On the last Retrospective Review of Ultraman Decker, we saw how the series got off to a great start. Will it hold up during the next batch of episodes?
In this edition of The Retrospective Review, we continue on our journey through 2022’s Ultraman Decker. After starting last time with the first three episodes, we will dive into the next batch of three here.
RELATED: The Retrospective Review: Looking Back at Ultraman Decker Episodes 1-3
Episode 4: “The Destructive Monster Awakens”
This episode sees the team investigating a strange capsule that was found at a old forgotten hot spring during some construction work. Shortly after they start investigating, Mon-Ahgar appears and starts rampaging. During the fight, it ends up coming down to combining the two GUTS aircrafts into the GUTS-Gryphon to score the critical blow on Mon-Ahgar and save the day.
This was a very enjoyable episode. The small appearance from Bemular during the opening scenes simulation was fun; Decker reinvigorating the hot spring geyser is a nice touch and i liked the townspeople’s reaction to Decker at the end of the episode, taking pictures of him thinking about some way to use this for publicity. This is a very believable reaction someone would have in a world already familiar with monster attacks and Ultras.
My favourite thing about the episode is the reveal about the capsule – that Mon-Ahgar is a mail order monster born to wipe out advanced civilisations and has been waiting for human civilisation to advance enough to activate all as a tech demonstration for new potential buyers. I really like this concept. Firstly, it comes with a built in justification for suit reuse and making variations, which is always fun, but also Kanata’s reaction to the reveal was very fun.
Episode 5: “The Glutton of The Lake”
This episode is our Ichika focused episode. When Elly the Eleking starts appearing in the city absorbing energy, Ichika encounters an alien Pitt named Yuko. After Ichika gets knocked out, Yuko takes her back to her apartment, gives her medical attention and tells her all about how she crashed on Earth with her pet. Before she could be rescued, the Spheres became involved and cut earth off from the rest of the universe. Touched by her story but unsure how the TPU will react, Ichika decides to steal a TPU emergency battery that’s strong enough to power a town for up to three days and use that to feed Elly so she doesn’t need to wander the town for food. She was caught immediately. After explaining everything to the team the Captain decides to go with Ichika’s plan, despite not being able to consult his vice captain. The plan ends up going wrong and overcharging Eleking. During the ensuing fight, Kanata unlocks Decker’s Miracle Form and uses its powers to redirect Elly’s energy into the atmosphere, shrinking Elly back to her baby form. Closing the episode out, we see Yuko and Ichika watching TPU made instructional videos on how to feed Elly without her growing giant.
I loved this episode. Most all all I loved the clear parallels between Ichika and Yuko, Ichika really showing off her compassionate headstrong nature, the way this episode recontextualises Eleking (one of my personal favourite Ultraman aliens) into being more like a puppy and, of course, I can’t leave out the actual footage of a real Shiba Inu that was shown when Ichika was talking about her old dog that she, much like Yuko, overfeeds. If I have any complaints about this episode, it’s that during the night time fight it was hard to see the new Decker form. Sure, it made all of the energy effects really pop but this was the forms debut episode and it was hard to see the details of the form outside of the transformation sequence. I will say, though, that this makes me very excited for the next episode and a chance to see Miracle in action during the light of day.
Episode 6: “Subterranean Monster Appears! And Appears!”
This episode is our Ryumon focused episode. The subterranean monster Pagos appears and starts destroying buildings, seemingly looking for something. While investigating a possible lead, Pagos reappears and Ryumon is injured. When trying to cheer him up, after the fact, Ryumon tells Kanata that he’s such a perfectionist because their job is saving lives and so they cant afford to make mistakes. After filling the team in with the information he observed – that Pagos was after energy tanks full of new energy made with material found in the subterranean monster habitat – Ryumon is send forth in the GUTS-Falcon to investigate the monsters nest under the local park. Just as he does this, Pagos reappears. During the battle, Decker is caught up by a second subterranean monster, Gudon, who’s quickly joined by Telesdon and a whole colony of Twin Tails. The tide of battle is quickly turned when Ryumon shoots one of the monsters with a tracking shot, which lets the captains in the Nursedessei know where to aim their battle mode’s big beam attack. This takes out one of the monsters and the colony of Twin Tails as Decker deals with another by summoning Agira for the first time. Agira handles business with a charged horn attack, leaving only Gudon, who is dispatched by Decker switching to Miracle Type. Using his newest form, Decker portals the remaining kaiju up to the surface and shoots them with a big ball of energy.
I know I say something to this effect after every recap but this episode was exactly what I was hoping for. With the breadcrumbs we had been given for Ryumon’s perfectionism and ending the episode with another Ryumon and Kanata scene where he explains it was a TPU member that saved him when he was little, in addition to reiterating his philosophy that “as long as our job is to save lives, we can’t afford to be anything less than perfect” is just great stuff. Someone like Ryumon has shown up in countless medical dramas and shows about emergency workers so he’s a realistic, well written character, especially for Ultraman. This episode’s battle was another highlight with the very well realised underground cavern and constantly rising stakes as more and more monsters show up to take a swing at Decker.
Conclusion
To reference the question that kicked off this Retrospective Review – will Decker hold up during the next batch of episodes – I think it’s safe to say that, by my glowing praise of these three episodes, I think the answer is they hold up just as well as the first three. The two focus episodes flesh out Ichika and Ryumon’s characters really well. The ‘firsts’ have been consistently great and I am very much looking forward to the next set of episodes. We should be about to get our first two parter and hopefully I’ll be singing its praises like I have for the last two reviews.
If you would like to watch long with me, the next review will be covering episodes 7-10. You can find the series ad free over on Ultraman Connection or with ads over on YouTube. Until the next Retrospective Review, this has been Ethan, writer and reviewer for The Toku Source.
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