[Frontier]

I feel like Omega might have the record for most "straight into the action" episodes. Boy does the Rekiness Armor chop up Dugrid good!

It's rough being an Attack Team Captain when you have to deal with constant meetings as Earth grows to continue to weaponize itself to annihilate all Kaiju threats which, historically in this franchise, has NEVER turned out well. Though it was nice of Sorato to do an indirect show of support from Ultraman Omega.

I guess when you think about it Ayu is kind of the KSCT Vice-Captain? Or at least Uta's secondary. Which just made the boys kind of ditching her with no explanation kind of hurt.

Sorato thought he could avoid his past, though he was taken care of by a kindly old man on his first landing on Earth...and then he ends up getting his past thrown straight into his face.

Spot the iconic Kaiju sillhouette!

Would you want to live in a universe that inevitably runs on an inevitable civilization vs Kaiju survival of the fittest slugfest every millennia? The Gnessians were just an advanced civilization that thought they could control Kaiju, made Kaiju worse (naturally), and then proceeded to head to the stars for a new home...and become an alien invasion force in the process.

Omega is not part of the Space Garrison but the Star Gazers, a group of Ultra beings who monitor planets through their life cycle and protect them from invading space threats and ONLY space threats. They're not meant to fight their battles on the actual planet like Omega has been doing with resurfacing Kaiju.

And there's the rub for Ahden. He was a man who advocated for peace, he didn't want to invade Earth, he understood why the Star Gazers did what they did...but he just could not accept the idea of one of them, Ultraman Omega, breaking his vow and fighting to protect a planet unlike what happened to Ahden's. So his last will was to sick Taganular on Omega as a small form of revenge.

Sorato seemed to transform into a different person for a second there. And then there was Omega's rage out moment at having his truth throw into his face. I feel like it's only going to get worse from here.

[GoldenXtreme]

Looks like we are entering the endgame of Omega. There were a lot of reveals this episode, debating what I think of them for now.

I am once again finding myself wondering why they introduced the KSCT part of the show when it seems to actively get in the way of the story they want to tell at times. Sorry Ayu, the boys have to run off to hear Omega lore! I also thing it would have been more interesting to approach the whole "there is a international anti-kaiju force being created" from the perspective of outsiders. Would have been fresh. Aaaanyways, besides that we learn that Ultras are apparently supposed to be rather passive in this universe and not interfere with what happens on a planet, but Sorato just forgot what with his amnesia and all. This IS a pretty fresh concept which I rather like. It also turns out that Ultraman Omega has a setting somewhat reminiscent of the Godzilla animated film trilogy, with kaiju awakening on planets as if to challenge the superiority of the dominant species there. So it seems Sorato will now have to choose between his loyalty to the friends he made on Earth and his duty as a Space Gazer, while also considering that getting involved in battling the kaiju could make the situation escalate out of control. I'm hoping the ending has something unexpected happen, because right now I am getting the impression this is going to be very reminiscent of Arc for the finale.

[Frontier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Looks like we are entering the endgame of Omega. There were a lot of reveals this episode, debating what I think of them for now.

I am once again finding myself wondering why they introduced the KSCT part of the show when it seems to actively get in the way of the story they want to tell at times. Sorry Ayu, the boys have to run off to hear Omega lore! I also thing it would have been more interesting to approach the whole "there is a international anti-kaiju force being created" from the perspective of outsiders. Would have been fresh. Aaaanyways, besides that we learn that Ultras are apparently supposed to be rather passive in this universe and not interfere with what happens on a planet, but Sorato just forgot what with his amnesia and all. This IS a pretty fresh concept which I rather like. It also turns out that Ultraman Omega has a setting somewhat reminiscent of the Godzilla animated film trilogy, with kaiju awakening on planets as if to challenge the superiority of the dominant species there. So it seems Sorato will now have to choose between his loyalty to the friends he made on Earth and his duty as a Space Gazer, while also considering that getting involved in battling the kaiju could make the situation escalate out of control. I'm hoping the ending has something unexpected happen, because right now I am getting the impression this is going to be very reminiscent of Arc for the finale.

I feel like that's more of an Ayu character problem.

[DaikaijuSokogeki01]

I'm always happy to see Yukijiro Hotaru pop up again, even if his role is just 95% standing still and dumping exposition via hologram.

[Frontier]

Definitely some heavy stuff for the KSCT to deal with. With all the Kaiju awakening across the world, is it finally time for the true awakening and the final conflict between humans and Kaiju?

