Unite: Ultraman X: The Movie
Sep. 9th, 2018 02:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameThe third series of the so-called "New Generation" era of Ultraman, X takes place in a world where, long ago, giant monsters roamed the planet. They eventually shrank down into dormant Spark Dolls—essentially action figure versions of themselves. However, out in the Solar System, the warrior Ultraman X was pursuing the dangerous alien Greeza, who targeted planets with high amounts of life energy, utterly destroying them. He'd set his sights on Earth, sensing the powerful life energy not just of humans, but of the Spark Dolls as well. X was able to defeat him by throwing him into the sun, but in the process, he created a powerful solar flare, the Ultra Flare, that destroyed his and Greeza's bodies and sent purple auroras to Earth that awakened the Spark Dolls.
Dr. Takashi Ozora, an archeologist who had discovered the Gomora Spark Doll, quickly recognized the effects of the Ultra Flare and isolated it from the radiation in a containment unit. However, his wife, Dr. Haruka Ozora, was trapped in her astrophysics lab just as the Ultra Flares were digitizing it and transporting it to another dimension. Takashi gave the containment unit to their young son, Daichi, and rushed in to save his wife, but both were digitized and lost. Fifteen years later, Daichi grew up to become a scientist and field agent with Xio, a taskforce charged with containing the Spark Dolls and stopping the giant monsters they had transformed into, while Daichi also hoped to create a preserve for the Spark Dolls so that they too could share the world with humans. While listening to his mother's radio equipment, he heard X's voice, his body completely destroyed and existing only as scattered data.
...I feel it is only appropriate to mention at this time that Ultraman X is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura, who played Beet J Stag from Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, whose partner was basically in the same boat.
X managed to download himself into Daichi's Devizer, a communicator and scanner that also functioned with the Cyber Card system that Xio was experimenting with. Using this, X was able to digitize his body into a Spark Doll and Cyber Card, with Daichi acting as host and template for him to temporarily restore his body. Daichi and X fought several aliens and confined many monsters, eventually facing off against Greeza himself and destroying him for good. In their final battle, Daichi and X's relationship was revealed to their fellow members of Xio—field agents Asuna Yamase, Wataru Kazama, and Hayato Kishima; communication specialists Takeru Yamagishi and Chiaki Matsudo (played by Ultra band Voyager); scientists Dr. Gourmand/Guruman (it depends on your sub; Crunchyroll used Gourmand while nearly everywhere else used Guruman—while this review is based off the TV-Nihon sub, I'm sticking with Crunchyroll's transliteration), Rui Takada, and Mamoru Mikazuki; and Lieutenant Sayuri Tachibana and Captain Shotaro Kamiki.
...I also must inform you that Captain Kamiki is played by Dr. Maki from OOO. Absolutely necessary information.
Long and overblown as this explanation may be, it is nothing compared to that of the movie itself. The first six minutes are dedicated to recapping the entire season, for a movie that takes place right after. That is being attended by children and parents who obviously already know the show because they're here to watch the movie.
We then cut to another background spiel, with someone—revealed afterwards to be Gourmand—telling the legend of the giant of light, Ultraman, who continues to fight to protect the universe from darkness. He's being ignored by Rui and Mamoru, who have heard this story over and over and kinda want to get to the plot because seriously, we only have an hour of movie now. Gourmand insists that there's a point—he's recreated Ultraman's Beta Capsule, in the hopes that maybe they can summon him.
Of course, he blows up the lab when he tries to activate it. I honestly do not know how any of these people are allowed to continue working there.
The movie truly begins at Xio's mission control, where everyone is throwing a party to welcome back Daichi, who has just returned from overseeing a monster preserve in Australia. Because...well, where else were you going to put one? Captain Kamiki brings over some of his daughter's cookies for everyone, and when Asuna goes for seconds, X starts lecturing her about her diet, until she turns his X-Devizer face-down. But while everyone else enjoys a laugh, Lieutenant Tachibana sneaks up behind them, furious that Kamiki is letting them eat at the operations desk. Because sometimes Mom has to lay down the rules when Dad lets the kids play. And I have to say, it's just hilarious watching Dr. Maki have this "oh crap" face while Asuna tries to sneak off-screen:
Not to mention when the Captain tries to stuff a cookie into his mouth and hope she doesn't notice:
But Xio is saved by an alert from Area A2 in Akita Prefecture, the Baradhi Village pyramid ruins. Odd electromagnetic waves are being emitted from there, so Asuna, Daichi, and by extension, X, are sent to investigate. Daichi and X pick up weird energy around the pyramid, but as they try to get closer, they're stopped by a young boy, Yuuto, who prevents them from stepping on what he thinks is an ancient artifact—though Daichi has to tell him it's just old trash. Yuuto's mother, Dr. Tsukasa Tamaki, comes in and scolds him for following her to a potentially dangerous location. She's a Tokyo University professor who's at odds with a reality TV treasure-hunter in Indiana Jones cosplay, Carlos Kurosaki. Carlos blows up a portion of the pyramid in order to get inside...which utterly enrages my nerdy academic side, not to mention Dr. Tamaki, who is an actual archeologist.
Without caring about the potential danger, Carlos leads his film crew and assistant into the pyramid, with the Tamakis and Xio close behind, Dr. Tamaki warning of legends that Hell is sealed away in the ruins. But deep within the ruins is a half-buried statue of an Ultraman, who Dr. Tamaki recognizes as the ancient titan of legend, Tiga. X admits that Tiga might have been a visitor to Earth in the distant past, thus explaining the statue, but they're all soon distracted by a large sphere of green jasper and an epitaph explaining that the stone will unite heaven's light with the earth's light. Once they do, darkness will return to darkness. And the jasper belongs to whosoever bears the united light. Or, if you're Carlos, you just see a shiny object and decide, "Mine!"
As any good fan of Professor Jones can tell you, as soon as you touch the very obvious treasure, the entire building starts shaking and crumbling. They run out of the pyramid just before it explodes, revealing a particularly ugly and spiky kaiju, the Hell Beast Zaigorg. With Yuuto and his mother in danger, Daichi and X unite.
