by kiryugoji04 » Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:24 pm
Yeah, my big issue with more story-driven Ultra series is that they usually trivialize the individual monsters, making them feel more like the nigh-interchangeable Sentai monsters of the week than what I want of of a Tsuburaya show. The Ultra series was created as a way to bring kaiju movies to the small screen and thus X, with its generally more monster-focused stories, is easily the superior show in my book, loose plot threads be damned.
Also, Café Black Star is certainly an above-average episode of Orb, which I generally find charming but deeply lacking in satisfying character work for a show that's meant to be story-driven, and it also has a pretty hilarious director cameo. To say that X lacks anything on the same level is preposterous, however, as it is chock full of franchise all-timers. The episodes featuring Ultraman Max, Ultraman Nexus, and the introduction of Exceed X all had my viewing groups literally SCREAMING in excitement when we watched them together and the episode featuring Gomess was both a delightful stealth celebration of Godzilla's anniversary AND a tearjerking character study of the franchise's captain archetype. Even my girlfriend, always kind of ambivalent about tokusatsu, welled up at the ending to that episode. I would argue that the character work on display in the two episodes focusing on the XIO captains is more satisfying and nuances than anything that happens throughout Ultraman Orb.
And to echo the previous post, Greeza is one of the best final bosses in an Ultra series since OG Zetton.
Last edited by
kiryugoji04 on Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Artisanal Practical Effects & Kaiju Content