![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Martial arts and Astra
May. 24th, 2025 05:25 pmSo let's not talk about how bad my progress with sewing has gone all vacation, in that I have completed 0 of the 3 projects I wanted to do because one of them has taken all week and has gotten almost nowhere despite repeatedly looking like it was almost done. But hey, at least I was able to sew up the seam on my sister's shirt.
Writing, as a result, took a back seat, but right now I'm trying to analyze Astra's fighting style so I can get back to work on this chapter.
Astra's fighting style is, quite honestly, kind of a mess. And I blame it on lack of continuity across the generations. Also, I'm not entirely sure how much attention Koichi Sakamoto pays to martial arts styles, considering he took over as stunt coordinator for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in season 3, which I bring up because early MMPR used more martial arts rather than stunt fighting, probably as a result of two things: 1) that previous stunt coordinator, Jeff Pruitt, is a black belt in tang soo do; 2) as is documented elsewhere, MMPR would just have the actors (non-union, of course) do their own stunts, so they had to do what they were physically capable of. Hell, Alpha Stunts wasn't even credited until season 2.
Sidenote: The SirSTACK link about Alpha Stunts is nigh-illegible because the website was designed very much over 20 years ago and was last updated in 2006. In fact, it is so old that the credit for Snizzard in Foul Play in the Sky is "?" When now, it's much better known that this was an early role of Bryan Cranston Yes, THAT Bryan Cranston.
So, anyway, Showa era Astra fights kind of like a pro wrestler sometimes, often alongside Leo--bodyslamming, knee-to-back, throws, etc. He'll fight dirty, using cheap tricks (like standing in front of the sun to blind his eyeball-based opponent), striking the neck, and he'll hit the same point repeatedly. In early appearances, he would favor kicks. He's a determinator, refusing to give up the fight even when he's losing consciousness after being strangled by Alien Babalu. He doesn't fight for very long, usually coming in to finish a fight. Like the time he shrank down, flew into a kaiju's mouth, and blew it up from the inside.
However, Leo is often Astra's weakness as well. For instance, when he was supposed to take the Ultra Key back to the Land of Light, Leo was struggling against Babalu. So Astra went in like the world's worst keyblade bearer, tried to bring the Ultra Key down on Babalu's head, and promptly dropped it. When he regained control of it, he hesitated too long, and Babalu was able to get a chain around his neck to pull him back down to the ground.
New Generation era Astra has a flashier style, which I attribute to Koichi Sakamoto directing nearly all of his few appearances. Here, we start to see him using more energy-based attacks (much as Leo did about halfway through his series), particularly in Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Destined Crossroad, his first major role. His style seems more like stage combat rather than martial arts now. Obviously, a change in suit actors over the years will explain this too, but UGF doesn't credit the suit actors for individual roles, so I can't figure out who plays Astra now. I also don't know if Kin'ichi Kusumi, his original suit actor from Leo, had any martial arts experience. He did the suit acting as Mirrorman, who had a style typical of the time, but Wikipedia's giving me much more information about his adult film career, so maybe the lack of softcore porn is what's changed Astra's fighting style.
Ultraman Orb: The Chronicle episode 25, aired to foreshadow the brothers plot of R/B later that year, showed a sparring match between Leo and Astra, apparently on K76. It's really the only time where Astra's shown at a disadvantage, seeming slower and heavier than we usually see him during either era--possibly factoring his chain into the equation. He kicks up a lot of ground as he runs forward, and where you'd expect his opening attack--based on the running start--to be a leap, he instead just makes a jumping front kick, jumping off of his unchained right leg and making a snap kick with his chained left foot. Leo's able to block it and is countering his attacks. This fight also shows Astra appearing to favor his left side overall, including in his punches--and it's not something usually shown, so it's weird.
Honestly, the lack of an identifiable style makes it harder for me to work with him, especially with him incorporating more energy attacks into his attacks in the modern era. I'd assume that's something he'd save for when he's dealing with a really tough opponent and he needs to get moving, like the Absolutians, but he'll use it against the mooks in TDC when he wouldn't use it against Babalu when he needed to save the Ultra Key.
I'm thinking I may have to pull from actual martial arts if I want to write this, and then look at some RPM for Koichi Sakamoto stuff to mix in.