Poor Sorato having a heavy dissociative episode as hie original self, Omega, chastises and tries to remind him of who he TRULY is, not what this amnesia has made him. Though I did kind of like how the mute Kosei in his in his head was yelling and gesturing just like the real Kosei would!

Gairyuga, the Light Wave Kaiju! Basically what happens when you mix an alligator and a T-Rex and give it Atomic Breath. But that suit is a beautie.

Omega is not an Ultraman. He's not a protector of the Earth. He's just one of many Space Gazer's whose mission is purely to observe and not interfere beyond repelling invaders with cold, clinical, efficiency. Even the Omega Eye isn't just for gauging battle, but the Space Gazers' MO. And Omega isn't going to let Sorato transform and interfere any more.

(Though are the other Space Gazers like Alpha/Theta/Delta, etc.?)

Sayuki vibes with a lot but I don't feel like she's really all that proud of building a Kaen-102 powered laser cannon, even if the idea of it going head-to-head with Gaiyruga who operates on a similar principle feels fitting.

Pegunos the Lightweight Kaiju!? What are you doing here!? Kaiju brawl!

I did not have "Rekiness redirecting the Kaen-102 cannon beam until it hits Gaiyruga" on my bingo card, but BOY was it epic.

I love how the one thing that can make Sorato overcome his "programming" is Kosei.

They were JUST close to the Finisher before Omega retook control of his body. Which, technically, is his right since it was HIS body before Sorato became a thing. But poor Kosei having to see his buddy...not as his buddy.

Oh, so the Meteor Kaiju are supposed to be stored in the Color Timer?

So I guess we're just going to drop all pretenses with Sayuki and Ayu to ask what the heck is going on with Sorato.

Is uh...is that the Final Boss?

With all this dramatic plot going on...what a perfect time to bring back Nariak Akaji! The character everyone has been demanding more screentime from!

[GoldenXtreme]

Yeah you know what? I really like the way this episode of Omega approached the Space Gazers. They way they are portrayed as some kind of order-keeping hivemind throughout the universe that Sorato just happened to break away from due to amnesia? Actually a very cool origin for the first Ultra in this universe that isn't really quite like anything the series has done before. Of course, Sorato still needs to go through hell getting dragged back into the hivemind first. I also really liked that the kaiju this week was a spinosaurus one, complete with modern details like the tail fin! We are almost at the end now though and I have to admit I am a bit worried that they're never going to explain the reason Meteokaiju work they way they do at this rate. Recap next week!

[Kiwami]

I liked watching Omega at the start, just well done Toku with real standout episodes, didn’t care much for the defence squad thing was going on lately, but man I am so back for the endgame. The whole Space Gazer mythos and how they portray Sorato falling apart as his original personality slowly regains control is excellent stuff.

The characters were always a strong part of the show with lots of time dedicated to make them grow together and it’s paying off big time now.

[Kiwami]

I'm still watching 80, but since I'm caught up on the official upload schedule, its one episode per week now for me. The series has improved lately, more fun, character driven plots and less of the same-y UGM battles.

But that's not why I’m writing this post, I have completed a show I've never seen before - Ultraman Nexus!

This was one of the shows I initially heard the most praise for when I started watching Ultraman. The franchise wasn't as accessible back then as it is now, so I had no real chance to watch it and bookmarked it in my mind to watch later. And when Tamashii Nations announced the new Figuarts Nexus I remembered - and could just pick up the entire show for 20 bucks on eBay. Crazy how easy all of this has become!

So I watched all of it (+ "The Next" movie) and, well, it was not what I expected. At all

It was good, really good, I binged one disc each Sunday, which is like 7 episodes, and it was never once boring. But I was speechless how far, very far removed it seemed from the Ultraman shows I know. It is really scary, super dark and plain unfriendly. Like, everyone hates and mistrusts each other, the monsters are frightening to look at and act brutal and cruel, it’s more like a horror series than anything.

That's what I thought at first and was feeling quite unwelcome, at that point I was very much ready to quit and go back to a simple, colorful and fun Showa series!

But I couldn’t stop watching. The strong narrative and serialization kept me hooked. This isn't one monster per week in a self contained story, this is an ongoing story in which battling a single monster can take 3-4 episodes! Wow.

And the more I watched, the more I could see the light. The message of Ultraman is there, but it takes time to unfold. You are confronted with darkness at first, but the more you watch, the more you understand the message of this show. "The light is a bond and it will always shine again!".

