Man, if you can't deal with it in X make sure you never watch Ginga :lol

Just watched episode 6 of Garo Makai Senki.

Damn that episode. Damned made me tear up. It just was so tragic. I swear old parents crying always gets to me. I'm always reminded of my grandfather. Damn it.

I don't particularly care about Spark Dolls either, so I was happy to see that Orb used cards instead, but I still like X a bit more. Reasons include that I prefer the Xio guys to the SSP; and I think Daichi was a better protagonist because Gai was rather disconnected from the world and his development was restricted on his traumatic past and nothing else really.

Not that that's bad, and Daichi has a similar issue, but Daichi has to learn more and figures things out, Gai can already do everything he needs to starting from the first episode, his progress is limited to just fighting stronger enemies while Daichi works on the problems at hand without necessarily fighting monsters, and he has a goal that is much more human.

I also had more fun with the slice of life stories in X, as the Xio crew offered a much wider variety of stories to tell and they did it well IMO.

I think both X and Orb are phenomenal and I agree that what you prefer is up to personal preference, but mine favors X a bit more.

What I can say Orb did better is having a consistent threat and enemy with Juggler, as X only had the recurring bad guys until the final boss suddenly dropped in during the final episode and that’s it. And Juggler isn’t just a simple villain either, they really did a great job by making him so complex.

Well I've been sick and stuck in bed so:

Space Sheriff Gavan Episodes 32-42: Yeah there were lots of good episodes in this batch. I enjoyed the Princess from Planet Hope, the Movie Studio one was a blast, The one where Yoichi gets his memory erased was heartbreaking, Shiro, Kojiro's nephew's episode was fun, The one with the family's house taken over by Makuu was fun too, The sun sword one was intriguing and I want to know more about the Sun sword, The endless battle in Makuu space was great. Episode 42 was freaking brilliant tying back to Tsukiko's father's history with Gavan's dad. Also Hunter Killer came back and we finally get back to the Gavan's Dad story too. My other favorite part was when Gavan fought this forest patroller who was just so awesome and I hoped he would be used more than I learned his name was Den Iga and was really happy since that is Sharivan. =) Through out these episodes I have to say that Witch Kiba, Don Horror, and San Dorva have hubris out the wazoo which is why Gavan keeps on defeating them all the time. I love the hell out of the fight scenes and the space battle scenes. This has been a blast so far.

Gavan Episodes 43-44 (FINAL): These last two episodes were the best of the series. From saving Gavan's father and their emotional reunion to Gavan destroying Makuu. Gavan pulled out all the stops and there was a whole lot of cool action. Also great seeing Sharivan make his first appearance in armor. I really want to watch Sharivan now lol. Great end to the series that really made it worth it. I can't wait for the Dekaranger/Gavan Crossover soon.

UltraMan Tiga Episode 1: I start my next Ultra Series with Tiga. This was pretty good, I enjoyed the mystery behind the ancient civilization. I enjoyed Daigo from what there was with actually believing the message and feeling the call of Tiga. The action was pretty awesome like normal UltraMan series and I loved his 3 forms. The other 2 UltraMen looked interesting too. Well I am intrigued to see where this goes.

UltraMan Tiga Episode 2: Great episode, I really enjoyed seeing all the different personalities of the GUTS team. Interesting Kaiju too. Loving the back story with Daigo being both Human and I guess UltraMan too. I can't wait to see where this leads. Also, the action was great I love the form changes too.

MegaBeast Investigator Juspion Episode 1: Well okay this has to be one of the craziest messes of a first episode I've seen. You just kinda of get thrown into the mess without explanations of anything. Then it's like running away, bar fight, transform, random cut to not fighting the patrons anymore, and then onto fighting the MegaBeasts. Though even with no explanations on things I loved the hell out of this. Juspion is really fun and awesome so that makes up for the plot holes and random cuts. I mean I understand that the Elder gave Juspion his ship and Anri but what was the point of going to the first planet? Lol. I think I'm looking too much into this but I am going to watch more of this craziness. Also Juspion was pretty awesome in battle so I can't wait for more.

Juspion fun fact: the show was filmed and released in a different order. You can tell because the main character's hair rotates between three different styles randomly over the course of the series.

Oh that's fun lol. That fro is something else.

Juspion's cool, but I wish the whole show was like the first couple of episodes. A bunch of crazy shit happens and it's great.

