I keep randomly catching various Ultraman on ShoutFactory's twitch streams and I dont know why I never actually started watching them.
Where's the best place to start?
Also hyped for the new Monster Rancher game as a Monster Rancher fan
I keep randomly catching various Ultraman on ShoutFactory's twitch streams and I dont know why I never actually started watching them.
The beginning.
Ultra Q or the first one. Both are good. I personally like Q the most actually. It is a lot like Outer Limits or the Twilight Zone.
OGMan.
If you want the ones I consider must-watches, then
>Ultra Q
>OG
>Seven
>First 39 episodes of Return Of Ultraman
>First 29 episodes of Leo
>First 13 episodes of 80 and 43-end
>Tiga
>Dyna
>Gaia
>Mebius
Admittedly, I’m not a fan of most of the shows post-Ultra Galaxy The Movie, so take that as you will.
There are other good Ultra shows too, but those are the ones I’d say you’d want to definitely see.
I would add Max to this list. Over Mebius, even.
Max is boring. The supporting cast is way more interesting than main character and heroine.
Most Ultra casts are perfunctory at best. But Max has some great episodes with some excellent directors.
So did Tiga, Dyna and Gaia. And they have the advantage of having a much better cast, characters and way bigger budget. Original monsters and aliens too, not rehash of old ones that have been plaguing the franchise for decades now.
Okay. All I said was that I would add Max over Mebius, especially as a starter series.
I vastly prefer Mebius over Max. Max is ok, but it’s nothing special imo. Mebius still stands as the absolute best “Bring back a bunch of older kaiju” Ultra show, because it felt like an actual expansion of the Ultra universe instead of some cheap regurgitation. The 80 reunion episode is still among my favorite single episodes in the franchise.
Max’s approach was fine by making it an alternate timeline using monster we hadn’t seen in a long time, but the execution was pretty middle of the road compared to Mebius.
Agree to disagree, I don’t think the second half is anywhere near the same level.
Also I want to throw out that the movie “Ultraman The Next” is great, and does a great job encapsulating the series as a whole. It’s a sort-of retelling of the OG, but it doesn’t feel like just a rehash. I didn’t care all that much for Nexus, but love The Next.
>I don’t think the second half is anywhere near the same level
I'd like to hear why, if you don't mind.
It’s nothing incredibly specific, I just think the first set has better quality writing and execution. I think the “finale” between both is the best comparison. I thought the “Ultra is scared of fighting Zetton” idea was interesting, but I didn’t care for the execution. The Nackle story felt like a legitimately epic way to end Jack, testing Goh as a human being and watching him rise to the occasion against the odds. The Muruchi episode is one of the best episodes in the franchise.
>but the execution was pretty middle of the road compared to Mebius.
For some episodes. But Miike's episodes and Jissoji's episodes, among a handful of others, blow anything Mebius has out of the water. I think Max easily has higher peaks.
But I also think Next is a dull turd and Nexus is good, so we clearly have different taste.
That’s true only for the Jissoji episode. Mike episodes were unimpressive in general and Max has a frickton of boring episodes unlike Mebius.
Why do you love being wrong?
Even if you count those as being as great as you claim, it’s only 3 episodes out of the entire show. Max having 3 episodes better than Mebius doesn’t make it a better show.
You're right, but on the whole I think it's just a more consistent show. The stretch of gems in the middle just cements it. I've also never cared for how Mebius indulges in legacy-wank. Max has its share of memberberries and cameos, but they rarely feel central. There are some overly-saccharine episodes of Mebius that feel nearly narcissistic. I like both, though; I'm not shitting on Mebius.
>I've also never cared for how Mebius indulges in legacy-wank
Not that anon, but I actually think that Mebius does the best job of any show/movie when it comes to using the old Ultras. New TsuPro stuff tends to either wank them off or shit on them for the new thing (looking at you, Ultra Galaxy the Movie), but I really don’t think Mebius did either of those.
The show emphasizes that Mebius is a scrub. He has potential but he lacks experience and skill. When older Ultras pop up, typically it’s in a meaningful manner that either wraps up their story or allows them to teach Mebius something that makes him improve. We get to see these warriors who have fought for decades come back and show how good they are at what they do, even without the power ups and help. I don’t ever think the show wanks off the old Ultras, I think it simply lets us see them in a way that isn’t crapping on them.
