[GoldenXtreme]

I finished Ultraman Gaia!

I want to start by saying that I really liked this show and thought it was full of innovative ideas! But to me the biggest highlight of the whole experience was probably Gamu, who's now my favorite Ultra hero. Youthfully naive, yet genuinely wanting to do the best for humanity, and as the show goes along even other lifeforms he can save. If fact, he might become even gentler as the show goes along and he tries to save monsters more often. His actor did a really good job, his behavior and body language just exuded a gentle yet slightly awkward charm that really worked wonders for the character! I also really loved that he was the team's analyst, not some kind of frontline fighter or ace pilot (even though he might also be the first Ultra hero who doesn't constantly crash his jet). Even when he goes to the frontlines he's still usually doing analyst stuff! Very refreshing. Fujimiiya is also an interesting character, who I think predates the widespread popularity of these sorts of darker rival characters in tokusatsu. He's a bit like a prototype for Ren from KR Ryuki, someone who sees himself as a more brutal person than he can actually bring himself to be. I also thought the trio of reporters was like an Ultra Q throwback, which was a fun idea. To be honest though, the character situation in the show is a mess overall because there are just so many characters and the focus gets spread much too thin. Like, sure, some of the characters are more relevant than others, but even someone like Kajio, who is probably among the best developed team members, is still pretty underdeveloped by the end. So while I really enjoyed Gamu, I think the overall situation with the characters made it a show I didn't like quite as much as Tiga in the end.

I do think this is the first truly modern feeling Ultra show I've seen in a lot of ways though. Gamu actually does a pretty decent job covering his tracks so people don't suspect he is Gaia, and he still gets figured out by the commander partway through the show. Gamu even makes his own transformation device as opposed to being given a cool toy by the universe! I think the Radical Destruction Bringer is pretty underdeveloped, but he treatment of the monsters across the course of the show is also given proper thought, and I really liked the reveal that many of the attacking monsters were essentially panicked animals that were dumped on Earth, not mind controlled or anything. Then the later reveal where the Earth-native kaiju are like some sort of planetary defense system and humanity was seriously in the wrong for attacking them? Super cool. It was a show that rethought genre conventions while also being respectful of what makes Ultraman appealing.

The narrative was overall good. The show's overarching theme of how humanity fits into nature and whether we are beyond saving is frankly very lofty, but I think the show was able to create a positive tale out of it while not turning a blind eye to all of the harm people can do to the world around them. Really great episodes like the ones involving the ground penetrating missiles to attack hibernating monsters and the subsequent environmental fallout were just fantastic. At the same time, the show was able to show how humans are still fundamentally a part of nature, not disconnected from it. I was really nervous the way the story would handle it would leave me feeling cynical, but it was well balanced and managed to avoid that! On an episode-by-episode note, I rather liked how a lot of the monsters fell into distinct subgroups, so stuff like the planetary environment modifying robots come up multiple times, which gives a nice sense of continuity while also allowing the episodes to be varies due to the wide variety of backgrounds for kaiju the writers could choose from. Some episodes were definitely on the weaker side, my absolute least favorite has got to be that one about Akko's nonsensical childhood backstory that is never relevant to anything else and generally feels disjointed. But hey, can't win everything!

Overall I was very satisfied with the show and am going to give it a high B rating! At this point I feel like I've grasped the heart of the Ultra series and I've been really struck by how consistently good it is? So far, while there haven't been as many entries that just bowl me over with how good they are as Rider, there have also been very few that I don't like! Curious to see if this trend holds as I watch more. Anyways, I've finally gotten enough confidence to add an Ultra tier list to my signature!

This was uh... pretty wordy for me. I've been working on taking notes as I watch shows recently so I don't forget things I want to post and it might be working TOO well.