Only thing I can imagine of Titas is him pumping iron wearing a toga because U-40 citizens can't live without their togas. :lolol

What's your favorite Ultraman grunts/voices? Mine goes

5) Ultraman himself. It's just too iconic.
4) Mebius, a perfect grunt to demonstrate that he is a rookie Ultra.
3) X. I'm biased towards everything X. Beet J Stag voicing him is another icing on the cake.
2) Zero. Mamoru Miyano is my favorite male voice actor, and I remember being freakin' excited to see a guy like him would voice an Ultraman. And it turned out to be one of Miyano's most famous role as well!
1) Nexus. I just love the husky grunts that Nexus makes. It definitely gives off the vibe that this particular Ultraman is for older audiences. For the longest time I assumed that Kazuki Komon's actor was the behind the grunt, but nope, he only voiced Nexus in Heroes Vs. games.

I haven't mentioned the Taiga squad yet because they are still new, but I'm sure they'll make the list. Fuma's especially is my favorite, because he gives off a very cocky vibe, while Titas is so full himself in a good way, and Taiga is brash and overconfident.

Genm Corp finally got episode 7 of Taiga out, and while that was fine and dandy, I'm mostly blown away by the corresponding voice drama episode... which they haven't subbed yet (I'm sure it being the longest one yet doesn't help them), but trust me, you guys are gonna love it.

I don't know if Titas' popularity is enough to warrant this, but I would love to see an actual The★Ultraman Titas animated show at this point. If Tsuburaya even found an excuse to just do a quick short or something I would be so happy.

For me it's gotta be Cosmos, although I can't give any deep reason why, beyond the fact that I really like Cosmos to begin with.

Ultraman Taiga 08 - I think this could've been done better. Like, Photon Earth is a great suit, the story with the net idol girl is good, but I feel like it lacked something. Don't quite know what myself.

But, I have to say, seeing the Ultramen actually take a little bit of screen time outside of fighting again was nice, we need more stuff like that. Plus, the effects and miniature work were on point yet again. Like, this shot? The tiny shirt on the tiny char, the tiny bin with a tiny plastic bag inside, the tiny paper punch on the tiny table – what the hell? This looks too real, like I would almost believe it’s a real life office with a blue screen for a window were they copied Taiga in. But it’s actually real. That’s insane.

https://i.imgur.com/s4G4R16.jpg

And let’s not forget the voice drama, because it was once again excellent. These are so fun. And it seems like they're going on an Ultraman history tour now which I'm all for. Especially since they immediately show one I never knew existed - Ultraman Nice? WTF? :lol

From what I gather, Ultraman Nice is a Ultra created during the 'dry period' of Ultraman, back when new shows weren't being made, primarily to act as the main character for a line of toys called Ultra Eggs. He never got his own television show and hasn't really made that many appearances outside of the stage shows but I believe a bunch of his commercials can be watched together to form a simple narrative.

With that subpar history lesson out of the way, I really want to see some other lesser known Ultras getting at least a shoutout. Ultraman Xenon, Ultraman Boy... Ultraman 80, there's a bunch of Ultras that have basically be lost to the pages of history that I'd love to see again if only for the fact that it seems like such a waste to not do anything with them.

Personally either an Ultraman Melos or Astra's solo mini series ranging from 5 - 7episodes would be nice. Nothing fancy, a short web series at best would be satisfying.

It definitely doesn't have quite the level of "oomph" you'd expect from a double-length story debuting an upgrade. I can't put my finger on it much better than you, but the sense of tension felt lacking. It probably didn't help that the first few episodes of this show were all so heavy to begin with.

What!? Dude you are so missing out.

The whole concept of an advertisement-original Ultraman is sort of fascinating to me, and considering after his original stint between Gaia and Cosmos, they would later go on to bring him back a little before Ginga as "Dr. Egg" to promote the then-new Ultra Egg toyline, he has this weird mystique to him. It's like, whenever the Ultra franchise goes into hibernation, Nice will return with a new gimmicky identity to shill merch.

Also his theme song is a legit jam.

I'm actually kind of upset I won't get to hear Titas ramble on about Nice. I got so psyched when he mentioned him at the end, but it was just a cruel tease. I think those commercials were actually some of the first Ultra stuff I saw, so I've always had a huge soft spot for the guy.

ナイスなやつだし

I'd like to see a new attack team with more military approach in the reiwa era.

So like I said a bit ago in the thread, I've been following along with Tsuburaya's weekly uploads of The☆Ultraman on YouTube, and the latest one, "You Are Ultraman", was so good I feel compelled to elaborate a bit on why it, and the show as a whole, are really clicking with me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGmei3fYHzw

The reason this particular episode struck a chord with me is down to the considerably more introspective plot than usual, which is right up my alley. Instead of centering on the mystery and/or threat of the monster (which in this case is basically just Mothra), the story gets into some of the conflicting feelings Hikari has about being Ultraman. Now, Hikari is a pretty cool guy, don't get me wrong, but he tends to be extremely mellow most of the time. Actually, in both looks and personality he reminds me a lot of a more composed and mature Amuro Ray from Gundam (funnily enough, both shows were airing at around the same time and were both produced by Sunrise), but now I'm getting off track.

The point is, it's fundamentally interesting to get into the hero's head like this, and see both how dedicated he is to what he does, and also show him having to struggle with his own insecurities as someone who doesn't fight with his own power, and will never get to take credit for all the good he does. It's not the deepest story in the world, and I'm sure some previous Ultra series had already done a plot like this, but the structure and presentation of The☆Ultraman has been consistently impressing me. The writing is super tight, with every beat flowing naturally into the next without a lot of wasted time dragging down the pacing, and there's a lot more impact to the narratives than I was expecting as a result.

I guess I figured watching it would be more of a curiosity than anything else, but I find myself just as absorbed by it as any modern show, despite it obviously being a bit dated. I was genuinely invested in the drama here, and the way everything in the episode ties together at the end, with the story Hikari got interrupted telling before he could get to the part where he brags about saving the day turning out to be the reason Joneus choose him in the first place, and Hikari, with a restored sense of self-confidence, ultimately deciding not to finish telling the tale, is a hugely satisfying payoff.

Granted, this particular episode is a bit of an exception (at least so far), but the usual episodes focusing on whatever crazy monster of the week are no less competently constructed, and I'm starting to look forward to a "new" episode of The☆Ultraman every week just as much as I am Taiga. No joke. I'll probably post about it again at some point, but for anyone who was completely ignoring the entire existence of this show like I was, it's definitely no slouch.

Heads up, Taiga episode 9 isn't region locked. In fact, episode 2 to 8 are also free from region lock.
https://youtu.be/LLciXVE9b68