Man....... watching the Ultraman Fighting Evolution 3 videos makes me wish we'd get a new Ultraman fighting game............ I know arcade is more profitable for them, but ugh, I just wanna play a new Ultraman fighting game again.

Especially with how New Generation heroes are their own group, you could make a brand new Fighting Evolution that focuses on them.

Well my Toku plans are going forward.

Shot Factory has Jet Man - Hurricane Ranger so once I fill in Growl Ranger last I'll look into getting the Ultra shows.

I need to get 3 sets from Shout (Jet Man , Go Go 5 and Growl Ranger)

Then I'll start Ultra Man from earliest possible. That will be my next Toku line.

I think something is supposed to happen soon, but I don't know if it will be on an international scale.

https://ultramangalaxy.com/ultraman-...bat-videogame/

Ahh..... It seems like it's a strategy game like Fire Emblem and that last major Ultraman game on PSP.

........ And apprently it's mobile. Dangit *cue "Do you guys not have phones?" meme*

Ultraman Taiga:

So I finally found the time to finish watching Taiga. But before I jump into my thoughts, a big S/O to Genm Corp for finishing this entire series. Y'all are the real MVPs.

As for the series itself, it doesn't quite beat Geed (which is still my New Generation benchmark) but Taiga's a pretty solid kick-off to the Reiwa era.

To start with, I don't particularly care for the human cast. While I do like that EGIS kept the growing NG tradition of no attack teams, I found these characters didn't really resonate with me. It's not like their writing is terrible (and all four of their actors are incredibly attractive people, no cap)...but coming off more character-focused shows like Geed and R/B, the EGIS team felt really bland. Even the episodes that attempted to inject some tragedy/backstory into each member were filled with typical, old hat Ultra-tropes. Pirika is an android who wants to be human, Homare has a dark past, Kana used to work for the show's version of the AIB...it's all very been there, done that.

Thankfully though, the show's cast is carried by the stellar voice and suit-actors of the Tri-Squad. I really love these guys; their dynamic, and how all of them bring something to the table. Taiga's the insecure hothead son trying to get out of his father's shadow, Titas is the big guy with the heart of gold, and Fuma is the loveable wise-cracking smartass. I honestly wish we got less of the EGIS team and more of these guys paling around and backseat-driving with Hiroyuki. Titas and Fuma in particular are two of my favorite Ultras from recent years.

I guess I'll segue on to the Ultras' designs since we're talking about the Tri-Squad now. I don't really care for Taiga's (it's a little too silver for Taro's son but then again, looking at Taro's parents...), but I can live with it. Photon Earth has a cool samurai motif but it's also a little busy. Same thing with Tri-Strium. Also I really dislike the toyetic Tri-Blade; I'm still not sure why all the NG Ultra weapons look cheap as hell, but I guess it's to make 'em look exactly like the kids' toys they wanna sell? Anyway, the rise sequence with the scanning gimmick is pretty neat overall.

Titas and Fuma also both look awesome. Titas with his Marshmallow Man muscles and Fuma with his slick blue suit (we need more Blue Ultras!) are both 10/10. And speaking of Ultras, I generally dig Tregear's design too. His henshin sequence with the mask is also really badass. But man, what a disappointment of a villain Tregear ended up being. I was really waiting for a deeper backstory about his descent into evil and why he hates Taro, but it all just falls flat. After the climactic story when he reveals his EVUL PLAN with the rings and Taiga beats that, Tregear just wanders around aimlessly for the next couple episodes before doing an ass-pull with the Woola which just came across like a rehash of the R/B finale. Tregear had so much potential but his ending was so anticlimactic.

Anyway, I did like the overall tone of the series, which actually felt very Showa-ish. There's a hint of tragedy to many of the episodes, and a lot of them end on a surprisingly dour note for a kids' show. I generally prefer a more optimistic tone for my Ultraman, but after the occasionally slapstick nature of R/B, this was a refreshing change of pace. Although I do wish that more of the episodes had callbacks to the original Taro show. Imagine the Tri-Squad facing off against Tyrant or Muroroa or Temperor-seijin.

