#Well done Tsupro

[kamenstranger]

Review: The Bullet Train (1975) AKA Shinkansen Daibakuha.

I went back and forth on if I wanted to do this as a bluesky post or a review. I tend to prefer only using tumblr for longer more detailed reviews like Ultra Seven, Black Sun, and Minus One.

But this ended up longer than 300 characters so… here we are.

The basic premise is a train gets wired with a bomb and if the train dips below 80kmph it'll go off. Guy makes demands, cops try to figure out who/how many are involved, things continue to unfold from there. Sound familiar?

Bullet Train is a curious watch in the modern era, mainly in how clichéd it comes off. I don't mean that as an insult, merely an observation. In much the same way Whale's Frankenstein popularized and even originated many tropes of the mad scientist archetype, Bullet Train will be familiar thanks to all the various parodies and homages over the years, even if through more indirect ones i.e. parodies of "Speed." The premise, various plot points and twists; they're all likely to be things you've seen referenced, if not done in other thrillers. That's not a deal breaker per se, but chances are you're going to know some if not most of the twists and contrivances sprung upon the audience due to that pop culture osmosis. You can read a synopsis and immediately have a surface level idea of the film. This leaves The Bullet Train with a bit of an uphill battle when there are so many others that have done similar things. But I think with the right mindset and framing, there's plenty of merits to the film today.

The most obvious of course is the astonishing effects. I was about 40ish minutes into the film wondering as what point they would make more prominent use of the miniatures. There were clearly some used for an explosion scene involving a steam engine, and I was aware there had been a massive 80 foot long model built. But I hadn't realized how much footage was the scale model, and only occasionally inter-cut with wide shots of a real train. Even today the scale stuff looks incredible. The composites and rear projection on the other hand… yeah, they're rough, but that's expected.

The special effects were handled by Shozo Konishi; former TsuPro and Ultraman/Seven designer, Toru Narita; and Gunji Seisakusho. Narita is of course the most well know of the group, but it was Konishi who I see credited for acquiring one of the most advanced pieces of equipment at the time, a snorkel camera, allowing for very up close shots of the models. Star Wars would more famously make use of this 2 years later.

The other big draw is that the film is directed by Junya Sato. He had been doing films at Toei since the early 60s, and in the 70s he started to get bigger pictures, notably 1973's Golgo 13. But it was here when Sato truly entered Block Buster territory and would open up opportunities like The Go Masters and Silk Road. Sato wrote the screenplay along with Ryūnosuke Ono, who you may know as one of the writers on the Crying Freeman OVA series. The result is something that even today feels a bit more unique than you might expect given all the other familiarizes.

One thing that might come as a surprise is that unlike many films following in the same wheelhouse, we don't actually spend all that much time on the train. It's hard to knock them for that given the locked in nature of a rail. Outside a sequence about needing to slow the train down and just missing another train during a rail switch, they kinda spend most of the train's dramatic bits in the first 45 minutes, at least until the last quarter. There are occasional cuts to passengers getting more restless, and the most un-pregnant woman I've ever seen going into labor. But there's little that threatens the speed of the train, which is the far more exciting element. In fact, they actually use one twice, that being the brakes engaging if an external door is opened. You're simply more limited than say a bus in terms of what can stop the movement, so the Train is used as more of a bookend set piece with sporadic check ins.

Instead, the film is primarily a procedural drama about the police solving the case and learning details about the antagonists. We also have a lot of conflict with The National Railway in how disastrous the Police operations are throughout, as well as internal conflict regarding the safety of the passengers vs. cutting their losses. Sophisticated might be too strong a word given the film is still an Action Thriller full of contrivances, but it's certainly less schlocky than other films within the same genre. Think of something more than Airport, but less than The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. Bullet Train wants to have nuance and a tiny bit of social critiquing.

This is most true with our primary antagonist, Tetsuo Okita (Ken Takakura) who is by far the best part of the movie. It's never tiring seeing him plan, adapt, and escape multiple times throughout the film. The script treats the character incredibly sympathetically, to the point where you're kinda rooting for him. Part of that is how great Ken Takakura is in the role. Ironically outside Japan the film gets hailed as a Sonny Chiba movie, it even appeared in a compilation by BCI Eclipse. Chiba's great as always and he has a starring role, but make no mistake, Takakura is top billed for a reason. He brings a lot of complexity to Okita, his experience playing a wide range of Yakuza no doubt being a great boon to that end.

