YMMV / Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga

• Americans Hate Tingle: Amongst western fans, Trigger is generally seen as So Okay, It's Average at best, particularly as a follow-up to the critically and fan-acclaimed Ultraman Z. In Japan, however, it was an enormous sales success that eclipsed Z in toy sales by a considerable margin.
• Awesome Music: "Trigger" by Takao Sakuma, the series' opening theme, is pure hype distilled into musical form, taking all of the energy and fun "Take Me Higher" had and mixing it with a modern flair. The song also has an equally awesome cover by lead actor Raiga Terasaka.
• Badass Decay: Trigger's Glitter Eternity form. During the debut, Trigger curbstomps The Dark Giants Trio and Dark Trigger, all while still struggling to control its enormous power. But somehow, after Trigger is able to control Glitter's power, he not only struggles to fight against the trio later, but also several MOTW without outside help, and even got curbstomped by Carmeara in episode 23. Granted, the latter has absorbed Hudram's darkness, but still....
• Catharsis Factor: After Hudram spent the whole series tormenting Ignis and making him suffer by reminding him of the genocide on the Lishurians, he finally gets what's coming to him in the 22nd episode where Ignis as Trigger Dark spectacularly defeats him in one last battle and then he gets an utterly Undignified Death where Carmeara eats him (literally), not unlike how he ate some of the Lishurians, quite the satisfying end for such a cruel monster.
• Character Rerailment: After several seasons being portrayed as a Non-Malicious Monster aside from artificial summons, Gubila is returned to his Jerkass temperament from the orignal Ultraman.
• Complete Monster: Hudram ("Agile Tactician") is the vilest and most sadistic of the Dark Giants. Escaping his prison of 30 million years, Hudram immediately set his sights on the peaceful Planet Lishuria and destroyed it to sate his boredom, leaving only one survivor, Ignis, who he spared to make him suffer, and in the present is eager to torment with reminders of his genocide. When the other Dark Giants awaken, Hudram joins them in their efforts to obtain the Eternity Core to engulf the universe in eternal darkness, which threatens to destroy all life, employing schemes meant to cause destruction and death as much as possible, before betraying them when he believes Carmeara is unfit to lead due to her love for Trigger, even trapping and swearing to brainwash them into his mindless servants when he obtains the Core. When Ignis attempts to use the Core himself to resurrect his people, Hudram has Yuna held at his mercy, threatening to kill her should Ignis use the Core. When Ignis transforms into Trigger Dark to save Yuna, Hudram attempts to give him a slow painful death after overwhelming him, while mocking his bonds with his friends.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Darrgon became one of these as the series went on, with many being invested in his Character Development and Hidden Depths. This especially became notable after episode 23 where he redeems himself and is ultimately forced to be killed was followed by an increase in the sale of Darrgon toy figures with many fans hoping that he returns in some way in the future despite his death.
  • Despite being a repaint of Gorothunder, Barriguiler has become an unexpectedly popular monster since his debut due to his comedic, Affably Evil personality and making a Heel–Face Turn and teaming up with Trigger against Hudram. Many fans have hoped that he would return or join the Galaxy Rescue Force.
• Epileptic Trees: Since Kengo's plant R'lyeh is named after the sunken city that Gatanothoa came from in Tiga, several fans half-jokingly believed that it will eventually become the true Big Bad by the end of the series. This ended up being disproven in the end.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Two-King for Golba, since previous series, Ultraman Z featured a watered-down version of Five King called Tri-King who was made up of three components instead of five with Golba in turn being a Composite Character between two of Five King's components making it very fitting.
  • Trigger Atrocious for Trigger Dark, since his design greatly resembled that of the late Ultraman Belial's Atrocious form from Ultraman Geed.
  • Trigger V2 for Trigger Truth, since he is the result of Trigger Dark's powers fusing into Trigger much like Agul's light fuses with Gaia.
