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Like and subscribe if you like what you see! We already have one, so why not upload the other one? After the hyperactive, irreverent mess that was the first movie, the second Ultraman Zearth film is a return to familiar territory for Ultra fans with a proper, albeit cookie-cutter plotline to follow. Unfortunately, this also means a more serious movie this time round, which is arguably not the best direction to go with a parody series that lives and dies by its level of comedy. Don't worry though; the jokes are still spread generously across this one hour, so just sit back and see how many you can spot. Speaking of the jokes in this film, they're less random and in-your-face compared to what we had in our last outing, but overall still make for a very enjoyable experience. In fact, given the amount of running gags that carry over, I would strongly suggest viewers new to the series to go in order and watch the first movie for maximum enjoyment. Katsuto is still a lovable dweeb, his teammates are still loveable assholes, and all is well with the world, except for a few new characters and, you know, the world coming under attack by evil aliens and Ultramen as usual and all that jazz. Captain Shinpei Ohkohchi may have been a fairly divisive element in the first movie, but for the record I loved his over-reactions and gratuitous Engrish. As of the second film, he's been promoted and is no longer part of the main cast, but he does make a cameo of sorts with Deputy Captain Butsukichi Konakai to give, let's say, not-very-subtle hints to the new MYDO captain. More on this captain later. We get a somewhat smug new deputy captain in the form of Manabu Kazu, and when it comes to book-smarts, he's easily the match of any random 5 characters in this film put together (though admittedly, this is a pretty low bar). But I insist on the word “book-smarts“, because when it comes to results and actual competency he doesn't fare much better than his plebeian counterparts. Theory is no match for the real world, and while he champions the former, he's often let down hard by the consequences of his decisions; very hard in fact, as they often come in the form of aerial crash-landings. All the same, he's a welcome addition to the cast, although I do think they could have gotten a little more mileage by making him the much-needed straight man in this group of dumbasses. Half of the comedy in this series is carried by the cameos, and believe me, the cameos in this film are actually even better than what we had in the last movie. We aren't limited to the first Ultraman cast anymore; in fact, a very familiar face takes over as MYDO's captain, even though he doesn't use that identity that we're all familiar with. You might think he's just cameoing because of this, but then he proceeds to make so many references and offhand comments about his old role that you can't help but conclude that, despite saving worlds and galaxies at the cost of their lives, Ultras can apparently be massive trolls at the same time. By the way, be on the lookout for another cameo who plays a newscaster with the single, unarguably best line in the entire film. I mentioned before that I loved Alien Benzene from the first movie; that guy was nuts, and the movie was all the better for it. Our big bad this time, Lady Benzene, doesn't quite have the same presence and charisma, but damn it, who does? In any case, she does well enough in her role, and we are never in doubt about the threat that her scheme poses to our hero. -Though in my honest opinion the true villain across these two movies should really be Midori- And of course, there can't be a discussion of this film without at least a mention of the elephant in the room: Ultraman Shadow. Yes, the dark Ultra who shows up out of nowhere, is unquestioningly allied to our villain and absolutely does not act strange at all during his many appearances and fights. This series is many weird and wonderful things, but subtle it is not. If you can't figure out the big “twist“ of this film at this point, don't worry; you must have killed too many brain cells from watching the first movie, and I heartily approve of that. Alright, any more and we'd be going into spoiler territory. Enjoy the show, and remember: absolutely no brain cells allowed. Subs are from the official Mill Creek release. Please buy the DVDs to support Tsuburaya and their content!
