[Fish Sandwich]

Finished with Ginga S finally! Overall I have to say I'm really impressed. I knew it would be better than Ginga but I expected this to still be sort of the "awkward puberty phase" before X happened. There's nothing awkward about it though. Ginga S rocks, and while it was definitely surpassed by what came after, it might actually be more fun than those shows.

I'm not particularly confident in that claim, but this show was a real blast to work my way through. Heck, with the masterpiece that is "Gan-Q's Tears" in there, the rest of the series could be awful and I'd say it was worth it. Fortunately that isn't the case, as every single episode hits the mark.

Instead of trying to cover every last element of the show, I'm just going to highlight a few particular things that made me love it:

- This is kind of a small thing to start with, but it wouldn't feel right to not mention the songs at some point. They're all great. The opening is almost too cool for the show its attached to, and the redone version of Kirameku Mirai works surprisingly well for the ending, even if I would've preferred something unique. The insert themes are every bit as great. Ginga's is wisely unchanged, and Victory's manages to be almost as cool. Almost.

- The action is super fun. Koichi Sakamoto only personally directed the first and last few episodes so I don't know if it's just a coincidence that the rest of the show still feels influenced by him. Ginga and Victory move pretty fast and are liable to use all sorts of crazy weapons and attacks instead of just awkwardly wrestling the monsters for a bit before going for the finisher. This show is also where the habit of shooting things creatively for the heck of it started, and I'm not complaining. I don't know why I need to watch Victory fight a monster through their reflections on a building for one shot, but it looks pretty dang it! Writing-wise the show gets a lot of mileage out of having two heroes to keep things from getting too formulaic. Fight scenes can happen at any point in the episode, Ginga and Victory can show up in either order or at the same time, and frequently there will be extra tension because one of them can't show up right away. It's all extremely engaging.

- That leads me pretty naturally into my next point. Hikaru and Shou and great protagonists. I loved Hikaru to begin with but Ginga S takes him to a whole new level. For one thing, Takuya Negishi's acting has gotten notably more natural (as has pretty much everyone else's), and his eternally outgoing, bubbly personality contrasts perfectly with his new co-star's stoic demeanor. Shou is cool in his own right. Instead of just making him a jerk or something simple like that, his attitude is the result of him basically caring too hard. He's very disciplined in everything in he does and as a result it's only natural someone as unfettered as Hikaru would rub him the wrong way. They're people who are, in more ways than one, from two very different worlds. Putting them together is where the show starts to shine. After butting heads for a few episodes, they quickly start to come to an understanding and gradually become inseparable partners. I really appreciate the show dodging standard "rival" tropes for Shou, and the downplayed, very genuine way his relationship with Hikaru builds over time keeps them getting along from being boring in any way. I remember when Ginga S was announced being unsure about the notion of Ginga getting a "sidekick", but having now watched it, I have to say, it's my single favorite thing about the whole series. I almost can't picture them apart anymore. Like, Taro may be part of the Ultra Brothers, but Ginga and Victory are Ultra Bros.

- Lastly, I was impressed by how much Ginga S actually did feel like a continuation of the first season, despite in a lot of ways being a completely different show. I mean, everything is all about *ACTION!* now. Ginga poses in front of explosions like an 80's action movie hero, he and his new friends at the sci-fi military organization he joined get into fistfights with human-sized mooks, it's all pretty weird when you stop to remember this show used to be about a bunch of goofball kids in a small town trying to follow their dreams. And yet, despite all this, there's enough connecting it back that I buy all the changes. Despite the whole "dreams" thing being almost completely gone, friendship is still a very present motif throughout. Hikaru is thrust into a more typical Ultraman show, but he's the same as ever, even making a cheesy speech about the sky in the first episode just so you know it's still him. His friends all show back up to varying degrees of importance, too. Kenta gets a little screwed compared to the others, but I'm surprised he was there at all. There's a clear respect for Ginga's not-so-great first season that makes me super happy to see when it's pretty obvious they wanted as much of a fresh start as possible. The Victorians are also a society consisting of like 6 people, so some of Ginga's budgetary problems are still there.

Well, that'll do it. I could go on for a lot longer if I wanted to, though. Ginga S is an almost shocking improvement on its predecessor. Part of me was always worried, as a weird person who genuinely loves Ginga, that it would push me away with how different it was, but now it just feels like the promotion Ginga deserved. It's as if getting people to go "Wow, Ginga's cool now?!" was Tsuburaya's mission, and if it was they succeeded spectacularly.