[Fish Sandwich]

Watched Taiga's first episode. Big surprise, it was great. I wasn't totally feeling the prologue (although I appreciate that it lets the other two main Ultras get an appearance in), but once the actual plot starts, it gets interesting fast and never looks back. The pacing here really stood out to me for how well it's done. There's no breaks whatsoever. It's essentially one big, constantly evolving sequence of action that expertly peppers in all of its exposition without ever stopping to have someone narrate things. Granted, usually when a show does this, it simply means we'll get the boring lectures in a later episode, but even if that turns out to be the case here, the premiere is still better off for it.

It does a lot of showing, and very little telling, and I found myself invested in Hiroyuki and Taiga remarkably quickly. I guess it's the Cosmos fan in me, but saving some hideous giant monster's baby like it were any normal human infant is a surefire way to win me over. I didn't totally keep up with all the announcements and everything for Taiga, so I had it in my head that his host would probably be slightly abrasive or something for contrast. I think I like this better though. It's obviously hard to totally grasp their personalities from one episode, but it seems like neither of them is going to be a total repeat of something we've already had, which is impressive. I especially appreciate that Taiga isn't just a redundant copy of Mebius or something.

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Originally Posted by Kiwami

The effect work was great, the usual high standard for Tsuburaya productions, but did anyone else notice the CG?

Yes, immediately! I think the reason the models look better than in something like Kamen Rider has a lot to do with Ultramen designs being so simple and clean. All the details on the actual suits are flat and static to begin with, so there's less to worry about animating in a believable way. If we get a CG shot of some Ultra or another wearing a cape later down the line, I think it's bound to look worse even if it's still technically the same quality. At any rate, I really enjoyed how cool and agile Taiga looks in those shots, including the opening.

Speaking of which, farewell to the elaborate silhouette title cards for the episodes. I mean, to be honest, they were never as cool as they were in Orb, but still, I'm gonna miss them. Although apparently that shot of Taiga posing in front of an explosion was explicitly inspired by Koichi Sakamoto, which is definitely an acceptable replacement.

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So yeah, thumbs up for the first episode. If this keeps up they’re back in the saddle after the slight slip-up with R/B.

I think it really speaks to how consistently amazing Ultraman has been lately that I'm almost as upset at you for this incredibly mild criticism of R/B as I am when you rag on Ghost.