Category: Ultraman Tiga

Ultraman Tiga Ep. 16: The Revived Demon

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Kyota Kawasaki. Written by Hideyuki Kawakami. Airdate Dec. 21, 1996.

After a hint of the supernatural in the previous episode, Ultraman Tiga goes into a full-fledged fantasy drawn from Japanese legends and the country’s feudal era. The Showa era Ultra shows rarely visited this time period, mostly because the networks didn’t want to limit international sales by making the shows “too Japanese.” Thankfully, the Heisei era loosened up on this so that the more fantastical world of samurais, shoguns, ogres, and demons could burst through to Ultraman’s world. “The Revived Demon” is among the best of these types of episodes, and it’s one of director Kawasaki’s most impressive outings on Tiga. 

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 15: Phantom Dash

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Kyota Kawasaki. Written by Kazuo Tsuburaya and Junki Takegami. Airdate Dec. 14, 1996.

Gazort and the Clitters are back, everyone! Gazort still looks fantastic, arguably Ultraman Tiga’s most memorable kaiju. However, like the first episode with Gazort, the monster is less the star and more the catalyst for a character study. Horri was at the center of “Second Contact.” Now Shinjoh takes over as the pivotal figure, sharing the spotlight with his sister Mayumi (Kei Ishibashi). The mix of a great monster encore, an emotional character-driven story, and a touch of the weird makes for one of the best Ultraman Tiga episodes so far.

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 14: The Unleashed Target

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hirochika Muraishi. Written by Kazuyoshi Nakazaki and Hirochika Muraishi. Airdate Dec. 7, 1996.

One fine day in Tokyo, the Ultraman Tiga creative team was lounging around, bandying about ideas for a show that didn’t have a strong overall plan from the beginning. Writer Kazuyoshi Nakazaki said, “Hey, you know what’s a great movie? The Predator.” Writer-director Hirochika Muraishi, answered, “Yeah, it’s a bit like that short story ‘The Most Dangerous Game.’ ” And right there and then the two sat down at a computer and hashed out the script for “The Unleashed Target.”

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 13: Human Collection

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hirochika Muraishi. Written by Minoru Kawasaki and Hirochika Muraishi. Airdate Nov. 30, 1996.

Young Shinichi is walking home alone one night — not an activity I recommend for third graders — when he sees a strange “crow man” using a ray gun to shrink and capture a pedestrian on the street. Thankfully, Shinichi is Shinjoh’s cousin, so he can call GUTS headquarters directly to inform them of the new threat. Because of a recent spate of vanishings in the area, Shinjoh and Daigo go to check out the kid’s story. They encounter the mystery crow-headed man, who uses his shrinking ray to nab Shinichi and then escape.

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 12: S.O.S. From the Bottom of the Sea

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Shinichi Kamizawa. Written by Nobuhisa Kodama. Airdate Nov. 23, 1996.

“Not all enemies come from distant space,” TPC head Sawai tells the GUTS team members as they face their newest adversary, mutated sea beast Leilons. Human tampering with the environment, such as the underwater nuclear testing that created Leilons, is a significant threat to life on Earth. A good message, one heard in many Ultra shows. But by the time Sawai gives his speech (and rests his hand on Rena’s shoulder for an uncomfortably long time), the episode has already given essentially the same speech multiple times.

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 11: Requiem to the Darkness

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Shinichi Kamizawa. Written by Junki Takegami. Airdate Nov. 15, 1996.

“You’re a highly creative inventor with a contagiously cheerful personality.” This is how one of Horii’s friends describes him in this episode. That’s an accurate, precise portrait. It explains why Horii works so well when he gets the role of the main character in an episode of Ultraman Tiga. He’s fun to be around, even when dealing with dark events. 

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 10: The Abandoned Amusement Park

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Shingo Matsubara. Written by Hideyuki Kawakami. Airdate Nov. 9, 1996.

Many Ultra shows have scenes in amusement parks. I looked at the earliest one last month, Ultra Q’s “Challenge From the Year 2020.” For multiple reasons, amusement parks are ideal settings for the series. The special effects team can pack them full of creative and fun models to obliterate during monster fights. They make it easy to bring children into the story. And the general tone of amusement parks as spots for thrilling but safe fun matches much of the tone of many Ultra shows. The kick of a good roller coaster is what people expect when watching something like Ultraman Tiga.

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 8: On the Night of Halloween

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Yasushi Okada. Written by Masakazu Migita. Airdate Oct. 26, 1996.

The perfect Ultra episode for Halloween is Ultra Q’s “Baron Spider.” I timed that review for the holiday last year. This actual Halloween-themed episode — one of the few in the Ultra series — is arriving in time for, uhm, the Ides of March. As much as I’d also like to land this review on Halloween for some synergy, it’s not a huge loss. As holiday flings go, this one’s minor. It’s mostly interesting for showing how Japan celebrated Halloween before the explosion of mass cosplay parties in the 2010s. 

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 7: The Man Who Came Down to Earth

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Yasushi Okada. Written by Hidenori Miyazawa. Airdate Oct. 19, 1996.

Rena has her first star-turn in a heavy father-daughter drama mixed with an alien invader story. Until now, most of what we’ve seen of Rena has been teases about her possible romance with Daigo. Now Daigo steps into the background — and to an extent, so does Ultraman Tiga — for Rena to work out her family issues parallel to combating a manipulative alien who also has family issues.

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