DEATH BALUN
I’m obligated to like Death Balun since he’s a tribute to Astromons, one of my all time favorite kaiju, but he’s also got some other fun stuff going on in his episode that makes him a very worthy kaiju in my eyes.
You see, unlike his live-action cousin, Death Balun feeds off of human beings, keeping them in a secret, underground ruin where they’re subjected to a hallucinogenic pollen until Balun needs a snack! It’s fairly horrific concept for a kaiju with a big flower on his belly.
The design by Kurei is a solid one, and while it is essentially just Astromons again, he gives Death Balun some fun features to his character design, such as his huge head of hair (originally intended to cover the monster’s entire body until it was simplified for animation purposes). But my favorite design aspect is how is tail is formed from the flower’s roots growing on his back. Is he perhaps just the hapless, parasitized host for the flower?
GIBARUGA
A massive starfish monster, Gibaruga claims to the be the mind of the Earth itself, and threatens humanity with devastating seismic activity unless they leave the planet. Gibaruga’s another one of those guys whose design always stuck with me, but him being sentient and claiming to be the planet’s own consciousness really helps this guy be memorable. While we’d later see the concept of the Earth being alive in Ultraman: Towards the Future, Gibaruga is lying here, which makes him more interesting in my opinion than if he was telling the truth. There’s a giant, evil starfish living in the planet’s core and he wants us evicted. What a fun concept.
Gibaruga’s another design by Kurei, being a well-realized upright starfish monster with a large seashell on his back, giving him a very primeval feel. Kurei’s initial design didn’t give the monster eyes, something I am glad was added to the final iteration, as it adds to much to his personality.
BALADON AND THE REVIVED MONSTERS
The Baladon here are a race of goblin-esque aliens that seek to conquer the world with an army of revived kaiju! I really like how these guys look, with their skull-like faces and short statures, they are immediately memorable and likable. It really helps that while they’re a challenge for the heroes, they have some goofy personalities, making them great villains and honestly, I wish they returned in the show.
The first revived monster we’re gonna look at is Red King! Nothing super different about him, but he’s a real nice depiction of the character.
And returning from the original show along with Red King is…Aboras? No complaints here as Aboras is one of my favorite kaiju, but he’s certainly an interesting choice to bring back. That being said, Aboras is looking fairly different compared to his original incarnation, with a green hue to his skin, a more proper dinosaur body type, the Red King ridges being on his back only, and two large spikes on his back. He’s not as cool as the original or the one seen in Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero, but I still dig him.
And with Aboras back, Banila can’t be too far behind. Banila looks pretty good here, albeit I wish this incarnation kept the original’s uglier face.
The Baladon aliens also revive some Return of Ultraman kaiju. Arstron here feels like a logical choice, albeit Ghostron is one I find a tad perplexing. That being said, it’s nice to see those two again, and I love how each of them has those cool dark spots along their body.
Now, Gokinezula is a choice I welcome, but find just about as strange since of this lot of kaiju, he’s probably the most obscure choice. He’s sadly not as visiually interesting as the ROU original, but I love seeing his ugly mug again. It’s unseen in this picture, but he does gain a new, mace-like tail.
While Red King was always planned to show up as early as episode 1, I think it’s interesting how he got thrown into a big monster mash. I’m not too sure of what prompted the inclusion of the other characters in this episode, but I’ve heard rumors that Sunrise had gotten the rights to these specific monsters and decided just to use them in one episode. I am not sure how true that is, but it make some sense, albeit it still prompts further questions why they chose guys like Gokinezula and Ghostron. Were they just that cheap to license?
DABARAN
Alright, we’ve seen some bizarre monsters over the course of our journey through the Ultra series, but this is one that I personally find extremely baffling.
It all starts simply enough, with the Science Defense Garrison having to deal with an elephantine kaiju. As I’ve stated earlier, I’m a big fan of pachyderm kaiju, and I love how this guy looks like an elephant in the vaguest sense as opposed to being just a big elephant.
Then, a pterosaur monster arrives! Again, fairly pedestrian stuff, though the design hits the simple, yet effective spot really well. But, this isn’t your average multi-monster story, oh no, this is something else entirely…
You see, those two kaiju are actually in reality, one monster, Dabaran, who is manifests when those two fuse with each other! What the hell?! We’re never given an explanation of what this thing is or the logistics behind the monster, which just adds to the strangeness. I love it. Dabaran is just a masterpiece in terms of how bizarre these guys can get.
JAGON
Yet another race of evil, dogmatic aliens, the Jadan here are a pretty cool reptilian race of aliens. I like their short snouts and long-lobed ears which really give off the impression of a cold and ruthless group of invaders. We don’t see very many reptilian aliens in the series and while we’ve seen a few here in the anime I’m glad they were able to make some unique ones to stand out from guys like the Badel.
The Jadan’s plan features two of their members transforming into the monster Jagon. Their plan here is actually quite effective, having Jagon attack Osaka, while their mothership attacks Tokyo, fully intending to exhaust Jonias, and they almost succeed until some of Jonias’s comrades from U40 help even the odds.
