It has been almost six years since the release of Ultraman Taiga, Tsuburaya’s first Ultraman show to take place in the Reiwa era. This show meant a lot to me as it was airing, as 2019 was a big year for myself: Starting a job that I adored, beginning my tenure in college, and figuring out my personal favorite hobbies. In fact, one of the first essays I ever wrote was about this series, and that piece definitely has aged quite a bit. In sort of a celebration of Ultraman Taiga getting its long overdue Blu-ray release from Mill Creek Entertainment a long while ago, and rewatching the show, I figured I should write about this show once again, examining what I liked… okay, adored about this show!
The diabolical Ultraman Tregear invades the Land of Light and plans to destroy the Ultra inhabitants, specifically targeting Ultraman Taro. However, the New Generation Heroes are the Land of Light’s biggest line of defense against the masked Ultra, with Tregear still having the upper hand against them all. During the fight, our three heroes: Ultraman Taiga, Ultraman Titas, and Ultraman Fuma, collectively known as the Tri Squad, arrive to help and are given special powers by the New Gen Heroes to hopefully gain an advantage against Tregear.
Unfortunately, Tregear still defeats them all, and the Tri Squad are turned into particles. Taiga’s particles arrive on Earth and saves a young boy named Hiroyuki Kudo, who was trying to save his pet from being captured by aliens. The two would combine into a bond that would not be realized for over a decade. Twelve years later, Hiroyuki is a part of an alien investigation team known as EGIS, and after a major encounter with aliens and even kaiju, Hiroyuki and Taiga’s bond is truly formed. Along the road, Titas and Fuma join Hiroyuki and Taiga, and together, they must stop threats such as the Villain’s Guild and Ultraman Tregear, who has shown up to go after Taiga.
Ultraman Taiga has so many great qualities to it. It provides the viewer with a combination of fast-paced action, engaging narratives, and enjoyable characters. The first thing I would like to talk about are the Ultra heroes, as I think they offer an amazing dynamic. Taking off after Ultraman R/B, which is known for having two main Ultras, this show has three main Ultras. However, unlike Ultraman R/B, where both Ultras are typically present at once, Ultraman Taiga takes the basic New Gen Ultra route and utilizes two of them as substitutes for forms and one, Taiga, mainly gets the development. While that leaves Titas and Fuma needing much more time to flesh both characters out, all three still provide some fun character interactions.
As mentioned before, Taiga is the main Ultraman of the three. He gets the most development and screen time. Ultraman Taiga comes from the planet M78, The Land of Light, and is also the son of Ultraman Taro, which is cool because Ultraman Taro is the son of Father of Ultra and Mother of Ultra, effectively making Taiga the new blood in the family. Throughout the show, Taiga wants to be acknowledged more than just as “the son of Taro,” but deep down, wants to be acknowledged by his father and by the end of the show, ends up embracing with the fact that he is indeed Taro’s son.
Taiga’s fighting style is right in the middle. Good balance of speed and power, while fighting like his father before him, albeit still trying to be different. Taiga also gains access to two forms. Photon Earth, which embodies the power of the Earth and fuses with Taiga’s light, and then there is Tri Strium, which combines him, Titas, and Fuma’s bond to create essentially the final form of the show. Taiga is easily my favorite of the three Ultras. He has my favorite design of the three and offers some great character work. Taiga is voiced by Takuma Terashima who is such a perfect fit for the character’s confident and upbeat personality.
Ultraman Titas takes on the role of the big and strong form. His design is similar to Ultraman Orb’s Thunder Breastar form, where he is more bulky than most Ultra designs. He comes from the planet U40, which is the planet Ultraman Joneus from The * Ultraman hails from. His fighting style is, as I mentioned before, focused more on his power and bulk. He not only uses his strength to deliver powerful punches and kicks, but also can deflect certain attacks by flexing, which feels akin to how a sumo wrestler would fight. Titas is such a fun character. He is powerful yet wise. He has quite some knowledge of lore in the Ultra Series which shows he has the intelligence and some experience to back up his wiseness of the three, which is really cool to see, and Titas hailing from the same planet as Joneus is extremely cool and adds some needed lore to Joneus, who felt forgotten to time before this point. Satoshi Hino does a great job within the role too, as he delivers such a bombastic yet wise voice with the character which adds upon Titas’ character.
