Friday, March 24, 2023

The * Ultraman

In 1979, Tsuburaya Pros made an Ultraman cartoon.

This Ultraman comes from U40.  His name is Jonias, and he joins with Choichiro Hikari to battle a sudden influx of monsters and aliens on the planet Earth.    Hikari accepts this destiny, and battles these menaces alongside the Science Defense Squad.. He changes to Ultraman when needed.  Eventually, he travels to U40 and meets more of those Ultras, who are very friendly and powerful.  This is where Hikari learns of Ultraman's actual name.  Once he comes back, more Ultras come to visit Earth, especially when renegade members of their race menace the galaxy.  They are called the Heller.  Once these villains are defeated, Joe and Hikari split apart.  With peace established, Joe and his sister tour the Earth.

This was the one show that was hard to see over here, and yet wasn't.  Two home video movies had been released, each one consisting of four episodes dubbed in English.  It is the first four and the last four episodes that make these two "movies" up.  The entire series has been released on DVD with mostly good English subtitles for a very nice price.

It is a fun show, and animation lets Ultraman to fight a much wider variety of foes.  I wish more care had been taken with the subs.

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