I don't know, maybe it's because X is my first Ultra series, but I really love how the transformation sequence goes. Because X doesn't have a physical body, his data can only physically manifest as a Spark Doll. When Daichi places X's doll on the face of his Devizer, it releases streams of digital energy. The light from X and the digital energy then merge with Daichi's body, allowing X to take his true form and height. I admit that I haven't seen a whole lot from the seasons before this, but it definitely looks like the idea of having the Ultra and host as equals and partners is very new—Hikaru could only hear Ginga's voice occasionally, and Zero's hosts Taiga and Ran had either complete control over him or were completely controlled by him. The idea of X and Daichi "united," with each able to communicate with the other and help the other fight is a relationship that would later become standard for Ultraman Zero's next host, Leito, in Geed.
Any hope of victory, however, is quickly extinguished as Zaigorg proves too powerful for X and Daichi, even in their powered up Exceed form. Their unite is violently broken, with Daichi thrown out of transformation mid-fall. X manages just enough power to surround him with light and gently ease him to the ground, but the X-Devizer lands heavily, coated in some kind of red veins. Asuna retrieves Daichi and they watch on in horror as Zaigorg forms a lake of lava and X fails to respond to Daichi, all while Dr. Tamaki realizes this is what the legends meant by "Hell."
They retreat to Xio base, where after a gag of Dr. Tamaki failing to read Kamiki and Tachibana's nametags, she explains that Zaigorg comes from an ancient era in Earth's history, when the land was ablaze and the seas were boiling lava. He was only defeated when the giant of light came to the planet and sealed him away in the earth. And according to the inscriptions, the only way to seal Zaigorg again may be to recover the jasper sphere. With Zaigorg moving underground toward Tokyo at a fast pace, Asuna and Tamaki head to Carlos Communications HQ to try to convince the dumbass to give up the sealing stone.
Meanwhile, Ruri, Mamoru, and Gourmand entertain Yuuto, showing him around the lab while they examine the videos of Tiga's statue. Gourmand plans to create a Tiga card to go along with X's other Ultraman Cyber Cards, thus allowing him to equip a Tiga-based armor. He show Yuuto the cards of Max, Ginga, Victory, Zero, and Nexus, explaining that they are precious, secret treasures belonging to Xio. Yuuto agrees, showing off his own "treasures"—rocks and trash that he's told himself are pieces of alien spaceships or Incan jewels. But one large stone rod confuses him, and he admits he's not sure if it's a hammer. However, Gourmand recognizes it immediately and asks to borrow it for a while, spotting a bit of metal on the side, engraved with runes. Daichi is able to revive X by shocking him with a pair of electrodes, but the red stuff on the Devizer is corroding it, preventing X from uniting with Daichi and threatening to force him out of the Devizer entirely, where he'd once again be scattered data. The rest of the science team switches to trying to help him, but Kamiki orders Daichi to move out. Though Daichi's hesitant, without the ability to unite, Gourmand promises to repair the Devizer, and X insists that while he can't do anything right now, Daichi still can.
While Asuna and Tamaki fail to talk any sort of sense into Carlos, Daichi utilizes Xio's...okay, it's hard to explain. Xio has this technology that allows them to materialize cyber kaiju from the cyber cards, based off the psychic link between the Spark Doll—in this case, Gomora—and the human operator—typically Daichi, although Gomora has trusted a couple of Daichi's teammates to form that bond with him and help him fight as well. It's almost like the Battlenizer system of Mega Monster Battle, combined with a psychic version of Yu-Gi-Oh. With giant monsters. It's really cool, is what I'm saying.
Cyber Gomora attacks Zaigorg, forcing him out of the ground so Wataru and Hayato can attack in the Sky and Land Musketty. Daichi claims that Zaigorg's skin is a Bose-Einstein condensate, so it will be impervious to attacks, forcing them to aim for the eyes. And mind you, I am not a physicist, but I don't think that's what a Bose-Einstein condensate does? I mean, unless Daichi's worried that the attacks are going to be caught in a vortex in his skin...anyway, they manage to land a hit, buying Mamoru time to raise a shield with the Cyber Eleking card, isolating Zaigorg within a force field. Unfortunately, what is a force field to a giant monster than just another thing to smash, and Zaigorg breaks through it with ease, de-materializing Cyber Gomora, and managing to create two new kaiju, based off Antlar and Golza, to wreck the city. They destroy the satellites used to materialize the cyber kaiju, forcing Daichi and Mamoru to regroup with the Carlos Tower team while Hayato and Wataru fight.
Asuna tries to evacuate the tower, but Carlos is still intent on filming. Seeing his mother on the livestream of the end of the world, Yuuto tries to run, insisting to Rui that he needs to protect his mom. But in the midst of their arguing, the strange artifact he'd recovered shines brightly, as does the jasper in Carlos Tower. Gourmand realizes that both are reacting to Yuuto's emotions, and X points out that this sounds like the inscription's words of the lights of heaven and earth connecting. Even his X-Devizer begins glowing. X asks Rui to take him to Daichi, and Gourmand tells her to bring the kid with her. Because that's exactly where a small child should be. In the middle of a battlefield. I will never be comfortable with this aspect of the genre. She suits up in her pink glasses, gloves, and a protective vest and flies the Space Musketty out, putting X on GPS duty when he complains about her flying. They reach Daichi and Mamoru just in time to save them, but Yuuto escapes into the building, where his mother is desperately trying to keep the jasper sphere away from Carlos. While Daichi finds Yuuto and helps him try to get to his mom, Rui and Mamoru take the Space Musketty to distract Zaigorg from the building, using their Cotton Candy Beam to plug its mouth...in the most useful joke weapon ever, even if it only lasts for as long as it takes for Zaigorg to eat the cotton candy.
But the attacks on the building caused a support beam to collapse on Takami, forcing her to lose the stone. Carlos finds the stone and tries to walk away with it before his conscience finally kicks in, and he tries to help free her...only to throw out his back immediately. Daichi and Yuuto arrive, and Yuuto and Tamaki scold each other for running into dangerous situations while squishy Daichi tries harder to move the beam than Carlos did. Asuna arrives, along with Carlos's secretary, and I bet you can guess which one actually tries to help while the other goes to her boss and asks if he's okay. With the monsters converging on the tower, Tamaki yells at them to leave her and run for it, but Yuuto refuses, screaming that she always told him to never give up. The artifact in his backpack glows, and the next thing anyone knows, he displays superhuman strength and lifts the beam up all on his own, hurling it several feet. Yuuto takes the shining artifact out of his backpack, and the stone covering it crumbles away to reveal Ultraman Tiga's Spark Lens, which glows alongside the jasper sphere and the X-Devizer. As Zaigorg attacks again, causing a wall to fall toward Yuuto and his mother, Yuuto raises the Spark Lens and transforms into Tiga. At the same time, the corrosion on the X-Devizer repairs itself, and X and Daichi are able to unite. Seeing Yuuto-Tiga, X realizes that the bond between people is the light that unites heaven and earth. And then, overthinking things a little, he adds that because he and Tiga are united with that light, they are called "giants of light."
