Line #33 Series/UltramanAce


1	! Spoilers for the Land of Light continuity of the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' preceding this one, including ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'', may be left unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
2	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ultraman_ace.jpg]]
3	[[caption-width-right:350:''Now, transform, Hokuto and Minami!'']]
4
5	->''Stand up and fight\
6	Stand up and fight\
7	Ultraman Ace\
8	He's the ace of outer space!''
9
10	''Ultraman Ace'' is a {{toku}}satsu show that aired from 1972 to 1973. It is the fifth installment in the ''Franchise/UltraSeries''.
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12	[[BigBad Yapool]], an interdemensional mastermind with [[ThePowerOfHate an eternal grudge against the Ultras]], seeks to take over the Earth with Terrible-Monsters (aka Choju, or 'Super Monsters'), his empowered artificial monsters, along with a handful of aliens recruited into his ranks as agents. The 5th Ultra Brother, Ultraman Ace, goes to combat him not in one, but ''two'' hosts, who he saves during Yapool's first attack against the Earth: TAC officers [[TheHero Seiji Hokuto]] and [[ActionGirl Yuko Minami]]. Together, Seiji and Yuko [[spoiler:(and later just Seiji)]] must combat Yapool's forces and other nasties to preserve peace on Earth.
13	----
14
15	!!''Ultraman Ace'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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17	* ActionDad: Father of Ultra, who adopted Ace into his family when Ace was orphaned as an infant.
18	* ActionGirl: Yuko Minami, who not only fought alongside her team but was one of two hosts of Ace (at least until she was written out of the show).
19	* AllYourPowersCombined: Ace Killer absorbed the powers of all the crucified Ultras in episodes 13 and 14 to defeat Ace. It didn't work. [[spoiler:And then the Ultra Brothers gave their powers to Ace to perform his one-shot special move, the Space Q. That ''did'' work]].
20	* AndThatsTerrible: This line from the final episode is a particular knee-slapper, when Yapool (in Jumbo King's body) demands the humans to surrender Alien Simon (which is currently in the care of Hokuto and three kids):
21	--> '''Yapool''' [''through Jumbo King'']: If you Earthlings protect Alien Simon, you're our enemy! Give Simon to us! Or else, I'll destroy everything and kill everyone!\
22	'''Random kid''': … if that happens, that'll be ''bad''.
23	* TheArtifact: Starting at the end of episode 28, [[spoiler: Minami is written out of the show, and for the remainder of the series Hokuto transforms into Ace all on his own. Despite this, the ExpositoryThemeTune continues to call on both of them to transform all the way to the finale.]]
24	* BadassBystander: Hokuto and Minami started out as this, before they became Ace's hosts. Ace selected them after he watched their valiant efforts to save people from Verokron's attack which nearly got them killed.
25	* BadassSanta: Father of Ultra, and especially when he uses his disguise.
26	* BaitAndSwitchCredits: Where [[Series/ReturnOfUltraman Bemstar]] and [[Series/{{Ultraman}} Pigmon]] show up, but not Ace.
27	* BatSignal: The Ultra Sign, which is different for each Ultra Hero, allows Ace to call for help.
28	* BlamingTheTools: In the episode "The Life-Sucking Sound!", a young boy named Haruo reprimanded for his poor musical skills blames it on his violin, opting to throw it into the trash. Being Ultraman, this somehow leads to the residual anger attracting negative energy from Yapool's dimension, turning the violin into the violin-based monster Geegon who goes on a rampage.
29	* BloodierAndGorier: This series is much gorier than the previous shows.
30	* ByThePowerOfGrayskull: Or rather, "Ring Touch", "Ultra Touch", or something similar.
31	* BigBad: Yapool, an interdimensional alien taking many forms that plots to conquer Earth and destroy the Ultras and all who oppose them. He's also the first example of this in the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'', and one of the most beloved in the franchise, and as such has made many reappearances since then. Exactly what Yapool constitutes is unclear; while it was initially established that Yapool was an entire race of aliens, it appears to have been changed midway through the series to have Yapool be either a single member of his kind, or a single alien altogether, with this latter interpretation sticking.
32	* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Alien Simon. Who is a seemingly benevolent friendly alien, but turns out to be Yapool's latest guise to get TAC to lower their guards and be destroyed by Jumbo King.]]
33	* TheBusCameBack: The Christmas episode, with two returning Ace characters. Rumiko, Jiro, and Goh from ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'' in Episode 10. [[spoiler:Minami in the last episode.]]
34	* ButNowIMustGo: Actually happens twice [[spoiler:to both main characters. In episode 28 Minami reveals she's an alien from the Moon and has to return there now that her mission on Earth is over, leaving Hokuto alone as Ace. Then in the final episode Hokuto himself leaves Earth to the Ultra's planet after he loses the ability to return to human form and becomes an Ultraman permanently. Later installments would have him regain the ability to take his human appearance but he's no longer fully human and his life as Seiji Hokuto is over.]]