Aside from Takakura's performance, there are some elements delving into Japan's economic and environmental disasters of the 70s, the exploitation of rural areas, and allusions to the Zengakuren (which Okita is implied to have been affiliated.) Some of that is likely to missed given the lack of relevance nowadays, but for those aware of the movements and political turmoil of the mid 60s followed by the mid 70s burnout, I think you'll have a better appreciation for what the film is doing with Okita's character.

Conversely, where the film feels most antiquated in a detrimental sense is the heavy reliance on flashbacks and narration to fill in character details. The problem isn't even so much the flashbacks on a base level, but sometimes their placement and their execution feels disconnected from the rest of the film, if not dated even at the time. Rather than appreciating the nuance it's giving to our antagonists and their plight, I'm thinking about how weird the pacing is, how Okita reminiscing about his comrades often lacks the emotional impact it's looking for by just a tiny bit. It wasn't unusual in this era for films made in Japan to be finished just three-four days before release, so it wouldn't shock me if this was a compromise. That being said… I was more invested in these characters than the last movie I watched. Which is kinda depressing, but makes sense the more I think about it.

Something I'm more down on is the run time. The JPN cut of The Bullet Train is surprisingly long, really fucking long. Two and half hours. That's longer than The Shining. By the hour and fifty minute mark, I was starting to notice. If it was 2 hrs. even, maybe 2:15, I think it'd be easier to swallow. For what it's worth, it's hard to imagine the film without its many methodical shots of Okita running through his tasks… but they probably could've shaved a bit off. I've heard there was an even longer 2:40 cut just before release, and if that's true, it's impressive they were able to cut a good 10 minutes out.

All the same, the run time does make it slightly difficult to recommend to just anyone, even Toku fans. I mean this is barely under the umbrella of what I typically cover here. There's plenty of reasons to still watch it of course: The incredible cast, stunning special effects, and being a notable entry in a directors career-- run time be damned. If you're in the right mind set and have an interest in branching outside the typical Kaiju/Kyodai/Kaizo Ningen fare, then I highly suggest it. Maybe even look into the Sanrizuka Struggle to help contextualize the film. For everyone else, the film might come off as a victim of its own formula being so well known and done to death as to instill contempt, not helped by being a tad long in the tooth. But I'd still give it a fair shot if the opportunity arises.

A word of warning, the film is streaming on Tubi, but unfortunately they only have the dubbed version and it looks like garbage. It's not just a bad transfer, it's pixelated as shit. I'm not convinced they didn't badly rip a DVD or possibly a Youtube vid and just shove it on there, which they have done before. Although this one is really weird because it has a Shoreline Entertainment logo, and I can't find any info on them ever being a distributor for any release. All this skeeviness is actually why this is yet another review free of screen grabs, as I watched the very nice Bluray from Discotek and can't rip those.

Tubi also made a shitty Al poster, but I repeat myself. Check out the mysterious third rail, the dropping of "The" from the title, "Sony" Chiba, and the completely wrong train that isn't even a Shinkansen. How embarrassing. Why didn't they just use an official Poster? Unless of course they're not supposed to have it and think Toei might notice. That place is worse than Kissasian while pretending to be legit, I swear.

Speaking of posters, I want to point out the Bluray by Discotek, which brilliantly uses the second release poster "Super Express 109" as the slip cover, and the original "Shinkansen Big Explosion" poster for the case. Love when releases do that. Sadly, committing to a purchase is your best bet if you simply want to check out the film, at least until Mubi or some other niche service picks it up. You can't even rent it digitally. But it is a damn nice release with both versions of the film in gorgeous 2k, new subs, plus a 24 minute interview with Sato. For the UK, Eureka Entertainment did a release with the same transfer and a ton more special features including commentary and several more interviews. So get out there and check out some classic Japanese thriller.

Hopefully you enjoyed taking a look at something different as much as I did. Doing these smaller quicker reviews is nice, and I'm going to see if I can get more done while still doing the deep dives. I've got a few things still in the works, so we'll see what next time brings. Might even do another book review. As always, you can find me on BlueSky and my Ko-Fi here.

