[GuardianAngel87]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaikaijuSokogeki01

And those are the two aspects that Ace abandons, so you're left with a second half that just feels pointless.

Ace is far and away my least favorite Showa-era Ultraman. It became a chore to sit through.

Yeah, this is effectively why I ended up meandering in finishing the series.

[SHINOBI03]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaikaijuSokogeki01

And those are the two aspects that Ace abandons, so you're left with a second half that just feels pointless.

Ace is far and away my least favorite Showa-era Ultraman. It became a chore to sit through.

More than Leo?

[Smozz]

Decker Finale! I enjoyed this thing a lot... it's probably my favourite New Gen Ultraman movie. It actually feels like a movie to me, not just a long episode of the show. It also lives up to it's name in that it does a good job of being a really good send-off to Decker as a whole.

So Dyna just goes around turning people into Ultras now? I guess that's how Decker exists? But Dinas is cool (Why couldn't we have gotten Ultrawoman Dinas?). I like the way she (he?) uses the Mons Dimension cards in battle. It's nice that someone remembered they exist.

I wish we got to see Decker and Dinas together. Probably in the next Ultra Galaxy Fight...

But yeah, it's good! I like Decker more because of it. Totally worth watching!

[printer6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaikaijuSokogeki01

And those are the two aspects that Ace abandons, so you're left with a second half that just feels pointless.

Ace is far and away my least favorite Showa-era Ultraman. It became a chore to sit through.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHINOBI03

More than Leo?

Both Ace and Leo have a lot of issues, but oddly they're not my least favorite to binge. They're the right amount of whacky (a fair amount of that being unintentional, I think) that I still have at least some fun. Alcohol helps, I suppose.
I think 80 is my least favorite; it's the only Showa series that I haven't been able to make it all the way through. Maybe it gets better, and I've skipped around a bit to where things with Yullian seem intriguing, so maybe someday.
This is going to be a SUPER unpopular opinion, but I actually feel like Ultraseven is a chore to sit through. Love Ultraseven himself, and how violent his eye slugger attacks tend to be, but I feel like the series takes itself way too seriously. On top of that, everything is just another alien threat of some sort that it starts to feel like the same thing over and over again. A few episodes at a time can be great, but I'm talking trying to go all the way through from beginning to end. It becomes a slog.
I know, I know, it wasn't really made to be watched that way.

[TokuKnight89]

Quote:

Originally Posted by printer6

This is going to be a SUPER unpopular opinion, but I actually feel like Ultraseven is a chore to sit through. Love Ultraseven himself, and how violent his eye slugger attacks tend to be, but I feel like the series takes itself way too seriously. On top of that, everything is just another alien threat of some sort that it starts to feel like the same thing over and over again. A few episodes at a time can be great, but I'm talking trying to go all the way through from beginning to end. It becomes a slog.
I know, I know, it wasn't really made to be watched that way.

I second this opinion.

The series is as dry and long-winded as its characters!

The SSSP had charm, heart, and the fact that it was a select group of characters made it easy to like them.

The Ultra Guard has too many people, you aren't as invested in any of them, and they are too suspicious of anything and anyone. The drab aesthetic doesn't do it any favors and adds to its militaristic atmosphere, though this was likely due to the inspiration the show took from Cold War tensions of the time.

There are some good episode plots, like the one where Dan is concerned about everyone's determination to build newer and bigger weapons to combat any potential threat (again, Cold War tensions).

With so much going against it (depending on the episode), you start to focus on the battles, but it tends to take too long to reach that point and some battles are unsatisfying. I seem to remember a few instances where Dan transforms, but doesn't enlarge to giant size (though some New Gen Ultras could learn from this, and Z kinda did)!

There are some recent UltraSeven episode reviews on Ultraman Connection and they do look interesting. The Violent Cigarette episode with Alien Metron was noted for its themes which made the episode seem good save for a few missteps and unavoidable details.

The Alien and Kaiju designs are one of the redeeming qualities about the series. Dinosaur Tank is just a zany triumph, and it's so simple! Even Hot Wheels cars which riff on the same concept can't compete with the Dino!

I didn't quite understand this idea that the series shouldn't be viewed from start to finish in linear fashion.

[Frontier]

The Ultra Guard really grew on me, same way MAT did, as we got more focus episodes of them though I thought Kiriyama was pretty dry as far as Captains go.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaikaijuSokogeki01

And those are the two aspects that Ace abandons, so you're left with a second half that just feels pointless.

Ace is far and away my least favorite Showa-era Ultraman. It became a chore to sit through.

And I just started Ace too XD.

[printer6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TokuKnight89

I didn't quite understand this idea that the series shouldn't be viewed from start to finish in linear fashion.

I mean I don't think any of the old series were intended to be binged, but rather watched one episode at a time whenever it aired, if you could catch it. I think that's a contributing factor to why they can feel like a slog the way we watch them now.
It's nice having them all on DVD or streaming, being able to watch one episode right after another without wait, but the flaws can start to feel more intense. Some of them hold up to this style of viewing better than others though. I think Ultra Q in particular works better for this because each episode feels so different from the rest, and tends to have a more light-hearted and fun atmosphere. It's also a much shorter series.

[SHINOBI03]

Quote:

Originally Posted by printer6

This is going to be a SUPER unpopular opinion, but I actually feel like Ultraseven is a chore to sit through. Love Ultraseven himself, and how violent his eye slugger attacks tend to be, but I feel like the series takes itself way too seriously. On top of that, everything is just another alien threat of some sort that it starts to feel like the same thing over and over again. A few episodes at a time can be great, but I'm talking trying to go all the way through from beginning to end. It becomes a slog.
I know, I know, it wasn't really made to be watched that way.

Ultraseven was written differently from Ultraman due to the decline of the Kaiju boom at the time and chose to go full Sci-Fi instead of a Kaiju battle series, hence the aliens and many other sci-fi heavy plots over rampaging wild earth monsters, and the writing was aimed for more mature audience than little kids.

[printer6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHINOBI03

Ultraseven was written differently from Ultraman due to the decline of the Kaiju boom at the time and chose to go full Sci-Fi instead of a Kaiju battle series, hence the aliens and many other sci-fi heavy plots over rampaging wild earth monsters, and the writing was aimed for more mature audience than little kids.

I know, but the change in direction made it less enjoyable to watch. Or at least watch for extended periods. I think it was moreso because of aiming for mature audiences with a more serious tone that did it for me. It just came across dry.
The emphasis on Sci Fi on its own would've been fine, but it got repetitive how often it was just some new alien race wanting to invade/exploit/destroy Earth. Ultra Q had a few kaiju-free Sci-fi episodes that I really enjoy- The 1/8th Project is probably my favorite episode in that series. Then again, Ultra Q didn't have a titular super hero that needed to fight someone, so probably not a fair comparison.

[Frontier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHINOBI03

Ultraseven was written differently from Ultraman due to the decline of the Kaiju boom at the time and chose to go full Sci-Fi instead of a Kaiju battle series, hence the aliens and many other sci-fi heavy plots over rampaging wild earth monsters, and the writing was aimed for more mature audience than little kids.

A lot of time in the first half of the series Seven doesn't even go giant, he fights human-sized.