Ultraman Discussion Thread

DreamSword · 07-29-2023, 11:58 PM

Well I finally did it. I finally watched my first "proper" Ultra show with Ultraman Nexus. (Spoilers below!)

And I now kinda get why some of you warned me about it being my intro into the franchise way back when I asked about it.

Even as someone not super well versed in all things Ultra, I could tell that Nexus was a rather unique beast of a show, and one that I could easily see as one that'd potentially alienate alot of fans of the franchise.

That being said... I still rather liked it for the most part! It's by no means perfect, but I came out of the experience liking it more than disliking it. It's a show I feel that, while it doesn't execute alot of its ideas in the best way, always swung for the fences and was made with passion by alot of the people involved.

I also went ahead and read into the production history of the show, and while its troubles do help to explain the reason as to why certain aspects were handled the way that they were, there are alot of decisions the show still made that I felt weren't for the best. The biggest example being the very clear divide between the first and second half of the show as a whole.

Apparently it was always planned for Nexus to have a big swing a new direction once the second half of it hit, and I really gotta question why, as the result was that alot of stuff from the first half just kinda gets jettisoned away without much of a care. I still liked the second half for what it was, and in some ways it was better than the first half when it came to handling certain things, but I wasn't too keen on losing alot of what made me really like the first half.

For example, the first half's' overarching theme about how memories make people who they are and shape the reality in which people live, which in turn also influences other people's' perception of reality and how that affects the concept we know as the truth made for some rather fascinating stuff, and combined with some killer directing lead to some of my favorite episodes. The result was a toku combined with a psychological thriller and I was absolutely all for that. Then the second half just kinda... gets rid of it, without much fanfare.

The cutting down of the show did still hurt though. The Director's Cut of 29 is vastly superior to the TV cut, and Episode EX I feel is absolutely mandatory viewing, as otherwise Shiori never gets an arc(like alot of characters in Nexus, more on that in a sec), and it serves as one of the better arcs in the show, I felt. Heck, that's another thing that Nexus fell short with; It wanted to do these big dramatic swings with alot of its characters, yet never really gives the audience time to breathe and warm up to the idea of these characters. Nexus is very much a show where if you're not digging the leads, you don't have much else to cling onto.

Nexus is also a show that's a rather slow burn; You don't get many answers on much of anything until late into the show, and I could easily see people losing patience with it, especially if they're not especially loving its mystery aspect. Heck, you don't get any answers on certain things regardless. For example, why did Yu order the Night Raiders to shoot Ultraman at the start of the show, despite it being framed as though it were part of some grand plan? Never explained. It's at one point hinted that he's an alien who can see the future, but that plot point goes nowhere in favor of the Prometheus' Children plot.

I also felt that the big plot twist at the end, with Ishibori being the Unknown Hand was also handled pretty weakly. It's not that it comes completely out of nowhere or anything, it's more that the show waits until its last stretch of episodes to even try and make Ishibori a character. Dude pretty much doesn't even exist up until that point. If he had any sort of screen presence at all before that point, it would've worked alot better. Heck, had alot of the ways the second half handles its characters been intermixed with the first half, I think Nexus in general would've been a fantastic story. Rather than two distinct halves, making it one long show that alternates or mixes the two. Then you could have the character development of the second half with the plot of the first.

If at this point it sounds like I've just been hating on Nexus, don't worry, because again, I found alot of it to be made of stuff I rather like! The biggest and possibly most obvious one for those who know my tastes is that I really dug Nexus' heavy and mysterious atmosphere that it kept going through the entire show. Even the second half, while lighter on it than the first, never fully gave that atmosphere up and I really appreciated that. I also really dug our lead characters in Komon, Himeya, and Ren. All three of them are very distinct and very likable protagonists who very much carried the show for me. And to bring up the show being cut down again, it wasn't all bad. One of the arcs that got cut, apparently involving time travel, is one that I felt would've seriously clashed with the show's' overall style and tone.

In addition to that, I felt that, given the circumstances, the ending was probably the best one that Nexus could've ever asked for. Does it answer and resolve absolutely everything? No, but it does have a big emotionally payoff for pretty much every character involved, especially Komon, who absolutely earned his spot as the lead. Even on the surface level though, Nexus never disappointed. The kaiju designs were all very creative, the fight scenes were entertaining(some fights going into straight up DBZ territory), and the musical score is some of the best I remember hearing in tokusatsu as a whole. I think where the show most shined in all of its positive aspects was the Faust arc, which I felt perfectly blended character arc, drama, atmosphere, and psychological thriller/horror into an intense and cohesive package that I hope to not soon forget. The Mephisto stuff was almost a disappointment in comparison.

