Six Spooky Episodes of ‘Ultraman Ace’ to Watch This Halloween

It’s finally spooky season!

Well, it’s like halfway into spooky season, but it’s never too late for horror!

In 1972, the Ultra series introduced Ultraman Ace (my favorite ultra) and reinvented the formula. Relying less on Sci Fi tropes and more on superhero ones, it was arguably the first response Tsuburaya had to the rising popularity of Kamen Rider. Ace is incredibly fun and has a cool gimmick – giving this new Ultra two hosts instead of one! My favorite episodes of this series, though, are the three episodes in the “Summer Horror Series” which like its namesake, aired in summer, and the three episodes of the “Winter Horror Series” in the later part of the year.

They’re a fun twist on super hero tropes, being a little darker and more sinister than an average episode of the show. Unfortunately even with the darker edge, this is still very much a show mostly targeted at kids, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think “family friendly” horror is a pretty viable genre to watch with the little kids without scarring them for life (a good non-kaiju example of this is the original Goosebumps series).

The first episode in the “Summer Horror Series” is called Curse of the Black Crab, and it’s a pretty fun episode! It has some spooky stuff in its opening featuring two red eyes peeking out of the ocean as a man is strangled by some weird spiked tentacles. It also has an interesting story about a boy named Yumeji talking to a horseshoe crab via a seashell, and the crab has his father’s voice! Honestly, this episode doesn’t dabble very deep into horror and other than the opening, it’s mostly just an average episode of Ultraman Ace. It has a good buildup to the Kaiju though and some great supernatural elements tied to the crab mentioned earlier. It’s got a spooky side, but it never jumps fully in. I also noticed a part that reminded me of the Jordan Peele horror film Nope, although I don’t think it inspired the film. The Kaiju itself “King Crab” is a fun design and the episode is definitely good, regardless of its lack of terror.

The next installment in the series is called Scary Story of the Cattle God-Man, and I think it’s mostly an improvement over the last episode. This episode plays with some pretty tame body horror featuring a man getting cursed to become a cow. In typical Ultraman fashion, he becomes the Kaiju “Cowra” by the end, and even unleashes the “wrath of six million cows” upon Ultraman Ace! This one goes into more of the mental terror of turning into a cow than dark moody sets and atmospheric horror, though it does have a couple of dark scenes with an evil spirit. I also love the way Ultraman has to reserve himself fighting Cowra to not hurt the man inside of it. It’s got good stakes and has some scary concepts, definitely worth checking out!

Lastly, we have an episode titled The Demon Woman of Hotarugawa, and boy is it a treat for horror fans! While never going too far to alienate its child demographic this episode still gets pretty dark. It’s full of ghostly images and gothic cinematography, and most of the episode takes place at night! There are times it doesn’t feel like an Ultraman episode at all! Those scenes truly shine. This is the peak of the “Summer Horror Series” and should definitely get a viewing from horror/Ultraman fans! 

Next, onto the “Winter Horror Series”!

We start with Scary Story! Lion Drum in this lineup. This episode starts with a father worshiping a deity he discovered and asking it to bring horrors up on anyone who makes fun of “lion dancing.” The man’s son puts on his father’s old lion dancing mask and ends up possessed by a Kaiju, beginning to wreak havoc upon his village. The father becomes possessed by an evil spirit as well, and while all this is going down, there is a second Kaiju! The episode has some good closeups and a lack of music that add amazing tension and uncomfortable scenes. When the boy turns into the Kaiju and his father becomes possessed, we get a good dark and moody set to really showcase the horror. Much like Episode Two of the “Summer Horror Series”, Ultraman Ace has to hold back to not hurt the child within the Kaiju. It’s a good time and balances the horror with the Ultraman Ace fun simultaneously! 

The second episode in the “Winter Horror Series” is called Mystery! Monster Woo Rises Again, which features the Kaiju Woo from the original Ultraman series! This is a fun episode, but it’s a bit unexpected based on the title given that Woo is the good guy this time around! The episode starts with the death of a girl’s father at the hands of the terrible-monster Iceron. The episode is framed as a mystery as to how the man went missing and what caused an avalanche at the beginning. Woo eventually shows up as the spirit of the young girl’s father and battles Iceron! It’s honestly a super fun and engaging episode but it lacks some scares. It’s one of my favorites in the whole series of “Ultraman Ace” though so even without the really spooky stuff it works great!

The final episode of the horror series, and the last episode we’ll discuss, is called Scary Story! Yeti’s Cry and it is my favorite in the “Winter Horror Series.” This one takes place at a ski resort and has an old hermit curse it. Blizzards start tearing everything apart and we get some scary imagery of the whole resort frozen with what looks like frozen corpses littered around. The monster itself also takes a really long time to actually make an appearance and when it does TAC has to retreat and has to perform some desperate actions. Ultraman Ace even has a hard time fighting the Kaiju! This episode has some good stakes and actually makes the monster a proper issue for everyone involved. 

That was a quick recap of the horror episodes of Ultraman Ace! I love all of them, but the ones to truly commit to their horror definitely stand out the most. Personally, I think The Demon Woman of Hotarugawa is the biggest highlight. If you can only watch one episode in time for Halloween, this is the one to watch! Ultraman Ace is an incredibly fun show, plus it’s pretty ambitious. I recommend the whole series, but for spooky season, you gotta check out some of the seasonal horror series episodes of Ace! 

Ultraman Ace can be streamed in full via Tubi.
To find out more, visit the Ultraman Ace pages for the character and the series on the official Tsuburaya website.