While more lighthearted than Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman does not shy away from darker moments and some scary factors in Ultra Series tradition.
Unmarked spoilers below!
- The first key visual
◊ of the film has Ultraman standing on the side of a lake, staring directly at the camera with an eerily neutral posture. With his tall, lean physique and how he doesn't blend into the background naturally, it drives home how alien Ultraman fundamentally is despite his benevolence. - On some level, Ultraman becoming Kaminaga is this. The SSSP have no idea that their colleague is actually an alien, least of all Hiroko, who only meets him after the real Kaminaga's death. One can only imagine what would have happened if Ultraman was not a benevolent entity to begin with…
- There's also how quickly he does it. As soon as Ultraman defeats Neronga and leaves, we see Kaminaga(?) carrying the young boy to safety. Given the debris that had struck him when Ultraman first landed, there's no way Kaminaga could be standing; meaning, Ultraman had fused with Kaminaga as soon as he could.
- The Japanese government's dealings with both Zarab and Mefilas show how dangerously gullible human politicians are in the face of Extraterrestrials who have something they need desperately—that being security against Kaiju attacks. The fact that this happens twice shows how little they've learned.
- Zarab appearing in Kaminaga's car. Seconds after Kaminaga's former associate Kagami gets out and leaves, Kaminaga sets his hand on the gear shift, just as a hollow alien hand grabs his hand. Next camera cut, we see Zarab already sitting in the car's passenger seat, chiding Kaminaga for his curiosity. How did Zarab get there?
- Zarab's Imitation Ultraman form. The only sign that it's actually Zarab is that "Ultraman's" eyes are smaller and more hexagonal. The rest of the disguise is 100% accurate. It fools everyone into thinking that Ultraman is actually a real threat, including the SDF and the government.
- Mefilas' agreement with the Japanese government looks beneficial to humans on the surface, but given his dialogue with Ultraman, he's treating humans as a resource like trees or oil. Specifically, humans using the Beta System can be treated as bioweapons for other extraterrestrials to own and use. Mefilas has taken the concept of alien abductions and combined it with the horror of intergalactic human trafficking.
- The Planet of Light and its denizens are given a colder personality. Whereas in previous Ultra series they have proven benevolent protectors, Zoffy's talk with Ultraman reveals that this version of the Planet of Light is home to intergalactic enforcers. Enforcers who have decided that it is far too dangerous to let humanity exist.
- Zoffy's sudden out of nowhere Extreme Close-Up with Fish-Eye Lens when he talks with Ultraman. It's very unsettling and just highlights how creepy the Ultraman mask can sometimes be with how blank and expressionless it is. The fact that Zoffy's face is slightly asymmetrical doesn't help alleviate the creepiness.Zoffy: Yes.
- Zetton absolutely defeats Ultraman the first time around. None of Ultraman's abilities so much as scratch Zetton's nigh-impenetrable energy shield. Then Zetton fires back, first with machine-gun-like turrets and next with larger red laser blasts. Ultraman's defenses against each are eventually broken, leaving him vulnerable to Zetton's final attack: a projectile at a fraction of the power needed to destroy Earth…but at enough power to send Ultraman, exhausted and defeated, hurtling back down to Earth. The sequence begets a mounting sense of hopelessness as Ultraman giving it his all against Zetton yields no progress, while Zetton does away with Ultraman with a miniscule fraction of its power.
- This also illustrates just how much larger this Zetton is than its original series incarnation. When Ultraman fires his Spacium Beam, he starts by strafing along Zetton's arm...and keeps going...and keeps going...until he passes Zetton's chest and upward, in front of Zetton's head. The difference is size is evident: Zetton's head alone completely dwarfs the sixty-meter-tall Ultraman.
