i recently got a crunhyroll premium account and saw netflix had a lot of ultraman series'! whats a the best place to start as far as ultraman goes?
Oh! Â Good question! Â As far as the shows available on Crunchyroll (unless you are in Japan Netflixâs Ultraman offerings are blocked) Iâd start with something like Ultraman Gaia. Â Itâs a good self-contained series that has a really good narrative and a strong sense of character. Â The pacing is really good as well for a full year-long (50+) episode series.
It is, however, not a part of the main continuity (what fans refer to as the M78 continuity) which is the largest chunk of the Ultraman franchise. Â If you want to try that out, Ultraman Leo or Ultraman 80, from 1974 and 1980 respectively, are your best options. Â They arenât the best of the best for that section of the franchise but they have some stellar episodes. Â They, unfortunately, also suffer from some tone, pacing and plot issues due to being tweaked in the middle of seasons and can feel really inconsistent.
A much better choice for the M78 continuity would be the series that revived it, 2006âČs Ultraman Mebius.  Itâs a bit like Sentaiâs Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger as it was an Anniversary series that brought back a lot of the older heroes and provides both a nice treat for older fans and a way for newer fans to get a taste of these older shows through guest appearances.
It also has memorable characters, a good story and subverts a few of the oldest tropes of the franchise in fun ways. Â I highly recommend it as a good place to start if you want just a sampler of all that came before.
If you want something thatâs separate from the M78 stuff and a bit darker and more mature, Ultraman Nexus is for you!
Designed as a series to appeal to older fans, Nexus has more disturbing monster designs, a secret government organization devoted to making sure no one knows about the aliens (going so far as to have Memory Police that erase peopleâs knowledge of them) and a grand conspiracy bubbling away in the background. Â It wasnât a huge hit upon initial release but it is a fascinating look at an attempt to aim the franchise as an older audience.
Then we come to the modern shows and if you can, get into those ASAP. Â Having a new Ultra to watch on a weekly basis is a really nice treat, especially as the current series, Ultraman Geed, is being simulcast and comes out about an hour after it airs in Japan with professional grade subtitles.
The newest series are Ultraman Ginga and its direct sequel Ultraman Ginga S, Ultraman X and Ultraman Orb. Â All of them are good and fun but I especially recommend Orb and the current Geed.
I hope this helps you find a good place to start with the offerings available on Crunchyroll. Â We are only 7 (well 8 as of tonight) episodes into Geed so it wonât be hard to get caught up!
