Ultraman vs Dada has a sequence where Dada shoots Ultraman with his Micronizer Device. At first it seems to have no effect on him, but he then shrinks down into human size. Ultraman promptly grows giant again and their fight resumes as usual.
Episode 11, "The Ruffian from Outer Space", where kaiju Gyango wasn't even the problem, the problem was the silly jerk who wished him into existence.
Creepy Cute: Seabozu, a skeletal undead kaiju who only wants to go back to the Monster Graveyard for his eternal rest.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Alien Baltan, leading to many reappearances in other shows, and becoming one of the most iconic and famous villains in the series. Same with Gomora, who got his own show and Adaptational Heroism in order to fight alongside Ultraman. To a lesser extent, Zetton, Red King, and Alien Mephilas.
Among the monsters who don't make regular reappearances, Geronimon (Then again, Geronimon is a major case of Values Dissonance-see below-) and Kiyla have a lot of fans who would really like to see them return and fight some of the newer Ultramen. Also Jirass, for being "Godzilla with a frill".
Epileptic Trees: There's a theory that Zetton is a Hybrid Monster, due to some of its body parts resembling other kaiju previously appearing on the show. The theory posits that Zetton takes its horns from Antlar, its face from Saigo, the glowing organs on its chest from Kiyla's eyes, its limbs from Red King, its back shell from Kemular and the black parts of its body from Alien Mefilas. No allusion to this has appeared in the show itself nor Narita's design notes on Zetton, but the theory is popular enough to have appeared in some tie-in publications.
Fair for Its Day: Fuji is to this show as Uhura is to Star Trek: The Original Series. Japan's attitude towards gender roles was even more conservative than USA's at the time, so Fuji's prominence in Science Patrol was quite revolutionary, even if she was a childlike Office Lady at times. She was often deployed with her teammates and fought alongside them in many battles, and even got a few episodes centered around her.
Red King has been jokingly dubbed "Corn King" or "Corn Godzilla" by English-speaking fans because of his corn-like skin texture. He's also been called "Mr. Bad", thanks to a line from the unlicensed film Space Warriors 2000 using footage from his second appearance.
Gomora has been dubbed by some fans as "Prince of the Monsters" as an homage to Godzilla (the King of the Monsters) and because it was the title of his debut two-parter (although the eponymous prince was actually a kid who knew a lot about monsters).
"Man-niisan" for Ultraman which means "Brother Man" because his real name is never revealed. Ultraman Mebius is the first to use the nickname but Ultraman Z brought it back to popularity. Some fans dubbed him "Ultraman Hayata" based from his human host, Shin Hayata, and that he based his human form from him in the following media.
Fridge Horror: Zetton looks more cool than scary. Supply material notes that those boxes that appear to be his eyes are actually the ears. So where are Zetton's eyes? Those glowing spots on his chest. Suddenly, the beast looks much more creepy than before.
It's difficult to overstate just how much this show rebuilt and codified the Kaiju genre. Whereas before, a giant monster coming out of the sea to wreck up the place would be like a typhoon or hurricane: unstoppable, and the little humans scurrying away from it could only hope to rebuild afterwards or put up token resistance. The cost of stopping one would be horrendously high (Godzilla (1954)) or worryingly public (King Kong), requiring military deployment. While Ultra Q set the ball rolling, from this show onwards, it became entirely believable that those little humans could fight back on their own terms, and do it once a friggin' week at that. Oh, and the big guy on Earth's side - the idea that Earth could have external, fairly long-lasting help from elsewhere - is also a nice change of pace.
For Tokusatsu in general, Ultraman was responsible for helping the genre move away from kaiju trashing cities on cinema to superheroes battling monsters on weekly television, resulting in the Ultra Series, along with franchises like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, joining the likes of Godzilla and Gamera as the many faces of the Tokusatsu genre as a whole.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The show is fondly remembered in Latin America, particularly Mexico and Argentina, to quote: "it was the Power Rangers of our generation!" In Brazil, which had already liked Toku years earlier with National Kid, it was also popular, with reruns airing continuously until 1986 and sporadically ever since, as well as the go-to Toku hero, not until Toei's Juspion arrived in 1988.
It Was His Sled: Ultraman is defeated by Gomora in the two-part episode and killed by Zetton in the finale — both of which are extremely well-known in Japan. Hell, defeating Ultraman is the reason why both Gomora and Zetton are so insanely popular in the first place.
