Just posted the 1st press release from Shout Factory about this set - looks like it will be a 6-disc box with all the episodes: http://bit.ly/S1Wm5Y
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I bought the Shout Factory DVD set and am glad I did. I'd never seen the show before now but had read about for years. Most of the episodes look fine. Some better than others but overall, it's more than acceptable. I get tired of reading subtitles but I guess English-dubbed wasn't an option. Still, the plots are much more adult-themed than ULTRA MAN was so they are sometimes more suspenseful. I was expecting pretty much ULTRA MAN in a different outfit but it's not. ULTRA 7 has it's own identity. A lot of people gripe about the fact that episode 12 is missing because it was banned in Japan as a result of protests from a Hiroshima survivors group. I've never seen it and probably never will and I don't care. One episode does not a series make and if losing one episode gets me the rest, then I'm still happy. Losing that one still leaves about 48 more. It's almost a month since I got this and I still have not seen all of them. I love this set and this show and am thankful that Shout Factory released this rare show in the U.S.
shareThe only English dubbed version of this was when it briefly aired on TNT back in the early '90s. It was horrendously bad and I'm glad Shout Factory didn't bother to include it. I only want to watch Japanese shows in their original language. Period. If you want to see the missing episode number 12, it's available on Youtube. My only minor qualm with the Shout Factory release is the dodgy quality of the DVD itself, though I can't blame them because the international rights to these shows have been caught up in litigation hell for decades. Shout weren't able to get quality HD masters from Tsuburaya Productions directly, so instead we get these poorer second or third generation versions, probably ripped from a DVD source. Oh well. Better than nothing I suppose. Ultraman just got restored and re-released on Blu-Ray in Japan last year. Wait for an eternity before that comes here.