Ultraman Taiga Collection review by Bobby Blakey
Ever since I was a kid, I have loved all things Kaiju. Like most I sat around the TV watching Godzilla and all the other monsters do battle a destroy cities bringing a smile to my face. When I discovered the world of Ultraman this changed everything. I still loved the monsters, but there was a superhero element to it and could not get enough of it and have dived into every iteration since the original series UltraQ in 1966. Now Mill Creek is bringing yet another version to the fans with both the series and film for Ultraman Taiga.
​
Ultraman Taiga follows Earth that has been immigrated by aliens secretly, but this fact is only known by a handful of people. In a society like this, Hiroyuki Kudo starts working in a private security organization called “E.G.I.S. (Enterprise of Guard and Investigation Service)”. The organization deals with incidents involving aliens, where Hiroyuki works day and night for peace. However, there is a big secret hidden in him, which even he is not aware of. The secret is that he carries Ultraman Taiga’s particles of light inside his body. A new story begins when Ultraman Taiga awakens from Hiroyuki’s body!
​
Ultraman Taiga the Movie: New Generation Climax f follows Hiroyuki Kudo
still working at the private security organization E.G.I.S, with the power to transform into 3 Ultra Heroes, Taiga, Titas, and Fuma. Battling and defeating many enemies together, the bond between Hiroyuki and Taiga has deepened. However, someone has been targeting Hiroyuki. Noticing this, the New Generation Heroes come together to save him. Hikaru, Sho, Daichi, Gai, Riku, Katsumi, Isami, and even Taiga’s father Ultraman Taro have all come down to Earth. However, Ultraman Taro violently attacks his son Taiga. What happened to Taro? Will Taiga be able to fight against his father?! The New Generation Heroes now stand together to confront a bigger, darker power!
With every series each episode feels like a mini-movie and takes me right back to my childhood. I still love this show and seeing Ultraman in classic action brought a smile to my face. While I will always be partial to the original Ultraman look it is still a load of fun to see all the different variations. I enjoy these new takes on the characters that feel more in the vein of Power Rangers and leaning into the kid market whereas the original series seemed to take itself more seriously and focus more on the kaiju world. This is still all intact with plenty of outlandish kaiju to battle there is just a different tone to it all.
This series wastes no time getting right in on the action with a quick but epic showdown featuring numerous Ultramen that almost feels like you missed something. Fear not it is all a set-up of what’s to come. The episodes bring all the same fun action and often silliness that fans expect from it and manages to craft a worthy entry into the franchise. They are generic in some way and could just be changed a bit and called something else so wish they would shift it down to just one version of the character, but no one is asking me.
All these shows are kind of the same now using more CGI than man in suit which is why I think it has lost some of its magic, but getting to still see any version of Ultraman in action and finding new audiences is better than nothing at all. If you are a fan of the franchise, then this is once again worth checking out and getting to have the entire series and film together in once perfect collection makes for the perfect Ultra binge.
Join the intergalactic kaiju battle and grab your copy of the Ultraman Taiga Collection available now on Blu-ray from Mill Creek Entertainment.