Ultraman Ace
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Ultraman Ace (ウルトラマンA（エース） Urutoraman Ēsu?) is the title superhero of a tokusatsu SF/kaiju/superhero TV show, and is the 5th show in the Ultra Series. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions, the series aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System from April 7, 1972 to March 30, 1973, with a total of 52 episodes.
Starting with this show, the Ultra Series heads in a notably different direction, slowly shifting from a sci-fi/mystery adventure to full-tilt superhero fantasy fare. Also, all previous Ultra-beings (namely Ultraman, Zoffy, Ultra Seven, and New Ultraman) make more frequent appearances here, whereas they only made guest appearances in the previous show Return of Ultraman.
This series marks the debut of special effects director Koichi Kawakita, who went on to do many other tokusatsu superhero shows (for both Tsuburaya Productions and Toho Company Ltd.), and directed the FX for the majority of the "VS Series" (AKA: "Heisei Series") in Toho's Godzilla films. Kawakita was a student under the late Eiji Tsuburaya.
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[edit] Plot
Ultraman Ace takes the genre in a different direction. At the beginning of the series, it takes a man and a woman to change into him, giving Ace the courage of a man and a woman's love for peace. Ace also has a lot of neat laser weapons. There is a recurring villain (the Yapool), and there are a lot more guest appearances from the other brothers. Zoffy visits frequently, as does the Ultra Father. The five (Zoffy, Ultraman, Ultra Seven, "Jack" and Ace) are now known as the Five Ultra Brothers (gokyohdai), and they come together on at least three occasions. Ace is by far the youngest. And finally, the monsters (kaijuh) are now Yapool creations known as "Super Beasts" (chohjuh), supposedly more powerful than the monsters previous Ultra heroes had to contend with.
Ace's head fin has a great big hole in it and a Beam Lamp up front. Other than Ultraseven's detatchable fin, Ace's is probably the most useful fin. The Beam Lamp can fire his Punch Laser, and the hole is a place where energy can be gathered, stored, or released (it is the nexus for his most powerful weapon, the Space Q). It is also where he emits Ultra Signs into the sky to communicate with other Ultramen.
Ace is also the first Ultraman to introduce hand-waving as part of the laser-emitting ritual. To fire his Metallium Beam, he must first twist his torso to the left and snap to center. This type of action was influenced by other tokusatsu series of the day.
The Five Ultra Brothers arrive on Earth together in episode 1, where they resurrect Hokuto and Minami. Ace gives them the Ultra Rings and merges with them. Whenever the need arises, he tells them, the rings will shine and they can transform into Ultraman Ace.
As for the circumstances of their death, Hokuto is originally a bakery employee who is delivering bread to a children's hospital in his van. He tries to prevent the bread from being destroyed by Yapool's first creation, Belokuron, but his van and said bread are destroyed by the fire-breathing monster. Belokuron then starts attacking the hospital. Hokuto runs there to see Minami trying to save a wheelchair-bound kid. He jumps into a tanker truck and does a suicide run, killing himself and scaring Belokuron away. Minami is also dead for some reason.
Hokuto and Minami are both born on July 7. Hokuto has a spunky and goofy personality, which is a grand departure from his constipated predecessors. Minami is a lot more gentle and reticent (but she wields a mean gun when necessary). They often make googlie eyes at each other.
At first, Hokuto and Minami jump up in the air to transform, by spinning and touching their rings together (the Ultra Touch), but they stopped doing that, because it was feared that children might hurt themselves trying to imitate the move. In episode 2, they jump up together with motorcycles for a "Rider Touch" (perhaps an influence of Kamen Rider). When Hokoto is in a spaceship and Minami is still in the TAC base in episode 14, he and Minami transform by touching their rings to their respective video monitors.
Minami leaves halfway through the series, in episode 28, and Hokuto has to change into Ace by himself from then on. Minami is actually from the Moon, and when Ace defeats Lunatyx, her mission on Earth is done. In episode 29, the Umezu family is added to the cast. Dan, the younger brother, has the special ability to see the Ultra Star with his naked eyes even in the daytime, and thus qualifies to be the sixth Ultra Brother. (This is a notion that was brushed away with the introduction of Ultraman Taro, also dubbed the sixth Ultra Brother.)
The chohjuh designs are more colorful and powerful than in Return of Ultraman, and are genetic crosses (for the most part) between creatures of the Earth and outer space. Chohjuh is officially translated as "Terrible Monsters", but a more direct translation of the characters could be "Super Beasts" or "Mega Beasts." Bakishimu, Doragorie, Ace Killer, King Crab, and Black Pigeon, to name a few. Since these are all creations of the Yapool, some are equipped with missiles and other synthetic weaponry. One drawback about the chohjuh is that they are rather hyperactive, and tend to move a lot faster than monsters from days of yore. Cameos of several monsters from previous series include Muruchi II, Metron-seijin Jr. (complete with hip bell-bottoms), and Woo.
