Should Ultra-series feature attack teams?

[ray243]

With the success of Z, and with the storytelling opportunities given by the attack team, should we come to expect attack teams as a given in future Ultra-series? I've always considered attack teams a key part of what makes Ultraman great as a series, and how it differentiate it from other Toku series.

Attack teams makes the Ultra-series feel closer to Godzilla movies than other Toku movies, because the attack teams usually have to deal with civilian-attack team interaction, as well as dealing with political and military influence from the higher ups. It makes the series feels more realistic in a way, by having human drama as a core focus of the show.

I dislike most of the new gen Ultra-series because they lacked an attack team that can make the world-building feel more alive. It stops you from asking questions like "what is the government doing about the monster attacks", because we are actually seeing the official government response to monster attacks on a daily basis.

[Angilasman]

To me, the defense teams are a key component to what makes Ultraman Ultraman. I always miss them when they aren't there, and, honestly, I would watch a show that's just a defense team fighting monsters (often Ultraseven is almost that).

Love the OG Science Patrol (especially Ide and Cap), love how MAT is always about to have its funding cut and/or threatening Hideki Go with expulsion, and love the expansive organization with specialist sub-teams in Ultraman Gaia!

And I love STORAGE!

[daveblackeye15]

Hm I dunno...honestly with so many shows having attack teams I'm totally okay when shows skip them. I mean each cast in Showa: attack team. Each team in Heisei: attack team, well okay there is Cosmos' EYES team. I like that the New Generation tried doing different stuff. Love that Orb has the Something Search People Team. Geed has basically the Men In Black but they're aliens and overall Geed has my favorite cast. R/B: Okay...not the best show I admit but I like the idea of brothers being Ultras and the strong family theme. I thought I heard Taiga had a team for hunting monsters?
But I do really like STORAGE because not only because of the robots but because after several years we're back to an attack team so it feels doubly special.

Some say the attack team is essential but I say...over-used which I know is heresy.
I wouldn't mind an Ultra show where we go back to the Science Patrol, more like a public service that investigates stuff but they can shoot too.

[Mac Daddy MM]

I like when the teams are presented as MORE than just a few man team and actually a much larger organization/branch of the military. The Heisei era did this very well with GUTS. Even as a kid, I could never understand why the Science Patrol needed such a large HQ for just five people. Who the hell even cleans it? There's nobody else there, not even janitors. When the show's budget doesn't allow for such a large group, I think Orb did it the best. Have them there, just not the human focal point. We know of their existence, know what they do and even see one of the commanding officers on a regular basis (being related to one of the main characters), but we're never taken out of the show by having us at this high school class room decked out with cheap looking tech and only six people working there.

Z's team is probably the best anti-kaiju force the series has had since Mebius.

[ray243]

Hm I dunno...honestly with so many shows having attack teams I'm totally okay when shows skip them. I mean each cast in Showa: attack team. Each team in Heisei: attack team, well okay there is Cosmos' EYES team. I like that the New Generation tried doing different stuff. Love that Orb has the Something Search People Team. Geed has basically the Men In Black but they're aliens and overall Geed has my favorite cast. R/B: Okay...not the best show I admit but I like the idea of brothers being Ultras and the strong family theme. I thought I heard Taiga had a team for hunting monsters?
But I do really like STORAGE because not only because of the robots but because after several years we're back to an attack team so it feels doubly special.

Some say the attack team is essential but I say...over-used which I know is heresy.
I wouldn't mind an Ultra show where we go back to the Science Patrol, more like a public service that investigates stuff but they can shoot too.

Personally, I disliked the vast majority of the new gen shows because there is no attack team. The world-building just feel fakes to me without an official attack team. Monsters and giants are fighting in the middle of the city! Where is the official government response? Do the government even care about the giant monster in the middle of the city? It makes it feel too much like an Sentai or Kamen Rider show, which is fine on their own, but they are not Ultraman.

