#ultraman ginga S

[friendlyloveaffair]

My edit of Ultraman barriers (or shields) from Showa to Reiwa era. They're all defensive barriers (rather than containment barriers).

I like the barrier cos it's a classic technique. These barriers resist, reflect, absorb, or charge against incoming enemy attacks or, rarely, against "friendly fires" (from the defense teams).

Basic as they are in principle, it's interesting how these Ultras form their barriers. (My favorite so far is Arc's - and as the series goes on currently, I await what else he can do with his barrier as his imagination enables it).

I feature at least one form of barrier per Ultra - there are so many of them that I can't include them all, especially from the Heisei era onwards (Ultraman Cosmos has, like, 6 forms of barriers).

Not all Ultras have this barrier technique but if I missed something, let me know!

EDIT: I also did a compilation of Sluggers here.

All credits go to Tsuburaya Productions.

[crabbytime]

Finished Ginga S (my 2nd watch, my friend's 1st watch) and this is simply how the finale goes

[princess-polls]

Round One: 2C

[chernobog13]

Sakuya (the adorably cute Rina Koike) salutes the end of another week and hopes everyone has a great weekend!

[macheteddy]

more ultraman/layton crossover designs

daichi and x

[kanouseis]

On Ultraman Ginga, Dreams and the Future

I’m not the most in touch with the wider Ultraman fandom, all I really do is talk to my friends who are into it, but from them I’ve been told that a known opinion on Ginga is… that it’s not worth watching. Because it’s low-budget, because there’s not much to it, or whatnot. Now, I watched Ginga pretty much only because my kamioshi/favorite idol guy is in it (Kusakawa Takuya, he plays Tomoya), so I didn’t really have any expectations but… I loved it so much! It struck me with how heartfelt and heartwarming it was. People saying that it’s not worth checking out is frankly ridiculous to me. My bias towards it as my favorite Ultra show aside, Ginga has themes and it goes about its themes so incredibly well, in my opinion… so I want to talk about it a bit! Here we go. Spoiler warnings obviously, and while I want to focus on Ginga, I can’t not mention Ginga S as its direct sequel, so spoiler warning for that as well.

In short, Ginga is about dreams. The show makes that extremely clear in several ways. So let’s look at them! Firstly, our cast. Leaving Tomoya aside for a second, they’re a group of childhood friends who reunite following Hikaru’s return to Furuhoshi. They’re all highschool students, soon-ish to graduate. It’s not like they’re lost with what to do after school; in fact, the opposite is the case. Markedly, all four of them have a dream they want to pursue: Kenta wants to become a photographer, Chigusa wants to become an idol, Misuzu wants to become a Japanese sweets maker and Hikaru wants to become an adventurer. Those are big dreams! And they’re not all the most accessible, or promising of a stable future. But as Hikaru says it: “There are some things in this world that aren’t easy to achieve. That’s why we have dreams” (Episode 6). The point is not whether those dreams are objectively good to have or reachable, that’s why they are dreams. Whether they are reachable or not is in their very own hands. And having a dream itself counts for so much already; it gives them purpose, something to work towards – it makes them able to face the future.

Ginga uses contrast a lot to make its themes clear. This is, of course, a common tool employed in stories, but I find it to be especially strong in Ginga (like the whole thing with Ginga and Lugiel… but we’ll get to that). For one, all the “enemies” Hikaru (and his friends) fight in Ginga are pretty much all other humans instead of Kaiju. Yes, they take on the form of Kaiju, because it’s Ultraman, you gotta have a Kaiju fight, but there’s always a person at the core. And those happen to be adults who are lost or disillusioned. They are living, but they are also drifting; they feel unsatisfied, but they aren’t sure why. The fact is that they don’t have a goal in life, or a dream. There’s no light to guide them. That’s why Valky and others are able to prey on the darkness inside their hearts and make them fall into a downward spiral. They are, after all, all adults who have lost their way after graduating. This goes for our main cast, too – Chigusa, Kenta (almost) and especially Misuzu. They all have an encounter with this incredible darkness. Chigusa's frustration at not being good enough, Kenta feeling left out, Misuzu feeling like she's a burden – those feelings all get tied to a frustration at not having reached their dreams yet. It’s Hikaru and the others who remind each of them to remember their dreams, to not give up and that they aren’t alone.

And of course, there’s Tomoya. The fifth to the main cast, and a contrasting character to all of them (but most of all Hikaru, of course), seeing as he directly states that he hates people like them. But he also doesn’t have a dream himself; Tomoya holds the belief that dreams (for himself) are entirely unnecessary. 

But Hikaru being Hikaru, someone who believes in the power of dreams, he’s determined to teach Tomoya their value – this is the entire plot of episode 6, basically. For one, he tells him about how thinking about the future makes you nervous, excited, and sometimes anxious. Even when it’s difficult, that anticipation keeps you going. When Tomoya still stays stubborn, Hikaru’s solution is to simply give Tomoya a dream: 

And secondly, during the fight that follows, Hikaru tells Tomoya what I quoted earlier, the reason dreams exist, adding that it’s something he wants Tomoya to understand. Tomoya replies, with a markedly blank face and monotone voice, that it’s his dream to defeat Ginga and overcome him. Hikaru’s reaction to that is the following:

This is the point where Hikaru is able to break through and crush Tomoya’s Dark Spark, deactivating Jean-Killer and casting Tomoya out. Tomoya’s frustration and tears at being unable to defeat Hikaru become the power that turns Jean-Killer into Jean-Nine, a machine into a friend. He has experienced the grief, but also the sense of purpose that having a dream gives. In the following episodes, he (a bit reluctantly) becomes part of the friend group. By the end, Tomoya’s a valuable ally, and he’ll continue to be in Ginga S.