I feel like I'm being more negative than I intended, so I'll touch on some positives real quickly. First off, Taiga has the best action scenes of any Ultra show I've ever seen. Like GODDAMN. This is some good-ass choreography and cinematography here. The way the show interacts with hyper-detailed miniatures, the use of interactive elements...of dynamic low angles and fisheye lenses...the perfect marriage of VFX with suit-acting...I could go on and on. Of particular note is the Taiga/Zero vs. Imitation Belial/Tregear fight. But every episode after episode just had my jaw drop with how incredible the on-screen action was. If this is what a reduced episode count gives us, then by all means TsuPro, 25 eps it is!

The only teeny nitpick I have with the fight scenes was that I wish we got a bit more variety with the locations. The only one I can think of that wasn't in the city was the forest one with Babarue-seijin and Night Fang, though I guess the one in the water with Takkong-sama kinda counts? But really, the city set is so incredibly detailed and varied that I'm probably just being greedy.

I also really did like the show's overall themes of alien coexistence on Earth. In that way, one could argue Taiga is the antithesis of Ultra Seven's Cold War-esque paranoia. Much of Taiga revolves around humanity learning to live with alien immigrants in their everyday lives, which I think that's a wonderful message for children (and grownups!) to apply in their own lives as well. So props for that.

Anyway. Sorry for the rambling review. I'm off to try and find the Mill Creek Ultraman Ace set to finish my Great Showa Rewatch, and I've got to catch up with Ultra Galaxy NG Heroes as well. Onward!

Nice review with pinpoint precision of the pros and cons, though to be honest, I don't understand all of the in-show references cause I haven't watched a single bit of Taiga in favor of giving Mill Creek more support in their Ultra Verse releases, and sooner or later, R/B and Taiga will hit the scene!

They've already done Geed, so I figure that both will come eventually.

On a scale of 1-10, where do R/B and Taiga rank individually?

Thanks for reading my ramble! I'm sure you'll dig Taiga when Mill Creek drops the set.

For me personally, I would rank R/B and Taiga at about the same level, honestly (with maybe Taiga edging out a little). R/B's main strengths are its extremely likeable characters plus its lampshading of Ultra-tropes. Unfortunately it suffers from boring designs/powers and the general campier tone of the show can be a little much at times.

Taiga's greatest strength is its visuals; the Ultras all look great, the gimmicks are largely cool, and the fight scenes are out of this world. Seriously: the stunt choreography, the set design, the camera-work...it's all the best this franchise has ever seen. Every action piece is an absolute delight. Taiga's main downside for me is a weaker human cast, though the Tri-Squad themselves do make up for it.

Funnily enough both shows feature villainous Ultramen who were really good in the show's first half, but who petered out/disappeared in its second (Dark Orb and Tregear, respectively).

The thing about Taiga to me is that it feels like it's screaming for a second season. Like, if we lived in a world where Ultra shows still hovered around 50 episodes, they would've easily filled those other 25 up with stories focusing on stuff like fleshing out the Tri-Squad and its members, or finding a stronger resolution to Tregear's arc, instead of the fairly strict focus on EGIS that we got instead.

I mean, I ended up being really fond of those characters, don't get me wrong (Kana is the best), but I'm still not totally sure how cool I feel with half of the Tri-Squad's characterization going to the voice dramas, or the fact that Taro never appeared outside of a flashback or two following the first episode. Although I guess at least the movie is covering that one.

It's probably a good sign for Taiga that my biggest problem with it is simply that I want more of it though.

That's the dilemma lol. We all wanted NG Ultramen to be longer, but the reason why they put up quality shows are due to reduced episodes. It' s really the epitome of quality > quantity.

Yeah, me personally I think I'm happy with a reduced episode count if that means more money for the fight scenes and suits. Not to keep harping on Geed, but I thought they gave every character solid development and an arc wrap-up by the end of its 20-odd episodes.

Also any thoughts about this year's Ultra-series? I read somewhere that TsuPro copyrighted "Ultraman Z" which makes me wonder if this will be a Zero solo series given the upcoming Chronicle series but maybe that's wishful thinking...

Oh and I finished Ultra Galaxy NG Heroes. It was...alright? I think I'm getting a little burnt out on these Ultra Galaxy shows. It all feels very soulless because it's largely just suit actors jumping in front of a greenscreen while their theme songs play. The entire final battle was just a lookbook for every NG Ultra's final forms. The only saving grace was Ribut who honestly has a badass fighting style and I now need a miniseries with him rescuing various Ultras across the multiverse.