I don't know if I'll end up making an Ultra playlist like I've been doing for Rider, but for Nexus, the perfect song came to my mind almost immediately. That being "Everything You Feel" by YULA, which I think sums up the first half especially perfectly. In the end, Ultraman Nexus is a show that even if I ended up not liking it, I still think I'd have alot of respect for it, as it was clear alot of passion and care was going into it. It's not a show I'd call one of my all time favorite toku, and it's not only I especially loved, but it's one that I felt made for a good experience watching and one I ultimately ended up liking a good amount. And this was all despite the very lackluster sub quality. I actually compared both the CrunchyRoll and TV-N subs, and both are pretty mediocre overall. Really wish a different sub group would come along and do a proper scrub so the show can get some more positive attention. But now I'm just rambling. In the end, I give Ultraman Nexus a 4/6. Good, but not incredible.

GuardianAngel87 · 07-30-2023, 02:40 PM

I managed to finish watching Ultraman Max last night and I even managed to continue right where I left off on Ultraman Taro. I also watched the fourth episode of Blazar in both languages and I also watched several more episodes of Ultraman Trigger including a pretty enjoyable pair of episodes that served as a crossover between Trigger and Z for the last few days. 10 episodes down, 15 to go plus one post-series movie until I can really continue right where I left off on Decker considering that series had a two-part crossover with Trigger later on.

Rabbitman · 07-30-2023, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuardianAngel87

I managed to finish watching Ultraman Max last night and I even managed to continue right where I left off on Ultraman Taro. I also watched the fourth episode of Blazar in both languages and I also watched several more episodes of Ultraman Trigger including a pretty enjoyable pair of episodes that served as a crossover between Trigger and Z for the last few days. 10 episodes down, 15 to go plus one post-series movie until I can really continue right where I left off on Decker considering that series had a two-part crossover with Trigger later on.

I did something similar with Ultraman Z. I watched up until the crossover with Geed, then went back to watch Geed, realized I needed to watch the zero movies, realized I needed to watch Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle seasons, etc. eventually I made it back to Zett after watching a ton of movies and tv series, haha.

It?s fun to go down the rabbit hole

SHINOBI03 · 08-02-2023, 01:36 PM

Watching the Super 8 Ultra Brothers is depressing in hindsight when you know all the mess behind the scenes coming later to the Heisei actors. This is truly a movie that's never going to happen again.

Frontier · 08-04-2023, 08:07 PM

We're going to be firing a frikkin' railgun at Kaiju!?

Anri back home is the perfect opportunity for more of the team to open up! Teruaki is from a family of farmers! His hometown is known for grapes!

So is part of the reason Anri comes off awkward and stilted sometimes is because she's trying to hide her accent? She comes off really differently when she's talking to childhood friend Mizuho.

Ha! It's funny how the kid versions were wearing the exact same colors/similar outfits to when they were adults.

I guess Mizuho is our first indication of people with supernatural abilities.

If I had a nickel for every time a problem with an ancient Kaiju could've been avoided if they just didn't disturb the land they're resting on...well, I'd have a bunch of nickels, actually.

Look out, it's New Generation Torterra! Actually Dorgo's whole deal kind of reminded me of Gomora. He even had his own Super Oscillation Wave.

I'm glad Emi could skype in and confirm the best way to subdue Dorgo without killing him.

"I'll go" - the team is starting to steal Gento's catchphrase!

Man, the railgun screwed them over twice, first when it woke Dorgo up early and the second time when it just automatically targeted Blazar. It was protecting Dorgo and he probably had no idea what those things on his back even were!

Oh snap! Earth Garon has some moves! Oh snap! Blazar can split and dual wield the Spiral Burrade! Oh snap! Dorgo is the first Kaiju they took down non-lethally!

I love how Anri makes shoving the statue into a martial arts move. Blazar kind of did the same thing when pushing Dorgo back into his new sleeping ground.

This time it's Earth Garon flying off!

Looks like we're getting our first recap episode next week, but at least they're being creative about it and bringing in the classic Ultra trope...reporters!

Daikaijuman54 · 08-04-2023, 08:07 PM

Not the most spectacular episode, but still a fun one.

Blazar snapping his Spiral Bolide was certainly a good one. I love this Ultraman, and Dorgo was also a fun Kaiju. Wakes up, takes out Earth Garon (give my robot some justice!), drinks water, sleeps again.

On another note, just so that I have something more to say, the transitions in the ending theme with the words reads "the spiral of rose and violet strikes through the universe" a line from the very first teaser of Ultraman Blazar.

