Tag: Good

Ultraman Tiga Ep. 36: Smile Across Space and Time

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Teruyoshi Ishii. Written by Masakazu Migit, Keiichi Hasegawa. Airdate May 10, 1997.

Yazumi finally gets an episode of his own. The “guy in the chair” of GUTS, the agent who didn’t even get to go into the field until episode 23, now takes the spotlight. Aside from “One Vanishing Moment,” where he flaunted a militaristic attitude, Yazumi has always come across as the quietest, most restrained member of GUTS. Perhaps that’s why Captain Iruma kept him in the operations chair most of the time rather than fighting monsters in the field.

Continue reading “Ultraman Tiga Ep. 36: Smile Across Space and Time” →

Ultraman Tiga Ep. 35: Sleeping Beauty

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Teruyoshi Ishii. Written by Chiaki J. Konaka. Airdate May 3, 1997.

The previous episode left open questions about the alien entity responsible for the assault on the Terran Peace Consortium’s summit in the Cliomos Islands. This episode picks up soon afterward. The TPC East Asia Base is investigating an alien body in cryostasis (codename: Sleeping Beauty) that was transferred from the West Asia Base. The alien — which resembles a typical “gray” but with green skin — has been in stasis for more than two decades. An alloy discovered near it is identical to the material of the bioweapon used in the attack on the TPC summit. 

Continue reading “Ultraman Tiga Ep. 35: Sleeping Beauty” →

Ultraman Ginga S Ep. 4: The Meaning of Strength

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Yoshikazu Ishii. Written by Aya Takei. Airdate August 6, 2013.

Although Sho is the co-lead of Ultraman Ginga S, this is the first episode to dig beneath his tough-guy loner exterior. Sho is a fundamentally different person from the gregarious Hikaru, and that difference risks turning him unlikable, even with two young sidekicks, Lepi and Sakuya, looking up to him. Sho needs a few dashes of doubt and maybe a major defeat to leaven his stubbornness.

Continue reading “Ultraman Ginga S Ep. 4: The Meaning of Strength” →

Ultraman Tiga Ep. 33: Vampire City

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hirochika Muraishi. Written by Keiichi Hasegawa. Airdate April 19, 1997.

Ultraman Tiga is doing another horror episode, this time with a different brand of fear: the ‘90s noir vampire flick. Welcome back to the days of leather-clad cool vampires who do backflips and make their lairs in deserted nightclubs. The episode goes all-in with a trendy vampire tale, and pulls it off, making for a superior Tiga episode to pick for Halloween than the show’s actual, bespoke Halloween episode. 

Continue reading “Ultraman Tiga Ep. 33: Vampire City” →

Ultraman Ginga S Ep. 1: The Power to Open the Way

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Koichi Sakamoto. Written by Yuji Kobayashi. Airdate July 15, 2014.

It’s time for a refresh of Ultraman Ginga that takes the renewed public interest in the Ultra Series and boosts it. The new creative team — showrunners Yuji Kobayashi and Takao Nakano, series director Koichi Sakamoto — has the important job of impressing the viewers who came from the previous show with something bigger, wilder, and better-budgeted. 

Continue reading “Ultraman Ginga S Ep. 1: The Power to Open the Way” →

Ultraman Tiga Ep. 31: GUTS Base Under Attack

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Tsugumi Kitaura. Written by Hideyuki Kawakami. Airdate April 5, 1997.

An alien lifeform capable of imitating humans and absorbing their abilities infiltrates the GUTS base, posing a potential threat to all life on Earth. In other words, Ultraman Tiga is doing its own riff on the science-fiction classics The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (both the ‘56 and ‘78 versions) and John Carpenter’s The Thing. The premise also makes for a convenient money-saving “bottle show” that sticks to the standing TPC headquarters sets and doesn’t require any guest stars.

Continue reading “Ultraman Tiga Ep. 31: GUTS Base Under Attack” →

Ultraseven Ep. 37: The Stolen Ultra Eye

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Toshitsugu Suzuki. Written by Shinichi Ichikawa. Airdate June 16, 1968.

As the prelude to another dastardly alien attack on Earth, an attractive young woman deceives the Ultra Guard and steals Dan’s transforming device. We’ve seen something like this before — more than once — but this episode features an interesting twist in how the aliens operate that shows the developing dramatic maturity of Ultraseven. 

Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 37: The Stolen Ultra Eye” →

Ultraman Ginga Ep. 11: The Future of Yours

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Yuichi Abe. Written by Keiichi Hasegawa. Airdate Dec. 18, 2013.

We’ve reached the finale of the first New Generation Heroes show. It’s been a short journey: eleven episodes plus a special. We’ve spent most of that time hanging out at an abandoned elementary school, watching Ultraman Ginga and his allies fight monsters in a nearby field. It’s often been glaringly underfunded, even impoverished. The themes are uneven. The drama is frequently juvenile. But this last episode, the resolution of the Dark Spark Saga and confrontation with the Ruler of the Dark, is absolutely … pretty good. Good enough to keep the Ultra Series moving forward in this new era. That’s what Ultraman Ginga was trying to achieve in the first place, so congratulations.

Continue reading “Ultraman Ginga Ep. 11: The Future of Yours” →

Ultraman Tiga Ep. 30: The Monster Zoo

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Masaki Harada. Written by Kazunori Saito. Airdate March 29, 1997.

Rena asked Daigo out at the height of the apocalyptic events of “The Devil’s Judgement.” This episode opens on the apparent outcome of that: the two are on a date at a rural zoo on a pleasant sunny day. A zoo seems the right weekend getaway for them. (Although the two of them making jokes that the cows resemble Horii is a touch rude.) Anyway, because this is Ultraman Tiga, Rena and Daigo’s date is interrupted when a giant monster bursts through the zoo grounds.

Continue reading “Ultraman Tiga Ep. 30: The Monster Zoo” →

Ultraseven Ep. 36: A Lethal 0.1 Seconds

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Hiroyasu Yamaura. Airdate June 9, 1968.

Samaji Nonagase is back directing a suspense-filled episode that goes full ‘60s spy-fi. This is as close as Ultraseven gets to turning into a straightforward action show. There’s a special effects finale where Seven battles an alien ship, but the actual peak of the action is the lethal fraction of a second in the title — and it’s a duel of human vs. human, revolver vs. revolver. 

Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 36: A Lethal 0.1 Seconds” →