In the last episode, a Yapool disguises himself as the child of Simon-seijin and reassembles parts from previously defeated chohjuh (Corwa, Steal-seijin, Unitang, Mazarius, et al.) to create a grand masterpiece, Jumbo King. As the kid of Simon-seijin, Yapool takes advantage of Takeshi, a kid who tries to protect him. Hokuto sees through this ploy, and must reveal his true identity as Ultraman Ace to win Takeshi's trust. Ace defeats Jumbo King using a variation of his Ultra Guillotine, which severs the monster's head and legs. The children bid farewell to Ace as he flies back to the Nebula M78.
[edit] Statistics
- Height: 40 meters
- Weight: 45,000 tons
- Flight speed: mach 20
- Running speed: 1,000 km/h
- Aquatic speed: 80 knots (148 km/h)
- Home planet: The Land of Light, Nebula M78
- Human form: Seiji Hokuto and Yuhko Minami
- Transformation item: Ultra Rings
- Weapons:
- Metallium ray: L-style.
- Punch laser: Fired from the Beam Lamp on his fin.
- Space Q: A ball of energy gathered at the hole in his fin, used against Ace Killer and Jumbo King. In his battle with Ace Killer, his energy is near depletion, and gets energy from his four brothers in order to use this weapon.
- Ultra Guillotine: A standard slashing laser beam or ring, with many other variations (Vertical Guillotine, Guillotine Shot).
- Timer Shot: Fired from his Color Timer.
[edit] TAC members
TAC stands for Terrible Monster Attacking Crew
- Captain Goroh Ryuh
- Seiji Hokuto
- Yuhko Minami
- Ichiroh Yamanaka
- Kohzoh Yoshimura
- Tsutomu Konno
- Noriko Mikawa
[edit] Cameos
- Episode 1: The Five Ultra Brothers merge Ace with Hokuto and Minami.
- Episode 5: Zoffy sees Ace's Ultra Sign (SOS), and saves him from being trapped underground by Giron-jin and Aribunta. Zoffy lets him borrow the Ultra Converter, a wristband that restores Ace's energy (and changes his blinking ColorTimer back to blue).
- Episodes 13-14: The Four Ultra Brothers are crucified on the planet Golgota by the Yapool. The Yapool send all five fake Ultra Signs to get them to gather at Golgota, where they find crosses with their names written on them. The temperature then drops precipitously, and they begin losing power. The Four give Ace their remaining power to go back to Earth, to defend it from CHOHJUH Baraba. Ace protests, not wanting to abandon his brothers, but Ultraman slaps him to his senses, saying they will. After Ace leaves, the other four get sucked onto the crosses. However, Ace can't fight Baraba effectively, because the Yapools taunt him with images of his brothers stuck on the cross, threatening to finish them off. Meanwhile, Yapool then introduces Ace Killer, who sucks the Four Ultra Brothers of their Specium (Ultraman), Emerium (Ultra Seven), and M87 (Zoffy) energies, as well as the Ultra Bracelet (Ultraman "Jack"). Ace Killer uses these to destroy the Ace Robot for practice as the brothers look on helplessly. The upper brass at TAC send Hokuto to Golgota with a bomb to destroy the entire planet (and the Four Ultra Brothers with it), but Hokuto changes to Ace, destroys the bomb, gets energy from his Brothers to create the Space Q to defeat Ace Killer, frees his brothers, return to Earth, and destroy Baraba.
- Episode 23: Zoffy versus Giant Yapool.
- Episode 26-7: The Four Ultra Brothers are turned into bronze statues along with Ace by Hippolito-seijin. They are saved by the Ultra Father.
- Episode 31: Ultra Seven versus Bakutari
- Episode 35: Zoffy versus Dreamgillas
- Episode 38: A revived Father appears as Santa Claus to help defeat Namhage and Snowgillan. He brings back Minami for a visit.
[edit] Crossovers
- Ultraman: Great Monster Decisive Battle
- The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army
- Ultraman Story
| Showa era series: | Ultraman • Seven • Return of/Jack • Ace • Taro • Leo • 80 |
|---|---|
| Heisei era series: | Tiga • Dyna • Gaia • Cosmos • Nexus • Max • Mebius |
| Ultra Q: | Ultra Q • Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy |
| Specials: | The Ultraman/Jonias (anime) • Ultraman Neos (Direct-to-DVD) |
| Movies: | Zearth • ULTRAMAN |
| Co-productions: | The Adventure Begins  • Towards the Future  • Ultraman vs. Kamen Rider (with Toei) • The Ultimate Hero |
| Related: | Redman • Bio Planet WoO |