Just a note: Weeaboo Shogun is a moment away from releasing the final EP of Super Rescue Solbrain, marking another Metal Hero show in the can!

Awesome news about that.

Kyoudai Ken Bycrosser Episode 1: I tend to love the other Toku shows by Ishinomori so I decided to watch it. This was awesome, love the aspect of Brothers getting powers and fighting together, especially with how close I am with my own brother. Intriguing how they were destined for this. Doctor Q is an interesting villain and at least they have a reason to attack kids all the time here. The action was awesome and I love the Motorcycle Cannon. I can't wait for more.


Megabeast Investigator Juspion Episode 2: Damn this was so much better than the first episode. Rather than being all over the place it had a consistent plot and pace to it. It reminded me a bit of Doctor Who with the exploration of the Ghost ship and the Ice planet. Even the bad guys reminded me vaguely of Doctor Who. Which is good because combining something like Doctor Who with Kamen Rider and Super Sentai creates something really fun. I felt bad for the survivor of Planet Peace with what happened to the planet. Juspion is fantastic, I love his energy and his easy going personality with his sense of justice is awesome. Miya is adorable and so cute. Anri is a fun character to play off Juspion. Well I can't wait for more.

Kyoudai Ken Bycrosser Episode 2: This show is awesome. Has the right elements of everything. I am intrigued with Doctor Q and that his diamonds got turned into rocks, also the actor just brings such terror to his performance. Ken and Gin are awesome, I love how they actually have to deal with having powers and living with their parents; since most of the Toku heroes I've seen don't really deal with that. Also, intriguing that some of the powers slip into their normal forms with how Ken broke the faucet accidentally. The action is great and I love the suits and their weapons. Can't wait for more.

UltraMan Tiga Episode 3: Really loved seeing more about the Captain this episode and the Kilie. The Kilie were definitely insane for just being pissed off that Tiga came in later than them. Loved Daigo helping everyone escape and then using his power to rescue the Captain was freaking amazing. The action is freaking awesome that was an intense fight and I love Tiga's form changes.

MegaBeast Investigator Juspion Episode 3: This was freaking brilliant. Still continues to feel like a Doctor Who Toku show. I loved learning more about Juspion's past and that he was very similar to the kid. Also loved, that he fought against the government of the planet to help the Megabeast and that he did his best to save the monster against Satan Gorth's powers. Such a fun show right now and can't wait to meet Mad Gallant next episode.

Kyoudai Ken Bycrosser Episode 3: Another fun episode. This was a sticky situation they were in especially their mom. I enjoyed learning more about Ken and his college; that he is in school for engineering makes sense why he is always building models. Also that he made the solvent for the glue was great too. Gin was fun too especially with Akemi. The battles were awesome, I love their tag team combat. Also, I love that they have powers outside of their armor too. Doctor Q and Sylvia are an interesting pair of villains and they are going to get tired of Bycrosser more and more as this moves on in the series. I can't wait for more.

Kyoudai Ken Bycrosser Episode 4: I am just loving this show. This was a lot of fun especially when Ginjiro took the power sprouts and just went Tarzan crazy all over the place. Ken is definitely the calm one and Gin is more the spunky one. Love both of them so far though. I am glad that Doctor Q got another diamond that didn't get destroyed because this was tied more to the kid than the Monster. Great battles once again this was awesome to watch. I easily get lost in this show it's great. There is just something very enjoyable about all the characters that makes it so much fun and I can't wait for more.

UltraMan Tiga Episode 4: Definitely enjoyable, I loved Shinjoh coming up with the plan to defeat the tough monster by getting through to the crew trapped inside it. Definitely another one of those good moral situations that UltraMan does well. Felt bad for the astronauts though, they survived but couldn't go back to their families so that felt heartbreaking honestly. I am enjoying the supporting cast right now.

So I decided to start watching the original show tonight and I have to say that I am quite impressed so far. The four episodes I've watched have been highly entertaining. In fact, if I didn't have to work tomorrow I would still be watching it. Anyway, what is up with the Science Divisions's uniforms? They can afford to have these advanced weapons and vehicles, but they can't afford more than one pair of clothing? Or did the zippered uniforms that go over their regular uniforms take up their entire budget? Hell, Fuji went "on vacation" but was still wearing her uniform. What the hell man? They're also pretty ugly as hell. Oh, and I already don't like Hoshino. Why is there a kid hanging out with the group?

I do have to laugh because the commander is the same guy who plays Tachibana in the original Kamen Rider series and I'm pretty sure he has the exact same pipe in both series.