• Foe Yay Shipping: While the two were once lovers in the past and Carmeara still had feelings for him later on, Ultraman Trigger and Carmeara were enemies and remain like that for the whole series, with Trigger merely comforting her in her final moments. Regardless, their ship is very popular in the fandom and most fan works tend to ignore their fallout in favor of portraying them as still being romantically involved with each other.
• Genius Bonus: In episode 8, the Nursedessei's crew uses antiquated technologies to try and circumvent Powered Dada's takeover of the ship's systems. Akito even namedrops SCSI (a device interface that predates USB and was used in computers from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties), which will be familiar to retro computing enthusiasts.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: In the season finale, Kengo wanted to make Carmeara smile to make her redeem herself before she unfortunately died. He actually succeeds in the sequel now that she's revived and freed from Sphere-Megalothor.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Early in the show, a few people took note of the fact that Kengo’s catchphrase ("Smile Smile") was the same as Saki Rouyama/Go-On Yellow. Guess whose actress ends up guest-starring in episode 9 in a Small Role, Big Impact?
  • In episode 15, Ribut training Kengo went from a classic Training from Hell to a dance session to get him to ease up and control Glitter Trigger Eternity. Kengo's actor, Raiga Terasaka, would later on star in Dancing☆Star Pretty Cure The Stage as Cure Kagura. Even more interestingly, this also make him the first actor ever to portray both a hero from major Tokusatsu franchise and a Cure, and not from Toei's own franchise either. ^note While a fellow actor in the stageshow, Touya Morita, has a role in Kamen Rider Revice: The Mystery spinoff, he didn't transform into a Rider. For extra hilarity, while Kengo's character and Character Catchphrase, "Smile Smile", wouldn't be out of place in Precure, his character in Dancing☆Star is strict and rigid with his character being annoyed by Sasana/Cure Soul similar to how Akito is annoyed by Kengo.
• Ho Yay:
  • Kengo and Akito's interactions are loaded with this, especially given Kengo's touchy-feely attitude and insistent wish to be Akito's friend no matter how harsh Akito is to him.
  • In the second episode, Kengo is really eager to be friends with Akito, even as Akito keeps pushing him away. Notably, despite his teammates' friendliness and insistence in letting Akito warm up to him on his own, he doesn't relents until he and Akito are closer.
  • Episode 5 sees them getting some tender moments when dealing with Akito's past, with Kengo even giving Akito a white rose as a token of friendship to help cheer him up about the grief over his parents' deaths at the hands of Deathdrago. While this might just seem like a small moment and quite passable on meaning, later on a white rose is used in episode 18 during Darrgon's delusion as a gift of Yuna meant to be a sign that they could be together one day despite their current inability to be together.
  • Episode 8: Haruki, when inspecting Kengo as he recognizes his Ultraman status, puts his head a little too close to Kengo's face and stares at him in a notably awkward fashion.
  • Episode 11's cliffhanger has Akito calling out Kengo's name in a notably sorrowful tone as he watches Trigger Dark start destroying the city, even forgetting that Yuna is right besides him exposing Kengo's identity to her.
  • Episode 12 continues on from the previous episode, and shows that Akito is on the verge of tears over Trigger Dark's actions and the belief that Kengo/Trigger has become evil and needs to be killed to be stopped per orders from Mr. Shizuma.
  • Yuna even tells them to "Stop flirting" at one point in episode 14.
  • Episode 18 shows that in his dream of making everyone smile, it's Akito's smile the one he focuses the most on.
  • Episode 21 has Akito shaken up badly when he believes Kengo has died after being buried under Aboras' toxic foam while saving him from it, he even can't muster the will to say Kengo could be dead to Captain Tatsumi, almost tearing up at even thinking about it.
