Reviews

Stranger Things, but darker, grittier, and bloodier.

Ko Ja Yoon is a fascinating main character, and she makes the film intriguing despite the world-building being sort of thin and the plot being generally predictable. I think the most impressive thing is that nobody in this film is stupid. When strangers are creepy and weird, characters — both side and main ones — recognize it and act accordingly. It was refreshing.

In fact, I'm pretty impressed with the more down-to-earth elements of this film actually; the dynamic between KJY and her family and friends were really interesting, and I want to give a special shout-out to Go Minsi, who really sold her role as the spunky best friend.

On the other hand, while Kim Dami and Choi Wooshik have fantastic chemistry together — the fight scene between them is one of the best moments in the film — I feel like I didn't feel fully convinced by the main scientist or the other "powered" people. Going back to the thin world-building, I think the environment of the government facility, the motivations of the people in charge, and the backstory of other experimented people were just not altogether there.

Overall, it's still a quick, engaging watch and I can see why it got so popular.

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=> A beautiful, intense and tragic series brought to life by great actors.

Excellent Xianxia, ​​full of fights, friendship & brotherhood, with a bittersweet romance between a wonderful Liu Yu Ning and a beautyful Liu Shi Shi (Cécilia Liu).

PLOT: Two top assassins from rival agencies and their six-member team who have diverse backgrounds, and unique skills, embark on a journey filled with challenges and crises.
The FL, a great assassin believed to be dead, meets the ML, leader of the Wu State's Six Realms Hall. They will (for different reasons) go on an expedition together to rescue King WU, taken hostage for ransom in the neighboring kingdom. They are accompanied by 4 companions of the ML, elite soldiers, Princess Wu and her butler. The journey is risky because opponents/enemies are everywhere.

PROS:
+ Addictive series, because the production is quick, the interactions are intense, and a little touch of humor adds spice.
+ The 2 leads give a magnificent performance, both in action scenes and in sweet moments.
+ The secondary characters are well developed and endearing. Their psychological evolution is credible.

CONS:
- The lively music in the war scenes, supposed to demonstrate passion and courage, is not in tune and disrupts the emotion.
- The action scenes (high flying with cables) are exaggerated. This gives beautiful choreography, but these scenes lack realism.
- Li Tong Guang's character is excessive. His obsessive love for FL, lack of respect for a master (anfd for a woman who reject him each times).
- Why did you kill all the heroes? And in such a cruel way.... Ok, it's war, but praising sacrifice to this extent is too much!
- The ending is ambiguous. We can assume that the 2 heroes survived, but it's not clear enough for my taste.

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Excellent Xianxia, full of fights, friendship & brotherhood, with a bittersweet romance between a wonderful Liu Yu Ning and a beautyful Liu Shi Shi (Cécilia Liu).

PLOT: Two top assassins from rival agencies and their six-member team who have diverse backgrounds, and unique skills, embark on a journey filled with challenges and crises.
La FL, une great assassin supposée morte, rencontre le ML, chef du Wu State's Six Realms Hall. Ils vont (pour des raisons différentes), partir ensemble en expédition, délivrer le roi WU, pris en otage contre rançon dans le royaume voisin. Ils sont accompagnés de 4 compagnons du ML, soldats d'élite, de la princesse Wu et de son majordome. Le voyage est risqué car les opposants / ennemis sont partout.

PROS:
+ Série addictive, car la réalisation est rapide, les interactions sont intenses, et une petite touche d'humour ajoute du piquant.
+ Les 2 leads réalisent une magnifique performance, tant dans les scènes d'action que dans les moments tendres.
+ Les personnages secondaires sont bien développés, attachants. Leur évolution psychologique est crédible.

CONS:
- La musique entrainante sur les scènes de guerre, supposée démontrer la fougue et le courage, n'est pas dans le ton et perturbe l'émotion.
- Les scènes d'action (haut vol avec câbles) sont exagérées. Cela donne de belles chorégraphies, mais ces scènes manquent de réalisme.
- Le personnage de Li Tong Guang est excessif. Son amour obsessionnel pour la FL, manque de respect vis à vis d'un maître.
- Pourquoi avoir fait mourir tous les héros ? Et de façon aussi cruelle.... Ok, c'est la guerre, mais faire l'éloge du sacrifice à ce point, c'est trop !
- La fin est ambigüe. On peut supposer que les 2 héros ont survécu, mais ce n'est pas assez clair à mon goût.

