Volume One
I picked this up since I was a fan of the old Ultraman TV show when I was a little kid. This story is a direct sequel to the original series, ignoring the myriad subsequent Ultra-series. Earth has been at peace for the several decades since Ultraman went back to wherever it was he came from. Shin Hayata, Ultraman's human host, eventually retired from the Science Patrol, married, had a son, and rose to become the Minister of Defense. Shin no longer remembers his time as Ultraman, although since he retains a certain measure of super-strength, I have to wonder where he thinks this power came from.
The protagonist of the story is Shinjiro Hayata, Shin's son, who has inherited Shin's super-strength. His father is aware of this, but, oddly, never discusses it with him. Shinjiro hides his powers until one day he decides to try to impress a girl who's being bullied by some older boys, and accidentally cripples one of them.
The third major character is Mitsuhiro Ide, a member of the Science Patrol from the old days. He runs a sort of "Ultraman Museum". At one point, he reveals to Shin that hostile aliens have begun to take an interest in the Earth again, and that the museum is actually a front for the continued research of the supposedly long-disbanded Science Patrol.
The fourth major character is Bemular. In the old show, Bemular was the first monster Ultraman fought. Here, he's a human-sized alien who confronts and attacks Shinjiro. Shin (who has remembered that he was Ultraman*) defends his son, and sends him off to safety at Ide's museum. Ide reveals to Shinjiro that they've built an exo-suit to help magnify and control his powers, which may one day surpass Shin's. Shinjiro dons the suit and rushes to confront Bemular, who is beating the crap out of the now somewhat elderly Shin. Shinjiro manages to drive Bemular away, but is left with more questions than answers.
Overall
I enjoyed this book. The art is pretty good, it suits the subject matter. The exo-suit only vaguely resembles the original Ultraman outfit, but it looks OK. So far, the action has been kept at a human-sized level, I'll be curious to see if that continues. So far, it's been a standard, "Kid discovers that he's the secret heir to the legendary hero" story, but I feel that it's reasonably well-handled. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this.
*Ide reveals that back in the day, the Science Patrollers all knew that Shin was Ultraman, but kept quiet about it for Shin's sake. I'm personally OK with this revelation. It makes sense to me.
Replies
Volume Eighteen
The battle from the last volume continues. Shinjiro’s suit is out of energy. Valky convinces Temperor to withdraw. We learn that when the Planet of Light was “contained”, the original Ultraman escaped by transforming into pure energy and later possessing the body of Bemular.
Rena is informed that her suit was made by Yapool at Bemular’s request.
A guy that I don’t remember which one he is anymore (I’m really going to have to re-read this sometime) kills a hostile alien but is not applauded for it.
The Leo Brothers find a door in a frozen wasteland.
Shinjiro finds that his classmates no longer trust Ultraman. Rena’s Dad learns that members of an “alien ostracism movement” were killed to protect Rena.
Shinjiro has a heart-to-heart with the blond kid that I forget which one he is.
Rena is introduced to Shiro Maki.
Yapool has built some new armor.
In human form, Yapool visits an alien family.
Maki explains Earth’s involvement with the Star Cluster to Rena.
Meanwhile, something is happening to Bemular’s body.
Shinjiro goes off by himself to brood, only to be joined by Arashi.
Rena admits to Endo that she did want revenge for her parents. After she leaves, he reminisces about all the joy that she’s brought into his life. Endo brings Maki to Ide. Rena asks Ide to be allowed to join the SSSP. She is taken to see Bemular’s body. Moroboshi arrives and literally cannot believe what’s happening.
One of the aliens that Yapool visited earlier has been lynched. Fred the alien goes berserk. Meanwhile, other aliens watch from space, waiting for the Earthians to give them enough excuse to eradicate them. One lf the aliens is Edo, or someone who looks like him.
Overall: Lots of interesting developments here. I'm not usually wild about "Villains turn the public against the heroes" storylines, so we'll see where this one goes.