#tokusatsu #review #toei #Shinkansen #bullet train #sonny chiba #ken takakura #Ken Utsui #Junya Sato #Super Express #discotek media

[thekaijudude]

I still think Decker is the worst series of all the New Gen.

Decker was a true mid for me, 5/10 which was the rating I gave last year iirc

Nothing was done that was neither really good nor really bad

Mainly its cause unlike Trigger, there's nothing really to expand upon since Dyna but to create a whole new story. And we knew Masayoshi was directing it, which also previously directed RB, which is probably the worst NG series imo (excluding Ginga s1 as a special case of course) so going in, I already had the expectation that the series has to hit the notes mainly on fight scenes, rather than plot

And true to my expectations, there is an improvement since RB, but of course in the grand scheme of things, it's still mid

Highlights iirc were the crossover episodes (Especially bringing back the Dark Giants, which is a significant contribution to the greater lore going forward) and of course the Dynamic Type arc

Tho it had the best NG movie imo, an NG alien invasion plot done right without any cringe content. Additionally, it contributed potentially one of the most significant aspects to the overall lore, that being Ultras having the ability to create whole new other ultras (wrote like 2 essay posts on it to emphasize just how significant this new development is to the lore as a whole)

RB was the worse for me, iirc I actively avoided watching the episodes until days later and sometimes even dreaded them, from cringe, awkward dialogue and acting, bad plot developments like Aizen leaving so abruptly, Saki being angsty without context and O50 reincarnations inconsistent with previously established O50 lore from Orb (specifically with the VoL), Asahi revealed to be the embodiment of the Makoto crystal? What? And why???

Also the Movie's theme was very forced and messy with introducing Toregia whose main theme and character motivations didn't really synergise with the concept of "family", so it's like watching a 2 different movies squeezed into 1, so much that the developments are non-sequitur. Which is obviously apparent since the movie WAS trying to link 2 unrelated goals, that is to introduce Toregia as a character and to make an RB Movie

After 6 years, I still stand by my opinion that they should've just done the RB Novel in live action instead of whatever we got for the series as it was far more interesting, serious and more consistent with the O50 lore that Orb established. Especially peeved that they wasted Saki as a character in that department since her character motivations were more solidly built in that context. But alas, as long as TsuPro continues to aim at children as the main audience, we aren't likely to get something like the Novel.

Also, because Asahi is still my most hated character in NG due to how cringe she is on virtually every single time she appears on screen. I distinctly remember just either mentally shutting off or just skipping past her dialogue, especially during rewatches.

Ginga s1 is obviously the special case since it was basically the franchise's hail mary attempt made with very low budget anyways, so it's understandable. Therefore no point really shitting on it at this point

So Decker at this point is the 5th worst NG series for me. But again, it's the true mid series for me as well.

#ultraman #asks

[ryuunosenshi]

#Ultraman Zero #Ultraman Zet #Ultraman Z Beta Smash #Ultraman Z Gamma Future #Ultraman Z Alpha Edge #Tsuburaya Productions #My Gifs #My Ultraman Gifs #My Ultraman Z Gifs #RyuuNoSenshi #I see Beta Smash is the spiritual successor of Ultraman Tight-ass #Well done Tsupro

[r4bbitdragon]

keiichi hasegawa on the finale eps tho huh. well that’s going to be Fun. master of deranged television!!!

for those just tuning in on keiichi hasegawa, master of deranged television. hes only ever been head writer on tsupro stuff- including ultraman nexus, and the gridman and dynazenon animes. since ive never much touched ultra tho, i know him from his rider stuff, which he’s also done plenty on as a sub writer.

he wrote like. nazca's death in and the diamond lady arc and a bunch more in w. the cult arc and jk's second arc in fourze. some of saber's most engaging episodes, if not always in a good way. master of deranged television

#words typed #take a look its in a book

[cina-full-moon-xanadium]

Tsupro got it they just like. Here’s the currently airing series simulcasted to youtube with good english subs while we get another company to both stream and physically release official subs for both our oldest and most recent series. BOOM. Perfect. I wish they’d show early Heisei some love as well and it’d be nice if we got merch (like SHF, DX or UAF releases), but goddamn, those two simple things have done far more for Ultraman in the west than Team Rider’s attempts. And this is apparently the one that’s on a budget and struggling

[shadowwrath264]

Deathcium Slash (PART 3)

I love the effects done on Deathcium Slash. This reminded me of a reference when Zero Beyond Twin Giga Break King Galactron, leaving his logo on the Belial Fusion Beast. Welp, looks like Z knows how to do that, as well. Nice.