Jerkass Woobie: Jamila is ultimately this; while his backstory and eventual death is undeniably tragic, he still went out of his way to attack an innocent village which had nothing to do with his transformation into a monster, something Ide rightly calls him out on.
Macekre: The English dubbed version of the original Japanese dialogue is not nearly the worst offender, but the differences are definitely noticeable.
BCI Eclipse's DVD releases of the series, thanks to having the uncut episodes, show at which points the show was or wasn't dubbed - a Japanese TV episode is a couple minutes longer than an American episode, so where there were undubbed moments, the dialogue just switches back to Japanese, and the subtitles come on. Whether it's incredibly distracting or just really distracting depends on whether or not you know why it's happening.
Magnificent Bastard: "The Forbidden Words". Alien Mefilas is an alien invader who plots to conquer Earth by having a human willingly give up the planet to him as he dislikes violence. Installing his spaceship in a secret location to avoid detection, Mefilas tries to convince a boy named Satoru into "trading" Earth for another world, using choice words to try and make him agree to his deal while also showing an understanding of human emotions and their unwillingness to instantly surrender their world. In addition to illusions, he also makes sure to capture Hayata and Fuji to use as hostages to keep SSSP busy while preventing Hayata from transforming into Ultraman. When SSSP finally finds his base, he retaliates with his ship's weapons effectively before SSSP breaks into his base and rescue his hostages. With his ship down he proceeds to fight Ultraman to a standstill, proving to be the hero's equal in a fight, however Mefilas calmly admits defeat and ends the fight there and then, leaving Earth unscathed while swearing to return one day to realize his goal.
More Popular Spin-Off: While Ultra Q is a very influential and beloved TV show in its own right in Japan, Ultraman remains the one that's better known worldwide and holds the Guinness world record for most spinoffs.
Most Wonderful Sound: The sound of Hayata becoming Ultraman is when you know the day will be saved. Also, some of the monster roars are pretty awesome, like Gomora, Red King, and Antlar.
Some of the less stellar-looking monsters. Gamakujira stands out in particular for looking like the suit is two times too big for its suit actor.
Bemular's disproportionately tiny arms and buggy little eyes can make him seem more comical than menacing for some.
The first Ultraman suit's Off-Model appearance is really something to be seen.
Narm Charm: While the Type A Ultraman mask is seen as cheap and crude-looking even for its time, a number of fans feel its lumpy, distorted look helps lend Ultraman a mysterious, even eerie presence, while feeling organic enough to be recognised as the face of a living being. The design would later be referenced in the franchise with The Next's Anphans form and the initial form Ultraman appears as in Shin Ultraman before fusing with a human.
Never Live It Down: Ultraman will always be remembered for attempting genocide by blowing up the 2 billion Baltans in their spaceship with his Spacium Beam. Even if some Baltans survived, it's still seen as a jarringly unheroic moment and earned him Memetic Psychopath status.
Nightmare Fuel: Dada and the Mummy will have you looking behind your back when you're alone in an office building... All that and more, now in its own page.
Nightmare Retardant: ...until you imagine Muramatsu - not an especially big guy - tackling Dada to the ground and not even losing any momentum in the process. And locking him out, too.
Once Original, Now Overdone: To modern viewers, it may seem like a goofy and stereotypical Japanese superhero show, but it must be emphasized that this series was huge when it debuted — one of the most expensive TV shows of its day and drawing in enormous ratings of around 30-40% of all Japanese TV viewers.
Sequel Displacement: While Ultra Q is a very influential and beloved TV show in its own right in Japan, Ultraman remains the one that's better known worldwide and holds the Guinness world record for most spinoffs.
Special Effect Failure: Occasionally. It was made in 1966, and not everything's going to look good after 60+ years.
The Ultraman type A mask looked cheap and crude even back in the day.
The miniature used for the transformation sequence (with the red background) has no Color timernote This is partially due to the fact the Color Timer was a last-minute addition to Ultraman's design and was created after the miniature was completed, but you think the crew would have had the opportunity to update the model, given how simple it would be to just slap it on..
Rear projection shots looked a bit crudenote Look at the Science Patrol facing Jirass in "The Mysterious Dinosaur Base". Ultraseven had the same problem note for example, "The Secret of the Lake".
During Jirass' Blood from the Mouth death scene, the metallic tube meant for pumping the red liquid out is visible during the closeup.
In episode 11, a car crashes into a building and, for a few seconds, can be seen pushing against a paper background installed to make the building look much bigger than it actually is.
