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movie review - Ultraman: Rising

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Kokubunji, 2024.08.05

This is a story in which the mantle of Japan's Ultraman super-protector is passed on to a new generation. The new blood comes in the form of the famous baseball-playing son of the previous Ultraman. So on top of the stress of fighting off the monstrous kaiju, our hero has a major career to manage and a secret identity to maintain. The he discovers the baby kaiju, and his world such as it is falls apart.

It's quite a hectic story, and while there are attempts to weave in various elements such as the young Ultraman's relationship with his father they don't entirely land. Still, we enjoyed the central story, the animation, the voice work and what they do with the baby kaiju throughout.

Recommended.

rand()m quote

When destiny comes to a man from outside, it lays him low, just as an arrow lays a deer low. When destiny comes to a man from within, from his innermost being, it makes him strong, it makes him into a god…

—Hermann Hesse