Although it pains me to see Greeza go, but I still look forward for more abilities that Greeza has to offer in the future, as those new abilities he used, and the effects on its abilities, are out of this world. This includes Delta Rise Claw's attacks, speed and slash effect by Belialok as well. Boy those two are literally out of this world and beyond our logic and comprehension.

TsuPro, we need more of these epic battles like this.

#Ultraman #Ultraman Z #Belialok

[himitsusentaiblog]

If Ultrawoman Kaguya, the mystery wife of Taro aka mom of Taiga in rumor is really exist, what's your expectation on her?

If she exists, I kind of expect her to be an adventurous sort herself as I can’t see Taro being all that attracted to the domestic type.  With her name, I might also expect that she’s not from the Land of Light proper but from a moon nearby given her name.  Taro himself is named for Momotaro as TsuPro wanted to name him after a mythological figure so it makes sense his wife would be named after one as well.

If she is from the Land of Light proper, I kind of expect her to be a mostly Silver Ultra like Ultraman or Ultraman Ace rather than a primarily Red Ultra like Taro and Seven (I’ve done a writeup on the ethnic divisions of the Ultra race before, you can find it here X). I say this because Taiga is way more of a Silver Ultra than his Father is.

So, that’s what I think she would be like, should she actually exist (and I hope she does).

Thanks for the Question!

#Askbox Replies #Ultraman Taiga #Ultraman Taro #Ultrawoman Kaguya #Tsuburaya Productions

[thekaijudude]

Ultraman Decker Series Review

So overall, it's well within my expectations as said before the series even started, I alr talked plenty about how low my expectations were for Decker since Dyna alr wrapped up everything with no loose ends and unlike Tiga, there wasn't much to expand upon in terms of a series, and I then concluded by saying that I intended to see Decker as just something I have to sit through to get to New Gen Gaia in 2023 as that was something that I foresaw had far more potential

(Tho TsuPro might have the same idea as if yall rmb, we got alot of leaks and releases like a whole month or sometimes 2 months earlier than usual for this season, as if they're rushing to get this over and done with to race towards the New Gen 10th Anniversary)

And because I already predicted that there has to be a brand new story written, but based on how the quality of New Gen stories have been, I kept my expectations rather low, especially because back then, we alr knew that the Director for RB was gonna take this

And as predicted, the interesting episodes were mostly the crossover ones, and besides those, i didnt really look forward much to the new weekly episodes, tho with the Dyna one being rather disappointing as I've elaborated extensively back in ep 21

The premise was rather interesting with the time travelling premise but the main meat of that saga, being what the hell is Decker then being left out, which I presume on purpose because I suspect its gonna be another time loop paradox with Dinas and Decker as mentioned yesterday for ep 25 thatll be elaborated upon in the Movie since they've teased it this much

Fight scenes started to get sloppy and anticlimactic nearer to the end with Ginga S-esque knockbacks and fights that's literally last a single finisher from Dynamic Type, and gosh does anyone even remeber the existence of the capsule kaiju at the end? But I really loved how they handled the Trigger crossover, especially Carmerra cause it helps to setup for future cameos

Tho, I must say that it has one of the better penultimate episodes as I pointed out during the ep 24 commentaries

Overall, this was a reasonable attempt at a New Gen Dyna and most definitely an upgrade from RB with far less cringe, mirroring Taguchi's improvement from X to Orb, would probably rank this as a mid tier New Gen series, such that there was nothing really bad about it, but nothing really good about it either, kinda meh

But above all, I'm glad the Decker series is over and done with. Until I realize I have to still get through the Movie + the Regulus Prequel to get to things that I'm ACTUALLY looking forward to, being Blazar and UGF4

(Oh ya since I've been asked about this quite abit, how I judge whether a series is good for me is mainly just how much focus is placed on telling the story of the Ultra itself, not the worldbuilding, which is why I hold Orb is such high regard and which is also why I'm so head over heels for UGF. So in this sense, Decker isn't really my cup of tea for an Ultra series)

And speaking of Taguchi, he's gonna be directing Blazar, so I can't wait to see how much he'll improve from Z and apparently from leaks, he intends to wrap up an AU version of every New Gen Ultra every 2 episodes with the skills he has learnt from Z. And based on leaks, he has alr incorporated some aspects of it.