"Human Specimens 5 and 6" had a few glaring issues:
Dada's body was made from a black wetsuit with white lines spray-painted on, so keen-eyed viewers may notice that the white paint gradually got chipped during filming, which is especially noticeable around the wrists.
Dada's preferred face with red eyes had issues with the electronics, which sometimes resulted in the lights in his eyes randomly turning on and off. The face-switching gimmick also resulted in the wires holding the face to the head being visible. note This may be because Dada's current head design was a hasty addition after having one head with all three faces proved unsuccessful.
When Dada forced Muramatsu and Akikawa off the building, mannequins were obviously used to portray the two falling from a great height.
Stock Footage Failure: "The Prince of Monsters" Part 2 (Episode 27) featured footage of Ultraman transforming back to Hayata. Problem was, the footage was from Episode 12, where Bin Furuya was wearing the type-A Ultraman mask.
Tear Jerker: The episode of Jamila, "I am from Earth".
Zetton killing Ultraman in the finale was bad enough, but then when Zoffy comes to pick Ultraman up he begs his senior Ultra to let him die and give his life to his host Hayata instead. Luckily Zoffy happened to bring two lives along when he came to pick Ultraman up, but there's still the fact that Ultraman has to leave Earth forever afterwards.
Ultraman: Zoffy... I would like to leave Earth by giving my life... To Hayata then. Zoffy: You don't care if you die? Ultraman: No, I don't. I've already lived for 20,000 years. Earthling's lives are very short. And Hayata is still very young. I don't want him to be a victim.
Ide feeling useless because he though Ultraman always solved the Science Patrol's problems.
Pigmon, a diminutive red lionfish-like critter with a perpetual sullen expression, which contrasts his child-like curiosity and selfless heroism.
Gyango, a colourful, fancifully designed creature manifested from a wishing stone who acts like a playful kid and engages in comical slapstick with Ultraman.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: To some, the Alien Baltans from the second episode. Granted they're clearly the bad guys with them refusing to live peacefully on earth and instead attempted to conquer it but they're still Invading Refugees from their destroyed planet and Ultraman's solution for them is to murder 2 BILLION OF THEM when they couldn't fight back can be seen as surprisingly dark. When surviving Baltans returned later seeking revenge it can be easy to sympathize.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Hydra's origins of being the vengeful guardian spirit of Akira, a kid who was killed by a reckless driver on Route 87, is rather tragic. Despite this, the bird-dragon comes off as unsympathetic for indiscriminately attacking all vehicles on Route 87, killing many innocent drivers. Even Akira's spirit seems to have realised the extreme actions his creation would take and tried to warn the SSSP beforehand of Hydra's attack.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: The first mask of Ultraman, dubbed Type A, was a failed attempt to make Ultraman's mouth move, causing it to look wrinkly and lopsided as if falling apart. Thankfully, it was replaced with a cleaner, more heroic mask befitting the benevolent alien as the show progressed.
Values Dissonance: Geronimon, as if his name alone already didn't clue you, can come across as a very blatant racist caricature of a Native American, with his oversized feathers that resemble the headdresses worn by male Indian leaders standing out in particular. This may be a major reason as to why the character hasn't made any significant reappearances in the franchise.
Vanilla Protagonist: While Hayata does get some development later in the series, he's often seen as less distinctive and underdeveloped compared to his teammates due to being infallible, though this may have been intentional due to him spending the entire series sharing a body with Ultraman. Because of this, some fans have declared the much more complex Ide as the true main character of the series, while Hayata's only the person who transforms into Ultraman.
Visual Effects of Awesome: Put it this way - it's 1966, and most of the crazy things you see in a typical episode would have looked good in a theatrically-released film. This was a half-hour kids' television show, filmed in color at a time when there were barely enough black-and-white TVs to watch it on. They could've fudged things here and there, but didn't, and wow does their effort show even 60+ years after the fact.
The use of Forced Perspective in Ultraman's Transformation Sequence, where a tapered miniature torso (wide at the top, narrow at the bottom, no legs) was made to look like it suddenly grew to giant size. Most of the Showa Ultras used variations of ths technique (Taro and Ace had exceptional sequences). Toys were created based on the miniature(s).
The 2011 Manga/2019 Anime:
Common Knowledge: Many fans believe that the animation for the 2019 anime is provided by Polygon Pictures, rather than Sola Digital Arts.
Epileptic Trees: Given the release date of the upcoming anime adaptation (April 1st, 2019), some of them assumed that this project is merely an April Fools joke, because of the series' usage to cel-shaded CG. Jossed and subverted that this is not the case.
