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Changed line(s) 7 (click to see context) from:
** ''Series/UltraSeven'' gets even more blatant with the Christian imagery. In one memorable episode "The Crucifixion of Ultra Seven", Ultra Seven is put on a cross by the Guts Seijin. Now in anime this is strangely normal, with crucifixion not really having a meaning in Japan outside of standard execution. But for Tsuburaya, crucifixion is AuthorAppeal, with Seven himself being a MessianicArchetype directly meant as symbols of Christ and Buddha.
to:
** ''Series/UltraSeven'' gets even more blatant with the Christian imagery. In one memorable episode "The Crucifixion of Ultra Seven", Ultra Seven is put on a cross by the Guts Seijin. Now in anime this is strangely normal, with crucifixion not really having a meaning in Japan outside of a standard execution.(if barbaric) execution, or as a reference to the Ultra Series. But for Tsuburaya, crucifixion is AuthorAppeal, with Seven himself being a MessianicArchetype directly meant as symbols of Christ and Buddha.
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trope was cut/disambiguated due to cleanup
Changed line(s) 18 (click to see context) from:
** Can't shake off the stereotypes: ''Everybody'' who knows Ultraman but has never watched any (or very little) series probably thinks that the franchise is this in every episode: "[[StrictlyFormula Giant monster shows up. Ultraman fights it. Crappy special effects. Insignificant team. Cheesy plots.]]" Now, some series apply more for this than others, due to SeinfeldIsUnfunny, but many still believe that ''Ultraman'' is one long running, formulaic show that's staler than century-old cheese and still has the quality of an [=MST3K=] movie. Many later shows do a masterful job at averting the negative stereotypes associated with the series, but the Showa Ultra Series are far more popular in Japan than their Heisei counterparts (Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, Nexus...), embedding themselves deeply into Japanese pop culture. This makes it very difficult for the franchise to dispel the idea that it is still stuck in the 60s and 70s.
to:
** Can't shake off the stereotypes: ''Everybody'' who knows Ultraman but has never watched any (or very little) series probably thinks that the franchise is this in every episode: "[[StrictlyFormula Giant monster shows up. Ultraman fights it. Crappy special effects. Insignificant team. Cheesy plots.]]" Now, some series apply more for this than others, due to SeinfeldIsUnfunny, but many still believe that ''Ultraman'' is one long running, formulaic show that's staler than century-old cheese and still has the quality of an [=MST3K=] movie. Many later shows do a masterful job at averting the negative stereotypes associated with the series, but the Showa Ultra Series are far more popular in Japan than their Heisei counterparts (Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, Nexus...), embedding themselves deeply into Japanese pop culture. This makes it very difficult for the franchise to dispel the idea that it is still stuck in the 60s and 70s.
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The whole section on the western fandom (or lack thereof) is kind of outdated. Crunchyroll brought more modern series to the west, mill creek and shout factory released DV Ds of the series and Shin Ultraman is available on streaming services
Changed line(s) 14 (click to see context) from:
* In Japan, the ''Ultra Series'' is quite the CashCowFranchise, but in the West it has never been popular there. To many there, it seems [[AmericansHateTingle corny and cliche]]. What will be listed below also applies to many {{Kaiju}} and {{Toku}} series in general.
to:
* In Japan, the ''Ultra Series'' is quite the CashCowFranchise, but in the West it has never been popular there.reached major popularity, being a CultClassic at best. To many there, it seems [[AmericansHateTingle corny and cliche]]. What will be listed below also applies to many {{Kaiju}} and {{Toku}} series in general.
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Added DiffLines:
** In ''Ultraman Ace'', the Father of Ultra has SantaClaus, a folkloric figure based on a Christian Saint, as his host.
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Changed line(s) 19 (click to see context) from:
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put {{Kaiju}} on the weekly television. It also influenced the HenshinHero Boom of the 70s. In fact, Godzilla did poorly in Japan during the 70s because people knew they could just watch {{Kaiju}} every week on TV instead of once a year at the movies thanks to Henshin's popularity. The Ultra Series has also invented and influenced almost every regular trope usually found in Japanese anime and film today, with many well-known manga artists, animators, TV producers, and filmmakers taking influence from the Ultra series. To westerners, this has very little effect on the history of popular culture, so they don't understand what makes the franchise big in Japan.
to:
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put {{Kaiju}} on the weekly television. It television, and also influenced the HenshinHero Boom of the 70s. In fact, Godzilla did poorly in Japan during the 70s 70s, because people knew they could just watch {{Kaiju}} every week on TV TV, instead of once a year at the movies movies, thanks to Henshin's popularity. The Ultra Series has also invented and influenced almost every regular trope usually found in Japanese anime and film today, with many well-known manga artists, animators, TV producers, and filmmakers film-makers taking influence from the Ultra series. To westerners, this has very little effect on the history of popular culture, so they don't understand what makes the franchise big in Japan.
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Changed line(s) 4 (click to see context) from:
** Ultraman's relationship with his host can be taken as a symbol of the two natures of Christ (God and man), as seen in the episode "The Forbidden Words",
to:
** Ultraman's relationship with his host can be taken as a symbol of the two natures of Christ (God and man), as seen in the episode "The Forbidden Words",Words". Worth mentioning is that the villain of that episode, Alien Mefilas, is also a SatanicArchetype, with his temptation of a young boy to give him Earth in exchange for ruling over another planet having parallels to [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%204%3A1-13&version=ESV the Temptation of Christ]].
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Changed line(s) 13,20 (click to see context) from:
* In Japan, the ''Ultra Series'' is quite the cash cow, but in the West it has never been popular there. To many there, it seems corny and cliche;. What will be listed below also applies to Japanese {{Kaiju}} in general to a certain extent.
