Well we just finished Ultraman X and that was an average finale for what was an average series. Spoilers will be involved.
Ep 15 - Kamiki is a terrible father! That is all.
Ep 16 - Oh god, a found footage-esque episode. WHat is this, COPS? Good guy, STOP SHAKING THE CAMERA!! Just an all around terrible episode and the worst of the series. ALthough, the scene when Kamiki interrogates the alien dude was hilarious.
Ep 17 - What would an Ultraman series be without the original Pokemon? It was a touching episode.
Ep 18 - The scene where Rui kept correcting people into calling the monster Mu-Chan to the point that everyone corrects Daichi was hilarious. A childish episode, but a funny one. Poor Wataru. His window antics were great.
Ep 19 - Gomora, Man's Best Friend! Another solid episode here, but what was up with the space monkey?
Ep 20 - Oh cool, Nexus. Boy this episode seemed extremely rushed. This should have been at least a 2 parter becasue Tachibana turning into Nexus just comes out of the blue, she quits, but then why is she still there like nothing happened? Oh, now she says she really should quit annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd Nexus is gone. What the hell was that all about? What was the purpose of Nexus here when he didn't actually do anything? Once again, why the hell was this not a multi-part episode? Hell, this could have easily been a three parter with how much happened here.
Ep 21 - Okay, Greeza is freaking awesome. I love the way he moves. "Oh god dammit, I hate it when lag occurs as it makes it so hard to hit the enemy."
Ep 22 - That's it? Where was the resolution? They never even learned what the source of the dark lightning was. There was no climax to Daichi's quest to find his parents. He didn't even use the Nexus card he got two episodes ago. What was the point of Space Kong?
Overall, like I said, it was an average series. For being 22 episodes (well 24 if you count the two clipshows that were deemed .5) there was just way too much filler and nothing ever felt like there was any major plot thread. The space monkey dude was pointless as he didn't bring anything to the table. Also, Daichi was such a bland character. He barely had any character growth whatsoever and his search for his parents never had an resolution. The same goes for X himself who was there just because it's called Ultraman. Of course, it's not like the rest of the characters were any better.
Thankfully, the show made up for its negatives with a lot of really fun and entertaining episodes. The miniatures were outstanding and the camera work was quite impressive. My favorite episode was the rugby one with the aliens and nothing throughout the rest of the series was able to top it. It's a shame we never got to see them return either as that would have been cool. Then again, this show seems to be full of missed opportunities.
In the end it is easily the weakest of the Ultraman series I have seen. Granted, that isn't many, but all the same. Our next series is going to be Ginga while I finish up UltraSeven on my own.
The characters are not bad, but they aren't anything special either. I also find Daichi to just be a boring protagonist right now. Oh, and the cars and connect to highly advanced vehicles is kind of silly. That aside though, the miniatures and camera shots have been quite good and I have enjoyed the fight choreography. The fifth episode was really well done too.