The effects a good, like really good. Way better than they should be for a 1966 TV show. I mean, yes, I know this was done by Eiji Tsuburaya, but come on, this is a TV show from the 60s. :D Then again, the effects in Ultraseven were spectacular from what I recall, so I guess that shouldn't be a surprise. Of the four episodes though, my favorite monster is easily Baltan. I think that has to with him being intelligent, but I also thought that episode was phenomenally written, so it could be that. I did get a laugh out of the reused Baragon suit in the third episode and the Not-Gill Man was cool looking. By the way, is it just me, or does it seem like Ultraman is trying to rape those monsters rather than fight them? o_O :lol:

Right now my only complaint is that there hasn't been a shred of character development. I know it's only been four episodes, but usually by now in a Toku series someone would have learned a lesson or something. Anyway, good stuff so far regardless of the negatives.

Oh good some one else posted I was getting worried I would take up a page with editing my last post.

Anyways:

MegaBeast Investigator Juspion Episode 5: Juspion continues to be well done right now. I enjoyed both Juspion and Mad Gallant learning more about Earth's culture and people for different reasons. This reminds me of UltraMan Orb so far with them being like Gai and Juggler (Who might have been inspired from Juspion). Mad Gallant is just cruel, crafty, and cunning; making him a fantastic villain so far. I was a bit disappointed that he is staying on Earth because I love the intergalactic travel aspect but his main goal is to stop Satan Gorth and the MegaBeasts so if they are staying on Earth; no point in leaving. At least it makes sense story-wise. These freaking kids were assholes to Satomi, I mean they had no right to bully her like that at all. Sheesh, they were ridiculously horrible I mean picking on her and destroying the groceries was uncalled for, I mean even if she was a liar that's way too nasty. Though, it made total sense why Mad Gallant could manipulate her though. Loved Juspion's effort to save her and try to help her, even if it took throwing his sword at the flute. I do love the Daileon vs MegaBeast fights in the series they are much better than some Super Sentai fights. I can't wait for more.

Kyoudai Ken Bycrosser Episode 6: Interesting to see the main villain out for a stroll around the city. It was a nice touch and lead to a very nasty plan from him. Loved the Bycrossers figuring out that they were stuffed animals and not the animals turned into stuffed animals. Great heroics in saving the pets before they were incinerated and great battle against the Blinding monster. I love how the enemies try to stop Gin from getting to his motorcycle, at least they put an effort into it. Very entertaining and I can't wait for more.

UltraMan Tiga Episode 5: Solid episode, the GUTS team works really well together and I liked seeing the member Rena prove herself being successful with the crane after failing with it. Daigo is reminding me a lot of Hayata so far; not much too him yet but he is always positive and helpful so far. I feel that the show is slow right now and not much into the characters but I will keep pushing through. Though, I am excited for more.

UltraMan Tiga Episode 6: Good episode for Horii and Rena. Those two are slowly becoming my favorite of the support cast along with the Captain. Horii determination to try to communicate with the monster was fantastic. That he wanted to try and help the monster was great. Though the monster turned out to just want to eat everything didn't help it. Daigo was kick ass as Tiga though a great battle that turned into a air fight was awesome. I think the show is turning the corner I definitely hope to learn more about Daigo's character though. I can't wait to see more.

MegaBeast Investigator Juspion Episode 6: This got more interesting learning about Mad Gallant and being Satan Gorth's son. Also Boomerang was pretty awesome I can't wait to learn more about him. Juspion was great again fighting to save the baby monster from Mad Gallant and saving the monster's parent from Gorth's power too. It was awesome action and good story. I love Juspion right now. Can't wait for more.

MegaBeast Investigator Juspion Episode 7: This was awesome. It was great learning more about why the MegaBeast Empire is doing what they are doing. Juspion was heroic and awesome like always, but it was also fun to see him play video games in the arcade too. The battle in the ring was awesome and so was the battle against the Rock Gorillia too. Boomerang vs Juspion was amazing too. I want to learn more about Boomerang he seems very intriguing. I loved him calling out Satan Gorth at the end showing such determination against this foe was awesome.

Finished Ultraman today.

Kyoudai Ken Bycrosser Episode 7: This was a great episode for Ken. Showing how much he cares about his brother and determined he was to find a cure for the poison. Also a good plan by Doctor Q to focus on taking out the Bycrossers instead of going after the kids. Also, good determination for Ginjiro who after being near death from poison just jets into action when the kid was in danger. These two are both awesome and I love so much about this show right now. I can't wait for more.

