Ultraman

Hmm. My impressions of Ultraman are mixed. The show is definitely good enough so that I will watch a second season, though it has many, many faults.

STORY: 5/10
The story: your typical shounen story. Shinjirou's father was Ultraman, and... ta-dah! Now he has to take over in his place due to a new threat. The story is about his journey to becoming the reliable, admirable Ultraman that everybody needs. Although it is a typical shounen story, I feel that the show tries to do a bit much with it. There are plot twists, backstories, and other little tricks and gimmicks that try and make this series ... seem different, though they come off as... well, little tricks and gimmicks. I cannot say much without spoiling, though. I will say that the final arc, though necessary for the main story, seems very out of place and came off as an unnecessary way to end the series with an exciting scene. The events that happen in this scene and many other scenes also seem kind of forced and it felt like there were many things our hero and his "friends" could have done to get out of some bad situations. The romance/society side of the story was okay at best as well. Coming into this series, I was really looking forward to Shinjirou's outside life as a regular high school teenager, though this series does not do a good job with it. There is a whole sub-plot (and really a whole episode) dedicated to this, though it is extremely cheesy and cliché and not really satisfying, though it is one of the best parts of the show in my opinion. I felt kind of let down and was looking forward to the end of this arc. Although my favorite shows are usually shounen, and especially shows that have a character with a secret that they must keep, I feel that this series did not do a good job creating a strong main and side stories.

ART: 7/10
To be honest, I did not mind the CG animation that this series has. If anything, it is one of the series' strong suit. People complaining about it either 1) do not have eyes, or 2) are 2D waifu elitists. The animation was actually very good, although it does kind of look like one 5-hour long video game cutscene. Movements all seemed natural and smooth. The fight scenes were animated pretty well, especially toward the end. At times, when Shinjirou was in his Ultraman suit, it seemed like the show was live-action. Although some fight scenes did seem a bit cheesy, it did kind of remind me of the live-action Ultraman show that I've seen snippets of. I don't know if that was what the animators were going for, but whatever. The art in this show is pretty good and the animation was smooth, though some fight scenes seemed a bit cheesy.

SOUND: 7/10
The sound was definitely the strongest aspect of the show. The orchestral OST during fight scenes is good and the ending theme by OLDCODEX is also really good. I watched the show with earbuds and the sound quality and placement were all good. I can't find anything wrong with it, though it isn't outstanding by any means.

CHARACTER: 3/10
The characters are definitely the worst part of the show. The characters did not seem well designed to me. I couldn't seem to get close or relate to any of the characters. The best-designed character and most likable in this show is definitely Rena, but I cannot say much without spoiling the show. Though this kind of relates back to the story, I feel like Shinjirou could have been made better through more information and scenes about Shinjirou's life outside of being Ultraman. This would make all the characters', not just Shinjirou, more interesting, relatable, and closer. One of the characters later into the show, Seiji Hokuto, is a prime example of bad character design. The best way I can say this without spoiling the series is when he is first introduced, he is framed to be unliked by the viewer, but then the show seems to want us to like him towards the end just because of a pretty lame backstory that is revealed later on in the series. The characters in this show are the weakest part of this series due to badly designed characters and bad backstories.

ENJOYMENT: 6/10
The best way I can describe the enjoyment of this show is "addicting." I felt that this show is extremely addicting. It hooks you in and makes you want to watch more. As I said, if a second season comes out, I will probably watch it. However, this does not mean the series is good. The story and characters really aren't that good, as described above. It is like I only enjoyed the show while I was watching it, then afterward felt kind of let down.

OVERALL: 5/10
To wrap this review up, Ultraman is a show that is pretty good, but not great. It has many faults, though it is an addicting show. The best parts about this show are the art and the sound, though those are not the biggest factors in how good a show is. These are the story and characters, which are not this series' forté. Overall, I recommend this show to big shounen fans, especially fans who like hidden powers.

Ultraman!

Is it the japanese version of Superman but instead of Clark Kent we have a japanese highschooler saving the world? Well, kinda... But the very early version of Superman who just found out about his power and struggle with about what is right and what is wrong. Not the seasoned veteran who saves Metropolis on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, I havent watched the original version of Ultraman. On MAL its listed as alternative setting but after watching the first few episodes I think thats wrong. The events of 2019 Ultraman set place 10 years after the end of 1980 Ultraman. So its a sequel and a ... lot of things doesnt make sense in the beginning... or even later into the series.

