Ultraman X

[kiryugoji04]

This week's episode was really great! King Joe put up a great fight, we got some legitimate character development for Daichi, and seeing Cyber Gomora join the show as a legitimate companion monster was awesome! Looking forward to seeing more of him!

NEXT WEEK:



The second half of the show begins! Tsurugi Demarga! Zaragas! Exceed X! More Cyber Gomora! Gina Specter is appearing, meaning this episode is a prelude to the upcoming Ginga/Victory two-parter, which will feature her brother, Mold Specter, as the primary antagonist. Shame Judah Specter was killed off in Ultra Fight Victory but I assume that's driving the plot for the crossover. Fun fact: Gina is being played by the same actress who played Yoko/Kamen Rider Marika in Kamen Rider Gaim! I'm super excited to have her back.

And also, here's a new picture that turned up:



Exceed X wearing some sort of new armor and we have another night fight confirmed! Yes!

[lhb412]

Grrrr... stupid problems with my MacBook interrupting my Ultraman on Crunchyroll viewing!

It's an outrage!

[kiryugoji04]

GOMESS.

[Inui Takumi]

Woooah, that's awesome. So glad that I get that reference now. XD

[kiryugoji04]

EPISODE TWELVE WAS INSANE. MELTED MY FACE OFF. I thought episode eight was breathless but this ramped it up to a whole other level! I loved that Asuna really got to be an out and out badass in this episode and that Doctor Gourmand's knowledge of Daichi's secret identity came into play as well. Tsurugi Demarga turned out to be waaaaay more impressive than I expected too! D:

Preview for the next episode:



Ugh, this three-parter is gonna be SO GOOD. Really looking forward to seeing where this show goes now that we're into the final half of its run!

[alienhulk2099]

Gomess fighting an Ultra? Now I've seen everything! Maybe the Banpresto crossover games and pachinkos will finally acknowledge he exists!

[kiryugoji04]

[kiryugoji04]

Episode 13 was another solid outing. I've never been a fan of the Ginga universe but the crossover here is enjoyable and feels pretty natural after the previous Zero and Max crossovers. It's been a long, awkward road to get here but the Ultraman Multiverse is finally beginning to feel like a natural part of the franchise, in my opinion.

I kind of... really did not like Victory when he was first introduced in the lead-up to Ginga S but time and his new Victory Knight Form have softened my opinion considerably and in this episode I kind of flat-out loved him. Seeing Sho training Daichi was a lot of fun and Daichi thinking that Sho spoke another language was really amusing.

Oh, and that three-way fight between the female leads of this episode. Woof. Part of me rolls my eyes because of course Sakamoto would write a three-way cat fight into this but at the same time, the action was actually really hard-hitting and fun to watch.

NEXT EPISODE:



MechaGomora versus Cyber Gomora! CAN'T WAIT.

BUT HOLD UP. SAKAMOTO, STOP PUTTING GIANT-ASS TREES IN THE BACKGROUNDS OF YOUR SHOTS. YOU'RE RUINING THE SCALE AND IT MAKES ME HATE YOU A LITTLE.

And a little side bar: Every once in awhile I have moments where I am reminded that Kiyotaka Taguchi is directing the next feature-length Ultraman movie and then I get INCREDIBLY excited. IN TAGUCHI WE TRUST.

[Rody]

Man, am I behind on this show!

Episode 8 might be my favorite so far - great build up and payoff, with Zetton getting to really show off and Alien Sran making a surprise appearance.

Episode 9 was hilarious. Friendly aliens! ALIEN RUGBY! Ah, I think I want more stories like this: very silly but totally satisfying.

Episode 10 was sweet. I like the idea of a monster becoming part of the local lore (not to mention a tourist attraction). Those kaiju girl banners may have made laugh a little more than I should have.
Also, did the mayor seem a little reminiscent of Mr. Tako?


Overall, I think Ultraman X is shaping up very nicely.

[klen7]

Episode 12 was a lot of fun

[kiryugoji04]

Episode 14 was a satisfying conclusion to the Guar Army arc. Guar Specter was kind of a let-down (given that the original Judar/Mold/Gina fusion form was actually, you know, an actual FUSION FORM) and F*CKING TREES, SAKAMOTO but the Mecha Gomora versus Cyber Gomora battle more than made up for the few faults the episode had. Man, that was satisfying as all get-out.

Next week: Another clip show. The following week: The beginning of the final stretch! Q_____Q

[kiryugoji04]

OKAY, RECAP DONE, LET'S CHECK OUT THE PREVIEWS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON.



Firstly, the next episode stars Gomess and Captain Kamiki and is the return of Kiyotaka Taguchi to the director's chair! YUSSSS. SO EXCITE.

So now let's unpack the goodies from today's recap episode's preview for the remaining episodes of the season. Took the liberty of assembling a few screencaps here:



So our upcoming monster appearances are Gomess, M1 (from Ultra Q), Pygmon, King Gesura, Gubira, Red King, Dorako, and HOLY FU---POKJLHGFDGSDADRTFYGUHIJ OH MY GOD IT'S ULTRAMAN NEXUS.

Hopefully we'll get at least one new monster aside before the series is out (aside from whoever our main antagonist winds up being) and hopefully there are still plenty of surprises left in the series before we wrap up. The last preview like this only showed us clips from four upcoming episodes (8, 9, 11, and 12), and some of those clips appeared to be from separate episodes but wound up being smaller fights from much crazier stories than we expected AND the new monster Houlinga was not previewed. So I have faith that we've got a pretty fun ride still ahead of us even if the monster roster on display here is a little underwhelming!

