contained story, this is an ongoing story in which battling a single monster can take 3-4 episodes! Wow.

And the more I watched, the more I could see the light. The message of Ultraman is there, but it takes time to unfold. You are confronted with darkness at first, but the more you watch, the more you understand the message of this show. "The light is a bond and it will always shine again!".

The characters are really great too; their growth is fun to witness. But they and the story face a difficult situation - the show was wrapped up early. "Only" 37 episodes! It's not hard to guess why - if I am troubled with what I'm seeing, no way a preschooler is enjoying any of it :eek:

This show is way too grim and evil for children, no matter what cool gadgets the good guys have and how awesome Ultraman is at beating the monsters. Any sane parent will ban this show from their household after the first nightmare happens, which won’t take long at all. Speaking of nightmares, the monsters, those are a good point to talk about another thing that makes this show very special - there are no Kaiju! The monsters are instead "Space Beasts" and their existence is a secret as this show has their own "Men in Black" who go around and erase memories of them and Ultraman. Which makes for a very unique setting and tone.

And our protagonist with whom we spend the most time– is not Ultraman! In fact, Ultraman is not a part of the defense team at all. He’s an individual who found the light and uses it to protect the Earth. And who is later replaced, as the light chooses different people to fight! That makes for very unique situations not found in most other Ultraman shows.

It's a shame though that due to its nature Nexus wasn't received favorably and was thus not able to be finished properly. The ending they went with isn’t bad by any means, but the last few episodes pick up an insane pace as the writers try to wrap up the story with the little time they have left.

Man, what an insane ride this show is. At first I disliked it, but couldn’t stop because it was so good, then I started to love it and then it was already over :lol

But hey, now that I do love it there’s no use crying over spilled milk and wondering what could’ve been; now I have a new favorite show to rewatch every other year!

Lastly, I want to finish this post with “The Next”. So Nexus by itself is part of a project with the goal to revitalize the Ultraman franchise, which also included stage plays and a big screen movie. That movie, only called “ULTRAMAN” on screen but titled “The Next” nowadays, is a prequel to Nexus and essentially a remake of the very first Ultraman episode. It’s about Ultraman’s arrival on Earth and his battle with Bemular.

It’s – also very different. It’s a reimagining of sorts, there’s really nothing familiar in here aside from Ultraman himself. The setting is about two colored spheres arriving on Earth, a blue and a red one, like in the original show, but the blue one creates a Resident Evil monstrosity and the red one strikes a jet fighter plane and the pilot becomes the host to Ultraman. The entire movie is basically a self-contained story about what happens next. Heh, “Next”.

But, that movie is canon to Nexus. That Ultraman is the Ultraman of Nexus, it’s his first appearance on Earth and some of the events of the move are later mentioned and shown in the main series.

An interesting watch for sure, but kind of like other superhero movies of the time it doesn’t do a great job of adapting the source material. But that was intentional I guess, much with the decisions that make Nexus so different. They wanted different, not traditional.

The last point I want to make, and that’s why I had to mention “The Next” – the effect work, both in Nexus and “The Next” is simply stunning. So good. It was that weird era of special effects, during which the CGI technology wasn’t quite there yet but so much more care and work went into trying to make these effects work. And they are coupled with practical effects, so what you see here is a visual spectacle. Especially the Space Beasts are so terrifying because they seem real, even when they are fully computer generated. And when Ultraman takes to the skies and battles while flying – yes it looks like a Playstation 2 era cutscene, but it works. It’s fun and looks cool.

So yeah, all in all, it was a great experience. And I am not at all surprised that they went back to a more traditional show after this! ;)

Nexus is a very interesting show and I really liked how it demonstrated that the core themes of Ultraman could work even in an overwhelmingly bleak setting. It stands out even from other similarly dark and experimental 2000s tokusatsu by merit of the fact its doesn't even really have that like... edgy pre-teen appeal? Its narrative conflicts are so uncathartic and steeped in unglamorous parts of adulthood like that sometimes your boss hates you or you can't forgive yourself for unintentionally hurting someone. Like you said though, the show was fundamentally financially doomed from the start because it is like this. The Ren arc of the show softens up a lot compared to the Jun arc but that retooling clearly wasn't enough and the show ended up condensing stuff like the intended arc where Nagi was Nexus into one episode! A singular entry in the Ultra series to be sure, but the rough points undermined the show enough for me that I'd probably only watch up to episode 25 when I inevitably revisit it because I found that to be a much more satisfying stopping point than watching the show limp to its actual ending.

