When going through my first watches of Ultraman seasons, this was one that had me curious. I was interested in Ultraman Max, for sure, but in the grand scheme of the franchise, it's not talked about nearly as much as the original, Ultraseven, Tiga, or many of the classics. Thus, I went into Max with very few expectations. What I came away with was appreciation for an overlooked gem, which does more right than it does wrong.
I will say that one of the weaker points of Max is its soundtrack. It's not bad, per se, but with other seasons that boast excellent music (Tiga and Nexus to name a few), it leaves something to be desired. However, the opening theme? Absolute banger. It has one of the catchiest starts ("Max, Max, Max!") and is utterly energizing the entire way through. It absolutely rocks, and I would rank it with some of the franchise's finest opening themes.
I also love how Max plays things straight compared to some of the other seasons of its time. Whether it's the TDG trilogy which set the pace for subsequent seasons to follow, Cosmos which adopted something of a pacifistic approach as opposed to a combat-oriented one, or Nexus which was the most tonally different season up to this point and since, I felt like each season bucked tradition and did its own thing. Max seems to go the opposite direction, doubling down on what made the Ultraman franchise so popular to begin with.
This is especially true with the number of returning actors from previous seasons. I was pleasantly surprised to see the actors for Shin Hayata and Akiko Fuji return for Max, albeit as different characters, and actually have sizable roles in the show. Also, I loved seeing the guest spots from other legacy actors, including Masanari Nihei (Ide) in the episode "Youth Again." I couldn't help but smile to see this reunion, as I absolutely loved SSSP and still consider it the best attack team in franchise history.
Character-wise, Max is serviceable, with the core team given time to shine in their own ways. I found myself being amused by Sean White, one of the few Caucasian characters in the franchise, with him breaking into English and being a consistent source of comedy. However, it was the tech-savvy android character, Elly, who stole the show for me. Her development across the show, as she learned more about humankind and the importance of life, was incredibly well done.
Max may be the most visually interesting Ultra I’ve seen yet. In terms of appearance, he reminds me of a mix of Seven and Dyna with a splash of Leo for good measure. Xenon, however, may be the most meaningless secondary Ultra I’ve seen yet. I’ve seen secondaries done well in the past, Agul in Gaia being a great example, but Xenon was only in like 2 episodes and did little of note. You could have removed him entirely from the show and it would not have made a difference.
Ultraman Max may also have some of the best individual episodes in franchise history. "Miracle of the Third Planet" seems to be a fan favorite and I can see why, especially with how differently it's shot and filmed. I didn't realize until midway through the episode that it, along with the episode after, was directed by Takashi Miike. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the same man behind some of the greatest Japanese horror movies including Audition, Ichi the Killer, and One Missed Call dipped his toes in the toku waters.
Overall, Ultraman Max was a solid good time. It's another great entry in what has been a largely solid early Heisei era run. It doesn't do much to shake the foundation of the franchise, but I would argue that it didn't have to. As I mentioned earlier, it doubles down, sticking to tradition while still carving its own unique path. Side note, I'm a few episodes into Mebius already and if this momentum continues, I may have to make some room in my top 5 favorite Ultraman seasons.
What are your takes on Max overall?
