Ultraman (1966)

Ultraman 1966 - A Biased Review With No Apologies

16The 1966 Ultraman character is my Bias.
This is the Ultraman that I watched every weekday on UHF as a preschooler.
It is the Ultraman that I pretend played with friends during elementary school recess,
and it is the Ultraman for which I would quickly complete my homework every day just to earn the privilege of watching after school.
While this review is based mostly on my personal feelings, I also believe that Ultraman 1966 is still very entertaining, although perhaps for more humorous reasons. The monsters alone are just priceless.
The series will always remain very dear to me, and it is impossible for me to rate it any less than a 10.
If you are not interested in watching the entire series, you might still enjoy watching the youtube videos of some of the iconic scenes and monster battles.

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Much like Kamen Rider 71', Goranger and any other first installment in a long running Tokusatsu series, Ultraman really has the air of something that's finding it's footing. That's not to say I dislike the show though, unlike the two shows I just name dropped I actually made it through all of the series as, while the series overall had some problems, there were a lot of individual episodes I really enjoyed and the format of the series rarely felt repetitive. They almost always tried do something new or experiment around with it in some way and a lot of the time it pays off. However, there are still problems and a lot of them are really typical of early showa era Toku. My biggest issue is Ultraman himself, a lot of the time they'll have him pull new powers out of nowhere and only explain what they are every other time, plus Hayata tends to come off as a very cold and distend member of the cast even though he's the main character. Though depending on your interpretation of the ending, that may actually end up working for you, I know it did for me. The rest of the main cast are all very well developed though and I thought everyone in gave a pretty good performance, though of course, no one tops Kobayashi Akiji. The effect were kind of all over the place though, they could go from really impressive for the time to showing their age in a really bad way, sometimes within the same sequence. And I also felt like the show would have improved a lot if it had added in a main villain, because while all the villains of the week are enjoyable, they often feel like they have a weird disconnect with our heroes due to the fact that over half of them are mindless monsters that don't get any lines beside growling. Like I said though, I found the series pretty enjoyable, and if you don't have a problem with the pacing and story telling style of the showa era I'd recommend it.

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The birth of the Giant of Light

I watched it some time ago and decided to write this review now. Ultraman is born from the creativity of a team, and more specifically, one man: Eiji Tsuburaya. Since Ultra Q, the conflict between monsters and humanity has captured the audience's interest. The effects, miniatures, creatures, villains, and motivations of each character... This series encapsulates the essence of tokusatsu imagination, and it has influenced and continues to influence the entire science fiction genre. Despite having a main hero in a common and cliché form, it's worth applauding how experimental and daring the storytelling is in this series. There is no fear in exploring moral dilemmas and human conflicts, all with a good touch of mystery and action.

In short, if you can overcome any prejudice towards older effects and the episodic and slow pace, definitely watch Ultraman!

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