In which I post my thoughts on the first episodes of Ultraman

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Q99
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In which I post my thoughts on the first episodes of Ultraman

Post by Q99 »

I just got done watching the first 10 episodes of Ultraman, and I have thoughts!


Spoilers are ok on any episode I've commented on, and I have a fair idea of stuff that happens later on but I'll ask for no spoiling specific stories unless directly asked to (i.e. no "episode X is when monster Y!" shows up, but "Yea, this one gets re-used in a later series," or "You'll see this again," is fine).


Going by episode-

1) Solid enough origin, but one thing kept bugging me during the episode: King Ghidorah. Namely, the phone ring of the science patrol sounds like King Ghidorah. No idea why, but when I'm in a kaiju mood my mind immediately went there.

2) Ahh, space alien! I think this is the best episode of the first 10, and really sells it as sort of an X-Files with giant monsters. Or Doctor Who with giant monsters, Strong plot, cool villain.

3-5) Various kaiju of the weeks. Often quite investigation based- something's up, gotta figure it out. 4's nuke-gimmick was fun but, ah, not all monster suits are winners. 3's Neronga is kind of silly and it underuses it's invisibility gimmick, and Ragon is way too human shaped.

6-7) Experimentations with genre! 6 deals with drug smugglers, 7 travels to elsewhere in the world. 7 is a stronger episode, but Ultraman was surprisingly kinda useless, not being the one to finish the monster. Antlar is a nice insect type design!

8) It's monster island! Introduces the recognizable Red King, and the highest number of Kaiju to date. Science Patrol is pretty badass too. My second fav episode so far.

9) Another kaiju of the week. Gabora is totally a Bulette! Looks cooler with the head closed.

10) Jirass! Aka the first Godzilla, of which I gather there's a few. And... yikes, Ultraman's actually pretty mean in this one, going for the frill and playing around! Pretty strong ep.


So far I'm noticing, the best episodes are ones with monsters I recognize. Which kinda makes sense- if I know them they likely got reused and referenced in other places, and if they got re-used, it's probably because they were good! Also naturally production would match the best stories with fitting, cool-looking monsters.





I'm also watching Redman, which is a really short show, pretty much lacks plot, and is more "Hero comes and murders random Kaiju," from the same era. No breakdown, because it's more just 'repeated kaiju fights'.
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