So we just finished watching episode 16 of Orb and it's been really great thus far, although, I could have done without the clipshow (thank the gods I was able to skip to the next episode since there was no reason to watch something recapping what I just spent the last several hours before it watching). I really love his Hurricane form, but I think my favorite is the Belial/Zoffy one. He is just a total badass when he goes all Man of Steel on his enemies. :D

I wasn't a fan of the SSP initially, but they have grown on me significantly since the first episode. In fact, it seemed like once the show moved past their antics of being storm chasers every episode they got much better. My favorite episode is probably the one in the forbidden forest but my favorite scene is when the psychic girl is sitting next to Gai and calls him out as being Orb. That was freaking hilarious.

On the other hand, I was kind of disappointed that Metron just disappeared while Don Nostra and the other dude were just killed without accomplishing anything. We never even got to watch them fight Orb. The little dig Metron makes about having to cancel the cigarette plot was down right hilarious though and I loved it when they were all playing cards.

Speaking of cards, the gimmick is cool, but weren't these cards also the gimmick in X? I remember the X movie I saw a few week's ago using those very cards that the alien scientist dude created.

Lastly, the effects in this show are really impressive. The miniatures are spectacular looking and there have been some truly great camera angles. Overall, I'm really impressed with this show and it seems to have been an excellent choice to get my g/f into the franchise as she is really enjoying it to, maybe even more than I am.

It's not that bad; X had three clip shows.

I'm having trouble remembering clearly, but I think X was still using the little monster dolls from Ginga, not cards.

Yeah, Orb's effects are pretty damn great.

X had cards, but they were different from the ones in Orb.

The dolls were just used as a means of miniaturising the monsters, not transforming.

Hold up, 3 clip shows for only a 25 episode show? That's excessive, but at least it brings my viewing down to 22 episodes. Do you know which ones are the clipshows?

Tsubaraya was still having some budget limitations with X. It's not as obvious as with Ginga of Ginga S, but the multiple clip shows were a way to save money. I don't remember the numbers off-hand, but I know the last one was either right before the finale or a bonus episode after it.

Looks like Crunchyroll has them filed under 7.5 and 14.5, but they don't have a third one listed. At least I already know two episodes I can skip.

We just finished watching Orb. Overall, it was a great series. The last 9 episodes were highly enjoyable, especially the Black Star Coffee one. That was just great. I couldn't help but laugh my ass off when the alien dude says, "Monsters today are way too busy looking."

I'm not sure I buy the whole thing about Natasha being Naomi's great great grandma though as Naomi looked way too Japanese to be part European. Hell, her mother didn't even look remotely European either.

My favorite monster though was probably the samurai ghost thing.

The ending was great and I'm really surprised at how story driven this show was. Then again, I'm also amazed that it was only 25 episodes when these shows are normally 40-50-ish, so that also must have helped with how much story there was as had it been the normaly 50 episodes half of the show probably would have been just random battles.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I really loved the fight against Metron. I was waiting for him to say something like, "This feels nostalgic."

In the end, it was a solid series all of the way through and I will be buying it on BD if Crunchyroll ever releases it.

EDIT:

I watched the first four episodes of UltraSeven today. It's been a good ten years since I watched this show so it was a lot different than I remember. They were still good, but the first few episodes to this series were always slow moving no matter how many times I watched them. The Capsule Monsters are such a weird concept but I like the UltraSeven can also be human size.

Shout!'s DVD quality seems to be hit or miss. The video looks pretty good for the most part (although not as good as Bandai's REgion 2 DVDs I owned), but the audio is kind of annoying. Every time a character talks there is this hissing sound and sometimes the audio looks out of synch. Once again, I don't remember it being like this on the R2 DVD. The translations on the subs are also off a bit as a character will make a grunt sound but the subs will say, "As you say Captain!" or something like that. The timing is weird as there have been a couple of places where the subs went away before I could finish the line. It wasn't horrible, but three times in four episodes is way too many. What they really needed to do was spread out their sentences a little bit more.

UltraMan Tiga Episode 7: Enjoyable episode learning more about Rena's history. It was interesting to see her relationship with her Father but also that deep down she wanted to save him too. Rena's getting more focus than Daigo has so far lol. The Invader was an asshole trying to be all avenge his comrades but was going to attack the station anyways so the Earth guys did the right move. I am enjoying this series right now, reminding me a lot of the original series right now. Like always I can't wait for more.

