Ah, finally watched the Darclops (or Darklops?) Zero side stories. Don't know what I expected, exactly. Feel like I could have skipped them, since they don't appear to have much of a story. But of course, not taking any chance of missing something, I would never skip anything. IMHO, the second stage is slightly better than the first one.

( Short version of the plot )

Stage 1: ( Me complaining about too much fight scenes, and some spoilers. )
Stage 2: ( Probably out of sequence and not so accurate details of what happens in this part. Spoilers. )

( I have few questions. Speculations and spoilers. )

After typing both names for numerous times in this entry, I am amused that Rei and Zero are two separate people in the Ultra franchise*. ^_^; And that's not only because rei means zero...

(*Probably would have made a similar comment the last time around too, but I haven't ever gotten around to posting more in details about the Ultra Galaxy movie (since if I did, it would be like saying farewell to Ultraman Mebius -- as far as I know, that is the last movie/special he appears in (and gets some focus, I mean)).)


And unrelated to the rest of this entry, I don't know which Showa Ultraman series I want to watch next, since I like Ultraman 80 (both the series and the character) so much I am afraid other series wouldn't match up. (I probably should have watched the series in chronological order so I'm less likely to be in this type of situation. ^^;)

While I wrote reviews for episodes 41 and 42 before, they were so short so, since I just watched those two episodes, I think I'll add longer comments.

Ultraman Mebius Episode 41: ( Ultraman 80 )

Ultraman Mebius Episode 42: ( Urashima Taro Effect )

Finally re-watched Ultraman Nexus, because I kept seeing a certain actress in other toku and not recognizing her was driving me nuts (seemed like she played against type). I came to the conclusion that she is not the cutest Nexus character, after all. Just that her love relationship is sweet.

Oh, yeah, other than that, some (probably not entirely objective) observations on the series in no particular order. No name is given because names probably mean nothing to those not watching, and if they are familiar with Nexus hopefully they can infer who are being referred to.

( Most likely spoilers but I'll try to not give away too much... )

There might be more, but that's all I can think of at this point.


ETA: I've given up trying to keep Ultraman Mebius spoilers hidden in the comments, so I apologize for the inconvenience.

Wow, so I'm more than two years late (for the first season), but Ultra Galaxy is actually quite enjoyable, once I got a little more familiar with monsters fighting each other without transforming giant hero (well...so far).

Anyway, I breezed through 20 episodes in the past two days (up to episode 7 of NEO), though I don't think I'll continue at that fast a pace for the rest. Not sure if my katakana reading skill has gotten a bit better from reading all those monster cards, but I certainly can't remember much of them. (Only remember those I see often in other series and/or some of the ones in Ultraman Mebius.)

Random bits that might not make sense without watching the series and some other Ultra series (maybe not even then). ( Most likely spoilers for up to what I've seen... )

( Toku guest stars in NEO whom I should recognize as soon as they appear on screen, but didn't. )

EDIT: Well, been looking a bit at Shouta Minami's blog and it seems he's going to appear in Ultraman Stage show in Osaka this June 5th (his entry (dated May 25th) says in around 10 days or so). And as an aside, he seems totally unlike Rei. (Yeah, I tend to think that actors have to be the same as their characters. ^^;;)

Watched Seven X 7 and Mebius 16 back to back so I'll just put them in one post. Besides, I don't seem to have much to say, and what little I can find to write about don't seem too sensible (I'm not even sorry that that I laughed in all inappropriate places for both episodes). Also saw Ultra Galaxy 1 last week, and I seem to be in the minority in not enjoying it much.

( Seven X 7 (spoilers) )

( A few sentences on Ultra Galaxy 1 )

( Mebius 16 (spoilers) )

Well, this post turns out to be so disjointed. I clearly need some sleep.