by Benjamin Haines » Fri Oct 06, 2023 11:02 pm
I ordered Shin Ultraman directly from Cleopatra's website and I received the corrected third edition. More specifically, I received a shrinkwrapped blu-ray case with the second edition disc inside, and taped to that in a clear plastic sleeve was the third edition disc. The front of the case had a yellow sticker on the outside of the shrinkwrap, and the third edition disc is distinguished by the word "subtitled" printed in red underneath the title. The main menu offers three different subtitle options: English subtitles translated from the Japanese dialogue, English SDH dubtitles transcribed from the English dub, and subtitles off (which still retains the subtitles for all of the onscreen text).
I still haven't finished watching all of Ultraman Cosmos or the last two Cosmos movies but I went ahead and watched Shin Ultraman anyway because my lady wanted to watch it with me, as she likes both Shin Godzilla and Shin Kamen Rider. We both really like this movie too!
Shin Ultraman is so densely packed with plot turns, rapid-fire dialogue and action sequences that it's almost hard to believe that it's the shortest film of this Shin trilogy. It takes so many concepts from the original Ultraman series (and Ultra Q!) and distills them all into one streamlined story. It's remarkable how smoothly everything clicks. The film never drags nor does it feel cluttered. The stakes just keep getting bigger as everything comes to light, from the initial premise of giant monsters attacking Japan, to exploring how people react to Ultraman, to revealing the plans of alien visitors, to ultimately showing how all of these developments invite consequences for humanity and the planet.
I've only watched this movie once so far and it's a whole lot to process, from the breakneck pacing to the multitude of classic series references. I love how Pagos, Neronga and Gabora were reinterpreted as being biologically connected! The entire Ultra Q prologue is just awesome from the very first moment when the swirl effect spells out Shin Godzilla before the title Shin Ultraman bursts onto the screen with a red background. Zarab and Mefilas are both highlights of the film, and these new takes on Zoffy and Zetton are bold. The ending of the movie really sticks the landing.
Oh, and I clearly wasn't paying enough attention to the casting before I watched this because I was surprised to see Hidetoshi Nishijima as the captain of the SSSP. He played Kotaro Minami in the series Kamen Rider Black Sun (also 2022), which came out after this in Japan but I saw that show first so I was pleasantly surprised to recognize him in this. I know it couldn't have been an intentional reference but I like how him having roles in both projects sort of parallels how Akiji Kobayashi went from playing SSSP Captain Muramatsu in the original Ultraman to playing Tobei Tachibana in the original Kamen Rider.
Shin Ultraman rocks!