So I just finished the second disc and the episodes have all been pretty enjoyable thus far. In fact, I'm not sure I have actually seen most of the ones on this disc. I could have sworn I owned the R2 DVD with the first half of these episodes on it, but maybe I am wrong and I only owned the first two volumes. Anyway, the King Joe two parter was down right exceptional and I loved the one in the fourth dimension. Oh, and the monster that was able to take on Seven's attacks was pretty badass.

On the other hand, oh my ****ing god these subtitles are atrocious! They translated Ultra Garrison into Utra Guard and the episode titles are different on the subtitles than how they are in the booklet the set came with. Plus, as I said, the translations are screwed up. There was one moment where Dan is talking to the commander and he says "Hai," meaning, "Yes," but the subtitles said, "As you command, captain." WHAT THE HELL??!! Are these dubtitled? Did Shout! even translate these episodes themselves or did the licensor just give them a subtitle track and told them to use it without question?

UltraMan Tiga Episode 8: Yay finally a Daigo focus episode and this was a fun one. A Halloween episode that was a nice mix of sci-fi and horror lol. The witch sucking kids dreams being an alien was interesting. Also, Daigo getting trapped by the witch was good to see his determination to fight to grab the transformation item. I just loved Daigo's fun nature in the beginning being with the kids and trying to get candy. He has a fun spirit and wants to save everyone a good mix. Rena was fun and so was everyone in their costumes, especially the captain wanting them to dress up for Halloween. The night battle was freaking awesome, Tiga lit up the night amazingly. I can't wait for more.

So we watched the first 5 episodes of Ultraman X just now and I have mixed feelings towards it. Is this series meant to be a sequel to Ginga? If not, it feels like it. The biggest annoyance I have though is the audio mixing is atrocious. It sounds like the dialog is coming out of a garbage can. I had to turn my volume way up to hear the dialog, which has made the sound effects extremely loud. I'm surprising the cops didn't come by for noise ordinance. :D The characters are not bad, but they aren't anything special either. I also find Daichi to just be a boring protagonist right now. Oh, and the cars and connect to highly advanced vehicles is kind of silly. That aside though, the miniatures and camera shots have been quite good and I have enjoyed the fight choreography. The fifth episode was really well done too.

How exactly does X feel like a sequel to Ginga? :confused: Even with the reappearance of Spark Dolls, the opening is about as standalone as it gets.

Juspion Episode 9: Okay lol I accidentally skipped over Episode 8 woops. I'll watch that next. Anyways this was a good episode really feeling sad that Juspion couldn't save the Tree spirit. Though it was good that he couldn't save every MegaBeast that Satan Gorth turns evil just makes it more important that he stops the MegaBeast Empire sooner. Mad Gallant is just delightfully evil just watching Juspion and making something he wanted to save into something evil. I am glad some show made use of Pollen because an allergy wave like that would be quite devastating. Love the use of Juspion exiting the Daileon for the Garbin to help fight just showing how resourceful he is. Boomerang is intriguing I hope to learn more with him though he seems quite capable of battling an armored Mad Gallant himself. I love that he is fun-spirited and kind-hearted most of the time but when there is danger and evil around he takes the battling seriously. I can't wait for more.

I don't know. I haven't watched Ginga yet. However, it is the way they talked that got me confused. They said, "Hey, he was previously sealed away by the warrior or light." As such, I wasn't sure if that was the case. Not to mention they didn't even explain why they have an alien working for them.

Ginga and X aren't directly related, but Ginga and Victory do show up for a two-part crossover with X about halfway through its run.

We watched episodes 6-10 of X tonight. Well, we skipped that stupid 7.5 recap episode (at least they told us it was going to be a clip show so I didn't have to click on it and find out). These episodes were pretty good. The Gorgon monster's design was wicked and it was an enjoyable two parter. The one with Max rocked and the plant episode was interesting, however, the star of the episodes we watched was hands down the ninth episode. I do not care about sports one bit, but holy **** that episode was freaking fantastic. The comedy was spot on, the aliens were great, and the episode was just so damn entertaining. This is easily the best episode of the show thus far. In fact, the trio of aliens reminded me of the Three Idiots from Dairanger. I hope they return again because the episode seemed to end a tad abruptly without any sort of goodbye said between Isamu and the trio.