Story 6/10: 10 years ago a man who was only known under the name of Ultraman saved the world and disappeared. Now, a young man in highschool has superpowers but doesnt know how to use them. Are they connected? Until he gets the oppurtunity to use them for doing good in the first episodes. So he joins an organisation that is supposed to save humans from aliens. The stories are somehow all connected but dont follow a clear path. There is no obvious antagonist or some ultimate goal they want to achieve. One plot leads to another. Which isnt bad as the entire first season focusses on character development of our Highschooler and the introduction of several side characters.

Characters 6/10: Honestly. The MC is boring. He doesnt have any idea what is going on, looks overwhelmed all the time, hesitates in important situations and is not sure if what he is doing is good. Understandable even if a little annoying. There isnt much too say about him. The sidecharacters have a more unique personality. Some of them are really interesting while others are just lame. But overall the series does a good job for several decent characters while nobody stands out.

Animation 7/10: Everything just looks like cheap CGI... is what I thought after I saw the faces for the first time. But I was wrong! While they didnt do a good job with the faces, the action sequences actually looked really good and they made the best out of the CGI technonogly. The last fight looked amazing.

Sound 6/10: I dont really know. Nothing good, nothing bad. There was nothing outstanding that I noticed but also nothing annoying. I wont rate the dub because I didnt watch the show in japanese. So it gets a Fine.

Should you watch it? The answer is simple. If you like superheroes, yes. If you dont like superheroes, no. There is nothing special about the series. Its not bad but also not good. If you want some action in cool suits you will probably enjoy it.

Peace.

SS Review – Ultraman
(Short and Sour)

Okay let’s go, PLUS ULTRA…wait…wrong show…

First of all. I have no knowledge of Ultraman going into this, I have never seen any production to do with Ultraman whether it be anime or live-action. On the other hand I know of him and have a general idea of what his shows are like (I’ve watched a lot of Super Sentai and from what I heard they are similar).

The plot revolves around Ultraman’s son and him coming to terms with accepting the title of Ultraman…that’s all 13 episodes pretty much.

Unfortunately I started to lose interest half way though the series for one ... main reason…the main character is the most naïve main character I have seen in a long time, I am not joking he has the mental age of someone in elementary school…not high school. He is incapable of making decisions until the last minute which does not add anything to the show and makes him a pretty unlikeable character. Not a good start…

The other supporting characters are no better, you have wannabe Ultraman one and wannabe Ultraman two. Both of them want to be Ultraman but of course technically can’t because they aren’t Ultraman’s son and do not have the Ultra-Factor as they call it. You also have a base female character who is also an idol just so the main character can have a relationship with her and she has some level of importance.

The show goes with a kind of “let’s do a monster of the week kind of thing but it’s on Netflix so we can’t do that, so let’s do whatever and hope for the best”. That’s mostly a joke but that’s how it feels most of the time.
So you can most likely tell I didn’t enjoy this anime and it’s put me off of watching anything else Ultraman in the future. The level of cheese that goes on in this anime is ridiculous and not in the so bad its good way either. On the plus side the CG animation is pretty good and fits with the series, for me anyway…the only plus…OST was basic, barely noticed it. Ech.

5/10

Well... I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this. Is that bad? Not really.

Netflix adaptations are notoriously trash, but Ultraman falls just shy of that.

I'll avoid direct spoilers as best as I can.

STORY:

It starts and ends really fast. Perhaps 12 episodes just aren't enough to fit everything in they wanted too, considering characters are introduced and left hanging. The story didn't leave much room for growth and the arc itself was very generic and rushed.

... ART:
It's full CG. My eyes burned after the first episode, but you get used too it fairly quickly. Sometimes it's even cool as heck, other times it looks very poor. It's viewers choice and it seemed like they were trying something new and strange, as Netflix often does. Either way, it was OK.

CHARACTERS:
Because the story was so rushed, there was no time for any real character development besides the MC. Endo is by far my favorite, yet nothing was added to his character at all. The same could be said for basically all of them. Characters were introduced so fast and sometimes too late into the show for me to connect or care about them.
As for the MC, his complete ineptitude and overall lack of confidence annoyed me more than it should have. I mean, You're 18, and this power falls into your lap, and you still feel inadequate or scared to fight? Come on, dude. Grow a pair.

This influenced my rating the most.

ENJOYMENT:
Fun to watch. Despite the cookie-cutter training and learning to cope with all this responsibility and mostly every other superhero trope known to man, I still wanted to keep watching.

OVERALL:

6/10 I guess if S2 rolls out I'll give it a go. I want to know more about the backstory, I want to know more about Endo and the war. I want to see Ultraman after the events at the end of the show... But I guess we'll have to wait and see.

