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

Wait what. Y-You guys have a secret base? For real??? THAT'S F***ING AWESOME!!! Seriously Tsuburaya, these guys need their own show, or a comic, or something. Give em' another movie and call it Revenge of the Revenge of Belial: Vengeance for all I care, just do SOMETHING!

Er, um, at any rate, I've finally finished my epic quest to watch everything Ultraman Zero was in with Ultra Zero Fight. Very surprised by how much fun it was. Once again, I can't stress enough how much more likable Zero became after his debut, and it even comes full circle here with him looking out for the literal little guy again, except here he's way more openly nice about it. Good stuff. I also really enjoyed the part where Belial violently murders all of Zero's friends. I know that sounds like a horrible thing to say, but my point is that it's amazing what the censors will let you get away with when your characters don't bleed actual blood. Zero's subsequent Superman: The Movie-ing of everyone back to life also prevents traumatizing the kiddies too much, so everybody wins!

All in all I had a real good time with it. I'll also never say no to more Ultimate Force Zero, so there's that.

And just to bring things truly full circle, I went ahead and rewatched episode 5 of Ultraman X, which was actually my first exposure to the character. It's nice to be able to appreciate the little things like that piece of background music from Revenge of Belial following him around even years later (further proving my point about that movie being his "real" debut). Back when I first saw him here, even though I never hated him, Zero definitely rubbed me the wrong way, but I can definitely confirm my newfound appreciation of the character isn't some fluke, because this time around I thought he was great! It was always a super fun episode (and I mean, it's X, how could it not be?), but it's even more fun when you actually care about both of the heroes.

It's really cool to finally be able to say I like Zero now. That's thanks largely to Geed itself, but starring in some very cool movies certainly helped a whole lot. He's actually an awesome guy and an Ultra Warrior I'd be more than happy to have protecting-

https://i.imgur.com/E1cJO90.png

Oh. Well crap...

So decided to test my luck on the Armored Darkness Gaiden of Mebius, jeez too bad there isn't a proper translation, luckily I had an idea of what was going on but yeah. Best highlight was probably seeing Mebius Phoenix Brave in action and fighting compared to the beam attack it used in the finale. Such a good form.

Next I decided to move onto the Mega Monster Battle Series, very fun with the subs up until Episode 13 of the first series, jeez that finale was very crabsticks in the subs department. And then NEO was passable in it's subs at most. But the entire idea of Mega Monster Battle and NEO clicked with me, also it had my boy Gomora in it so I thoroughly enjoyed that. Also the fact that the second season was essentially Pokemon but with Kaiju with planet hammer and that tournament that was going on.

Looking through the list of stuff involving Mebius and Zero though, looks like Ghost Reverse is next so I'll check that out.

TV-N's got the Orb movie out now so I finally got to watch that.

I more or less agree with everything ZeoRangerV said a bit back in the thread, but I also find myself not caring too much? I had a ton of fun with this one. If the X movie was a party, this movie is hanging out with a few close friends.

Note that I didn't say "merely" hanging out with friends, though. I think for as much as the relatively low-key style is a weakness, it also makes it far more authentically Orb than if it were another crazy, all-out action kind of Ultraman film. Orb the series had a very particular, unique style and Orb the movie matches it perfectly. The way the humor is casually mixed into the drama especially, but you even get some of that borderline avant-garde flair I love so much. When that ad for the Blu-ray that's always part of the commercial breaks on Tsuburaya's Youtube uploads of Geed kept mentioning people in the theater cheering on the Ultra heroes, I never once considered the possibility there was a straight up, impromptu audience participation segment in there. Without even breaking the fourth wall. That's the kind of outside the box thinking you'd only get from Orb.

The cast from the show is just as great as always, too, and the returning Ultras are all okay. Daichi and Gai start to develop some great chemistry the second they meet, but unfortunately that just makes it all the more frustrating them teaming up isn't the focus of the film. Outside of that, Zero shows up at the beginning to kick-start the plot, Ginga and Victory... get to be there, and most surprisingly of all, Seven ex machina! I don't know, I guess his son told him what's up, but they never set that up or mentioned it after the fact. Who cares, anyway? Ultra Seven is an absolute legend with a big anniversary to celebrate, so if he wants to be in this movie, I'm not complaining.

Overall, while I can't argue the whole thing feeling inconsequential, I can argue that's not as damning as it might sound. At this point it's pretty much a hard rule for me that "More Orb" = "Never a bad thing".

So in following Fish Sandwich's footsteps I've started to watch all the stuff Zero was in, really surprised they never tried to give him his own show considering how much he shows up.

