Members of the GUYS team get sucked into the “Darknesphere”, an all-encompassing black hole where a villainous monster lives. Once inside, they learn that Ultraman Hikari has been overtaken by the creature and his energy is being used to power a living suit of evil armor. It’s then up to the GUYS team to join forces with Ultraman Mebius to save their friend.
This was originally a two-part special, and it’s easy to see why it fell under the “Side Story” heading as there isn’t quite enough meat here for a feature length flick. Still, it remains a rather straightforward adventure as the plot is to the point and the pacing moves at a reasonable rate. The fight scenes aren’t particularly grand (which is a given since this is essentially an overlong TV episode after all), but they have their moments and are all solid for the most part.
The titular villain does cut a striking image though. Looking like a suit of armor on steroids and wielding a giant lightning powered trident, he sure does give the Ultramen a run for their money. The final battle where Hikari and Mebius join forces to become one superpowered Ultraman is fun and together, they give Armored Darkness a pretty good butt kicking. I just wish he had a better vehicle for his talents than just a two-part TV show.
Unfortunately, the stuff with the GUYS team flying their spacecraft around isn’t nearly as engaging or memorable, but I did like the one scene with the downed ship that blatantly stole from The Empire Strikes Back. Overall, Ultraman Mebius Side Story: Armored Darkness is kind of slight and inessential. The flip side is that it gives you a quick Ultraman fix in half the usual time and delivers what you came to see (namely cool monsters getting the snot rocked out of them by Ultraman). Because of that, it’s hard to be too critical.
AKA: Ultraman Mebius Gaiden: Armored Darkness.
No comments:
Post a Comment