Today is officially Ultraman Day in Japan. This year is Ultraman's 55th anniversary. I've been a long-time Ultraman fan since I first watched the English dubbed 1966 series on TV in the 80's. From a very young age, Japanese Tokusatsu and Daikaiju films and series caught my attention. I've always loved monsters and monster movies, but the goofy, unusual kaiju from Japan were always my favorites. It wasn't until years later that I realized that Japan never stopped making Ultraman shows, and I became familiar with the rest of the 60's, 70's and beyond series, and began to regularly seek out and watch various series such as Ultraseven, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Leo, Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Max, Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman Z, etc. I own a bunch of Ultraman merchandise, including action figures, DVD's, t-shirts, various collectibles, and I even have a few tattoos. The first episode of Ultraman Trigger has just premiered on YouTube's Ultraman channel, so I plan on watching it later today. In honor of 55 years of Ultraman, here is a stop motion I did. Happy Ultraman Day, and happy 55 years!
Episode 25, the series finale of Ultraman Omega aired this Friday. From the very first episode I was hooked, and the series continued to maintain a high quality until the surprisingly emotional end. Sorato (Omega) regained all his memories, learning that he was one of many Space Gazers, who's job is to watch a planet and not interfere with any wars between the species (in Earth's case, humans and kaiju). A space Gazer's job is to observe, study and take notes, to learn from a planet's successes and mistakes, in the hopes of finding the right formula to achieve universal peace. Having returned to his previous role as simply a watcher, Kosei, Ayumu and Sayuki were forced to rely on themselves and their team to defeat the powerful kaiju Zomera. As he continued to watch the battle, Sorato/Omega found himself wrestling with the inactive role he was meant to do and his memories of the friendships he had forged with the others, as well as the examples of human kindness he had ...

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