Originally I had started up Mebius and subsequently Mega Monster Battle with the intention of using those two as bracing material as they are relevant to the Zero Movie stuff. But what turned from a thing to watch to get some context made me enjoy both series equally and I can definitely say I'm loving Ultraman a lot and I plan on watching more and more, as much as I can anyway.

Ghost Reverse - The last Mebius focused material, this actually looked and felt pretty cool. It's a fun little thing that helps set up the next entry, not necessary but it's fun to see them reference it in the other movie. Also EX Zetton? I wish I found out about this sooner.

Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend the Movie - Man we've come a long way since the gold curtain backdrop of the Land of Light in Mebius haven't we? I know it sort of started in Ghost Reverse but it's really cool to see the Land of Light as an actual place and not just some weird gold curtain effect. I also like how this felt like a really big movie, not as Cinematic as the Mebius Movie, but this definitely has a budget and it shows.

Especially with the cast from Mega Monster Battle in there, considering that series didn't have much in the way of budget, seeing them with an actual budget this time was really cool. Another thing this movie does which interests me is we don't really have a clear cut protagonist, yeah sure you could say Zero is the one but we mostly follow Rei and Mirai in this movie. It's definitely weird in structure but overall it's just a fun spectacle movie that introduces two big main stays to the franchise in the forms of Belial and Zero.

Ultraman Zero Vs. Darclops Zero - It's a thing, just a fun adventure with Rei, Boss, and Zero basically, oh and some Leo action, nice to see he has a cape too. Though it's mostly just a kind of nudge special, as in. "Why did someone make a robot of Zero? Who even made it? Oh apparently Belial is a Kaiser now?" at least that's what the second part does which is what it's supposed to do in the end I guess. Still having seen Zero in action in X, it's nice to see how limited he was when he first appeared.

Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial - Oh man this movie is gorgeous! Very nice eye candy and a fun space adventure story as well. It's nice to see a movie where Zero is actually the main character, since the first one he debuted in he was kind of part of the characters that went to stop Belial, in the Darclops Zero, he's mostly in the background just fighting, and despite having a big beef with his robotic counterpart it really didn't seem much like his special because it was split with Rei and Boss from Mega Monster Battle.

But yeah overall fun movie, it's also nice to see where Ultimate Zero comes from, that's a really cool way to get a power up. Plus I like all these giants that just team up and tag along with Zero at the end. And now with me having seen Noa in a cameo my intrigue for Nexus continues to grow because I know he has something to do in that. But Nexus can wait for another time, I've still got a couple of more movies and specials to watch.

Mebius is a pretty amazing show, just throwing that out there. Anyhow, just watched episode 41, which was a big tribute to 80. Even though I've never watched or know anything about the latter show, the episode still somehow managed to instill a sense of fond nostalgia and warmth in me.

This right here! This is the magic of Mebius! It makes you fondly remember shows you haven't even seen! That's what really makes it such a perfect tribute to the franchise. It was made with so much clear passion and genuine love for the older shows that even if you don't personally care about them the same way, you can still connect with it just as much.

So I'll probably just wrap up my thoughts on the other Zero stuff quickly since I just finished them all and they were all enjoyable but...

Killer the Beat Star definitely is the better out of the two Gaiden's for Zero, I don't know there just felt like a lot more going for Beat Star compared to Darkclop's, if only because you not only had Rei and Boss but also most of the guys from Revenge of Belial, it was a more filled out cast, not to mention Jean-Nine is pretty cool, not sure if I can get over that laser placement though.

Ultraman Saga is definitely an interesting one, having an idol group as the main group of characters was interesting aside from our main three heroes. Not to mention I got a kick out of their machines transforming into robots. Dyna was cool to see again though he took a back seat for Taiga, Zero and Cosmos.

Cosmos was actually really cool, I dig his fighting style and the way he described where he was from sounds amazing. Also it's nice to see hotheaded Zero clash with stubborn idiotic Taiga, the way Taiga just denies him the transformation at first was a hilarious scene. Also I love the fact that Zetton was the main antagonist, well I mean there was Alien Bat but in terms of who actually fought.

Also Ultraman Saga himself is an interesting design and continuing my thoughts about Fusion Ultra's... it feels weird how Orb and Geed treat fusing as a normal thing for them compared to other Fusions like Mebius Phoenix Brave or Saga which are these big events.

And finally Ultra Zero Fight, oh man that first half was fun, it's nice to see there was semi-consequences for the Saga fusion, in that Zero now had two new forms. I also appreciate how with Ultraman, at least the earlier ones, a form change is literally a color swapped suit. It's different and I like that.

That being said I wasn't ready for the depression train to hit as soon as Part II started to kick up, I was literally yelling, "THIS IS NOT OKAY" during most of the second half. That being said, I've finally finished all of Ultraman Zero's stuff, aside from the cameos he does in other series but I'm ready for Geed now... but probably tomorrow.