Sidebar: What is the Galaxy Rescue Force Ribut keeps name-dropping?

Also, I'm in the middle of Tiga right now and I'm very surprised by how Showa this whole show feels. There's a pretty clear demarcation between say BLACK RX and Kuuga, but Tiga feels like it would fit right into the Showa era of Ultraman sans slight improvements in special-effects.

Anyway, here's hoping the Taiga film drops soon! Stay safe y'all.

Since the Shout feed has Leo will the time stamp be in the corner?

The Shout Ranger DVDs I have don't have the Clock on the corner. I wanted to ask.

After getting UltraSeven recently and checking the included booklet, it left me perplexed when it name dropped some other specials in which UltraSeven appeared!

- Operation Solar Energy

- Planet Of The Earthlings

- UltraSeven 1999

- UltraSeven Evolution

What... The...Hell!?

Can someone explain these specials? I don't recall seeing them referenced by name in this thread.

Signs say that Ultraman Z is related to Zero is some way.... I think we could've gotten a tease since it's March already and iirc March is when they start filming for new series, according to R/B actors. But with coronavirus halting everything, we're not sure.

Galaxy Rescue Force seems to be a special squad M78 that specializes in rescuing. Basically Ultraman's equivalent of GoGoV/Lightspeed Rescue.

You can look through here for information about the Ultra Seven 90s stuff.

And yeah with the COVID situation, it would be fair to assume the new Ultra series is gonna be pushed back. I wonder if season 2 of the Netflix anime will be delayed as well.

You can look through here for information about the Ultra Seven 90s stuff.

And yeah with the COVID situation, it would be fair to assume the new Ultra series is gonna be pushed back. I wonder if season 2 of the Netflix anime will be delayed as well.

The rumour going around was that there's going to be a longer break than we've had between recent Ultra shows anyway. So maybe nothing really changes?

Actually, I wonder how the COVID-19 situation affects all of the currently airing Toku shows...

I'm hoping they'll go on a lengthy hiatus. As much as I love my toku, Japan already has way too many confirmed cases.

On a totally separate note: If I were to watch only one modern Ultraman show, which would you folks recommend?

I'd go with Ultraman X. It's basically all the classic Ultraman tropes applied in modern day, being that it is the last series to have an attack team.

It's also where the current Ultraman series has finally found their footing, after 2 years of some struggling.

But, I'd also recommend Orb for being standalone despite an anniversary series.

X is a good choice, it does blend the general tropes of Showa/early Heisei and New Generation Ultras pretty well.

I'd also recommend Geed as the best of the NG Ultra shows in my opinion. And I'll also throw in Mebius, which covers a lot of the Showa Ultraman history while still being new viewer-friendly.

Alternatively, there’s Max, the best Ultraman show.

X has Spark Dolls (Kaiju preserved in the form of a vinyl figure) like Ginga and Ginga S because, like Cosmos, X believes in saving Kaiju rather than destroying them.

I would like to recommend Ginga S, but you might want to see Ginga before that, and Ginga is rather rough.

Geed is one of the best, if not the best NG series. For some reason lol I rarely recommend the best series because I want the potential viewers to be hooked and when they asked for more, you'd show them an even better series. That's where Geed comes in lol.

It still amazes and bummed me that Max (and Xenon, what an underutilized design) is the only modern Ultra that doesn't have any other form, not counting Neos and Seven 21.

I might wanna commission someone to design a hypothetical final form for Max.

Lol I get that. Geed was what got me back into the franchise as a whole so that's why I tend to think of it. But X is a great first suggestion just because they have an attack team, which is a classic Ultra trope after all. I do kinda miss attack teams in the NG shows, though I guess you could say EGIS kinda counts?

On Max, I actually really dug the fact that he didn't change forms. It just added to the show's throwback Showa flavor. I am mad that Xenon pulled a Zoffy and didn't show up more often though!

And speaking of commissions...if anyone's interested in an Ultra one hit me up. I mostly do superheroes/Transformers, but I'd love to draw an Ultraman.

Also: I don't know if it's just me but a lot of the early Heisei kaiju all have this bland, grey color scheme. I'm in the 30s of Tiga and most of the monster suits have just been painted in a bland concrete tone. I remember noticing this even as a kid growing up in the 90s.

Hmmm maybe I could commish you to do an Ultraman Max final form.....

