The Ultraman: The Complete Series [DVD]

I’ve been wanting to see this in its entirety for years, having previously only seen it as Ultraman II (a few episodes edited together and given an English dub). The show is classic Ultraman, with a new monster to be defeated every episode, but in an anime format. It originally came out in 1979-80 and the animation looks of that time, which I think perfectly fits the vibe of the show. I’m not fluent in Japanese so I can’t say if the subtitles could be improved, but I completely understood what was happening on screen and being said. Of course it would be nice to see this on blu ray, but that is unlikely to happen any time soon if ever, so for now I’m grateful to finally watch this!

It has been four years since Ultraman Leo went off the air. At that time, there were few Tokusatsu programs in Japan, and we Japanese children enjoyed Ultraman in comic books. The title was THE ULTRAMAN, and in April 1979, Ultraman made his third comeback to television. Not in live action, but in animation. The title was THE Ultraman, but the content was completely different. However, at that time in Japan, many people thought that Ultraman should be live-action. Sorry for my bad English.

BOTTOM LINE: If you've always wanted to see that "oddball" entry in the Ultraman canon that isn't live action (the American Hanna-Barbera one-shot notwithstanding) then this is your chance. Be aware that: 1) it's in standard definition instead of HD, but that's what Millcreek was given from TBS, and 2) the Japanese-to-English subtitling work was overseen by either noobs or idiots ...or those that simply did not care. Everything else about this SD release however is pretty solid. So... 4 STARSTHE STORY: In an alternate timeline/universe from 'traditional' Ultra lore, the faraway planet of U-40 (rather than M-78) is home to a race of benevolent aliens who are ever on the alert for the dastardly doings of nasty ne'err-do-wells throughout the universe. When danger threatens our shining blue sphere they send their bravest, strongest warrior, Jonias, to save the day.THOUGHTS: I'd known of this anime' entry in the Ultra series for decades but never got the chance to watch it in its entirety... until now. (I'd seen the compilation movie, with the last few episodes edited together, and I still have the old Canadian DVD featuring the first four episodes, dubbed into English.) This is a pretty good show. The animation is rather crude at times, yet is quite strong at others. The action and style are pure Japanese anime' which, depending on your taste for such things, will be either terrific or awful. It doesn't do much to flesh out the main cast of characters, but that's par for the course for most of the early Ultra shows. It was nice to see the backstory & world-building for the U-40 Ultras. This Ultraman's design is at-once familiar, yet different enough to reinforce the concept that this is another timeline / universe compared to what's come before. I found it to be a refreshing departure that didn't stray too far from the old comforts of M-78 Ultras.THE DVD SET: This standard def boxset and its subtitling job (not the show itself) are what have divided casual collectors and hardcore fans alike. It's a real bummer that this series (and the subsequent UM shows) have not been remastered in HD by the folks at TBS (at least not yet), so what we get is a strong release in Standard Def ONLY. Honestly however, the animation quality wouldn't be MUCH improved, even with a frame-by-frame restoration. Cleaner-looking? Perhaps. Better as a whole? Not so much, IMHO. The biggest letdown of this Millcreek boxset is the disappointing quality of the subtitles. Since there are no English dubs, the subs will be a deal-breaker for many. It's too late to point fingers, as we get what we get, but these subtitles are a MAJOR STEP DOWN from previous releases.First the problems with the presentation: all titles are referenced off the left side of the screen instead of being centered, as is traditional on pretty much every subtitling/CC job that I have seen on every TV show or movie - EVER. Next, the subtitles are over-translated, meaning they could've pared down the dialogue; less verbage and shortened sentences to make reading them faster & easier. Much of the dialogue is so bloated that often entire sentences whiz past in the blink of an eye, (in order to keep the timing somewhat on track), so you cannot possibly read them before they're replaced by the next screenful of text, forcing you to back up and freeze frame to read what you missed. Also, the font size is on the small side, is crudely pixelated, and is white instead of yellow, frequently causing it to blend in with the background. All this can make for a very frustrating viewing experience.Then come the issues with the actual Japanese-to-English translation. Simply put: it's very poorly done. There are so many awkwardly phrased sentences that it feels like the scripts were all processed thru Babelfish or some other inferior translating program. Rarely as nonsensically baffling as those gawd-awful Hong Kong subs, but pretty bad in many instances. (Also, whomever oversaw the spell-checking must be of British decent, as spelling often reads Brit English rather than American English: "C" used in place of "S" and "S" used in place of "Z" in certain words. Not a show-stopper, but it trips you up at times.) There's also considerable profanity and Western/Christian-based cursing which, in addition to being crass and wholly unnecessary, just doesn't "fit" within the context of this decidedly Asian superhero children's series.What this all boils down to is that these subtitles are poorly supervised, substandard junk that are a chore to read and filled with embarassing - often hilarious - Engrish flubdubbery. An embarrassing black eye for both TBS and Millcreek. You cannot tell me that somebody out there (from amongst a legion of hard-core and well-known, established Ultrafans) would not have willingly - and gladly - volunteered their time in order to proofread the subs and fix them before the show was locked down and released - and in SD, to add insult to injury! It's a damn shame; a double punch in the nuts for fans. And rightly, mulitple heads should have rolled at Millcreek for allowing product with this amateurish level of unforgiveably sloppy (and, what's worse, *entirely preventable*) incompetence to ever see the light of day on legitimate video store shelves.When all was said and done however, even though the crapola subs were a disappointment, I still had a good time discovering this show ...but better subtitles would have made this series far more enjoyable to watch, no doubt about it. You need to be aware of this critical aspect and weigh the pros and cons before you buy. I begrudgingly recommended THE ULTRAMAN... and if they ever properly re-do the subs AND release the show in High-Def, I would absolutely double-dip. The show itself has been lots of old-school anime' fun for this lifelong UltraFan. SHOOWATT!

