In 2006, Tsuburaya Productions released an Ultraman show in celebration of the 40th anniversary of their iconic hero following Ultraman Max’s run. The show would not only pay tribute to the original Ultra series, but also take place within the same universe as the Showa Era. Ultraman Mebius follows the Land of Light’s youngest champion, Mebius, who is sent on a mission to defend the Earth, and experience the love and friendship humanity had given to his predecessors. In his mission, Mebius disguises himself as a human named Mirai Hibino, and registers at the Earth’s best defense force, Crew Guards for UtilitY Situation (Crew GUYS).
GUYS is the successor of all the defense force teams in the Showa Era, protecting an Earth that had been Kaiju free for 25 years. Mirai joins the team along with the hot tempered Ryu, the Kaiju fanatic and medical student Teppei, a famous soccer/futbol player George, a professional motorist Marina, and the preschool teacher Konomi. Altogether, they are under the command of GUYS Captain, Sakomizu, a very laid back superior. With this force of unlikely heroes, Mebius and GUYS continuously team up to combat dangerous threats to the Earth such as Kaiju, Choju (Japanese for “Super Beasts”. originally from Ultraman Ace), aliens, interdimensional beings, and forces of darkness beyond imagination.
Many people, such as myself, find this show among the best the Ultraman franchise has to offer, and one of the most accessible shows for newcomer fans. This was one of the first Ultra shows I saw when I got into Ultraman back in middle school, and I believe this show still holds up to this day. It is a bit outdated considering this premiered in the early 2000s. But, the amount of effort Tsuburaya made with the writing and effects is indicative of how much they cared. It is similar to how Toho celebrated Godzilla Final Wars for the Big G’s 50th anniversary in 2004.
One of the biggest factors to the show’s success is the cast of characters. I don’t think there was a particular character I disliked. Even characters written to be annoying or disliked never got my criticisms. Nevertheless, the main cast never lost my interest. The show made sure to expand on their back stories and even connect those stories together amongst characters such as with George and Marina having a certain connection. And, some characters return after their first episode to the point where they become important for the plots of later episodes.
Even characters from previous Showa Ultra series make an appearance in Mebius. An example being the middle school students from Ultraman 80. The show even went as far as providing closure between those students and their teacher, Takeshi Yamato, a.k.a Ultraman 80. Another aspect about the characters is that they can be relatable. Personally, Mirai and Teppei resonate with me. For Mirai, I relate to his determination, compassion, and his sense of justice. For Teppei, his pressure from his mother to succeed and his love for Kaiju hits many points for me.
Along with the human characters, the show has a nice, long roster of Ultra Kaiju. Similar to Max, Mebius has a mix of new and returning Kaiju. Classic Showa Kaiju such as Gomora and Red King (original Ultraman), Gudon, Twin Tail, Bemstar, and Earthron (Return of Ultraman), Vakashim and Doragoris (Ultraman Ace), Birdon (Ultraman Taro), and Salamandora (Ultraman 80) make wonderful appearances in the show, causing mayhem for Mebius just like they did with his predecessors. The new Kaiju in the show are very memorable to where a couple of them would appear in later Ultra shows. The most notable Mebius Kaiju are the Space Kaiju Dinozaur, Brutal Space Kaiju Kelbeam, Dimensional Predator Bogal, and Iron God Impelaizer.
Fighting against our heroes and sometimes using the Kaiju to take over Earth are the villainous aliens or Seijin (Japanese for “someone from another planet”). Just like the Showa Kaiju, a few of the Showa Seijin make an appearance in the show. These include Magma Seijin and Babalou Seijin (Ultraman Leo), Valky Seijin (Ultraman Taro), Mates Seijin (Return of Ultraman), and Mefilas Seijin (original Ultraman). Mebius also introduced new Seijin. Each of these Seijin are unique and enjoyable to watch, with a few also returning to later Ultraman media. These include Fanton Seijin, Zamushar, Reflect Seijin, Jashurine, and Serpent Seijin.