Otherwise, for the Decker Movie, I think I've said plenty enough about it. I still have really low expectations for what seems to be an Orb Movie 2.0

#ultraman #ultraman decker

[thekaijudude]

So out of curiosity but how and why did Gamora become such a popular Kaiju to the point where he became even a hero in different series of the show?

tbh idk ngl

Perhaps there were polls for the UG game done prior to 2007 (first UG series) and Gomora consistently ranked near the top so they decided to just run with it?

Because im aware that TsuPro frequently does popularity vote polls as well as polls for favorite characters for games such as UFF for re-releases and future directions as well

Thanks for the question!

#ultraman #asks

[thekaijudude]

I've been thinking about this for a long time now, but what if decker isn't a sphere-based ultraman? My current headcanon/theory is that decker is just the ultra form of Decker Asumi. I think in the future he somehow received a light that gives him the ability to have an ultra form. Decker can't be its own being since he hasn't been shown to have any form of sentience, so it's probably like an Orb scenario where Gai+light=Orb. It might also be an in-universe explanation as to why decker looks a lot like dyna; it's how Decker Asumi interprets being an ultra. It's also probably why he named the ultra the same name, it's just him as an ultra in there lol. Decker Asumi sending the D-Flasher and cards into the past was just him sending his light back in time, but that light now takes the form of Decker. Also going off this theory, I think that Decker Asumi probably doesn't have his own unique Decker super form like Kanata does, as Decker Flash type (and by extension Strong and Miracle) are his unique forms of that light. It's probably also why Dynamic Type looks nothing like the other forms and why those forms have a similar aesthetic and design philosophy, since those forms are all from Decker Asumi. Also, the whole thing about the D-Flasher cracking up to reveal spheres in Ep 24 was probably a corruption rather than a reveal, and like you said that corruption probably sent the D-Flasher back into the future which is why they needed the eternity core to call for it back. Or it could end up as a plot device to explain how Dinas gets her D-Flasher

I wanted to wait until the final ep just to see if the show would explain decker's origins but I guess not lol

Also with decker done where does it stand in your ranking of the new gen shows?

Tbh we alr have instances of a being receiving an ultra form of his own, but thats literally, intrinsically tied to O50 Ultras in canon

This method would be the first of its kind if it were to be canon

But Decker not having his own sentience could mean 2 things:

One being like u mentioned, its an ultra form of Decker Asumi, while the source of said light is unknown, we see that he could transfer/share ownership with someone else. Which in theory, other ultras that operate using the same transformation logic could do so as well, like Orb and the other O50 Ultras

Secondly, because of the resultant ambiguity of the source of the light, one can also easily group the Tiga-like source here, whereby Tiga just left his body to be used while his actual light self actually leaves. Which means Decker might actually be a body of another Ultra but like Tiga, decided to leave his body to Decker Asumi for whatever reason

But the fact that TsuPro very obviously danced around the concept of Decker being a Sphere clone and especially with Masayoshi's remark about Decker being a "Giant of Space" rather than the usual "Giant of Light" is especially sus in this context.

Tho iirc, there was an alternate theory about Decker's origins floating around, that being Decker was a Sphere of Dyna as somehow he got infected in the future during the ongoing conflict and managed to fight off the infection, but the Spheres then formed Decker

Then by that logic, there would be no time loop since Dinas would esentially be a Sphere clone of a Sphere clone of Dyna lmao

But overall, I still think that the possibility of Dinas being essentially a Sphere clone of Decker (not considering whether Decker himself is a Sphere clone of Dyna when he got infected in the past or nah) is rather high because then it kinda conveniently commemorates Nexus in a way.