=> Une belle série intense et tragique mise en vie par de super acteurs.

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Memory

This show is about memory, and the repetitions the show allows, with the flashbacks being not for us but for them, they are remembering, and even then in the end we get deeper memories pulled out. It's a beautiful show, well acted, beautifully filmed. Short, but just on top of its story, beginning breakup to end 2nd chance.

It starts with Fumiya breaking up with Ritsu, who runs out has an accident and loses memory. Fumiya then decides to let them fall back in love again, rather than explain the relationship and breakup. Ritsu is suspicious of the attention, but Fumiya clearly is falling back in love, and having trouble with the setup he set up. He's seeing original Ritsu when they first got together again and is having trouble not being with him. First Fumiya's flashbacks give him a chance not just to remember the good times, but to regret what has been lost, to feel like the new situation isn't quite right at all.

And we end with Ristu getting his memories back, including the earliest one of Fumiya, before their official first meeting.

Great use of flashbacks to really show how memory is part of love.

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Start At Ep 7 For A Better Continuation From Season 1!

Ep 1 had so much emotional abuse by a ridiculously devolved Minato to Shin that I couldn't enjoy it. I skipped to Ep 7 per another reviewer's suggestion and was so glad I did! The emotional abuse starts to fade out then and it felt like a better, much more sensical continuation of Shin and Minato's relationship from Season 1. I highly suggest starting at Ep 7 if you want to be able to like Minato and be happy with the ending.

Minato continues his extremely slow character development, but it does happen. The acting is, again, supurb by all (especially Sho as Shin), and the secondary couple's progression is sweet and fun to watch too.

I rated Season 1 an 8/10 and I would rate Season 2 *Ep 7-12* at an 8/10 as a satisfying conclusion to the character and relationship arcs. I'm removing 1 star for Ep 1-6 because of the regressively poor characterizations and the unwatchable toxicity that was unnecessary and detrimental to the story's development.

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I enjoyed it.

I liked this show. I watched it in one night, but that was also because the episodes were quite short.
I wish they would've been longer, and we could've seen more. I really liked the leading couple, so I hoped for more scenes with them, but I understand that there were none since the main genre isn’t romance.
This show was sometimes stressful and illogical, but it didn’t bother me much. I enjoyed the show, though it was quite chaotic with people switching sides.
The female lead's acting wasn’t the best, but it was bearable. The acting of the antagonist was bad, but didn’t ruin the show for me that much.
Overall, a good show to watch in one night, especially since the episodes are only 20 minutes long. However, don't mainly watch it for romance… romance is just a side plot, and we get like 40 minutes or less of screen time for it. The show portrayed a great message also!

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Quality over Quantity

Wow. Such a good series with matured cast and matured acting. The cast did such a good job portraying their characters. Oh and that chemistry was definitely chemistrying…. I can’t honestly say which was better, their conversations/banters or the way they look at each other, both were simply magic.
I honestly wish CDramas will transition away from the baby/childlike talking FLs and ridiculous cliched/tropey filled plots and give us more matured like dramas like this. I doubt that will happen as it seems the mature plots is not popular with their targeted audiences, which is such a shame as the minority are constantly subjected to a regurgitated load of mess.
I highly recommend this drama

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A fine jumping on point for the uninitiated

What I appreciate about Ultraman is that it has so many great jumping-on points for people looking to get into the series; although The Next is one of the weaker starts I've seen, it is a noble attempt to update the formula with a much more adult tone. Particularly considering this was Tsuburaya's big attempt to revitalise the character after the problematic circumstances surrounding the broadcast of Cosmos. It's a more than welcome reimagining.

There's some lovely direction by series veteran Kazuya Konaka, particularly in its Top Gun-inspired opening. Great character work and performances, especially from Tetsuya Bessho and Kenya Ousumi, plus a banging soundtrack from rock artist Tak Matsumoto who provides brilliant updates to the classic themes. I do like Ultraman's new design despite it being a bit out there due to how radically different it is from the original but the updated Bemular is a truly frightening creation and more than worthy of praise.