I love that everyone says this after watching that episode. Mebius is so good.

Passion is a good word to describe Mebius as a whole, yeah. I finished the final episodes and now I've found myself with an ultra-sized hole in my heart. I'm probably going to be delving head-first into this franchise here on out, probably starting with 80 since that one episode did make me interested in the first place.

So in my rush to get to the stuff Zero was in, I actually completely forgot I meant to watch Super Ultra 8 Brothers as a sort of lead-in. Or Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers. Or 大決戦！超ウルトラ８兄弟, to be as accurate as possible. Seriously, these names get confusing. I'll get to that one in a second but as a lead-in to what is now a lead-out, I rewatched Ultraman Mebius & Ultra Brothers. Still a pretty darn good flick. A lot of what I said about Saga applies here too. Not an awesome space epic, but has tons of heart to compensate. And it's about Mebius, which automatically makes it way cooler. It's a very well done tribute to the franchise.

Ultra 8 Brothers, on the other hand, is, to recycle my thoughts on yet another Zero movie:

WOW

What a film. Take everything I just said about Saga and the Mebius movie, multiply it by two, and you have my thoughts on this one. It's pretty much the exact opposite of epic, but it's insanely great as a love letter to all things Ultraman. The entire plot has this very obviously meta dimension to it with a message that is pretty squarely aimed not at the children watching, but at the adults who watched Ultraman as children. It's kind of a crazy idea and if done poorly it could border on self-indulgent, but it works great here. I said about Saga that Keiichi Hasegawa clearly cares about the franchise, but I didn't realize just how right I was about that. Not only is the entire film basically telling you liking Ultraman makes you awesome, it's doing so with tons of references to older stuff bolstered by a frankly astonishing amount of returning actors, in roles both major and minor, adding legitimacy to everything.

I don't know, it's kind of weird movie, because even though on the surface it's just alright, I was extremely satisfied by it. How do I put it? Oh I know! Check out this shot (that's actually recycled from the Mebius movie but shhh):

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

It's just some Ultramen standing around, right? It should be boring. But take a closer look, and you realize, they're *standing* there. They look awesome, and triumphant, and heroic, and a bunch of other words. There's not that much to it, and yet there's everything to it. That's the kind of feeling this movie has, and I'm actually glad I ended up saving it until the end of this little journey of mine. I'm definitely not burned out on Ultraman, but I'm probably done playing catch up for at least a bit, and this makes a great place to take a break.

This image is probably a little more relevant.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FAKjPiDf7...0/ultramen.jpg

That's actually way better, yeah. :lol

I LOVE that movie. I love the alternate takes on Daigo, Shin, and Gamu and loved the theme song V6 sang. Overall it felt like a nice tribute to the 3 Ultras of the 90s(Tiga, Dyna, Gaia). It was also a nice little film for Shin/Dyna's actor Takeshi Tsuruno at the time as he had a boost in popularity from appearing on Hexagon II.

Yeah, the Ultra 8 Brothers movie was fantastic. It came out at a time when it felt like the 90s Ultras were really getting overlooked while the Showa dudes were getting tons of love and it really did some great stuff with them. Seeing so many original actors from all of the different shows was really nice, too.

Yeah, and considering Nagano who played Daigo was probably more preoccupied with his boyband career as part of V6, after Tiga ended I thought a comeback would be some alternate reality talk until this movie. Him reclaiming the role of Daigo AND his band taking over the theme song was a one-two punch of joy to say the least. :rock:

What would be a good ultraman series to start with?

Thanks, I was hoping for it be one of the ones on crunchy roll since it has quite a few of the ultraman series on there.

So sure if this is totally relevant but writer and artist Matt Frank who has done work on several Godzilla comics has recently posted an image of a new project he's working on, one starring a certain Tsuburaya "hero" that has gained a bit of infamy recently.
https://kaijusamurai.deviantart.com/...aser-709494461

Watching the original 1966 show on a whim. It's pretty entertaining, and fun to see where a bunch of famous and classic monsters and cliches originated.

The inner kid at me still cheers when the big red and silver giant shows up to wrestle with the rubber monsters

Do you have a favorite episode?

My favorite is the one with the Mefilas, but I really loved the comedy episode with the monster that was too big for even Ultraman to fight.

I'm still really early in the show's run, so I'll be looking forward to those in particular. So far, the most stand-out one has probably been 10, since that episode's fight was strangely more climatic than most what with the dramatic finish and giving some respect to the fallen monster.

It also helps that Jiras is a Godzilla. :lol

And just finished the 39th and final episode of the original series. I have no idea how I'd feel about it if I weren't already as deeply interested in this franchise as I already am, but it was a real charming show.