...Um, X? I think it's more because you're actual giants. Who feed off solar energy and have light instead of blood and some kind of inner light space that houses hosts like Daichi. I mean, if we went for the poetic "titans of light" that I started using at the beginning of the review because of the 4Kids/Funimation sub of Tiga, maybe you'd have something, but no. You're very tall and made of light. That's it, X. There's no special meaning behind it.
The jasper also starts shining in Tamaki's hands, and it flies into the air, rotating as it becomes a red, Ultra travel sphere. Realizing what's going on, Gourmand gasps, "He's here! Our..."
"Ultraman," Daichi finishes, realizing the legendary hero has arrived.
It's a powerful moment, as everyone watches on in stunned silence at his appearance for several seconds, before Zaigorg resumes its attack. But Ultraman steps to X's side, allowing him to take the lead, and Kamiki orders Xio to aid the three Ultramen in defeating the monsters. The battle is chaotic, with Xio firing when the monsters have the Ultras on the ropes. Hayato takes a risk and releases the limiter on Sky Musketty's Devizer, engulfing the jet in Cyber Birdon's flames as he flies right into Antlar, forcing it to the ground, where Tiga finishes it off. Wataru does the same with Land Musketty's limiter, overloading it with Cyber Zetton's power, while Asuna powers herself up with Cyber Gomora's card, channeling the power into her bazooka. Together, they fend off Golza's attacks on Ultraman, giving him the upperhand and allowing him to destroy it. X and Daichi continue battle against Zaigorg, overpowering it with their Xanadium Beam. But Zaigorg survives the attack and ensnares Ultraman and Tiga, managing to, well, borrow the power of their lights without asking. Having sufficiently done that, Zaigorg fires more spikes, injuring X with three while sending the remaining five all over the world: to Shanghai, China; Lausanne, Switzerland; Cairo, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Dallas, Texas in the U.S., which wins points for having the most American and probably most Texan reaction to a giant monster showing up in the middle of the interstate—honking indignantly. Xio bases all over the planet are mobilizing, but without Ultras, they won't stand a chance.
On the ground, Carlos, Tamaki, and Xio begin cheering on the Ultras and Daichi, telling them not to give up. Carlos starts a whole spiel of how hope is the only light against the darkness, but Asuna finally yells at him that it was his own damn fault in the first place before yelling at X not to give up. As they all cry out to the Ultramen, Gourmand finds two new cyber cards forming—for Tiga and Ultraman. He sends them to Rui and Mamoru, who transfer them to Daichi and X. Daichi scans them together, receiving a Spark Lens and a Beta Capsule. X realizes that the two powers represent the Earth's hopes, and Daichi combines the two transformation devices into the Beta Spark Sword—a device that honestly looks like it was always meant to form from them. The two powers equip into armor for Exceed X, and he's able to cut through the tentacles binding his fellow Ultras. But that's not all—all of the Ultra cards are circling Gourmand, and they fly off across the world, summoning their respective Ultras to fight the kaiju: Zero to Shanghai (who, of course, cracks that he's sorry to keep everyone "waiting," oh please, Zero), Max to Lausanne, Nexus to Cairo, Victory to Buenos Aires, and Ginga to Dallas, each of them joining forces with that country's Xio team.
X's new power is finally enough to start turning the tide against Zaigorg, though it blasts at the three Ultras, trying to take them down together. X, Ultraman, and Tiga leap into the sky, Tiga and Ultraman crossing one another to form a golden "x" shape, charging up X to create cybernetic wings behind him. The united light spreads into X's inner light, surrounding Daichi with golden power, while also traveling all over the world to fully charge the other Ultras. At the same time, the five Ultras release their beams, destroying their monsters, and Ginga encourages Daichi and X to finish things up. As Zaigorg powers up a final attack, Daichi reconfigures the Beta Spark Sword into a bow, gathering all of his and X's power into the arrow. Zaigorg unleashes his attack, and for a moment, it looks like Daichi was too slow, with X engulfed in flames. But they stand untouched as the smoke clears, finally releasing the Beta Spark Arrow. The massive attack cuts through Zaigorg, completely obliterating it.
The eight Ultras meet up, and X thanks the others for their help. Ginga explains that they were called by the light of his and Daichi's hope, and Zero makes sure to get right up in their business to point out that Daichi and X have really grown (mind you, X is one of the shorter Ultras, and Zero fucking knows it). He promises that they'll meet up with the two again, then leads the rest of the Revival/New Generation heroes off...but not before pausing to flirt with a star-struck Rui, because Zero's ego knows no bounds.
Both Tiga and X begin glowing, and their humans revert to normal, Yuuto reuniting with his mom. Daichi smiles before realizing something's off—X is still there, standing 45 meters above him, his body finally restored. Shocked, Daichi checks his Devizer, but the gold that had appeared around the rim from X's data disappears. As the rest of the team gathers around Daichi and gapes at X, X says goodbye. The light from their hope has restored his true form, and that means he has to return to his mission. Ultraman claps a hand on X's shoulder, leaving ahead so that X can finish his goodbyes, and X explains that they have to help preserve balance in the universe, thereby protecting the Earth from afar. Daichi is disheartened to say goodbye after all this time, but X promises that even though they're not together and they can't see one another, they will always be united. Daichi promises not to forget, and X promises to return if the planet is in imminent danger once again. Rui tells him that they'll be lonely without him, and Mamoru bursts into tears as he thanks him. Wataru and Hayato tell him they were glad to fight with him and that he can trust them to take care of Earth, and Asuna simply says goodbye. At Xio base, Kamiki that it was their honor to fight alongside him and to call him their friend, and he leads the remaining staff to stand at attention, as X thanks them. And finally, Daichi says that he's sure they'll meet again, before the rest of the team salutes and waves and cries. X does them the honor of a fly-over before disappearing into the grand sky. As they watch, Yuuto asks his mother if he protected her, and she thanks him for always looking out for her. Carlos, in the meantime, is ready to set off on the next great adventure, but this time he invites Tamaki along. Tamaki, however, is reasonable enough to point out that he really is being kind of ridiculous, continuing this whole thing after what just happened, but some people will never learn.
