Hug Me! (Feat. Seven)

so i finally unboxed some figuarts (part two)

50th anniversary of Ultraman Leo!!! 🦁

First episode: April 12, 1974.

(First part of the two-parter episode).

It's been 50 years since Leo/Gen Otori again faced the enemies who destroyed his original home planet, L77. He has since called Earth his second home and sought to protect it at all costs.

My fan edit. Some clips of the first two episodes.

Okok i had too many ideas. What if yullian had met leo and astra when they were little, maybe during a diplomatic meeting or something 🥺 The royal kids 💖 Not sure if they'll still remember each other when they grew up...

Ultraman Leo - Manatsu Ryu Ultraman Spirits 2023

“Ultraman Leo” (1974) is an Ultraman series that is notable in that it was deeply influenced by one of the biggest forces in pop culture at the time: the rise of the Kung Fu movie. It was, after all, only a year before that Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon” came out. In addition to Bruce, there was another name was associated with action and karate fighting in Japan and elsewhere hugely influential on the show: Sonny Chiba, who had already made two of his best movies, the Executioner and Street Fighter by the time of this series. As a result, it is the first Ultraman series to be a martial arts series, very much like i the style of Kung Fu films of the 70s. 

Ultraman Leo is certainly the first and only Ultraman thus far to bust out nunchaku (a weapon that was mostly unknown prior to Bruce Lee making them famous). 

Here’s the plot of every episode. Ultraman Leo finds a monster, and it uses a strange, complex move or special technique that absolutely defeats and floors Ultraman Leo. Ultraman Leo realizes he has to find some martial move to counter this technique and answer it, so he trains intensively with his Kung Fu teacher, over and over and over, persisting until he sweats blood. And, in a moment familiar to anyone who has ever tried skateboarding, and spent two weeks doing one trick over and over and failing for days and days and days....after a bit, it “clicks,” there is a “eureka” moment, and he can pull the move off. In other words, the series is about the training and the learning experience: the ways someone learns, as all good Martial Arts stories are, as opposed to merely the fighting by itself. It’s significant that our hero is only able to defeat a villain not just by mastering a karate move, but by internalizing some value of the martial arts. The real victory is achieved by this moment of self-mastery, and the finale is almost a formality at this point: Ultraman Leo uses the special technique he spent the episode mastering to defeat the monster. Like Spider-Man, Ultraman Leo only wins on the rebound. 

You see, Ultraman Leo is the first Ultraman thus far to not actually be a “true” Ultraman assigned to earth from the Planet of Light.  He’s a young guy (the youngest looking Ultraman thus far, significantly) from the Constellation Leo who is still learning how to fight monsters, and his status as an Ultra is a courtesy and not official. His youth is a part of who he is, it means he’s got a lot to learn. So for that reason, the second major person in the cast is Dan Moroboshi, Ultraseven himself. Robbed of his Ultraseven powers by an injury, he devotes himself to showing this non-ultra-kid the ropes, how to pull off the sleek move and cool technique that wins the day. In other words, Ultraseven is the new kid’s Kung Fu master, stern, emotionally distant, and authoritarian, but kindly and fatherly when he lets the mask crack a little. This is the first time a previous Ultraman was a permanent member of the cast of a later show. And it’s no coincidence it’s Ultraseven, who even in the 70s, had a reputation as being the best of the Ultraman shows, and certainly the one with the most credibility. Who else but Ultraseven, then, to serve the role of Kung Fu Master, ? 

It’s kind of stunning how any major screencap of training from this series looks like it’s from a Chiba-style action series (like his excellent Shadow Warrior), instead of a show about a superhero wrestling rubber dinosaurs. It looks like a martial arts action series because it is one.

Ultraman had always had some martial arts in its DNA from the beginning. He is, after all, best known for a trademark cross-arm karate stance (one that you probably have done yourself and will probably do right after reading this, now that I’ve put the idea into your head). The first actor to ever portray him in the silver suit, way back in 1967, was a well known Judoka, and for that reason, Ultraman fought differently from every other superhero, with judo over shoulder throws and ground grapples. Nevertheless, Ultraman Leo is unique for being entirely a martial arts series centered on training and self-mastery, and it doesn’t often get credit for this. 

Ultraman Leo, like nearly all the Ultraman shows, is on Tubi for streaming. 

[During a party.]

Leo, to Zero and Akari: Uh-oh, You two might want to hide.

Zero: Why?

[before Leo could say anything a drunk Seven approaches from behind and gets both his kids into a hug.]

Zero: Hey-

Akari: What the fu-

Seven, sobbing: AWW, LOOOK! IT'S MY BABIES!!!~

Zero: Dad, what the hell?

Akari: Lemme go old man!

(Seven then sees Taro walking by.)

Seven: *Gasp* HOLY CRAP. TARO, EY! TARO! LOOOK AT THESE, I MADE THEM!~

(He squeezes an embarrassed Zero and Akari closer to him as they try to escape.)

Taro: WHOA, AWESOME! i-I MADE THIS! *Holds up a mortified Taiga like he's Simba.*

Seven: Oh!

Taiga, trying to hide his face: Please stop....

Twelve ultras strike poses on the stage of the countdown party hosted by Bilibili...

Zett seemed ecstatic as he was holding his master while the latter felt so embarassed lmao😂

a group photoshoot

thank you tsupro for giving me Normal Feelings yet again-

Leo took every opportunity with his fancy cape to remind the other Ultras that he had been a prince on his planet.

Sevenger

✨

Sevenger.