Greetings, Ultras! Ethan and Sean, The Toku Source’s number one Ultra pair are back! With a Zetton of things to cover, no time to be sleeping on the job! It’s time to run, reader!
Recap
Ultraman Arc’s third episode opens with a flashback of Yuma dreaming about a giant of light and a humanoid kaiju falling to Earth. He’s woken up by a voice, belonging to his grandmother, who brings him and herself breakfast. We then see some pictures of a young Yuma and his parents, as his grandmother gives Yuma his old sketchbook, showing the drawing of “The Ultimate Hero”.
We then see Yuma at SKIP Hoshimoto Branch, as he learns which component of YouPi is which. As he’s introduced to Natsume and Hiroshi, it’s cut short as the SKIP Kaiju Hotline receives a call. Yuma and Natsume investigate. The civilian who reported the issue shows them what he saw: a strange anomaly in the sky. Yuma scans it but it comes up with no matching Kaiju data. Yuma questions whether it’s just a natural occurrence, causing Natsume to remind him of the basics. As they begin their observation, we briefly cut to Yuma’s grandmother. Hiroshi then arrives for an update but Natsume confirms there’s been zero change and Hiroshi adds that YouPi is analysing it.
Hiroshi, like Yuma, says that he hopes it’s just a natural phenomenon. Yuma’s stomach growls and so Hiroshi tells him and Natsume to take a break while he keeps watch. Yuma and Natsume talk over lunch, with it being mentioned that it’s been 16 years since “K-Day.” Natsume asks Yuma if he was someone affected by the Monogelos incident. We then get a flashback to Yuma’s childhood; he’s camping with his family when a Kaiju and a Giant of Light fall from the sky and fight with each other. The Giant, seeing the three, tries to protect them. Unfortunately, this is in vain, as Yuma sees his parents trapped under rubble. His father tells him that it’s “Time to run, Yuma!”
We cut back to present day, as Yuma repeats what his father told him, he tells Natsume that they found him in rubble three days later and the fact he survived was a miracle.
Yuma concludes that the Giant of Light saved him but, since there were no other witnesses and he was just a kid, nobody believed him. Natsume then says if the same thing had happened to her that Yuma went through, she wouldn’t be working at SKIP. However, Yuma adds that he knows he’s not the only one suffering so he wants to run forward to protect other’s futures. Just then, Natsume gets a call and she and Yuma return to the site of the anomaly. It turns into a portal and a Kaiju, Digelos, emerges. Yuma starts to have a panic attack, as he remembers Monogelos. Digelos starts to walk through the city, seeing the Monohorn, it resonates with it, causing a sharp buzzing sound. Digelos then fires a beam that levels parts of the city, as SKIP helps with evacuations. Yuma then realises the kindergarten where his grandmother volunteers is where the Kaiju is and he goes running to help.
As the GDF try to combat Digelos, Yuma arrives outside the kindergarten. As a piece of the building is broken off by the Kaiju’s beam, Yuma falls in front of a puddle, where he hears a voice, and sees the Giant of Light. The Giant pulls him into a mirror world and gives him the Arc Ariser and Arc Cube, telling him that Yuma’s thoughts are his power and that he must unleash his imagination. Yuma wakes up to find that he has the items the Giant of Light gave him and, with no hesitation, he unites with the Giant, and becomes Ultraman Arc for the first time.
Arc fights against Monogelos, as the children in the kindergarten cheer him on. Some civilians film the fight on their phones and a news report plays on a TV. We then get footage from a car dashcam and a security camera. Arc fires the “Arc Finalize” for the first time and, as The Giant repeats “Unleash your imagination” again, Arc uses the beam as a whip, as it stabs through Digelos, ending the threat.
Yuma runs to the Kindergarten to see that his grandmother is safe and okay. He is woken abruptly after his grandmother pulls out a microphone and talks like a news anchor, mimicing a new news report about the Leodo incident is playing on the TV in his room. We’re back to the proper present day. Yuma stands up and looks at his childhood drawing of “The Ultimate Hero.” Turning the page to “Transformation Items,” they look exactly like the Arc Ariser and Arc Cube. Yuma turns to two more pages, showing two sets of armour labelled “Power of the Sun” and “Power of the Moon.” Yuma then promises his parents that with his power, he’ll push on and run forward.
