What a two-parter. I'm faintly tempted to complain about Band- Uh, Ultraman Hikari showing up to just sort of hand Zero new merchan- er, equipment, but mostly I couldn't care less? There's too much excellent pathos and cool action here for it to truly be a problem. I'm totally head over heels for Geed at this point, and if it keeps being this awesome that's highly unlikely to change.

Something I find really perplexing about Geed so far has been how un-Sakamoto the direction feels. Like whenever Koichi Sakamoto is the director, it's always super obvious that it is him since there's just this list of things that he always does in his actions scenes such as:

• use of green screen/CGI

• Huge Explosions

• Unmorphed fight scenes

• Shaky Cam

• Leg fetish

Here though, the action feels a lot more restraint, as if someone higher up told him to knock it off with a lot of these things. I can't be the only one that's noticing this right?

Same. Ultraman shows, in general, have been amazing for me since X, they are these small packages of pure joy that I always look forward to every year now.

This particular episode was great, even though I have to agree Ultraman Hikari showing up out of nowhere to hand Zero the new toys was pretty bad. Like, Hikari can just come to Earth now? Who else guesses this will never be explained or build upon in the future?

Can't lie though, the new transformation sequence with all the new-age Ultraman heroes was amazing. A bit long but still great.

Don't know if I really like Zero's new form though, I mean it looks great and the fight-scenes were cool, but I think this should've been a form that we see towards the end of the series just because I don't feel like this should be surpassed by what's to come. Only Geed's final form should be stronger, yet Geed hasn't even achieved his super form yet and Belial isn't even directly involved, but we know from toy scans that he will get a new form as well.

That's the only thing which I don't dig too much though, the whole package is still amazing: Characters, story, action, effects, miniatures... Ultraman continues to deliver greatness.

i miss the old days of ultraman where bandai didnt need to throw toys at everything and just buy the henshin device and have fun watching ultaman with it. it feels like it's repititive thing rather than just enjoying it.

it's the main reason why i stopped buying toys.

Well, in fairness it has been going on for awhile, but the focus has shifted in terms of what toys Bandai is trying to sell. If you watch some of the Ultra shows from the 90s and 00s, you'll notice that they spend a lot of time highlighting the vehicles for the defense squads. Gaia, in particular, was full of dozens of capsule vehicles and Nexus had its combining vehicles. All of those had toys, which is why they were featured so heavily. There's also long been a huge focus on releasing figures of the different kaiju. It's only since Ginga that the merchandising has switched to a more Kamen Rider-y focus on transformation devices with collectible components.

September Scans:
Geed Magnificent (Father of Ultra+Zero)
https://scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...bb&oe=5A25C0ED
https://scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...2a&oe=5A1F2189
https://scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...f1&oe=5A2C1C13
https://scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...be&oe=5A2D542A
https://scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...e2&oe=5A150EEB
https://scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...5c&oe=5A1CAE5A
https://scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...3e&oe=5A249C15
https://scontent.fcmh1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...a5&oe=5A16AD1D
Fusion Fight exclusive form: Brave Challenger (Orb Specium Zepellion+Mebius)
https://68.media.tumblr.com/d5427b92...aubio1_500.jpg

I don't know how I feel about Geed Magnificent at the moment. Everything about it looks... odd. Not good odd or bad odd just... odd. I like Brave Challenger though.

I like Geed Magnificent. I think Ultras with horns are cool and Fusion forms involving them tend to be among my favorites now. I think Geed with horns looks great, plus the armor with the shoulder pads looks pretty sick.

I look forward to seeing this one in action!

I greatly prefer Crest Weapons to actual horns. Granted, the only two Ultra's I can think of with horns, Taro and Father, have designs that I'm fine with so my mixed feelings towards the form probably have more to do with the suit itself. My favorite suits tend to be ones like Primitive or Acro Smasher rather then ones like Solid Burning so this one feels a bit... loud for my tastes.