** [[NoExportForYou Lack of distribution]]: This is probably the most obvious reason behind the franchise's lack of success in the West. Tsuburaya Productions has not distributed many Ultraman episode collections or movies to the west. It was very hard for foreign audiences to get subtitled releases until very recently with Crunchyroll legally streaming ''Leo'', ''80'', ''Max'', ''Mebius'', and ''X'' as well as Creator/ShoutFactory releasing ''Ultra Q'', ''Ultraman'', and ''Ultraseven'' on DVD. The most likely reason is because Tsuburaya considers many of the franchise's western dubs (like the infamous ''Tiga'' dub by Creator/4KidsEntertainment) to be {{Old Shame}}s. There were also two Western-produced series in the 90s, the American ''Powered'' and the Australian ''Great'', that were both failures, probably discouraging Tsuburaya from trying another Western-produced Ultra Series.
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' (generally) lighthearted take on {{Kaiju}} where they are treated as weekly nuisances (''Mebius'' and ''Ultra Galaxy'' in particular) [[NoEndorHolocaust rather than bringers of horror and tragedy]]. The franchise doesn't take itself particularly seriously either (possibly an act of self-awareness as it's more noticeable in later entries), which makes it look campy to people who thought otherwise. The show's [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealism]] also feels out-of-place for westerners as monster movies are generally very bleak there.
** Low Budget: It goes without saying that the Ultra Series is low budget. Corners had to be cut when Eiji Tsuburaya came up with the brilliant idea of turning monster movies into a regular tv show. Rubber suits and miniature sets are still used to this day in the franchise, and while CGI plays a major role in special effects, they are not as wow-inducing as big budget westerner monster movies. The older series suffer particularly badly from this as special effects were not as technologically advanced in 1966. Not helping is that the older Showa entries (''Ultraman'' through ''80'') are more popular in Japan and more well-known making it seem the whole franchise is like that.
** Can't shake off the stereotypes: ''Everybody'' who knows Ultraman but has never watched any series probably thinks that the franchise is this in every episode: "[[StrictlyFormula Giant monster shows up. Ultraman fights it. Crappy special effects. Insignificant team. Cheesy plots.]]" Now, some series apply more for this than others, [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny but not during their time period]], but many still believe that Ultraman is one long running, formulaic show that's staler than century-old cheese and still has the quality of an [=MST3K=] movie. Shows like ''Nexus'' and ''Gaia'' do a masterful job at averting the negative stereotypes associated with the series, but the Showa Ultra Series are far more popular in Japan than their Heisei counterparts (Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, Nexus...), embedding themselves deeply into Japanese pop culture. This makes it very difficult for the franchise to dispel the idea that it is still stuck in the 60s and 70s. The series is also sometimes much deeper than many give it credit for like ''Seven'' and ''Nexus'', which had thought-provoking themes, while ''Mebius'' and ''Galaxy'' had much character development.
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Australian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner expecting destructive tragedy. This particularly applies to the Showa series as they aimed more for kids (with the exception of DarkerAndEdgier ''Leo'' and ''Seven'') than the (usually) general-audience later entries.
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put {[Kaiju}} on the weekly television. It also started the HenshinHero Boom of the 70s. In fact, Godzilla did poorly in Japan during the 70s because people knew they could just watch {[Kaiju}} every week on tv instead of once a year at the movies thanks to Henshin's popularity. Toho's ''Zone Fighter'' was made because of this. The Ultra Series has also invented and influenced almost every regular trope usually found in Japanese fighting anime and non-realistic film today. To westerners, this has very little effect on the history of local television, so they don't understand what makes the franchise big in Japan.
** The popularity of anime: Anime is very popular in the West compared to the Ultra Series. In fact, the franchise went on hiatus in the 80s due to anime outstripping it in popularity, hurting ratings. Not only does anime's popularity push the Ultra Series to the sides, but Anime is often more serious and deep as most are aimed at teenagers or adults. While the Ultra series has had its fair share of dark and serious (''Nexus'' comes to mind), animation's higher potential (and budget) compared to live-action has prevented westerners from better appreciating the Ultra Series' serious moments.
** [[NoExportForYou Lack of distribution]]: This is probably the most obvious reason behind the franchise's lack of success in the West. Tsuburaya Productions has not distributed many Ultraman episode collections or movies to the west. It was very hard for foreign audiences to get subtitled releases until very recently with Crunchyroll legally streaming ''Leo'', ''80'', ''Max'', ''Mebius'', and ''X'' as well as Creator/ShoutFactory releasing ''Ultra Q'', ''Ultraman'', and ''Ultraseven'' on DVD. The most likely reason is because Tsuburaya considers many of the franchise's western dubs (like the infamous ''Tiga'' dub by Creator/4KidsEntertainment) to be {{Old Shame}}s. There were also two Western-produced series in the 90s, the American ''Powered'' and the Australian ''Great'', that were both failures, probably discouraging Tsuburaya from trying another Western-produced Ultra Series.
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' (generally) lighthearted take on {{Kaiju}} where they are treated as weekly nuisances (''Mebius'' and ''Ultra Galaxy'' in particular) [[NoEndorHolocaust rather than bringers of horror and tragedy]]. The franchise doesn't take itself particularly seriously either (possibly an act of self-awareness as it's more noticeable in later entries), which makes it look campy to people who thought otherwise. The show's [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealism]] also feels out-of-place for westerners as monster movies are generally very bleak there.
** Low Budget: It goes without saying that the Ultra Series is low budget. Corners had to be cut when Eiji Tsuburaya came up with the brilliant idea of turning monster movies into a regular tv show. Rubber suits and miniature sets are still used to this day in the franchise, and while CGI plays a major role in special effects, they are not as wow-inducing as big budget westerner monster movies. The older series suffer particularly badly from this as special effects were not as technologically advanced in 1966. Not helping is that the older Showa entries (''Ultraman'' through ''80'') are more popular in Japan and more well-known making it seem the whole franchise is like that.
