Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Ultraman Ace Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 16, 2020

Note: some of what appears below are summations from the booklet included with this Blu-ray release, written by Keith Aiken.

Special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya was at one point best known for his work on some of Japan's most popular Kaiju films -- Toho's Godzilla and Mothra -- but it may be for the Ultra franchise for which he will ultimately be remembered. In 1963 Tsuburaya founded Tsuburaya Productions, a then small house with the goal of crafting small screen entertainment with big screen quality. Tsuburaya's first production, Ultra Q, was a monster success (in more ways than one). A follow-up was quickly ordered. That follow-up: Ultraman, another massive hit for Tsuburaya and the first of numerous television and cinema Ultra Q spin-offs that have since gained the franchise recognition in the Guinness Book of World Records for its sprawling longevity.

Ultraman was followed by Ultraseven, a show that Tsuburaya envisioned as the close for the Ultra series. But even as new programming was not airing on television, demand for Ultra content continued to rise. Merchandise moved freely from store shelves and Tsuburaya began work on the franchise's fourth installment, The Return of Ultraman, which featured a brand new Ultraman -- better for sales -- rather than making a sequel to Ultraman. Money is king, of course, and more money means more innovation. But production was upset when Eiji Tsuburaya passed in 1970, more than a year before Return's debut on TBS on April 2, 1971. The 51 episode series ran for a year to, again, extraordinarily high ratings. And so the cycle would continue when, even as Return was on the airwaves, Tsuburaya Productions was hard at work developing what would become Ultraman Ace.

But as the Ultra franchise steamrolled ahead, it should have come as no surprise to Tsuburaya that other content developers would want a piece of the pie. Ishimori Productions' Kamen Rider dubbed in April 1971, competing directly with The Return of Ultraman for airwave supremacy. Not content to simply continue churning out the fun yet familiar Ultra content, Tsuburaya took the opportunity of the fifth installment, Ultraman Ace, to rework the brand not so much in essential style but rather in narrative construction. Ace employs a greater focus on a singular foe: Yapool. But Yapool would employ its own army of Kaiju for Ultraman Ace, alongside the Terrible Monster Attacking Crew, or TAC, to battle in a more traditional, more familiar Ultra style. The result: a glut of new monsters that would become fan favorites.

Further altering the formula, here at perhaps a more fundamental level, was the human-Ultra connection. Prior, it was but a single male human who would join with his Ultra. Now, for Ace, that number had been doubled to two, and one of them was female. Seiji Hokuto (Keiji Takamine) and Yuko Minami (Mitsuko Hoshi), humans recently deceased in the performance of a heroic act, were both entrusted with the power to join with Ace. But the novelty proved too great a challenge for the production team, and Yuko would ultimately be sent away midway through the show, allowing for a more traditionally oriented approach.

Different in some ways though it may be, Ultraman Ace otherwise sticks to the series fundamentals that made its popularity and drove its success to this point, and beyond. That includes what is, in retrospect to be sure, and perhaps even as it originally aired, a certain cheesiness to its wares, from costumes to miniatures, from characters to Kaiju, that aim for escapism rather than realism. And that’s just fine. Part of the fun is in reveling in the production values, which teeter between comically absurd and charmingly ingratiating, but like any good form of entertainment, once the silly novelty wears off (and by now with Ace it’s well worn off), the content -- which, as they say, is king -- takes over and audiences will find themselves drawn into the drama and arrested by the action, as repetitive across this show and through the franchise as they may be. With that said, and even with the constant of the extensive miniature usage, it’s clear with Ace that the effects wizards of the time had come a long way since the series’ origins in Ultra Q. The battles are more dynamic, the set pieces and props appear more painstakingly constructed, and while there’s no mistaking a miniature for the real thing, there’s enough consistency in style and quality of surrounding workmanship to cover for the weaker areas.

Ultraman Ace Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For its six-disc Ultraman Ace Blu-ray release, Mill Creek preserves the original broadcast parameter 4x3 aspect ratio which places vertical "black bars" on either side of the modern 1.78:1 HD display. The 1080p image is certainly not perfect. It shows evidence of both age-related wear as well as compression artifacts. The picture is choppy in both areas, revealing usually minor, but collectively evident, pops and speckles and other examples of age. Meanwhile, backgrounds serve up rather clumpy examples of compression macroblocking, intermixing with the natural film grain to create a distressed, uneven foundation. Fortunately, the essential working elements are in good order. Textural clarity is fine given the various limitations of age and disc space, offering pleasantly crisp, though not entirely razor-sharp, qualities to human skin textures, rubbery monster and Ultra suits, real world environments, and the extensive array of miniatures used throughout the production. Clarity allows audiences to spot wires holding up various components and identify points of wear and other weak points in the production that small, fuzzy, standard definition screens most certainly masked back in the day. Color reproduction is fair, offering fine foundational tones across the spectrum. Red is always a standout in the Ultraman universe, and it's presented with enough tonal oomph to please. Addiotnal tones, whether gray urban accents, earthy terrain, green vegetation, or various colors on Kaiju present with well-rounded, fine-tuned contrast. Skin tones are good enough, ditto black levels. This is by no means perfect, but on that Mill Creek price-quality curve it's fairly good for what it is.

Ultraman Ace Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The native Japanese recording is the only audio option to be found throughout this set, presented in the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless configuration. Like previous vintage Ultraman releases, it's perfectly serviceable but does show the relative lack of precise definition and the age and limitations of the original source. Music enjoys positive front end stretch and range but clarity is lacking. It's thin, a bit muddled, but baseline effective. Action scenes likewise want for greater precision, both in terms of elemental separation and overall clarity. Explosions, crashes, and other sounds of Ultraman vs. Kaiju madness struggle to offer anything beyond basic sound signatures. The material does stretch nicely along the front and some of the more movement oriented elements -- like jets flying and missiles zipping towards the end of the first episode -- do offer some impressive feelings for spacial definition along the front and some surprising heft, too. Atmospheric support elements additionally lack the clarity, spacial awareness, and balance one would expect from superior audio engineering and more expansive channel opportunities, but again the content suffices within context. Dialogue plays with solid essential clarity and prioritization. It images well enough towards the middle with only occasionally mild feelings of drift beyond towards the sides.

Ultraman Ace Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Ultraman Ace contains no supplements across any of the six discs. The main menu screens on each disc only offer the opportunity to toggle subtitles on and off in addition to selecting any of the disc's episodes, which are vertically oriented. The set does ship with an impressively assembled booklet that includes glossy pages, numerous color photographs, and plenty of text. It begins with introductory commentary on the show's history and production and also features a character breakdown, detailed episode synopses, key monster explorations, and a technology guide. Mill Creek has put together a comprehensive series breakdown in a relatively small space. While it's disappointing that there are no video-based extras, this compact handbook will prove to be a treasure for veterans and a necessity for newcomers just getting their feet wet in the universe. A MovieSpree digital copy code is also included with purchase.

Ultraman Ace Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ultraman Ace dared to shake up the formula. All of the changes didn't stick for the entire run, but it's nice to see an effort to push the content forward rather than regurgitate what's come before, though certainly there's plenty of regurgitation in terms of essential production constructs and constraints. Not the best in the series but nevertheless a fine little show within the greater whole, Ace will appeal to relative newcomers and longtime franchise fans alike, be those who have only now gotten their feet with with Mill Creek's efforts or those who date back to the original airings. The Blu-ray's video and audio qualities suffice at best. No extras are included. The SteelBook is nicer and, at time of publication, a good bit cheaper. Opt for that one instead, but Ace on Blu-ray in any packaging does come recommended.