I finally watched Netflix’s Ultraman: The Rise and I’m glad it wasn’t what I expected.

The following contains SPOILERS for Netflix. Ultraman: Ascension.

I’m as big a fan of superhero movies as anyone these days, and I’m also a big fan of animation. So when Netflix released Ultraman: The Rise I certainly noticed this earlier this year. That being said, it was never high on my list of movie priorities. Maybe I was suffering from so-called “superhero fatigue”, or maybe it was just so many things new on Netflix that it was lost.

It’s not that I expected the film to be bad, I just didn’t really expect anything to surprise me. Although I’m familiar with Japan’s favorite superhero, I’ve never been a big fan myself. So I left the movie on my to-do list, not knowing when I’d actually get around to it.

However, I recently had the opportunity to interview some of the filmmakers behind the film. Ultraman: The Rise (stay tuned) so of course I had to watch the movie. I’m so glad I was forced to watch this movie because it exceeded all my expectations.

Ultraman and his baby kaiju glide through the water in Ultraman: Rising

(Image credit: Netflix)

Ultraman: The Rise is not your standard superhero movie

Although I’m far from Ultraman expert, I, of course, knew about the character entering into Ultraman: The Rise. The franchise has been around for decades; the new movie isn’t even the only one new Ultraman content on Netflix in recent years. He works almost as much as Doctor Whoand like British sci-fi, the show has gone through many changes over the decades.

At its core, Ultraman is about a superhero who fights giant monsters and I have to say I loved it. amazing Godzilla minus onethe kaiju genre has never really grabbed me.

I was fully expecting something new Ultraman a film that could harness the limitless potential of animation, look amazing, and feature some incredible action sequences. And to be honest, Ultraman: The Rise it’s a visual spectaclebut that’s not what makes the film truly special.

Ultraman: The Rise This is not a film about fighting monsters, it is a film about raising them. The film focuses on Ken Sato, who was born into a family where his mother loved baseball and his father was an Ultraman. As an adult, he became a baseball star, but he also took up his father’s mantle as an iconic hero.

Ken doesn’t want to be Ultraman. His mother disappeared, and in the following years he and his father separated. However, things become more complicated for Ken when he ends up with a small kaiju, Gigantron’s child, who apparently died after a battle with the Kaju Defense Force. KDF wants a child for unknown reasons and Ken decides to keep him safe.

Ultraman holding a baby kaiju in Ultraman: Rising

(Image credit: Netflix)

Netflix’s Ultraman Is a Story About Parenting

What follows is not a story about struggle, but a story about raising children, which, as a father, I absolutely understand. Ken doesn’t know anything about raising a child because who knows when they start?

Ken turns to Ami, a sports reporter who gives him a hard time but is a parent herself, for advice on how to raise a child. Ami tries to have an adult conversation while her child interferes in everything and is constantly distracted. This was the moment I could remember when my two year old kaiju was running around while I was trying to watch a movie.

Eventually, Ken brings his father and the two men begin to repair their relationship, working together to raise the little monster they name Amy. Ken feels rejected by his father as a child, caring more about being an Ultraman than being a father. He doesn’t understand that his father’s decision was made out of love and the need to keep his son safe.

Needless to say I didn’t expect Ultraman a movie that made me cry, and yet I did quite a bit of it. Rising looks at the parent/child relationship from two different perspectives simultaneously. I saw echoes of myself as father and son.

Ultraman and Ultradad make a special beam

(Image credit: Netflix)

There’s a big final superhero battle in Ultraman: Rising, but it’s not what you expect

Ultraman: The Rise This is an Ultraman movie at the end and there is an expectation that we will get a big monster fight at the end of the movie and the movie definitely doesn’t disappoint.

However, Ultraman: The Rise turns the traditional formula on its head by having our hero fight alongside monsters. In the end, we actually see two Ultramen, Ken Sat and his father (Ultradad), fighting alongside Amy and the child’s mother against a giant robot piloted by the head of the Kaiju Defense Force.

If this sounds like a bit of an unbeatable battle, that’s because it is. While there’s certainly some tension as to how the fight will go, there’s no real concern as to who will win, but that’s by design too. The purpose of combat is not combat.

The goal of the battle is to see the family united. Not only is Amy reunited with her still-living mother, but the battle allows Ken, his father, to work together. By the end of the film, the audience, and Ken himself, fully understand his father.

This culminates in the film’s best action moment, which is as emotional as anything the film has to offer. Ultraman fires the famous Specium Beam at a huge robotic enemy. The beam is fired as Ultraman makes a cross with his hands clasped in front of his face. However, Ken’s arm was damaged early in the fight, and a quick camera slide shows father and son working together to create an energy blast.

Ultraman + Ultradad = ULTRA TEAM Ultraman: Rise | Netflix After School – YouTube

I don’t know if Ultraman: The Rise made me an Ultraman fanbut I’m an absolute fan Ultraman: Ascension. The ending of the film hints at a sequel, as many superhero films do. I can’t even be mad because if there’s a sequel, I know I’ll watch it and next time I won’t wait so long.