Ultraman Dyna (1997)

History repeats. But… it changes for the better, little by little.

A sequel to Ultraman Tiga was always going to be an uphill battle and Ultraman Dyna was a struggle initially. Still, Dyna fought that battle hard, never giving up and winning me over by the journey's end. Yes, it's a bit of a step down in quality, probably not helped by the budget cuts in contrast to its predecessor, but that doesn't stop the series from giving it its all when it matters and ending on one of the most gut-punching, haunting and melancholic finales I've seen from any of the Ultra shows.

One of my major gripes with this series is its tone. Unlike Tiga, Dyna is more comedically focused, and that tone often undercuts any sense of tension or emotional beats. This frequently left me rather annoyed and disconnected in some of the more outrageous stories, but the series soon managed to find its way to getting the balance right and delivering the best of both. The lack of an overarching story for the majority of the series' runtime isn't necessarily a bad thing as there are some real standout episodes sprinkled throughout, it just lacks the drive to maintain the momentum in the sillier episodes which dominate the series.

My other gripe was with its main cast of characters, they aren't nearly as memorable as the Tiga gang, yet they all have clearly defined personalities and their headlining episodes allow them much more growth than initially expected but they still manage to feel undeveloped as a result. Asuka made for a fascinating watch as the series went on, starting as a real annoyance but pulling a massive 180 and becoming a true hero by the end. However, I don't think the reliance on the Tiga gang helped matters as they tend to crop up repeatedly throughout the series and steal the spotlight from our main team. Hell, Diago makes an appearance in the finale to inspire Asuka to keep fighting as he had done before.

I do have to applaud the production team and all their efforts on the series. The direction is usually great, the odd episode notwithstanding, I do wish we had more than one Akio Jissoji-directed episode. The model and suitmation effects are still up to the high standard of Tiga even if the CG is notably more frequent. While Tatsumi Yano delivers another fantastic score that rivals that of his work on Tiga.

Because I did it for Tiga, here are my favourite episodes from the series:
1. A New Shadow / Solar System Annihilation / Toward Tomorrow...
2. The Smile of Destruction
3. Bird of the Phantom Dream
4. Monster Drama
5. Tear of Churasa
6. The Snow of Venus
7. The 3000 Degree Heat Radiating Monster
8. The Time of Resolution
9. Captain Long-Legs
10. Soldier of Tsukuyo

I have my moans but Ultraman Dyna is still a fabulous show, it does struggle to escape the shadow of Tiga often falling back on it as a safety net, but the whole experience leaves you incredibly satisfied and notably saddened by the end. There's always hope among the darkness and Dyna provides the light even in the most dire of situations.

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