A new day dawns at Xio base, where at the operations desk, the team snacks on blintzes, popcorn, and other junk food, much more quietly than they had at the beginning of the episode. They freeze when Tachibana comes along, but she really doesn't have it in her to scold them this time, and she shocks them by snatching an eclair. Asuna remarks to Daichi that it's a lot quieter without X around, but the next thing they know, they hear a familiar voice lecturing her about the sugar content of her blintz, and the gold returns to Daichi's Devizer as X uploads his data once more. Asuna grabs the X-Devizer as Daichi points out he'd just left for the ends of the universe, but X is there to warn them: a dangerous monster from the Centaurus system, Desastro, has escaped through a wormhole and is on his way to Earth.
Right now.
Takeru and Chiaki pick up the energy approaching the planet, estimated to land in Area T, Tokyo, in about 13 minutes. Asuna wonders why it's always Earth as she hands X over, and Daichi wonders if this time, maybe it'll be friendly for once. Even so, Kamiki orders everyone to move out, and Daichi and X eagerly prepare to face the threat together.
He's Here! Our Ultraman! is a perfect microcosm of everything I love and hate about Ultraman X. On the one hand, it has great ideas, cool gadgets and technologies, and interesting characters. But it also squanders these by focusing on things that aren't as critical. The stakes certainly feel big enough to warrant a movie—an ancient monster that was sealed by visiting Ultramen in the distant past (a great hint to the overarching plot in the next season, Ultraman Orb), a celebration anticipating the 50th anniversary of Ultraman and the 20th anniversary of Tiga, and a resolution that finally restores X's body. But we waste a good six minutes recapping the series for no real reason, followed by further backstory that clumsily foreshadows Ultraman's appearance, just because we spent all of the story on Tiga. There's a good chance to build things on Daichi all throughout: his trip to Australia and hopes of restoring the Spark Dolls to their true size and find a safe place for humans and monsters to coexist—that could lead to him feeling disheartened, seeing a monster that was rightly feared by the ancients; deal with him and X now being open about everything in front of Xio and the new dynamic that causes, as well as X trying to get him to understand that it's not really good that he's in Daichi's phone because he doesn't have his own body; build on Daichi as the scientist working on Spark Doll research and his special bond with the monsters. But much of that time is given to Tiga's legend. And it's not that Tiga isn't a good season and worthy of celebration; but X's problem has always been that it overdid the tribute episodes and didn't manage to make Daichi and X stand out in comparison.
And honestly, I think I'd even be able to deal with the over-focus on Tiga if it had felt more like Daichi and X were going to get his power. Giving it to Yuuto was a letdown. And I say this as someone who really tries not to hate the child characters that show up in toku and sci-fi. But Yuuto felt like a really baffling character—a child who felt the constant need to protect his mother, while also being very immature. I can't really blame it on Serai Takagi, his actor, because it feels more like a writing issue. Neither he nor his mother felt all...well, together. Their behavior always felt odd, and for a franchise where a 20-year-old scientist has a psychic bond with a plastic toy of a giant monster that has more or less been the replacement for his parents for the past 15 years, and who also merges with the data of an interplanetary cop who fucked up so badly that he got the squishy nerd's parents transported into another dimension from which they can never be recovered...that's saying a lot. I know, give the self-insert character for the little boys watching a chance to be the hero. But that's something you do in the series itself, not in the movie. How do I know this? Well, they did it with the Mom character—Tachibana was chosen by Ultraman Nexus to be his deunamist for an episode where she was struggling between her duty and her desire to protect her family.
Yuuto becoming Tiga doesn't feel right on a meta level either. His mother is played by Takami Yoshimoto, who had played Rena Yamase in Tiga. Obviously, yes, have her transform. But beyond that, she's also Susumu Kurobe's daughter—Ultraman himself! So if Yuuto was going to transform into Tiga, then his mom absolutely should have at least become Ultraman. But we don't get either result, and that hurts it a little.
And, well, of course, we have to put up with Carlos all movie. His actor, Michael Tomioka, is fine, but that is a very annoying character to not be an actual villain. I'm honestly relieved that Ultraman R/B decided to go with making their crazy rich guy with skewed priorities an actual villain, if only because you can't really have that kind of character not be on anyone's side.
But there's still an undeniable charm to Ultraman X that continues into the movie. Kensuke Takahashi is adorably optimistic as Daichi, continuing in the vein of squishy scientist turned superhero that frequently came up in the Ultra franchise up to this date. He has great chemistry with Asuna, played by Akane Sakanoue, who really seems to have built a friendship not just with him, but with X. She felt like she needed to protect Daichi during the series, since he was the squishy scientist who thought he was part of the strike team. They became friends, and now she knows he's just as capable of handling everything as anyone else on the strike team. And X isn't just an ally anymore, but a close friend she can treat just the same as she treats Daichi. Yuichi Nakamura's X is perfect—heroic, yes, but also very much not used to interacting with humans who are not Daichi, and thus failing at social niceties. He can't always read the room, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't care about the members of Xio as his friends. Yu Kamio is still unrecognizable as Kamiki, a fatherly leader who takes charge but shows kindness and understanding. Sarara Tsukifune's Tachibana balances him out—also compassionate, but more willing to be stern—the tough mom to his fun dad. I admit, I do have to criticize Ukyou Hashimoto and Yoshihiko Hosoda for not making Hayato and Wataru stand out all that much, but most of that issue is with writing—Hashimoto clearly impressed someone enough to be cast as Taiga in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. And the trio of Rui, Mamoru, and Gourmand, played by Haruka Momokawa, Hayato Harada, and Yasunori Matsumoto, is adorably zany. The only other characters I can't really praise are Takeru (played by TAKERU), Chiaki (played by Chiaki Seshimo), and Carlos's assistant, Saeko Kirihara (played by Yuka Nakayama), and that's only because they don't have much screentime. And Iwata Sakaekei definitely makes for some exciting stuntwork as X's suit actor, along with Akatsuki Okabe as Tiga, Shinnosuke Ishikawa as Ultraman, and Yoshiki Kurahara as Zaigorg. All in all, don't expect anything that's going to blow you away. But for a fun hour with some honestly adorable characters, yeah. X gets the job done.