Ultraman Fuma takes on the role of the speedy and nimble form. His design is the most orthodox compared to the other two, looking like a more traditional Ultraman design, while giving him a ninja motif. He comes from planet O50, which is where Orb and the R/B Ultras reside. His fighting style focuses on being quick on his feet and dodging attacks, much like how a ninja attacks. He has a cockier personality to him, boasting about himself while taking on the opponent. Fuma oozes with character and his remarks during his fights are always fun to listen to. What also helps is that Shota Hayama does a phenomenal job with matching his voice with the character’s cockiness.
Now as for the main human characters, EGIS Squad, they are all great characters. I think each member gets their own episode and some of them really grow as characters. When first watching the show, I felt the characters were pretty weak, but after rewatching the show, I think they’re some of the best in the New Generation. The two I want to talk about the most are Hiroyuki Kudo and Kana Sasaki, who are my favorite characters in the show. Hiroyuki is the main protagonist of the show. He is connected with Taiga twelve years prior to the show, but Taiga doesn’t reveal himself to Hiroyuki until the first episode. Hiroyuki goes through quite a bit in the show, such as losing his pet, his close friend, and even Taiga for a bit, as he is consumed by darkness halfway through the show. He gets some great development, and you see his character grow more and more with each episode. He also provides some amazing interactions with the Tri Squad, as all three chose Hiroyuki as the host. Their personalities clash whenever they converse and they are extremely entertaining for it. Definitely some of my favorite moments of the show. Yuki Inoue does a great job playing as the character. He is able to convey the emotions very well and plays the character to a tea.
Kana Sasaki is basically the captain of EGIS Squad. She is very confident but all the while still being a loving figure to her peers. She gets the job done, motivates the team, and still manages to be an inspiring figure for them, especially with Hiroyuki in the episode where he quits. What also helps is that she is played by Chiharu Niiyama. Many kaiju fans will know her for her role as Yuri Tachibana in Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. She does a great job portraying the authoritative yet caring character of Kana. Homare and Pirika are also both great characters, but Hiroyuki and Kana stand out the most to me in terms of characters.
However, for all of my praises with the Tri Squad and EGIS Squad, my absolute favorite character in this show goes to the main villain: Ultraman Tregear. Also called Kirisaki in his human form, Tregear has taken the cake as one of my all-time favorite villains in Ultraman. He is such a diabolical and sadistic character, who treats everything around him like a game. Throughout the show, Tregear’s presence is felt, and the crew shows the audience just how evil and dangerous Tregear really is. This ranges from “destroying” Ultraman Taro’s son in front of him, killing Hiroyuki’s pet, manipulating innocent or redeemed aliens to cause chaos, and even trying to cause the world to be consumed by the final kaiju of the show, Woola. Tregear’s design is also fantastic, sporting one of my favorite designs of an Ultraman. The mask, the sealed-off color timer, the armor plating, the color scheme, it all works so well, and it compliments his personality so well. Yuma Uchida plays the role of Tregear and Kou Nanase plays the role of his human form, Kirisaki. And both are absolutely perfect for the role. They fit the sadistic personality of the character so well and bring the character so much life. Tregear is definitely the highlight character of the show.
However, the characters aren’t the only thing I felt to be well done, as the staff behind the show gave a ton of attention to detail to the episodes. Almost every episode has such an engaging story to tell, and it feels like so much is at stake with each episode. This show has writers such as Sotaro Hayashi, Takao Nakao, and Sachio Nanai, most of these writers have written for previous New Generation Ultraman shows. They all do such a good job making the scripts feel interesting, fluent, and easy to follow. What also helps is the direction the directors took each episode. Ryuichi Ichino takes helm as main director of the show, and other directors, like Masayoshi Takesue, Kiyotaka Taguchi, and Takanori Tsujimoto, really help bring those scripts to life in clever and wonderful ways. They are able to keep each story in each episode engaging, all the while giving stakes, wonderful shots, and great moments. Each episode also tells some important messages such as social issues and redemption. It feels very akin to Ultraseven, which also tackles quite heavy messages. It feels like so much care is given to each episode, which makes it all the more intriguing.
Speaking of wonderful shots, this show has some fantastic action sequences and camera shots. With action coordinated by Daisuke Terai, special effects done by Makoto Kamiya and Naoyuki Uchida, and cinematography done by Takeshi Arai, are able to combine their talents into making some of the most exciting action sequences in Ultraman. Ranging from fights that excel in style and fast paced camera shots, or fights that excel in substance and showcasing what the narrative says, this show does have some fantastic fights and cinematography.
