[Fish Sandwich]

Episode _ of Taiga was amazing, and feel free to just plug whatever number between 1 and 20-something you want in there, because it's going to fit.

Of course, we're talking about 6 right now. The action in this show is absolutely astonishing and the kind of thing I'd want to show to someone who doesn't get why Ultraman is so awesome. The production values and direction just completely crap all over the competition so hard it's not even funny. I had to really fight the urge to just litter this post with screencaps from the episode, especially when the cinematography seemed even better than usual, including in the "normal" scenes. There were a lot of tasteful tilts going on and I really loved Tregear's scene especially. I love it whenever this franchise finds an excuse to remind everyone that Ultras don't actually have to be huge, and the way he's shot is totally different to how he normally appears, while still making him look menacing and creepy.

The story was quite solid, as well, although like Kiwami I do have to question Taiga's overall sense of structure. I've been giving a pass on the lack of focus on the actual Ultramen becasue, one, that's arguably true to the franchise's roots despite the Tri-Squad being the show's biggest selling point, and two, much more importantly, with the way all but the first and third episodes have been laser-focused on a single character each, I'm still giving them the out that we'll probably get episodes later down the line that flesh them out enough to essentially make up for that lost time.

What is weird to me is how they decided to lead off with so many depressing stories in a row right at the start if that wasn't going to be a consistent theme. Granted, this episode isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows, but it kind of seems like they might have been giving the wrong impression about the show's atmosphere? Maybe?

Again, it's hard to know these things until the series is over, but aside from the very strong and consistent theme of humans and aliens trying to coexist, I still don't have any clue what the more long-term goals of Taiga's plot are. Besides Tregear presumably plotting to turn Taiga to the dark side or something for kicks.

I seriously hope Jugglus Juggler is getting royalties now that every Ultra show has a character with his exact same role though.

Also, two things that bear repeating:

- You NEED to watch the voice dramas.
- Titas IS best Ultraman.