>The 80 reunion episode is still among my favorite single episodes in the franchise.
I just wish that 80's actual show was as good as that one episode.
I genuinely love the teacher episodes, and I think the last set of episodes picked back up. The finale’s one of my favorites as well.
I think if the show stuck with the teacher idea it would’ve been a GOAT.
Nah. The ending was underwhelming as hell and Yullian was a fricking joke of a character. Her actress became big among tokusatsu fans later on, but she was completely wasted in that show. The teacher episodes were way too simplistic for Ultraman standards too. We went from thought-provoking sci-if to people feeling anxious and stressed creates giant monsters for some reason.
>The ending was underwhelming as hell
This right here depends on what you want out of an ending.
I think the ending is fantastic because it’s about growth and closure. 80 is reluctant to leave because he’s scared that mankind can’t take care of himself. Instead of some massive showdown with a big bad monster (which we got the episode before), we got to see 80’s friends get the spotlight and show how mankind has grown. It’s similar in that regard to OGman’s ending, but I’d argue it was better executed. On top of that, the identity reveal was both a testament to the human characters and heartwarming, as was the farewell party.
If you’re looking for an ending that is big and explosive sure, it’s going to disappoint, but I think for 80’s story it was a perfect ending outside of not showing the students.
I would agree with you if it wasn’t for the fact they reveal Yullian’s transformation in the episode right before that. Why?! They could’ve had her transform and fight alongside 80 from the very first moment they introduced her character and that would’ve been fine. But the way they handled her made it pointless and significantly weakened the last episode for me. Thanks to that, Yullian’s status as the first female Ultra fighter made her look even more useless than Tackle.
>They could’ve had her transform and fight alongside 80 from the very first moment they introduced her character and that would’ve been fine.
They actually explain that in the episode she transforms. 80 wouldn’t let her fight because he was afraid that if they both are killed, there wouldn’t be an Ultra left to stop the monster wave. But Yulian knew the “final boss” monster duo was too much for either of them and ignored the order.
Same anon, but also want to add that his paranoia about leaving earth without an Ultra is what fuels the finale. His team has to show him that they’ll be ok.
I didn’t say they didn’t explain it, I said it was bullshit to hype their first female Ultra fighter to protect the Earth only to make her leave without doing anything noteworthy the very next episode. If she had another chance to standout, that would be something, but the way they handled it was terrible. I mean, Sentai was doing fine with their female characters, but Ultra and Rider were just ridiculous with their unapologetic sexism.
/m/ really is one of the most liberal boards on Cinemaphile lol
because this board is a zoomer hive for whatever reason
Because /m/ skews older and modern underaged newbies are /misc/pozzed.
>Because /m/ skews older
Objectively false.
The average age of people browsing the Cinemaphile board is like 27 years old and they are very /misc/-inclined. All this has nothing to do with age
>The average age of people browsing the Cinemaphile board is like 27 years old
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTT
I'm four years older than that and there are folks here that are even older than me.
Not really surprising. Cinemaphile itself is old enough to vote now. At this point I'd have to think there are a lot of 30+ posters, even on teenage-centered hobby boards like Cinemaphile.
Don't worry I personally know a lot of people on /m/ are like 18-20 years old
>I personally know a lot of people on /m/
My condolences
Yeah go back to your discord server.
And the average /m/ poster cannot be older than 25 at the oldest. There is no other explanation for the frothing hatred all pre millennium media except Gundam gets here.
>the frothing hatred all pre millennium media except Gundam gets here
?
The idea made sense one way or another. 80 was insanely sympathetic to other beings, to the point where he would make bad judgment calls. While Yulian wasn’t amazing or anything, I think the explanation worked, and the episode where she does transform is one of the best in 80. Instead of just randomly shoving her in like many secondary Ultras tend to be, she got good buildup to when we do see her. Ultimately she wasn’t assigned to earth, she was a princess.
>Ultra and Rider were just ridiculous with their unapologetic sexism.
When in doubt, cry sexism.
>I mean, Sentai was doing fine with their female characters, but Ultra and Rider were just ridiculous with their unapologetic sexism.
They were very reflective of the time in which they were written. They'd sometimes pay lip service to the ongoing feminist movement at the time, but they were still shows predominantly written by men for young boys.
Super Sentai had more leeway in that the shows are supposed to appeal to both genders, but even then could sometimes be pretty backhanded.