** Can't shake off the stereotypes: ''Everybody'' who knows Ultraman but has never watched any series probably thinks that the franchise is this in every episode: "[[StrictlyFormula Giant monster shows up. Ultraman fights it. Crappy special effects. Insignificant team. Cheesy plots.]]" Now, some series apply more for this than others, [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny but not during their time period]], but many still believe that Ultraman is one long running, formulaic show that's staler than century-old cheese and still has the quality of an [=MST3K=] movie. Shows like ''Nexus'' and ''Gaia'' do a masterful job at averting the negative stereotypes associated with the series, but the Showa Ultra Series are far more popular in Japan than their Heisei counterparts (Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, Nexus...), embedding themselves deeply into Japanese pop culture. This makes it very difficult for the franchise to dispel the idea that it is still stuck in the 60s and 70s. The series is also sometimes much deeper than many give it credit for like ''Seven'' and ''Nexus'', which had thought-provoking themes, while ''Mebius'' and ''Galaxy'' had much character development.
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Australian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner expecting destructive tragedy. This particularly applies to the Showa series as they aimed more for kids (with the exception of DarkerAndEdgier ''Leo'' and ''Seven'') than the (usually) general-audience later entries.
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put {[Kaiju}} on the weekly television. It also started the HenshinHero Boom of the 70s. In fact, Godzilla did poorly in Japan during the 70s because people knew they could just watch {[Kaiju}} every week on tv instead of once a year at the movies thanks to Henshin's popularity. Toho's ''Zone Fighter'' was made because of this. The Ultra Series has also invented and influenced almost every regular trope usually found in Japanese fighting anime and non-realistic film today. To westerners, this has very little effect on the history of local television, so they don't understand what makes the franchise big in Japan.
** The popularity of anime: Anime is very popular in the West compared to the Ultra Series. In fact, the franchise went on hiatus in the 80s due to anime outstripping it in popularity, hurting ratings. Not only does anime's popularity push the Ultra Series to the sides, but Anime is often more serious and deep as most are aimed at teenagers or adults. While the Ultra series has had its fair share of dark and serious (''Nexus'' comes to mind), animation's higher potential (and budget) compared to live-action has prevented westerners from better appreciating the Ultra Series' serious moments.
to:
* In Japan, the ''Ultra Series'' is quite the cash cow, CashCowFranchise, but in the West it has never been popular there. To many there, it seems [[AmericansHateTingle corny and cliche;. cliche]]. What will be listed below also applies to Japanese many {{Kaiju}} and {{Toku}} series in general to a certain extent.
general.
** [[NoExportForYou Lack of distribution]]: This is probably the most obvious reason behind the franchise's lack of success in the West. Tsuburaya Productions has not distributed many Ultraman episode collections or movies to the west. It was very hard for foreign audiences to get subtitled releases until very recently with Crunchyroll legally streaming ''Leo'', ''80'', ''Max'', ''Mebius'', and ''X'' as well as Creator/ShoutFactory releasing ''Ultra Q'', ''Ultraman'', and ''Ultraseven'' on DVD. The most likely reason is because Tsuburaya considers many of the franchise's western dubs (like the infamous ''Tiga'' dub byCreator/4KidsEntertainment) Creator/FourKidsEntertainment) to be {{Old Shame}}s. There were also two Western-produced series in the 90s, the American ''Powered'' and the Australian ''Great'', that were both failures, failures and are considered to be the worst series in the franchise by many fans, probably discouraging Tsuburaya from trying another Western-produced Ultra Series.
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success for the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' (generally) lighthearted take on {{Kaiju}} where they are treated as weekly nuisances(''Mebius'' and ''Ultra Galaxy'' in particular) [[NoEndorHolocaust rather than bringers of horror and tragedy]]. The franchise doesn't take itself particularly too seriously either (possibly an act of self-awareness as it's more noticeable in later entries), sometimes, which makes it look campy to people who thought otherwise. The show's shows' [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealism]] optimism]] also feels out-of-place for westerners as western monster and superhero movies are generally very bleak there.
** Low Budget: It goes without saying thatand pessimistic in the Ultra Series is low budget. Corners had to be cut when Eiji Tsuburaya came up modern era.
** Special Effects: The Japanese consume special effects differently from westerners, with a focus on thebrilliant idea ''illusion'' of turning monster movies into a regular tv show. reality rather than making reality. Rubber suits and miniature sets are still used to this day in the franchise, and while CGI plays a major role in special effects, they are not as wow-inducing as big budget westerner monster movies. The older series suffer particularly badly from this as effects in the modern era, Westerners absolutely ''love'' tearing apart the "primitive" techniques of Toku, with ''Ultraman'' being a favourite target only second to ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}''. While it is certainly true that Showa Ultra series' special effects were not as technologically advanced in 1966. Not helping look primitive, they could be extremely talented for their period (not the extent of Godzilla films, but certainly something), and the effects have greatly evolved over the years with higher quality suits and miniatures combined with digital effects. However, the fact that it is still PeopleInRubberSuits is something that the older Showa entries (''Ultraman'' through ''80'') are more popular in Japan and more well-known making it seem CGI-saturated western audiences of today cannot shake off. Few understand that Toku's special effects tradition draws from the whole franchise is like that.
ancient art of miniaturization (such as ''bonsai''), or the amount of work the practical effects require (outdone only by stop-motion) compared to CGI.
** Can't shake off the stereotypes: ''Everybody'' who knows Ultraman but has never watched any (or very little) series probably thinks that the franchise is this in every episode: "[[StrictlyFormula Giant monster shows up. Ultraman fights it. Crappy special effects. Insignificant team. Cheesy plots.]]" Now, some series apply more for this than others,[[SeinfeldIsUnfunny but not during their time period]], due to SeinfeldIsUnfunny, but many still believe that Ultraman ''Ultraman'' is one long running, formulaic show that's staler than century-old cheese and still has the quality of an [=MST3K=] movie. Shows like ''Nexus'' and ''Gaia'' Many later shows do a masterful job at averting the negative stereotypes associated with the series, but the Showa Ultra Series are far more popular in Japan than their Heisei counterparts (Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, Nexus...), embedding themselves deeply into Japanese pop culture. This makes it very difficult for the franchise to dispel the idea that it is still stuck in the 60s and 70s. The series is also sometimes much deeper than many give it credit for like ''Seven'' and ''Nexus'', which had thought-provoking themes, while ''Mebius'' and ''Galaxy'' had much character development.
