So, Ultraman Retsuden has ended

After (I think) 104 weekly episodes, Ultraman Biographies (or Ultraman Retsuden) has come to an end. I guess you can count it as the longest-running show in Ultraman, except that it hardly counts as a "show" anyway.

(and by the way, this post contains a spoiler for the related Ultra Zero Fight storyline)

The final episode (which is up on YouTube, as of this writing, but who knows how long it'll actually stay up) is just a summary of Ultra Zero Fight's second arc, presented as a dialogue between Zero and Glenfire. probably because it was the last (as in most recent) actual story they can cover. It just doesn't feel like a good "farewell" to the previous Ultra universes, (especially the main universe) considering Ultra Zero Fight itself didn't end on a very "conclusive" note, in my opinion. The villains are still out there, not captured or dead. Then again, considering that the main Ultra universe is never short on major threats, this is pretty appropriate.

More importantly, New Ultraman Biographies (a title which I find a little questionable), featuring Ultraman Ginga will premiere very, very soon, taking Retsuden's timeslot. I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm probably not going to blog about it straight away once it starts, though. And while it is a new universe, old characters will be returning in some capacity. Ultraman Taro is already confirmed to play a role.

One thing I haven't found out yet is what will occupy the usual timeslot during the major gap in NUB's broadcast schedule. From the sound of it, there aren't any further episodes planned for the regular Ultraman Biographies, so maybe it will just be a few months or so with no Ultraman content

Update: Argh, how did I forget/miss this? New Ultraman Biographies still follows the clip show/rerun format, with Ginga's adventures being the exception. This was already known, and it does explain what's going to fill that gap. But Zero's run as navigator, or at least his role as the face of the Ultra franchise does look to be over. Ultra Zero Fight and the Retsuden episodes that sort of follow up on it are still odd as a (most likely temporary) closing chapter to the main Ultra universe, though.

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