Also yeah, it kinda sucks that Xenon is Zoffy 2.0 instead of the usual secondary Ultra. His design is one of the most beautiful, it's a shame we never got to see him much apart from cameos.

Speaking of which, it's kinda a bummer that Mebius never crossovered with Max, given that Max also came from M78, although back then they said that Max in his own show was from an alternate M78, and the ones in Zero movies are different.

First look at Ultraman Z content.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...20kv1kw47p.png

Ultraman Z
https://ultramangalaxy.com/the-new-u...is-ultraman-z/

Zero's apprentice, huh?

I don't hate this idea.

The head reminds me a bit too much of Orb for some reason though...

He looks more like Fuma than Orb IMO

@SengalBoy: Well if you're interested let me know and I can send you my DeviantArt to check out. I typically do pencil and ink drawings.

Also, yay new Ultraman!

Initial knee-jerk thoughts:

Yeah, Zett's head does look like a weird fusion between Orb and Fuma. I don't love the new suit overall but I guess I'll wait until we see it in action. Though I have been largely apathetic to most of the New Generation designs anyway (save a few exceptions like Geed, Ginga, and Titas/Fuma). I do like the Gundam ears though. The body itself seems like a blend between X and Tiga to me.

Other design observations: Zett's crest/horn thing looks like it has ridges and almost resembles an Eye Slugger. Would be interesting to have a Silver Ultra who can do that. Also, curious about the henshin trinket. Is this year's gimmick Bakugan-style balls?

Anyway, it looks like we were right about this series having ties to Zero though. I wonder if the name "Zett" hints at some relation to Zetton or the Zetton-seijin, and not just the way the Z is pronounced. That would be interesting.

And Zero really is the highest-rising star of the Ultraverse. He goes from the disgraced illegitimate(?) son of Seven to assembling his own team of heroes, being a multiversal guardian with a bazillion forms, helping to beat Belial multiple times, and now finally earning his own Mantle. God, I love Zero.

I also really dig that Zero is taking on Leo's role as the Tachibana Tobei/mentor of newer Ultras like Geed and now Zett. Basically ensuring that future Ultras don't make the same mistakes that he did in his youth. Wonder if Zero's human host will return though...

Also: Zero is a prime example of a modern Ultra design done right. Complex but still streamlined enough to not feel too busy and overdone. That's how you nail an iconic Ultra-look.

Uhh thoughts about STORAGE: Really bleh name, but could this be the return of the attack teams? I know they fell out of favor due to worries about militarization (purportedly), but giant robots do sound badass. Can't wait to see some Jet Jaguar expys. I'm kinda feeling the Pacific-Rim looking flight suits as well.

All in all, I'm excited. My only wish for this new series is to have at least one guest appearance by my boy Ribut, and I hope Seven and Leo show up as well.

Perhaps the strongest modern showing for Zetton was as Hyper Zetton in the Saga Movie (starring Zero)! Given that and all of its other appearances, what more could be done with Zetton? I won't dismiss the idea if they do something good with it, but it runs the risk of over-using classic kaiju without focusing on more underused designs.

"...worries about militarization (purportedly)..."! Really?

Since they've used Ribut once, maybe...

I'd see Seven and Leo as probably appearing in a "power-up cameo" (cards in Orb and capsules in Geed) or in the Movies.

To be clear, I actually like Zett's design just fine. Blue and silver is an easy sell for me. I just find it odd his head has such an O-50 kinda look to it if he's from the Land of Light.

I do have to agree with this though. I've done a lot of thinking about this lately and I think Zero and Ginga (maybe Geed?) are the last Ultras to have properly striking designs. The other New Generation leads have designs I love, because they're aesthetically pleasing, but I don't think there's enough clarity and intent behind them for them to ever make a lasting impact outside of Ultra fans.

I think for the average person, X, for example, would never be anything more than a grey guy with an X on his chest. He has all those patterns and lines, but a lot of it is basically noise. Ginga, you know, the crystals leave an impression. Zero, the blue top/red bottom combo is genius. It's unique to him, and easy to learn to recognize.

My initial impression of Zett is that his only truly defining feature is his Color Timer, and that's probably not a great sign. I feel like if he were designed a decade ago, Zett would've had a normal Color Timer, but some kind of cool, asymmetrical Z-shaped pattern stretching from head to toe, and it would be way more immediately memorable.

