It took a little longer than I'd initially expected, but I've finally made a start on Ultraman Ace!
I just made a start on the second disc and like all the previous Ultraman shows, I'm digging it so far! I like they they've actually done a good job of making these "Terrible Monsters/choju" seem like a bigger deal than the "regular" ones we've had before. Not only do they seem bigger and more "grand" in their designs, but they've got all these crazy missile and flame attacks and stuff too (they are REALLY going to town with the pyro in this show compared to some of the others, that's for sure!).
So it does make it feel as though they're a step up from what we've seen these Ultra teams face before.
The double hosts is an interesting concept too, again another neat little twist on how that's worked before. Granted they've still got the "Ultra Rings", but now instead of the potential for the transformation device being lost it's been tweaked to "what if Hokuto and Minami can't reach each other in time?"
Visually it continues to look very 70's!
Those TAC helmets kinda remind me of the Black Hole Aliens from Terror of Mechagodzilla with their sci-fi pointy ears or whatever they are.
And speaking of TAC, hoo boy do they seem like the most dysfunctional monster-fighting squad in the series so far!
Sure we had instances of teammates not believing or trusting each other before when someone said they'd seen a monster or that so-and-so was actually an alien in disguise, but I think I can count on one hand the number of times any of them have *actually* believed someone when they've made a claim like that so far!
How do they even function with such a low level of trust?! Not to mention dude in that Alien Metron two-parter should have been fired like three or four times over, but in the end they just laugh it off like his incompetence didn't almost get the entire world destroyed!
Oh well, TAC will be TAC I guess.
Well, unless they get suspended again. At least going by the first few episodes, "you're suspended" seems to be the new "MAT will be disbanded".
I guess judging by the info booklet and the few eps I've seen so far, they're finally doing the thing I was *hoping* they would do in Return, where they're actually having returning Ultramen show up for proper guest appearances, rather than just brief cameos. I just watched the episode where Go returned and that was super cool to see him show up, theme music and all. Obviously "things happened", but it was still a super cool moment that I hope to see more of as the show progresses.
Another thing I've got to mention though is just how incredibly violent it gets at times! It definitely seems to be taking a page out of the original Ultraman and Ultraseven's playbooks when it comes to that. The way Muruchi was dealt with would, no joke, have been entirely fitting as a Mortal Kombat Fatality!
Even by the standards of everything that's come before in these shows, that was incredibly brutal! And this is a kids' show?! Damn, man. They're not joking around.
But yeah, I'm still early in the show, but I'm digging it so far and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more!