Ultraman Ginga (and Ginga S) on Crunchyroll

[lhb412]

The avalanche shows no sign of stopping!

[klen7]

Not enough time in the day!!

[sentaison]

Not the series I most wanted to see next, but it seems that Crunchyroll and Tsuburaya have found a good thing together. I really need another day in the week to catch everything I want to watch!.

[Specium Ray]

I'm drowning in ultra!
Ginga is only SD? It must be the cheapest ultra show ever.

[Rody]

I haven't heard much good about Ginga, but another officially streaming Ultraman show can only be a good thing in my opinion; plus, it should give more context for viewers of Ultraman X.

SO MUCH ULTRAMAN I'M GOING CRAZY

[Dai]

Argh, they're going up faster than I can watch them! I'm definitely not complaining, but it's becoming difficult to decide which series to watch episodes from each time I'm in an Ultramood. This is a problem I'm glad to have.

[Rody]

I'm planning on going through them chronologically. I'm still working on 80, and I never got around to Max or Mebius because I'd seen them before.
Once I'm done with 80, I'll move on to Gaia, and then I'll be ready to see Nexus, Max and Mebius again, which will bring me to Ginga, which will prepare me to watch Ultraman X all over again!

[MekaGojira3k]

Finally going through Ginga S. Just watched the Gang-Q and Metron episodes yesterday. Easily the highlight of all of these Ginga shows. Gang-Q especially gave me Ultra Q vibes.

[sentaison]

Having now finished Ginga and S, I have to say Ginga may have gotten something of a bad rap because it was made cheaply. There were still engaging characters and an interesting story line. Yes it is the series that introduced Spark Dolls and all the increased marketing placement that came with that. But I was watching a couple of episodes at the same time I was watching each new episode of Orb, and I was enjoying the Ginga episodes more. Ginga S was better, a decent entry into the Ultra series with better production values than it's predecessor, but both are worth watching.

[Dr Kain]

We finally just started Ultraman Ginga and after four episodes, I'm not really feeling it. The biggest factor is how ugly everything looks. Did they film this with the cheapest cameras possible? Why does it look like the show is moving in slow motion at like 10 frames per second? I thought it was just my PS3 doing it, but I've turned Crunchyroll onto three difference devices and it is happening on all of them. Episode 2 was the worst, especially during the scene when the biker was chasing the only characters who seem to actually exist at this school.

That brings me to my next thing, where is everyone? Why are the monsters only attacking a school that is in the middle of nowhere? Are there no townspeople around? No villages? How far away from the city are they? Additionally, if there is no civilization around, why do they have a lone cop on a bicycle? Wouldn't it be more effective for him to have a motorcycle so he could actually catch criminals as they drive away? I also do not care for the supporting cast, especially the girl who sounds like she is on helium. Where is the Science Patrol-like organization? I know Ginga joins one since he was part of one in the movies and in the X crossover episodes, so where are they?

The fights so far haven't even been all that good. It's been mostly reduced to stare downs with a few moves here or there.

Okay, calm down, I know it's only been four episodes. However, I am bored right now. I did like the updated Pandan design. He looks far more threatening than he did in Ultra Seven. There have also been some nicely done creepy parts, so that is a plus. I just wish it didn't revolve solely in the school hallway.

EDIT: We watched 5 and 6 and nothing has improved. In fact, this show seems to be getting worse. Like the emotionless boy is pointless. Also, does the principal know what is going on? Is she a ghost? She just randomdly walked in on them during their conversation to spout exposition and then disappeared. The entire turning the friend against Hikaru only to have it end within a few minutes was so stupid. Dark Tiga was cool, and now he's gone. Oh, and the best character on the show is now back to being a Spark Doll. WTF?

And once again, why are there only five kids at this school? If it has been closed down, why are they even there? Isn't that a hazard to have a couple of kids without parental supervision be at the school? What if they injure themselves and the cop or principal doesn't teleport to their location to help them?

We're going to finish this season, but think we're going to skip the movie that Crunchyroll has listed as episode 7. I want to get through this series as quickly as possible.

[Dr Kain]

So first up, we finished season 1 today. Episode 8 (really ep 7, but Crunchyroll has the movie as ep 7) was hands down both the worst and best episode of the season. How is that even possible? Well it is the worst because half of it was a god damn clipshow. Whomever thought it was a good idea to make the SEVENTH episode to be a clip show, was friggin retarded. It's not like the show has had months of development to even do a clip show. On the other hand, it is the best because the second half was hands down the most fun I had in the entire season. The fighting game bits were hilarious and watching the two monsters bro fist each other was hilarious. I really did think I was watching a video to Primal Rage.