70s.
**Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: dissonance: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Australian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments children (see every Showa Gamera movie for examples). It's also common for western critics to dismiss Ultra kaiju as "weird". While there is certainly no shortage of bizarre-looking kaiju in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner expecting destructive tragedy. This particularly applies Ultra Series, Japanese monsters are usually more bizarre than American monsters due to the Showa series as they aimed more for kids (with influences of Japanese myth and legend being full of strange creatures. To Japan, kaiju are half real, half supernatural, thus not bound by the exception laws of DarkerAndEdgier ''Leo'' and ''Seven'') than common sense like American monster-makers try to place their creatures in (compare Toho's Godzilla with the (usually) general-audience later entries.
two American takes on Godzilla as an example).
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put{[Kaiju}} {{Kaiju}} on the weekly television. It also started influenced the HenshinHero Boom of the 70s. In fact, Godzilla did poorly in Japan during the 70s because people knew they could just watch {[Kaiju}} {{Kaiju}} every week on tv TV instead of once a year at the movies thanks to Henshin's popularity. Toho's ''Zone Fighter'' was made because of this. The Ultra Series has also invented and influenced almost every regular trope usually found in Japanese fighting anime and non-realistic film today. today, with many well-known manga artists, animators, TV producers, and filmmakers taking influence from the Ultra series. To westerners, this has very little effect on the history of local television, popular culture, so they don't understand what makes the franchise big in Japan.
** The popularity of anime: Anime is very popular in the West compared to the Ultra Series. In fact, the franchise went on hiatus in the 80s due to anime outstripping it in popularity, hurting ratings. Not only does anime's popularity push the Ultra Series to the sides, but Anime is often more serious and deep as most are aimed at teenagers or adults. While the Ultra series has had its fair share of dark and serious (''Nexus'' comes to mind), animation's higher potential (and budget) compared to live-action has prevented westerners from better appreciating the Ultra Series' serious moments.Japan.
** [[NoExportForYou Lack of distribution]]: This is probably the most obvious reason behind the franchise's lack of success in the West. Tsuburaya Productions has not distributed many Ultraman episode collections or movies to the west. It was very hard for foreign audiences to get subtitled releases until very recently with Crunchyroll legally streaming ''Leo'', ''80'', ''Max'', ''Mebius'', and ''X'' as well as Creator/ShoutFactory releasing ''Ultra Q'', ''Ultraman'', and ''Ultraseven'' on DVD. The most likely reason is because Tsuburaya considers many of the franchise's western dubs (like the infamous ''Tiga'' dub by
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success for the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' (generally) lighthearted take on {{Kaiju}} where they are treated as weekly nuisances
** Low Budget: It goes without saying that
** Special Effects: The Japanese consume special effects differently from westerners, with a focus on the
** Can't shake off the stereotypes: ''Everybody'' who knows Ultraman but has never watched any (or very little) series probably thinks that the franchise is this in every episode: "[[StrictlyFormula Giant monster shows up. Ultraman fights it. Crappy special effects. Insignificant team. Cheesy plots.]]" Now, some series apply more for this than others,
**
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put
** The popularity of anime: Anime is very popular in the West compared to the Ultra Series. In fact, the franchise went on hiatus in the 80s due to anime outstripping it in popularity, hurting ratings. Not only does anime's popularity push the Ultra Series to the sides, but Anime is often more serious and deep as most are aimed at teenagers or adults. While the Ultra series has had its fair share of dark and serious (''Nexus'' comes to mind), animation's higher potential (and budget) compared to live-action has prevented westerners from better appreciating the Ultra Series' serious moments.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:
** ''Ultra Galaxy Legends'' carries this too. [[FallenHero Ultraman]] [[BigBad Belial]], a prideful individual attempts to gain power for himself and is banished for it. [[SatanicArchetype Sounds familiar?]] The heroes even fight him in hellish terrain in the battle against his army of {[Kaiju}}.
to:
** ''Ultra Galaxy Legends'' carries this too. [[FallenHero Ultraman]] [[BigBad Belial]], a prideful individual attempts to gain power for himself and is banished for it. [[SatanicArchetype Sounds familiar?]] The heroes even fight him in hellish terrain in the battle against his army of {[Kaiju}}.
{{Kaiju}}.
Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
* In Japan, the ''Ultra Series'' is quite the cash cow, but in the West it has never been popular there. To many there, it seems corny and cliché. What will be listed below also applies to Japanese {{Kaiju}} in general to a certain extent.
to:
* In Japan, the ''Ultra Series'' is quite the cash cow, but in the West it has never been popular there. To many there, it seems corny and cliché.cliche;. What will be listed below also applies to Japanese {{Kaiju}} in general to a certain extent.
Changed line(s) 15 (click to see context) from:
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' (generally) lighthearted take on {{Kaiju}} where they are treated as weekly nuisances (''Mebius'' and ''Ultra Galaxy'' in particular)rather than bringers of horror and tragedy. The franchise doesn't take itself particularly seriously either (possibly an act of self-awareness as it's more noticeable in later entries), which makes it look campy to people who thought otherwise. The show's [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealism]] also feels out-of-place for westerners as monster movies are generally very bleak there.
to:
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' (generally) lighthearted take on {{Kaiju}} where they are treated as weekly nuisances (''Mebius'' and ''Ultra Galaxy'' in particular)rather particular) [[NoEndorHolocaust rather than bringers of horror and tragedy.tragedy]]. The franchise doesn't take itself particularly seriously either (possibly an act of self-awareness as it's more noticeable in later entries), which makes it look campy to people who thought otherwise. The show's [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealism]] also feels out-of-place for westerners as monster movies are generally very bleak there.
Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Astralian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner expecting destructive tragedy. This particularly applies to the Showa series as they aimed more for kids (with the exception of DarkerAndEdgier ''Leo'') than the general-audience later entries.
to:
** Can't shake off the stereotypes: ''Everybody'' who knows Ultraman but has never watched any series probably thinks that the franchise is this in every episode: "[[StrictlyFormula Giant monster shows up. Ultraman fights it. Crappy special effects. Insignificant team. Cheesy plots.]]" Now, some series apply more for this than others, [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny but not during their time period]], but many still believe that Ultraman is one long running, formulaic show that's staler than century-old cheese and still has the quality of an [=MST3K=] movie. Shows like ''Nexus'' and ''Gaia'' do a masterful job at averting the negative stereotypes associated with the series, but the Showa Ultra Series are far more popular in Japan than their Heisei counterparts (Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, Nexus...), embedding themselves deeply into Japanese pop culture. This makes it very difficult for the franchise to dispel the idea that it is still stuck in the 60s and 70s. The series is also sometimes much deeper than many give it credit for like ''Seven'' and ''Nexus'', which had thought-provoking themes, while ''Mebius'' and ''Galaxy'' had much character development.
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American,Astralian, Australian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner expecting destructive tragedy. This particularly applies to the Showa series as they aimed more for kids (with the exception of DarkerAndEdgier ''Leo'') ''Leo'' and ''Seven'') than the (usually) general-audience later entries.
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American,
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** The popularity of anime: Anime is very popular in the West compared to the Ultra Series. In fact, the franchise went on hiatus in the 80s due to anime outstripping it in popularity, hurting ratings. Not only does anime's popularity push the Ultra Series to the sides, but Anime is often more serious and deep as most are aimed at teenagers or adults. While the Ultra series has had its fair share of dark and serious (''Nexus'' comes to mind), animations' higher potential (and budget) compared to live-action has prevented westerners from better appreciating the Ultra Series' serious moments.
to:
** The popularity of anime: Anime is very popular in the West compared to the Ultra Series. In fact, the franchise went on hiatus in the 80s due to anime outstripping it in popularity, hurting ratings. Not only does anime's popularity push the Ultra Series to the sides, but Anime is often more serious and deep as most are aimed at teenagers or adults. While the Ultra series has had its fair share of dark and serious (''Nexus'' comes to mind), animations' animation's higher potential (and budget) compared to live-action has prevented westerners from better appreciating the Ultra Series' serious moments.
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** ''Series/UltraSeven'' gets even more blatant with the Christian imagery. In one memorable episode "The Crucifixion of Ultra Seven", Ultra Seven is put on a cross by the invading aliens of the week. Now in anime this is strangely normal, with crucifixion not really having a meaning in Japan outside of standard execution. But for Tsuburaya, crucifixion is AuthorAppeal, with Seven himself being a MessianicArchetype directly meant as symbols of Christ and Buddha.
to:
** ''Series/UltraSeven'' gets even more blatant with the Christian imagery. In one memorable episode "The Crucifixion of Ultra Seven", Ultra Seven is put on a cross by the invading aliens of the week.Guts Seijin. Now in anime this is strangely normal, with crucifixion not really having a meaning in Japan outside of standard execution. But for Tsuburaya, crucifixion is AuthorAppeal, with Seven himself being a MessianicArchetype directly meant as symbols of Christ and Buddha.Buddha.
** In ''Ultraman Mebius'', the title hero's human form is an AllLovingHero who has returned after many years since an Ultraman has last defended the planet. With his arrival coincides the return of an ancient evil who was vanquished long before humans built cities. One can see some elements of Jesus' second coming and Satan escape from imprisonment in Hell as described in the [[Literature/TheBible Book of Revelations]]. In fact I the first part of the GrandFinale, Empera (the ancient evil in question) demands that humanity give up Mebius to be under his rule much like the Beast from the Sea demands humans to worship it.
** Even the homeworld of the Ultramen has this. Why else would a world inhabited by benevolent defenders of universal justice be called [[{{Heaven}} the Land of Light]]?
** ''Ultra Galaxy Legends'' carries this too. [[FallenHero Ultraman]] [[BigBad Belial]], a prideful individual attempts to gain power for himself and is banished for it. [[SatanicArchetype Sounds familiar?]] The heroes even fight him in hellish terrain in the battle against his army of {[Kaiju}}.
** In ''Ultraman Mebius'', the title hero's human form is an AllLovingHero who has returned after many years since an Ultraman has last defended the planet. With his arrival coincides the return of an ancient evil who was vanquished long before humans built cities. One can see some elements of Jesus' second coming and Satan escape from imprisonment in Hell as described in the [[Literature/TheBible Book of Revelations]]. In fact I the first part of the GrandFinale, Empera (the ancient evil in question) demands that humanity give up Mebius to be under his rule much like the Beast from the Sea demands humans to worship it.
** Even the homeworld of the Ultramen has this. Why else would a world inhabited by benevolent defenders of universal justice be called [[{{Heaven}} the Land of Light]]?
** ''Ultra Galaxy Legends'' carries this too. [[FallenHero Ultraman]] [[BigBad Belial]], a prideful individual attempts to gain power for himself and is banished for it. [[SatanicArchetype Sounds familiar?]] The heroes even fight him in hellish terrain in the battle against his army of {[Kaiju}}.
Changed line(s) 11,14 (click to see context) from:
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' lighthearted nature. The franchise doesn't take itself particularly seriously either (possibly an act of self-awareness as it's more noticeable in later entries), which makes it look campy to people who thought otherwise. The show's [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealism]] also feels out-of-place for westerners as monster movies are generally very bleak.
** Low Budget: It goes without saying that the Ultra Series is low budget. Corners had to be cut when Eiji Tsuburaya came up with the brilliant idea of turning monster movies into a regular tv show. Rubber suits and miniature sets are still used to this day in the franchise, and while CGI plays a major role in special effects, they are not as wow-inducing as big budget westerner monster movies. The older series suffer particularly badly from this as special effects were not as technologically advanced in 1966.
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Astralian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner expecting destructive tragedy.
