[GoldenXtreme]

Continuing on through the Showa Ultra shows, I've now finished Ultraman Ace. That... sure was a 70s toku.

The Good

• The basic concept of "Hokuto and Minami are Ultraman Ace together" is really ahead of it's time, not only is having a woman as half of the protagonist duo but also the fusion idea is like Kamen Rider W but yearssss earlier. Definitely the most unique part of the series.

The Bad

• Minami is interesting... or at least while she lasted. Like most of her Henshin Heroine peers from the 70s she gets the boot eventually, even if she doesn't die like most of them. I think Bijinda from Kikaida 01 is still the best effort I've personally seen for a Henshin Heroine from this decade, which is ridiculous because Kikaida 01 isn't a good show at all.
• I think this show had a lot of aspects that were just kind of boring! I wasn't too invested in anyone on the team and I often found myself zoning out during the fights because nothing was interesting about them!.
• I feel like the Ace suit was literally falling to pieces a lot of the time. Really felt like they didn't keep up on the repairs too well in this show. If *I* notice it you know they must be doing a bad job.

The Other

• This isn't really the show's fault but I kept wanting to compare it to Return of Ultraman since Ace is its immediate successor. I think Ace pays a lot of homage to Return's ideas, but it's all surface level stuff that doesn't really understand what made Return such an utterly compelling show. Return has this tragic undercurrent below its lighthearted surface. Gou is flawed, MAT is constantly getting harassed by civilians for their failures, characters aren't always saved. Ace has some similar ideas and you see things like moments where TAC gets some flak from people but it never really dwelt upon or comes up consistently. I keep thinking about how both shows had an episode where the protagonist meets up with an old childhood friend who has pursued their career down a dark path. Ace's episode ends with said friend getting an awkwardly done redemption while Return's ends with said friend dying from the results of his actions. Really kinda emblematic of how different the two shows are.

I wouldn't say I hated this show, but it honestly it was by and large just super by-the-books. Feels like the kind of thing I'll forget most of the details of in a few years.