Why you should start watching Ultraman X
The 27th entry into the Ultraman franchise is 7 episodes in and off to a promising start. New episodes comes out every Tuesday at 3:30am on Crunchyroll.
Synopsis (From Crunchyroll):
As Ultra Flares from the sun blanket the Earth, Spark Dolls that had been hidden underground and in the sea are turned into monsters. In order to deal with the sudden outbreak of invading aliens, humanity arms itself with machines of super science and forms the defensive team Xio. 15 years later… A member of Xio, Oozora Daichi, hears a mysterious voice while in combat against a monster. “Unite…” Just as Daichi is on the verge of being obliterated by the creature, he finds himself bathed in a radiant light.
This is the first Ultraman series that I have watched subbed English. I only ever caught glimpses of the show as a kid on the international channel early in the morning, but as a Power Rangers obsessed kid watching a giant punch a monster made me wish I knew what was going on.
Here are a few reasons on why I think you should be watching Ultraman X:
The Kaiju look absolutely great and become very familiar. I am a fan of the way the monster suits look and how the they destroy buildings and breathe fire. The use of practical effects is one of the reasons why I watch toku. I want to see suit actors wrestle each other and push each other into set buildings that explode and crumble under their feet. I can always go watch CGI monsters on Supernatural. Well maybe not, I don’t watch Supernatural.
There’s some romantic tension between Asuna and Daichi, but that’s completely unavoidable. It doesn’t make me roll my eyes and at the same time it doesn’t make me want them to get together so badly that I’m yelling at the screen for them to just kiss, like Jim and Pam from The Office. Instead it has me thinking “Well if you two weren’t too busy saving the world and putting your lives in danger, I’d like to see Daichi and Asuna to to go out for some frozen yogurt.”
Sayuri and Shotaro are convincing as commanders doing their best suited to lead a team to protect all of humanity. These two have a lot of weight on their shoulders, but are they willing to sacrifice the life of alien beings for to benefit all of humanity? Or are will they cross the line to sacrifice humans lives for science? Those moral questions are always fun right?
One of my favorite moments so far is when Asuna wears heels while on a stakeout mission and it turns out she should have worn different shoes.
I’ve saved Dr. Guruman for last. An alien contributor of inventions and modifications for Xio. He’s that character that makes you ask, “Is this funny looking alien a genius or an idiot?” You can catch him eating lots of food and sleeping afterwards or coming up with new tech to beat the kaiju with and save the world.
Overall, the show satisfies my need to be entertained in ways that are different from Kamen Rider and Super Sentai and makes a nice addition to my weekly toku rotation.
Ultraman X may push the toys harder than any other show I’ve watched in recent memory, but it is hard to say anything bad about it because I can imagine myself watching the show as a kid yelling “Unite!” with an Ultraman X action figure in my hand. Something I might actually be doing in the near future.
A recap episode is the next episode to air and will be available to stream on Crunchyroll so you have the choice to binge watch 7 episodes this weekend or to start with episode 7.5.
Feel free to recommend me your favorite Ultraman series and I’ll add it to my ever growing queue of toku to watch.