  • The finale's ending brings it all to a head when Akito does not take the fact that Kengo must conduct a Heroic Sacrifice to stop the Eternity Core from going berserk well. He gets very up and personal in telling Kengo he would not smile until he returned. The last scene shows Akito looking at the last picture the GUTS-Select team had with Kengo, reminiscing about how Kengo saved the world and even telling his long-gone friend that it is thanks to him that the world can smile.
• I Knew It!: A few fans determined that Ignis would eventually gain the power to turn into an Ultra (specifically the Dark Giant Trigger Dark), since he's been seeking a way to kill Hudram and avenge his people.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!:
  • When the first images appeared for Trigger it showed him fighting a bunch of Showa monsters. Many fans did not like this because the series is being billed as a celebration of the Heisei era but the fact that no Heisei monsters, besides a Fusion Dance of Golza and Melba named Golba, were shown feels like a betrayal of that idea. It should be noted however those images may just be publicity pictures and may not reflect the monster lineup for the show itself, as happened with various magazine scans for Ultraman Z that showcased various kaiju that never showed up in the show itself.
  • Almost all of the new kaiju in this series are made from Prop Recycling, with some even being simple Palette Swaps without any modification to the appearance of the suit. Oka-Gubila is one of the worst offenders, as the only modification that was done to distinguish it from the regular Gubila is a rocky texture to its skin, making it simply look like a Gubila that rolled around in dirt.
• Love to Hate: Hudram is a heinous, vile sociopath, but his charisma when calm and violent Hair-Trigger Temper make him very fun to root against.
• Magnificent Bastard: Ignis is an alien treasure hunter who crosses paths with Ultraman Trigger and GUTS-Select in their mission to stop the Dark Giants, starting as a Wild Card that messes with them albeit having a honorable and kindhearted streak, later on he instead cooperates with them so as to stop Hudram, the Dark Giant who destroyed his homeworld. In the latter half of the series, he obtains the power of Trigger Dark and though initially unable to control it, manages to rectify that with help from Akito's repairs to his GUTS Sparklens. Even when he's temporarily arrested he is easily able to set up his endgame plan: to use the Eternity Core to restore his homeworld all while giving the heroes a chance to stop him, before abandoning the plan after learning of the consequences that could come of it, he then befriends the heroes for real before defeating Hudram for good. In the finale, he assists in defeating Megalothor by sharing his power of darkness with Trigger. Once all is over he peacefully leaves for space, still intending to restore his homeworld.
• Memetic Mutation: See the Franchise page.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Hudram crossed it long before the series even started, as it was revealed that a hundred years ago he committed genocide on the Lishurian race and on top of that spared the last one left, Ignis, purely to make him suffer for his amusement.
  • Kyrieloid crosses it when it goes on a rampage on a city after Yuna helped Trigger against the Dark Giants, all because she was "unworthy" in his eyes as it seemed she'd pass his test, showcasing his self-righteous nature.
• Never Live It Down: Kengo's catchphrase "Smile, Smile!" will never be lived down by the fandom despite him only saying it frequently in the first few episodes and subsequently dropping its usage to a few in-between episodes at most. He didn't even said it more than once following episode 4 and the show itself began to lampshade its corniness in many occasions or made fun of it. However, expect discussions of the show to treat the catchphrase as if it was always a part of every dialogue line Kengo had.
• Older Than They Think: Trigger having electronics in the Transformation Trinkets isn't the first time the Ultra Series have done so. That goes to Ultraman R/B with their Kiwami and Makoto Crystals.
