2016 marked the 50th anniversary of the first Ultraman appearing on Japanese television. It also was 20th anniversary of Ultraman Tiga. While the original and Tiga would be used for the inital form of the then upcoming series of Orb that Summer. Ultraman X still had one last piece of media for its story. The spring Movie.
Xio and by extension the planet has been in peace following the defeat of Greeza. Peace that is sadly disturbed by the greed of humanity, or specifically one human. Celebrity Adventurer who steals a blue stone from the Baraji Ruins despite warnings from Xio and the local archeologist. Awakening the Devil Beast Zaigorg trounces Daichi and X in their strongest form and leaves the two incapable of uniting. Now theg roup is faced with their biggest crisis.
Let's get the big thing about the movie out of the way, Their is something almost anti-climatic about the movie. considering how the show ended. With a fight against the monster responsible for most of the series events and X's arch nemesis. Yeah, their was one thing the show didn't resolve, that being that X was still just data and didn't have his body back. It was a possible follow-up that could happen either later or still done in this movie.
The Devil
That being said, Our Ultraman is good. It plot is a bit paint by numbers. Great evil sealed long ago by ultramen, including an alternate version Tiga. And yeah Zaigorg isn't the most interesting villain. Just a sadistic monster that doesn't talk and screams. the more interesting thing about him is his look as this amalgamation of ultraman kaiju's and man is that a gorrgeous creature design. In fact that continues to be the best part, the look of the film is pheominal. With a final fight taking place at night, allowing the light-up parts to shine throughout to give it a unique feel to it.
Also I like that X is more open to interact with the Xio team. We got snippets of his sort of older brother light hearted personality in the show but without a concern for secrets it is nice to have this going on for the film. And we are shown Xio doing the best they can without X as he is out of commission. Its nice way of showing that they are still a force to be reckon with even without him. He is still needed to be their to save the day.
Of course one of the big draws as an anniversary is the return of the original Ultraman and Ultraman Tiga. While they only appear for the climax and are just grunts. I feel that they are handeled well, treated with respect and reverance for each of them while not taking away from X himself, this is still his movie. Also a side note even though they didn't get the original actor, I liked the casting of Takami Yoshimoto as Tsukasa Tamaki both as a connection to the past and a returning actor from Tiga. both her and the child actor do good jobs, I know child actors can be a pain but it is nice that it isn't the most annoying thing ever.
Showa and Heisei, fighting together... take notes Rider.
X's movie may not be the true climax. But as an epilogue story it works really well. The interactions are great, the elements regarding Tiga and the original Ultraman are well done. It looks absolutely gorgeous. If it fumbles in any way its the useage of the cyber cards, aside from the final armor they are mostly absent, it was a problem in the show but it feels more noticeable here. But as far as Toku movies go, this one is one of the better ones you could be watching right now
FINAL GRADE: A+
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