Ultra Series / YMMV

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Archive Panic: With 29 basic shows (and a handful of non-basic), a few dozen movies, some specials, and numerous manga and video games - made over 50 years and counting. It's so bad that the Guinness Book of World Records has determined that the original Ultraman is the world record holder for most spinoffs.
Audience-Alienating Era:
- It's commonly agreed the 15 years between Ultraman 80 and Ultraman Tiga was an abysmal time for the Ultra series, with only cheap movies or foreign spinoffs being made, with none of them really garnering much interest or praise.
- In terms of special-effects; Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Taro, and Ultraman Leo. While well-liked shows, the special-effects were seen as a step-down from past series. A lot of it can be attributed to the declining 70s economy and oil crisis hurting Japan. The effects improved immensely with Ultraman 80, but soon after, the Ultra series was put on hiatus as mentioned above.
Awesome Music: So much of it that they had to get their own sub-page.
Bizarro Episode: Almost anything directed by Akio Jissoji. Examples can be found in Ultraman, Ultraseven, Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna, and Ultraman Max.
Common Knowledge: Due to the Ultra Series' Mainstream Obscurity in the west, this is fairly common.
- Many people will say that Ultraman is a single long-running series featuring multiple incarnations of the eponymous character. Yeah, except Ultraman only ran for 39 episodes from 1966-1967 and all his "incarnations" are completely different individuals that, at times, may not even be related at all to the original Ultraman. Pop-Cultural Osmosis is likely responsible for the issue at hand here.
- The Color Timer's purpose is to keep the budget under control... except it was a last-minute addition to the series, created while the first episode was being filmed (hence why early promotional materials and the transformation model of Ultraman show no Color Timer) for the sake of giving the hero a weakness; not to mention that special effects scenes can often take up as much as half or more of a typical episode's 24 minutes.
- Most of the Ultra Brothers are not brothers, many of them are related to each other, but it's more complicated than that. Zoffy, Ultraman Ace, and Ultraman Taro, are brothers, but former two were adopted by Mother of Ulta(Marie), and Father of Ultra(Ken) after losing their parents. Ultraman Leo, Astra are brothers, but are not only unrelated to the others ultras, but come from a different planet entirely. Ultraseven is Marie nephew, Ultraman Jack is married to one of Marie sisters, and Ultraman, Ultraman 80, Ultraman Mebius, and Ultraman Hikari have no family link at all. The Ultra Brothers are more brothers in arms then actual siblings.
Complete Monster: Numerous examples. See here.
Continuity Lockout: Many of the later series rely heavily upon the massive mythos established by earlier series, and viewers are often required to be familiar with them. Ultraman Mebius is a really good example of this.
Cult Classic: The best way to describe its status in America. While it lacks an English-speaking fanbase as large as, say, Godzilla or Kamen Rider, the Ultramen remain very recognizable to many (and not just among Kaiju and Toku enthusiasts!) and many fans of more popular Japanese special-effects franchises have favourites from it.
Ensemble Dark Horse: The monsters. To many, they're the real stars of the franchise, especially the most famous and popular of them. Including the examples under Rooting for the Empire below, we have Alien Mephilas, Tyrant, Golza, Birdon, Bemstar, Galberos, Gudon, Twin Tail, Dada, Alien Zarab, Alien Babalou, Pigmon, Miclas, Windam, Agira, Nova, Bullton, Vakishim, Velokron, and Doragory.
- The series have plenty of monsters who only appeared in a single episode of the entire franchise, but have fans demanding for them to be brought back as recurring foes, like Geronimon, Melba, Lagoras, Jirass, Silver Bloome, Neosaurus, Kiyla, etc.
- Let's not ignore the human characters either. Most people come to watch the Ultras battle monsters, but some will end up staying for the fun casts of human characters who support the heroes all the way.
- Redman, a very obscure Ultraman-clone has, as of 2016, seen a large resurgence in popularity after his old episodes were re-dicovered and uploaded online. He quickly reached memetic-status due to his series low-budget fight scenes (even by genre standards), and the character's seemingly unprovoked brutality towards his "victims".