• So Okay, It's Average: Trigger had two uphill battles to fight. One is being the spiritual successor to Ultraman Tiga, which brought Ultraman back after a 16-year hiatus and is possibly the most famous and beloved installment in the franchise besides the original, as well as the direct successor to the much loved Ultraman Z. While the action and main trio are liked, there is a sense of disappointment from the rest of the attack team, humor and sense of plot elements being rushed. Examples being Tiga and Kyrieloid appearing at the end of episode 19 after the action and drama of the three Dark Giants fighting each other with very little buildup. The final consensus most fans have is that the series is ultimately of average quality as it has generally good action, special effects, and some solid episodes but ultimately falls short of its inspiration and preceding series and is riddled with wasted potential for several things such as overall characterization, inconsistent pacing and world building.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • Zaragas' suit has greatly deteriorated since its last outing in Ultraman X; the mechanism for its jaw seems to have been broken, and the kaiju spends its time on screen in episode 10 with its mouth hanging open as a result, this is mainly a result of it being a remodeled Gomora suit from Ultraman Max with about 15 years worth of decay after usage in features such as Ultraman Mebius, Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle (as Gomora), Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends and Ultraman X (as Zaragas).
  • Some of the returning kaiju are portrayed by stage-show suits, which often lack jaw mechanisms and therefore cannot open their mouths. While this is a common occurrence in the last few shows, here it's especially noticeable with Aboras, who has a very large mouth and thus looks quite jarring when he keeps his mouth closed when roaring or using his Breath Weapon.
• Spiritual Adaptation: While it's clear this is a sequel to Ultraman Tiga, the three Dark Giants along with Yuzare's larger presence in the plot seem to show that this would be what'd happen if Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey was a television series instead of a movie.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Tesshin Sakuma and Himari Nanase. Despite their quirky personality, they never get their own backstory or limelight due to the series focusing too much on the main trio. Their motivations and interests are only seen briefly in episode 19, and are never touched upon again. Nanase gets it worse, in that her relationship with GUTS Falcon is never explained why and how.
  • Despite being one of the most iconic foes from Tiga, Gazort in Episode 3 is little more than a simple throwaway monster Hudram summoned to wreak havoc, whose role could have been given to any other flying monster without necessitating any changes to the episode's plot.
  • Despite this entire series being the Spiritual Successor to Ultraman Tiga, Tiga himself is borderline irrelevant, only being mentioned in a handful of episodes and briefly teaming up with Trigger in Episode 19. While there are plenty of references to Tiga's series, very little is actually done to connect both Tiga and Trigger in a meaningful way.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Despite his initial hostility toward Kengo being the result of believing he should have been Trigger instead, Akito isn't the one to inherit the powers of Trigger Dark, with Ignis gaining the powers instead. The idea of Akito getting his wish in a way he didn't expect and having to deal with keeping Trigger Dark's power under control could have lead to some compelling drama, as Kengo and Akito had a closer connection than the one Ignis had with Kengo.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Of all the past monsters to return, no one expected Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero/Powered's version of Dada to get used again, due to that series' monster suits being infamously brittle and the consequent reluctance to remake them with better materials.
  • Even less people were expecting an Absolutian to appear in the show, let alone a brand-new one: Absolute Diavolo.
  • Aboras and Banila were quite the unexpected reappearances for a major role, as they had nothing close to a major role for the last 50 years besides their Powered Versions.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Carmeara is meant to be sympathetic to some degree if Kengo noting that she was happy with Trigger in episode 19 and her last moments in episode 25 is any indication. However, her needlessly cruel Kick the Dog moment in episode 23 where she brainwashed Darrgon, forced him into a Mercy Kill and ate him, then mocked his Heel–Face Turn by commenting he tastes disgusting made many fans unhappy and feel that she was irredeemable by that point. Though her inclusion in the next series might have been in case it didn't work, and that she needed a proper redemption.
• Vanilla Protagonist: A big issue that people have with the series is the main character, Kengo Manaka is not nearly as interesting as the supporting characters and villains around him. (The Dark Giants, Yuna Shizuma, Akito Hijiri, Mitsukuni Shizuma, and Ignis) Just being a simple all-loving hero with a catchphrase (Smile, Smile!) many found annoying (even if most were glad it got downplayed into almost non-existence later on).
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The CGI scenes and models are amazing despite being made on a TV show budget, being able to seamlessly blend in with the suit fight scenes and physical sets.

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