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put {[Kaiju}} on the weekly television. It also started the HenshinHero Boom of the 70s. In fact, Godzilla did poorly in Japan during the 70s because people knew they could just watch {[Kaiju}} every week on tv instead of once a year at the movies thanks to Henshin's popularity. Toho's ''Zone Fighter'' was made because of this. The Ultra Series has also invented and influenced almost every regular trope usually found in Japanese fighting anime and non-realistic film today. To westerners, this has very little effect on the history of local television, so they don't understand what makes the franchise bug in Japan.
** Low Budget: It goes without saying that the Ultra Series is low budget. Corners had to be cut when Eiji Tsuburaya came up with the brilliant idea of turning monster movies into a regular tv show. Rubber suits and miniature sets are still used to this day in the franchise, and while CGI plays a major role in special effects, they are not as wow-inducing as big budget westerner monster movies. The older series suffer particularly badly from this as special effects were not as technologically advanced in 1966.
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Astralian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner expecting destructive tragedy.
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put {[Kaiju}} on the weekly television. It also started the HenshinHero Boom of the 70s. In fact, Godzilla did poorly in Japan during the 70s because people knew they could just watch {[Kaiju}} every week on tv instead of once a year at the movies thanks to Henshin's popularity. Toho's ''Zone Fighter'' was made because of this. The Ultra Series has also invented and influenced almost every regular trope usually found in Japanese fighting anime and non-realistic film today. To westerners, this has very little effect on the history of local television, so they don't understand what makes the franchise bug in Japan.
to:
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' (generally) lighthearted nature.take on {{Kaiju}} where they are treated as weekly nuisances (''Mebius'' and ''Ultra Galaxy'' in particular)rather than bringers of horror and tragedy. The franchise doesn't take itself particularly seriously either (possibly an act of self-awareness as it's more noticeable in later entries), which makes it look campy to people who thought otherwise. The show's [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealism]] also feels out-of-place for westerners as monster movies are generally very bleak.
bleak there.
** Low Budget: It goes without saying that the Ultra Series is low budget. Corners had to be cut when Eiji Tsuburaya came up with the brilliant idea of turning monster movies into a regular tv show. Rubber suits and miniature sets are still used to this day in the franchise, and while CGI plays a major role in special effects, they are not as wow-inducing as big budget westerner monster movies. The older series suffer particularly badly from this as special effects were not as technologically advanced in1966.
1966. Not helping is that the older Showa entries (''Ultraman'' through ''80'') are more popular in Japan and more well-known making it seem the whole franchise is like that.
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Astralian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner expecting destructivetragedy.
tragedy. This particularly applies to the Showa series as they aimed more for kids (with the exception of DarkerAndEdgier ''Leo'') than the general-audience later entries.
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put {[Kaiju}} on the weekly television. It also started the HenshinHero Boom of the 70s. In fact, Godzilla did poorly in Japan during the 70s because people knew they could just watch {[Kaiju}} every week on tv instead of once a year at the movies thanks to Henshin's popularity. Toho's ''Zone Fighter'' was made because of this. The Ultra Series has also invented and influenced almost every regular trope usually found in Japanese fighting anime and non-realistic film today. To westerners, this has very little effect on the history of local television, so they don't understand what makes the franchisebug big in Japan.
** Low Budget: It goes without saying that the Ultra Series is low budget. Corners had to be cut when Eiji Tsuburaya came up with the brilliant idea of turning monster movies into a regular tv show. Rubber suits and miniature sets are still used to this day in the franchise, and while CGI plays a major role in special effects, they are not as wow-inducing as big budget westerner monster movies. The older series suffer particularly badly from this as special effects were not as technologically advanced in
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Astralian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner expecting destructive
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put {[Kaiju}} on the weekly television. It also started the HenshinHero Boom of the 70s. In fact, Godzilla did poorly in Japan during the 70s because people knew they could just watch {[Kaiju}} every week on tv instead of once a year at the movies thanks to Henshin's popularity. Toho's ''Zone Fighter'' was made because of this. The Ultra Series has also invented and influenced almost every regular trope usually found in Japanese fighting anime and non-realistic film today. To westerners, this has very little effect on the history of local television, so they don't understand what makes the franchise
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Changed line(s) 11 (click to see context) from:
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' lighthearted nature. The franchise doesn't take itself particularly seriously either (possibly an act of self-awareness as it's more noticeable in later entries), which makes it look campy to people who thought otherwise.
to:
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' lighthearted nature. The franchise doesn't take itself particularly seriously either (possibly an act of self-awareness as it's more noticeable in later entries), which makes it look campy to people who thought otherwise. The show's [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism idealism]] also feels out-of-place for westerners as monster movies are generally very bleak.
Changed line(s) 13,16 (click to see context) from:
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Astralian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner.
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West
** The popularity of anime: Anime is very popular in the West compared to the Ultra Series. In fact, the franchise went on hiatus in the 80s due to anime outstripping it in popularity, hurting ratings. Not only does anime's popularity push the Ultra Series to the sides, but Anime is often more serious and deep as most are aimed at teenagers or adults. While the Ultra series has had its fair share of dark and serious (''Nexus'' comes to mind), animations' higher potential over live-action has meant have prevented most westerners from appreciating its serious moments.
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West
** The popularity of anime: Anime is very popular in the West compared to the Ultra Series. In fact, the franchise went on hiatus in the 80s due to anime outstripping it in popularity, hurting ratings. Not only does anime's popularity push the Ultra Series to the sides, but Anime is often more serious and deep as most are aimed at teenagers or adults. While the Ultra series has had its fair share of dark and serious (''Nexus'' comes to mind), animations' higher potential over live-action has meant have prevented most westerners from appreciating its serious moments.
to:
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Astralian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner.
Westerner expecting destructive tragedy.