Fandom-Enraging Misconception: While the term "salted egg superman" (咸蛋超人) as a Fan Nickname for the franchise as a whole is embraced by fans in Hong Kong, Taiwanese fans are generally less welcome towards the term due to seeing it as somewhat insulting to name the Ultras after food, and prefer the official localisation name loosely translating to "Superman Strength Overlord" (超人力霸王). The fact that the official Taiwanese dub of Ultraman Tiga using the "salted egg superman" nickname as Tiga's name became a rich source of Narm probably influenced the dislike towards the term.
Fandom Rivalry:
- Used to have a rivalry with the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises that has died down now that it has become common knowledge that Tsuburaya Productions helps Toei with marketing the shows.
- Interesting despite being more of a Friendly Fandoms in Japan, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Ultra Series fans have a far more contentious relationship in the west. Many Ultra Series fans have been vocal of the influence their series had on Evangelion which has been annoying to it's show fans. It especially gets heated when anyone brings up the Christian elements of Evangelion when analyzing the show. Ultra fans will in turn mention that the creator was heavily influenced to put that stuff as more of a shout out to the Ultra series then any deep symbolism which Evangelion fans think degrades it's writing and and the creative efforts to make an original story. It also doesn't help that the Ultra series is Lighter and Softer than Evangelion making it unappealing to alot of its fans despite the Ultra fans constantly recommending it to them.
Faux Symbolism: Possibly a subversion as Eiji Tsuburaya and his family are Catholic.
- Crosses and other Christian imagery are used in attacks and story plots, like the Antlar episode of Ultraman, in which Mt. Ararat appears and the people of Barraj/Vallarge call Ultraman Noah.
- Also a number of monsters and characters have Biblical names (Gomora, Sodom, Ultraman Belial, Barabas, Judah, Alien Mephilas and Dark Mephisto, Ultraman Noa...).
First Installment Wins: The Showa Ultra Series, especially the original Ultraman, are more iconic and popular than the Heisei ones in both Japan and the rest of the world (which is not to say the later series haven't enjoyed their share of success though) to the point where non-Japanese people are often unaware the Heisei series even exist.
- On the other hand, Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna and Ultraman Gaia have become this for the Heisei era, as all three are fondly remembered by many fans on Japan and outside of it, Tiga even consistently ranks #1 on surveys of favorite Ultras and continues being popular in spite of not having appeared in a while on any series.
Friendly Fandoms:
- With Godzilla's fandom because of the monsters and Eiji Tsuburaya's work on the franchise. Even Toho and TsuPro get along very swimmingly.
- With Kamen Rider and Super Sentai when it's not a case of Fandom Rivalry.
- In terms of fandom overlap, Gundam and Yu-Gi-Oh! can go hand in hand between franchises and leading to various comparisons and jokes for multiple installments, due to a lot of surprisingly plot-specific similarities.
- While it hasn't reached Kamen Rider or Super Sentai level, there is fandom overlap with Pretty Cure, which saw significant growth since the New Generation series. Similar to above examples, fans have noticed plot-specific similarities, along with deliberate references (for example this pose made by Cure Summer). Crossover fanfics (in Japanese) are also surprisingly abundant in websites such as Hameln and Pixiv.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
- Go ahead and ask any Malaysian kid (or their parents, or grandparents or great-grandparents) if they've heard of Ultraman. Chances are, they would be at least familiar with one version of Ultraman or another (even the American attempts). Being one of the earliest Kaiju/Tokusatsu show to make it over (the first versions of Ultraman first aired in the late 70s) and there being an official toy distributor in the country helps. Technically, this explains the Hong Kong Dubs, since the show, along with Doraemon, is just that popular over here. It has gotten to the point where Tsuburaya acknowledged the Fandom with Ultraman Tiga's name (Tiga means three in Malay, and the name was specifically chosen to be meaningful as that version of Ultraman has three forms), and later, worked with the creators of Upin & Ipin to create an official crossover with the apperance of their very own Ultraman: Ultraman Ribut, who became a popular character soon after his apperance in other Ultraman media.
