Directed and Written by Kyota Kawasaki. Airdate March 15, 1997.
We start big. We start explosive. GUTS and TPC’s ground forces are waging a furious battle against giant monster Jobarieh. The action is pitched on a large scale, with the tanks and GUTS Wings in full assault mode. They manage to drive Jobarieh into a temporary stasis, which is good news, because they have another major operation that’s just about to go into action.
Continue reading “Ultraman Tiga Ep. 28: One Vanishing Moment”
Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate May 26, 1968.
Several Ultraseven episodes have a tricky time balancing the mysterious science-fiction stories of its original premise with the spectacle of kaiju fights and space duels that viewers expect from something titled “Ultra.” Some episodes split the difference and go for mood in the first half, big action in the second. “The Vanishing City” executes one of the better mergers of Ultra Q eerie SF mystery and Ultraman supersized action. The tone of weirdness is consistent, even when the climax is Seven pursuing a roly-poly hedgehog monster through the labyrinthine streets of an empty city stolen by aliens who need real estate.
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 34: The Vanishing City”
Directed by Yoshikazu Ishii. Written by Keiichi Hasegawa. Airdate Nov. 27, 2013.
Picking up where the previous episode left off, Misuzu’s father, Seiichiro Isurugi (Hironobu Nomura), shows up on the school grounds, accompanied by two people from Ichinotani Construction. Isurugi-San has plans to demolish the elementary school and build a resort complex.
Continue reading “Ultraman Ginga Ep. 8: The Stolen Ginga Spark”
For your easy perusal, here are links to all my reviews of the original Ultraman.
Continue reading “Ultraman: The Complete Episode Review Guide”
It feels strange to come to the end of Ultraman and start packing things up. There are many more Ultra shows left to review, some of them excellent. But Ultraman is special: the most important show in the franchise’s history, the most watched, the most referenced, and arguably the most loved.
Continue reading “My Favorite Ultraman Episodes”
Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate April 9, 1967.
Ultra Q didn’t have a conclusion and wasn’t built to have one. Ultraman, however, was designed from the start to reach a finale. It’s since become a tradition for Ultra shows to have a big close-out episode that ends the saga of the current Ultra warrior’s sojourn on Earth. “Farewell, Ultraman” is not the greatest of these finales, but the creative team gets plenty right with an epic story that gives Ultraman and the Science Special Search Party fitting conclusions. The episode also introduces one of the most spectacular continuing adversaries of the franchise, Space Dinosaur Zetton, which in no way resembles a dinosaur.
Continue reading “Ultraman Ep. 39: Farewell, Ultraman”
Directed by Kyota Kawasaki. Written by Ai Ota. Airdate March 8, 1997.
“I Saw Obiko!” starts like another horror outing for Ultraman Tiga, this time with a traditional Japanese folklore approach. The demon Obiko — an actual demon, not an alien pretending to be one — has been frightening people in the area of Hikono City for several months with his sudden appearances. When Obiko actually attacks a young man and leaves physical evidence behind (the man’s hair goes white), GUTS comes to investigate. They soon discover Obiko’s disguise as a noodle vendor who haunts the streets of the town at night.
Continue reading “Ultraman Tiga Ep. 27: I Saw Obiko!”
Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Shozo Uehara. Airdate May 19, 1968.
Ultraseven returns to horror with a spectral-themed story that hints at the supernatural. However, like the previous horror outing, “The Human Farm,” this episode has an odd split between its parts: low-key foreboding, claustrophobic staging, and general eeriness upfront — and then a big ol’ space shoot-‘em-up for the ending. Both parts are good at what they do, especially the ghostly first two-thirds. However, I like the promise of a fully weird horror episode about shadow creatures arising from dead bodies far too much to feel satisfied when the action switches to another battle with alien vessels. Perhaps I just miss Ultra Q too much.
Continue reading “Ultraseven Ep. 33: The Invading Dead”
Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Shozo Uehara. Airdate April 2, 1967.
Here we are, at the penultimate episode of Ultraman, and it’s enlightening to look back at the earliest episodes for comparison. At the start of the show’s run, the network and sponsor were tight with money, which kept the visual effects limited. The Tsuburaya Pro VFX team did fine work with what they had, but early episodes like “Five Seconds Before the Explosion” and “The Secret of the Miroganda” visibly suffer from the budgetary deficiency.
Continue reading “Ultraman Ep. 38: Spaceship Rescue Command”
Directed by Tomoo Haraguchi. Written by Keiichi Hasegawa. Airdate Nov. 20, 2013.
After several months on hiatus, Ultraman Ginga returns to the air, ready to reignite interest for its remaining episodes and kick off the arc that will carry it to its conclusion. It does this by having its hero, Hikaru Raido, bravely … sit down in a chair and recount the events of the previous episodes with video clips.
In other words, this is that most feared entity in episodic television: a clip show.
Continue reading “Ultraman Ginga Ep. 7: The Closed World”
The Ultra Project 