Ultraman Ginga S Ep. 4: The Meaning of Strength

May 2, 2026April 30, 2026 ~ 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.

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 34: To the Farthest South

April 29, 2026April 25, 2026 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hirochika Muraishi. Written by Chiaki J. Konaka. Airdate April 26, 1997.

The politics and history of the Terran Peace Consortium have materialized in several Ultraman Tiga episodes so far: “The Devil’s Prophecy,” “The Day When the Monster Appeared,” and “The Battle of Zelda Point.” This is the first episode to make TPC politics its centerpiece. It foregrounds two figures who represent the opposing poles of the organization’s purpose: the dovish Commissioner Sawai (Tamio Kawachi) and the hawkish Director Yoshioka (Ken Okabe).

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Ultraseven Ep. 41: Challenge From Underwater

April 25, 2026April 25, 2026 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Kazuho Mitsuta. Written by Bunzo Wakatsuki. Airdate July 14, 1968.

As “Challenge From Underwater” begins, it feels like it could be an episode of Ultra Q shot in color. We meet a team of amateur paranormal investigators who have come to Lake Ishu to follow rumors of sightings of water creatures called kappa. It’s hard not to see this “Japan Kappa Club” as an analog to the Ultra Q cast. Their leader, Sumitani (Masami Taura), is a science-fiction author like Jun; the one woman in the group, Fujishima (Kazuko Miyakawa), is a photographer like Yuriko. The difference is that these people treat probing into the unknown as a lark, nothing to be taken seriously. Sumitani even says they’d like to date kappa — a damn weird thing to admit.

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Ultraman Ginga S Ep. 3: The Lone Warrior

April 22, 2026May 2, 2026 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Koichi Sakamoto. Written by Akio Miyoshi. Airdate July 29, 2013.

The production team on Ultraman Ginga S wants you to know they definitely have a bigger budget than the previous show. See? They’ve got a battle in the middle of a city where Ginga and Victory take on a horde of Imperializer robots. You never got anything that large in plain old Ultraman Ginga, didja? Sure, the digital copy-paste is obvious, and the Victorians’ underground realm is mostly a flat green-screen limbo. But look at how much more of everything there is! How much more of it takes up the episode!

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 33: Vampire City

April 18, 2026April 29, 2026 ~ 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.

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Ultraseven Ep. 39 & 40: The Seven Assassination Plan

April 15, 2026April 25, 2026 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Toshihiro Iijima. Written by Keisuke Fujikawa. Airdate June 30 & July 7, 1968.

Alien races have targeted Ultraseven before, both in his giant form and as Dan Moroboshi. But Alien Guts has an elevated kill plan. As monochrome footage of Seven battling a kaiju plays (not stock footage; it’s new, with a monster called Aron), Alien Guts carefully analyzes Seven’s abilities and lays out their plot. Killing Dan isn’t sufficient. They must defeat Ultraseven in a public, humiliating way to break Earth’s resistance. It’s kin to the opening of From Russia With Love, as SPECTRE plots the ultimate defeat and debasement of another “Seven,” 007. The tone is set from the opening scene: this is going to be a major event, a two-parter that will push Seven and the Ultra Guard to their limits. It wildly succeeds.

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Ultraman Ginga S Ep. 2: Ginga vs Victory

April 11, 2026April 22, 2026 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Koichi Sakamoto. Written by Takao Nakano. Airdate July 22, 2013.

The second episode of Ultraman Ginga S doesn’t make viewers wait long for the title bout. Starting immediately where the last episode abruptly concluded, Ultraman Ginga and Ultraman Victory have their first clash, a battle against the sunset that echoes Akio Jissoji’s favorite compositions. Victory strikes first, reacting when Hikaru asks the basic question: “Uhm, what’s going on here?”

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 32: The Battle of Zelda Point

April 8, 2026April 18, 2026 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Tsugumi Kitaura. Written by Ai Ota. Airdate April 12, 1997.

Ai Ota’s third script for Ultraman Tiga continues her style of crafting fantasy stories with childlike slants. But these are not necessarily “childish” stories. “The Battle of Zelda Point” is built on a horrible tragedy: the death of a young girl and her father’s belief that he was responsible. The episode has its bleak moments, but it also has a fairy-tale quality and a transcendent conclusion that prevent the heavy subject matter from overpowering the tone.

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Ultraseven Ep. 38: The Courageous Battle

April 4, 2026April 15, 2026 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Toshihiro Iijima. Written by Mamoru Sasaki. Airdate June 23, 1968.

Ultraseven has the fewest kid-centered episodes of the classic-era Ultra programs. This is one of the exceptions (along with “The Eye That Shines in the Darkness”). Dan promises a boy who’s terrified about his upcoming heart surgery that he’ll be with him at the hospital during the procedure. But wouldn’t you know it: a giant alien robot starts attacking traffic jams to consume cars. That will sure cut into Dan’s free time. Dan has to go hit a home run for the kid or something.

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

April 1, 2026April 11, 2026 ~ 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.

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