As we all know by now, I’ve gotten into Ultraman a while ago. I’ve written about a few of them and have a monthly update post for Ultraman things I watch. I was wondering for a while what series would be a good entry point into the Ultraman franchise. Something like Lupin III the first for the Lupin III franchise. Well, it’s been found now. As of writing this, this film appeared on Netflix a couple weeks ago. It’s also just a good movie on its own that happens to be heavily influenced by the animation in the spider verse films with an Ultraman as a protagonist.
Kenichi Sato is a baseball star that is returning home to Japan after playing with the dodgers. Now he is going to play with the Japanese Giants team. Of course he returned as the most egotistical person ever and wants to show off his brilliance. The guy also turned into the latest Ultraman after his father stopped for a couple months. So he clearly has an ego that needs to be flattened down because he’s doing things for the ego not the love. That appearance of a child Kaiju of Gigantron changes everything.
I love the simplicity of this story because that means everything. Kenichi left Japan with his mother because he has a strong dislike for his father who was never there. But the film starts with him returning home at his mother’s request. That means not taking the Dodgers to the world series. Everything Kenichi does shows his ego after. The Ultraman job was something he did out of an obligation and was very selfish. Same with baseball where he had the attitude to be a star and nothing else. He just had a fence between himself and everyone else.
It was the appearance and then his adoption of the baby Gigantron that opened the door of seeing beyond himself. It’s clear that a baby Kaiju was a struggle and that led to letting his dad in his life again too. That in itself let him have his baseball career which stagnated when Emi came to grow too. What if he cared more about his team than he did beforehand? What if he wasn’t a complete jerk. The baby Kaiju eventually named Emi made him get there and it’s such a great and cute story that has been done before sure, but never in an Ultraman series. It’s also just executed so well.
The show has a very small side cast that has a lot of layers even if some doing agree with keeping Kaiju alive. My favorite side character is probably the nameless old lady who is constantly on the news or on screen to tell her tale of Ultraman as he cares more about people. Though, I do like the single mom reporter Ami Wakita quite a bit too. I mean, she is the one who Kenji first opened up to and she is a pretty crack reporter with a cute kid. Ami does a great job of getting into the heart of the matter as Kenji finally accepts so many things and changes.
If I wish this film could have expanded on in its two hour time run, it’s the Kaiju Defense Force. Part of that is because they play the role of the villains who just kill Kaiju. Especially with Dr. Onda leading the charge to kill every Kaiju that attacks Tokyo. There are some layers to him because he isn’t just a Kaiju hater for no reason. There is also a Captain in the KDF that empathizes with the baby Kaiju because he’s a father. Dr. Onda’s motivations are reasonable for the time he is focused on in the film, but I wish there was a bit more to it than what we got.
As a combination of everything, the film is visually gorgeous. Some of the most fluid and energetic with so many interesting uses of it. The art style for the film captures the wonder of Ultraman and the childish nature of the film and highest parts of it being a franchise for children who can dream. It’s a film for everyone. A fantastic family film attached to a really cool franchise that I have learned to love for the past few years. The journey of Kenichi Sato is great for everyone to vibe with and it’s such a cute film. Highly recommended, please check it out.