"Eiyuu" is still one of the best Ultraman/tokusatsu OP's.

Nexus was my first Ultraman series; watched it back when we used to have Let's Watch Wednesday here. It was definitely an entry point... I tend to think of it like watching Amazons as your first exposure to Kamen Rider. I really liked it, but it was a huge culture shock when I started watching Max and all of the characters were nice to the protagonist.

Max is like it's OP: something so bright, shiny, and fun it can always brighten your day.

It's a fantastic show. Still my favorite Ultra series.

you are not the only one. It's my favorite too.

Yeah, after the drastic tonal shift that Nexus expressed, it sure was a nice back-to-basics show at the time. Which is probably why it's one of the shows I recommend for those who want to start watching Ultra shows.

A presumed lost episode of Ultraseven has now been recovered in HD:

https://bsky.app/profile/xenofauna.b.../3mb57cn7ha22h

And it's now been subbed by Kaiki Subs.

What a cool way to end the year.

Nice. I am planning to watch this lost episode very soon. Now I also kinda want to rewatch Ultraseven.

Feels like it's been ages since I watched Omega even though it was only a 2 week break! I'm liking the direction of the finale a lot, between the human-oriented fight against the Zomera and the interesting way they have approached Sorato remembering his Space Gazer nature, where it's like he has a fused personality of Omega and Sorato and he doesn't know how to reconcile the difference. Everything feels pretty rushed, but it's about as good and endgame as I could hope for from the show.

The KSCT team doesn't even have a minute to process what happened to Sorato, the truth about the Space Gazers, or even "mourn" the loss of their friend...because Eldighemera is back. Only it's not Eldighemera, it's Eldighemera fused with Zovaras thanks to human experimentation into controlling Kaiju, resulting in the worst fusion of all time : ZOMERA THE ANNIHILATIVE PROLIFERATION KAIJU!!!!

Not only does Zomera still have the ability to absorb Kaiju, but it can also control them with Zovaras' power, as poor Demaaga finds out the hard way.

But don't worry, Ultraman Omega will save us! Only...this isn't a Kaiju extermination, this is a Kaiju assessment, and once that's done Omega just...flies off. Ouch.

Also, is it just me, or is Omega without amnesia stronger? It didn't feel like he was going all out and yet that Omega Slash felt wayyyyy stronger than his other ones have.

Well, the KSCT and NDF don't have much so they may as well just throw Eldighemera and Zovaras' respective weakness' at Zomera and hope that works. Which it doesn't, but points for trying. Zomera is basically like Godzilla swimming across the sea to destroy Japan and become the true King of Kaiju.

In fairness, even if Zomera was made by human hand (because humans can't help themselves), the Zovaras' part IS alien so you can kind of make that a technicality? Yes? Maybe?

Oh no, not Gomora! Whose Super Oscillation Wave gets hijacked into a Kaiju Call to control all Kaiju.

Kosei making one last plea to have Sorato help them...but Sorato is gone. There is only Omega, and Kosei and humanity's plight just is not his mission directive. And yet a part of him seems like he's struggling to remain as passive and apathetic as he is, especially when Kosei reminds him of all the great times they've had together, the times that gave Sorato his humanity.

KSCT doing what they do best: science research! And even if the world has given up on Ultraman Omega saving them, humanity is still doing all that they can. Even that little girl all the way back from episode 1 is showing compassion, Omega seeing for himself again why humanity has so much value.

Way to go Ayu with finding a weakness for Zomera! And Omega seems like he's having a big crisis of identity...

Honestly I want to applaud the radio people for sticking to the bitter end even during the possible Kaiju annihilation of the world.