35	* CreatorCameo: The violin teacher in "The Life Sucking Sound" was played by composer Tohru Fuyuki.
36	* CassandraTruth:
37	** ''Pursue the Mystery of the Transformation Terrible-Monster'': After Koyama gets possessed by the Choju Brocken, Koyama's son tries telling his friends and the TAC that his father has been used as host to a parasitic monster. It doesn't work for most of the episode until Koyama/Brocken reveals himself at the end of the episode.
38	** ''A Gift From Zoffy'' had the choju Dreamgillas appearing randomly whenever Yukio is daydreaming had the boy reporting to the TAC of the monster's presence, only for the monster to repeatedly disappear due to existing only in the child's mind. Even Hokuto have difficulties believing the boy, until Zoffy personally intervenes telling Hokuto that Yukio is in fact telling the truth.
39	** ''Revenge of Verokron'' have this happening to Hokuto himself, where after being lured into having a device implanted into his mind by Yapool, he then hallucinates Verokron from episode 1 returning, which nobody believes until the end of the episode.
40	* ColdSnap: Episodes 13 & 14.
41	* CommutingOnABus: Zoffy, Ultraman, Ultra Seven, and Ultraman Jack. They appear from time to time but mostly leave things for their then-youngest brother, Ace.
42	* ContinuityNod:
43	** The five Ultra pledges, from the final episode of the [[Series/ReturnOfUltraman previous series]] is re-recited again by Jiro.
44	** When discussing how to eliminate Sabotendar in cactus form, Captain Ryu references [[Series/ReturnOfUltraman Nokogirin]] being mutated on Earth by MAT, prompting TAC to try to kill the choju in space instead. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, this is what Yapool wanted and once again, a miniature monster becomes kaiju-sized thanks to the attack team.]]
45	* CriticalAnnoyance: The Color Timer, again. The show also reveals that Ultras can transfer their Color Timers to others to give them a bit more energy to keep the fight going.
46	* CrucifiedHeroShot: Episode 13. Even Ace ended up in such a pose after fighting Barabas to exhaustion when Yapool as Ace Killer caught him.
47	** Minami in Episode 25
48	** TAC members late in the show.
49	* CruelAndUnusualDeath:
50	** The Muruchi that appears to assist Metron Jr. and Doragory gets brutalized by the latter after accidentally bumping into him, having his jaw and leg torn off effortlessly. As he continues to make sounds on the floor after having this done to him, it can be inferred that Muruchi II died a particularly slow and painful death.
51	** Metron Jr. being [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe sliced in half]].
52	** Baraba. [[TooDumbToLive In an act of stupidity]], he fires his sword off at Ace, who catches it, just as he did in his previous fight. However, Ace throws the sword back at Baraba this time, impaling him through the chest. Baraba is still alive [[TheDeterminator and continues to fight]], but then Ace strikes him so hard on the back of the head that his [[EyeScream eyes burst out of their sockets]], held up only by their optic nerves. The creature then hops about, screaming in pain. Ace then dislocates Baraba's axe-arm and uses it to [[OffWithHisHead decapitate him]].
53	** Unitang gets paralyzed and melted alive.
54	** Black Satan gets electrocuted, set on fire, and blown up by Ace's metallium ray.
55	** Sabotendar getting his [[TongueTrauma tongue shot off]] before being cut open and eviscerated.
56	* CurbStompCushion: [=Ultraseven=] put up quite a fight against Alien Hipporit before he too was turned into a bronze statue.
57	* DareToBeBadass: In Episode 6, when Ace was knocked down by Brocken, an Ultra Sign from M-78 appeared in the sky, which read, "On your feet! Fire! Slice!" That was all Ace needed to get his HeroicSecondWind and defeat Brocken.
58	* ADayInTheLimeLight:
59	** Yoshimura is the lead in episode 16 when he returns to his hometown during vacation.
60	** Mikawa in Episode 4, where she is lured into a trap by an "old friend" from school.
61	* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage:
62	** In "Goodbye, Yuuko! Daughter of the Moon", TAC sings their theme song right after Minami's departure.
63	** In the Christmas episode featuring "Santa Claus and his assistant", children sing the Ultraman Ace main theme.
64	* DimensionLord: Yapool resides in his own dimension, which is also where he creates the Terrible-Monsters he sends to attack Earth.
65	* DisneyDeath: The five Ultra Brothers are turned into bronze statues and Father of Ultra dies temporarily at the hands of Alien Hipporit, thankfully Ace is resurrected by Father of Ultra's last energy and is able to destroy Hipporit and free the brothers who take Father's body back to M78 to be resurrected.
