Ultraman Episode #20: Terror of Route 87

[heroforhirerob]

[Xenorama]

[August]

To better understand this episode, one might want to learn a little bit about Japanese Ghosts. It seems like this kid is a "Bourei", which is the unsettled spirit of one who was done wrong. This kind of ghost is one that lashes out in unbridled vengeance. In that light, the ghost's rampage makes more sense. The monster itself is a projection of boy's anger. There are similar episodes in THE SPACE GIANTS and SPECTREMAN.

[Flame of Udin]

[RobD]

[Dagarah72]

[heroforhirerob]

[August]

Again, if you were familiar with Japanese ghost stories, you'd say, "Oh!" The show is Japanese, and they knew exactly what was going on. The ghost would appear benign to Fuji, because she's not driving a truck!

"The traditional Japanese spirit world is layered, with Yomi on one extreme, and the physical world on the other. In-between is a sort of purgatory, an uncertain and ambiguous waiting area where spirits languish before moving on. Ghosts in this in-between state who are influenced by powerful emotions such as spite, love, jealousy, hatred or sorrow can bridge the gap back to the physical plane where they can haunt and wreak havoc on their Earthly tormentors."

Who said you never learned anything from watching ULTRAMAN?

[Flame of Udin]

[August]

They aren't onesies... they are worn like old ski suits; the pants have suspenders.

[MekaGojira3k]

The concept of a ghost story within the Ultra-verse is cool. It's not all that great in execution. Hydra looks pretty cool, I still think if Ultraman weren't so constricted to the BATTLE A MONSTER AT THE END we could have seen something really cool. Ultraman grappling with an intangible ghost would have been interesting.

A mostly forgettable episode. :/

[Timz]