Ultraman Max (series)

Ultraman Max (ウルトラマンマックス) is the 18th installation in the Ultra Television Series, and started airing on 7 July 2005. After the darker series Ultraman Nexus, Tsuburaya featured a more traditional formula with weekly monsters and a lighter theme.

Many actors (and characters) from previous shows make cameos, most notably professor Yukari Yoshinaga and chief Kenzo Tomioka, who are played by the actors Hiroko Sakurai (Akiko Fuji) and Susumu Kurobe (Shin Hayata) from the original Ultraman. One episode (#29) revolves around the filming of the 1964 program Ultra Q the first entry in the Ultra series. Two actors from that show appear as themselves.

Max has a strong environmental message: most monster and alien attacks have something to do with the environment.

The tagline is ''Strongest! Fastest!! Max Power! Max Speed!! (最強! 最速!! Max Power! Max Speed!!)''

Series overview
Although certain monsters from the previous Ultra Series appear here in this series, the characters do not actually recognize them. This series does not have any direct continuity to any of the other Ultra Series (except episode 24: "The Untargeted Town" which seems to be a sequel to the Ultra Seven series episode 8: "The Targeted Town").

Just like his predecessors, Ultraman Max is from Nebula M78 and is supported by DASH (Defense Action Squad Heroes), a branch of the UDF (United Defense Federation). His human host is Touma Kaito. He bears many resemblances to Ultraseven, such as his armor and his eye-slugger. His superior, Ultraman Xenon, appears in episodes 13 and 38.

Team DASH is stationed in a harbor and their base is called the Base Titan. They have a main airplane called the Dash Mother which releases two other small planes known as Dash Bird 1 and 2. A third plane called the Dash Bird 3 appears in episode 23.

Team DASH also has an android operator, named Elly, who learns a bit about human behavior in some episodes. She also has a small ball shaped robot called Koko which makes a high pitched sound to respond to queries.

This series is notible for it's attack team containing both an android member, and, for the first time, a foreigner. (The latter would carry on to later series such as Ultraman Mebius.)

Defense Action Squad Heroes (DASH)

 * Captain Shigeru Hijikata: The team leader of DASH.
 * Kenjiro Koba: The marksman and sharpshooter of DASH.
 * Mizuki Koishikawa: The ace pilot and token female member. She is Kaito/Ultraman Max's love interest.
 * Sean White: The team inventor/scientist/joker. He was transported from DASH North America branch.
 * Elly: The robot operator (android) of DASH. She learns human behavior and once wished to become a human. She even cried in Episode 16 and in the final episode. During the series she shows a growing interest in Kenjiro Koba, even admitting at a certain point during the series that she likes him. She also has a steam when gets mad.
 * Kaito Touma/Ultraman Max: The team's latest recruit. After he lost his parents during an earthquake while he was traveling, he resolved to do his best to protect others, so that no one would experience the loss he did. In order to do this he tried joining DASH, but failed the test the first time. He was saved by Ultraman Max from a certain death and was given the Max Spark, so that he could transform whenever needs arose.

Supporting characters

 * Chief Kenzo Tomioka: A UDF general, the supervisor of DASH.
 * Professor Yukari Yoshinaga.
 * Ultraman Xenon (ウルトラマンゼノン): He appears once to help Ultraman Max when he is in danger and is also the one that gives Ultraman Max the Max Galaxy.

Super Battle Special
After the broadcast of Ultraman Max, an eight minute special was released on DVD. This special was a five minute clip show giving a review of Ultraman Max's back story and primary attacks up until Ultraman Xenon gives him the Max Galaxy. After the clip show, the monster Red King attacks Max with Zetton shortly joining in. The special ends with Max defeating both of them.

Cast

 * Kaito Touma (トウマ・カイト): Sōta Aoyama (青山 草太)
 * Shigeru Hijikata (ヒジカタ・シゲル): Kai Shishido (宍戸 開)
 * Mizuki Koishikawa (コイシカワ・ミズキ): Hitomi Hasebe (長谷部 瞳)
 * Kenjiro Koba (コバ・ケンジロウ): Nobuyuki Ogawa (小川 信行)
 * Sean White (ショーン・ホワイト): Sean Nichols (ショーン・ニコルス)
 * Elly (エリー): Hikari Mitsushima (満島 ひかり)
 * Kenzo Tomioka (トミオカ・ケンゾウ): Susumu Kurobe (黒部 進)
 * Yukari Yoshinaga (ヨシナガ・ユカリ): Hiroko Sakurai (桜井 浩子)
 * Ultraman Max (voice) (ウルトラマンマックス（声）): Kazuya Nakai (中井 和哉)
 * Narration (ナレーション): Shirō Sano (佐野 史郎)

Songs
Ending theme: "NO LIMITED"
 * Opening theme
 * "Ultraman Max" (ウルトラマンマックス)
 * Lyrics: Neko Oikawa (及川 眠子)
 * Composition & Arrangement: Yasuharu Takanashi (高梨 康治)
 * Artist: TEAM DASH with Project DMM

Fight theme: "DASH Alpha"

Cameo

 * Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy (2009), Max along with Xenon help the M78 Ultra Warriors to fight against the evil Ultraman Belial.

Trivia

 * Max's opening credits, the hero and some kaiju silhouetted on moving multicolored lights, are a tribute to Ultraman 80, which used a similar opening.
 * Multiple Showa actors, including Ryu Manatsu and Kohji Moritsugu make cameos in episodes.
 * In one episode the scene where Kaito and an alien were having a conversation about the alien's past with ancient Earth shows a village. This is the same village from Ultraman Tiga Gaiden: Revival of the Ancient Giant, the footage had just been updated and a few new scenes were added.