I liked the second half of Return better.
Why those specific numbers? Do they really have such a hard drop off in quality?
Watch Ultraman and Ultra Seven then go where your heart takes you. Probably Mebius, Tiga, and the newest series.
Is Ace actually any good? I've seen that gory webm
No, it’s a mess of a series with a few standout episodes, mostly the 2-parters. But Mikawa is pretty damn hot and manga artist episode got some of her best “angles”.
anywhere. start with literally any show that catches your eyes. My personal recommendation is Ultraseven for showa, Ultraman Max for heisei, Ultraman Orb for new gen, and Ultraman Z for Reiwa. But the best show to start on is the synopsis of the show that you think is interesting really
OG, Seven, Tiga, Dyna, Gaia are the best Ultraman series and the rest is supplementary material at best.
As someone whose first show was Z, I would say that one.
Ultraman is a good series and required viewing for toku fans as was mentioned before, but I was never a giant fan of it myself.
The production value compared to other toku of the era is fricking pristine, true blue movie level effects, suits, and sets. The problem with it to me is the "tokusatsu" part of toku is relegated to the last 5 or 6 minutes of each episode and the rest is japanese people in motorcycle helmets running around trying to figure out how to solve a problem before one of the Ultras comes down and does it himself. You get an episode here or there of a kaiju obliterating a fantastically constructed set but all that means is less money for the final Ultra v Kaiju battle and dear god does it show in some episodes.
The OG Rider on the other hand had the budget of a toothbrush and two paperclips so the effects and sets were never remotely near the Ultra series but you would have a fight at the beginning, middle, and end most times, exemplifying the fight choreography and costume design, which by no means was exceptional but the choreography in Ultra was always just them grappling for 2 minutes and falling on tiny cities.
Ultra Q is more of a sci-fi anthology so if you want Ultraman himself, start from the original and work your way through at least Ultraseven, Return, and Leo before jumping around the "newer" (ie, Heisei) series. Just keep in mind the Ultra series is for bombastic effects and kaiju/set design where Rider and other "boots on the ground" toku of the time were for fight choreography with more of an emphasis on the suits and the fights themselves.
>The problem with it to me is the "tokusatsu" part of toku is relegated to the last 5 or 6 minutes of each episode and the rest is japanese people in motorcycle helmets running around trying to figure out how to solve a problem before one of the Ultras comes down and does it himself.
Honestly, I don't mind this so much in the original Ultraman and Ultraseven because generally I like the human characters.
Completely valid points, I've always been more into the stunts, suits, and choreography so Rider always appealed more to me.
First anon you quoted here. I enjoy all of those things too; I just don't go biting into an apple expecting it to taste like an orange, if that makes any sense.
Yeah I know what you mean, that's why I listed some differences in the original post so someone going into Ultra understands what the series is generally about
>The problem with it to me is the "tokusatsu" part of toku is relegated to the last 5 or 6 minutes of each episode and the rest is japanese people in motorcycle helmets running around trying to figure out how to solve a problem
There's a lot of variety in it, though. I like Showa Kamen Rider as well, but the plots all tend to be pretty samey. Between the more inventive storytelling and much better cinematography the best of Showa Ultra bores me a lot less often. It's just better crafted as television, tokusatsu or no.
I'm going to start with Ultra Q because I loved the Twilight Zone, but one small question, does it have classic kaiju that show up in Ultraman later? Im also kinda doing this because i want to play that new Monster Rancher game lol
Ultra and Seven were good old toku. Rider is only good for the first 10 episodes of the very first series and that single one Ishimori directed. If people want to enjoy Showa Rider, they should just read the first and the Black manga. Ultra is in a complete other league than Rider.
Rider is only good for the first 10 episodes of the very first series and that single one Ishimori directed.
I don’t think it’s fair to exclude all of Hongo’s return episodes. The moment Hongo comes back the showed gets a second life, imo.
The show can be pretty much cut into 4 “seasons” imo.
>First set of Hongo episodes (1-13)
The most iconic of the series, along with the most atmospheric. When people think of classic Kamen Rider, this is typically what pops up in their heads. It’s remembered for a reason, even though the last few episodes obviously have issues due to the actor’s injuries.