Ultraman is always more interesting to me than Sentai or KR, because the attack team makes the whole setting more interesting We get to see how the rest of humanity reacts to giant monsters besides running away from it all the time. It shows that humanity is not entirely reliant on Superheroes all the time, and they can try and muster a fight if need be.

Z showing us that the attack team suffers from limited budget due to all the city destruction and reconstruction cost makes the world feels fun and a little bit more plausible. Humanity itself is part of the story, not just the Ultraman.

I like when the teams are presented as MORE than just a few man team and actually a much larger organization/branch of the military. The Heisei era did this very well with GUTS. Even as a kid, I could never understand why the Science Patrol needed such a large HQ for just five people. Who the hell even cleans it? There's nobody else there, not even janitors. When the show's budget doesn't allow for such a large group, I think Orb did it the best. Have them there, just not the human focal point. We know of their existence, know what they do and even see one of the commanding officers on a regular basis (being related to one of the main characters), but we're never taken out of the show by having us at this high school class room decked out with cheap looking tech and only six people working there.

Z's team is probably the best anti-kaiju force the series has had since Mebius.

Some of the best stories for Tiga is that the GUTS team members actually have an interesting back-story, or interesting story about them. Hoshi having his own arc about his romance life is fascinating, because it shows people aside from the main protagonist can have relationships of their own. Iruma life as a single mother and as the busy leader of the attack teams adds drama to her life. It shows that they are interesting characters on their own.

And GUTS being part of TPC, and organisation with different people and agenda makes the storytelling so much fun to watch. Different parts of TPC have their own response and attitudes towards Ultraman. Some see it as an ally, some see it merely as a tool or a weapon, or even an enemy.

Z having the attack team be disbanded and taken over by another organisations makes it extremely engaging, as it creates human interpersonal conflict, as opposed to mere Ultraman-centred conflict.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

I echo much of what everyone in the threads has said, and yeah I have to agree that attack teams are what helps Ultraman stand out with the franchise's human conflicts. Z for instance, showed this even with a smaller team.
Although, I don't mind having some shows without. I understand why we haven't had any the past couple years due to budget and pleasing the bigger parent company, yet maybe breaking it up with the yearly shows can. Like one year a show has an attack team, then the next show does not.

[Angilasman]

I hope Z's success has shown Tsuburaya that the defense team is really the secret sauce that makes the franchise work.

[daveblackeye15]

I hope Z's success has shown Tsuburaya that the defense team is really the secret sauce that makes the franchise work.

I know replying to a comment from two years ago or so. I got to say with Trigger almost finished I'd say GUTS Select is very...mixed at best. I'd rather have no attack teams than an attack team that is kinda there at best. I mean two members have the gimmick of 'I'm shouting guy and strong!' and 'I'm stoic woman but when I pilot Little Falcon I turn into a five year old!'

[Mac Daddy MM]

I hope Z's success has shown Tsuburaya that the defense team is really the secret sauce that makes the franchise work.

I know replying to a comment from two years ago or so. I got to say with Trigger almost finished I'd say GUTS Select is very...mixed at best. I'd rather have no attack teams than an attack team that is kinda there at best. I mean two members have the gimmick of 'I'm shouting guy and strong!' and 'I'm stoic woman but when I pilot Little Falcon I turn into a five year old!'

The problem with GUTS Select is the fact that EVERYONE in it, except for the Captain (usually) is outright god awful and annoying.

[daveblackeye15]

The captain is magnificently handsome. I do like the main trio but yeah strong guy and pilot woman and Not-Pega are pretty bad.
Bring back STORAGE please!

[Angilasman]

Seems like Taguchi in his series is the one who knows how to make the defense team work.

For instance: I didn't think much if the team in Ginga S, but then you hit that 2-parter Taguchi directed that focuses on the team and it all clicks. In retrospect, that was almost a pilot for the shows he would be the showrunner on.

[LegendZilla]

I think they should try giving a monster-attack team a female leader again like Tiga's Iruma.