Decker literally has Dyna and Gaia references with the Movie being also a Cosmos reference already. Throwing in a Nexus reference with Dinas being the devolved, juvenile form of Decker would be an easy reference as well. Would also explain his design and his red color timer actually. But if thats the case, Decker Dinas Type would feel kinda weird cause unlike Trigger Truth, which a fusion of both his own light and darkness, Decker Dinas Type seems to suggest that Decker fuses with his juvenile self. But the thing is, if Dinas is Decker's juvenile self, then whatever Dinas could do, shouldnt Decker already be able to do?

But we'll definitely get a concrete explanation on this in the Movie very soon anyways, so stay tuned.

As for your second question, Id probably rank him near the middle because as Ive summarized, it was overall kind of a 'meh' series for me. Tho for a list off the top of my head:

Orb

Z

Taiga

Geed

Trigger

Decker

Ginga S

X

RB

Ginga

Thanks for the question!

#ultraman #asks

[thekaijudude]

Do you think it would be better if all the recap special episodes going forward were moved completely from the episode catalog list and instead moved exclusively to Tsuburaya Imagination, considering that they currently have the GUTS-Select talk show with Urulu and that one GUTS-Select minor supporting member?

I think the purpose of recap episodes are really to refresh younger audiences that are watching in Japan which would be unlikely for them to have access to the Tsuburaya Imaginations website (since its paid subscription). And iirc, the website mainly shows behind-the-scenes stuff, documentaries, talk shows as u mentioned (Not really aimed towards younger audiences), and also early viewing of the yearly movies rn

Cause the series is actually being broadcasted over there weekly too

And I suppose it still serves some form of marketing for people to rewatch older episodes as well

So overall, if TsuPro still includes recap episodes, I suppose they have conducted whatever financial and content analysis and concluded that having recap episodes do actually help their situation

Cause I believe the more episodes they are airing on television, the more they have to pay? So there has to be some form of cost benefit analysis done prior. Unless the broadcast stations they've signed contracts with has a minimum airing period of say 6 months and recap episodes are there purely to fit the minimum criteria

But of course, the situation rn is still very fluid with so many things being introduced with Tsuburaya Imaginations, Ultraman Connection, UFF being ported to mobile, series being made for older fans etc. Also considering the novelty of such the aforementioned endeavors, I think they're still in the midst of figuring out how much of what belongs where at this point

Tbh I doubt we'd see any major changes in the main series (series length, inclusion of recap episodes, scheduling etc) for the rest of the New Gen Era which iirc, lasts until 2028 tentatively, which would coincidentally line up with the last release year (also tentative) of the third Shinverse installment (last of the first wave [hopefully?] based on the ShinU promo materials)

So ye, as mind boggling to us it may seem, I don't think TsuPro really has the recap episodes included just for the heck of it. There's surely some corporate/financial reason they're doing so. While Tsuburaya Imaginations on the other hand is serving a different market segment entirely.

#ultraman #asks

[ryuunosenshi]

#Ultraman Taiga #Ultraman Taiga Spoilers #Kudo Hiroyuki #Inoue Yuki #Tsuburaya #Tokusatsu #My Gifs #My Ultraman Gifs #My Ultraman Taiga Gifs #RyuuNoSenshi #ep10 #absolutely heartbreaking ep #well done tsupro

[thekaijudude]

Implications of info revealed from Trigger's Blu-ray Box

So actually I came across this piece of news last year but I didn't pay it much attention because back then it did not have any supporting evidence. But the info revealed from the Trigger Blu Ray box behind the scenes actually confirmed this rumor

That the plot of the Ultraman Trigger series was originally intended to have New Gen Dyna ultra and New Gen Gaia ultra also involved in the plot, and that because of covid, 80% of the original content was removed for better or worse

This most likely means that Decker and New Gen Gaia's design was already decided before Trigger even started

Overall I'd say that this was definitely a better call since even though Trigger had 80% of its content removed, it still did phenomenally well compared to Z in terms of merch

Stretching the New Gen TDG concept to 3 years instead of just 1 would allow TsuPro to most likely prolong this streak, also allow them to improve even further with each subsequent series and even expand more upon each individual ultra (for example, New Gen Gaia having Gaia's original premise of 3 ultras)