>Ichimonji episodes (14-52)
The weakest stretch of the series. Ichimonji himself is an interesting character, and in a number of ways more relatable than Hongo, but the writing gets stale in his episodes pretty fast minus some standouts. Once Doctor Shinigami is introduced the quality starts to increase a bit though.
>Hongo’s return episodes (53-79)
Comes back strong and with a lot of fun episodes. Almost instantly you can feel a burst of new energy to the show, and it’s an entertaining batch. More streamlined than the early Hongo episodes, but still filled with weirdness and monster attacks.
>Gel-Shocker episodes (80-98)
I consider these the best stretch of episodes next to the first 10. Some really memorable and iconic stuff in this set, including Shocker Riders, General Black (my favorite of the Generals), the assassination of Shocker troops, the Ishinomori episode, and overall the really fun single episodes.
Sorry, meant to greentext the first part.
Showa Toei tokusatsu are no masterpieces, but they do tend to get better near the end due to more serialized storylines. Sometimes they start strong, but drop the ball and go back to basics due to low ratings. But it doesn’t change the fact you need to go through more of 2/3 of mediocrity in order to get there and most people won’t commit to that.
>4 "seasons"
I think even the solo Ichimonji stretch has some good stuff, but for the most part the show as a whole gets a little tedious after the original set. I agree with how you've organized the show, but parts 2-4 (and V3, for that matter) are more similar to me than different. The earliest episodes still feel removed from everything else.
>The most iconic
I would argue with that. The Rider 1/Rider 2 duo dynamic is indelible. Even Shin is throwing Rider 2 into the mix again despite Anno's stated preference for the first 10 episodes. He's just expected.
Okay go back if you are going to be obsessed about it moron.
>comes crying about his boogeyman to an unrelated thread
>keeps crying about it
>posts his selfie when called out
Pathetic.
I don't care if you hate women or not, anon. But if the showrunners didn't want to commit to a famale heroine, they shouldn't do it period. Yullian and Tackle were an embarrassment to their franchises.
It says a lot when from everything that was said, one single word triggered this many people. Go circlejerk among yourselves, I'm outta here.
Gee anon, maybe everyone’s commenting because it was a stupid way to opt out of a point?
I just watched episode 6 of Ultra Q, the turtle one.
Man that was some wacky stuff, you could tell they had a blast doing it.
I hope there's more unexpected stuff in the serie.
>Go into a thread about a topic you don’t like and cry about the topic to own le Toku fans
Wow anon, you’re so cool
I am? You really mean it?
No, your comment added nothing of value
Geed for new gen.
Any of the Japanese 90's Ultras.
OG, 7, Return of Ultraman.
Or just pick a show that isn't neo 7, ginga S, or Ace that's cheap.
Most of the millcreek releases are great outside of gridman and the ultraman (the anime from the 80's).
Geed is good but I wouldn’t call it newcomer friendly. Would recommend watching at least the first 2 Zero movies before it. First one is kinda meh live action battle shonen shit, second is a fun adventure at the very least. But context for Geed makes up for it.
>Ginga S
Replace that with just Ginga. Ginga S is one of the few NewGen Ultra shows I actually like, and is a vast improvement over Ginga in pretty much every single way.
>Most of the millcreek releases are great outside of gridman and the ultraman (the anime from the 80's).
You mean release quality or show quality? Because Gridman is one of my favorite Tokus ever, but the sub quality was bad. I haven’t watched Joneus yet, I’m wrapping up Dyna then Return first.
I’m really hesitant to get into Ace and Taro, because they just feel like chores to watch.
Taro was a much easier show for me to watch than Ace. Mostly because it embraces its batshit insane nature and has a much better main lead.
The only Taro episode I’ve seen was the Tyrant one, and that episode hit my ultimate pet peeve so hard that I feel like it soured my enthusiasm to watch the show.
>New big bad completely embarrassed all of the established heroes and makes them look like garbage
>New hero effortlessly BTFOs that same villain, making all the heroes you love look useless
Exact same issue I had with Ultra Galaxy TM, and something I despise about a lot of modern Hollywood productions.
The standalone episodes are better than the crossovers. But there’s still a few stinkers like the Mephilas and the Eleking ones. Usually referencing old shows is a bad sign in Taro, but the overall show is fun and there’s some disturbingly dark stuff out of nowhere, almost proto-Leo at times. Same way sometimes Leo is Taro 2.0. Both are better than Ace for sure.