Ultraman Z

Tsuburaya's newest series in the long running Ultraman franchise is Ultraman Z. I've watched the first 12 episodes and I can say that I really like it, almost immediately from the first few minutes. 

At the opening of the first episode, Ultraman Zero and his disciple (Ultraman Z) are battling a monster named Genegarg in space. Ultraman Zero gets sucked into a black hole, but not before he gives Z 3 ultra crystals and a transformation device known as the Z Riser and tells him to follow the monster to Earth. While there, Z bonds with STORAGE member Haruki Natsukawa during the fight against Genegarg and Haruki becomes the human host of Ultraman Z. Together, they defeat the space shark, but soon enough, various other monsters appear, including a mysterious being that's using devil splinters recovered from the kaiju to create more monsters and spread chaos throughout the city.

STORAGE (Special Tactical Operations Regimental Airborne and Ground Equipment) is the Earth team assigned to combat monster attacks with the use of their special robot Sevengar. The team consists of captain Shota Hebikura (who's later revealed to be the alter ego of Jugglus Juggler), Haruki the main character, pilot Yoko Nakashima, lead scientist Yuka Ohta, maintenance lead Kojiro Inaba and director Kuriyama. I found the cast immediately likeable, they each have their own personality quirks that make them unique. Actor Kohshu Hirano as Haruki does a great job as the lead, as does the rest of the cast with their characters. I like that Haruki isn't portrayed as an arrogant hothead (something we've seen before in other shows). He's just a regular guy who does his best in situations he's thrust in. It's only been 12 episodes in, but he's already shown a lot of depth, especially in the last two, where its revealed that his father died while trying to get people to safety during a monster attack. I also really like Yuka. She's both funny, cute and a tad bit creepy, getting way too excited over dismembering kaiju for their parts and anatomy. The reveal of captain Hebikura as Juggler wasn't that big of a surprise, considering he's played by the same actor. Still, he's a lot of fun and I like seeing him occassionally transform into Juggler to aid in the battle. Like I said, the entire cast is exceptional and make their characters stand out individually.

Ultraman Z has several different forms. His original, which is a simple blue and grey pattern, Alpha Edge, which is blue, red and resembles Ultraman Zero, Beta Smash which is mostly red and is my personal favorite, and Gamma Future which has a lot of gold and looks like Orb Spacium Zeperion. He uses various collected Ultra coins to change forms. I like that this show took the time to explain that when Haruki is in Ultra form, switching coins for various power ups, he's in a different dimension where time doesn't work like it does on Earth. In past shows, one of my biggest pet peeves were that the human hosts would be doing all these moves to change form or draw upon some power, and I always wondered why the enemy monster didn't just attack during those several minutes of inactivity, so this explanation finally makes sense. I also enjoy the internal dialogue between Haruki and Z. At times it's very humorous. 

As for the kaiju, its been nice to see various older kaiju return, such as Gomess, Pegila, and Sevengar. The monster fights are a lot of fun and well filmed. During Pegila's attack, there was one scene in particular where he's shooting frost breath and freezing everything in sight, and at one point you see a POV shot of a car being hit, flying up in the sky and then crashing back down, all through the view of it's windshield. Alien Barossa was also a standout. Very goofy but having the creepy ability to hypnotize his victims and then use their bodies to do his talking. And the robot Sevengar is so much fun, his eyes suddenly changing to mean when he's ready to rumble and kick kaiju butt.

I'm really enjoying Ultraman Z thus far. It's a good mix of the newer generation Ultra shows and some of the classic Showa series. The plots are well written, the characters are enjoyable and memorable, the special effect work is great, including the miniature cityscapes, the kaiju are fun and there is a lot of heart in this series. I even like both theme songs that play over the opening and closing credits. S.H. Figuarts have already announced a figure of the Alpha Edge form, which I initially didn't care much for, but is starting to grow on me. I really hope they release a Beta Smash figure, as I really like that form. Sevengar and Genegarg would be really awesome as well. Ultraman Z has turned out to be a fun and enjoyable show from the start, and I hope the momentum keeps up. I can't wait to see what's in store for these very likeable characters.