Having watched this since age 5 it's pretty close to my heart and full of wonderful nostalgia, but all that aside, this release is a minor letdown. I know the company lost the rights due to a court battle and the DVD publisher will have to stop selling these at one point. It's probably just as well, since this release is nice, but has some agonizing flaws that bring it down, such as odd sound choices that made me guess "would it be the original Ultraman theme song that I've known and loved or will it be the less appealing (for me, anyway) Japanese version?". Additionally, those chose the original video from the Japanese opening titles-a bad choice IMHO. Also, the video playback is less than smooth, sort of like the reason I don't take cable or dish anymore, with frames that seem to have been removed and the actor often "clicks" along. Is it time compression? If so, I have to ask "why". I really hate that and it's distracting in the worst way. Now, this set certainly isn't a total loss. The show has really held up for this fan! I love these shows even at the ancient age of 41. The characters are terrific and give me a warm feeling every time I watch one. I enjoyed the extra interviews of the dubbing crew, even though the quality of the video on that was really really bad. WTF? Nice folks.

Now, this set replaces a bootleg I had and never enjoyed watching too much. I paid about 3 times more for the bootleg so overall I have to say I'm happy. But when this "official" set is replaced but another, better one I'll have no problem upgrading yet again for this show.

I remembered this show so I bought the DVD for my kids. They loved it.

Ultraman still ROCKS! In an effort to find better television programming for our kids we started looking for shows that we enjoyed as kids. With two boys and one girl Ultraman fit that bill. Yes, it can be cheezy to watch as an adult however, the kids LOVE it! Hiata is still the star and comes in to save the day! Having the first program is awesome because neither my husband nor I knew how Hiata had become Ultraman. The actual product we recieved was new and better than expected. My kids have said that there is an episode where part of the audio goes into Japanese and they couldn't understand it. I've watched most of the shows with them and haven't heard it myself. Another great benefit to ordering a series of a show like Ultraman is you can set it up with your family to view it on a certian night as if it really were a scheduled television show. Ultraman is a program we can enjoy together as a family and there aren't those irritating commericials to deal with! Enjoy! We are!

THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND
OUR NEED TO REACH FOR A SOCIETY THAT RESPECTS OUR DIFFERENCES
IN RELIGION,THE ARTS, AND A GOVERNMENT THAT WORKS FOR US AND NOT AGAINST US
PREVENTS A "COOKIE CUTTER", FOLLOW BLINDLY WITHOUT QUESTION, STATUS QUO
PERSPECTIVE IN FILM, ART,AND ARCHITECHURE.
ULTRAMAN REMINDED ME OF A TIME WHERE I DID NOT HATE ,OR FEAR ,BUT RESPECTED OTHER CULTURES AND IDEAS, I LOVED IT.
THANK YOU.

110% money well spent if you grew up on Ultraman and want to relive those memories or share with a new generation. Although not 100% simply due to dubbing/sound issues, I was not disappointed in my purchase. I've owned bootlegs throughout the years, this set BLOWS THEM AWAY! SHOO-WAT!!!