[Mesnick]

I watched Heisei Ultraseven 1998. Most of what I wrote in my previous post holds true for the sequel, but with some caveats. The ecological focus remains, but it's become much less pronounced. Also, the updated Ultra Garrison is a likeable team, each with their own profile and personality. Ultimately, though, only Kazamori is memorable. It's no wonder they let him play Ultraseven. The plots are good, interesting, and tense, but the morality of some episodes is lacking.
For example, it was really funny that in the episode with the message "Humans can handle Earth's problems themselves and don't need outside help," Ultraseven takes on the guise of Kazamori and does all the work for him.
There's even a line like, "We don't need alien help. Humanity can handle this on its own. Fight for us, Ultraseven!" Maybe the point is that Seven was recognized as an earthling, but I somehow didn't get it.
Also, they treated Banderas's Sun too harshly. I thought it would turn out that it was draining energy from its planets, which would justify its villain status, but no. Humanity simply got greedy and harbored negative emotions, because even what you don't need is a shame to give away. I'm exaggerating, of course, but not by much.
Of course, the original show also had its share of ambiguous morals, but I think the writers understood their controversial nature. I'm not so sure about that here. But that's a minor quibble, and as an entertaining show, Heisei Ultraseven is excellent. Perhaps even the best of such comebacks, especially considering the original's age. And the ending was positive and heartwarming. So I enjoyed it.