As 40th anniversary and quite possible final hurrah for Ultraman, the movies were looking to be this big send off for the entire franchise, first was a celebration for Showa seeing almost every ultraman up through Taro reprising there roles... except Taro, and then of course there was the 90's trilogy, Tiga, Dyna and Gaia represented the rebirth for the franchise, well specifically Tiga and Gaia... ummmm, Dyna does have its moments (Haven't watched latter two shows maybe will have an opinion later.
ULTRAMAN MEBIUS & THE ULTRA BROTHERS
20 years before the series, Ultraman, Ultraseven, Jack, Ace, and Taro are fighting against a returning Yapool who has become his most powerful creation U-Killersaurus. Ultimately they are unable to defeat the creature and use there powers to seal it at the bottom of the ocean, giving up there abilitiy to become Ultraman as they take up jobs in the Kobe region of japan. Back in the present, Mirai is sent to the Kobe region on an investagtion meeting oceanographer Aya Jinguji and her younger brother who is not fond of GUYS or Ultraman for reasons relating to the past. But that becomes a smaller problem, as a coalition of aliens known as... the alien union have come to free Yapool as the other ultra's realize they are now targets to undo the seal.
Yeah let's get the obvious one out of they way, the kid sucks, that annoying kid that they have to cheer up and he gets an arc to be more optimistic, which yes he went through a situation that for a kid is traumatizing, but the thing is it is so overdone in the I hate you because you weren't there for me.
I also bring it up first because... yeah this movie is not that good... I don't think it is terrible, getting the showa actor's back is cool and seeing what they are getting up to since giving up there powers, but this movie's big issue is, it really feels like an episode stretched out to be a movie. Like maybe it was an episode to introduced Yapool into the main show as like a midpoint finale with him coming back later.
But something else the film sorely lacks from the film is the feeling of camaraderie, Mebius has one of the best ensemble's in the franchise's history, especially its main duo of Ryo and Mirai, but Mirai spends most of the film separated and having to spend it with the kid and his sister who... exists as well, like another possible love interest that doesn't go anywhere in either.
That's kind of issue here, it feels like an episode of Mebius, without the things that made the show truly great put to the side, the villains plan isn't too intersting and its finale while nice seeing all of these Ultra's together, really doesn't feel as epic as it should, and sure the credis showing the past and the celebration can be heartwarming. But at the end of the day, the first movie is boring, and that can be the worst thing for a movie.
SUPERIOR ULTRA 8 BROTHERS
In the mid-60's, Daigo Madoka, Shin Asuka and Gamu Takayama were the best of friends, hanging out wherever they went and became fans after watching the first episode of Ultraman, the trio discusses there dreams for the future with a mysterious girl. 30 years later, those dreams are on the backburner as they all live boring adult lives and have kind of drifted apart, but Daigo begins to have strange visions and the appearence of Kaiju will lead him back to his dreams and the truth of who he is.
While Mebius does feature into the movie, he more is a side character here, giving the focus more to the Neo-Frontier trio as the main stars, though it is more Daigo's movie, since he is primarily there on the frontlines of all the things happening in the city. Though it is kind of confusing, are these the original ultras who take on there human persona's or hosts. It is implied but not really stated fully which I think is fine, sometimes answers are not really needed.
And honestly, as a film and by extension sendoff for Hiroshi Nagano as Daigo, Ultra 8 brothers is really good. One of the way I think it helps is that obviously unlike the previous movie, not being attached to a show means that there isn't anything to compare to it, while the main focus is alternate versions of Diago, Asuka and Gemu, they are mostly taking the base personalities to explore what is effectively continuing to pursue your dream even when things get hard.
Everyone goes through a point where they think its time to grow up and be more realistic, whether because of failures or life getting in the way, and we see our main trio as while okay adults, ultimately are miserable having seemingly given up because off failures, Something can resonate regardless of age and can give the film deeper meaning beyond, hey ultra's fighting monsters, and the actors really sell it from how they act, I believe them as friends who fell apart as they grew up and forgot there dreams.
The film could easily have just retreaded many elements of the previous film, one thing was originally that Yapool was going to be the main villain again, before it was changed to an actually a follow up in Hipporit, and serves as a solid villain throughout the film sending out the monsters, until the villains are revealed to be this black silhouettes, amalgamations of negative emotions that prey on humans negative emotions. Kind of going back to how final this whole era felt in that it was going to be, like everything negative about human and drawing it out and bringing up how the ultra's will always be around to fight them and humans believe in being good, its corny and narmy but it feels in line with the franchise. The ending can be a bit confusing as it shows Daigo and the rest of the ultra hosts/ultra's and there significant others heading for the m78 galaxy. Like is it the Ultra's heading home or is it these versions checking reuniting, its a lot but I don't think it gets in the way of the film is really good, as a celebration of everything Ultra, it makes up for the previous film by feeling like a celebration of everything the franchise is known for and a send-off to some of these characters, well Daigo since he never returned but still if this was the end for the universe... this would be a great end.
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