Also, that does make me think that Astra should inexplicably be Scottish.
Edit: Or I can also look at Avatar again. Duh.
Writing, as a result, took a back seat, but right now I'm trying to analyze Astra's fighting style so I can get back to work on this chapter.
Astra's fighting style is, quite honestly, kind of a mess. And I blame it on lack of continuity across the generations. Also, I'm not entirely sure how much attention Koichi Sakamoto pays to martial arts styles, considering he took over as stunt coordinator for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in season 3, which I bring up because early MMPR used more martial arts rather than stunt fighting, probably as a result of two things: 1) that previous stunt coordinator, Jeff Pruitt, is a black belt in tang soo do; 2) as is documented elsewhere, MMPR would just have the actors (non-union, of course) do their own stunts, so they had to do what they were physically capable of. Hell, Alpha Stunts wasn't even credited until season 2.
Sidenote: The SirSTACK link about Alpha Stunts is nigh-illegible because the website was designed very much over 20 years ago and was last updated in 2006. In fact, it is so old that the credit for Snizzard in Foul Play in the Sky is "?" When now, it's much better known that this was an early role of Bryan Cranston Yes, THAT Bryan Cranston.
So, anyway, Showa era Astra fights kind of like a pro wrestler sometimes, often alongside Leo--bodyslamming, knee-to-back, throws, etc. He'll fight dirty, using cheap tricks (like standing in front of the sun to blind his eyeball-based opponent), striking the neck, and he'll hit the same point repeatedly. In early appearances, he would favor kicks. He's a determinator, refusing to give up the fight even when he's losing consciousness after being strangled by Alien Babalu. He doesn't fight for very long, usually coming in to finish a fight. Like the time he shrank down, flew into a kaiju's mouth, and blew it up from the inside.
However, Leo is often Astra's weakness as well. For instance, when he was supposed to take the Ultra Key back to the Land of Light, Leo was struggling against Babalu. So Astra went in like the world's worst keyblade bearer, tried to bring the Ultra Key down on Babalu's head, and promptly dropped it. When he regained control of it, he hesitated too long, and Babalu was able to get a chain around his neck to pull him back down to the ground.
New Generation era Astra has a flashier style, which I attribute to Koichi Sakamoto directing nearly all of his few appearances. Here, we start to see him using more energy-based attacks (much as Leo did about halfway through his series), particularly in Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Destined Crossroad, his first major role. His style seems more like stage combat rather than martial arts now. Obviously, a change in suit actors over the years will explain this too, but UGF doesn't credit the suit actors for individual roles, so I can't figure out who plays Astra now. I also don't know if Kin'ichi Kusumi, his original suit actor from Leo, had any martial arts experience. He did the suit acting as Mirrorman, who had a style typical of the time, but Wikipedia's giving me much more information about his adult film career, so maybe the lack of softcore porn is what's changed Astra's fighting style.
Ultraman Orb: The Chronicle episode 25, aired to foreshadow the brothers plot of R/B later that year, showed a sparring match between Leo and Astra, apparently on K76. It's really the only time where Astra's shown at a disadvantage, seeming slower and heavier than we usually see him during either era--possibly factoring his chain into the equation. He kicks up a lot of ground as he runs forward, and where you'd expect his opening attack--based on the running start--to be a leap, he instead just makes a jumping front kick, jumping off of his unchained right leg and making a snap kick with his chained left foot. Leo's able to block it and is countering his attacks. This fight also shows Astra appearing to favor his left side overall, including in his punches--and it's not something usually shown, so it's weird.
Honestly, the lack of an identifiable style makes it harder for me to work with him, especially with him incorporating more energy attacks into his attacks in the modern era. I'd assume that's something he'd save for when he's dealing with a really tough opponent and he needs to get moving, like the Absolutians, but he'll use it against the mooks in TDC when he wouldn't use it against Babalu when he needed to save the Ultra Key.
I'm thinking I may have to pull from actual martial arts if I want to write this, and then look at some RPM for Koichi Sakamoto stuff to mix in.
Also, that does make me think that Astra should inexplicably be Scottish.
Edit: Or I can also look at Avatar again. Duh.