Recap next week!

GuardianAngel87 · 08-04-2023, 09:55 PM

Currently watching the English dubbed version (already watched the original Japanese version beforehand) of the fifth episode of Ultraman Blazar myself and it looks like I'm probably not going to be missing much next week since I'll be on vacation at that time. On a related note, I also managed to finish Ultraman Taro today so that's another series I can officially cross off on my Toku watchlist. It is a very enjoyable series. Kotaro Higashi might just be my favorite Ultra human host within the Showa era and I find ZAT to be a vastly underrated defense team.

TokuKnight89 · 08-04-2023, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHINOBI03

Watching the Super 8 Ultra Brothers is depressing in hindsight when you know all the mess behind the scenes coming later to the Heisei actors. This is truly a movie that's never going to happen again.

"All the mess"?

SHINOBI03 · 08-05-2023, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TokuKnight89

"All the mess"?

One actor is held hostage by his agency, and another actor is hated by China.

ShiShiLeo · 08-05-2023, 10:27 AM

Shin Ultraman won the 2023 Seiun Award for best media.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...awards/.201019

Ultraman now holds 4 Seiun awards for Tiga, Z, Ultraman F, and Shin Ultraman.

07-29-2023, 11:58 PM	#3881
DreamSword Some guy. I'm alright. Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: Michigan Posts: 4,172	Well I finally did it. I finally watched my first "proper" Ultra show with Ultraman Nexus. (Spoilers below!) And I now kinda get why some of you warned me about it being my intro into the franchise way back when I asked about it. Even as someone not super well versed in all things Ultra, I could tell that Nexus was a rather unique beast of a show, and one that I could easily see as one that'd potentially alienate alot of fans of the franchise. That being said... I still rather liked it for the most part! It's by no means perfect, but I came out of the experience liking it more than disliking it. It's a show I feel that, while it doesn't execute alot of its ideas in the best way, always swung for the fences and was made with passion by alot of the people involved. I also went ahead and read into the production history of the show, and while its troubles do help to explain the reason as to why certain aspects were handled the way that they were, there are alot of decisions the show still made that I felt weren't for the best. The biggest example being the very clear divide between the first and second half of the show as a whole. Apparently it was always planned for Nexus to have a big swing a new direction once the second half of it hit, and I really gotta question why, as the result was that alot of stuff from the first half just kinda gets jettisoned away without much of a care. I still liked the second half for what it was, and in some ways it was better than the first half when it came to handling certain things, but I wasn't too keen on losing alot of what made me really like the first half. For example, the first half's' overarching theme about how memories make people who they are and shape the reality in which people live, which in turn also influences other people's' perception of reality and how that affects the concept we know as the truth made for some rather fascinating stuff, and combined with some killer directing lead to some of my favorite episodes. The result was a toku combined with a psychological thriller and I was absolutely all for that. Then the second half just kinda... gets rid of it, without much fanfare. The cutting down of the show did still hurt though. The Director's Cut of 29 is vastly superior to the TV cut, and Episode EX I feel is absolutely mandatory viewing, as otherwise Shiori never gets an arc(like alot of characters in Nexus, more on that in a sec), and it serves as one of the better arcs in the show, I felt. Heck, that's another thing that Nexus fell short with; It wanted to do these big dramatic swings with alot of its characters, yet never really gives the audience time to breathe and warm up to the idea of these characters. Nexus is very much a show where if you're not digging the leads, you don't have much else to cling onto. Nexus is also a show that's a rather slow burn; You don't get many answers on much of anything until late into the show, and I could easily see people losing patience with it, especially if they're not especially loving its mystery aspect. Heck, you don't get any answers on certain things regardless. For example, why did Yu order the Night Raiders to shoot Ultraman at the start of the show, despite it being framed as though it were part of some grand plan? Never explained. It's at one point hinted that he's an alien who can see the future, but that plot point goes nowhere in favor of the Prometheus' Children plot. I also felt that the big plot twist at the end, with Ishibori being the Unknown Hand was also handled pretty weakly. It's not that it comes completely out of nowhere or anything, it's more that the show waits until its last stretch of episodes to even try and make Ishibori a character. Dude pretty much doesn't even exist up until that point. If he had any sort of screen presence at all before that point, it would've worked alot better. Heck, had alot of the ways the second half handles its characters been intermixed with the first half, I think Nexus in general would've been a fantastic story. Rather than two distinct halves, making it one long show that alternates or mixes the two. Then you could have the character development of the second half with the plot of the first. If at this point it sounds like I've just been hating on Nexus, don't worry, because again, I found alot of it to be made of stuff I rather like! The biggest and possibly most obvious one for those who know my tastes is that I really dug Nexus' heavy and mysterious atmosphere that it kept going through the entire show. Even the second half, while lighter on it than the first, never fully gave that atmosphere up and I really appreciated that. I also really dug our lead characters in Komon, Himeya, and Ren. All three of them are very distinct and very likable protagonists who very much carried the show for me. And to bring up the show being cut down again, it wasn't all bad. One of the arcs that got cut, apparently involving time travel, is one that I felt would've seriously clashed with the show's' overall style and tone. In addition to that, I felt that, given the circumstances, the ending was probably the best one that Nexus could've ever asked for. Does it answer and resolve absolutely everything? No, but it does have a big emotionally payoff for pretty much every character involved, especially Komon, who absolutely earned his spot as the lead. Even on the surface level though, Nexus never disappointed. The kaiju designs were all very creative, the fight scenes were entertaining(some fights going into straight up DBZ territory), and the musical score is some of the best I remember hearing in tokusatsu as a whole. I think where the show most shined in all of its positive aspects was the Faust arc, which I felt perfectly blended character arc, drama, atmosphere, and psychological thriller/horror into an intense and cohesive package that I hope to not soon forget. The Mephisto stuff was almost a disappointment in comparison. I don't know if I'll end up making an Ultra playlist like I've been doing for Rider, but for Nexus, the perfect song came to my mind almost immediately. That being "Everything You Feel" by YULA, which I think sums up the first half especially perfectly. In the end, Ultraman Nexus is a show that even if I ended up not liking it, I still think I'd have alot of respect for it, as it was clear alot of passion and care was going into it. It's not a show I'd call one of my all time favorite toku, and it's not only I especially loved, but it's one that I felt made for a good experience watching and one I ultimately ended up liking a good amount. And this was all despite the very lackluster sub quality. I actually compared both the CrunchyRoll and TV-N subs, and both are pretty mediocre overall. Really wish a different sub group would come along and do a proper scrub so the show can get some more positive attention. But now I'm just rambling. In the end, I give Ultraman Nexus a 4/6. Good, but not incredible. __________________ Watch Gamera Rebirth With Me! \| Tokucasts w/ Friends!