"It's almost as if it's not just the aliens that are the enemies of humanity anymore."
I see you've "lost" aspects of the story. Not surprising after the four year gap between reading v17 and v18. If I ever read this series again (and I probably will someday), I'm sure I'll get more out of it knowing in advance where the story is going. In any case, I'll know which aspects to pay closer attention to.
Shinjjiro's body can now generate specium energy. That's new.
Fuji (now Chief) makes a retuern appearance, and Arashi makes his first appearance in the manga.
We learn that the OG Ultraman ("Bemular") had been in habiting a corpse all along. (Ick.)
A beta capsule appears above "Bemular's" headless corpse.
I am now almost caught up to the present... only four day behind you!
Volume Nineteen
Shinjiro is at Arashi’s place. Arashi says, “That was Yuriko on the phone”, to which Shinjiro says, “You know my mother too?”. So maybe his Mom is Fuji’s twin, Yuriko Edogawa? Arashi reveals that Hayata asked him to speak to Shinjiro.
Meanwhile, Taro reluctantly deals with Fred the alien, and then rants at the crowd when they cheer him.
Arashi tells Shinjiro that it’s OK to stop being Ultraman if he wants to, and that there’s no such thing as fate.
We get a flashback to ten years earlier, when the SSSP was discussing the possibility of Shinjiro becoming Ultraman with his father. Hayata refused to return to the SSSP while Edo was there.
Shinjiro and Arashi talk about whether Shinjiro should continue being Ultraman. Hayata points out that there would be risks either way. We get the reveal that Valky is living with Arashi.
Dan is stuck with Rena, and he doesn’t know how to talk to girls. In desperation, he sends for Edo, who freaks Rena out.
Valky tells Shinjiro that she is a spy for Edo. She picks a fight with him, telling him that’s foolish to fight for others. Dan and Rena are sent to deal with a hostage situation. She teases him, calling him a tsundere.
Shinjiro ponders whether he should be Ultraman.
Seven and Ace battle an electrical alien. Their suits are disabled, but Rena intervenes.
The alien that I thought was Edo in the previous volume is actually Damned, Edo’s older brother (interesting names in that family) who is the chief of the Z-Ton Core, contacts him.
Rena does well enough against the alien, but then Valky and an alien called “Nackle” show up and Nackle slices the electrical alien in two. Nackle criticizes the Ultras for not paying attention to the damage they were doing to their surroundings. Nackle plays to the cameras, calling the Ultras’ motivations into question. Suddenly, Shinjiro shows up and says that he decided to fight for himself. Temperor is there and there is a big fight.
Damned asks Edo if he’s trying to do a “forced evolution” on Shinjiro, which might lead to him becoming either a giant of light or a force of destruction.
One of the “development suits” activates itself and races to the battle. I’m not sure what’s happening here, but the volume ends with Shinjiro saying, “I’m Batman”. Well, “Ultraman”, really.
Overall
More interesting stuff, here. I'm hoping that the "Shinjiro can't decide whether or not to be Ultraman" stuff is over. It's a valid storyline, but a little of that sort of thing goes a long way for me. I'm glad to see Rena in action. At least I don't have trouble telling her from the others.
Arashi, never before anything more than a one-dimensional character on TV, is given added depth here.
I believe this is the first mention of "Yuriko," Shinjiro's mother. (Still haven't seen her, though.)
Hayata refused to return to the SSSP while Edo was there.
No, that was Arashi.
We get the reveal that Valky is living with Arashi.
...and that she is a "spy" for Edo, but working on behalf of Earth. I really have no idea whom to believe at this point, but in any case, Valky reveals her status to Shinjiro and Edo simultaneously.
The alien that I thought was Edo in the previous volume is actually Damned...
I didn't twig to the fact that who we both thought was Edo in the previous chapter was actually Damned. Yeah, that makes sense. I guess Edo is a "white hat" after all...?
Again, I can't help but seeing the Star Cluster Council through the lens of current events (the United Nations... at least as Trump sees it).