Speaking of villains, Mebius had three main villains in separate arcs. Bogal came in to awaken Kaiju to consume them before enacting her goal of consuming all life on Earth. Yapool first reappeared in the Ultraman Mebius and Ultra Brothers movie, but he returned to cause havoc with his Choju army. Yapool is also among the Four Heavenly Kings which include Mefilas and two other Seijin, Glozam and Deathrem. The third and final villain is an old dark enemy of the Land of Light from hundreds of thousands of years ago. An emperor of darkness that fought against the Land of Light and lost to the Father of Ultra, Empera Seijin. Fun fact, he was first mentioned in Ultraman Taro. Empera’s goal was to take control of Earth as vengeance against the Land of Light.
Thankfully, Mebius doesn’t have to fight alone. He is joined by a blue Ultraman, Ultraman Hikari. Hikari first appears in the show as his armored Hunter Knight Tsurugi persona. He originally wanted revenge against Bogal for consuming the life of Planet Arb. Fortunately, he casted his vengeance aside and joined Mebius to fight the many Kaiju and foes that threaten the Earth. Ultramen aren’t the only ones protecting the Earth. Crew GUYS is there to ensure the safety of the citizens of the world. This defense team is armed with state of the art aircraft and a system called METEOR that helps boost firepower and other capabilities. GUYS also has their own digital Kaiju, the Maquette Kaiju. These include Miculas, Windom, and a mini Eleking called Lim who is the team’s mascot.
When the going gets tough, Mebius, Hikari, and GUYS are backed up by the returning Showa Ultramen. Ultraman, Zoffy, Ultraseven, Jack, Ace, Taro, Father of Ultra, Leo, and 80 show up to help Mebius when he is in a very dire situation. Not only are they there to fight alongside the young champion and his human friends, but they also teach him about their experiences on Earth. It is similar to how a young high school student learns from multiple teachers on a daily schedule. With the care of those in his heart, Mebius stands up against darkness and fights against his opponents. He makes the impossible possible by never giving up. To him and his predecessors, that’s what it means to be an Ultraman.
Another aspect of the show is the story as a whole. There are a few arcs in the show that revolve around awakening Kaiju, Yapool’s Choju army, the invading Space Kaiju and aliens, and Empera and his Four Heavenly Kings. Within these arcs are multiple stories with their own episodes. Each episode has lessons to be told which have been emotional at times. One that stuck with me was Episode 23 that focused on Marina’s past. Her being the eldest sibling meant that she was more prone to pressure of being the wisest and strongest among her siblings. This episode taught me that even if I’m supposed to be strong for my family, I can still break down and be vulnerable in the most difficult moments of my life. That lesson resonated with me back in college during a binge rewatch of the show and it still does.
Along with great story telling, Mebius has pretty good character development. One such example is Ultraman Hikari. As mentioned before, Hikari went on a vengeful quest to defeat Bogal for killing all life on a beautiful planet he studied when he was the Chief of the Land of Light’s Science Bureau. His demand for revenge was shown especially after taking the form of Captain Serizawa, Ryu’s late superior. But through Ryu and Mirai (Mebius), he is able to learn that the Earth is just as beautiful as the planet he once studied. After the Bogal Arc, he seeks redemption which he did from the Space Garrison in a spinoff, but he finally got redeemed in his fight against a Babalou Seijin who impersonated him to further tarnish Hikari’s reputation.
Going back to the main story, this series acts as a typical hero’s journey where the main character hopes to gain something out of it. Mirai goes through the trials and endurances of acting human in a world full of humans, he learns about social situations in Earth’s culture (mainly in Japan), he shows his compassion to his friends, and even holds himself back when human characters act hostile towards him. Mirai essentially learns how to be human. This may not be too significant to most, but as a neurodivergent individual this is compelling to me. In a time in the world where I struggled to follow cues in school, I found relief in knowing I could relate to an alien giant who tries his best to be as human as possible. Ultraman Mebius is not human, but in his friend’s eyes he is Mirai Hibino; their comrade and best friend.
In relation to friendship, this series has a strong emphasis on the “power of friendship” trope. In the anime world, a few Shonen shows have this stereotype that anything can be solved with the power of friendship. This is because the main character(s) are known to pull out power moves if they think about their friends during a fight. Tokusatsu shows, especially Ultraman shows, seem to have this trope too, but with Mebius it is unique. Mebius does fight with his friends backing him up, but it wasn’t like that in the beginning. In fact, it takes a couple of episodes for the main cast to start believing in their Ultraman. At one point into the show, the main cast questioned why they needed an Ultraman. Despite that, Mirai’s determination steadily increased as the arcs of the show moved along.