Ultraman X: The Movie was written by Takao Nakano, Yuji Kobayashi, and Hirotoshi Kobayashi, and directed by Kiyotaka Taguchi.
Dr. Takashi Ozora, an archeologist who had discovered the Gomora Spark Doll, quickly recognized the effects of the Ultra Flare and isolated it from the radiation in a containment unit. However, his wife, Dr. Haruka Ozora, was trapped in her astrophysics lab just as the Ultra Flares were digitizing it and transporting it to another dimension. Takashi gave the containment unit to their young son, Daichi, and rushed in to save his wife, but both were digitized and lost. Fifteen years later, Daichi grew up to become a scientist and field agent with Xio, a taskforce charged with containing the Spark Dolls and stopping the giant monsters they had transformed into, while Daichi also hoped to create a preserve for the Spark Dolls so that they too could share the world with humans. While listening to his mother's radio equipment, he heard X's voice, his body completely destroyed and existing only as scattered data.
...I feel it is only appropriate to mention at this time that Ultraman X is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura, who played Beet J Stag from Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, whose partner was basically in the same boat.
X managed to download himself into Daichi's Devizer, a communicator and scanner that also functioned with the Cyber Card system that Xio was experimenting with. Using this, X was able to digitize his body into a Spark Doll and Cyber Card, with Daichi acting as host and template for him to temporarily restore his body. Daichi and X fought several aliens and confined many monsters, eventually facing off against Greeza himself and destroying him for good. In their final battle, Daichi and X's relationship was revealed to their fellow members of Xio—field agents Asuna Yamase, Wataru Kazama, and Hayato Kishima; communication specialists Takeru Yamagishi and Chiaki Matsudo (played by Ultra band Voyager); scientists Dr. Gourmand/Guruman (it depends on your sub; Crunchyroll used Gourmand while nearly everywhere else used Guruman—while this review is based off the TV-Nihon sub, I'm sticking with Crunchyroll's transliteration), Rui Takada, and Mamoru Mikazuki; and Lieutenant Sayuri Tachibana and Captain Shotaro Kamiki.
...I also must inform you that Captain Kamiki is played by Dr. Maki from OOO. Absolutely necessary information.
Long and overblown as this explanation may be, it is nothing compared to that of the movie itself. The first six minutes are dedicated to recapping the entire season, for a movie that takes place right after. That is being attended by children and parents who obviously already know the show because they're here to watch the movie.
We then cut to another background spiel, with someone—revealed afterwards to be Gourmand—telling the legend of the giant of light, Ultraman, who continues to fight to protect the universe from darkness. He's being ignored by Rui and Mamoru, who have heard this story over and over and kinda want to get to the plot because seriously, we only have an hour of movie now. Gourmand insists that there's a point—he's recreated Ultraman's Beta Capsule, in the hopes that maybe they can summon him.
Of course, he blows up the lab when he tries to activate it. I honestly do not know how any of these people are allowed to continue working there.
The movie truly begins at Xio's mission control, where everyone is throwing a party to welcome back Daichi, who has just returned from overseeing a monster preserve in Australia. Because...well, where else were you going to put one? Captain Kamiki brings over some of his daughter's cookies for everyone, and when Asuna goes for seconds, X starts lecturing her about her diet, until she turns his X-Devizer face-down. But while everyone else enjoys a laugh, Lieutenant Tachibana sneaks up behind them, furious that Kamiki is letting them eat at the operations desk. Because sometimes Mom has to lay down the rules when Dad lets the kids play. And I have to say, it's just hilarious watching Dr. Maki have this "oh crap" face while Asuna tries to sneak off-screen:
Not to mention when the Captain tries to stuff a cookie into his mouth and hope she doesn't notice:
But Xio is saved by an alert from Area A2 in Akita Prefecture, the Baradhi Village pyramid ruins. Odd electromagnetic waves are being emitted from there, so Asuna, Daichi, and by extension, X, are sent to investigate. Daichi and X pick up weird energy around the pyramid, but as they try to get closer, they're stopped by a young boy, Yuuto, who prevents them from stepping on what he thinks is an ancient artifact—though Daichi has to tell him it's just old trash. Yuuto's mother, Dr. Tsukasa Tamaki, comes in and scolds him for following her to a potentially dangerous location. She's a Tokyo University professor who's at odds with a reality TV treasure-hunter in Indiana Jones cosplay, Carlos Kurosaki. Carlos blows up a portion of the pyramid in order to get inside...which utterly enrages my nerdy academic side, not to mention Dr. Tamaki, who is an actual archeologist.
Without caring about the potential danger, Carlos leads his film crew and assistant into the pyramid, with the Tamakis and Xio close behind, Dr. Tamaki warning of legends that Hell is sealed away in the ruins. But deep within the ruins is a half-buried statue of an Ultraman, who Dr. Tamaki recognizes as the ancient titan of legend, Tiga. X admits that Tiga might have been a visitor to Earth in the distant past, thus explaining the statue, but they're all soon distracted by a large sphere of green jasper and an epitaph explaining that the stone will unite heaven's light with the earth's light. Once they do, darkness will return to darkness. And the jasper belongs to whosoever bears the united light. Or, if you're Carlos, you just see a shiny object and decide, "Mine!"
As any good fan of Professor Jones can tell you, as soon as you touch the very obvious treasure, the entire building starts shaking and crumbling. They run out of the pyramid just before it explodes, revealing a particularly ugly and spiky kaiju, the Hell Beast Zaigorg. With Yuuto and his mother in danger, Daichi and X unite.
I don't know, maybe it's because X is my first Ultra series, but I really love how the transformation sequence goes. Because X doesn't have a physical body, his data can only physically manifest as a Spark Doll. When Daichi places X's doll on the face of his Devizer, it releases streams of digital energy. The light from X and the digital energy then merge with Daichi's body, allowing X to take his true form and height. I admit that I haven't seen a whole lot from the seasons before this, but it definitely looks like the idea of having the Ultra and host as equals and partners is very new—Hikaru could only hear Ginga's voice occasionally, and Zero's hosts Taiga and Ran had either complete control over him or were completely controlled by him. The idea of X and Daichi "united," with each able to communicate with the other and help the other fight is a relationship that would later become standard for Ultraman Zero's next host, Leito, in Geed.