Where I'm not particularly sold is the rather iffy use of CGI, especially considering how good the model work and suitmation are, and the cheesy dialogue at points that feels like it's trying to appeal to kids despite the tone of the movie is very much skewed towards adults with some pretty horrifying imagery to boot.

Regardless, The Next captures the heart of what makes Ultraman, well, Ultraman. His relentless pursuit of providing hope for humanity in the face of its destruction; while mixing in with the inner turmoil of its host who has more than his fair share of skin in the game. It offers up some extremely entertaining and well-executed monster fights and hits the right stride for those wanting a slightly more mature tone for the series. It's just a shame that the Ultra N Project failed because what we got here is a great basis for a newer take on the character.

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Open your eyes to the unbelievable

The Multiverse of Madness we deserved. The way this movie is so unapologetic in its portrayal of hope out of hopelessness from its cast of characters is simply beautiful, I can't help but love it unconditionally.

On July 17, 1966, best friends Daigo Madoka, Shin Asuka, and Gamu Takayama watch the first broadcast Ultraman television series at Daigo's house. They are inspired to grow up and do great things. 30 years later, the three have forgotten their childhood passion for Ultraman and dreams while continuing their lives as normal civilians. With aliens threatening the utter annihilation of Earth and Daigo experiencing mysterious visions, Ultraman may just provide the key to saving the entirety of mankind.

It does feel odd that despite Ultraman Mebius and Mirai Hibino being the then-current Ultra brother and host on TV at the time, the film instead opts to tell the events from the point of view of Daigo Madoka, the human host for Ultraman Tiga. I'm not complaining mind you. It's great to see what is currently Hiroshi Nagano's final appearance in the franchise and he does so with true style and an unshakeable charm. The first four Ultraman protagonists return in maturer mentor roles yet still get to do the job they started all those years ago, seriously Susumu Kurobe, Kohji Moritsugu, Jiro Dan and Keiji Takamine are all excellent in and out of the suits. It's just a treat for the long-time fans and a beautiful cap-off for the TDG trio.

This was until recently the highest-grossing entry of the entire Ultra franchise, being overtaken by Shin Ultraman very quickly. You can see why this film made the money it did, combining a love for both the Showa and Heisei eras and showcasing the best of both worlds. I have to hand it to director Takeshi Yagi, a Heisei Ultra veteran, for crafting this film in such an exquisite way, the direction, compositing and set pieces are all top-notch and cleanly executed to the highest standards, the CGI work especially which is usually a low point for these productions looks divine. The suitmation work is just consistently beautiful but the final act is where it all comes together seeing all of the Ultra brothers fighting side by side onscreen with some seriously tense emotional stakes just hits the nail on the head.

I take my hat off most of all to writer Keiichi Hasegawa, whose name I'm more than familiar with; penning the likes of GMK, the first two Heisei Gamera films, SSSS.Gridman and numerous episodes of other Ultra shows, including my beloved Tiga. What he has crafted here however is perhaps one of his finest works. The dialogue oozes charm and sophistication in a way that only Tokusatsu can deliver, the right balance of cheesy and serious, hope and cynicism, nostalgic connections and undying charm. There wasn't a moment that went by where I didn't have a smile on my face, it's the type of fan service and nostalgia done right, not for the sake of it being there but for delivering a movie that utilises them to great effect and analyses why we have such affection for them.

The movie deconstructs the character's admiration for the ideal of hope rooted in their consumption of fantasy entertainment. How the nostalgia we have for the content we consume at a younger age has the ability to inspire us and hold us back when we are older. How our perception of the world is warped by the fantasy we desire in the world. The fantasy that we continue to search for in the world to help guide us. Doing so causes one to forget about the lessons of consistency through perseverance as a means of remembrance. Remembering what inspired an individual to develop their current meaningful connections.

The music by Toshihiko Sahashi fits the tone of the movie perfectly. Another veteran of the franchise but not without his other merits, composing for Toei's Kamen Rider series as well as the Gundam franchise. His style of composition is richly symphonic and classical with the occasional use of jazz, it plays off older themes of the series but restrains using them in their entirety outright. Sort of like how Bill Conti composed the music for For Your Eyes Only in a way. The keyboard-heavy symphonic score just fits so well with the sense of hope this movie brings.