After SSSS. Gridman I was ready for some big ol' tokusatsu boys fighting kaiju. While this was not the giant people I was expecting, it was still an interesting ride.
Art 7 -- Let's get the big concern out of the way. 3DCG is really hit or miss for a lot of people, but if it's something you can handle than this is definitely one to check out. These are the most expressive CG models I have ever seen in anime in all sorts of ways. The faces were aided by the addition of a few expression lines that moved around similarly to the style of ... Into the Spiderverse. The actual character models had more moving parts so they didn't look like plastic models the way most 3DCG shows do. The action looked good and was well choreographed with some clear MMA and WWE influence. My only real problems with the animation are some interactions between different models be they characters or static objects and some issues with characters strange movement when they had no dialogue. This is the best I have seen 3DCG look in a series and is pretty close to the likes of "Batman Ninja" and the OG JOJO openings.
Story 6 -- The reason this rating isn't better is because this is currently all of the story there is. If there are more seasons and they follow through with the story beats this season offered up, the rating could easily go up, but as it stands, this story is banking on just a few interesting ideas with very little interesting development. Only one arc felt completed within reason and it was only introduced in the second half. I think this has the potential to become a really interesting study of what it means to be a hero, but that will have to wait for more content. One big positive is that this story neither needs you to know the original Ultraman show nor does it try to do a flimsy fill-in in its first episode. That lack of an exposition dump was very helpful.
Sound 9 -- The voice acting was consistent and had performances from great seiyuus like Kenjiro Tsuda. However, what brings the score on this section up so dramatically is the sound mixing in general. The sounds of the world were great the whole time and the weapons sounds were also super, reminding of work like "Planet With." The most standout of these mixings though was the post work on the voices of Bemular and Edo. The reverb for Bemular sounded great and matched the sound design of his character in general. Edo's voice was something else. Every single time he spoke I was completely focused. Whoever came up with the idea to mix his voice high and low randomly did something really special. On a final note, I was not overly aware of the OST throughout, but what I remember was pretty good.
Character 5 -- The characters often felt more like cliches than actual people. I never found myself disliking them and the performances of their seiyuus made them all much more likable. They were fine methods of conveying the story, but I was never invested in them as individuals, but only insofar as they continued the show I was watching.
Enjoyment 6 -- I think this show was overall a fun thing to watch and I don't regret sitting down and bingeing this on Netflix. I think a good percentage of the enjoyment of this show is that it is very conducive to be binged. I don't think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much week to week, but in its format, it held my full attention the entire time.
Overall 6 -- I think this anime has the spark of something very cool and I hope further seasons explore those opportunities. On its own, this show will likely be quickly forgotten, but I hope that Netflix renews it for more. Wanting more of something is the best criticism something can receive and I hope that whatever comes next follows through on the skeleton that this season built.

Ok this is my short review, without any spoiler

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The good :
+ Very well choreographed fights !
+ Impressive action
+ Variety of weapons
+ Epic soundtrack
+ Fluid animation
...
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The bad :
+ badly written MC, weak, hesitant and whiny
+ a lot of plot holes
+ uninteresting cast, not fleshed out enough
+ too many unanswered questions behind everyone's motives
+ rush ending setting a 2nd season

I enjoyed it overall but I expected more answers regarding everyone's motive. I hope the 2nd season clears everything up. Also having a pop idol character was very cliché.

6/10

Bunch of random words because MAL wants me to write more words just to fill a quota for the review. Shame !!!

Ultraman

Was an anime that was recommended to my brother.
Upon watching the anime I had mix feelings, personally I did not really get behind the story itself, and found it did not make too much sense, i did enjoy the main characters story and development, but it felts like everything was kinda all over the place.

The animation itself was unique, and the music and sound was great as well but the overall story for me was not amazing, me personally when I watch a show be it anime or non-anime I need to get behind the story, and ultraman was nothing special for me personally, ... it does not mean it was bad, or I did not like it, rather it was an anime i watched to kinda pass time to be honest, im still glad i watched it, but i dont think it an anime i would personally recommend to my friends.

As a Ultraman fan i read the manga and really enjoyed the story, so when the anime was released i was hyped.
Overall the animetion was made with CGI, but the CGI only made it worse. The expression and movement looked awkward and blend making me disapointed with the possibility of been as smooth and gorgeous as the manga.
The sound didnt pay atention.
I didnt liked the human character design only beacause it looks too much like normal humans, but its because the original series was made with real humans and there was no way of escaping. However i really liked the freedon they had with the ... ultramans character design been like mechas.
I really enjoyed the anime because of the story, charcter design and the idea of ultraman