The head's definitely not a strong point for Zett, either. Mebius' head was based on a cat for no reason, and to this day, it's totally distinct and identifiable. Lately I think the head designs for new Ultras especially are a bit too prone to falling into one of a few basic sets of design cues. Rosso's apple slice ears are a huge favorite of mine for avoiding this.

Long story short, recent Ultras look great, but I think the "language" of Ultraman designs could use some new "words", if that makes any sense.

Yeah, his chest was kinda bland? I say this because apart from the head, the chest designs are what makes each Ultra unique, as evidenced by the Ultra Bracelets in Taiga where they would base each bracelets based on the Ultra's chest and head, and as the result the bracelets looks very appealing. Zett doesn't really look like anything, other than his unique color timer.

To add to that, Belial was based on a shark, and Tregear was probably based on a phantom thief or dominatrix, and they are pretty notable. I think Ultraman needs to have more inspiration in order to make a truly lasting impact on its design. Because till this day Mebius still has one of the best designs of all time. Same goes with Dyna, and Nexus.

Magazine scans

@TokuKnight89

I can't disagree with Zetton being overused, but he's also my favorite Ultra-kaiju so I might be biased. The seven year old kid in me still gets hyped whenever I hear the iconic THWOOOOOOP police siren sound (you know the one). But yeah, it's just spitballing on my part. Though to be honest I'd be surprised if Zetton didn't show up at least once, given he's been in every NG show sans R/B, if memory serves?

Though speaking of recycling Ultra-kaiju, I always wonder if they'll reuse more monsters from outside the M78verse. I know some get reused on occasion (like Gan Q in Ginga S, or a couple of em to form Beryudora), but it would be cool to see more canon immigrant kaiju.

Anyway, uh I feel like I read that somewhere about the attack teams and militarization but don't quote me on that. I can't remember where though.

@Fish Sandwich

Yeah. That's how I feel about a lot of the NG designs. I've been thinking about it a fair bit recently as well.

I'm a big comic-book fan too and there are certain parallels between superhero and Ultramen designs. Back in the day there were limitations to designing a comic-book hero's outfit. Their costumes had to be simple because a) the color separation technology simply wasn't there for more complex stuff and b) artists had to churn out pages at superhuman speed.

What happened was that costume designs were usually to the point and without frills. Or in other words, iconic.

Nowadays, most modern superhero designs feel like they're doing too much. And I feel like a similar situation is happening with the NG Ultra suits. X and Orb in particular have so much going on that your eye just reduces them to another generic Silver Ultra.

I really think the trick is to simplify and make the costume elements visually consistent. That's how you make a suit iconic. Look at more streamlined designs like Zero or Tiga - you can tell who they are from a mile away.

I will say that I think Taiga was a step in the right direction. Titas in particular is a pretty unique and dope design. Taiga himself and Fuma I'm less sold on, but at least they're not as noisy. Zett feels like a step back especially since his head just looks like a generic Ultra (except for the Slugger, I guess?), but I'll wait and see.

I do wish that we got a Red Ultra (like Seven/Max) or a L77 Ultra like Leo for the next protagonist though. I don't even consider Taiga a Red, given his design feels more like a Silver with horns.

Huh so his crest is a slugger after all. From the front it looked like a typical Ultraman-type crest. I guess it's pretty unique.

Also the scans seem to indicate he's a brawler. I was wondering that he might use his transformation item as weapon as well, since it looked like it could be a weapon.

Ultraman Tiga:

So I finally finished Tiga (plus the Final Odyssey movie) at about 2am this morning and now I'm going to vomit my thoughts here, per usual.

As I've mentioned before, one of the first things I picked up on was how "Showa Ultraman" this show felt. Unlike, say, Kuuga vs OG Rider where there's a pretty clear demarcation between eras, Tiga feels like it could fit right into the Showa era save for obvious improvements in costuming and VFX/SFX. It's pretty much the same tropes, the same plot structure, the same heroes and villains and themes and tones that you would find in any Showa Ultra-series.

I think Tiga pretty much exemplifies the Ultraman franchise in that sense. While Kamen Rider has had to evolve and adapt dramatically to changing times (from Showa, to Heisei, to Neo-Heisei/Reiwa), Ultraman endures. An Ultra-series from today is fundamentally no different to one from the 70s or 90s. And I think that's the root of why I still love Ultraman after all these years; because the franchise has yet to abandon Tsuburaya-san's original intent.

