YMMV / Ultraman Max

• Anti-Climax Boss: The final battle against Giga Berserke can feel a little underwhelming for some due to how short it is in contrast to the rest of the episode. After being fred and revitalized by DASH, Max grows to a whopping height of 900 meters, unleashes a barrage of sluggers on the robot and then finishes it off with a planet-sized Max galaxy.
• Awesome Music: "Ultraman Max", the opening of this series, is a hyperactive and catchy rock song befitting his title as one of the fastest Ultras in the Land of Light.
  MAX, MAX, MAX!
• Bizarro Episode: The Butterfly's Dream, a fourth-wall breaking episode that will leave you questioning the very nature of your existence and wouldn't be out of place in the SCP Foundation. It must be seen to be believed.
• Complete Monster: Ruganogar ("Evil Beast"), from episode 28 "Invasion of Evil", is the sadistic, three-headed Destroyer of the Stars. Traveling the universe, Ruganogar seeks out planets thriving with life and hunts down the populace before reducing the planets to space debris. Attacking Lyrica's home planet S-851, Ruganogar actively targets the fleeing civilians, resulting in her parents' deaths right in front of her and leaving her the sole survivor of her doomed planet. Attempting to destroy Earth to further sate his blood lust, Ruganogar actively targets Kaito with intent to kill and deflects a missile DASH fires at him directly at a group of fleeing school children. While most monsters and aliens in Max were either brought on humanity by themselves, sympathetic, or even silly, Ruganogar stands out as a sadistic murderer who slaughters entire worlds for his own amusement.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Amongst the kaiju we have Grangon and Lagoras, IF, the Space Cats, and Natsunomeryu.
  • Elly is well-liked with fans due to being a cute Robot Girl and The Woobie, making her one the most memorable supporting team members in the Ultra Series.
  • And there goes Ultraman Xenon, who despite having some of the smallest screen time, is still a topic for fans even after the show ended. Helps that he is voiced by Osamu Ryutani, who also voiced another Ensemble Dark Horse Ultraman named Justice.
• Memetic Mutation: See the Franchise page.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • IF from the 15th Episode. Oh boy. You know what happens if that immortal lifeform absorbs an Ultra's powers.
  • 'DASH Annihilated' is a pretty scary episode that plays out like a horror movie, with an alien creature emerging from a meteor right and on the warpath through the base. Worse, it's a life force vampire with the ability to turn invisible. Worse yet, it's pregnant.
  • Ruganogar. A three headed monstrosity that travels the universe destroying planets For the Evulz. Sound familiar?
  • Madeus and its creator, as well as the fourth wall-breaking nature of its episode lends itself nicely to copious doses of existential horror. The creepy Vader Breath it emits is just the icing on the cake.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Kanami explaining why she wants to help stop Gomora: her father, who mutated this particular one to it's current state to be a bio weapon to wipe out mankind, was a known criminal and terrorist, resulting in her and her family being scorned and mistreated. She wanted to find him and make him atone, but found out he was decidedly too far gone for there to be any hope of that (not to mention dead).
  • The Alien Neril named Keef is the Sole Survivor of his race who only came to Earth to live a peaceful life. After hearing about all the other aliens that came to invade Earth before his arrival, he willingly turns himself in at DASH so he may show Earthlings that not all Aliens Are Bastards. However during capture he was treated poorly by the DASH scientists who believe him to be just another invader, making matters worse is the appearance of Alien Godoray, another alien invader, which caused him to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to save civilians nearly caught in the crossfire of the invader's rampage.
• Tough Act to Follow: Had trouble with this due to fans loving the dark tone of Ultraman Nexus. See Vindicated by History below, not to mention Max's borderline self-parody style didn't sit well with many long-time fans of the franchise. And being succeeded by the massive Milestone Celebration that is Ultraman Mebius doesn't help matters much either.
• Vindicated by History: Many fans reacted negatively to Ultraman Max's Lighter and Softer tone and its rather self-parody-esque style when it debuted, especially since the abrupt cancellation of Ultraman Nexus just a bit earlier was considered a serious blow. However, fans have since softened up to the show, and it is now considered one of the most underrated entries of the Ultra Series.
• Win Back the Crowd: For younger audiences, Ultraman Max was exactly what they wanted after Ultraman Nexus proved alienating for them due to its extremely grim nature.

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