Any hope of victory, however, is quickly extinguished as Zaigorg proves too powerful for X and Daichi, even in their powered up Exceed form. Their unite is violently broken, with Daichi thrown out of transformation mid-fall. X manages just enough power to surround him with light and gently ease him to the ground, but the X-Devizer lands heavily, coated in some kind of red veins. Asuna retrieves Daichi and they watch on in horror as Zaigorg forms a lake of lava and X fails to respond to Daichi, all while Dr. Tamaki realizes this is what the legends meant by "Hell."
They retreat to Xio base, where after a gag of Dr. Tamaki failing to read Kamiki and Tachibana's nametags, she explains that Zaigorg comes from an ancient era in Earth's history, when the land was ablaze and the seas were boiling lava. He was only defeated when the giant of light came to the planet and sealed him away in the earth. And according to the inscriptions, the only way to seal Zaigorg again may be to recover the jasper sphere. With Zaigorg moving underground toward Tokyo at a fast pace, Asuna and Tamaki head to Carlos Communications HQ to try to convince the dumbass to give up the sealing stone.
Meanwhile, Ruri, Mamoru, and Gourmand entertain Yuuto, showing him around the lab while they examine the videos of Tiga's statue. Gourmand plans to create a Tiga card to go along with X's other Ultraman Cyber Cards, thus allowing him to equip a Tiga-based armor. He show Yuuto the cards of Max, Ginga, Victory, Zero, and Nexus, explaining that they are precious, secret treasures belonging to Xio. Yuuto agrees, showing off his own "treasures"—rocks and trash that he's told himself are pieces of alien spaceships or Incan jewels. But one large stone rod confuses him, and he admits he's not sure if it's a hammer. However, Gourmand recognizes it immediately and asks to borrow it for a while, spotting a bit of metal on the side, engraved with runes. Daichi is able to revive X by shocking him with a pair of electrodes, but the red stuff on the Devizer is corroding it, preventing X from uniting with Daichi and threatening to force him out of the Devizer entirely, where he'd once again be scattered data. The rest of the science team switches to trying to help him, but Kamiki orders Daichi to move out. Though Daichi's hesitant, without the ability to unite, Gourmand promises to repair the Devizer, and X insists that while he can't do anything right now, Daichi still can.
While Asuna and Tamaki fail to talk any sort of sense into Carlos, Daichi utilizes Xio's...okay, it's hard to explain. Xio has this technology that allows them to materialize cyber kaiju from the cyber cards, based off the psychic link between the Spark Doll—in this case, Gomora—and the human operator—typically Daichi, although Gomora has trusted a couple of Daichi's teammates to form that bond with him and help him fight as well. It's almost like the Battlenizer system of Mega Monster Battle, combined with a psychic version of Yu-Gi-Oh. With giant monsters. It's really cool, is what I'm saying.
Cyber Gomora attacks Zaigorg, forcing him out of the ground so Wataru and Hayato can attack in the Sky and Land Musketty. Daichi claims that Zaigorg's skin is a Bose-Einstein condensate, so it will be impervious to attacks, forcing them to aim for the eyes. And mind you, I am not a physicist, but I don't think that's what a Bose-Einstein condensate does? I mean, unless Daichi's worried that the attacks are going to be caught in a vortex in his skin...anyway, they manage to land a hit, buying Mamoru time to raise a shield with the Cyber Eleking card, isolating Zaigorg within a force field. Unfortunately, what is a force field to a giant monster than just another thing to smash, and Zaigorg breaks through it with ease, de-materializing Cyber Gomora, and managing to create two new kaiju, based off Antlar and Golza, to wreck the city. They destroy the satellites used to materialize the cyber kaiju, forcing Daichi and Mamoru to regroup with the Carlos Tower team while Hayato and Wataru fight.
Asuna tries to evacuate the tower, but Carlos is still intent on filming. Seeing his mother on the livestream of the end of the world, Yuuto tries to run, insisting to Rui that he needs to protect his mom. But in the midst of their arguing, the strange artifact he'd recovered shines brightly, as does the jasper in Carlos Tower. Gourmand realizes that both are reacting to Yuuto's emotions, and X points out that this sounds like the inscription's words of the lights of heaven and earth connecting. Even his X-Devizer begins glowing. X asks Rui to take him to Daichi, and Gourmand tells her to bring the kid with her. Because that's exactly where a small child should be. In the middle of a battlefield. I will never be comfortable with this aspect of the genre. She suits up in her pink glasses, gloves, and a protective vest and flies the Space Musketty out, putting X on GPS duty when he complains about her flying. They reach Daichi and Mamoru just in time to save them, but Yuuto escapes into the building, where his mother is desperately trying to keep the jasper sphere away from Carlos. While Daichi finds Yuuto and helps him try to get to his mom, Rui and Mamoru take the Space Musketty to distract Zaigorg from the building, using their Cotton Candy Beam to plug its mouth...in the most useful joke weapon ever, even if it only lasts for as long as it takes for Zaigorg to eat the cotton candy.
But the attacks on the building caused a support beam to collapse on Takami, forcing her to lose the stone. Carlos finds the stone and tries to walk away with it before his conscience finally kicks in, and he tries to help free her...only to throw out his back immediately. Daichi and Yuuto arrive, and Yuuto and Tamaki scold each other for running into dangerous situations while squishy Daichi tries harder to move the beam than Carlos did. Asuna arrives, along with Carlos's secretary, and I bet you can guess which one actually tries to help while the other goes to her boss and asks if he's okay. With the monsters converging on the tower, Tamaki yells at them to leave her and run for it, but Yuuto refuses, screaming that she always told him to never give up. The artifact in his backpack glows, and the next thing anyone knows, he displays superhuman strength and lifts the beam up all on his own, hurling it several feet. Yuuto takes the shining artifact out of his backpack, and the stone covering it crumbles away to reveal Ultraman Tiga's Spark Lens, which glows alongside the jasper sphere and the X-Devizer. As Zaigorg attacks again, causing a wall to fall toward Yuuto and his mother, Yuuto raises the Spark Lens and transforms into Tiga. At the same time, the corrosion on the X-Devizer repairs itself, and X and Daichi are able to unite. Seeing Yuuto-Tiga, X realizes that the bond between people is the light that unites heaven and earth. And then, overthinking things a little, he adds that because he and Tiga are united with that light, they are called "giants of light."
