I’ve seen “Shin Godzilla” and “Shin Evangelion” in the theater, but this time I just couldn’t get up the nerve to watch it, so I ended up watching it on Amazon Prime.
I heard that there were a lot of bad reviews, but for me, it was interesting. Because it solved my long-standing question, “Why does Ultraman protect the earth? I was happy to see it because it solved my long-standing question, “Why does Ultraman protect the earth? I don’t care if it is correct or not. As long as it makes sense.
If you watch the film without such questions, you may find people criticizing it badly.
The despair of the human race, which is destroying nature, flocking together, and waging war all the time. Both Yoshiyuki Tomino’s “Gundam series” and Hayao Miyazaki’s “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind” started from the same starting point.
And how to overcome the limitations of humanity.
In Gundam, the awakening to the “new type,” in this Shin Ultraman, the “beta system,” in Nausicaa (manga), the “destruction of the old civilization,” etc., each artist presents their own possibilities. More recently, the advancing giant is probably one such example.
The battle between these possibilities and those who take advantage of them and the forces of resistance. In the end, humanity may have no choice but to rely on God and ultra (transcendent) abilities.
Director Anno’s series of works also began with this “despair for humanity. The Eva series, having reached a certain point of closure with Shin Evangelion, he continued with Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider, which I am sure was based on a simple question that I had when I was a child.
Why would a being with ultra-power, in other words, a god-like being, try to protect (save) this pathetic human race? I believe that director Anno wants to answer this question in his own way.
I have talked a lot about humanity and the earth, but I like dynamic science fiction films that show the despair and limitations of humanity, and the possibilities of overcoming them.
In the final scene, Zofi, the ruler of Earth who comes from the planet of light, says of humankind, “We are strange beings who desire life while accepting death” (I apologize if I am wrong).
Whether we ourselves will be able to love like Ultraman, or not, the future of humanity depends on it. It seems that the future of the human race depends on it.
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***