Hilarious in Hindsight: The fact that the Ultraman suit is Powered Armor resembling Iron Man (a detail the manga creators acknowledged was a homage) is this considering that currently (as of 2020) Tsuburaya and Marvel have joined forces to release Ultraman comics in the United States. Then in 2021, the manga's co-creator Eiichi Shimizu designed a new armor for Iron Man, aswell as illustrating covers for Tech-On Avengers comic.
While he's mostly teasing him because he knows he's the new Ultraman, Seiji quite loves invading Shinjiro's personal space and sending comments his way that border on flirtatious. The small heart symbols that accompany said comments don't help matters either.
Kotaro and Dave have quite the rapport that are at times a little too comfortable to simply be friendship. For one thing, after going out as Ultraman, Kotaro would return to Dave and have him wash him to cool him down, complete with a visible Luminescent Blush on Kotaro's part. Kotaro's reaction to Dave's death is also pretty strong.
It's Short, So It Sucks!: Some fans are not pleased that the series is only 13 episodes long and doesn't adapt the whole manga. The series has been confirmed to be getting a second season, though unfortunately it too suffers from short episode counts (6 episodes in total). A third and final season having 13 episodes again helped to remedy this somewhat, though the manga events still had to be truncated.
Edo is a liaison for the Star Cluster Alliance, seemingly serving as an ally for Ultraman and SSSP. In truth, Edo plots to destroy the Ultramen and their reputation out of a genuine belief that they can conquer or destroy Earth in minutes if they chose to. To his ends, Edo has his allies in the Star Cluster Alliance commit crimes and frame the Ultramen for them while harnessing the power of the Giant of Light from the four Ultramen to resurrect Zetton. Unleashing Zetton onto the Ultramen, Edo joins the fight when they defeat Zetton, reviving the monster to full strength while he battles Shinjiro Hayata. Seemingly killing Shinjiro, Edo only loses when Shinjiro gets a Heroic Second Wind and is joined by his allies to defeat Edo. Edo dies with dignity, commenting that he’ll be watching Shinjiro’s progress from beyond. Anime Version Only
Agent Adad works for Star Cluster Alliance's Immigration Administration Bureau, taking extreme measures in handling crimes occurring in the alien district. Investigating a series of murders committed by Rena Sayama’s Loony Fans, Adad lures then out of hiding by claiming he’ll be attacking a concert performed by Rena Sayama while deploying fake bombs and endangering the audience as he enacts his role as the villain. Defeating the two Ultramen with ease and killing Alien Igaru when the latter tries to protect Rena, Adad reveals his charade to the audience before exposing and arresting the masterminds behind the murders while becoming Bemular’s informant within the Star Cluster Alliance. Adad later meets up with past foes of Ultraman to form a team to take down the hero, believing him to be a threat to the world.
Shinjiro's acting by Josh Hutcherson can leave a lot to be desired. Granted with it being his first voiced role in years, his monotone delivery captures the image of a confused highschool boy almost too well. Special mention goes to him complaining about Moroboshi's orders to go kill the Adicac. He's supposed to be feeling nervous and overwhelmed, but Hutcherson's acting makes him sound more annoyed than anything, like a boy kicked out of bed and told to go to school.
Shinjiro(flatly mumbling): What's his problem? Asking me to just go and kill an alien like it's no big deal..."
The Latin American Spanish dub, big time: Since the anime adaptation was dubbed in Colombia, more accurately in Bogota, the dub incurs in the same criticized flaws that affected the Colombian dub of Rurouni Kenshin, mainly the characters speaking with a notable Bogota accent and above all, the inability on pronouncing the "sh" cluster correctly and pronouncing it as "ch", causing some names, like the names of main characters Shinjiro Hayata and his father Shin, being pronounced as "Chinjiro" and "Chin". This is especially worse for people from countries like Mexico, as "Chinjiro" and "Chin" both sound disturbingly the same as the famous Mexican expression "¡Chin!", translated as "Fuck!" or "Damn!", basically turning their names for a Mexican viewer as both "Fuck-jiro" and "Fuck" respectively.
Padding: After Arashi rescues Shinjiro from the SSSP, they spend some time recapping the backstory of every Ultraman they know to find out which ones were the four Ultramen that Mephisto wants dead. What makes this sequence obvious padding is that it took place half way through the final season.
Win Back the Crowd: Not withstanding the CGI animation, the adaptation managed to win the hearts of Toku fans after the poorly receivedGodzilla anime trilogy.
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