66	* DramatisPersonae: Used in the last episode at the very end for identifying TAC members.
67	* EvilCounterpart: Ace Killer
68	* EvilDoppelganger: Hideki Goh is impersonated by an alien in episode 10.
69	* EvilKnockoff: Ace Robot, which Ace Killer used for target practice. Not really evil, but still an imitation of the real thing.
70	* ExtradimensionalEmergencyExit: Whenever Yapool was defeated, he would retreat back into his home dimension ensuring his return in the future. This remains one of Yapool's most favoured tactics in the series, and when this fails, his ResurrectiveImmortality will ensure his eventual revival.
71	* EyeScream: Baraba's eyes ''pop out'' when Ace hits him in the back of his head hard enough with the nerves connecting them to his skull also coming out.
72	* ForcedTransformation: Takai, who desecrated the tomb of Okayama's bovine god, was turned into Cowra, a cow Choju.
73	* {{Foreshadowing}}
74	** Both hosts would suffer the effects of Ace's injuries and energy depletion, Minami more so that Hokuto. Then, she had to leave Earth for good, as well as for other reasons.
75	** In Episode 28, Minami sees strange lights on the moon; then Lunatyx appears...
76	** In Episode 26, Alien Hipporit leaves behind an Ace action figure, which an angry child throws across the room in disgust, beheading it. Hokuto took it back to TAC HQ. Ace ended up falling in Hipporit's trap, not really losing his head, but still...
77	** Minami is big on classical music, especially with Moon in the title, which she even plays in future appearances (Moonlight Sonata).
78	** Speaking of which, the sad background music playing throughout Episode 28 is Debussy's ''Clair De Lune'', a piece about the Moon.
79	* FourIsDeath: How many Ultramen were crucified on planet Golgotha? Four. They happened to be the same ones who came down to rescue Ace from Alien Hipporit only to fall into the same trap as Ace. Subverted when Father of Ultra joined the fray, and ultimately had to sacrifice himself to resurrect Ace, bringing the number up to five.
80	** Jumbo King is comprised of four of Yapool's Terrible-Monsters. He also has four arms and four legs.
81	* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: Many episodes begin with a screeching sound of Choujuus during the opening credits. Yes, even before the intro's opening bell notes play.
82	* FusionDance: Ultraman Ace's first method of transforming.
83	* {{Gorn}}:
84	** A lot of the kaiju's deaths are pretty gruesome, especially Muruchi's.
85	** Aribunta's secretions melting humans down to the bone.
86	* GroinAttack: Ace does this in several fights, every now and then driving his foot / knee into a monster's private regions. Also, pay attention to where Ace aims his Metallium Beam / Forehead Blast when executing Garan, Alien Fire and Iceron.
87	* HenshinHero: Two-in-one.
88	* HumanAliens: [[spoiler:Minami, who came from the Moon. Hokuto is a human host.]]
89	* HumanoidAliens: The Ultra Brothers.
90	* IdiotHero: Hokuto was perhaps the first instance of this in ''Ultra'' History... even in ''Series/UltramanMebius'' he still showed signs of being the hothead of the Ultra hosts.
91	* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe : Tends to happen whenever Ace uses the Ultra Guillotine as a FinishingMove.
92	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Baraba. This happens to him '''twice''' in the same rematch.
93	* ImpostorForgotOneDetail: Goh is left handed, loves rice cakes, and knows how to use chopsticks. Yapool should know that.
94	* {{Kaiju}}: To the extreme. Terrible-Monsters are considerably stronger than regular Kaiju due to them being engineered by Yapool, and thus provide significantly greater challenges for Ultras to bring down.
95	* LastNoteNightmare: In some of the cliffhangers.
96	* HonorBeforeReason: Captain Ryuu's superior officer trying to blow up planet Golgotha with a missile. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Ryuu ordered Hokuto to disregard that order]]. Hokuto [[TakeAThirdOption took a third option]].
97	* MadeOfPhlebotinum: The Specium Missiles wielded by TAC's planes. Because they utilise the elements used by the original Ultraman, they are significantly more powerful than other weapons utilised by the humans.
98	* MeaningfulName
99	** Hokuto = ''North Star or Big Dipper'', one of the Asterisms used to discern which direction is north.
100	** Minami = ''South'', [[spoiler:Yuh = ''Moon'']].
101	** Golgotha was the name of the planet where Ace Killer lured the Ultra Brothers in Episode 13, the same planet where all of them, except Ace, were crucified!
102	** Barabas was the name of Ace Killer's kaiju.