In terms of design, Jagon is no King Ghidorah, but he’s a cool dragon kaiju. I really like his sucker mouths and those two hooks on his chest!
SKELLDON
A skeleton kaiju, Skelldon is reawakened after his bones are uncovered in Japan. Unlike fellow boneheads Seabozu and Stegon, Skelldon is a malicious monster. While I think I prefer his predecessors a bit more, I think it’s cool we finally got a skeleton kaiju that’s an actual skeleton, something that could only be created through animation.
GALBADOS
Galbados here is another creation of the Badel aliens, following Amia, Jonias’s sister, to Earth. While I wish Galbados followed the same sort of reptile theme as the other Badel monsters, he’s a pretty good looking kaiju, looking like a kaiju version of a cameroceras. His shell can even rotate and be used like a drill, which is rad as hell.
BABILAR AND MEGASAURA
The Babilar are a race of tengu-like aliens who are seeking a missing component from their robot Megasaura, which they need to conquer the Earth with. Gotta say, of the alien invaders so far, they’re my favorites. They’re not too complex of a design, but winged humanoids of this caliber would be something incredibly hard for tokusatu shows at the time to convincingly pull off.
Their mecha, Megasaura, is a fine mechanical monster, albeit it feels more akin to a vehicle rather than a monster, but it is a nice little change of pace from what the show usually throws at us. I could totally see this guy working as a huge toy.
GAMIBA
Starting off as a group of strange, mollusk critters, the Gamiba’s feeding habits cause all sorts of seismic disturbances, forcing the Science Defense Garrison to step in. I really like the look of the smaller Gamibas, they feel appropriately slimy and I like how they appear to have a bulbous nose on the front of their faces.
And as you’d expect in an episode like this, the smaller Gamibas soon coalesce into a larger individual. While it’s expected that these sorts of monsters made up of little monsters, I wish the larger Gamiba shared more similarities with his smaller brethren, as I feel this design just is somewhat generic compared to what the show has given us so far.
INVED AND THE MONSTER ASYLUM
A race of ruthless space pirates, the Inved steal U40’s high tech monster asylum planet and steer it towards Earth, intending to use it’s prisoners as the vanguard for their invasion forces. While this two parter is full of suspense, it feels a tad generic. The Inved themselves don’t feel too special and personally, I think I would’ve preferred the Badel or the Baladon returning as the antagonists in this episode.
Much like the Baladon episode, this one is literally crawling with kaiju, and I’m gonna take a look at every single one of them.
First one we’ll take a look at is Godrian, who has a bit more of a role in the episode as he actually does fight Jonias one-on-one. He’s a serviceable bat monster, and I like his webbed frill around his neck.
Jinaro also manages to get some major screen time in the episode when he rampages on Earth. He’s your run-of-the-mill saurian monster, but there’s a lot of cool stuff to him like his compound eyes and his color scheme coupled with his skin texture brings to mind earthenware pottery.
Groteng feels like he was inspired by Hipporit from Ultraman Ace. It’s not a bad design, but I feel like the lack of detail on it keeps me from liking it as much as I should.
Plazoon here feels a bit more of a stand out creature, thanks to his single compound eye, the weird nozzles on the sides of his face, and the Xenomorph-esque arms.
Agujon’s a bit more pedestrian compared to some of the freaks in this episode, but I like him a lot. I think it’s the weird spherical head he’s got that just makes him really memorable in an episode loaded with kaiju.
With a name like Deathpower, you’d expect this hulking lizard kaiju to be a bigger deal in this episode, but he’s mainly here to mug for the camera. A shame he’s wasted.
Zuma here has a cool looking spiky head, but he’s just another face in the crowd here.
Gurol is another kaiju that only exists to be a generic roaring monster, but he’s one of the better ones. I actually quite like the look of this guy and could easily see him on a show like Return of Ultraman or Fireman. Too bad he’s stuck here.
As these kaiju go on, I feel like this episode’s creature designer, Masahiko Watanabe, is really running out of steam, and Putgolia is where it’s really becoming apparent. Putgolia is just a big dinosaur, albeit the coloration and spines really remind me of the 1978 Hanna-Barbera incarnation of Godzilla.
Our last kaiju, Iddunus, is the most minor character of all these forgettable kaiju footnotes, just being your average, everyday dinosaur monster. Nothing of note or mention, aside from the fact that he has literal seconds of screentime.
DARANTULAS
Darantulas here is a giant, flying, ice-spewing tarantula. Born from an experiment by the inhabitants of the planet Cygnus 82 to find a way to regulate the desert conditions of their home world, Darantulas destroyed Cygnus 82 and ends up on Earth trying to kill the last survivor of that frozen world.
A flying spider monster with freezing powers is a wonderfully bonkers concept, and the sort of thing that one would find in a 50’s b-movie. This is a compliment to the guy, as I always felt some of the more entertaining Ultraman monster concepts were creatures that felt like they could carry their own movie. Darantulas feels both appropriately creepy-crawly, and the cool colors he has help with the freezing theme. All in all, a cool kaiju (pun intended).
Easter's Kaiju Kompendium 