Oh, and it seems like they fixed their sound editing, so I'm not sure if it was the show itself or just a glitch with Crunchyroll last night, but I didn't have any issues this time.

Juspion Episode 8: Alright so apparently I skipped the episode I wanted to see lol. This explains Boomerang's past and wanting to avenge his brother is a good purpose. Also him helping the two that were coerced into joining Mad Gallant was great too. Mad Gallant I am loving as a villain right now so cunning and deceptive. Also, Juspion being more serious and getting the answers out of Boomerang as well as keeping with his mission. Great battle as well, I love the Daileon and it's battles; especially with uppercuts and throws in this one. I can't wait for more.

Bycrosser Episode 8: Man Doctor Q is just plain evil. He knows exactly how to strike at kids with taking away sweets that would definitely do it. Also, Draculus was a very awesome looking monster of the week. These plans would be craftier if the henchmen weren't so bumbling at times. Though the villains are at a disadvantage with the Bycrossers' telepathy helping them. Ken and Gin were both fun as them and their mother dreaded their cousin's crying lol. I love how both of them are goofballs at times but are actually level headed protectors in combat. The battles were awesome, I just love their techniques, weaponry, and gadgets; also I love how they always try to stop Gin from reaching the Motorcycle to do their ultimate attack and it doesn't work for them. Really enjoyable and fun right now and can't wait for more.

I watched episodes 18-23 of Ultra Seven today and those were some really damn good episodes.

The one that took place on an interdimensional island and one that felt like a horror movie plot were incredible episodes. The battleship episode was pretty badass too and Iron Rock was an interesting concept for a monster. I also liked the one with this cranky professor despite the monster of the episode clearly being made on their budget. My least favorite is probably this one about a human farm because they never actually finished the conflict on screen. It kind of just stopped and they never said what happened. The last episode I watched, which featured a fortune teller was quite enjoyable. Ultra Seven loves decapitation. :)

The subtitles are still bad, perhaps even worse with lines being repeated in the subs (clearly by mistake), lines that are just flat out mistranslated and have the wrong names in them, and now Ultra Guard is being called The Ultra Squad. I just don't get how or why they would change their name halfway through. This is work I'd expect from a Hong Kong bootleg, NOT an official company! No wonder people were worried about Shout! when they first announced Zyuranger. I hope they release this show on BD soon and fix their subtitles. :eek:

Bycrosser Episode 9: This episode was fantastic. I loved them actually showing parts of Kamen Rider and V3 in the series, but damn Destar is dastardly by using Kamen Rider for evil! Scaring kids in their dreams was definitely another good plot, I swear Rita was watching Doctor Q's work in Power Rangers lol. Gin got more of the focus here and had good instincts to try and follow the guy who was hiding around them. Also, thinking that the videos were a plot to be used against the children. Also, it seems that the Bycrossers slowly try to figure out why they are recording children's screams too and that's good showing progress till we get to them figuring out Destar's plans. Those Grim Reaper images were really creepy. The battles were fantastic and I love their weapons in battle here. My only problem so far with this is minor and it's the use of recycled footage of always using the same entering the battle scene in their vehicles and finding out there is danger in the room. Now granted I know it's just how the times were so I've gotten used to it. Besides, I like seeing how they use the Blazer Cannon and how the background totally makes no sense with it lol. I can't wait for more of the badass brothers.

Okay, watched a few things today:

Ultraman X 11-14 - Those were a really good batch of episodes. The two parter with Ginga and Victory were really entertaining and the skull knight looking dude's design was so badass. I also loved watching X battle King Joe even though he seemed to be a lot weaker than he was in Seven. The CGI was mediocre for his four ships. Unfortunately, Daichi still hasn't done anything to make me like him as a character. It seems like he is pretty much like Hayata was in the original, there to be a reason for Ultraman to exist. Only difference is, Hayata had an excuse to be a bland character since it was the first time a show like that had ever been done. Here, there is no excuse.

UltraSeven 24 and 25 - These episodes weren't bad, but frustrating. In 24 we have a scene where Furuhashi is stuck on a plane on a crash course with a passenger plane. He sets the plane's self detontation for 3600 seconds, which is supposed to detonate before it would crash with the other plane. However, he just barely misses the other plane at the end of the episode because Seven destroyed the controlling device and has 30 seconds left. WTF? If Seven didn't destroy that device he would have crashed into the other plane BEFORE his blew up. Not to mention they told Furuhashi would crash into the plane in 20 minutes and it sure as hell took Seven a lot longer than 20 minutes to defeat the badguys. The next episode made a little more sense, but not too much when these aliens are trying to bring about a third ice age to Earth. I loved watching the scenes in the snow, but I swear that the Ultra Garrison commander cranked up the stupid. "Abandoning this base is the same as abandoning the Earth. Therefore, we will not leave this base even if we die in the process." THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!?