...Um, X? I think it's more because you're actual giants. Who feed off solar energy and have light instead of blood and some kind of inner light space that houses hosts like Daichi. I mean, if we went for the poetic "titans of light" that I started using at the beginning of the review because of the 4Kids/Funimation sub of Tiga, maybe you'd have something, but no. You're very tall and made of light. That's it, X. There's no special meaning behind it.
The jasper also starts shining in Tamaki's hands, and it flies into the air, rotating as it becomes a red, Ultra travel sphere. Realizing what's going on, Gourmand gasps, "He's here! Our..."
"Ultraman," Daichi finishes, realizing the legendary hero has arrived.
It's a powerful moment, as everyone watches on in stunned silence at his appearance for several seconds, before Zaigorg resumes its attack. But Ultraman steps to X's side, allowing him to take the lead, and Kamiki orders Xio to aid the three Ultramen in defeating the monsters. The battle is chaotic, with Xio firing when the monsters have the Ultras on the ropes. Hayato takes a risk and releases the limiter on Sky Musketty's Devizer, engulfing the jet in Cyber Birdon's flames as he flies right into Antlar, forcing it to the ground, where Tiga finishes it off. Wataru does the same with Land Musketty's limiter, overloading it with Cyber Zetton's power, while Asuna powers herself up with Cyber Gomora's card, channeling the power into her bazooka. Together, they fend off Golza's attacks on Ultraman, giving him the upperhand and allowing him to destroy it. X and Daichi continue battle against Zaigorg, overpowering it with their Xanadium Beam. But Zaigorg survives the attack and ensnares Ultraman and Tiga, managing to, well, borrow the power of their lights without asking. Having sufficiently done that, Zaigorg fires more spikes, injuring X with three while sending the remaining five all over the world: to Shanghai, China; Lausanne, Switzerland; Cairo, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Dallas, Texas in the U.S., which wins points for having the most American and probably most Texan reaction to a giant monster showing up in the middle of the interstate—honking indignantly. Xio bases all over the planet are mobilizing, but without Ultras, they won't stand a chance.
On the ground, Carlos, Tamaki, and Xio begin cheering on the Ultras and Daichi, telling them not to give up. Carlos starts a whole spiel of how hope is the only light against the darkness, but Asuna finally yells at him that it was his own damn fault in the first place before yelling at X not to give up. As they all cry out to the Ultramen, Gourmand finds two new cyber cards forming—for Tiga and Ultraman. He sends them to Rui and Mamoru, who transfer them to Daichi and X. Daichi scans them together, receiving a Spark Lens and a Beta Capsule. X realizes that the two powers represent the Earth's hopes, and Daichi combines the two transformation devices into the Beta Spark Sword—a device that honestly looks like it was always meant to form from them. The two powers equip into armor for Exceed X, and he's able to cut through the tentacles binding his fellow Ultras. But that's not all—all of the Ultra cards are circling Gourmand, and they fly off across the world, summoning their respective Ultras to fight the kaiju: Zero to Shanghai (who, of course, cracks that he's sorry to keep everyone "waiting," oh please, Zero), Max to Lausanne, Nexus to Cairo, Victory to Buenos Aires, and Ginga to Dallas, each of them joining forces with that country's Xio team.
X's new power is finally enough to start turning the tide against Zaigorg, though it blasts at the three Ultras, trying to take them down together. X, Ultraman, and Tiga leap into the sky, Tiga and Ultraman crossing one another to form a golden "x" shape, charging up X to create cybernetic wings behind him. The united light spreads into X's inner light, surrounding Daichi with golden power, while also traveling all over the world to fully charge the other Ultras. At the same time, the five Ultras release their beams, destroying their monsters, and Ginga encourages Daichi and X to finish things up. As Zaigorg powers up a final attack, Daichi reconfigures the Beta Spark Sword into a bow, gathering all of his and X's power into the arrow. Zaigorg unleashes his attack, and for a moment, it looks like Daichi was too slow, with X engulfed in flames. But they stand untouched as the smoke clears, finally releasing the Beta Spark Arrow. The massive attack cuts through Zaigorg, completely obliterating it.
The eight Ultras meet up, and X thanks the others for their help. Ginga explains that they were called by the light of his and Daichi's hope, and Zero makes sure to get right up in their business to point out that Daichi and X have really grown (mind you, X is one of the shorter Ultras, and Zero fucking knows it). He promises that they'll meet up with the two again, then leads the rest of the Revival/New Generation heroes off...but not before pausing to flirt with a star-struck Rui, because Zero's ego knows no bounds.
Both Tiga and X begin glowing, and their humans revert to normal, Yuuto reuniting with his mom. Daichi smiles before realizing something's off—X is still there, standing 45 meters above him, his body finally restored. Shocked, Daichi checks his Devizer, but the gold that had appeared around the rim from X's data disappears. As the rest of the team gathers around Daichi and gapes at X, X says goodbye. The light from their hope has restored his true form, and that means he has to return to his mission. Ultraman claps a hand on X's shoulder, leaving ahead so that X can finish his goodbyes, and X explains that they have to help preserve balance in the universe, thereby protecting the Earth from afar. Daichi is disheartened to say goodbye after all this time, but X promises that even though they're not together and they can't see one another, they will always be united. Daichi promises not to forget, and X promises to return if the planet is in imminent danger once again. Rui tells him that they'll be lonely without him, and Mamoru bursts into tears as he thanks him. Wataru and Hayato tell him they were glad to fight with him and that he can trust them to take care of Earth, and Asuna simply says goodbye. At Xio base, Kamiki that it was their honor to fight alongside him and to call him their friend, and he leads the remaining staff to stand at attention, as X thanks them. And finally, Daichi says that he's sure they'll meet again, before the rest of the team salutes and waves and cries. X does them the honor of a fly-over before disappearing into the grand sky. As they watch, Yuuto asks his mother if he protected her, and she thanks him for always looking out for her. Carlos, in the meantime, is ready to set off on the next great adventure, but this time he invites Tamaki along. Tamaki, however, is reasonable enough to point out that he really is being kind of ridiculous, continuing this whole thing after what just happened, but some people will never learn.