After that, the garbage just kept on coming. Oh, was the principal being the villain supposed to be a plot twist? If so, then it failed as I saw that coming light years away. I did like the designs of Black Ultra Seven and Black Ultraman though. Or is it Ultraman Dark and Ultra Seven Dark? They seemed to have changed their names between episodes.

The acting never got better, the camera work remained subpar at best, and everything looked so cheap. Also, for wanting to be an idol, Helium Girl can not hold a tune for jack. The whole thing was so stupid and then suddenly all of these people show up at the end without any rhyme or reason, but they apparentely live in the area. There was nothing in any of this show to indicate this school was even remotely close to a town, village, or city. Even the final battle was lame. Second worst Ultraman series ever! (Ultra Seven X is still the worst).

Now with that said, we also watched the first four episodes to its second season and wow, this show has a budget. They still need to work on their mics as it sounds like the actors are either speaking way too loud into them or they are way too close to them, but other than that, I have no complaints. The cast seems likable, Victory brings in an interesting dynamic, the fights have been pretty well choreographed, and I now wish my King Joe Figuart came with an interchangeable arm with that gun arm. The miniatures look good too. Why couldn't this be the show we got instead? The first season was an utter waste of time and money. I mean, people got paid to write that dogshit and they had to pay those people to "act."

The only thing that is bugging me right now is that princess of the underworld looks so damn familiar, but when I looked up her credits, the only thing listed I have seen is Sky High. I'm pretty sure I have seen her somewhere else before. Then again, the same went for the girl that transformed into Pandan in the first season, so maybe I'm just being racist there.

I am also loving at how many Ultra Seven characters we have here. Android Zero One, her boss, King Joe, Eleking, and a Guts alien showing up has been pretty awesome so far. Oh, and Ginga's trident he used in the first two episodes rocked. I hope I get to see him use it again.

[Dr Kain]

So we watched 5-8 tonight and the show continues to impress. Although, it seems like Chibull is quite forgetful because he keeps telling Zero One that this episode is her last chance, she fails, and then he repeats it in the next. lol I'm really liking what they have done with Sho, but I do wish they would give Arisa and Gouki an episode each to develop their lives outside of UPG. That aside, it's pretty solid so far. Nowhere near as good as Orb or even X, but a vast improvement over the first season and maybe better than Leo. The last fight with Five King was pretty badass, especially when Five King was just leasurly landing from the sky. I was surprised that this wasn't the final battle with Chibull though.

Looks like Misuzu is back next episode... yay?

[Dr Kain]

All right, so we just finished watching episodes 9-12 and they were a blast. Well, episodes 9 and 10 were your standard fare, but my god, 11 and 12 were hands down the most awesome episodes of the entire series thus far. They were like the Black Star Coffee from Orb and the 3 alien rugby one from X in the realm of badassery. THe first episode with Gan-Q was really cute and touching, something I did not expect to see at all from this show. It shouldn't have worked with this show's tone, and yet, it did. Then we have the last episode, which I was dreading because it brought back Helium Girl and they actually did have that she became a singer, but again, it worked. Seeing a Metron be a huge fanboy was down right hilarious. My favorite scene is when he is in the UPG car and sense Chigusa being attacked so he just says, "I'll come back later," and teleports out. I could not stop laughing my ass off from that one. Even the big battle at the end was great. I really hope the remaining 4 episodes can keep up this momentum.

[Dr Kain]

Trophy Acquired - Completing Ultraman Ginga!!!

Yep, we just finished the last four episodes and they were pretty great. The Zetton Scissors was pretty badass, although the Deathscythe version from Orb is still cooler. The ending itself was really well done and I liked how everything came together. However, man, that friggin queen of the Underworld needs to fight more often since she just One Hit Killed everything. lol It was nice to see that they didn't totally forget the girl who was exiled. On the down side, Arise, Gouki, and the commander had very little in the way of development, especially the commander. It would have been nice if they had at least dedicated one episode to him, but I guess that is the downside to the show only having 16 episodes.

I did like how everything played out, although the Chibull was not the greatest villain to have be the main leader. He didn't really do much of anything and he was kind of boring.

