Ultraman Nexus Discussion

[Dr Kain]

We watched Nexus episodes 13-18 tonight. This show continues to impress and I'm liking the design for Mephisto quite a bit. The Xenomorph-Cerberus monster was pretty awesome too. Glad to see Nagi getting a tad fleshed out more. Now if they could only do the same to the other Night Raiders members. It was also nice to see Jun's former partners back, even if it was only for a short time right now. I'm really curious to see how this plot develops and if we are finally going to get some city battles. Lastly, I really need to look up the composer for the show as there are a few tracks in it that I know I have heard before. Well, nothing else to really say other than I'm looking forward to the next batch of episodes we watch tomorrow.

[Dr Kain]

All right, so the battle between Nexus and Mephisto in episode 24 was freaking awesome. As was everything leading up to that point. I really enjoyed the mysteries, the fights, the characters, all of it. The UFO club was pretty out there, but is the one fat dude with the glasses the actor who played the commander in Megaranger? It looks and sounds like him.

Episode 25 was super annoying because if there is one thing that is worse than a clip show, it is a an episode that is half a clip show that also gives pertinent information we should have been told about in a real episode. It was nice to hear them talk about The Next for a moment, so I hope more comes of this and this is not the only connection the movie has to the show. Neverthless, interesting, a sad version of Nexus? Sweet.

And then episode 26 happened. I already hate Ren. This feels like an entirely different show suddenly. It's jarring and makes no sense. This dude just comes out of the blue without any warning and I'm supposed to believe he is worth of replacing Jun? WTF? The only character worthy of replacing Jun is Komon! We have had him built up for the last 26 episodes and now he is suddenly being pushed to the way side and become a side character? OH HELL NO!!!!! Oh, and isn't it just convenient that we now learn there is a spy within the TLT and then it cuts to the MP walking with a girl we have never seen before? Hmmmmmmmm, I wonder who it ever could be...

Episode 27 wasn't bad, but I really really hate Ren. Was this dude forced in to please the child audience? He doesn't fit with the tone the rest of the show was conveying. And again, he is not worthy to be Ultraman when Komon is right freaking there!! I know I said I wanted Nexus to have a bigger role, but when I said Nexus, I meant Jun, not this annoying brat. UGH! Oh yeah, and the MP girl is hands down the worst spy ever. Lastly, HA, they all said PP. Juvenile laughter for the win.

[klen7]

^ i agree with you there. Whats the background on the tonal and character shift for Nexus?

The ending works out, but the tonal shift is pretty jarring when your watching it

[Baltan II]

[klen7]

^ Thanks. Not sure if i would have preferred it getting canceled or if the second leg is worth it to get to the closure

[Dr Kain]

Right now I fee like the series shoudl have ended with the defeat of Mephisto. We'll see though. We plan to finish the last 10 episodes tonight.

[lhb412]

I really liked the change in tone when Ultraman gets a new human host. I thought it was an interesting curveball.

[sentaison]

I agree the idea of one host dying off and being replaced by another is one of the unique things about Nexus that make it a favorite of mine. But I also agree that Ren was jarring change in the tone of the show. While his background was interesting enough, his storyline was way too "nice" to fit the rest of the show.



But the network screw up meant that they had to try and attract the kiddies to a show that was probably already doomed by then.

[Dr Kain]

So we just finished episode 34 and I've got mixed feelings on these last 7 episodes. I still do not like Ren, but at least he hasn't taken over as the star of the show like I initially feared. On the other hand, these episodes have made a lot of missteps. For one thing, what was the point of bringing Shinya back from the dead only to kill him off in the most cliche way possible? Jun's departure was so abrupt and out there, but at least he had accomplished his goal. Or rather, he had until all of it was undermined by bringing the dude back and have him "redeem" himself before he dies. God damn that was so freaking stupid and completely ruins what Jun accomplished.

On the positive side, I did like the explanation given as to how everyone knows next to nothing about the events from The Next. They really should just call them what they are though, the Men in Black.

Sadly, there are several more let downs. First off, oh, the plot with the dude who has been taking pictures of Shinya has now gone nowhere. It was some TLT dude the whole time? Not only is that lame, but it was a complete waste of time since the dumbass girl from The Next movie put an end to his cure plan. Thanks lady, thanks for turning this plot point irrelevant. I want to hit my head into a brick wall repeatedly for wasting my time on this. I can only imagine how much worse this was for people who had been watching this show on a weekly basis, having 9 weeks go by on this for no reason whatsoever. It's like Kamen Rider 555 all over again.

Next up deals with Negoro and Sakuta. Where the hell are they? Sure, Negoro got his memory wiped, but where are the UFO people he hung out with? Why isn't Sakuta doing anything to expose the truth? You would think that she would be trying her best to make Negoro remember his story. Or maybe have Negoro uncover the recording he did with Komon and end up remembering the truth. Somthing. ANYTHING!!

Granted, we've still got three episodes left, so there is still time for this to happen, but I have low expectations of it happening at this point. Well, we will see. Time to eat dinner and then finish this show!

[lhb412]

[sentaison]

[Dr Kain]

All right, so we have completed Nexus and outside of our Crunchroll stream dying 12 minutes in the final episode, they were great.

Thankfully, the ending to the Ren arc was stronger than it began. I still don't know what the point of him was as he didn't really do anything that Komon couldn't have done as Ultraman, but his finale was bitter sweet. I really liked the design of Izmeal (are the subs sure it wasn't supposed to be Ishmael??) and the final battle was cool. Oh, and it was nice to have been wrong about them dropping the Raphael plot.