No, that was Arashi.
D'Oh!
The Leo Brothers discuss Shinjiro’s battle with Temperor. A short guy shows them something that looks like a “monster graveyard”. The short guy is Doctor Iwamoto’s grandchild.
Hayata, Arashi and Edo discuss how Shinjiro has accepted his role as Ultraman.
Shinjiro pummels Temperor. Temperor charges Moroboshi, who slices him in half with his sword. Valky turns on Temperor and attacks him. The other Ultras are dubious about accepting Valky as an ally. Temperor withdraws.
Rena reveals to Shinjiro that she is Ultrawoman. Shinjiro gets all flustered at the thought that he’ll be working with her,
Some aliens discuss the conditions on Earth.
We go all teen romance as Rena seeks out Shinjiro and tells him that she’s glad that he’s Ultraman. She also tells him that she’s an alien, but he doesn't have a problem with that. They are interrupted by the sudden arrival of Damned.
The SSSP discuss how Damned tried to force Shinjiro to become a Giant of Light. Hokuto disapproves of working with Valky. Hokuto takes off to go be with Yuko. They discover that Damned is on the roof. Damned asks Shinjiro if Earthians are worth saving and then vanishes even as Moroboshi and Hayata arrive.
A scuffle between humans and aliens is detected in Detroit. Jack and Taro are sent to deal with it. Elsewhere, Adad stops a lynch mob from harming a human family that they were convinced were aliens. He taunts them to attack him, and they do after he’s shot by a weapon that can harm him. Adad talks to a dog and then, I’m not sure, maybe wanders off into the afterlife? It’s determined that Ace Killer killed him.
Taro and Jack see three children who were friends of the human family expressing gratitude to Adad for saving them. Ace Killer arrives and picks a fight with Taro and Jack.
Ace Killer confronts Hokuto. They fight, and Ace Killer disables Hokuto’s suit. Ace Killer goes to kill Yuko while Hokuto is helpless, but he is blasted back from Yuko’s door. Unharmed, Yuko greets Hokuto.
Overall
More interesting stuff. I don't recall whether we already knew that Yuko had super-powers or not.
More true-to-life stories as Eiichi and Tomohiro explore the question: "Are Earthians really worth saving?" (At this point I'm leaning toward "no.")
And I still don't have v21. (Sorry I wasn't here for the discussion in "real time".) I don't recall exactly when v21 shipped, but it's been weeks if not months. I don't like to bug my local retailer every week, but I last brought it up on April 29. I told him I was in the process of reading the series at the rate of one volume per day and would be ready for v21 soon. It is available online and I asked if I should just go ahead and order it myself. He assured me he would get it, but he was busy with last minute preparations for "New Comic Book Day" so I didn't expect it last week, but maybe next week...?
In the meantime, I'm stuck in this limbo of the recent past...
I ended up getting it on-line. My LCS doesn't really "do" manga and the nearest B&N is a longish ride away.
We get a flashback to Hokuto complaining to Ide about the “transformational” aspects of his armor.
Yuko continues to battle Ace Killer, generally kicking his arse before revealing herself to be Valky. Hokuto gets a new suit of armor. Ace Killer splits himself into four, but three other UItras and a robot show up.
While the battle continues, Damned converses with a minion, describing his belief that Earthians rely too much on the Ultras to protect them.
An Ultra fights a Lion Guy that works for the Z-Ton Core. The Ultra threatens the Z-Tons.
The Ultras pay their respects to Adad’s body.
Edo tells Yuko that he was responsible for the attack on the plane. She forgives him.
The Leo Brothers are upset about Adad’s death. Iwamoto III is working on something.
Damned appears holographically. He addresses the world. He goes on about the Ultras being evil vigilantes and then briefly blocks out the Sun. Shinjiro regards what Damned is up to as an invasion.
We end with a bonus manga providing a humorous look at Moroboshi’s day.
Overall: More of Damned's plan continuing, and more of those manga fight scenes that go on for pages and pages.
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