The characters are really great too; their growth is fun to witness. But they and the story face a difficult situation - the show was wrapped up early. "Only" 37 episodes! It's not hard to guess why - if I am troubled with what I'm seeing, no way a preschooler is enjoying any of it

This show is way too grim and evil for children, no matter what cool gadgets the good guys have and how awesome Ultraman is at beating the monsters. Any sane parent will ban this show from their household after the first nightmare happens, which won’t take long at all. Speaking of nightmares, the monsters, those are a good point to talk about another thing that makes this show very special - there are no Kaiju! The monsters are instead "Space Beasts" and their existence is a secret as this show has their own "Men in Black" who go around and erase memories of them and Ultraman. Which makes for a very unique setting and tone.

And our protagonist with whom we spend the most time– is not Ultraman! In fact, Ultraman is not a part of the defense team at all. He’s an individual who found the light and uses it to protect the Earth. And who is later replaced, as the light chooses different people to fight! That makes for very unique situations not found in most other Ultraman shows.

It's a shame though that due to its nature Nexus wasn't received favorably and was thus not able to be finished properly. The ending they went with isn’t bad by any means, but the last few episodes pick up an insane pace as the writers try to wrap up the story with the little time they have left.

Man, what an insane ride this show is. At first I disliked it, but couldn’t stop because it was so good, then I started to love it and then it was already over

But hey, now that I do love it there’s no use crying over spilled milk and wondering what could’ve been; now I have a new favorite show to rewatch every other year!

Lastly, I want to finish this post with “The Next”. So Nexus by itself is part of a project with the goal to revitalize the Ultraman franchise, which also included stage plays and a big screen movie. That movie, only called “ULTRAMAN” on screen but titled “The Next” nowadays, is a prequel to Nexus and essentially a remake of the very first Ultraman episode. It’s about Ultraman’s arrival on Earth and his battle with Bemular.

It’s – also very different. It’s a reimagining of sorts, there’s really nothing familiar in here aside from Ultraman himself. The setting is about two colored spheres arriving on Earth, a blue and a red one, like in the original show, but the blue one creates a Resident Evil monstrosity and the red one strikes a jet fighter plane and the pilot becomes the host to Ultraman. The entire movie is basically a self-contained story about what happens next. Heh, “Next”.

But, that movie is canon to Nexus. That Ultraman is the Ultraman of Nexus, it’s his first appearance on Earth and some of the events of the move are later mentioned and shown in the main series.

An interesting watch for sure, but kind of like other superhero movies of the time it doesn’t do a great job of adapting the source material. But that was intentional I guess, much with the decisions that make Nexus so different. They wanted different, not traditional.

The last point I want to make, and that’s why I had to mention “The Next” – the effect work, both in Nexus and “The Next” is simply stunning. So good. It was that weird era of special effects, during which the CGI technology wasn’t quite there yet but so much more care and work went into trying to make these effects work. And they are coupled with practical effects, so what you see here is a visual spectacle. Especially the Space Beasts are so terrifying because they seem real, even when they are fully computer generated. And when Ultraman takes to the skies and battles while flying – yes it looks like a Playstation 2 era cutscene, but it works. It’s fun and looks cool.

So yeah, all in all, it was a great experience. And I am not at all surprised that they went back to a more traditional show after this!

[GoldenXtreme]

Nexus is a very interesting show and I really liked how it demonstrated that the core themes of Ultraman could work even in an overwhelmingly bleak setting. It stands out even from other similarly dark and experimental 2000s tokusatsu by merit of the fact its doesn't even really have that like... edgy pre-teen appeal? Its narrative conflicts are so uncathartic and steeped in unglamorous parts of adulthood like that sometimes your boss hates you or you can't forgive yourself for unintentionally hurting someone. Like you said though, the show was fundamentally financially doomed from the start because it is like this. The Ren arc of the show softens up a lot compared to the Jun arc but that retooling clearly wasn't enough and the show ended up condensing stuff like the intended arc where Nagi was Nexus into one episode! A singular entry in the Ultra series to be sure, but the rough points undermined the show enough for me that I'd probably only watch up to episode 25 when I inevitably revisit it because I found that to be a much more satisfying stopping point than watching the show limp to its actual ending.

[Frontier]

"Eiyuu" is still one of the best Ultraman/tokusatsu OP's.