My personal thoughts on all the Ultra shows I've finished:
Ultraman - This is a pretty fun show, albeit dated. Akio Jissoji and Hajime Tsuburaya easily directed the best episodes of the entire series. The wide variety of monsters, the colorful characters, and the entertaining fight sequences all add up towards a solid start to this franchise. The finale is rushed and very disappointing, but seeing Akihiko Hirata run around with a laser gun is a treat. That makes up for some of it.
Ultraman: Towards the Future - A surprisingly solid attempt at an Ultraman series from Australia. The show had enough guts to go with continuing story arcs even if the final battle with Gudis should have been in episodes 12 and 13, and not episodes 5 and 6. The suit design is stellar, the SPFX solid and the music score pretty kick-ass. The acting is a mixed bag, with some performances definitely outshining the rest of the cast. Cool stuff, definitely worth a look.
Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero - Fail. While I have to admit seeing Jeffrey Combs and Bill Mumy show up in Ultraman episodes tickled me pink, the rest of the show just sucks. The SPFX are lazy, the fight sequences clunky and anti-climactic, and the writing ranges from decent to flat-out boring. Some actors are trying, but others in here are very clearly bored and waiting for their paychecks. The music score is nice, especially since Toshihiko Sahashi sneaked some of these tunes (or similar sounding ones) into future scores like Full Metal Panic! and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. But yeah, no wonder this never aired.
Ultraman Nexus - Awesome, awesome, AWESOME show. I loved the characters, I loved the story, I loved the action, I loved the SPFX, I loved the soundtrack, I loved the suit design, so on and so on. I LOVED this show. The ending's rushed, but it accomplishes more in one episode than several Heisei Kamen Riders have failed to accomplish in five. Watch it.
Ultraman Mebius - I liked this show a lot too. It just SCREAMED of fun. The numerous Ultra-references were pleasing, the fight scenes were exciting, the characters were three-dimensional, and at times it was hysterical. I had a blast watching this show, and I kinda wish the GUYS crew would reunite someday.
Ultraseven X - Now, this is a show that took some getting warmed up to. At first, the dystopic setting threw me off and I found it to be nothing more than a Matrix or 1984 wannabe. But there's some really good acting in this show, and several of the episodic stories were well written and executed. The big reveal of the hero at the end was a great treat for the fans, and its ending didn't suck like I figured it would. In other words, I simply had to be patient with this one.
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