[Daikaijuman54]

He did convert to Catholicism from his wife. He was also one of the many (as hard as it is to believe for many people nowadays) people who wanted to forget about the war. Probably not to the extent of Director Ishiro Honda who was constantly haunted by his memories of serving the Empire and the war, but he wasn't particularly fond of those times.

He was also all for the tone change in Godzilla when King Kong vs Godzilla was being made, since he enjoyed the performances of Haruo Nakajima, whom he was close friends with. Later he was inspired by The Twilight Zone to create Ultra Q, then again by the Superhero Comics that were becoming popular in the 60s to create Ultraman.

That's what I can recall from the top of my head.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daikaijuman54

Probably not to the extent of Director Ishiro Honda who was constantly haunted by his memories of serving the Empire and the war, but he wasn't particularly fond of those times.

Since this topic has been brought up, I wonder where Shotaro Ishinomori got his fear of a secret revival of fascism, which shows through in his robots since Cyborg 009? He is too young to remember militaristic Japan. Is it the influence of a difficult post-war childhood or stories / works of elders?

[ShiShiLeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Since this topic has been brought up, I wonder where Shotaro Ishinomori got his fear of a secret revival of fascism, which shows through in his robots since Cyborg 009? He is too young to remember militaristic Japan. Is it the influence of a difficult post-war childhood or stories / works of elders?

Tons of young people today are well aware of the dangers of fascism. You do not have to have lived through an era of it to understand it. That's basically the basis of education.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Since this topic has been brought up, I wonder where Shotaro Ishinomori got his fear of a secret revival of fascism, which shows through in his robots since Cyborg 009? He is too young to remember militaristic Japan. Is it the influence of a difficult post-war childhood or stories / works of elders?

He was born in 1938, so his earliest childhood memories would have been of WWII-era Japan. That said, I do remember reading something about this once but it's been years now; I want to say it was either on the V3 dvd notes or in some of the episode notes that went up with fansubs from the Showa series (maybe KITSubs?). Maybe it was on Igadevil's old site, I'm not sure. I don't remember enough details to provide a thorough answer, but I remember that there was something in the cultural zeitgeist that explained why fascist organizations and stuff like hidden Nazi gold showed up a lot in 70s Rider.

[printer6]

Huh, always just assumed they were convenient villains, kinda like Nazis in the Indiana Jones movies. Ties it to something real world, and everybody would've known they were the bad guys without much explanation.

[Frontier]

Oh hey, Kanata's grandpa! I kind of forgot about you!

So, Ichika's not getting a big reveal moment, they're just going to casually have her in the know after finding out about Kengo as Trigger...? Although I guess that came around with her big emotional moment.

Honestly I thought Kaizaki and Murahoshi might've figured it out, but Kaizaki seemed genuinely shocked to find out Kanata was Decker. I can't tell if Murahoshi was quietly shocked/surprised or just processing the information. Though they were definitely surprised to find out Kengo was Trigger. Smile Smile! "That's enough of that!" how meta.

Kanata definitely hasn't been fighting alone. GUTS-Select has probably been the most on the ball Attack Team since...GUYS?

Throwing out genius like it's nothing...well, no doubt Ichika is straightforward and Kanata is a hard-worker. Also, captain Ryumon!

Ichika finally fulfilling her role as New Gen Ryo by piloting.

That was a pretty epic Ultra Recharge, and it gave Trigger something to do without stealing the show from Decker. Also, that final transformation!

Man, it's nice to see Hanejiro in Terraphaser so he and Kanata could tag-team once again.

Holy crud, is that Sayaka Ohara as Mothere Spheresaurus? Going with the same spiel of the Sphere from Dyna? I'm actually flattered they included Hanejiro in their Sphere space. He really is alive! But what a stellar repudiation from Kanata!

Everyone working together to weaken the Mother Spheresaurus core so Decker could finish it with a spectacular Ultra Bea!

At least Agams and Laelia are happy in the afterlife.

"Thank you, Ultraman Decker. See you in the movie!"

GUTS-Select seeing the fruit of their victory as everyone from Mars returns to Earth was a pretty great note to end on.

See you all in the Decker movie! And it looks like Dyna is in it too?

[henshinzero]

So if the next Ultraman isn't a New Gen Gaia, will we get that after the new one?

[Daikaijuman54]

And so, we bid farewell to Ultraman Decker.

For what it's worth, it does have some problems, and heck, it may even be no better than Trigger at the end of the day, but I honestly enjoyed Decker way more. Sure, I did have gripes with Agams and a few things I'm unsatisfied with the final battle, but like with Kamen Rider Revice, I do think the end was at least nice to help me feel better after all is said and done. But unlike Revice, I had more fun with this show, nothing too much against the latter, but I genuinely thought Decker, despite its shortcomings and formula, was a good show.

I did absolutely enjoy seeing the final battle play out, with the Trigger to Decker switch and everyone pitching in to fight, it was a lot of fun. Also, Kengo with a gun!

Honestly, if the next season does turn out to be New Generation Gaia, so long as it does as much or preferably more and better than Decker, I'll be fine.

On another note, I love Mother Spheresaurus' roar and it was nice seeing Agams reunite with Lelia.

Well... Until next season. SHUWATCH!

[Shin Henshin]

Decker was my first weekly Ultra series. Not technically my first completed series since that would go to Z, but I did start Decker when it started airing and followed ever since, so it was a new experience.

I really enjoyed it. It thrived on its strong characters and the development they go through from start to finish. I also appreciated how they worked Trigger into it to show that yes, the events from the previous series do still play into what happens here, especially during the endgame, yet also didn't make it "Trigger 2" by keeping things on Kanata and everyone in this cast instead. I was glad that the final battle focused on Decker and his back-up while Kengo was small support.

All that said, the narrative does have really obvious issues. Completely sidelining Kanata's personal life like his grandfather or his parents being stuck on Mars for 99% of the series felt like a bit of a waste. Could have gotten some good drama out of that what with Kanata's tendency to shoulder his issues on his own.

The future aspect with Kanata's successor also feels a bit weird cause the concept was great, but nothing really came from it (Until this finale film anyway). Agams being from the future worked fine on its own without needing someone else to come in to really push it. It would have been cool to play that part up a bit more and have both present and future Deckers come in to fight Mother Sphere. Even plays into the theme of individuality and differences. Two vastly different hosts, but both have the same overall goal.

I really liked Agams, but the guy needed a better send-off moment. His relationship with Kanata being an unstoppable object up against an immovable wall was extremely compelling so him just up and dying and that's it last time felt way too fast a disposal, even though I loved the final scene with his and Lelia's spirits essentially thanking Kanata. Granted that brings up completely different questions, like if Decker was able to beat the Sphere now, doesn't that mean their home planet never succumbs to the Sphere in the future? Or that Earth never goes to them for refuge? So wouldn't that mean Agams never comes to the past to get revenge on Earth? Or that Terraphaser would essentially be erased from existence? Lot of holes pop up.

But even with those issues, it was just a fun time from start to finish. Not the top of my 2022 toku list, but I'm more than committed to following the next series now.

[Byg42]

New trailer for the Decker movie, and more info on Ultraman Dinas
https://twitter.com/TsuburayaGlobal/...01474938671104
https://youtu.be/HV332w_1yZE