I understand that Tiga was responsible for reviving the Ultraman franchise in the 90s (and tokusatsu television in general?), and it's crazy that it's just the same classic premise with a fresh coat of paint. It just proves to me that the story of Ultraman is relatable to viewers of every generation.

But anyway, I enjoyed Tiga. If I'm being objective and not letting 90s nostalgia cloud my opinion, I don't think the series really reaches the heights of my favorites like Shodai, Mebius, or Geed...but it's still pretty much a solid representation of your standard Ultra show.

I guess I'll start of by discussing the cast. I really liked the GUTS crew. They're easily in the top three attack teams for me so far. The greatest benefit of a 50 episode season (besides more kaiju!) is that the writers really get to develop each individual character; I think pretty much every GUTS officer got their own spotlight episode. Funnily enough Daigo himself is probably the weakest link in terms of characterization, though to be fair, that's par for the course for Ultraman. At least unlike Shin Hayate, Daigo had the romance with Rena to make him a tad more compelling.

But speaking of Tiga, woof, what an iconic design. I really wish we would get more main Ultras with unconventional colors. Nothing about his design seems like it would work. Purple-red-silver sounds like the most bizarre palette, and yet Tiga's one of the most visually-distinct Ultras in the franchise's history.

The only thing I'm meh about are his Sky and Power forms. Besides looking bland (they're literally just purple and red Tiga), I don't think the fight scenes did a great job of emphasizing their unique strengths either. Unlike Kuuga, where every form had clear pros and cons, the Sky and Power forms felt very vaguely-defined to me. Yes, Sky was faster and Power was stronger, but it never felt like changing forms made that much of a difference. It's no wonder Tiga stayed in Multi-Type form most of the time...

Anyway, action scenes were your typical "rubber suits wrestling on a miniatures set" fare. I'm kinda meh on most of the kaiju/seijin designs, largely because Tiga seems to have this weird thing where almost every baddie had a drab concrete-grey color scheme. But I did appreciate when some of the kaiju were clear homages to classic Shodai monsters (Golza was Gomora, Sealizar was Seabozu, Kyrieloid was Baltan, Menjura was Pestar etc.). And I will say that Gatanothor ranks among my favorite Ultra-kaiju of all-time.

Speaking of, the three-part finale was pretty damn awesome. Gatanothor is a gorgeously creepy design, the whole sunken city of R'lyeh was so metal, and I loved how they showed that the threat was global in scale. The ending with Tiga and all the kids was also JUST the right amount of saccharine cheese you want from an Ultra show. Definitely better than just your Ultra-hero getting killed off by a space dinosaur.

Plus, they also turned Tiga into a statue, so points for keeping with Ultra-tradition. Every Ultra needs to be turned into a stone statue at least once. (That or be crucified...)

I also loved the fact that they brought back nearly every side character for the finale; from Hayate to the Kyrelians to Evil Tiga to the ESP guy to Iruma's son. Which is another thing: for such an episodic show, Tiga paid surprisingly close attention to continuity. It definitely helped Tiga feel like a real world with real characters, because callbacks like the Gazote returning or Shinjoh's nurse sister popping in reminded you of our heroes' journey.

Anyway, I feel like I'm all over the place with this review so I guess I'll just close off with a couple unrelated thoughts:

1. The music in Tiga is one of my favorites in the franchise. Besides Take Me Higher and Brave Love, Tiga being classics, some of the instrumental songs are also really beautiful. Love Theme and To the Distant Call were my favorites. I strongly encourage y'all to check out the Tiga OST on YouTube.

2. The movie was overall pretty predictable and meh in my opinion, but I did dig the gimmick of the three evil Ultras, and how Tiga had to beat them to reclaim his "colors." Speaking of evil Ultras, Evil Tiga is such a novel concept and easily the best of the Imitation Ultras I've seen so far. I love the Prometheus-esque idea of man trying to be God with the power of Ultraman. Also helps that Evil Tiga has a badass look. Definitely up there with Darklops Zero and the original Zarab Imitation for me.

3. So Tiga did the whole "ancient ruins is the source of our hero's power" thing first before Kuuga, huh? (Boy I mention Kuuga a lot in this review, don't I...)

