[GrandComplete]

Episode 8 "The 4 Billion 6 Hundred Million Year-Old Ghost"

Junki Takegami joins the fray as a new writer for Gaia. Having been involved with both Tsuburaya & Toei. He’s a veteran writer by the time Gaia was being produced. Working on the Sukeban Series, Cybercops, as well as Tiga & Dyna like many others.

His works on the Ultra Series often are characterized with strong emotional cores by often singling out one specific character within the episodes how the plots revolved around them & reaching breaking points from stress & despair either in the climax or the midway points of his stories. At his peak in the 90’s & 2000’s Takegami was alternating between Tsuburaya & Toei with each script he was writing subconsciously altering his writing style due to being someone who grew up with Ultraman thus had a strong ideal image of Ultraman burrowed deep within him. His style noticeably pointed out by many of the staff of Tsuburaya was noticeably different with his works in Toei’s Super Sentai due to not growing up with said franchise allowing him to write for Sentai without precaution of what it should be rather what he wants from story to story basis.

The Alchemy Stars have always been a thing in Gaia but getting to know more about one of its members outside of Gamu & Fujimiya is such a treat. You really get to see how similar all of the Alchemy Stars ideology are at one point and how even though Gamu & Fujimiya were so different they both were in the same group. Weaving into the story is the KGB who I still find really compelling and is the underdog grounded normal perspective that this show needs to not lose touch with the people both Ultraman & XIG are protecting.

We have two kaijus in this episode. Being Anemos & Crabgan both kaijus of the Earth, their symbiotic relationship makes this a unique beast that gives trouble separately and even harder when they fuse into one. Anemos is a strange beast with its unconventional design and its guardian Crabgan is a really cool crustacean kaiju both making some fantastic and memorable monsters.



The track for this week is “Suffering” as the name applies this track encapsulates the anguish the choices made by our characters in this specific case Miku and how it must feel for Anemos to be driven to extinction and the dilemma of whether it is right to fight or not.

[Androzani84]

Not much to say in terms of reappearances, other than Anemos was one of the 100 monsters that formed Belyudra in “Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends the Movie”.

[GrandComplete]

Episode 9 "Seagull Takes Off"

Ai Ota takes over the script and is one of the most prolific writers of the Heisei Era of Ultraman. Making her debut as a screenwriter with Episode 21 of Ultraman Tiga “Deban's Turn!” One of her seniors is none other than Akio Jissoji who recommended her for the job.

Her love of tokusatsu contributes to types of stories she tends to write for Ultraman believing the various kaijus & aliens throughout the franchise not necessarily evil but living breathing characters that needed to be fleshed out. For this reason Ai Ota waits till the enemies names are finalized before beginning writing the scripts for the episodes themselves. AI Ota writing also tends to focus more on the drama and the minutiae of being in a Defense Team and to muddy waters of kaijus with non sentient beings that pose threat more akin to natural disasters. Ai Ota is a writer that focuses more on the moment to moment rather than overarching stories & themes.

A Team Seagull Episode! Expanding on the world of Gaia a branch of XIG focusing specifically on rescue missions is such an amazing addition to the lore of this series and shows just how well thought out this series is. The miniatures, sets and overall atmosphere of the episode is really something special all right and even if we don’t get many scenes I’ll savor every episode we have with Team Seagull.


Rezaito is one of the coolest kaiju in the franchise imo. It’s so unique with its overall shape and the colors of pearly whites and crimson veiny red is gorgeous to look at. An unconventional design mixed with the unique situation makes for memorable kaiju.

And finally the track episode has to be “Standing By” . It is such a funky tune that embodies the nature of Team Seagull's conviction to save innocents. It really reminds me of GoGoV which is a good thing.

[GrandComplete]

Sees the date

Oh whoops my bad guys got a little preoccupied but I hope the wait was worth it here's this weeks episode review.

Episode 10 "Rock Fight"

Team Crow makes their proper appearance! They’ve actually been mentioned in the background a couple of times if you guys have been paying attention. I love the worldbuilding of Gaia so much and this team, consisting of an all women squad is one of the spunkiest of the fighters. And I think the episodes they are given are really enjoyable. They make an impact right from the get go and everyone of the three gets a little bit to shine.

Unusually the initial threat isn’t a very traditional rather a large factory/ships that produces C.O.V and it is an amazing design of a ship big and imposing with firepower to back it up. Speaking of C.O.V we now have C.O.V II a second generation monster though incomplete thanks to XIG intervention it’s an amazing design that purposefully looks half baked while still looking good!

As for the track it has to be Team Crow's theme song played in their dogfights in the sky. Though there actually two variations on the soundtrack will be actually looking at versions made specifically for this episode, appropriately titled Rock Fight (don’t worry the original tune will be posted another time) . It is an uplifting song that symbolizes everything you need to know about Team Crow in a tune.

