With Ultraman Blazar concluding earlier this year, the next entry in the long running Ultra Series has been revealed to be Ultraman Arc!
Hey all, Sean here again, and today, I finally cover the reveal I’ve been waiting for since the end of Blazar, the reveal of Ultraman Arc! We’ve got a lot to cover today, so, let’s begin.
Arc’s Central Figures
The director for this year’s entry in the Ultra Series is Takanori Tsujimoto, who has been directing episodes of various Ultraman shows since 2015’s Ultraman X. It will star actor Yuki Totsuka as Arc’s human host, Yuma Hize. Totsuka is the third Japanese-American actor to portray the human host/form of an Ultraman since Kane Kosugi as Kenichi Kai in Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero/Ultraman Powered and the late Jiro Dan as Hideki Gō in Return of Ultraman.
Our protagonist, Yuma Hize is a Kaiju Biologist and a rookie of the organization SKIP (Scientific Kaiju Investigation and Prevention center). Due to a traumatic incident in his childhood from a kaiju encounter he miraculously survived unscathed; he bonds with our titular Ultra’s true form to become Arc.
Now, we get to the titular Ultraman Arc. Initially a being of light named “Rution”, he bonds with Yuma and is granted a physical form based on a drawing Yuma did when he was a child of his “Ideal Hero”. His finisher is the “Arc Finalize”, which is a beam fired in a cross formation.
Personally, I love Arc’s design. I’ve always thought there is beauty in simplicity, that if all the right elements are there, you can create a design that is both iconic, yet appealing to look at. Although some fans initial reactions to Arc’s design reminded me of people’s reaction to Bakuage Sentai BoonBoomger, fans seem to be warming up to it.
Transformation and Arsenal
Now, we move along to Arc’s transformation items, the Arc Ariser and Arc Cube! By pressing the side then loading the Arc Cube into the Arc Ariser and rotating the side and top of the Arc Ariser, Yuma can transform into Ultraman Arc! These also came from drawing Yuma did when he was a child.
Lastly, among Arc’s arsenal are the Arc Eye Sword, a sword that can be summoned via his eyes and the “Arc Stone” on his forehead and the Solis and Luna Armour, two sets of armour, one based on the sun, the other, on the moon respectively. I’m excited to see how Arc will use them in combat.
Ultraman Arc is set to premiere on Saturday, July 6th at 9:00am JST. The rest of the cast, theme song and theme song artists have yet to be announced.
What do you think of our newest Ultra? Are you excited for Ultraman Arc? Let us now in the comments. For now, I’m Sean, signing off.
