Ultraman Ace

~~DramaticHalfHour ActionSeries~~

Ultraman Ace was a tokusatsu show that aired from 1972 to 1973. It is the fifth installment in the Ultra Series.

Yapool, an interdemensional creature, seeks to take over the Earth with Choujuu, his monster experiments. Ultraman Ace goes to combat him not in one, but two guises: TAC officers Seiji Hokuto and Yuko Minami. Together, Seiji and Yuko (and later just Seiji) must combat Yapool's forces for the peace of the Earth.

Ultraman Ace contains examples of:

• Action Girl: Yuko
• All Your Powers Combined: Ace Killer absorbed the powers of all the crucified Ultras in Episodes 13 and 14 to defeat Ace. It didn't work.
• Badass Bystander: Hokuto and Minami started out as this, before they became Ace's hosts.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Ace losing limbs is one example of how this series was gorier than the previous
  • Or choujuus torn to pieces...Or people melting before your eyes...
• Bat Signal: The Ultra Sign, which is different for each Ultra Hero, allows Ace to call for help.
• By the Power of Grayskull: Or rather, "Ring Touch", "Ultra Touch", or something similar.
• Big Bad: Yapool
• The Bus Came Back: The Christmas episode, with two returning Ace characters. Rumiko, Jiro, and Goh from Return of Ultraman in Episode 10.
  • Yuko later returns in the sequel in one episode.
• But Now I Must Go: Yuko leaves for the moon after fighting Lunaticks, forcing to leave Seiji behind to transform into Ace without her.
• Commuting on a Bus: Zoffy, Ultraman, Ultraseven, and Ultraman Jack
• Critical Annoyance: The Color Timer, again.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Episode 13. Even Ace ended up in such a pose after fighting Barrabas to exhaustion.
• Evil Counterpart: Ace Killer
• Evil Doppelganger: Hideki Goh is impersonated by an alien in ep 10.
• Evil Knockoff: Ace Robot, which Ace Killer used for target practice.
• Fusion Dance: Ultraman Ace's first method of transforming.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Both human hosts would suffer the effects of Ace's injuries and energy depletion, Minami more so that Hokuto. Then, she had to leave Earth for good.
  • Minami's first name, Yuko.
• Groin Attack: Ace regularly does this to choujus, roughly once every 3 episodes. See here
• Henshin Hero
• Idiot Hero: Hokuto was perhaps the first instance of this in Ultra History...even in Ultraman Mebius he still showed signs of being the hothead of the Ultra hosts.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Among the familiar people that show up are Koutaro and Gen's girlfriend Momoko.
• Lighter and Softer
• Made of Phlebotinum: The Specium Missiles wielded by TAC's planes.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Hokuto = North Star
  • Minami = South, Yuh = Moon
  • Golgotha was the name of the planet where Ace Killer lured the Ultra Brothers in Episode 13, the same planet where all of them, except Ace, were crucified!
  • Barrabas was the name of Ace Killer's kaijuu.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Check out the Space Q in Episode 14, for example.
• Put on a Bus: Minami in Episode 28, Father of Ultra in Episode 27
• Recycled Soundtrack: From Ultra Seven, with some selections from Return of Ultraman.
• Retool: After Minami left, Hokuto became the sole human host for Ace, and the show became a bit Darker and Edgier.
• The Reveal: Minami is from the Moon
• Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer: Ace in the opening credits, which feature kaijuu from Return of Ultraman.
• Society Marches On: Part of the reason Minami was written out of the show was that 70s audiences couldn't handle a woman being an Ultra host: this finally changed by the late 90s.
• Transformation Trinket: The Ultra Rings.
• Transformation Sequence: Tsuburaya, in a direct attempt to compete with Kamen Rider's transformation sequences, featured Hokuto and Minami doing stunts such as leaping several feet into the air to transform.
• Up to Eleven: The Choujuu, beefed-up kaijuu created by the Yapool.
• Wonder Twin Powers: How Hokuto and Minami summon Ace, after each of their rings shines.

RING...TOUCH!