Otakuism

Story:

A man wakes up in an unfamiliar room after dreaming of falling in the ocean and a mysterious girl, only to find he can’t remember who he is. The mysterious girl from his dreams appears and tells him to run to his car outside after handing him a pair of glasses. He escapes the building which explodes seconds later. At his car he finds an automated tracking system that takes him to his house he doesn’t remember. He finds the whole place devoid of any items or information telling him who he is. It is then that he gets a call on his wrist phone telling him to meet up with Agent K at a club. He goes to the club and meets K, who is at first skeptical of the amnesia but breaks down and tells the man his name is Jin and he’s an agent for DEUS, a secret organization that hunts down illegal aliens that have arrived on earth and take the forms of humans. While talking Jin recieves a note from another strange woman in the bar. He immediately realizes she is an alien.

He and K give chase and fight her goons outside in the alley. K decides to hold them off while Jin continues on. Jin chases the woman into a building and sees her meeting with other aliens; they are discussing how they will conquer the world soon and summon a giant monster that begins attacking the city. Suddenly they call for Jin to show himself and Jin finds himself stuck with guns pointing at his head. He asks them who he is, which is exactly what they want to know. The building transforms into a space ship and starts flying off. The mysterious girl from his dreams shows up to save him, calling him the saviour of the world, and they both fight out of the space ship and jump into the air.

In mid-air Jin puts on the sunglasses to transform into Ultra Seven X and begins fighting the monster. Both the monster and the space ship try to destory him but niether can do any damage. Ultra Seven destroys the monster with his Eye Slugger - throwing the blade on his head like a boomerang - and fires a laser from his forehead to destroy the space ship. Jin powers down and then sees a weird image of three people meeting in a garden and apparently staring at him. Even if he doesn’t know who he is, Jin swears to use this new power to protect the world.

Impressions:

Ultra Seven X is actually the first “Ultra” show I’ve ever seen. Zer0’s posts have done a lot to interest me in the series. I’ve been meaning to try either Nexus or Mebius, but finishing Kamen Rider Kabuto has taken priority. Anyways, on to the actual show. Ultra Seven X is meant to be a tokusatsu show just for adults, similar to GARO. The setting is a dark, futuristic city with an omnipresent newscaster telling citizens how safe the city is. Jin is your normal amnesiac. While amnesia is such a cliche in any show these days, Jin isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen. As least he knows when to take action and can still kick ass. K is a much more interesting character, just because he has a lot more spunk in him. The mysterious girl is still a mystery, with the lack of a personality to show it.

The action scenes were all quite nice. The scenes of Jin and K taking on the alien goons with some old fashion kung fu ass kickin’ were very similar to GARO, a good thing in my book. Ultra Seven’s design clearly indicate he’s not kid friendly; those muscles mean business. The action was a bit quick, mostly just Seven throwing his eye slugger and firing a laser. Had to jam a lot into the episode obviously. Overall this episode has done a good job of getting me excited about the series. I’ve been craving a dark tokusatsu like GARO after the faux-drama of Kabuto and downright silliness of Den-O. Hopefully the series will be able to maintain a good pace throughout since it’s only twelve episodes. Don’t want any kind of rushed ending.