[GrandComplete]

Episode 11 "The Dragon's Capital"

We got a new writer Kenji Kobuta

He doesn't have much writing credits for Toku doing the Kabuto Tribute in Decade, a handful of episodes of Go-Onger and select episodes of Dyna & Gaia. However the handful of episodes he does write have solid characterizations, strong emotion and he seems to be a writer gels well with any premise from what I've seen.

It is always nice to see the Ultra Series taking folklore & legends from around the world in order to create the episodes. It creates a large amount of variety that I always appreciate in this franchise. Connecting the ideas of Feng Shui with the water lines with the themes of Gaia of how the Earth is living being that we’re all connected is a stroke of genius and encapsulates what the show is all about. Not to be outdone Gaia’s massive cast is utilized very well as Gamu has more direct interaction with Team Hercules showing off the unique bond & bouncing off personalities of Gamu with them. One of the most wholesome relationships in the show.

Mizunoeno Dragon is an amazing design with its multiple dragon tails and realistic leather skin & scales. Plus I just love the color blue and how it relates to the mythology of Chinese dragons being aquatic versus how western media usually portrays dragons as having an affinity with fire reflected in both design and powers.


The track for this week is Mizunoeno Dragon's own theme! Splendorous and majestic with the brass horns resembling other kaiju themes there is a bit of serenity as Mizunoeno isn’t inherently evil just a force nature that should be respected.

[Androzani84]

So Muzeno-Dragon (as my list of the Ultra Monster Bandai’s G.U.T.S Hyper Key toyline’s included monster sounds has been misnaming him) hasn’t had a full reappearance outside of Gaia, but he did appear as a Spark Doll in Ginga, during the wrestling episode with Dark Galberos, among a load of other obscure Kaiju from the Ultra Series history (including some robot from Ultraman Leo, that appeared for one scene in one episode).

And since I missed it last time, casting trivia for Team Crow.

Miho is played by Tomoko Kawashima, who was previously female lead Kaoru in Tokusou Robo Janperson, and went on to play supporting roles in Booska! Booska! and Ultraman Nexus (as Megumi Sakuta)

Kei is played by Kei Ishibashi, who was previously Shinjoh’s sister Mayumi in Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Dyna, and later went onto be Asami Fujisawa in Ultraman Mebius and an Alien Pedan in Ultra Zone.

[GrandComplete]

So bit of an update as I was finiahing up epiosde 12 the google doc just froze on me. So sorry guys I'm going to be running on late on this weeks episode don't know how long but I'll try to get out soon as can when my google docs finally works again. Thanks for all y'all patiences.

[GrandComplete]

Sorry for the delay but it's finally done.

Episode 12 Monster Encircling Net

It is the first alien story in Gaia! A staple of the Ultra franchise it has been conspicuously absent in the show so far yet here we are. And boy do we kick things off with a bang with that first fight with what I can only assume is a famous actor in Japan that no doubt Androzani84 would enlighten us more about. But thanks to the Wolf Gas being human sized for about half of the episode it gives a refreshing change of pace in terms of the show's action with more of the cast fighting on their own rather than just piloting their crafts. And even when the show gives us the usual kaiju battle in the latter half with Fujimiya stepping in this becomes a rare treat as it mostly Agul fight that will entreat fans who wanted to see more and a taste of what to come with the small clash between Gaia & Agul here.

Wolf Gas is a nice humanoid werewolf design with very smooth detailing all over and some gorgeous glowing red eyes that pop at night. With furs and spikes to complete the look.



Alighting by Night is a creepy little tune that plays at the beginning of the episode invoking both aliens and werewolf movies in mind which is perfect for this episode to highlight/

[Androzani84]

As far as I can tell, the martial artist is a guy known as Kazuhiko Shimizu, and the only things I’ve found about him are a) he was also in Cosmos and b) he shares his name with an Asian drama director.

[GrandComplete]

Episode 13 "Night Of The Marionettes"

We got a new director, Miki Nemoto. This is her directorial debut for Ultraman & Tokusatsu in general sadly she will only go in to help direct Cosmos & Nexus next which is a shame as she is a really strong director. With good use of lighting, shadows, framing & angles this episode is a really creepy feeling being invoked here. And this is a constant feeling of strong camera work that’s present in all of her toku works so she’s highly underrated as director within the Ultra Franchise.
(Sadly, I can't find a single image of her on the internet.)

Mezard back in this amazing episode filled with dread & horror. The KGB are front and center trapped in the horror of an entire town possessed by Mezard and always narrowly avoiding capture. It being a creature beyond are dimension, its revival and subsequent horror-espue plot adds to uncertainty. We continue to see a different side to Fujimiya, one that he wound;t like to admit as he protects Reiko and the rest of the crew even if it’s ever so briefly.

But this isn’t just Mezard no it is now a newly evolved Psycho Mezard and it is super creepy with the more skeletal design and parking with the night atmosphere it’s something you wouldn’t want to run into.



The track “Visitor” was used when Fujimiya saved Reiko from being shot and Kenji being chased by the controlled townspeople. There is a real sense of dread as something approaches being presented by the strings that escalates as the track goes on. Combined with the ringing of the cellphones makes for a short but memorable scene.