Also since oftenly ultras that appear within a series consistent would inevitably result in a pure fusion, I wont be surprised if a trinity fusion of Trigger, Decker and New Gen Gaia was also planned

Said idea would most probably be a thing for the New Gen Gaia movie, just that it's now of a greater scale as instead of 3 ultras fusing, it may potentially be 6 instead (Trigger Truth, Decker's final form, trinity fusion of New Gen Gaia)

It would be a pretty obvious route to go down to define the New Gen TDG period, just like it's Heisei counterpart

(Tho this would definitely put Z in a weird spot between Reiga and said deca fusion lol)

And this also totally explains why Trigger has one of (if not is) the most weird pacing of all the series. Compare this to RB which pacing was thrown off when Aizen left suddenly compared to Trigger which had 80% of content removed and yet still made this much money.

Of course this would be safe to say that this change was likely done at the last minute and we would likely not see something like this with Decker and New Gen Gaia

Tho, there are people that might say that this might set a bad precedent for TsuPro to realize that the plot dosent really matter as much when it comes to the amount of money the series brings in. While perfectly understandable, the overwhelming criticism that came from the chinese (which TsuPro has been obviously trying to garner the favor of in recent years especially) and international fans would likely steer them away from this complacency

#ultraman #ultraman trigger

[thekaijudude]

Some Thoughts for Episode 2 and the Trigger series in general

Now I know we're only 2 episodes in but while watching it, I couldn't help but remember the time while I was watching Tiga. And with that, brings some worries I have for the Trigger series before as I'm seeing the same pattern again.

Commentary aside cause I've already done it but looking at episode 2, seeing how Trigger interacted with Dargon and in episode 1 with Carmilla, as well as basically the leaks for the entire series recently, tbh I'm quite concerned, speaking from the outset of this series

And seeing the direction TsuPro is taking with this really worries me

Take for example this scene:

Really find the fact that Trigger isn't really engaging Dargon in conversation really limits the potential of character development in terms of ultras can go here

(Really feels like Dargon is basically talking to a wall here)

Like with Tiga as an example, yes he turned to the light but surely he wanted to help his then comrades, or daresay friends that were his fellow Dark Giants to also follow him. And I'm sure he tried to convince them to turn to the light and at the end, faced with a difficult decision, decided to seal them instead with a heavy heart instead of straight up just killing them as they were his friends

But he just straight up did in the Final Odyssey.

And here we see Trigger not even engaging Dargon in conversation here. Like if the history between Trigger and Dargon were the same as Darramb and Tiga, shouldn't Trigger attempt to still persuade Dargon to follow the path of light? As what Yuzare helped him 30 million years ago?

The fact that both Darramb and Dargon seems to be the closest to Tiga and Trigger respectively implied that they could still hope to listen, after a beatdown at least since the former pair both value strength above all else

But in this scene, now both Dargon and Trigger, or should I say Kengo are basically on completely different wavelengths, its as if I'm watching two parallel stories occurring at the same time even though it should be the same story

Kind of makes you wonder whats the point of Kengo being able to understand the language the Dark Giants are speaking if he's just responding in a way that he might as well just heard nothing but gibberish

But of course we can reason away Tiga's actions in Final Odyssey as that only the body of Tiga was used by Daigo back then, which was why he did what he did. And you could argue the same with Trigger.

However, it still stands that this still makes the interactions between the Dark Giants and Trigger, whom have a rich history together, be watered down to the Dark Giants interacting with a human who tbh, has literally no personal relationship with them and really no real business being where he is (other than the plot settings 'forcing' him to be)

Basically why bother building such a rich history if you aren't even gonna utilise it to create a good story that builds upon it?