4. Episode 49, the one where Daigo travels back in time to meet Eiji Tsuburuya, brought a giant smile to my face. Yes the time-travel plot is nonsensical and makes no sense continuity-wise, and the seijin's evil plan about kaiju trading is dropped midway, but it's such a heartwarming tribute to the creators of the franchise that I really don't care. The scene with Tsuburaya meeting the "real" Ultraman by the lake while the OG theme plays softly in the background made me so happy. And then the team-up with Tiga and Shodai had me giddy. Seeing those two Ultras shake hands--the two statesmen of their generations--was perfect fanservice.

Overall I'd give Ultraman Tiga a solid 4 Shuwatches out of 5. Onwards to Dyna now!

P.S. That last bit in the Tiga movie where Daigo gives Asuka the "Good luck, kouhai" put a big grin on my face too.

My Ultra-Series rankings so far, on a scale of 1-5 Shuwatches (not counting movies and specials):

- Ultraman (5/5)
- Ultra Seven (3/5)
- Return of Ultraman (3/5)
- Ultraman Ace (3/5) - I still have about 15 episodes left.
- Ultraman Tiga (4/5)
- Ultraman Nexus (3/5) - I need to rewatch this at some point, it's been too long.
- Ultraman Max (4/5)
- Ultraman Mebius (5/5)
- Ultraman Ginga (2/5)
- Ultraman Ginga S (3/5)
- Ultraman X (4/5)
- Ultraman Orb (4/5)
- Ultraman Geed (5/5)
- Ultraman R/B (4/5)
- Ultraman Taiga (3/5)
- Ultraman NETFLIX (2/5)

Tiga "revived" tokusatsu on television in the '90s? Really?

"Shodai"? Sorry to say, but I don't follow!

Is this the first (and possibly only) time that Tsuburaya appeared in an Ultra Show? Who's idea was that? Tsuburaya's?

I have mixed feelings towards the Netflix/Manga Ultraman, and it's gearing towards dislike. I don't know, it feels like the 'stereotypical' 'edgy reboot of kids show' kind of thing. The concept works back then, but no so much today.

Primarily because NG Ultraman redefined the Ultras VS Kaiju genre, so I completely embraced it, and the manga/Netflix felt like ripping off Iron Man just because it looks cool. Point is, it doesn't really feel like Ultraman.

I'd accept it as an Elseworlds story though, which it obviously is.

He refers to the Ultraman. He's often called Shodai Ultraman at times. I'd take it more than say, Ultraman Hayata or even Man.

When you think about it, Ultraman is probably the only 'first hero' who doesn't have any official sub-names to differentiate himself from his successors. Like, we got Kamen Rider Ichigo and RX-78-2 Gundam, but Ultraman is just Ultraman.

I put a little "?" at the end of that because I can't verify it, but I've heard the claim a couple times. It definitely revitalized the Ultraman franchise, but some have suggested Tiga's success also showed that tokusatsu TV was still relevant in the years building up to the new millennium.

Oh Shodai is Japanese for "Original" and is used as a general nickname to differentiate the first Ultraman from his successors, as SengalBoy explained.

Eiji Tsuburaya actually passed away in 1970; the last Ultra-series he worked on was Seven (with the last kaiju he designed being the one from Seven's finale, Pandon).

Episode 49 of Tiga was conceived as a homage to both Tsuburaya and the other creators of the original Ultraman. An actor named Yusuke Takita played Tsuburaya in this. To my knowledge, it is the only time Tsuburaya has appeared as a character in an Ultraman show.

I'm not a huge fan either. The armor designs are novel, and the show's animation is pretty good, but it doesn't feel very Ultraman for the most part. My biggest point of contention is that the Ultraman anime feels more like a Heisei Kamen Rider show.

It's literally about a guy with powers and a special suit fighting human-sized monsters, and they even have the typical "edgy secondary Rider who acts as an asshole rival to our hero before they become reluctant allies." I absolutely abhor how Seven and Ace are written in the show like douches just to manufacture character conflict and drama. It's like watching Kamen Rider Blade all over again.

If our hero doesn't turn into a giant at some point to fight a daikaiju, it's not Ultraman to me. You can give him a Specium Ray and drop all the Ultra-references you want like "Alien Adacic" but it does not feel like an Ultraman show at all. I'm only watching it to support Tsuburaya's attempts to go international with the franchise.