** Influence is harder to appreciate in theWest
West: The Ultra Series is one of the biggest names in Japanese television for a good reason. It proved that it was possible to make put {[Kaiju}} on the weekly television. It also started the HenshinHero Boom of the 70s. In fact, Godzilla did poorly in Japan during the 70s because people knew they could just watch {[Kaiju}} every week on tv instead of once a year at the movies thanks to Henshin's popularity. Toho's ''Zone Fighter'' was made because of this. The Ultra Series has also invented and influenced almost every regular trope usually found in Japanese fighting anime and non-realistic film today. To westerners, this has very little effect on the history of local television, so they don't understand what makes the franchise bug in Japan.
** The popularity of anime: Anime is very popular in the West compared to the Ultra Series. In fact, the franchise went on hiatus in the 80s due to anime outstripping it in popularity, hurting ratings. Not only does anime's popularity push the Ultra Series to the sides, but Anime is often more serious and deep as most are aimed at teenagers or adults. While the Ultra series has had its fair share of dark and serious (''Nexus'' comes to mind), animations' higher potentialover (and budget) compared to live-action has meant have prevented most westerners from better appreciating its the Ultra Series' serious moments.
moments.
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the
** The popularity of anime: Anime is very popular in the West compared to the Ultra Series. In fact, the franchise went on hiatus in the 80s due to anime outstripping it in popularity, hurting ratings. Not only does anime's popularity push the Ultra Series to the sides, but Anime is often more serious and deep as most are aimed at teenagers or adults. While the Ultra series has had its fair share of dark and serious (''Nexus'' comes to mind), animations' higher potential
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Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:
** [[NoExportForYou Lack of distribution]]: This is probably the most obvious reason behind the franchise's lack of success in the West. Tsuburaya Productions has not distributed many Ultraman episode collections or movies to the west. It was very hard for foreign audiences to get subtitled releases until very recently with Crunchyroll legally streaming ''Leo'', ''80'', ''Max'', ''Mebius'', and ''X'' as well as Creator/ShoutFactory releasing ''Ultra Q'', ''Ultraman'', and ''Ultraseven'' on DVD. The most likely reason is because Tsuburaya considers many of the franchise's western dubs (like the infamous ''Tiga'' dub by Creator/4KidsEntertainment) to be {{Old Shame}}s. There were also two western produced series in the 90s, the American ''Powered'' and the Australian ''Great'', that were both failures, probably discouraging Tsuburaya from trying another Western-produced Ultra Series.
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness
to:
** [[NoExportForYou Lack of distribution]]: This is probably the most obvious reason behind the franchise's lack of success in the West. Tsuburaya Productions has not distributed many Ultraman episode collections or movies to the west. It was very hard for foreign audiences to get subtitled releases until very recently with Crunchyroll legally streaming ''Leo'', ''80'', ''Max'', ''Mebius'', and ''X'' as well as Creator/ShoutFactory releasing ''Ultra Q'', ''Ultraman'', and ''Ultraseven'' on DVD. The most likely reason is because Tsuburaya considers many of the franchise's western dubs (like the infamous ''Tiga'' dub by Creator/4KidsEntertainment) to be {{Old Shame}}s. There were also two western produced Western-produced series in the 90s, the American ''Powered'' and the Australian ''Great'', that were both failures, probably discouraging Tsuburaya from trying another Western-produced Ultra Series.
**SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousnessSlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness: This is probably the biggest reason for the lack of success the Ultra Series has seen in the West. As said earlier, it looks {{Narm}}y to Westerners. This can be attributed to how Westerners often see city-destroying monsters as dark (as evidenced by ''Cloverfield''), contrasting the Ultra Series' lighthearted nature. The franchise doesn't take itself particularly seriously either (possibly an act of self-awareness as it's more noticeable in later entries), which makes it look campy to people who thought otherwise.
** Low Budget: It goes without saying that the Ultra Series is low budget. Corners had to be cut when Eiji Tsuburaya came up with the brilliant idea of turning monster movies into a regular tv show. Rubber suits and miniature sets are still used to this day in the franchise, and while CGI plays a major role in special effects, they are not as wow-inducing as big budget westerner monster movies. The older series suffer particularly badly from this as special effects were not as technologically advanced in 1966.
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Astralian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner.
**
** Low Budget: It goes without saying that the Ultra Series is low budget. Corners had to be cut when Eiji Tsuburaya came up with the brilliant idea of turning monster movies into a regular tv show. Rubber suits and miniature sets are still used to this day in the franchise, and while CGI plays a major role in special effects, they are not as wow-inducing as big budget westerner monster movies. The older series suffer particularly badly from this as special effects were not as technologically advanced in 1966.
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto: Ultraman is generally considered to be for children in Japan. This seems odd for westerners as American, Astralian, and European monsters are generally PG-13 or R-rated there. It must be remembered though that ValuesDissonance plays a large role as Japan would consider monster-fighting violence to be more acceptable on children's tv (Godzilla movies were for kids during the 70s!). So childish moments in the series seem extremely out-of-place to a Westerner.
Changed line(s) 13,17 (click to see context) from:
** Rubber suits vs CGI
** {{Kaiju}} in the West
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto
** The popularity of anime
** {{Kaiju}} in the West
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto
** The popularity of anime
to:
** {{Kaiju}} in the West
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto
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Changed line(s) 8 (click to see context) from:
to:
[[WMG: Why the Ultra Series has never gained any traction in the West]]
* In Japan, the ''Ultra Series'' is quite the cash cow, but in the West it has never been popular there. To many there, it seems corny and cliché. What will be listed below also applies to Japanese {{Kaiju}} in general to a certain extent.
** [[NoExportForYou Lack of distribution]]: This is probably the most obvious reason behind the franchise's lack of success in the West. Tsuburaya Productions has not distributed many Ultraman episode collections or movies to the west. It was very hard for foreign audiences to get subtitled releases until very recently with Crunchyroll legally streaming ''Leo'', ''80'', ''Max'', ''Mebius'', and ''X'' as well as Creator/ShoutFactory releasing ''Ultra Q'', ''Ultraman'', and ''Ultraseven'' on DVD. The most likely reason is because Tsuburaya considers many of the franchise's western dubs (like the infamous ''Tiga'' dub by Creator/4KidsEntertainment) to be {{Old Shame}}s. There were also two western produced series in the 90s, the American ''Powered'' and the Australian ''Great'', that were both failures, probably discouraging Tsuburaya from trying another Western-produced Ultra Series.
