I'm quite new to the Ultra train (about to finish Ultraman X), so can someone please explain to me what's so funny about U40?
EDIT: Hot damn I just realised that the Ultra in the picture is a BEEFCAKE.

It’s because U40 isn't from the live-action continuity, it's the home planet of Ultraman Joneus from the animated series "The☆Ultraman". They only later made a real suit for Joneus and had him appear in some movies.

So the thing about U40 is that it is niche as hell, with only one Ultraman ever being recognized within the series before and only having very few live action appearances.

Oh okay thanks.
Just searched up "The Ultraman" on Google and hahaha my first impression is that it looks hilarious!

Is it any good it or should I stay the hell away from it?

I liked The☆Ultraman, though it's been a long time. I doubt it has a lot of people proclaiming it's the greatest thing ever, but give it a shot if you feel like.

The☆Ultraman is actually pretty legit. I've always had zero interest in it simply on the grounds that I've always felt Joneus looks, uh, hideous (I'm only slowly coming around), but since Titas turned out to be so awesome I've been watching the episodes Tsuburaya has been uploading to YouTube every week.

The few episodes I've seen so far impressed me with how up to snuff the plots and style are. It's very much a Showa Ultraman series that happens to be animated, so if the thought of seeing the franchise rendered in a different style is appealing to you, it's totally worth at least a look at some point.

So this is a super cool fact about Taiga episode 6
https://ultra-facts.tumblr.com/post/...ultraman-taiga

Yeah, the callbacks to Ultraseven in this episode were cool. Sadeath is pretty much the only thing I remember about the Orb movie (i should rewatch it), so tying this episode into that by having his brother in it was a nice touch as well. I loved the whole scene with Abel and Tregear.

Titas reflecting laser blasts by flexing is great. Titas is great.

Man if Titas proved popular enugh I wouldn't be surprised if the next series will star an U40 Ultra.

Icing on top the U-40 Ultra warrior appears in a toga when moving around as a human. :lolol

Spoilers for the latest Taiga voice-drama ep:

I need a friend like Titas to be my workout partner. He continues to be the most compelling member of the Tri-Squad despite his somewhat limited screentime. Looks like y'all were partly on the money about his origin, and I liked how they referenced the similarity with Geed as well.

It's always nice to see inter-connectivity in the Ultraverse like this, even if it makes zero sense from a continuity standpoint...

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

I got a problem. everytime I see Taiga in that Photon Earth power-up I feel like I am seeing a gigantic GARO. Who designed this, Amemiya's nephew? :lolol

I noticed that I could watch episode 8 last night for some reason. That's cool.

This is also pretty cool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSnO27_R9yY&t=1321s

It has English subtitles and everything.

Subs out for Taiga Voice Drama 9, which starts covering Fuma's backstory.
https://genmcorp.mangadex.com/ultram...oice-drama-09/

So did the subbing groups just drop Ultraman Taiga altogether? ColorTimer stopped and Genm just retweetet their statement without adding anything.

I hate that a show I enjoy this much gets thrown under the bus like that. Why can't Tsuburaya just offer me a service to stream these shows legally for 5 bucks a month or whatever? It worked with Crunchyroll before.

YouTube videos without subtitles and region locked Blu-ray releases really don’t help.

That sucks, part of the reason I lost interest in R/B was due to subs coming in very late, I don't want the same to happen to Taiga as well.

I think this is partly because Taiga will get an official worldwide release in 2020, thus negating the need for fansubs. Still, it sucks that we need to wait a year.

Genm just released episode 09 - I hope they keep going.

I understand the attitude of 'support the official releases' but 'learn Japanese or wait years for a home release you might not even be able to watch' is a bit of a steep price.

If nothing else, there is a way to kinda get english subs on the youtube videos. The videos have official chinese and thai captions, and those captions can then be auto translated into english. The result is very broken but I've been able to at least get a rough idea/outline of the episode plots.

Filming for the series is finished.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S2VCZ8pKO...29718016_n.jpg

It could be anything, but I'm kinda hoping that the Tri Squad would appear hunan sized and interact with EGIS.

Worth noting that episode 10 of Taiga on Youtube has English subtitles now.

It's good stuff. Another episode that acts as a sequel to a showa episode and another episode that ends on a total downer. Boy am I sick of Black King though.

Time to see if they get locked again like the R/B ones :lol

Tried to use the Netflix anime to get into the series. Didn't like it at all.

With that in mind, are there any specific entries in the series that make good starting points outside of, obviously, the very first one?

EDIT: Why is the word "U l t r a m a n" preventing this post from getting published? Yeesh.

I would recommend Mebius and Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle from the 2006/2007 timeframe.

Mebius had the Showa-Era Ultraman heroes and Ultra Galaxy had a lot of classic Kaiju.

Both are good in they're own right and it's a good idea to see them, in addition to the Mebius side-stories and season two of Ultra Galaxy, referred to as "Never Ending Odyssey", before going into the Zero Movies.

If you want a base feel without a lot of backstory (which cuts away at a lot) start with Ginga and go from there, but references may not always have the intended impact. In addition, Ginga is rough and may feel like an overly-simplistic entry, though the same cannot be said for its follow-up, Ginga S, which has some of the best episodes of the franchise.

That's my two cents, and it's not a definitive answer either. There is quite a lot that I haven't gotten to yet!

My advice for recommendations is usually "whatever sounds interesting to you probably will be", but honestly, in this particular case, I think Ultraman Orb is what I would most recommend as a gateway series. It's readily available to watch on Crunchyroll, there's no continuity whatsoever to worry about going in, and it does a great job blending the traditional Ultra format of anthology style one-off episodes with some more character-driven, long-term storytelling. Between all that, a tone that balances comedy and drama evenly, and the usual stellar production values, it's a very well-rounded, complete package of a show that I think would be easy to get into.

Definitely don't be afraid to go for anything that catches your eye, though. There's a really varied library of Ultraman shows out there, and I don't think any of them make bad places to start. For example, Geed and Mebius both lean heavily on decades of continuity, but both present themselves in a way where knowledge of all that isn't necessary to enjoy the show. Nexus could be considered a poor starting point for how its style and tone don't reflect the majority of the franchise, but if a darker, heavily serialized show sounds like more fun to you, it can't hurt to give it a shot.

Basically, I say don't worry too much about finding something to "represent the series overall" or anything like that. Just find something that clicks with you and go from there.

Hmm, alrighty then. Guess I'll look up what shows are mainly standalone and then just pick whichever sounds the most interesting. Thanks guys!

Totally separate note from any series, but I do have a question.

Thumbed around and found a Manga: Ultra Kaiju Humanization Project. Seemed to reimagine classic Kaiju as... humans!

Any word on this? How good is it?

I would highly recommend X as a gateway series for Ultramen. It has the classic attack teams as well as featuring guest Ultramen which may help you get through other series. And the fact that it's only 22 episodes is a good place to start, though I wish it has more episodes.

I recommend Max. It's both standalone and excellent.

So Genm or hasn't released new episodes beyond episode 9.... Hopefully they won't drop it

Also episode 13 doesn't seem to be a recap episode, but rather a bottle episode. Could be wrong.

Typesetter is out of town apparently. Which isn’t bad, these people are doing this in their own precious free time, but man it stings that Ultraman is always treated this way.

3-4 different groups sub Kamen Rider on a weekly basis, not a single one keeps up with Ultraman...

I know the reason, Kamen Rider is more popular, and as stated earlier, who am I to tell them what to do, but it hurts that there's such a great show happening and the schedule is so unreliable. It didn’t really bother me with R/B because I didn’t care much about it, but missing out on Taiga hurts.