Episode 33 was indeed probably the biggest standout, alongside 34 that came after. It was just really funny seeing everyone deal with the super-heavy monster from the sky.

Started watching Ultraseven and already love it. I still think I love the original series more (though I'm only 5 eps in so it's early days) but Seven is a much better show in terms of quality. The scope, the effects - it all feels so much bigger.

Gotta love the fact that despite having a secret identity, aliens seemingly need to only take one look at Dan to know exactly who he is :lol not to mention the fact that in 5 episodes he's already had the Ultra Eye stolen TWICE.

No wonder he's so damn brutal to the enemy.

Is Gaia any good? It's the only Ultra on Netflix I'm not too sure about (live in Europe so no Leo, 80, Mebius or Max)

You should give a try
It's good enough
One of my favourite ultraman besides cosmos

I haven't watched it myself (outside of the very solid first episode), but I feel comfortable saying yes. It's one of those shows I'm always REALLY wanting to get around to. I gather it's basically a fairly serious, slightly more serialized take on Ultraman with the unique twist of a rival Ultraman that Gaia butts heads with. Also the soundtrack is the bomb.

I doubt it's something you'd regret watching.

It is an interesting take. Also Hassei Takano who played Raia in Ryuki and Kamen Rider 2 in The First and The Next is the rival ultra Agul. He was basically Kamen Rider Knight before it was a thing four years after Gaia. Also Hiroyuki Watanabe aka Gaoh from the Den-O movie and GARO dad is the captain if I recall.

I've only seen about half of it, but yeah it was really good. It's got easily the largest support staff of any Ultra show I've ever seen, with dedicated teams for each different vehicle type and/or mission. There is a core cast of characters, though, and they're all pretty likable.

Gaia is good but for some reason I found his grunting noises to be really loud and obnoxious. Usually the Ultra fighting, grunting noises I barely noticed but in Gaia it seemed really obnoxious. Like non-stop, "Raah!! Greeahh! GRUH!! Errr!! AHH!"

However the way the monsters explode is the best in the series. I swear they either timed it perfectly or they slowed the film down or something because there's so many times you can pretty clearly see the monster explode piece by piece as the charges go down through the costume. Some of them are pretty amazing looking. First the eyes explode, then the mouth, neck, shoulders,..all the way down in rapid succession. Very impressive.

Gaias electric ponytail whip move is kind of weird too,..it looks strange. Like a big whip of electricity he flings off the top of his head. But those are my only complaints. The suit design is really good, the story is pretty interesting, and the dynamic between Ultra Gaia and Ultra Agul (the first blue Ultra) is pretty interesting. And there's some cool moments like Gamu jumping out of a ship and turning into Gaia in the air. And it's interesting seeing his learning curve and how to be Gaia, how to fight, etc. Him building and upgrading his own henshin device is also really neat.

There are certainly much worse Ultra series than Gaia.

That said,...It's no Mebius or Max. Sometimes the 'drama' between Gaia and Agul gets a little tiresome. But all in all it's a good series and visually Gaia is very cool looking.

You know, if there was a list of "perfect tokusatsu episodes" I feel like The Targeted Town would have to be on there somewhere.

It just ticks every box.

I have to agree that was a seriously great Ultraseven episode. It had mystery and drama, sci-fi, action,..everything really.

Oh yeah, that episode is actually tied with the King Joe two parter for being my favorite. I think the only thing that would keep it from being better is the poor editing of the fight with Metron. It's gorgeous from a cinematography standpoint, but there seems like there is a scene missing in it. Like the Metron is running away, Seven throws Slugger in the air, and Metron is flying away. Huh? When did he start flying away? That minor nitpick aside, it is a wonderful episode and really highlights some of the best Seven has to offer.

Seeing that episode sure felt weird when you've already seen it's 'sequel' in Max.

wait till you see 'Mr Tambourine Man' in Ginga S. Hahaha

Picture that big Blue/Yellow/Red Alien, now picture him disco-dancing. Hahaha (No I'm not kidding.)

http://ultra.wikia.com/wiki/Jace

That was probably Ginga's best episode.

So I just watched Seven rip a bird's wing/arm right off it's body with his bear hands, and then slit it's throat with his head-knife thing.

What a way to cap off being half-way done with the show (episode 25)

What the fuck I thought Seven X was the edgy one. Jesus

I haven't seen any showa era ultra shows besides Leo but I think here's actually quite a bit of gore in the early stuff. Ace is an entire Ultraman who specializes in literally cutting enemies into pieces, complete with bit of gore, and I think Ultraman Leo kills a monster by ripping out its own horns and using them to jab its eyes out. That's to say nothing of the monster who cuts a kid's dad in half right in front of him...