Let’s Talk: Netflix’s Ultraman

Ultraman! Every child's childhood! Well, most children. I'm definitely part of that group. I remember getting up every Saturday morning ready to watch some cheesy fights between two giant aliens. Ahh, how nostalgic!

But this here is not that! No, this is actually a sequel that takes place years after the original and stars the son of the original human host of Ultraman. Since it takes place years into the future, we're not looking at oversized aliens beating each other down because come on, that's so 90s. We're looking at human sized aliens being beaten by super powered humans in high-tech exoskeleton suits. Yes, this is Japan's answer to Ironman...with a sprinkling of Spider-Man.

The series runs for 13 episodes and adapts from the manga of the same name. I've read the manga since and I can say that while they've changed some aspects of it, most remain the same and the overall story arc retains the same theme. You might want to check out both the anime and manga just to get the differences but it's not required in my opinion.

The animation for the anime is flippin' astounding and goes to show how fast technology is evolving in terms of these sorts of 3D animations. I usually hate when animes use this and when I was young, watching my favourite cartoons shift to 3D animations was appalling. It felt so weird and unlike any video game I've ever played. However this time around, I really thought it suited the series and remain convinced that this is how they should proceed with the series. Surprising ain't it? Never imagined it would work so well in this day and age.

Complimenting that is the music for the series which is probably one of the most epic ones I've heard in anime recently. It was bleeding the essence of a superhero which again pandered towards its Western-style approach to the Ultraman mythos. The main theme was filled with trumpets and horns which are usually used to sound out iconic heroes like Superman or Spider-Man. They used that track abundantly but with good reason and I just can't get enough of it. When Seven came on screen and his theme played? How about the ending track? I just couldn't get enough of it.

Now the story is definitely a character driven one, at least for this season. It's entire premise lies on the growth of the main character into his persona of Ultraman and the payoff for that serves to also support the growth of one of the secondary characters in the season. It worked relatively well and they did a good job fitting as much as they did into just 13 episodes. Nothing felt padded on as everything, including the insanely cool fight scenes, served to push the characters forward through their development.

The only negative that might arise is that some might not like how similar it is to Western superheroes in terms of narrative progression. I don't mind it since I'm an avid fan of the superhero genre. I also feel that it brings a unique approach to an already saturated genre simply because it can be more than just the typical hero from the West.

Overall, I highly recommend checking this show out if you already have Netflix and you're looking for good exclusive to watch. I've had a lot of people shun it simply because they assume it's meant for children. Don't be that person.

Also, it has lots of limb chopping and beheadings and blood. It is NOT meant for children.