Oh, now I wish they would hurry up and release the damn movie on video already as I really want to watch it again now that I have full context of everything. Overall, the second season was highly enjoyable.

Unfortunately though, for as much as I enjoyed it, I have to grade the show as a whole, and that first season was just crap, so it sours the entire experience. If I were to grade Ginga, it would end up being a 7/10 because of its first season. Ranking wise, I would put the shows like this:

1. Ultra Seven
2. Orb
3. Ultraman
4. Tiga
5. X
6. Ginga
7. Leo
8. Seven X

With that said, Nexus is going to be the next show my g/f and I watch together, but first we have to watch The Next.

[Kaiju_Ultra_Fan]

[klen7]

Check out Nexus, it's a bit different which may be a welcome change up since you're binging a franchise

[Dr Kain]

[Kaiju_Ultra_Fan]

Well I finished Ultraman 80. I really liked it a lot. Was so annoyed they ... do I do a spoiler on an almost 40 year show?



I quickly went and watched that Mebius episode that brought back and sort of wrapped up Takashis Yamatos story. As someone who spent close to 10 years teaching it was pretty touching for me personally. I can't imagine at the moment liking any other Ultramen as much as Takashi. There's a certain "I relate" quality to his character.

I've watched 5-6 Episodes of the first Ultraman and I like it a lot. So far I've dug the monsters more than pretty much any of the Ultraman 80 monsters. Baltan and Ragon especially. Bemlar too but possibly just because he was the first.

And I watched about 5 Episodes of Ultraman X,..just to see something newer. I'm torn on that show,...the effects and film quality are so much better,..but it really reminds me of Power Rangers or something in that it's so "kiddy",..and they're shoving actual toys in your face every couple minutes. Plus Ultraman seems so young and watching the other 2 shows Ultraman was/is a grownup, not a teenager. So that's taking some getting used to.

...though I guess it worked because I've bought 4 Ultraman figures in the past couple weeks off of eBay.


and when not watching Ultraman I've been trying to make my way through all the Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, Rodan movies...of which there seems to be about 50 of them. Many of them I've seen already but it's fun to revisit them. And I seem to appreciate them a lot more now than I did growing up. (at the time I was more interested in Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, Leatherface,..than Kaiju.)

I'm really looking forward to Ultra Seven because the clips that were shown of Ultra Seven in Ultraman 80,...he seems like a completely brutal badass,...just decapitating monsters left and right,..hacking off limbs and stuff. I was very surprised to see that but it looks cool!

But I feel like I should finish watching the Original Ultraman first,...because it's the Original.

There's so many series to look forward to. I found a bunch on Crunchyroll,..a couple on Kissasian,..and a couple on Jatuko,....plus some of them it looks like I'll have to order the dvds, like The Return of Ultraman (Jack),...because I can't seem to find that anywhere to stream.

And some of the movies I found like Superior Ultraman Brothers 8, I can't seem to find any English subs for it. Which stinks because from what I see that movie looks really cool. I guess some of the shows and movies haven't been made into English Subbed versions. ..I'm still trying to figure it all out.

Ultraman The Next was really cool. But then I couldn't really find a figure of him. ..it's so odd how some stuff is easy to find and other stuff seems impossible to find.

I can see this will be a challenging new hobby in a way. Especially because I prefer Subs to Dubs.

But I grew up loving horror movies (especially 80's ones since I was a kid at the time), but I've been busy working and such the past 10 years and haven't really had any time for a hobby or collecting or anything. Somehow in the past couple months I stumbled onto Ultraman 80 and just fell for it hook, line and sinker. Now I'm neck deep in Kaiju and Ultraman and really loving all of it. And I'm finding myself wanting a ton of Ultraman figures, Kaiju monsters, (plus Godzilla/Mothra/Etc figures) ..and a bunch of DVD's!

So the collecting bug has hit just as hard as the bug to watch all the Movies and TV shows.

and half the time if I'm online and not watching an episode I find myself at the Ultraman wiki just reading all about the history and backstory of the characters,..or how the shows were made.

I found a great documentary on Youtube that used clips from a movie called, 'The Men of Ultraman' that seemed to be a movie all about how the show was made, but I can't find that movie online at all. I guess it's another one that never made it online and never got a sub/translation of any kind. It seems like quite a few of the Ultraman properties are like that. Kind of a bummer.

(Probably everyone in this sub-forum has already seen it,..but this is the documentary on Youtube I saw. I thought it was pretty interesting.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnyuQLbJ_q8