Season 2 of the anime Ultraman follows the united Ultraman brotherhood as they face an unknown and mysterious threat that might wipe humans off the face of Earth forever. The anime series is now streaming on Netflix.
Story
One day, suddenly people start disappearing out of nowhere. A photographer, Kotaro Higashi, who has been following the disappearances in New York, arrives in Japan to inform the SSSP of his discoveries about the strange occurrences.
An encounter with an alien leads to Shinjiro and Rena mysteriously disappearing. Kotaro tries to follow a mysterious group of maids who have been behind these disappearances. While snooping on the group of aliens led by Princess Maya, he gets caught.
Maya captures Kotaro’s girlfriend, Izumi, and transports her to the same place where she’s been sending the other people. She tries to do the same with Kotaro but ends up transforming him into a fire-yielding alien.
Jack, who’s also been investigating the case, comes across Kotaro. Kotaro steals an Ultraman suit, owned by Jack, to become an Ultraman.
Soon, a terrorist organization called ‘Star of Darkness’ reveals its true plans endangering entire humanity’s future. Kotaro, Jack, and Moroboshi must act to thwart their plans. They are joined by Seiji who’s recovered from his injuries with the help of Bemlar.
Ultraman, Seven, Zoffy, Jack, Ace, and Taro must fight together against a fearless and evil enemy as the future of all Earthlings hang in the balance.
Positives
Action precedes everything in season 2 of Ultraman. No time is wasted and the action begins from the first scene itself. The entire season is purely action-driven with remarkably stylish and well-choreographed fight sequences.
A couple of new Ultraman suits are introduced this season which are eye-catching and brilliantly designed with the introduction of more unique alien species adding to the lore of Ultraman.
The Ultraman universe clearly expands this time. While the first season presented a more grounded story of the origins of Ultraman, this time around, there’s nothing held back in terms of taking the story higher. The mythos of Ultraman is expanded multi-fold.
While the first season focused more on Shin Hayata and Shinjiro, a newer character, Kotaro, takes the center stage. His journey to becoming an Ultraman, while quick, remains interesting.
The intro credits sequence and the song work as a great bonus. The visual graphics are also more refined than its predecessor.
Negatives
At six episodes, which is considerably shorter than the 13-episode long season 1, the characters, nor the story, is given breathing time between the swash-buckling action. Little time is invested in exploring characters and their true motivations.
The story is not well balanced. From being a great suspenseful action thriller in the first season, season 2 charters the territory of being closer to an action anime series as little time is provided for the suspense to linger before the action continues.
Another disadvantage of the shorter season, the story doesn’t stand on a solid foundation here as it keeps pacing forward. With little exposition, unlike in the first season, the story becomes cloudy and vague.
The character work is not as solid as in the first season. Newer characters are introduced but, apart from Kotaro, not everybody gets enough attention to make an impact.
Verdict
The shorter season has its pros and cons. Being action-packed and pacy adds to the adrenaline-pumped nature of the Ultraman series with the great fight sequences and stylish metallic Ultraman bodysuits, but there’s little justification in terms of story and character development.
Ultraman season 2 sets up the next season well and tries to pay off the long wait by giving more than one Ultraman to savour in this ultimate team-up. The 3-year-long wait for the second season is not justified by what’s received as the end product. Although, it’s enough to keep fans hooked for another season.
Rating: 3/5