Because on the other hand, given such a rich history, I can totally see Trigger convincing Dargon to join him after a beatdown (not totally yet of course), then Hudram, and because Carmilla was especially hurt, takes longer for her to do so and it could've concluded with her basically becoming some Demonozoa like being to face off against Trigger, Dargon and Hudram. And conclude with Trigger showing her the power of light (via Glitter Eternal) and saving her at the last minute as she loses her senses by the power of darkness and realises the error of her ways through the help of her lover and her 2 friends etc

It all just make it seem that TsuPro is gonna end up sacrificing yet another interesting story potential all for the sake of having humans be relevant to the story and instead just occupying the episodes with unrelated nonsense like Z, Ultraman, Ribut and Zero showing up in Trigger for no real reason in canon as leaked recently

(Ok maybe not Ribut cause he's recruiting for the Ultra League which still could've worked if Trigger was 'actually' here)

It just incredibly worries me that we may not be seeing such drama given the plethora of existing settings that could be crafted to make such a story that is truly unique to Trigger

Tho I still am crossing my fingers that Trigger just has a shaky start and Trigger (NOT Kengo) actually interacts with the Dark Giants as he should given their history together

And besides, I gosh darn hope the fact that Kengo has the ability to understand the Dark Giants will come into play eventually even tho its really shaky in that department rn

#ultraman #ultraman trigger

[thekaijudude]

The Ultra series have been a mix of Sci-fi and magical fantasy. But do you think a series that contain purely magical/supernatural elements can work? Where everything is of terrestrial origin with Ultramen as mythical giants/deities of light fighting against yokai, demons, cults and evil wizards, even the setting is not the usual modern society but a medieval/feudal one?

It kinda depends on how you define as 'work' in this context

Cause if you're looking for precedents, I mean it has been done before several times in Showa and early Heisei series as filler episodes, mostly episodic plots. So TsuPro just has to make enough of it for an entire series

And they even had an overall plot with this theme kinda with Orb and the Maga Beasts (The Origin Saga had the same idea as well)

Not to mention the Tiga Gaiden, which is more or less the setting you described as well

So with that many precedents, I guess the better question would really be is there a reason for TsuPro to go back to those themes?

Obviously yes since filler episodes are still a thing in every series (mostly for worse)

Tho the setting being in feudal times is kind of unlikely cause I don't see the upsides of having that setting over the usual ones (which is what they're comfortable with anyways) unless there's an actual narrative value for having this setting rather than just solely to fit the themes as you described since the same themes can still be portrayed regardless of the settings

So could they do it? Definitely yes

But would they? Unlikely

#ultraman #asks

[thekaijudude]

TAC Endgame Leak?

I'm sure y'all have seen this pic going around recently so I snooped around for some info on this

Apparently this is a booster pack card set from China which is officially licensed from TsuPro

So yeah, we can surely expect this to be canon at some point

And I did point out before that since Ultimate is just equipping armor that's accessed in a different way compared to his other forms, Zero should be able to stack Ultimate on top of any of his forms

Heck, going by this logic Zero should also be able to stack Beyond on top of any of his forms as well since it's also accessed via the Geed Riser rather than the Ultimate Bracelet

Which means that yes, it's also possible that Zero can also stack Ultimate, Beyond and his accessed forms (base, LMZ, SCZ and Shining) on top of one another

But looking at the stats of Ultimate Zero, we also see that the Ultimate Aegis also grants a huge increase in stats, so we can only imagine just how powerful this 'Ultimate Shining Zero' is here

For those that are gonna ask, the argument becomes different if Zero also used the Z Riser cause the Z Riser already sets the user ultra's base form, unless of course Hikari sets Zero's base form in the Ultra Access Card to be 'Ultimate Shining Zero Beyond' (Zero's current theoretical strongest form) which we know should be possible if Hikari was able to set Geed's base in the Z Riser to be Primitive, so at the bare minimum, Zero Beyond should be able to be used as a base form when he uses the Z Riser

And considering that we also see early style Toregia and Belial, I suppose this is the endgame climax for TAC with Zero starting to stack his forms on top of one another, starting with Ultimate Shining Zero and possibly landing the 'finishing blow' on AT

Tho I wonder if Zero stacking Ultimate and Shining would also enable him to use a new ability that is the fusion of both forms? With Ultimate's ability to travel to other universes and with Shining's ability to reverse time, could we perhaps see Ultimate Shining Zero attempt to reverse whatever AT has done with the altered timelines as well?

The concept of stacking forms actually brings a whole new dynamic to ultra forms actually, more specifically established ultras, and even more specifically ultras like Zero and Geed which are able to use more than one transformation device, hopefully TsuPro does something more with this idea in the future

#ultraman #ultraman z #ultra galaxy fight