This week I started giving Gavan another shot, after giving up on it not even halfway as it was being subbed.

I'm enjoying it more. It's a bit of a change from Sentai/Rider/Ultraman/Garo for me. All I knew of Gavan before was him showing up in Gokaiger vs Gavan, the movie that followed and Type-G's appearance in Go-Busters, so it's surreal to see a younger Kenji Ohba in the role for me. I think he's one of those guys that ageing is one of the best things to happen to him, and he's just as into it as he was back then.

Like I say, liking the show so far, and that it's VERY episodic means I can watch as much or as little as I want right now, without thinking "I can't stop here, something just happened!"

Well we just finished Ultraman X and that was an average finale for what was an average series. Spoilers will be involved.

Ep 15 - Kamiki is a terrible father! That is all.

Ep 16 - Oh god, a found footage-esque episode. WHat is this, COPS? Good guy, STOP SHAKING THE CAMERA!! Wait, did they just break the documentary style to show of the toy sale gimmick for the 100th time? Just an all around terrible episode and the worst of the series. ALthough, the scene when Kamiki interrogates the alien dude was hilarious.

Ep 17 - What would an Ultraman series be without the original Pokemon? It was a touching episode.

Ep 18 - The scene where Rui kept correcting people into calling the monster Mu-Chan to the point that everyone corrects Daichi was hilarious. A childish episode, but a funny one. Poor Wataru. His window antics were great.

Ep 19 - Gomora, Man's Best Friend! Another solid episode here, but what was up with the space monkey?

Ep 20 - Oh cool, Nexus. Boy this episode seemed extremely rushed. This should have been at least a 2 parter becasue Tachibana turning into Nexus just comes out of the blue, she quits, but then why is she still there like nothing happened? Oh, now she says she really should quit annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd Nexus is gone. What the hell was that all about? What was the purpose of Nexus here when he didn't actually do anything? Once again, why the hell was this not a multi-part episode? Hell, this could have easily been a three parter with how much happened here.

Ep 21 - Okay, Greeza is freaking awesome. I love the way he moves. "Oh god dammit, I hate it when lag occurs as it makes it so hard to hit the enemy."

Ep 22 - That's it? Where was the resolution? They never even learned what the source of the dark lightning was. There was no climax to Daichi's quest to find his parents. He didn't even use the Nexus card he got two episodes ago. What was the point of Space Kong?

Overall, like I said, it was an average series. For being 22 episodes (well 24 if you count the two clipshows that were deemed .5) there was just way too much filler and nothing ever felt like there was any major plot thread. The space monkey dude was pointless as he didn't bring anything to the table. Also, Daichi was such a bland character. He barely had any character growth whatsoever and his search for his parents never had an resolution. The same goes for X himself who was there just because it's called Ultraman. Of course, it's not like the rest of the characters were any better.

Thankfully, the show made up for its negatives with a lot of really fun and entertaining episodes. The miniatures were outstanding and the camera work was quite impressive. My favorite episode was the rugby one with the aliens and nothing throughout the rest of the series was able to top it. It's a shame we never got to see them return either as that would have been cool. Then again, this show seems to be full of missed opportunities.

In the end it is easily the weakest of the Ultraman series I have seen. Granted, that isn't many, but all the same. Our next series is going to be Ginga while I finish up UltraSeven on my own.

The space monkey is M1, a character all the way back from Ultra Q. I assume his inclusion is supposed to make a lot more sense if you're familiar with his episode from there.

But then I thought his inclusion in the show was fine as it was, so different strokes I guess.

Yeah, I found his character to be absolutely pointless. He didn't do anything. The plot could have easily worked without him and just had X knocked down and it would have had the same effect.

UltraMan Tiga Episode 9: This was an intriguing episode. I enjoyed seeing more of Daigo's past and seeing his childhood. Though it was more interesting seeing this ancient long-lived woman from Daigo's childhood and earlier. I liked that they didn't have to kill the monster and it was just a small misunderstanding. The team was great and the battle was good too.