[DaikaijuSokogeki01]

I just love seeing more people discovering the original Showa stuff because that's what I grew up on thanks to early-morning airings of Ultraseven on TNT, as well as already being a fan of Tsuburaya thanks to the Godzilla series.

Akio Jissoji is an absolute legend in the Ultra franchise. His episodes are widely celebrated as some of the best episodes of tokusatsu ever filmed period. He directed some incredible episodes of Ultraseven as well, and he was so celebrated that they edited a compilation movie in the late '70s that only featured clips of his episodes of Ultraman. He has also directed the 1990 Ultra Q movie, and a handful of episodes of Tiga, Dyna, Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy, and Max before he passed away in 2006. His style is recognizable almost immediately, but he has been copied and paid tribute to multiple times in the franchise since.

And that's really what I love about Ultraman, and that can be seen as far back as the original series. It feels like an auteur-driven franchise, especially when compared to Toei's works. I mean, we've got Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno, Japanese Academy Award winners, directing an Ultraman film this year.