07-30-2023, 02:40 PM	#3882
GuardianAngel87 Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 820	I managed to finish watching Ultraman Max last night and I even managed to continue right where I left off on Ultraman Taro. I also watched the fourth episode of Blazar in both languages and I also watched several more episodes of Ultraman Trigger including a pretty enjoyable pair of episodes that served as a crossover between Trigger and Z for the last few days. 10 episodes down, 15 to go plus one post-series movie until I can really continue right where I left off on Decker considering that series had a two-part crossover with Trigger later on. Last edited by GuardianAngel87; 07-30-2023 at 02:56 PM..

08-04-2023, 08:07 PM	#3886
Daikaijuman54 Kaiju or Hero? Join Date: Jan 2021 Location: Even I Don't Know Anymore. Posts: 1,359	Not the most spectacular episode, but still a fun one. Blazar snapping his Spiral Bolide was certainly a good one. I love this Ultraman, and Dorgo was also a fun Kaiju. Wakes up, takes out Earth Garon (give my robot some justice!), drinks water, sleeps again. On another note, just so that I have something more to say, the transitions in the ending theme with the words reads "the spiral of rose and violet strikes through the universe" a line from the very first teaser of Ultraman Blazar. Recap next week! __________________ Project Aegis: Begin.

08-04-2023, 09:55 PM	#3887
GuardianAngel87 Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 820	Currently watching the English dubbed version (already watched the original Japanese version beforehand) of the fifth episode of Ultraman Blazar myself and it looks like I'm probably not going to be missing much next week since I'll be on vacation at that time. On a related note, I also managed to finish Ultraman Taro today so that's another series I can officially cross off on my Toku watchlist. It is a very enjoyable series. Kotaro Higashi might just be my favorite Ultra human host within the Showa era and I find ZAT to be a vastly underrated defense team. Last edited by GuardianAngel87; 08-04-2023 at 10:14 PM..

08-05-2023, 10:27 AM	#3890
ShiShiLeo Suprise Gamma Future Join Date: Feb 2020 Location: USA Posts: 2,852	Shin Ultraman won the 2023 Seiun Award for best media. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...awards/.201019 Ultraman now holds 4 Seiun awards for Tiga, Z, Ultraman F, and Shin Ultraman. __________________