ALSO, NEXUS IS BACK and if his episode is as good as the other crossovers have been, well. Well. My head might explode, honestly. Here's hoping we get Komon back! Also, the actress who played Nagi does not shy away from doing tokusatsu work so I'd love to see her return as well! The only *slightly* depressing downside to this reveal is that the shots of the Metafield really show us how budgeted Tsuburaya has to be these days. See the clouds? The Metafield never had clouds like that and, oh, look! The same clouds are in basically every other shot. Conclusion: Tsuburaya is having to work with only one sound stage that doesn't have nearly as much flexibility as they seem to have had in the past. I mean, that's easy to assume but this seems to confirm it. Oh well, the product is still great despite its limitations!

Alright, one last bit of info, this time regarding the movie. Remember this?



Looks like this might wind up being a movie-exclusive form! Exceed X gains this form by using a new device called the Beta Spark, which basically looks like Ultraman's Beta Capsule and Tiga's Spark Lens having sex. It's supposedly being released in February along with DX figures for the villain of the film, Zai Gorg, and his two henchkaiju, Gorg Fire Golza and Gorg Antlar. I'm not huge on either Golza or Antlar but I'm assuming they'll be getting Hyper Zetton-style upgrades so I'm definitely looking forward to that. My guess is the movie will feature X teaming up with Ultraman and Tiga. While I'm always gonna hope the next Ultraman movie will be something OTHER than a team-up film, this trio seems like it could be a lot of fun. Plus, Taguchi's directing so it's gonna be beautiful to look at!

Should be seeing new scans soon!

[lhb412]

[kiryugoji04]

[kiryugoji04]

FINAL VILLAIN:



Oh my God I'm in love.

[klen7]

Does anyone know how successful this simulcast has been for Crunchyroll and Tsuburaya? Does it bode well for future Ultra series?

[kiryugoji04]

OH MY GOD, WE'RE GETTING A NEW SPACE CAT LIKE THE ONES FROM ULTRAMAN MAX! D8







Also from this set of scans, we can determine that Pygmon (subtitle: "Friend of Humanity") and King Gesura share an episode, the Dark Nebula Gang seem to be returning, this time with Cicada Woman in their ranks (and the Kemurian going to prison!) and possibly in the same episode as Gubira? EX Red King will appear (a consequence of the Dark Thunder Energy, surely) and Space Cat, Dorako, and Ultraman Nexus are all part of the same episode. Would be nice to see a Space Beast return but then again, none of us had any idea that Sran Seijin would appear in the Max crossover, so maybe there are things we still don't know. Maybe Dorako is an illusion created by Galberos?

I also wonder if all the Max references (Sran Seijin and now Space Cat!) have anything to do with Crunchyroll streaming both series. Would be super cool if so.

Oh man, I'm so excited for this last stretch of the series.

[Baltan II]

What on earth is that glorious if possibly overdesigned monster in the fourth image?

I'm several episodes behind on X so don't mind me if it's already appeared or something.

[The Great MM]

SUPER excited to see Max's Space Cats come back, but I am really hoping we get a real Space Beast in the Nexus episode. Nosferu PLEASE.

[kiryugoji04]

[kiryugoji04]

SPACE CAT VERSUS RED KING.

Holy sh!t, I'm stupid excited about Space Cat.

[kiryugoji04]

So the Gomess episode aired today on Godzilla's 61st anniversary. Huh. Not sure how I didn't catch that sooner. And holy crap, Taguchi stuffed this episode full of Godzilla references!

Aside from Taguchi continuing to bring his A++ game to the miniature sets with a bunch of really kinetic and dynamic shots here, the plot featuring the captain and his daughter was surprisingly moving. I legitimately teared up at the climax. I'm pretty sure this is my new favorite episode of the series. Not only that but this episode may have just secured this Ultraman X's place as my new favorite Heisei Ultra series!

Next week is another Taguchi-helmed episode, featuring a news crew spending twenty-four hours filming all of XiO's goings-on, including Gubira attacking and XiO's attempts to thwart a criminal network of aliens (I'm guessing we'll see the return of the Dark Nebula Gang, since Kemur and Dada are two of the aliens in question). SO HYPE.

[The Great MM]

Yeah, they pretty much gave Gomess all of Godzilla's attack abilities. A beam, complete with his back flashing with light during charge up and firing, and a nuclear pulse. I grinned ear to ear. Somehow, it just all seems right for Gomess.

Now where's Jirass!?

[lhb412]

I think the success of Ultraman X is that it still feels like Ultraman while at the same time adopting the toyetic aspect apparently everything needs to compete in the Japanese market, but with the two-parter in Episodes 6 & 7 the series feels even more like 'proper Ultraman.' Sympathetic alien, Ultraman frozen or otherwise indisposed and they have to figure out how to revive him (fairly sure every single Ultra show uses that plot at least once), and that robot looks a bit like the egg-shaped guys from The Fifth Element, right?

I'm 2/3rd of the way through Ultraman Max, so naturally I was looking forward to Episode 8. It didn't disappoint, especially because I love Zetton, but -

[kiryugoji04]

Cross-posting this here since it's topical. Here's a commissioned Demarga painting I just finished!