Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Ultraman Geed Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 3, 2019

Mill Creek has released 2017's 'Ultraman Geed' to Blu-ray. It's one of the newest programs in the 50-plus-year history of the 'Ultraman' franchise, yet the studio has chosen to bring it to the physical high definition format as one of the first releases as part of a long-term 'Ultraman' marketing strategy. The featureless release houses all 25 TV episodes on five discs and a sixth disc is home to the 'Geed' feature film. Technical specifications include native Japanese two-channel audio and English subtitles.

Below are brief reviews of the TV series and movie.

TV Series:

Official synopsis: This is a story of a hero who inherits Ultraman Belial, the evil Ultraman’s genes. Despite suffering from repeating setbacks and despair of knowing the secret of his birth and cruel fate, he never loses sight of friendship and strong will to become a true hero. The story unfolds through the spiritual growth of the protagonist who seeks for the meaning of his own life and finds the place where he belongs, through fighting against evil and his own cursed destiny, to become a hero of justice.

Ultraman Geed premiered on July 8, 2017 (and was preceded by "Pre-Premiere Special" which is unfortunately not included with this set) and ran through the end of the year. The 25 episode string follows Riku Asakura and his journey of self discovery as both a burgeoning hero and as a young man discovering his true identity. That identity connects him with the malicious Belial, one of the series' most notable villains who has previously appeared in several other Ultraman properties, which are as of yet unreleased to Blu-ray. That means a slightly deeper mythos and a slightly steeper learning curve for audiences who may just be digging into the Ultraman universe for the first time via Mill Creek's Blu-ray releases.

The show is aesthetically very similar to Ultraman Orb in terms of technical construction and general presentation. It maintains the unmistakable charm of chintzy but cheerful costumes and corny CGI, but it works. The show, like Orb, manages to add flash and flavor for 21st century audiences while staying relatively true to the core Ultraman experience that Tsuburaya introduced to the world more than five decades ago. The show is procedural, forwarding the story and characters but just about always winds up with a Kaiju battle. The series does throw some curves for its characters and narrative arc. It's procedural but not always predictable, and it's a lot of fun.

Movie:

Official synopsis: Gigantic Mechanical Brain Gillvalis and the Galactron Army, intent on wiping out all intelligent lifeforms in the universe, close in on Earth. Riku Asakura heads for Okinawa, where there are said to be clues to the “Red Steel” sought by Gilbaris. There, Riku encounters Ail, who realizes that he is Ultraman and assigns him an important mission. Meanwhile, the Galactron Army begins attacking Okinawa in search of the “Red Steel”. Ultraman Geed, Orb, and Zero rush to Earth, but Geed’s hasty actions in sticking to his mission put the Ultraman team in even more danger!

The Geed movie clocks in at a meager 72 minutes, about the same runtime as the Orb film. It's also a vastly superior film. Gone is the feeling of frivolous storytelling within an anniversary prism, replaced with a more focused, intense tale that furthers the Geed story while also crossing over with Orb, bringing back both Gai/Orb and Jugglus Juggler, one of the franchise's best villains. Other crossovers and fan service winks and nods make an appearance, but the movie stays focused and true to the current state of the Ultraman universe. It finds a larger scope and while it might lack a more impactful cinematic flavor and features production values similar, if not identical, to the show, it expands beyond the formula and narrative limitations of a single episode and builds a more necessarily complex picture fit for the series. It's a proper and satisfying experience in the contemporary Ultraman universe.

Ultraman Geed Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ultraman Geed's 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer is a delight. Much like the Orb presentation it's clear, clean, and thrives on the resolution its HD video source provides. Viewers will note fine material and construction definition on Ultraman suits and various Kaiju. Miniatures are obvious but impressively detailed and integrated within the larger world while real world locales boast complex essentials and reveal intricate details on various busy interiors and thriving city exteriors. Human facial features reveal complex skin and hair details with efficiency and ease while clothes are appropriately tangible down to fine fabric textures. Colors are bold and invigorating, particularly the intense light shows that the show regularly puts on during the battles throughout the final act. Costumes and clothes enjoy robust tonal intensity, stability, and accuracy. Environments are likewise efficient in color reproduction. Skin tones are fine and black levels rarely stray from true. There are minor compression issues with fleeting spikes in intensity (see the 15:12 mark of episode one, and in the sky during the battle towards episode's end for a couple of examples) but these are fairly rare occurrences overall and never all that distracting. The movie offers no obvious stray in presentation quality or essential visual construction; the TV show review applies to it equally. Screenshots 1-25 are from the TV show; 26-30 are sourced from the movie.

Ultraman Geed Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ultraman Geed's Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack fares much the same as the Orb audio presentation. It's impressively wide and filling, presenting with stage command and a feel for good immersion despite the channel limitations and, of course, the complete absence of surround and subwoofer utilization. Music and effects both enjoy extreme front end width and terrific detail. The track is not timid about engaging as fully as it can, all the while mustering more than adequate definition to the many varied sound effects scattered throughout the season, particularly during the various battles but also in general environmental details and various sounds of destruction as calamities wreak havoc around the city. It's very impressive what the track does with the limited channel allotment afforded to it; more tracks could stand to pay attention to what Mill Creek is doing with these. Add impressively clear and imaged dialogue and there's very little here to warrant any audible disappointment. Better, the movie's soundtrack maintains these same qualities. Whereas the Orb soundtrack offered a lesser feel for expansion and engagement, the movie's Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack essentially recreates the same presentation parameters as found with the TV show. Good stuff all around.

Ultraman Geed Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Ultraman Geed contains no supplemental content across any of the six discs, five for the TV series and one for the movie. The main menu screen on the TV show offers only the options to choose episodes individually or to play all as well as to toggle subtitles on and off. The movie disc, disc six in the set, offers only options to play the movie and to toggle subtitles on and off. This release does ship with a booklet, which is not quite of the same quality or thoroughness as those found with the Ultra Q or Ultraman releases, but it does include hero character profiles, a Kaiju character guide, episode summaries, and an outline for the movie. No DVD discs are included, but Mill Creek has bundled in a MovieSpree digital copy voucher. Unlike the afore-referenced Ultra Q and Ultraman releases, there is disappointingly no corresponding SteelBook. Finally, this release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

Ultraman Geed Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ultraman continues to thrive after all these years. While Geed is aesthetically all but identical to Orb, it's of high quality dramatic construction and engaging character advancement, even if the core plot elements are fairly routine and border on stagnant at times. On the whole it's certainly up to par for the series, blending simple charm with some crude but effective modern appeal. It's not quite as completely newcomer friendly as Orb but most should enjoy what the show has to offer, Ultraman veteran or relative newbie alike. Mill Creek's six-disc set, which includes 25 TV episodes and a movie, is unfortunately but unsurprisingly featureless. Video and audio presentations are strong. Recommended.