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West
** Rubber suits vs CGI
** {{Kaiju}} in the West
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto
** The popularity of anime
* In Japan, the ''Ultra Series'' is quite the cash cow, but in the West it has never been popular there. To many there, it seems corny and cliché. What will be listed below also applies to Japanese {{Kaiju}} in general to a certain extent.
** [[NoExportForYou Lack of distribution]]: This is probably the most obvious reason behind the franchise's lack of success in the West. Tsuburaya Productions has not distributed many Ultraman episode collections or movies to the west. It was very hard for foreign audiences to get subtitled releases until very recently with Crunchyroll legally streaming ''Leo'', ''80'', ''Max'', ''Mebius'', and ''X'' as well as Creator/ShoutFactory releasing ''Ultra Q'', ''Ultraman'', and ''Ultraseven'' on DVD. The most likely reason is because Tsuburaya considers many of the franchise's western dubs (like the infamous ''Tiga'' dub by Creator/4KidsEntertainment) to be {{Old Shame}}s. There were also two western produced series in the 90s, the American ''Powered'' and the Australian ''Great'', that were both failures, probably discouraging Tsuburaya from trying another Western-produced Ultra Series.
** SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness
** Influence is harder to appreciate in the West
** Rubber suits vs CGI
** {{Kaiju}} in the West
** Live-action {{Kaiju}} age ghetto
** The popularity of anime
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Added DiffLines:
** Ultraman's relationship with his host can be taken as a symbol of the two natures of Christ (God and man), as seen in the episode "The Forbidden Words",
--> '''Mefilas:''' What are you, Ultraman, an alien or a human?
--> '''Ultraman:''' I am both.
--> '''Mefilas:''' What are you, Ultraman, an alien or a human?
--> '''Ultraman:''' I am both.
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Changed line(s) 2,4 (click to see context) from:
* Eiji Tsuburaya, creator of the Ultra Series, was a very devout Roman Catholic and often incorporated Christian imagery into his works.
** Starting from the original Ultraman, Ultraman's finishing move is the sign of the cross, and one episode has the Science patrol visiting Mount Ararat, where Ide directly mentions Noah's Ark was rumoured to have been built.
** UltraSeven gets even more blatant with the Christian imagery. In one memorable episode "The Crucifixion of Ultraseven", Ultraseven is put on a cross by the invading aliens of the week. Now in anime this is strangely normal, with crucifixion not really having a meaning in Japan outside of standard execution. But for Tsuburaya, crucifixion is AuthorAppeal, with Seven himself being a MessianicArchetype directly meant as symbols of Christ and Buddha.
** Starting from the original Ultraman, Ultraman's finishing move is the sign of the cross, and one episode has the Science patrol visiting Mount Ararat, where Ide directly mentions Noah's Ark was rumoured to have been built.
** UltraSeven gets even more blatant with the Christian imagery. In one memorable episode "The Crucifixion of Ultraseven", Ultraseven is put on a cross by the invading aliens of the week. Now in anime this is strangely normal, with crucifixion not really having a meaning in Japan outside of standard execution. But for Tsuburaya, crucifixion is AuthorAppeal, with Seven himself being a MessianicArchetype directly meant as symbols of Christ and Buddha.
to:
* Eiji Tsuburaya, creator of the Ultra Series, ''Ultra Series'', was a very devout Roman Catholic and often incorporated Christian imagery into his works.
** Starting from the originalUltraman, ''Ultraman'', Ultraman's finishing move is the sign of the cross, and one episode has the Science patrol visiting Mount Ararat, where Ide directly mentions Noah's Ark was rumoured to have been built.
**UltraSeven ''Series/UltraSeven'' gets even more blatant with the Christian imagery. In one memorable episode "The Crucifixion of Ultraseven", Ultraseven Ultra Seven", Ultra Seven is put on a cross by the invading aliens of the week. Now in anime this is strangely normal, with crucifixion not really having a meaning in Japan outside of standard execution. But for Tsuburaya, crucifixion is AuthorAppeal, with Seven himself being a MessianicArchetype directly meant as symbols of Christ and Buddha.Buddha.
----
** Starting from the original
**
----
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Added DiffLines:
[[WMG: The use of Christian imagery throughout the Ultra Series]]
*Eiji Tsuburaya, creator of the Ultra Series, was a very devout Roman Catholic and often incorporated Christian imagery into his works.
** Starting from the original Ultraman, Ultraman's finishing move is the sign of the cross, and one episode has the Science patrol visiting Mount Ararat, where Ide directly mentions Noah's Ark was rumoured to have been built.
** UltraSeven gets even more blatant with the Christian imagery. In one memorable episode "The Crucifixion of Ultraseven", Ultraseven is put on a cross by the invading aliens of the week. Now in anime this is strangely normal, with crucifixion not really having a meaning in Japan outside of standard execution. But for Tsuburaya, crucifixion is AuthorAppeal, with Seven himself being a MessianicArchetype directly meant as symbols of Christ and Buddha.
*Eiji Tsuburaya, creator of the Ultra Series, was a very devout Roman Catholic and often incorporated Christian imagery into his works.
** Starting from the original Ultraman, Ultraman's finishing move is the sign of the cross, and one episode has the Science patrol visiting Mount Ararat, where Ide directly mentions Noah's Ark was rumoured to have been built.
** UltraSeven gets even more blatant with the Christian imagery. In one memorable episode "The Crucifixion of Ultraseven", Ultraseven is put on a cross by the invading aliens of the week. Now in anime this is strangely normal, with crucifixion not really having a meaning in Japan outside of standard execution. But for Tsuburaya, crucifixion is AuthorAppeal, with Seven himself being a MessianicArchetype directly meant as symbols of Christ and Buddha.
