Reviewed By Jason LockardThe Good folks at Mill Creek Entertainment have been given kaiju fans something to rejoice about with the releases of the Ultraman series. The latest in the original series releases is "The Return of Ultraman". This one is the fourth Blu-ray release and it follows the releases Ultra Q, Ultraman and Ultra Seven.
The Return of Ultraman was produced by Tsuburaya Productions and aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System from April 2, 1971 to March 31, 1972. It is time for this series to get it's time to shine of Blu-ray.
The series starts when dormant monsters start to awake from sleep, a brave young man named Hideki Go, who dreamed of being a race car driver, tries to save a boy and his puppy who are in the line of fire. Hideki Go looses his life in the process, Now the new Ultraman, who had come from Nebula M78 to defend Earth, is impressed by Go’s bravery that he resurrects him by uniting as one.
After this, Go is determined to fight any enemy that threatens humanity. He joins forces with M.A.T.: the Monster Attack Team. All the while struggling to reconcile with his identity. Is he Hideki Go or Ultraman.
The series ran for 51 twenty-five minutes episodes. The series is everything you love about the previous Ultraman series. There are awesome monsters, the chessy cool special effects, the iconic sound effects. They are all found in this series.
DISC ONE: All Monsters Attack / Takkong's Great Counterattack / Evil Monster Realm of Terror / Fatal Attack! Meteor Kick / Two Big Monsters Attack Tokyo / Showdown! Monsters vs. MAT / Operation Monster Rainbow / Monster Time Bomb
DISC TWO: Monster Island S.O.S. / Dinosaur Detonation Oder / Poison Gas Monster Appears / Revenge of Monster Shugaron / Terror of the Tsunami Monsters - Tokyo in Peril / Terror of Two Monsters - Tokyo's Giant Tornado / Revenge of the Monster Boy / The Mystery of the Big Bird Monster Terochilus / Monster Bird Terochilus - Big Air raid of Tokyo
DISC THREE: Here comes Ultraseven / The Invisible Giant Monster From Outer Space / The Monster is a Shooting Star in Space / The Monster Channel / Leave this Monster to me / Spit out the Stars, Dark Monster / Horror! Birth of the Apartment Monster / Leaving my home Planet, Earth
DISC FOUR: Mystery! Homicide Beetle Incident / Go to Hell with This Blow! / Operation Ultra Special Attack / Jiro Rides a Monster / The Cursed Bone God Oxster / In between Devil and Angel / Deul Under the Setting Sun / The Monster Tamer and the Boy / The Unforgiving Life
DISC FIVE: Cruel! Light Monster PrizMA / Banish the Night / Ultraman Dies at Sunset / When the star of Ultra Shines / The Twentieth Century Abominable Snowman / The Phantom Snow Woman / The Revenge of Alien Baltan Jr. / The Monster That Stands on Fuji
DISC SIX: The Demon God howls at the Moon / To the Starry Sky with Love / Assassinate Hideki Go / Fill This One Blow with Anger / The Marked Woman / We'll Take Earth / MAT is the name of Space Warrior / Invitation from Hell / The Five Oaths of Ultra
I have to say I have really enjoyed visiting these Japanese classics. I always have been a fan of the kaiju films, but Ultraman is truly the best of both worlds. Superhero and monster movies.
Sometimes when a series moves forward the quality in story and production values suffer, but I am glad to say that The Return of Ultraman has all the great storylines that you came to love in the previous series and all the great monsters as well.
All 51 episodes are presented in 1080p High Definition in the original full-screen format 1.33:1 aspect ratio and in the Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 And come with the English Subtitles.
The packaging of this Blu-ray set, is just as good as the previous releases. All the Blu-ray discs come in there own hub in a hard shell Blu-ray case. There is no stacking of discs. There is a high-quality collector's booklet, that features an in-depth synopsis of each episode and information about the series, the monsters, and characters in this series. Finally, it comes in a sturdy cardboard protective sleeve.
Mill Creek Entertainment has been hitting these releases out of the park. I am loving the high quality of the picture and the high-quality packaging. One of the best parts of these Blu-ray releases is when you put them on the shelf stacked side by side they produce a spine mural, that is so cool! I can't recommend this Blu-ray set enough.
So if you have been loving the Ultraman releases so far, The Return of Ultraman is not going to disappoint. Get more information on this release at Mill Creek Entertainment. Or pick up your copy of the amazing Blu-ray or the Steelbook edition today at Amazon.com or your local Blu-ray provider!
Offensive Material: Monster Violence
Audience: Parental Guidance
Genre: Sci-Fi
Length: Over 21 Hours
Blu-ray Rating: A
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