The episode ends with Yuma meeting up with Shu Ishido on the walk to work. They discuss Ultraman Arc and how Hoshimoto City is no stranger to the unknown. Shu declares that if they are going to figure things out, they’ll need one thing… high quality coffee beans!
News and the Ultra Theory Corner
Thanks to Sean for taking care of this week’s recap; now it’s time for the debut of a new occasional section on our reviews! If you have read any of Ethan’s Kamen Rider content or news articles or really anything else I’ve written about, you know I’m someone that is prone to theorise and speculate. This will be the section of Shuwatch to Watch where I do just that, but also cover any news that either of us think is interesting but couldn’t fit into a whole article. Of course, I’ll make it clear when I’m theory mode, I wouldn’t want to confuse anyone.
The first piece of news comes from Ultra Heroes EXPO 2024, which opened its doors on the 19th of July. At the exhibition, a third armour for Ultraman Arc was revealed. Whether this from will show up in the main series remains unknown but the following info was shared by an attendee online:
Satur Armor is the third set of armour in the image of Saturn. Like the rings of Saturn, plus the shape of gold, it makes an attack that can freeze the opponent. The suit will be active during the Ultra Summer Live Stage Stage (STAGE2) from August 7th-26th.
But what do I think? Other than it looks really cool, there’s high odds of this being a stage show form meaning it will likely be in the movie/future crossovers. Like Ultraman X before him, armours like this are easier to make and swap into than full forms. Not to mention, while this seems more like a transition series following Blazar, they are clearly doing what they can to keep being just as creative and keep things fresh. I guess what I’m saying is, it’s just as likely to show up in the main series than not and I personally don’t believe this armour will stay stage show exclusive. Gotta get that money’s worth.
Extra Lore and Fun Facts
Today’s first piece of extra lore… We saw what appeared to be a skeleton on the back of the kaiju of the week, Digelos, the Galactic Beast! The skeleton bore resemblance to the Skull Monster, Red King, a Kaiju native to Earth. What could this mean? We’ll have to wait and see!
Secondly, this lore involves the Giant of Light, Rution (as outside media has named him), and his connection to Yuma. Routine seemed to have based his physical form, as well as the Arc Ariser and Arc Cube on drawing made by a 7 year old, Yuma. The line that he and Yuma are one in the same, while not traditionally showing himself becoming a part of Yuma, adds to the mystery.
Ethan’s Thoughts
Wow, another great episode in the bag. I really loved how it ties into the opening fight from episode one. The origins of Yuma’s catchphrase being the last thing his dad said to him before passing hit me harder than expected, despite theorising to myself that might be the case. This is a testament to how well executed that scene was.
I really wasn’t expecting the guest appearance of the Mirror World from Kamen Rider Ryuki but, jokes aside, them meeting and Yuma’s first transformation was great. I really loved the detail of him checking his appearance in the building during the fight.
From subtler details like them keeping Yuma’s grandmother out of the first few episodes so we don’t know whether she would live or die in this one, to the end reveal as Yuma flicked through his old sketchbook that, as well as designing Arc’s physical form, li’l Yuma also designed the two armours we see in the opening, and the transformation gear. That explains perfectly why Yuma knew how to work that Rubix cube without any instruction! All in all, even without the two very cool beetle-esque kaiju for me to enjoy and gush about (Zetton is one of my personal favourite kaiju), this was a great episode!
I can’t wait to see what’s next!
Sean’s Thoughts
I absolutely loved this episode. We finally learned a bit more about Yuma and his connection to both Arc and the Monohorn, and we got confirmation that he does have some family around, that being his grandmother. We even got a look at how the Monogelos Incident affected Yuma; he panicked at the sight of Digelos but the Mongelos Incident also motivated him to want to protect other’s futures.
The mirror realm was vaguely reminiscent of Kamen Rider Ryuki, as Ethan said, but I view it as a homage to the Tsuburaya show “Mirrorman”. Another thing I’ve noticed is each Arc episode has had a unique spin on the fights; episode 1 had a single continuous shot, episode 2 had the Arc and Leodo POV’s and episode 3 had the various cameras and the rotating shots.
Lastly, the confirmation that Monogelos wasn’t a single entity, but rather a whole species of Kaiju just like it, certainly raises the stakes. All in all, a solid 7/10 from me.
But what did you, our readers, think? Did you enjoy the episode? Let us know your thoughts! Until then, this has been Sean and Ethan: Writers, reviewers and rookie SKIP members of The Toku Source, and we’ll see you all next time!