Unfortunately, I have mixed feelings on the final episode. The reveal of who the traitor was came out of left field, which would have been cool, but was I supposed to feel upset about this? Maybe if the dude has received some development over the course of the series I could have, but he didn't, so I was left rather lukewarm. It also seemed kind of like a last minute, "We need a major plot twist," type of scenario. It was very Japanese in a cliche generic kind of way.

Also, the stuff dealing with Nagi was pointless. This should have happened in place of Ren. Of course, this part was irrelevant because it lasted all of 4 minutes only to give the role of the hero to the person that should have given it in the first place when Jun left. The design for Black/Dark Nexus was pretty badass and the final battle, while feeling a bit rushed, was good. Nexus' final form was bad ass, although I'm not sure what the point of the wing shoulders was. That seemed a bit overkill. I do find it funny that a boy who probably isn't even old enough to know what happened in The Next was the first one to remember the event. Oh, and the MP lady's face when everyone started to remember was priceless. The epilogue could have been handled better. Maybe they should have made it also be the ending credit sequence so it could have been fleshed out a bit longer. Oh, it also sucks that they couldn't even be bothered to show us Negoro and Sakuta in the epilogue.

Well anyway, I highly enjoyed Nexus. I can't say it is the best Ultra series I have ever seen (that still goes to Seven and Orb), but it is definitely up there. The first 24 episodes were outstanding, while the last 13 juggled with mediocrity. I do applaud that the show tried to do something new and switching out the title heroes was a bold move even if I found Ren lacking. The fight choreography was pretty top notch even if the camera work wasn't as impressive. The minatures in the last few episodes were serviceable. The only major nitpick I have in the area of effects was the extremely cheap and outdated CGI. There are still some lingering questions I have that will probably never be answered, but that is a the nature of the beast, especially for a show that had its run cut down. Nevertheless, it was a solid show and if it ever comes to BD in the states, I look forward to revisiting it. I just hope that whoever releases it actually gives it a proper translation instead of that halfassed job Crunchyroll did.

Next on our list is Max.

[klen7]

MAX! MAX! MAX!

[lhb412]

[Baltan II]

You two just made my day with that.

[klen7]

Ha. Glad to help. It runs through my head whenever someone says "Ultraman Max"... Or just "Max", which is a little awkward because my nephew's name is Maximilian. true story.

[Kaiju_Ultra_Fan]

I've ended up inadvertently binging this show over the past couple days. I keep doing the, "Just one more episode" thing,..then 'To Be Continued',...ok,..Just One More Episode.

Man this show is DARK! I'm up to episode 28 so I'm almost done. The New Blue Ultra is...taking some getting used to. The tone has shifted somewhat. But I've finished 3 other Ultra series and am maybe 1/3'rd into Ultraseven, but I can't believe how much Nexus really grabbed me and made me keep watching episode after episode after episode.

I really like how they developed the monsters over multiple episodes so it didn't feel like there were any typical episodic filler episodes of just 'beat up random monster in the last 5 minutes.' Everything so far has served the purpose of the story which has been really interesting.

I really liked the Grey/Silver suit and I wish it had gotten used more. They never really explained why he'd change to the Red one. Different powers I guess. Or why the new guy has a blue one. Visual variety I suppose.

I'm trying to get some friends to watch Ultraman and maybe Nexus is a good gateway to it. Most people seem to think Ultraman or Kamen Rider is like Power Rangers I'm finding. Which as we know,..they're definitely not like Power Rangers.

..even Super Sentai is nothing like Power Rangers.

Power Rangers is making this stuff a hard sell to some people though, it casts a big shadow. They can't see past it.

Their loss I guess.

[lhb412]

^I thought he turns into the red or blue forms specifically to use the Meta Field (though I'm sure he has other abilities exclusive to the other forms - the blue one has the bow and arrow attack, right?).

[Kaiju_Ultra_Fan]

yeah that's probably what it is. I think he was Red whenever he made the field and definitely blue when using the Bow.

On the last episode now. Can't believe how quickly I went through the whole series.

[Dr Kain]

To be honest, I don't think it is Power Rangers that makes these shows a hard sell but rather the piss poor dubs that were made for these types of shows/movies throughout the 70s and 80s. They made people believe the material was so pathetic that turning them into jokes was the only way to make them watchable. Take the Dynaman parody dub for example. It highlights the exact problem the vast majority have with these shows as the complete and total disrespect for the original content has been turned into utter nonsense. People will never be able to take these things seriously thanks to this.

[klen7]

Nah, i've had the same experience with the "its like Power Rangers" dismissal of Ultraman. I guarantee 9/10 general audience members know Power Rangers where maybe 1/25 have heard of Dynaman.

[eabaker]

While Power Rangers may be people's current point of reference (and one with stunning longevity), it's not like the general public was totally open-minded and non-judgmental about these kinds of properties prior to the early 90s.

[Kaiju_Ultra_Fan]

[DannyBeane]

In my efforts to work through the Ultraman Mythos, I'm just now starting on Ultraman Nexus. I remember loving the Ultraman the Next movie. So far the dated digital soap opera video look is throwing me off but the theme song is pretty great.
*Edit*
I really liked the second episode. I loved the suit design of the monster and how it took hostages. The spfx for that sequence wasn't cheesy at all.

[DannyBeane]

After a break, I'm working on finishing this series out, and while the story, and action is great, my biggest critique is the color palette. Every thing is a washed out black/grey/blue/purple/silver and to me it just makes everything look ugly. Visually there is no contrast. And I know this series had a shoestring budget but the mattes and cgi look really bad.