- Same case with a Chinese person, Ultraman is the most well known Tokusatsu franchise in China, Ultraman's nickname in Cantonese is Salted Egg Superman (咸蛋超人）due to the fact that most Ultramen have eyes that resemble a pair of eggs.
- The original Ultraman developed a strong following in Latin America when it aired in the region during the 60s and 70s. Spanish-language Ultraman merchandise like comics were produced there, and it still remains a Cult Classic in some places.
Genre Turning Point: As stated on the main page, the Ultra Series was responsible for transitioning the Japanese Tokusatsu genre from kaiju-centric cinema like the Godzilla and Gamera movies to the small-screen superhero action like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai that makes up most of the genre today. It is often considered an in-between of the two sides of Toku as a result.
Hilarious in Hindsight: In a 1931 Cthulhu Mythos short story, The Lair of the Star Spawn by August Derleth and Mark Schorer, the characters manage to stop the Great Old Ones Lloigor and Zhar with the aid of the Star Warriors from Orion, described as monstrous-size glowing beings that "shot great beams of annihilation and death". The Land of Light is located in Nebula M78 in the Orion Constellation. Doubly hilarious with Ultraman Tiga featuring such things as Gatanozoa, Zoiger/Lloigor, and R'lyeh.
I Am Not Shazam: Most people assume that every different Ultra hero and series is the same as the original Ultraman, thus will call them all just "Ultraman" — a problem that persists even on this very wiki.
Mainstream Obscurity: Related to I Am Not Shazam above. Lots of people know who Ultraman is, what he looks like, and what he does, but few actually really known anything beyond that, hence the common assumption that Ultraman is a long-running show where the hero's appearance changes from season to season.
Memetic Mutation: Unsurprisingly, the franchise's popularity and countless episodes have spawned numerous memes over the years. Here are a few notable ones.
Memetic Psychopath: When Tsuburaya Productions began uploading episodes of the spinoff Redman online, the fanbase immediately latched on to the titular character being this, due to his knife-like weapon and habit of brutally stabbing monsters that weren't even harming anyone.
- Ascended Meme: In 2018, Redman received an American comic book series which plays up his murderous personality, and framing the story from the perspective of the kaiju. Later on, Ultraman Z would have a friendly Kanegon being terrified of the "red guy" when seeing Ultraman Z's form: Beta Smash.
Memetic Troll: Gubila. Due to the low budgets of the New Generation era (i.e. Ultraman Ginga through Ultraman Decker), the shows have been forced to use a lot of Prop Recycling. As a result, Gubila, a relatively unpopular one-off kaiju from the original Ultraman, ended up being used four shows in a row, rivaling iconic kaiju like Gomora, Red King, and Zetton. While it hasn't appeared as much afer Ultraman R/B, the fandom still cracks jokes about how Gubila is guaranteed to appear in every series.
More Popular Spin-Off: Technically Ultra Q should be the record-holder for most spinoff shows, but because its first spinoff Ultraman is more popular and well-known worldwide, the world record goes to the second entry in the Ultra Series.
Narm Charm: Like any good toku work, the Ultra franchise runs on this. Each show often has incredibly touching, sad, and heroic moments despite the fact that each episode revolves around 2 (or more) People in Rubber Suits fighting on a miniature stage.
Nightmare Fuel: Plenty. See here.
No Problem with Licensed Games: The franchise has more good games than the average Tokusatsu franchise.
- The Ultraman arcade game and the Ultraseven Super Nintendo game are very faithful adaptations of their series and have a decent pre-Street Fighter II fighting engine.
- The Ultraman Fighting Evolution series evolved from a Virtua Fighter clone into a lore-expansive Ultraman crossover that has been praised by fans and non-fans alike for their great fighting dynamics and loads of characters from the franchise (Rebirth, however, changed its focus from the original TV shows into its own style to mixed success, although the gameplay keeps the quality).
- Likewise, the eponymous Ultraman Playstation 2 game is an almost-perfect TV to game simulation with engaging gameplay.
