YMMV / Ultraman Dyna

• Bizarro Episode:
  • "Monster Drama" is a complete Mind Screw from start to finish, complete with one of the weirdest fight scenes ever. Appropriately, the episode was directed by Akio Jissoji, maverick of the Ultra Series.
  • "Ephemeral Dream". Let's see: Mai pilots a giant robot, Captain Munakata and Shinjoh are now pirates (they converted the Artdessei into a pirate ship!), and a completely random scene of Asuka being kicked by a mob of Alien Regulan. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was All Just a Dream.
• Complete Monster:
  • "The Supreme Ruler Who Sleeps on the Moon": Alien Nuaza Eshilis ("Space Emperor") was the last of the Space Emperors who were known for their bloody campaign of conquest, death, and destruction on numerous planets since ancient times and adopted a belief that those in power have the duty to purge the weak. His reign of terror seemingly came to an end when his assassins betrayed and killed him. However, his spirit lived on in the afterlife. In the modern era, Super GUTS officer Kouhei Kariya and TPC archaeological members investigated on his tomb, giving Eshilis the opportunity to possess Kariya and sabotage Super GUTS' HQ to enact his plan to destroy the Earth by having the moon crash onto the planet.
  • "The Ghost Space Ship": Zombayu ("Ghost Ship Monster") has haunted the galaxy for millennia, going from planet to planet and stealing the souls of their inhabitants to feed itself. Eventually, the entity came across an Alien Shilback Vessel, devoured the souls of everyone on it, and took the ship as its new form. Coming to Earth, it went from city to city devouring the souls of everyone it came across, including Super Guts officer Ryo Yumimura. When the heroes managed to get inside the monster ship, it reanimated one of its Alien Shilback victims as a mindless servant to stop them. Near the end of the fight with Dyna, it attempts to drain the soul of Dyna and flee into space with all of its victims to try to continue its rampage across the Stars.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Often tied with Evil Is Cool:
  • Reigubas is only a Monster of the Week, but its unique concept as a fire/ice wielding crustacean kaiju, sheer power and being a formidable threat against Dyna gave it a lot of fame in the fandom, with constant references to the monster being made including getting a sort-of return in Ultraman Ginga S as one of the components of Five King.
  • Mons-Ahgar is well-loved for its amazing design and interesting backstory as an artificial monster made by a long-gone civilization. It came back in Ultraman Decker with a brand-new suit to boot, to the delight of fans and crew members alike.
  • Neosaurus is beloved as well for being a simultaneous homage to the similarly popular kaiju Red King and Jirahs. It was homaged in Ultraman Decker with the new monster, Neomegas, to the satisfaction of many fans.
  • Imitation Ultraman Dyna/Gregorl-Man, due to the gold and black on the blue details other than his eyebags. 10 points if you include his trademark Ass Kicking Pose. His return in Ultraman Decker (albeit without his Imit Dyna form) was well-received.
  • Terranoid. Despite appearing only briefly its debut, the robot's appearance was enough to gain it quite a bit of popularity.
  • On humanity's side, Mountain Gulliver No. 5 enjoys a decent bit of popularity as despite only existing in a dream, the very idea that Super GUTS could have a Humongous Mecha to support Ultraman is a concept rife with potential.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In episode 19, Mai joked that Asuka would never get a girlfriend since he always thinking about monsters. The final episode has Asuka (as Dyna no less) absorbed into a wormhole created from Gransphire's destruction, which means he won't ever have a normal life because Asuka is now hundreds of years old (per his actor's words), having travelled through various dimensions to fight evil due to his dedication as an Ultraman, even if it means he won't be coming back home much.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Aside from Shin Asuka sharing his name with a Mobile Suit pilot, his actor is also a fan of the original Mobile Suit Gundam!
  • A few years later, the actor of Imitation Dyna's human form would portray a genuine Ultraman.
  • Mountain Gulliver No. 5's concept would be made into reality 24 years later with STORAGE and the SAA units.
  • This series was often considered So Okay, It's Average at best, in no small part due to being overshadowed by ultra popular Ultraman Tiga. It's New Generation iteration, Ultraman Decker, however, ended up much better received than Tiga's New Generation iteration Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga. Even more so, the story's tone also got another way around. While Dyna was Lighter and Softer compared to Tiga, Decker was Darker and Edgier compared to Trigger.
  • Hanejiro's real name was revealed in a later episode as Pamu, hence his Pokémon Speak of "Pamu". One of the Energy Fairy in Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure (which semi-concurrently aired with Dyna's spiritual-remake/celebration series, Ultraman Decker, no less) is named Pam-Pam, or if you call her as written in katakana, Pamu-Pamu. Parodied for all it's worth here.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Young Toshiyuki Toyonaga and Eri Kitamura are child actors in this show, appearing in episodes 20 and 46 respectively. Special credit to Eri herself, who portrays the younger version of Ryo Yumimura.
  • In terms of other toku properties beyond Utraman, Takeshi Tsuruno performed the opening theme of Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger. Take note that Tsuruno himself is also a singer.
• Tough Act to Follow: Dyna's fall into obscurity seems to be attributable to this, given that as the Lighter and Softer Sequel Series to Ultraman Tiga, one of the best-loved Ultra series, it didn't quite win over fans quite like Tiga did. Then got sandwiched by Ultraman Gaia, which brought back Darker and Edgier tone and became popular by its own merit (also by virtue of being set in separate universe avoided unfavorable comparisons with Tiga), certainly didn't help.

---