42 years' worth of world-building leads to one of the most heartfelt love letters to a series you could ever ask for. Even for a relative Ultra series novice like myself, you can really feel the love and passion for this series throughout the movie, never relenting and never giving up its hope for the future. Old friends and foes get new and fresh redesigns that give the kaiju a huge air of menace, with the old Ultramen having never looked so good.

Overall, Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers is a full love letter to the series that encapsulates what Ultraman represents as a whole. It reinforces the power of faith and dreams in a way that's totally unlike any film I've seen in a while. I love it to pieces.

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A perfect extended ending

The Final Odyssey could have very easily screwed up what is already a perfect ending to a series, but this bridge between the outgoing Tiga and incoming Dyna packs the same emotional core and incredible storytelling that made Tiga one of the best Ultra shows, to begin with.

Two years after the events of 'Ultraman Tiga', Daigo is forced to pick up another Dark Spark Lens in an attempt to stop three evils the once, dark Tiga worked with 30 million years ago, to stop destruction in Japan once and for all.

Everything about The Final Odyssey is bigger, badder and sleeker; the elongated runtime and larger budget that is afforded thanks to this being a feature-length movie mean everything is to the highest standard, top-notch in its design and execution. The widescreen presentation allows for an impressive variation of shots and set pieces, director Hirochika Muraishi outdid himself with this. It's gorgeous to look at through and through. The underwater fight between Tiga and Darramb is incredible but only equally matched by the final showdown against Camearra (I'll get to her in a moment) and the suitmation is very clean although I'm not majorly fond of the digital effects used to transform Camearra into darkness at the very end.

Seeing how much our cast has changed since the finale of Tiga, the relationship and impending wedding of Daigo and Rena make for a great personal motivation for the duo. Daigo's hesitation and self-doubt manifest in his desire to save the world one more time with Rena supporting and trusting him nearly every step of the way. Their decision to take up arms again is met with this gorgeous little sequence of minimal dialogue accompanied by an excellent musical score and dynamic camera. The chemistry between Hiroshi Nagano and Takami Yoshimoto is on full display here and you are totally engrossed in their story. The rest of the GUTS squad are all on fine form even if they aren't the starring party this time around but does serve as an equally nice introduction to the eventual successors making a big splash near the end.

With all the strength in its character writing, it's the film's villains that bring a fresh perspective to The Final Odyssey. We've seen Evil Tiga in the TV show and although he was only limited to the second half of a two-parter, Three ultimately evil Ultra's make the impact needed to give the film a world-ending and indeed universe-ending threat. Camearra, Darramb, and Hudra are all equally memorable for a multitude of reasons, but it's with Camearra where the real antagonist lies. Tiga's former lover from a bygone era, all the credit goes to actress Miyoko Yoshimoto for carrying that amount of sass and power into her suit performance as well. Catch me simping for her on an off day.

The excellent musical score from Tiga is carried over and Tatsumi Yano provides some equally beautiful new material as well as some repurposed older material from the show. Opening with Brave Love Tiga was an inspired choice accompanying the montage of notable moments from the TV show before beautifully transitioning into the film. Of course, the use of Take Me Higher is relegated to the end credits but as it always does, it makes an impact.

Overall, Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey is a beautiful epilogue to Tiga as a whole, it sends our beloved characters off with gorgeous style.

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More like a DVD extra

Here's the thing about Ultraman Tiga Gaiden: Revival of the Ancient Giant, while it may be somewhat unremarkable as a little side venture and as an extension of the Ultraman Tiga story, the idea of setting a giant hero story in Stone Age Japan is an inspired one and an idea I could easily see being fleshed out again someday.

Five thousand years ago, an ancient red-and-blue warrior of light defended a village against a giant, golem-like monster, but disappeared after that, where the Ultra is worshipped by superstitious locals as a guardian protector. In the present time of 2038, Super GUTS pilot Tsubasa Madoka (son of Daigo and Reina Madoka) pursues the monster Jomonoid, before suddenly getting dragged into a wormhole. Upon arrival, Tsubasa realized he's stuck centuries in the past, specifically, in the same village that Ultraman Tiga once guarded, and there are evil forces who want to prevent the re-awakening of Ultraman Tiga while re-summoning monsters of the past...