Magnificent looks pretty good. I like that his horns are Zero's Sluggers.

Ooo, King Joe + Zetton.

Okay after episode 8 my biggest question is: How is Zero so freaking cool?! He just emits this aura of awesomeness lol. Also, episodes 7 and 8 were brilliant.

Weeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllll, when your dad is Ultraseven and your teacher is Leo who makes you train with armor on that reduces your performance from that of a grizzly to a guppy and your debut was a full-length movie where you pulverized one of the most sinister villains ever... the math cannot help but add up. :)
Oh and one of your host was DAIGO.

Well that had to be one of the longest henshin sequences ever for Zero to get to Beyond. You know in those Gavan transformations where it takes a second but they replay to show the whole thing in slow motion? Yeah, I wish they had sped it up to .2 seconds for this one.

Still a really good episode, and I keep enjoying watching each week.

I was sort of expecting them to follow up the big, serious two-parter with something a little more light, but this was as about as serious as serious gets. Definitely not a bad thing though, as this episode was great.

Also Zero might be my favorite part of the show now? I'm starting to get creeped out here. He didn't even DO anything this week besides say some cool lines. I was so sure I didn't like him too...

Caught up with episodes 7 and 8 today after falling a little behind. Oh man, that Zero Beyond transformation... that is one of the longest toy demo... er, "henshins" I've ever seen. I really hope this isn't a regular thing. The episodes themselves were really, really good, though. I especially liked the confrontation between Zero and Kei, which was all kinds of awesome.

I also noticed something. With her getting more screentime in these episodes, it really started to bug me how familiar Rumina, Leito's wife, looks. I did some quick Wiki-ing and it turns out she's played by Hitomi Hasebe, who also played Mizuki on Ultraman Max. So nice to see a Max veteran on Ultraman again.

So apparently Leito's actor can also B-boy. *mind blown* And then I learned that he is part of Gekidan EXILE so........... I guess that explains it? Also he is co-workers with Kiriya/Lazer.*mind blown again*

That's kind of surprising...yet at the same time not really. He's barely in his thirties and, I mean, have you seen what he looks like without the glasses? Not to mention the picture the wiki's using for him. Its a shame things didn't work out so he and Hayato Onozuka, Kiriya's actor, where on their respective shows at the same time though. It would have made for a really funny picture or two.

I think the "say what" moment came when I saw him bust a move but after I learned he is affiliated with EXILE as part of their acting department it made sense since EXILE is known for having dancing as one of their selling points and would not be surprised if their actors knew how to dance and sing since the foundation of EXILE is a music and dance group. And though the most we got outta Kiriya was his glorious roundhouse kick I kinda want to see him pull a few windmills, etc. :lolol

That happen at the beginning of the series when he went up against those thugs right? I had forgotten about that. The similarities to Ryotaro continue...

Caught up to 8 (watching on free Crunchyroll). I like the look of Ultraman Zero Beyond but the transformation is kinda hilarious - Hikari just randomly shows up to give him stuff and he uses four different capsules and a riser. Zero gets a lot of forms.

This episode was silly and great, it might be my favourite episode of Geed so far.

Moa is still adorable!

This episode was hilarious :lol

Moa is still the best, can't get enough of that character.

Also, the "Spoiled Brat Monster"? Leito makes a good comparison there, every parent runs into a Zandrias on a dialy basis :lol

Episode 10 demonstrates something I really like about Geed, that being how wholesome it is. Just something about the way these characters interact, the way they bounce off each other and such, you just feel good after watching it.

Wow, episode 10 seriously impressed me. Just the absolute perfect mix of crazy, stupid, hilarious, and genuinely emotional. I know I keep saying endless variations on this, but Geed really can do no wrong.

