Ultraman Manga: Chapter Thirteen Review

Here we are with Chapter Thirteen of the Ultraman Manga. The previous installment took a break from the action to focus on Officer Endo and his partner. At the end we saw our hero come crashing down onto Rena's car. The antagonist right now is this Alien that looks strangely like Baltan. Why you ask? It turns out this guy is a Baltan mutation, rejected by his own species. So he is a Baltan, just not fully. Sadly it doesn't look like that'll be revealed in-story, you have to actually purchase Volume 2 or for those that don't understand Japanese check out the wiki. With that aside, we can talk about the chapter now. It has plenty of manga melodrama, but features some of the best writing the story has seen. Alien Not-Baltan (his real name is Alien Adacic) with this chapter is proving to be the book's best antagonist, right up there with Bemular.

So we have Alien Adacic questioning Shinjiro of who he really is. Shin is taken off guard by the alien's words and starts to wonder if he can really be Ultraman. It takes some kind words from Rena to get him back in action. The stage is set for another epic battle. Alien Adacic has the best lines by far. He shows Shin the destruction he has caused by following him. It's a great dynamic as he realizes the destruction caused with that and being slowly manipulated by the alien whom constantly refers to him as 'newbie.' Besides that it's the usual stuff you can expect, heavy drama of the main hero wondering if he's good enough, but after hearing the words of a girl realizes what needs to be done. Rena goes from awful fangirl to supporter. She's still pretty much the most generic female love interest I've ever seen in a manga, this chapter didn't help or destroy matters. I need to see what else she can do. The art is strong, there are quite a few scenes that make Alien Adacic look absolutely fantastic and a little deranged.

Overall, this is definitely a strong chapter. Alien Adacic has the best dialogue, I'm hoping he stays around for awhile. There isn't too much physical action, but that's okay since there's plenty of mental action. Rena still isn't anything special. The main thing accomplished is Shin realizing that he is Ultraman. The next chapter should be another 'epic' one.

4/5