103	** Lunatyx, from the Latin ''Luna'' = [[{{Foreshadowing}} Moon]]
104	* MixAndMatchCritter: Jumbo King, Yapool's last monster, is created from four of his previously destroyed beasts; Mazaron Man, Mazarius, Unitang and Cowra.
105	* MoodWhiplash: See MythologyGag below. This seemingly lighthearted moment leads to a much darker plot concerning that alien.
106	** Ace performing Sumo Wrestling poses with King Crab.
107	** Ace playing "Toreador" with a kaiju (complete with Bizet playing in the background). Everything was funny until the kaiju knocked him silly.
108	* {{Narrator}}: [[Series/ReturnOfUltraman Shin Kishida]] AKA Toho's Dracula AKA Ken Sakata.
109	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands
110	** Check out the [[AllYourPowersCombined Space Q]] in episode 14.
111	** Ace used [[PhantomZone a red bubble to trap Alien Metron Jr.]] in episode 8, thus reducing the number of simultaneous threats to fight from three to just two.
112	* OffWithHisHead: Often happens to the Choju that Ace fights, which earned Ace the title of "The Guillotine Prince".
113	* PhantomZone: Yapool's dimension, from where he creates his monsters and oversees their actions on Earth. It is also the location of Ace and Yapool's epic mid-season fight that briefly takes the latter out of the role of main antagonist.
114	* PutOnABus: Yuko Minami leaves in episode 28 to return to her home in the Moon.
115	* RecycledSoundtrack: From ''Series/UltraSeven'', with some selections from ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman''.
116	* ReTool: After Minami left, Hokuto became the sole human host for Ace, and the show became a bit DarkerAndEdgier.
117	* TheReveal
118	** [[spoiler:Minami is from the Moon.]]
119	** In the last episode, [[spoiler:the seemingly benign Alien Simon turned out to be Yapool, who has created Jumbo King (a kaiju made up of parts of four other kaiju), and turns children against Hokuto, who then reveals his SecretIdentity to everybody.]]
120	* SecretKeeper:
121	** For Hokuto and Minami, TAC. Also, the children who were deceived by Alien Simon, for Hokuto.
122	** Hokuto and Minami transform and save Jiro at the same time, so it's possible he (and Rumiko) knows.
123	** [[spoiler: In Episode 2, Captain Ryuu kind of lets it slip that he knows Hokuto is Ace but never reveals it to anyone else.]]
124	* ShapeshifterModeLock: If Ace transforms in front of people who don’t know his identity, he would supposedly become trapped forever in his Ultra form. [[SubvertedTrope Fortunately, this didn't happen,]] as Hokuto has appeared numerous times since then.
125	* SheCleansUpNicely: Out of uniform [[spoiler:and in her true form]], Minami.
126	* SignificantReferenceDate: July 7th, the birthday for Hokuto and Minami, was actually Eiji Tsuburaya's birthday. At the end of Episode 14, Konno wonders whether they're siblings or sweethearts.
127	* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: Ace in the opening credits, which feature kaiju from ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'' and ''Series/{{Ultraman}}''.
128	** The kaijuu are an inversion, as they don't appear in this show.
129	* SpoilerTitle: [[spoiler:"Goodbye Minami, Moon's Little Sister"]]
130	* StarCrossedLovers: To an extent [[spoiler:Minami is a Moon person who chose to return there after her mission while Hokuto remains on Earth and later permanently becomes an Ultraman. In the series itself they're portrayed as more of a close friendship than a romance though, with him even refering to her as like a "sister" in her final episode. However follow up appearances tended to treat them like they did have a romantic thing going on. In Mebius when they're finally reunited 30 something years later they lament they couldn't "Grow old together" and their alternate universe versions in ''Film/SuperiorUltraman8Brothers'' were married]]
131	* TransformationTrinket: The Ultra Rings.
132	* TransformationSequence: Tsuburaya, in a direct attempt to compete with ''Franchise/KamenRider'''s transformation sequences, featured Hokuto and Minami doing stunts such as leaping several feet into the air to transform.
133	* WhamEpisode: Episode 28, when Minami leaves the team and is revealed to have come from the Moon.
134	* WonderTwinPowers: How Hokuto and Minami summon Ace, after each of their rings shines. [[spoiler:They don't need to be in actual physical contact; just a hand on a video screen will do!]]
135	* WorfHadTheFlu: Father of Ultra, Ace's adoptive father, fights Alien Hipporit and, while doing the best out of everyone to fight him, gets beaten down. He then sacrifices himself by tearing out his colour timer (but revives Ace who finishes the job). Father of Ultra had actually been weakened due to a combination of things (depending on the source, he either expended too much energy going to Earth top speed or was tired from training Taro). Later appearances show that he would have otherwise crushed Hipporit without breaking a sweat.
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138	RING...TOUCH!

Context Series / UltramanAce