Lastly, an aspect that is brought out in Ginga S more is Ultraman Ginga’s whole deal. At the very beginning, he and Dark Lugiel used to be one being, until the two halves eventually came into conflict. They agreed that the finiteness of life scares everyone, which gives birth to suffering, pain and mistakes. They split on the definition of eternal life, though – Lugiel believed that in order to prevent new grief from being born, happiness and thus life must be frozen in time, while Ginga held the conviction that overcoming pain and mistakes time and time again will be what creates a better future and so, eternal life. In short, two different attitudes of facing the future – either standing still and never changing for fear of stumbling or facing and overcoming struggle in order to change for the better. It is only fitting that both Lugiel and Ginga come to the Land of Light and later Earth from the future. Their respective hosts, too – Mrs. Shirai, of whom a tiny part missed the old times and wished them back, not wanting to part with all the children that eventually had to leave; and Hikaru, who not only believes in the future, but loves it with his entire heart.

Finally, I want to talk about Ginga S as a whole. It is an excellent continuation of Ginga’s themes, in my opinion. If Ginga is about the value of having a point in life to go towards, then Ginga S is about that path which goes towards said point – to borrow an episode title, “the adventure called life”. This is, in my opinion, best shown with Mana, who basically starts an entire new life halfway through the show, finding meaning in existence as well as her place and path. Fittingly, she is vital to saving the day at the end, too. (And it’s even more interesting because Lugiel wants to turn all living beings into lifeless, unmoving dolls, which is more or less what Mana is at the start of the show – an android only serving her master, not thinking for herself. But as the episodes pass by, she learns what it’s like to live and struggle, and decides for herself that she wants that too. Her encounter with Misuzu has changed her into someone craving life, someone with a dream.) In general, Ginga S is a lot about the conflicts that arise as we live, specifically between different kinds of people (and aliens, too… we all live under the same sky) and how to overcome those. They are part of the path towards your dream too, after all! But those encounters with different people needn’t always be a conflict, people are stronger when they work together. Because Hikaru believes this, he doesn’t reject Shou even when said man acts rather crude towards him, and even saves Shou, later explaining the reason why:

This, of course, is the start of Hikaru finding a partner for life, one who’ll accompany him through many hard fights to come. It says enough that in pretty much every post-canon material, Hikaru and Shou always show up together.

What is also part of Ginga S is the return of the main cast of Ginga, in various capacities, but they’re all there at least once. And the audience gets to see how they’ve changed in the time that has passed between the shows, which I think is beautiful. Kenta and Chigusa both have achieved their respective dreams, although at least for Chigusa it is shown that her path is one yet not free of struggle, but she is happy with her life. Tomoya has decided to become a scientist/researcher supporting the UPG, and he’s remarkably brighter in temperament compared to Ginga, showing that the lessons imparted and his chosen purpose have made him a happier person. Lastly, Misuzu: Her focus episode has her talking about how she's still sort of struggling, “not having become anyone special yet”. But encountering Mana and giving her her new name and life by encouraging her that she can defy her fate and change – it's not really shown in Ginga S, but I believe that Misuzu takes what she tells Mana to heart, too. When she appears again during the last few episodes, she looks more at ease, helping out the people seeking shelter during the crisis. So all members of the friend group have moved on in life, and even if they’re still struggling, they’re all facing the future, knowing that they can change it this way – just as they learned in Ginga.

All in all, I think that Ultraman Ginga has great things to say about the value of dreams and why we should hold onto them. It may be a pretty simple one, but I believe that it's still a great thing for anyone to hear. Chasing dreams, especially if they're far out of reach, can get frustrating and tiring; during times like those, we need to remember why we started to pursue our dreams in the first place. They are like a shining light meant to guide you through the unpredictable future, something that will always be yours even amidst troubling times. Struggling is an essential, unavoidable part of living, but what counts is always facing forward and working to overcome your hurdles. And what do you face forward towards? Your dreams. Ginga S nicely expands on this theme by talking about some of those hurdles that we encounter as we live, and how to overcome those. It talks about the strength you can find in others (like pretty much every Ultra Show) and how the right to decide over your own life should never be taken away from anyone. Those messages compliment Ginga really well, and together, both shows mean a lot to me. I hope I was able to explain at least part of the reason why.

[space-morningstar]

you're an idiot // i'm your idiot

[tokuhugs]

Hikaru & Tomoya (Ultraman Ginga S, Ep. 2)

submitted on twitter

[cjg-toys-tokusatsu-anime-ok]

Ultra Fusion Brace

[neomansubs2024]

[mechanimereview]

Monthly Ultra Connection (August 2024 Edition)

Some general overall thoughts Here is more Ultraman stuff that almost no one cares about, but Ultraman is fun and that’s ok. It seems I wandered into some of the most unhinged ones. Regardless, this is just a fun one in general too. Yeah, the franchise is a lot of fun even if I’ve slown down a bit. Trigger has improved for me too since it’s lackluster feeling first two episodes. Ultraman…

[haveyouseenthistoku]

[tokusongs]

"Shining Future - To the Galaxy of Dreams" (Kirameku Mirai - Yume no Ginga e), ED of Ultraman Ginga S (2014). Performed by Voyager.

[chernobog13]

Sakuya is happy to salute the beginning of the weekend!

[lowder-the-koopa]

Lowder Reviews Next Time: Ultraman Edition

Decide to move the Kamen Rider OOO review to after the Brave and the Bold review to fit the Yo-kai Watch season 1 review into the 2025 lineup.

[askbombasticblake]