Saturday Night Showcase> Ultraman Neos

I haven’t had a chance to see past episode one of Ultraman Blazar so I’m not sure what I think of it yet. It’s very different so I need to see more when my YouTube backlog allows me. So instead let’s go back to the past a bit, to the 15 Ultraman series, Ultraman Neos!

Neos is one of those alternate universe Ultraman. I don’t know if anyone has charted the Ultramultiverse the way they have the DC and Marvel multiverses, but this is one of them. In this reality Earth ends up too close to Dark Matter, which in this world causes strange mutations around the planet. Neos is sent to investigate, finding a host in Genki Kagura, a member of the Hi-tech Earth Alert and Rescue Team (HEART), which I would add to the list of anti-monster forces but it makes sense that a different universe would create a different team. The fact that normal Japan goes through teams every year I have to wonder what Japan’s monster-fighting budget is like. “Well, Ultraman stopped the last of those monsters. Let’s shut it all down and start a brand new team because we love creating new acronyms for no particular reason!”

The interesting part about this series apart from the others is how it was originally released. Rather than airing on television, this 12 part series was released on home video in Japan. That certainly explains why the show looks like it was filmed on a camcorder. Still, it’s a good 0pening episode so let’s watch it.

It’s kind of strange seeing such a traditional Ultraman design looking at some of the more recent ones, bearing some of the iconic elements but being their own design. This almost looks like classic Ultraman. Apparently Ultraseven 21 is the guy who sent Neos to Earth if that helps those more knowledgeable in Ultralore than I place the dimension…though you probably already know this whole show so what can I do to help?

Here in the US the show is available to stream via Shout Factory’s TokuSHOUTsu, apparently originally being brought to the US by the unrelated television network Toku, or on home video through Mill Creek Entertainment.