You're welcome, gents! Happy to share. The page flipped quicker than I realized it would, so I'm repeating my initial post here.
It's about exposure, not vanity, I swear!
ooo
Amazing times for us mono-lingual devotees of Showa-era Ultra shows ---
Everybody knows about the scrappy but still appreciated box sets of Ultra Q, Ultraman and UltraSeven, but have you noticed that...
A Malaysian company called VGB Network has released fully subbed versions of the complete runs of Return of Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Taro and, as if that wasn't enough, Jumborg Ace? All leave a bit to be desired - each disc is jammed with up to 19 episodes, the translation on the subs can be a bit ESL at times, etc - but they're still plenty watchable, and perfectly understandable. Oh, and CHEAP! Low thirties if you go the eBay route, about half that plus ship if you go with a company like SkyDVDs.
What, you still want more? What if I told you that a company called Crunchyroll had licensed both Ultraman Leo and Ultraman 80? And that they were streaming both, with absolutely perfect subs, for free? You'd be happy, right? Here's links to, if you don't mind a few commercials, those streams, and if you do mind, links to torrents of quality MKV rips with removable subs:
Don't feel quite complete yet? Hi no Tori has teamed up with MegaBeast Empire to bring us a fully subbed release of Ultraman Story, Tsuburaya's revisionist history film from '87 that tells the tale of a teenage Taro trying to prove his salt to the Ultra Brothers and the 'rents:
Back to '66 for a minute, Midnight Crew Subs has an interesting revision for fans of the OG hero show - same muddy Chaiyo transfers, but with vastly improved subtitles:
To recap - EVERY Ultrashow from '66-'80 is now out there with subs in English! Now if only someone would show a little love to Fireman...
Happy New Year, toku fans!
ooo
I guess I should mention some of my Heisei and Millennial discoveries as well.
You'll see quite a few more films and series in the SkyDVDs link above, but I can't speak to their quality from personal experience.
That Crunchyroll company offers
Max and
Mebius with the same great English-friendly treatment...
plus there are quality rips to be had as well:
I'm still none-too interested in the newer stuff, but this quote I found has me thinking about giving Max a look:
When Ultraman Max was announced, the news that such Japanese cinema luminaries such as Shusuke Kaneko and prolific film psychotic Takashi Miike would be directing, one wondered what could possibly be the result. The first episodes, while enjoyable, resemble the typical pattern of the kid friendly shows. The special effects are very good for an Ultraman show and show the eye of Mr. Kaneko. Many of the monsters are from the original series or Ultraseven. It's not until episode 8 that the show really starts to hit the gears. The quirky imagination of the original series starts to come back along with the experimental photography. Then with episode 15 the show goes to new levels. A very unusual story of a blind girl who plays the flute and a giant blob that reacts to everything around it. Episode 22 is an existentialist story of the show's writer confusing his identity with the lead character in dreams. I suspect Miike was behind this one since there's a creepy transvestite in the episode. ...
I just found this handy - if a bit out of date - cheat sheet, too:
http://www.orendsrange.com/2011/11/who- ... raman.htmlThere's plenty of info on where to go to find further post-golden age fancy there.
