Now this one has really thrown me off but now I’ve jumped back a series and started to watch Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga. It’s basically a prequel series to, I’m sure you can guess, Ultraman Orb. It tells the story of Gai/Ultraman Orb (Hideo Ishiguro) and his friend Jugglus Juggler (Takaya Aoyagi). From what I can tell, in the main series they’re enemies so this series sets the stage for this. The Origin Saga didn’t air on regular television and premiered as a digital series on Amazon in Japan. It ran for twelve episodes from December 2016 through March 2017.
On a far out planet called 0-50, Gai and Jugglus find the Warrior’s top mountain. There’s a chance they could discover the Power of Light. They can’t choose you gets the power the power will choose them and it’s Gai who gets the power and Orbcalibur. Now he will have the ability to transform into Ultraman Orb. Once he has the power, he will have to learn how to use it quickly because the evil Pschi (Motoya Izumi). plans to use the giant monsters known as the Kugutsu to help him take control of their world Kanon and everyone in it. Along the way, Kai gets help from other Ultramen as well as Queen Amate (Saki Fukuda) who has some abilities of her own. At the center of all the action is the Tree of Life. When Jugglus destroys the sacred giant tree, a new one begins to grow in another universe and the battle on Kanon will move to a new planet: Earth.
The first thing I noticed about The Origin Saga (comparing it to the ones I have seen, not the entire series) is that the first half of the season is really dark. It’s not quite as vibrant and colorful as some of the other entries but as the story and action shifts to another planet/universe, the look totally changes. It’s an interesting contrast between the two and works to further move the story along. Another thing unique to this season that I have yet to see was the fact it was one long form story told throughout the twelve episodes and it didn’t utilize the monster of the week formula.
Speaking of monsters, while there were a few really cool designs, I wasn’t overly impressed with how they looked, especially the one in episode four that look as if it had two testicles bouncing off its chin the whole time. Aside from a single criticism, I really enjoyed this series, the characters were likable, fully realized, and creates a real drama. The show has come a long way since the early days and does a fantastic job of capturing the essence of what made the show popular while keeping current and up to date with modern technology. The set also includes the 30-min movie Ultra Fight Orb which is basically one huge battle teaming up various different Ultramen in a colorful and exciting fight pitting good against evil.
Related Article: Review: ‘Ultraman Geed – The Movie’ Blu-ray