Also, I've been rewatching the series to this point (or rather, up until episode 8 for now) on Crunchyroll... didn't know Riku apparently hangs out with people named Laiha and Leito. Seems like kind of an arbitrary romanization choice, but whatever. It's just nice to watch Ultraman with good subtitles again. Like I was actually genuinely impressed by how characterful they were. Zero talks like a cool person and even tells Riku not to "spill the beans" at one point. An honest to goodness figure of speech made it in there! That's crazy! :lol

:rolleyes
http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1505161126
http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1505161126

Couldn't have happened to a nicer pair of kids.

:lolol

Having just watched episode 11, I have to say, it's getting downright insane how entertaining this show is.

I said that last week's episode was my favourite, but this blew it out of the water. This was basically the equivalent of the Maga Orochi episodes of Orb. The whole fight with Pedanium Zetton and Geed was awesome holy crap.

Leito is the best character in the show. Every scene with him in this episode was great.

It's funny that Riku was sent to buy a vacuum cleaner but bought a PS4 instead.

I know right? It's not laugh out loud funny or anything like that but its such a teenager-like move that I can't help but chuckle. Makes me wonder how he expected to hid that from Raiha...

Wow. Episode 11 did not disappoint. Hectic, but with some really good storytelling.

I normally assume that a particularly awesome season of Toku will be followed by a less awesome (but hopefully still good) season, since amazing only happens so often. That this has not happened with Utraman is quite extraordinary.

Episode 11 was fantastic. Finally some more backstory on Riku and Belial. Not gonna lie, I kinda hoped he had a human mother but I guess we would've learned about her sooner if that was the case.

The action was on point once again, the scene where Geed was fighting in the background and Laiha on the rooftop in the foreground at the same time was very well done.

Also, Leito's actor did a great job once again, the scene were Zero tries to gain control by force is hilarious.

Can't wait for the next episode, Magnificent looks epic and I'm really interested to see what's up with that letter.

You can say that again, Tsuburaya Productions is on a roll right now with Ultraman, the shows are short but hot damn they are good.

I honestly have no problem with getting a short series every year if they can keep this level of quality up.

Another absolutely magnificent episode, and if you think I'm apologizing for that pun, clearly you haven't seen it yet, because it really is the perfect description. Some thoughts:

- Kei went full on Game Master here. I've seen Christmas dinners with less ham.

- Until the show says otherwise my head-canon is that the thing under Riku's bed he's embarrassed about is Donshine fan-fiction and you can't prove me wrong!:p

- That being said, it's quite admirable how much Riku genuinely feels like a teenager. That can be a hard thing for writers to truly nail down, but Geed handles it with an unusual level of subtlety.

- Plot-critical conversations while playing Tekken = genius-level writing. I'm exaggerating, obviously, but it has no right to work as well as it did here. It even turns Riku wanting that PS4 into a payoff! This was a thing I loved about Orb too where every now and then things just go straight up avant-garde in the middle of an otherwise normal episode and somehow it all fits together.

- This applies to last week too but getting Zero the heck out of there was SO the right move for such an important plot. As much as I love the guy in this show, it needs to be called Ultraman Geed for a reason.

- That extra pumped delivery on the catchphrases during the transformation is right up there with Belial literally tearing through the screen when Thunder Breaster debuted as an example of why I think stock footage is great. When you have a status quo like that, it suddenly becomes really meaningful when you change it up.

- Next week's a clip show, oh no! Except Orb did a pretty nice job with its own recap episode, so I'm sure Geed can handle it.

Minor nitpick but Geed Magnificent's transformation scene looks a little off for some reason. The movements of both Ultraman Zero and Father of Ultra for their hand gestures look kinda stiff compared to the previous transformation scenes. This was something I also noticed with Zero Beyond's first transformation.

Same here, I think they were using CG models for Zero and Ultra Father instead of actual suits.

Damn that episode was great. Like, start to finish. Even for this shows standard it was fantastic.

I love that we now slowly fade into the part of the show where Belial becomes more important.

Also, this is now the second Tokusatsu show which had Tekken 7 running when something important to the overall plot and even some main character revelations happened. That'll make for some great tidbits in the future.