“Ultraman” as a creative property has always teetered between two universal truths. Those truths are its status as a cultural phenomenon and its obscurity in the greater whole of online fandom. However, with the recent release of “Ultraman Rising” on June 14th, 2024, the titular giant of light is taking the world by storm. Directed by Shannon Tindle and produced in collaboration with Tsuburaya Productions, “Ultraman Rising” is a love letter to the series.
Ultraman Rising Synopsis:
Arrogant star baseball player Kenji Sato comes from a line of Ultramen who protect Japan. Reluctantly taking on the mantle, Kenji must learn how to balance his life as both Ultraman and a baseball player. On top of that, he must take care of the baby Kaiju Emi until she can be returned home.
General Thoughts on Ultraman Rising (Part 1):
Kenji’s development is incredibly well done. He goes from being arrogant and closed off to learning how to be close to others and balance responsibility. Throughout the movie, he grapples with his own parental issues while trying to raise Emi. Additionally, the hurt that Kenji experienced from his father trying to protect him parallels him catching Emi and accidentally breaking her arm. The film indicates that an unavoidable part of parenthood is hurting your children while trying to protect them.
It is refreshing to see that the movie took a similar stance to “Ultraman Cosmos” (2001) on sparing kaiju. Many Ultra series kill kaiju, which made “Ultraman Rising’s” take much more interesting. Additionally, the main villain calling kaiju a scourge perfectly contrasts the reality that kaiju is neither good nor evil. Kaiju are big monsters navigating an industrialized world they no longer recognize and are hated for being big and destructive.
Even still, the villain of this movie is sympathetic and motivated by the loss of his family. He chooses to fight Ultraman alone rather than get anyone else involved because he doesn’t want people to lose their families. All in all, the exploration of the two different attitudes toward kaiju made for an interesting conflict. While there are pieces of this concept in shows like “Ultraman Orb (2016)” and “Ultraman Taiga (2019)”, seeing these ideas fully interrogated is invigorating.
Ignoring the well-thought-out story, the visual effects of “Ultraman Rising”, I would argue, are nearly on par with the Spiderverse movies. Seamlessly blending 2D and 3D animation, “Ultraman Rising” is full of tributes to its source material. These tributes include but are not limited to, a shot where Ken does the iconic “Ultraman Taro” flying pose. The film is equal parts cute, emotional, and visually stunning.
Conclusion:
“Ultraman” as a series is no stranger to the themes of family. I wrote about its depictions of familial themes only last month. However, this is the first time in years that a movie capturing the essence of “Ultraman’ has made its way into Western popularity. People often tend to overlook franchises with tokusatsu roots due to the surface-level perception of tokusatsu in general. It’s depressing that it took an animated movie to bring light to a franchise that covers most of the same themes as “Ultraman Rising’. However, if that means one more person can experience the earnest passion “Ultraman” carries itself with, “Ultraman Rising” has done its job.
You can watch “Ultraman Rising” on Netflix. Watch the other “Ultraman” series on Tubi. You can also buy Ultraman plushies here.
