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Ok, Since this is my first review i will try my best to give critical thoughts on the series but at the same time considering the time when this came out (1979) i will not be that judgemental towards the animation and art Story:(7/10) In my humble opinion ,the story could have been way more deeper, i really loved some of the concepts of Ultraman ,the Ultra-mind and U-40 planet, i wished we had got more history from their planet side , i also wished that we got more story from elec and roto's perspective , they seem to only appear when it is convenient ,theycould have explored more on Ultraman's powers, in detail, the drama could have been extended a bit more , Ultraman being in every episode shouldn't have been a necessary thing, the Ultraman fights are really repetitive and predictable to the point that at times i feel like skipping them, the way how the scenes changes from one location to another ,without any buildup can feel a bit dragged at times, the story structure is really great but fails on the execution , at best it is sub par. The kaiju's designs are really basic or uninteresting and whenever they appear on screen it feels like filler. The slice of life moments that are sprinkled throughout the series are really refreshing and they make up for the boring fights
in almost the entirety of the series the formula is the same , A new situation arises, the science defence force gets news on it ,90% of the time its about a kaiju attacking a city, defence force comes to the rescue , they are not able to defeat the kaiju by themselves Hikari transforms into Ultraman "Ultra-change" At first ultraman is unable to defeat the kaiju, then his green meter turns to red "reason: on earth his energy reduces quicker" ultraman suddenly becomes stronger , defeats the monster with any of his iconic attacks "Really cool attacks" he flies away , marume questions where is hikari when he is needed ? they have a small talk and the episode ends, because of this repetitive formula i had plans to drop it muliple times in the series
But then comes the unexpected episodes out of nowhere that adds more depth to the story that was needed .The last 4 to 5 episodes (absolutely amazing and spectacular)for the first time in the series i actually felt the tension, the effect of it was shown in episode 49 ,that cliffhanger was something i did not feel the entire series , it was all thanks to the buildup of the repetitive formula of the series that something so unexpected and heart wrenching happens that makes me lose my myself ,eagerly waiting to watch the final episode.
overall for story 7/10
ep 1 to 20 6/10,ep 21-30 7/10, ep 31-45 6/10, ep 46-50 9/10
Art:(5/10)really mid , not a fan of of the art, the character designs are generic , the monsters look uninteresting and stupid at times ,the background art is lame, you can easily fall asleep whenever the monsters fight with Ultraman, Aside from Ultraman the rest of the creatures are badly designed , it is like a bunch of 5 year old students are asked to come up with dinosaurs
Sound:(9/10)The opening is a banger, the ending is also memorable, the soundtrack is used at the right place and at the right time effectively ,the emotional osts are also really effective, simply great
Characters:(8/10)
Hikari /Ultraman User :Hikari is a generic hero who does his job perfectly ,his character arc has been concluded almost perfectly ,i thought his arc would have been ruined in the last episode but some how this character stuck the landing
Marume: Really fun character, his character has been the most used among the entire cast ,he does have annoying moments ,but there are other times where you feel sorry for this guy
Tobe: Underused character, aside from his scientific knowledge and good leadership skills we do not get much slice of life moments from him
The pig and the monkey: Annoying ones ,but bearable, they do get development but honestly only kids will find it entertaining
Mutsume: This girl is honestly really loving, caring and to the point unlike marume, her development is throughout the series , but towards the end it kind of faints .her relationship with hikari should have been explored more deeper.
Elec , Roto: Epic characters for doing almost nothing other than do their cool stuff
Amia: the only female character that gets way more development than any other character i have ever seen in the show, honestly she is hot and a heartwarming person, her relationship with hikari is way more developed than mutsumi's
the rest of the cast are quite decent
Enjoyment:(7/10)aside from the kaiju fights and terrible cutscenes ,i really enjoyed it , especially towards the end of the story