- Also, most of the games focused on the human teams, Monster Hunter clone Kaiju Busters, Shoot 'Em Up Ultra X Weapons and Super Robot Wars clone Ultra Keibitai - Monster Attack, have recieved good ratings in their homeland.
- Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher, being an installment of the well received Monster Rancher series. Many Monster Rancher fans who don't even know anything about the Ultra series have played and loved it, to boot. It also helps that this is the first game in the Monster Rancher series after a Sequel Gap of over a decade.
Older Than They Think: As described in Hilarious in Hindsight above, a 1931 Cthulhu Mythos short story called The Lair of the Star Spawn featured alien beings whose descriptions are freakishly similar to the Ultras and who even help the protagonists defeat a pair of giant monsters. Considering Eiji Tsuburaya had probably never read a Cthulhu Mythos story in his life, it's one truly crazy example of weird pop cultural precedences.
Once Original, Now Overdone: To western viewers, the Ultra Series seems goofy and stereotypical, and insignificant compared to such franchises as Power Rangers and the Godzilla movies, as well as the vast amounts of anime and manga, but it cannot be understated how big it was in Japan when its first shows were airing (we're talking ratings of 25-40% of viewers; and it's still quite beloved today) and how much it has influenced anime, superhero, and kaiju series, as well as video games, in Japan.
Periphery Demographic: Although the franchise primarily targets kids, there are a lot of older fans who enjoy watching the series because of how the shows are not afraid of making some occasional social commentary without toning it down for children. Ultraseven is a good example, but even the original Ultraman and Return of Ultraman are known and acclaimed for having a bit of this every now and then.
Pop-Cultural Osmosis: "Ultraman" only refers to the original series and the first Ultra hero, but due to how well-known it is compared to its successors (mainly outside Japan), most people will never get that right and assume every Ultra hero is the same as the original. Not helping is that some series actually do call their title hero just "Ultraman" (Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero and Ultraman: Towards the Future), but those can be justified by that they're meant to be remakes ignoring all previous series.
Pop Culture Holiday: On July 10th, Japan celebrates "Ultraman Day" in honor of the eponymous hero. This is because the pre-series stage show "ULTRAMAN Eve: The Birth of Ultraman" was broadcast on July 10th a week before the first episode of the 1966 series aired.
Rooting for the Empire: Many of the monsters are very well-loved by the large fanbase. Some of the favorites are Alien Baltan, Alien Metron, Antlar, Red King, Gomora, Dinosaur Tank, Jirass, Black King, Eleking, Gubila, King Joe, Zetton, Gan Q, Alien Guts, and Pandon.
So Bad, It's Good: Space Warriors 2000, the infamous bootleg movie produced by Dick Randall by stitching together scenes from the Ultraman Zoffy movie and the Hanuman vs. 7 Ultraman movie with a dub so cheesy it makes Saban's Masked Rider look tame.
Red King: They call me Mr. Bad!
Special Effects Failure: Because of the way Tokusatsu works, the franchise is as prone to this as it is to Visual Effects of Awesome, especially in the 1970s due to the Japanese economy being in a rough spot from the Energy Crisis. The monster suits of the 70s are often considered to be some of the franchise's worst.
Tear Jerker: Surprisingly capable of pulling this relatively often. See here for some general examples.
Visual Effects of Awesome: Given that it is originally made by a special effects team, the franchise itself is known for its high quality miniature sets and costumes. Even the ones from the 60s and (to a lesser extent) 70s were often on par with contemporary work in Japanese toku cinema — on a television-level schedule and budget — but the movies Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends and Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial are considered the crowning achievements of the franchise.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Some have criticized the franchise for supposedly having nationalistic anti-foreign sentiments, seeing the Japanese defense teams defending against various alien threats as paralleling Japan pushing away foreigners and foreign influence. Many point to the second episode of the original Ultraman as an example, where the Baltan aliens were fleeing refugees after they blew up their own planet.^note This is ignoring the many times that aliens were shown sympathetically (even as tragic victims of allegorical racism^note) and the main heroes, the Ultramen, are well... aliens. The Science Patrol is also shown to be an international organisation, the series just focuses on the Japanese branch.

YMMV / Ultra Series

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