It isn’t until around halfway through the show that we see how his teammates’ cheers change the course of the battle. That isn’t to say that it always works. Later on in the show, the villains learn how to use that bond between Mebius and GUYS to their advantage. Either by separating them, or using GUYS against Mebius. It is a clever trick to ensure Mebius doesn’t use the whole “power of friendship” trick, but the young Ultraman always finds a way to keep going even if he’s alone. As mentioned earlier, he was taught by the Ultra Brothers to make the impossible possible by never giving up. That’s what makes an Ultraman.
The next aspect of the show are the effects. As a show from the early 2000s, the effects are a bit outdated. However, the miniatures, backgrounds, and other elements look pretty good for a 2006 Japanese superhero show. The pyrotechnics remind me of the ones shown in the Showa Ultra Series. Even the vehicles look superbly animated. Not only do the GUYS jets look good, but even background cars look legitimate. Now, there are scenes that have CGI. But the CG effects don’t look too bad. Additionally, there are times where a few episodes used stock footage from previous shows, but that didn’t bother me too much. If I could compare this show’s special effects to that of a Godzilla movie from the early 2000s, it would be the Godzilla Kiryu Saga movies. In fact, both Mebius and the Kiryu Saga pay tribute to the Showa Eras of their respective franchises, utilize fantastic effects, and play amazing soundtracks.
With that said, the soundtrack of Mebius is such a classic banger to listen to. It is a bit similar to Max’s soundtrack with a very heroic and energetic tone. But, the soundtrack for Mebius to me sounds like it really belongs to the Showa Era universe. Mebius’ theme has that Showa Era vibe mixed with a youthful energy. His theme song by Project DMM is also a banger, and I cannot stop singing along when it plays. Even the casual songs that play when the characters are chilling around sound good to listen to, especially if something funny is going on.
Positive points aside, there are issues with the series. The main issue I have is that despite being a celebration for the original Ultraman, we don’t get many callbacks to the original show. What I mean is that we don’t get to see a lot of returning Kaiju from the first Ultraman show, or even returning characters. Ultraman Max had the original characters for Hayata, Fuji, and Ide, but yet Mebius only had Hayata return in the movies and the show. Now, that can just be because of scheduling conflicts or the actors focusing on their health considering their seniority. But, it would be fun to see Ide and Fuji seeing their old Ultraman fighting for the Earth just like in 1966. For the cast of Kaiju from the original Ultraman, only four Kaiju and Seijin were in the show. Those being Zetton, Gomora, Red King and Mefilas. Ultraman Max had 7 Kaiju and Seijin from the original show. This could be because the creators wanted more emphasis on the Showa Series rather than just one, and possibly they didn’t have time or money to include more original 1966 Ultra Kaiju. Luckily, Mebius has its own easter egg collection of references that pay tribute to the original Ultraman; one of them being the return of the fabled Kaiju Graveyard.
There are other issues I have with the Mebius series, but a lot of them involve spoilers which I will not get into. The reason is that this Ultraman show is a must for every Ultra Fan. This is one show from the franchise that shouldn’t be ignored. Some may say that watching it without watching the previous Showa entries can make you feel lost in the references. Honestly, that didn’t bother me when I first watched it as a pre-teen. In fact, it led me to find out more about the Showa timeline and watch those episodes that Mebius references. I think this show can do the same for newer fans of the franchise because unlike shows of the New Generation, this one is directly connected to the Showa Timeline.
In summary, Ultraman Mebius is a wonderful entry in the franchise as a 40th anniversary series, and as a unique show for Ultraman. Mebius has engaging characters, a good cast of Kaiju, an amazing story, spectacular effects, and blissful music. I highly recommend this show not just for Ultraman fans, but for people who enjoy Japanese media, sci-fi enthusiasts, and even those that just want a good show to watch. I even recommend this to people who grew up in the early 2000s like me. You get a nostalgic feeling of watching this show even if you didn’t watch this in 2006. Ultraman Mebius is one of the best shows in the Ultraman franchise, celebrating 40 years of the hero from the stars.