I could go on for hours about almost all of the fights and their sequences, but I will restrict that to my two favorite episodes of the show: Warriors of the Evening Glow and Clash! Ultra Big Match! When talking about Warriors of the Evening Glow, Episode 10, I believe it’s one of the best stories told in the franchise. Hiroyuki’s newly found friend, Oda, is a kind man who loves to paint. However, it is revealed that he was once an Alien Nackle who took on an Ultraman, Jack, and lost. With the biggest memory he keeps being his Black King egg. However, Tregear manipulates Oda to turn back to his old ways, and Tregear succeeds. He is able to unleash the Black King and causes Oda to return to his old ways, forcing Taiga to not hold back and unfortunately defeat him permanently. This episode is a masterpiece. It makes me admittedly a bit emotional and it also provides some of the coolest shots in the show. It also showcases just how evil Tregear is and why he is a horrifying character.
As for Clash! Ultra Big Match! this is mainly a celebration episode for the 10th anniversary of Ultraman Zero, as said Ultra shows up in this episode. Here, Zero and Taiga team up to face off against Ultraman Tregear and an artificially created Ultraman Belial, who ends up feeling like an actual threat. This episode not only has some fun comedy with three aliens who show up to create Imitation Belial, but it provides the best fight in the show, offering some amazing cinematography, some engaging choreography sequences, and fantastic effects work. I would definitely recommend watching this episode if you want to watch a great Ultra fight.
One of the things I am most interested in with the Ultraman series is the kaiju roster. I am a kaiju fan after all! And man, this kaiju roster is great! I feel this roster provides a great mix of new enemies and returning foes. Masayuki Gotoh, Daisuke Inomoto, Reijiro Kato, and Yasumasa Watanabe all worked on the designs of both Ultras and Kaiju in this show and man do all the kaiju look so cool. My top favorites in this show are NightFang and Gigadelos. NightFang takes a lot of inspiration from Lovecraftian creatures, akin to some kaiju from Ultraman Tiga, and makes for such an interesting kaiju in terms of design, lore and abilities. Gigadelos is a robot quite similar to Galactron in Ultraman Orb and how they were built as guardians only for Tregear to implant emotions into them, which caused them all to go savage. The design and abilities for Gigadelos are extremely cool. And as for returning kaiju, which seems to be an indifferent opinion for fans, I felt they provided some great choices. Some more familiar faces such as Zetton and Pandon, all the while bringing back old faces we haven’t seen since the Showa era. Kaiju like Pagos, Gymaira, and Takkong all make their long-waited return, and it feels so good to see them come back.
The soundtrack is among my top three favorites in Ultraman. Composed by Yuya Mori, he did such an amazing job with this score. There are so many catchy tunes such as Tri Strium’s theme, Photon Earth’s theme, and Tregear’s themes. Each melody is extremely catchy and is perfectly implemented in the show. There’s also the opening song: Buddy, Steady, Go! Which is sung by Takuma Terashima, Taiga’s voice actor. This opening song is one of my favorites. It’s extremely catchy and captures the fast-paced sequences of the show.
Now as for any issues I have with the show? There’s only two big ones I can think of. First off, as I mentioned earlier, Titas and Fuma feel more like substitutions for forms rather than actual characters at times with the fight sequences. I honestly wish we got an episode or two dedicated to fleshing their characters out and giving them more depth. And while some of their lore was explained in the Voice Dramas, I feel it should have been given some detail within the show’s run. And secondly, the Villain’s Guild feels like an afterthought. They have such a cool concept, having bids to purchase kaiju and causing crimes all around, but their presence feels barren after episode 9, making them feel forgotten to time, which is unfortunate because it’s such a cool concept.
All in all, Ultraman Taiga is quite honestly my favorite of the New Generation Ultraman shows. I feel the New Generation as a whole has an extremely solid lineup of Ultra shows, but Ultraman Taiga showcases exactly what I love about the Ultra Series. Phenomenal characters, exciting action sequences, and engaging storytelling. It has it all. If you are a kaiju fan or an Ultra fan and you have not seen this show yet or are curious, I would highly recommend it! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with what this show brings to the table!