Great product, arrived on time in mint condition!!

it old but good i love it i see a lot this one's a bit different Estelle live-action this one's animated this is a new change I like it I still love the live-action but this is a nice change to and it looks good for it time

I'm very happy thank you.

The first animated Ultraman isn't a bad series but Mill Creek subtitlers dropped the ball on this one. Not only is the subtitling on dialogue very poor, but the opening and ending themes and episode previews are not subtitled at all.In one episode the characters repeatedly say "dry ice" in perfectly good English but the subtitles have them saying "frozen gas". While episode titles are subtitled the monster names shown at the beginning of each episode are not and if characters mention the monsters name the subtitles usually have it wrong (according to Ultraman wiki). For example the giant bird is "King Moa" not "King More". Some times characters seem to make no sense, such as saying "it's a monster, I saw it n a book". They knew it was a monster. What she probably said was "its a pterodactyl, I saw it in a book".

Before anyone starts whining and giving negative "reviews" that this is only on DVD just like Ultraman 80 know that Mill Creek couldn't find transfers good enough for Blu-ray but will do so as soon as they can, till then they decided to go ahead and release them on DVD for the fans that couldn't wait

When tsuburaya choose to make the next entry into their ultra series animated, they did it with heart.Doing things both traditional and boldly new with kaiju that could never work if in costume and different take on ultraman mythos which just recently made a return to cannon. Plus action scenes clearly made by people who understood what made ultraman fun and a human protagonist that I found harkens back to original shin hayata (who could be interesting just stand quietly in a group).I preordered this and almost didn't receive it (I assume because Amazon didn't have a seller before) but I reordered it and I'm thankful the shipping was fast and good.

This item has been advertised being in EnglishUnfortunately it is only English subtitles

最近Qからレオまで北米blu-ray7作品を大人買いしたじーさんです。この作品は当時高校生だったし、アニメと言うことで馬鹿にして見ませんでした。1回だけ、たまたま見たのが、ムツミさんセクシー回で、そう言う番組かと勘違いした。さて、この年で改めて見ると、面白いじゃありませんか！嫌われる英語字幕も非表示できるし、リージョン対応できる方は買いだと思います。本日、名前を知っている80も注文しました。平成のウルトラシリーズもあるらしく(名前も中身も知らないが)、沼にはまりそうで、心配です。

what an absolute terrible release. translation for subs is terrible both grammar and speed in which subs show and disappear. keep that remote handy so you can pause. who decided to left align the subs. really disappointing considering the awesome job millcreek have been doing. avoid this product.

日本だと、ザ☆ウルトラマンの円盤（ＤＶＤ）それなりに高くて手がだせません。このシリーズは、だいたい¥5000円程度で購入できる。と、わたくし思います。大変嬉しいです。