Angel's Ultraman Rankings

Has a strong, well-balanced cast and a welcome overarching narrative, though the character subplots fall off a bit in the 2nd half, could have a tighter reign on them to make the most of it, but what remains is quite solid, even if its highs aren't as complex as Orb's.

Gai is the best New Gen hero, with badass fighting skills, an inspirational figure to those around him, a strong sense of justice and compassion, and a solid dose of angst, and his rivalry with Juggler is lots of fun. The SSP is a nice changeup from the usual defence force teams, giving the series something a bit more grounded and just being a fun, charismatic bunch, while the comedy of the series is also really amusing. Between some of the more emotionally sensitive one-off content and the interesting backstory for Gai, the writing can be stronger and more ambitious than other New Gen series, but it still feels too restricted to episodic content that compromises the urgency of the larger story and cuts some of the backstory stuff a bit short, with the ending feeling especially abrupt. Lot of potential, but just misses the mark, still quite good.

The bittersweet early one-off tales were sort of ballsy and refreshing, and tie in with the brothers' stunted progress and eventual need to move on (which I hear is ultimately covered more in the movie) and the Aizen stuff on defining what makes an Ultraman is pretty neat, along with the kind of overarching ideas about bonds, family and destiny, plus the series has an infectious energy and decent cast and more of Geed's cohesion, though it tends to lose focus and have trouble immediately justifying its plot directions - why X only happens at Y time and almost arbitrarily withholding information for later periods to have you wondering if the series is forgetting its subplots occasionally. Does mostly rectify itself at the end, though some things are still a bit kind of handled really casually or remain a bit vague (Aizen's history). A good time still.

Relaxed, almost meditative Ultra series casually about the difficulties of humanity co-existing with nature and the selfish roots of conflict & self-preservation. Gives a sense of awe and disconnect with the unknown, trying to reconcile its majesty & terror, quietly beautiful, though maybe a bit too hands-off with tying it all together at times, but underrated and a nice vibe.

It's alright, the one-off stories feel a little more spirited after Ginga S, and some characters get the odd episode dedicated to them, but still don't feel like too well rounded characters, and Daichi himself is the most boring New Gen hero. It's fun enough episodic entertainment, but little else. 

At times feels a bit more ambitious than it ultimately is, with direct tie-ins to Orb and Geed, but with which their relevance kind of drops in and out of the bigger picture, as does Haruki's motivations for trying to keep the monsters alive which is just kind of brushed off after a while. The basic character personalities are quaint, but don't really go much further, even though it feels like they could. Just a lot of failed potential mostly, too safe.

Sho gets a bit of development, it has one episode which is THE single best New Gen episode and the writing feels a bit sturdier than Ginga, but it's still terribly hollow, just a lot of empty, glossy action stuff that traded Ginga's heart for something a bit tidier but plain and unimpressive.

Some of the stuff about dreams early on feels heartfelt, but the premise is flimsy and the storytelling can be generally boring and passe, Hikaru has some moments but still doesn't feel like a fully formed character. Not bad but not particularly good by any stretch.