A new day dawns at Xio base, where at the operations desk, the team snacks on blintzes, popcorn, and other junk food, much more quietly than they had at the beginning of the episode. They freeze when Tachibana comes along, but she really doesn't have it in her to scold them this time, and she shocks them by snatching an eclair. Asuna remarks to Daichi that it's a lot quieter without X around, but the next thing they know, they hear a familiar voice lecturing her about the sugar content of her blintz, and the gold returns to Daichi's Devizer as X uploads his data once more. Asuna grabs the X-Devizer as Daichi points out he'd just left for the ends of the universe, but X is there to warn them: a dangerous monster from the Centaurus system, Desastro, has escaped through a wormhole and is on his way to Earth.
Right now.
Takeru and Chiaki pick up the energy approaching the planet, estimated to land in Area T, Tokyo, in about 13 minutes. Asuna wonders why it's always Earth as she hands X over, and Daichi wonders if this time, maybe it'll be friendly for once. Even so, Kamiki orders everyone to move out, and Daichi and X eagerly prepare to face the threat together.
He's Here! Our Ultraman! is a perfect microcosm of everything I love and hate about Ultraman X. On the one hand, it has great ideas, cool gadgets and technologies, and interesting characters. But it also squanders these by focusing on things that aren't as critical. The stakes certainly feel big enough to warrant a movie—an ancient monster that was sealed by visiting Ultramen in the distant past (a great hint to the overarching plot in the next season, Ultraman Orb), a celebration anticipating the 50th anniversary of Ultraman and the 20th anniversary of Tiga, and a resolution that finally restores X's body. But we waste a good six minutes recapping the series for no real reason, followed by further backstory that clumsily foreshadows Ultraman's appearance, just because we spent all of the story on Tiga. There's a good chance to build things on Daichi all throughout: his trip to Australia and hopes of restoring the Spark Dolls to their true size and find a safe place for humans and monsters to coexist—that could lead to him feeling disheartened, seeing a monster that was rightly feared by the ancients; deal with him and X now being open about everything in front of Xio and the new dynamic that causes, as well as X trying to get him to understand that it's not really good that he's in Daichi's phone because he doesn't have his own body; build on Daichi as the scientist working on Spark Doll research and his special bond with the monsters. But much of that time is given to Tiga's legend. And it's not that Tiga isn't a good season and worthy of celebration; but X's problem has always been that it overdid the tribute episodes and didn't manage to make Daichi and X stand out in comparison.
And honestly, I think I'd even be able to deal with the over-focus on Tiga if it had felt more like Daichi and X were going to get his power. Giving it to Yuuto was a letdown. And I say this as someone who really tries not to hate the child characters that show up in toku and sci-fi. But Yuuto felt like a really baffling character—a child who felt the constant need to protect his mother, while also being very immature. I can't really blame it on Serai Takagi, his actor, because it feels more like a writing issue. Neither he nor his mother felt all...well, together. Their behavior always felt odd, and for a franchise where a 20-year-old scientist has a psychic bond with a plastic toy of a giant monster that has more or less been the replacement for his parents for the past 15 years, and who also merges with the data of an interplanetary cop who fucked up so badly that he got the squishy nerd's parents transported into another dimension from which they can never be recovered...that's saying a lot. I know, give the self-insert character for the little boys watching a chance to be the hero. But that's something you do in the series itself, not in the movie. How do I know this? Well, they did it with the Mom character—Tachibana was chosen by Ultraman Nexus to be his deunamist for an episode where she was struggling between her duty and her desire to protect her family.
Yuuto becoming Tiga doesn't feel right on a meta level either. His mother is played by Takami Yoshimoto, who had played Rena Yamase in Tiga. Obviously, yes, have her transform. But beyond that, she's also Susumu Kurobe's daughter—Ultraman himself! So if Yuuto was going to transform into Tiga, then his mom absolutely should have at least become Ultraman. But we don't get either result, and that hurts it a little.
And, well, of course, we have to put up with Carlos all movie. His actor, Michael Tomioka, is fine, but that is a very annoying character to not be an actual villain. I'm honestly relieved that Ultraman R/B decided to go with making their crazy rich guy with skewed priorities an actual villain, if only because you can't really have that kind of character not be on anyone's side.
But there's still an undeniable charm to Ultraman X that continues into the movie. Kensuke Takahashi is adorably optimistic as Daichi, continuing in the vein of squishy scientist turned superhero that frequently came up in the Ultra franchise up to this date. He has great chemistry with Asuna, played by Akane Sakanoue, who really seems to have built a friendship not just with him, but with X. She felt like she needed to protect Daichi during the series, since he was the squishy scientist who thought he was part of the strike team. They became friends, and now she knows he's just as capable of handling everything as anyone else on the strike team. And X isn't just an ally anymore, but a close friend she can treat just the same as she treats Daichi. Yuichi Nakamura's X is perfect—heroic, yes, but also very much not used to interacting with humans who are not Daichi, and thus failing at social niceties. He can't always read the room, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't care about the members of Xio as his friends. Yu Kamio is still unrecognizable as Kamiki, a fatherly leader who takes charge but shows kindness and understanding. Sarara Tsukifune's Tachibana balances him out—also compassionate, but more willing to be stern—the tough mom to his fun dad. I admit, I do have to criticize Ukyou Hashimoto and Yoshihiko Hosoda for not making Hayato and Wataru stand out all that much, but most of that issue is with writing—Hashimoto clearly impressed someone enough to be cast as Taiga in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. And the trio of Rui, Mamoru, and Gourmand, played by Haruka Momokawa, Hayato Harada, and Yasunori Matsumoto, is adorably zany. The only other characters I can't really praise are Takeru (played by TAKERU), Chiaki (played by Chiaki Seshimo), and Carlos's assistant, Saeko Kirihara (played by Yuka Nakayama), and that's only because they don't have much screentime. And Iwata Sakaekei definitely makes for some exciting stuntwork as X's suit actor, along with Akatsuki Okabe as Tiga, Shinnosuke Ishikawa as Ultraman, and Yoshiki Kurahara as Zaigorg. All in all, don't expect anything that's going to blow you away. But for a fun hour with some honestly adorable characters, yeah. X gets the job done.
Ultraman X: The Movie was written by Takao Nakano, Yuji Kobayashi, and Hirotoshi Kobayashi, and directed by Kiyotaka Taguchi.