Shin Ultraman General Discussion (spoilers!)

[Voyager]

I need my Shin Ultraseven and King Joe, stat!

[king_ghidorah]

They used the original Ultraman Jack suit and face as the basis for Zoffy in this film. They literally scanned Jack’s original face.

My thinking is that a sequel would have Zoffy return to earth to stop some sort of invasion (Baltan), after having been inspired by Ultraman’s sacrifice and connection with humanity.

[Cryptid_Liker]

They used the original Ultraman Jack suit and face as the basis for Zoffy in this film. They literally scanned Jack’s original face.

My thinking is that a sequel would have Zoffy return to earth to stop some sort of invasion (Baltan), after having been inspired by Ultraman’s sacrifice and connection with humanity.

That makes sense, actually. Would explain the extra stripes.

[Godzillaninja2019]

Any words about a US release date for shin ultraman in theaters or streaming

[Cryptid_Liker]

Any words about a US release date for shin ultraman in theaters or streaming

No date but the release is confirmed to be happening. I'm guessing some time around October or November, considering that they already had good subs for the festival screenings.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Abso-damn-lutely LOVED it. I was extremely iffy going into it knowing the details and designs, but seeing them in actual motion and it all coming together, I loved it. It truly feels like a string of episodes back to back. I love the new Mepilas and Zarab, and the fights were top notch. I do think some of the CGI looked rather... bad... But when it looks good, man does it look good. I LOVE the vs. Imitation/Zarab fight.

[Marciosss]

I love it, but i will change one thing. Between Zarab and Mefilas should be segment with normal kaiju, for some slow down of peace. You know, one alien cheated us just now, then appers next, whats we do? Let's make buisness with him too!

[king_ghidorah]

I loved it. I wish the effects were a tiny bit better and that we got some more time with the cast but for what it was, I had a blast

[LegendZilla]

From what I here, this movie's a bit to episodic in nature for some people's liking.

[Cryptid_Liker]

From what I here, this movie's a bit to episodic in nature for some people's liking.

I do feel like a bit more of a connection between the first and second half could've helped but I quite liked how it turned out.

[shadowgigan]

Saw it last night, was my first introduction to Ultraman. I enjoyed it. At times the effects were great, at times they were a little iffy. All in all a fun film, but not sure if it really makes me want to dive deeper into the Ultra universe. I did enjoy the kaiju and the first alien, Zarab. I LOVED Zarab's design with him in the tophat. I felt the film was at it's best in the first two thirds of the film.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Saw it last night, was my first introduction to Ultraman. I enjoyed it. At times the effects were great, at times they were a little iffy. All in all a fun film, but not sure if it really makes me want to dive deeper into the Ultra universe. I did enjoy the kaiju and the first alien, Zarab. I LOVED Zarab's design with him in the tophat. I felt the film was at it's best in the first two thirds of the film.

I'm curious what non-Ultra fans will think, so thanks for the input. Basically, a lot of it is a love letter and redoing individual episodes and concepts. IE: Zarab does something similar in his TV episode where he impersonates and creates a fake Ultraman. Neronga and Gabora essentially do the same things as well. However, it's updated in such a great way.

[LegendZilla]

Are we allowed to speculate as to what could happen in a hypothetical sequel to this movie?

[Cryptid_Liker]

Are we allowed to speculate as to what could happen in a hypothetical sequel to this movie?

I don't see why not.

[LegendZilla]

Are we allowed to speculate as to what could happen in a hypothetical sequel to this movie?

I don't see why not.

Seeing as Zetton got

Spoiler:

re-imagined as a giant spaceship

this time around, maybe in the final battle of the sequel (Assuming it serves as a retelling of RoU), we will get formally introduced to the actual Kaiju Zetton.