The original plan for Gaiden had been for Hiroshi Nagano to return as Daigo, but unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts with his band V6's then-ongoing tour, he was unable to participate in the production. Thus, Daigo and Rena's son, Tsubasa Madoka, was created in his place. This isn't as major of a complaint as I'd initially thought because the new cast of characters is quite good fun, especially given the premise and setting with Tsubasa being quite a fun little protagonist even if he goes on a pretty similar journey to Daigo in learn to come to terms with co-existing as both himself and as Tiga.

There's a lot of lavish direction in this story thanks to the efforts of frequent Tiga, Dyna and Gaia director Hirochika Muraishi, who also helmed my beloved Final Odyssey. He makes great use of the larger budget the effects team were afforded and puts them to work with some stunning destruction sequences, the Kaiju vs Ultra fights are well staged, but there's the odd bit of front projection and CG that like most of the early Heisei Ultra shows hasn't aged very well.

The cast of Gaiden is all made up of returning actors from the entire TDG trilogy aside from Hiroshi Nagano and Takami Yoshimoto doesn't return as Rena either despite Letterboxd crediting both of them for some reason. Shôgo Yamaguchi is quite a fun protagonist in the form of Tsubasa and Yuri Yamazaki portrays a great badass in the form of the warrior Mahoroba, but I cannot get behind Makoto Kamijo as Amui who is borderline insufferable at times and pretty much robs Tsubasa of his heroic moments.

Tatsumi Yano retains much of the classic pieces from his Ultraman Tiga score and they all do their job just as well as they did in the TV show. Perhaps my biggest criticism is that both Take Me Higher and Brave Love Tiga are nowhere to be seen in Gaiden. Instead, Kodou~for TIGA~ is the theme and I'm honestly not a fan, it's one of the weaker songs that's been used to signify Tiga as a character.

Overall, Ultraman Tiga Gaiden: Revival of the Ancient Giant is ultimately little more than an extended episode of the TV show but its production more than carries it despite it feeling quite disheartening to not have the original cast in it. It's closer to an exciting DVD extra more so than a film.

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TAKE ME HIGHER!

It's taken me way too long to finish this series and I wanna apologise to my friend Garasharp for that. After small side steps into a few short-lived co-produced Ultra shows, Ultraman returned to his full Japanese roots with Ultraman Tiga marking the debut of a new full-fledged Ultra series and the first full Heisei series.

After a franchise hiatus of over 15 years, set in a universe different from all previous series and updated with a new look and feel. Ultraman Tiga is basically one of, if not, the defining Ultra show. You don't need prior knowledge of any of the previous shows to get Tiga, it acts as a fresh start for the series but remains faithful and familiar to the long-time fans.

Where Tiga shines brightest is in its cast of likeable lead characters, raw emotional impact and breathtaking production values. The storytelling is up to the usual Tsuburaya quality with seemingly every episode, for better or worse, developing the characters and their own motivations over the course of the 52-episode run. The slow-burn love story between Daigo and Rena is extremely worthwhile and rewarding for those invested in the series, and the rest of the supporting cast is equally fantastic although Horii can be extremely hit or miss with his comedic antics even then he gets a satisfying and conclusive character arc.

Wildly unpredictable at times with a multitude of excellent episodes under its belt (and yes even some rather dire ones), the series is never lazy. It continues to bring out new and imaginative monsters without feeling the need to recycle and even when an old monster shows up again, it's not without reason.

Unfortunately trying to watch this series in its original format is made nearly impossible due to a long-standing and extremely strict contract with lead actor Hiroshi Nagano's talent agency, Johnny & Associates. There's a great video on why this happened by Vintage Henshin which you should all watch. It's a real shame that due to this, Tiga has been plagued by a lack of reruns, botched home video releases and even suffering from extreme cuts or outright being skipped due to the use of Nagano's own likeness.

