This Week in Anime

DAN DA DAN's Tokusatsu Connection

Coop
I don't know what's going on here, Chris... A few minutes ago, I was just minding my own business, primarily thinking about Beyblades and sneakers as one does. Then all of a sudden I see a bright flash of light, and now I'm here—in a chat with my name in big, bright green letters. Was I abducted by aliens?

Anime critics?! Whew, that's a relief! I was worried I'd been captured by some Alien Dada-looking dudes who wouldn't stop talking about bananas for some reason.

Those dudes aside, thank you for the warm welcome! I'm looking forward to chatting with you and the rest of the crew about anime, the weeb culture, and a little bit of business-side news. Oh, and bugmen... Oh boy, will we talk about more bugmen, Chris. Hell, we might even talk about some bugmen-adjacent stuff today!

Ultraman is dripping from DAN DA DAN's soul at all times, but not in a solely “I understood that reference” way. The black-and-white segment from episode two does harken back to the days of the original Ultraman series' airing, but it accentuates DAN DA DAN's own artistic aims. It's the perfect way to do a homage. How the opening references Ultra intros, like Ultraseven's, is really cool...

And circling back on that segment for a moment, it might be a better way to convey the idea of "manga on screen" than, say... Uzumaki perhaps?

Now that you mention it, Momo's encounter with the Serposians is incredibly similar to Kamen Rider's first episode. Particularly when Hongo finds himself in Shocker's clutches following his bugmanification. Right down to the uncomfortable restraints, flashing lights, and the beam that either hurts you or makes you feel funny.

I've never seen a Rider break a hole in reality with their kick before!

YES! And I gotta say, those kicks are cool. They've got some mad Jordan 1-vibes without the swoosh... for obvious reasons. Funny enough, they kind of look like the Jordans I have. As Momo alluded to herself, gyaru fashion is true battle gear.

Shoes are cool, man.

He drew so much from it that he took a hit to the... Shins

Ha ha ha, I might know my way around a word or two. But back to the institution that is Ultraman. I'm honestly thrilled that Anno and others inspired by the series (like Ultraman: Rising director Shannon Tindle) have done so much to champion our favorite silver giants on the international stage. I'd never once thought we'd see the day when we can go to YouTube and watch SIMULDUBBED EPISODES of the currently running Ultraman show. And those dubs are fantastic too, courtesy of the fine folks over at OkraTron 5000.

I can't believe I can watch Arc with my nephews and not worry about subtitles at all. Brought a tear to my eye, man.

Yeah, especially when you look at the English subtitles for Mill Creek's release of Gridman: The Hyper Agent. Spirited Away anyone? But I can't help but feel some sympathy for Mill Creek in this situation. In a July 2020 interview with the physical media enthusiast channel, Cereal at Midnight, MC's VP of marketing talked pretty extensively about the company's origins as a "grocery store" DVD company. So relatively speaking, more premium releases like their Ultraman catalog and their recent Street Fighter: The Movie release are something new for them.

Oh boy, I don't think I've even opened mine up, actually. But in owning a good chunk of those sets and getting a feeling for MC's company history, I have a hunch that they just had to work with the subtitles they were given at the time. Not excusing the poor quality, but I can see why it turned out that way. I have a feeling that the reception to that Gridman release (and the mishandling of messaging around the subs) has been on their minds since then. Especially with the delay of their upcoming Ultraman Blazar release.

Which by the way, if you need some Patlabor-ish antics to hold you over till EZY hits, Blazar fits the bill quite nicely.

And even then, those new discs weren't exactly up to snuff from what I've heard. I'm glad that our friends to the north, Canada's Raven Banner, put out a MUCH better set. While I did have a few minor technical quibbles, the love and passion that come from this release are spectacular. The disc might not have the budget of a Criterion release, but damn did the folks working on it treat it like one.

I agree. With even greater accessibility to those specific titles and their many super Ultra brothers, we'll hopefully see a new generation of creators rise. Creators—like Yukinobu Tatsu and Fūga Yamashiro—will breathe life into original works inspired by their childhood favorites. I can't think of anything that would make me happier.

A series starring Kamen Rider's—I mean, Hiroshi Fujioka's son! I think we're getting there with a wider awareness of tokusatsu, but things are just starting to expand. Which does make me wonder: when's tokusatsu going to have its "Attack on Titan" moment? And I'm not talking about Shinji Higuchi's pair of Meat Ultraman movies.

That's true, even Will Smith thinks that Ultraman slaps.

Oh man, that would be wonderful. But, who knows? It's a shame to see all that television history just go up into an auction like that, but what can you do? Right?

All right, you've convinced me. Time to sell an unnecessary organ for that transforming Astro Megaship miniature.

Or... how about we just come back and do this again sometime? That might be the more sensible option, eh?

Amen.