[shadowgigan]

I have to say, I really enjoyed the final battle against Zetton. The music was incredible! It felt anime-Essie, which I also enjoyed. Also reminded me a lot of Showa era effects. Even though the effects are rough around the edges in some ways, I think that adds to the charm.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I have to say, I really enjoyed the final battle against Zetton. The music was incredible! It felt anime-Essie, which I also enjoyed. Also reminded me a lot of Showa era effects. Even though the effects are rough around the edges in some ways, I think that adds to the charm.

It's a little slightly too one sided for my liking (but isn't that the point?), but yes I agree. For a fight that is pretty much just firing beams, it manages to capture a very hectic energy, remicient of an actual physical fight, where things are continually moving and shifting around.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I watched this with English subtitles last night, finally, and I really enjoyed it. I'm glad about pretty much understanding the majority of the plot and what was going on, sans a few moments and motivations. I have some minor complaints about "Japan being a vassal state", sort of similar to Shin, but I really liked how that tied into a greater plot about Aliens giving Japan (and humanity as a whole) strong weapons that they couldn't control/further conflict. It's certainly unique for a Kaiju film, and it does also remind me of the same ethos of the 60's series, which while campy a lot of the times, could be thought provoking and commentate on weapons proliferation.

I also liked the gradual escalation and transition from monsters to aliens. We go from:
Neronga, who will eat all the electricity in Japan
To Gabora, who will cause a nuclear disaster that will wipe out all of Japan.
To Zarab, who wants to turn countries against each other so he can rule it.
To Meflias, who wants to "protect" humanity, by using them all as bio-weapons, which may eventually turn humanity/all aliens against each other and spark an all out war.

The whole thing was really well-done, and I like how despite how episodic it all was, it fit together into a big story arc that ended in a very satisfactory way. The only funny thing upon rewatch is I noticed how sort of pointless most of the action is. It's fantastic, and well done, but I sort of realized it's not the main focus. That's actually how many of the original Ultraman episodes are. Sure there's always a monster fight, but most of the time it's the SSSP trying to solve a problem, and the Ultraman fights were generally always shorter than the Godzilla series, at least at that time. I still think it managed to capture the series well.

I'd say overall, after a watch with subs and getting the full picture, it's not as good as Shin, but it's certainly still very high up there in the Kaiju genre. Like maybe 80% of Shin.

[DirektorSplennic]

Just watched it with my Dad, who introduced me to Ultraman years ago since he watched it as a kid. He absolutely loved things like the original title sequence and music being used, as well as how the effects were made to resemble old Tokusatsu effects like whenever Ultraman is flying and he looks like a static prop.

Overall I really enjoyed it, I loved all of the new designs for the kaiju and aliens, and the plot was very interesting, feeling like the original series but with key aspects being turned on their head. I think making Zoffy the villain was very cool, along with the Ultraman host being completely opposite to the original Hayata character. Zoffy being this god-like judge tasked with eliminating humanity caught me off guard, but was a great way to twist the Land of Light. One of my favorite scenes is during the beam clash and Mefilas catches a glimpse of Zoffy and realizes shit was about to hit the fan. It took some getting used to but I like the approach that the main character is Ultraman himself in the body of the human he killed, rather than Hayata who is merged with Ultraman after the initial accident but retains his own personality.

One complaint I had was that the movie goes WAY too fast and is a little harder to follow. Shin Godzilla I feel had a great pace that was still quick, but this movie felt pretty rushed. I get its more episodic, but all the events and monsters being squeezed in a less than two hour runtime I feel was a slight detriment. Stuff like the "scent" scene didn't really make any sense to me.

Mefilas was absolutely my favorite character, I love the scenes where he's explaining his plans to Ultraman, though I wish we got more time exploring Mefilas' motives. His personality was awesome. The bio weapon thing was a little unclear to me, though I might just need to re-watch it.

I'm happy it was worth the wait, and I'm excited to watch it again in theaters dubbed. I'm hoping the things I didn't understand will be a little clearer my second watch.

Oh and Ultraman getting sucked into the Zetton black hole will never not be funny.

[AllosaurHell]

Zoffy as the bringer of the End of Days is a thing I never would have expected to see in my 21 year long existence.