The show's production is essentially flawless, the top-notch suitmation work combined with tight direction, scripts and fantastic musical score by Tatsumi Yano. But it's the use of Take Me Higher for the series' opening and often used to accompany the final battles of the episodes where it really gets your heart pumping, unfortunately, it's another casualty of Johnny & Associates' rules due to the fact that Nagano is a member of the band, V6, who perform the song.

There are so many stand-out episodes from the show it's hard to narrow it down to a list of favourites or best episodes, although I will attempt it:
1. The Ultra Star
2. One Vanishing Moment
3. The One Who Inherits the Shadows
4. Zelda's Point Defences
5. Dear Mr Ultraman
6. Take Me Higher! / Master of Darkness / To the Shining Ones
7. The Released Target
8. Second Contact
9. Resurrected Friend
10. Hana

The series has range and it uses it superbly well, be it introducing the first fully evil Ultra of the franchise with Evil Tiga, a self-indulgent love letter to the founding father of Tsuburaya Productions telling a story of how he met the original Ultraman or a scientist trying to live with the grief of his creation that killed his own daughter. There's a multitude of different styles and genres present in this show, catering to everyone and anyone. Even the more kid-focused stories while being the weaker ones are more than worth a look for some rather decent kid acting and storylines.

Ultraman Tiga on the whole distils everything and anything you could want or need out of an Ultraman show. Pure glowing hope and love in the face of Lovecraftian cosmic evil. No matter how dire the situation, it never relents in its depiction of its titular character as a source of optimism. My love for Tokusatsu as a whole can more than be summed up with my love for this show.

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Arigato, Ultraman

I genuinely couldn't wait for a second longer in viewing this, I've been so excited for its release for so long that when some heroes leaked it to the internet during October I was over the moon, yet equally annoyed due to the fact I was already dedicated to Spooky Season at the time. But finally, my time has come and Shin Ultraman is everything I hoped it would be and more.

As the threat of giant unidentified lifeforms known as "S-Class Species" worsens in Japan and just when the JSDF and SSSP are pushed to the breaking point, a silver giant appears from beyond Earth's atmosphere.

In this house, we do not stand for Shinji Higuchi erasure, dude had just as much input in the creation of this as Hideaki Anno so it feels morally wrong to completely exclude him from any and all credit he deserves. This film is fucking raw and equally gorgeous, with so many shots of note but the scene of "Ultraman" standing amongst the burning ruins of a city goes hard. Also worth noting is that if you only went to see this or Shin Godzilla due to Anno's name, maybe rethink how you are approaching these movies, just saying.

There's a conscious production design decision by the duo to make Shin Ultraman look as if it was in its genesis and absolutely not concerned with reaching the modern "standards" of polished reboot looks is such a refreshing take. Shin Ultraman looks the part of a brilliant piece of tokusatsu media, a fresh reboot for a new generation and a love letter for long-time fans as both Higuchi and Anno are themselves.

Like Shin Godzilla before it, the visual effects are fantastically stylised. There's a clear love for the original designs and a clever little riff on the reuse of the Shin Godzilla CG model if you know your Ultraman. Shirō Sagisu returns as the composer for the second time, beautifully enhancing the original works of Kunio Miyauchi while adding in works left unused from both Shin Godzilla and of course, fucking Evangelion.

There's so much to be said about the overwhelming success of this film, for a time the highest-grossing film of 2022 in Japan alone and currently sitting at the most commercially successful Ultraman film beating out my beloved Superior 8 Ultra Brothers. It stands tall as one of the finest examples of both a reboot and a piece of Ultraman media, although perhaps not as tall as Brave Love Tiga.

The film doesn't really want to spend time with the politics of its predecessor, as Higuchi has stated in interviews "if we just did the same thing, it's kind of pointless". More power to the man, but the film isn't without a small political commentary on the Japanese government and how they would delineate a situation like this.

There's a little commentary on humanity's place in the universe, and whether we've proven ourselves worthy of continuing as a species. This messaging isn't always elegantly executed but, like so much of the film, it's presented with such enthusiastic sincerity that it's hard to resist. The world may sometimes be a terrible, frightening place, but Shin Ultraman argues that a little decency can still go a long way. I fucking love it, roll on Shin Kamen Rider!

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