
Movie review
June 14, 2024 · 117 min · PG · Kids · Sci-Fi · Animation · Action · Family
Ken Sato is a famous baseball player who leaves Los Angeles and returns to Tokyo when his father asks him to become Ultraman. Ken must fight giant monsters while caring for Emi, a baby kaiju whose mother he battled. The job forces Ken to face his anger toward his father, his grief over his mother's disappearance, and his own selfish habits. The film uses bright animation, monster battles, jokes, and a warm family story.
Ken's Japanese-American background shapes his return to Japan and his feeling that he does not fully belong there. The story treats that gap as a personal family problem, not as a speech about politics. The main message asks a proud male hero to value care, teamwork, and fatherhood as much as strength and fame. The film also asks viewers to see the kaiju as living creatures with families instead of simple enemies, while the defense force is driven by fear and revenge. These ideas guide Ken's growth, but they remain part of a broad story about empathy, family, and responsibility.
Community feedback
Was our 11% Woke rating accurate?
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Ultraman: Rising.
Woke representation / casting
Not present. The prominent voice cast is largely Japanese or Japanese American, and the story is set in Tokyo with a Japanese-American hero. The casting matches the setting and franchise instead of using a visible diversity pattern beyond the story.
0%
Woke political dialogue
Not present. The film has no repeated political speeches or activist slogans. Its talk about monsters, family, and defense work stays tied to the action and the characters.
0%
Identity-driven story themes
Ken is a Japanese-American hero who was born in Japan and raised in the United States. Ken feels like an outsider when he returns and struggles with Japanese baseball and his family role. The film treats belonging and ties between two cultures as part of his growth. These ideas support the main fatherhood story but do not become a wider political campaign.
18%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Not present. The Kaiju Defense Force uses weapons against monsters, but that conflict comes from the monster attacks and Dr. Onda’s personal revenge. Ken’s move from selfish star to caring father is a family lesson, not a broad attack on men, religion, family, or Western institutions.
0%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The film gives Ultraman a new fatherhood plot and makes Ken a baseball star in a new story. Those changes serve the family adventure and are not used to make an identity or political point.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
A few tiny X accounts called the film a “woke Western” or a “far-left western agenda-driven” product. Other small accounts repeated a question about watching it without “woke garbage,” while fan accounts said “chuds” had dismissed it as Netflix slop. The posts were scarce and often secondhand or mocked. No large right-leaning campaign, boycott, or review-bombing pattern appeared.
12%
Creator track record context
Not present. The cached record for the listed writers, producers, casting staff, and supervisors shows no high-confidence activist or identity-politics advocacy. The title interviews focus on parenting, empathy, craft, and Japanese-American casting rather than a political campaign.
0%
Production