Greetings, Ultras! Ethan and Sean are back again this time checking into a nice inn and keeping a lookout for volcanic tigers. We’ve got two episodes of Ultraman Arc to explore so let’s go!
Recap
Episode 6
Sixteen years ago, a group of Alien Croco were visiting earth and one was left behind, eventually being found and taken in by the owners of a small inn. The alien took a human disguise and worked at the inn, all while trying to fix a ship so they could go home.
In present day, however, Rin, Yuma and Shu are investigating the area and eventually come across the inn. Seeing a hand gesture between two of the staff, Shu gets suspicious and the trio investigate a little, quickly finding the Alien Croco. After hearing his story, Yuma is very trusting of them, while Shu is not. Before Shu can find justification to get the Alien Croco space deported, they are attacked by three Shagong.
Yuma gets separated from the group and transforms. While Arc does eventually beat them, the Alien Croco saves the inn by hopping into his ship and flying into one, knocking it over. After the battle, the gang find the Croco still alive and, in the final moments of the episode, we find out the GDF are taking Alien Croco. What will happen largely depends on Shu’s report. Yuma and Shu talk about the hand gesture Yuma saw it and thought it was something positive, unlike Shu. Shu then asks the Alien Croco what it means and he says “Thank you.” This brings the episode to a close.
Episode 7
The episode opens on a young Yuma drawing. His mother tells him that whenever he feels sad, even if he can’t see it, he should look to the moon and try to be a person who protects everyone. This leads him to draw the “Power of the Moon”.
We then cut to a news report, showing the skyrocketing temperatures in Hoshimoto City. While the SKIP crew are affected by the heat, YouPi enters with some iced coffee that Shu asked him to make, which he approves of. Before anyone can even take a drink, however, SKIP receives a call and heads out. They find a geyser with hot water, which Rin comments smells like rotten eggs. The civilians tell Captain Ban that they think it might be a kaiju, however, Yuma gets no readings of one. Just then a strange girl shouts at everyone to get away from the area, something Yuma notices that nobody else does. The geyser erupts again and the water hits YouPi, making him overheat. SKIP evacuates the area, as the water bursts out of the ground, allowing an orange kaiju to emerge and start consuming gas.
Yuma wastes no time and transforms into Ultraman Arc. He engages in combat with the kaiju. However, as the fight goes on, the Kaiju absorbs some of Arc’s energy and distracts him with a visage of the girl Yuma saw before letting out a fire blast, forcing Arc to detransform. The girl then approaches Yuma again, telling him to leave the Kaiju alone, calling it “Homger”.
We next see a news report of a sleeping Homger, with YouBot deployed to scout Homger. Rin tells him his cooling unit will only last 10 minutes. Shu explains why Yuma’s Kaiju detector didn’t pick anything up but Yuma is lost in thought, thinking about how the girl knew who he was. The rest of SKIP bring him back to his senses, as Shu repeats what he said, stating that the Kaiju was deep underground. They question why it chose to emerge, attack a gas tank and Arc, then cease all activity. SKIP theorises why as YouPi approaches Homger and takes its energy readings. Rin notices something moving in Homger but, just then, YouBot glitches as he mentions a thumping coming from two places. Rin asks why there are two places that were thumping and Yuma says that there can be kaiju species with multiple hearts, with Homger potentially being one of them. Rin adds that if the energy gets too much, it could cause an explosion that could destroy the whole city.
Yuma suddenly recalls where he’s heard the name “Homger” before and SKIP goes over a legend of an eruption causing kaiju, with the legends lining up with what has happened. PiBody does some research and finds that Homger’s eruptions always happen on the night of a full moon, with one coming that night. SKIP quickly gets to work evacuating the whole city. As Rin scans Homger, it wakes up. As Yuma gets a communication that the rest of the team is evacuating, he thinks to himself about part of the legend of Homger, saying that the kaiju appears along with a spirit. Yuma approaches Homger and the spirit asks if Arc’s power is only for fighting. She states she wants to help Homger and humanity coexist. Yuma tries to reason with the spirit, who tells Yuma he only sees kaiju through data and doesn’t listen to what they’re saying. The spirit then mentions the word “Mother”, leading Yuma to realise the second heartbeat was a child’s. Having been convinced by the spirit, Yuma transforms into Ultraman Arc, this time to help Homger.
Everyone watches as Homger retaliates towards Arc. YouPi mentions that the Kaiju is about to explode; that is until Arc looks at the moon and Yuma remembers his mother’s words, allowing Arc to unlock the Luna Armour, granting a much needed boost in speed. Using the speed, Arc creates a space for Homger to safely pass its energy to its child. After everything is all said and done, Homger and the spirit disappear.
As SKIP returns to HQ, as Rin mentions the cry they heard at the end was probably the child. The team talk about the events of the day and the episode ends with the SKIP team taking a well deserved nap. In closing, Yuma narrates about how in future, Homger will be reborn and, when the time comes, proper records must be left that Homger appears along with a spirit.
News and The Ultra Theory Corner
With Super Hero Time having a big shape up this week, we saw the release of another issue of Televi-Kun with mean it’s time for “someone was nice enough to scan the pages so we can see all the new forms and such they are promoting for the next few months of various toku shows.” As is tradition, they are the lowest resolution imaginable but, focusing on the Ultraman pages, we can see Ultraman Arc’s next armour, being referred to as “Ultraman Arc Galaxy Armour” by people online, we can also see Arc has a new weapon, that takes multiple cubes. It’s nice to see them getting the most out of the Orb Trinity Slasher/Beliarok mould when it comes to Ultra’s weapons.
Extra Lore and Fun Facts
We don’t have much to go over for this section, so let’s go!
Today, we’ll be discussing a newly introduced alien species, Alien Croco, a species that travels the galaxy hunting for mushrooms for the sake of creating new varieties. However, the Croco who we know as Numata was left stranded after his fellow mushroom hunters fled in the wake of K-Day. He was taken in by the people at Akebono Inn and became the clerk, spending time building a spaceship so that he could return home.
Next up, we have the Scorching Kaiju, Homger! A tiger like kaiju who explodes during birth, transferring energy to it’s unborn child. With an appearance that evokes magma, lava and volcanoes, this was the first kaiju that Arc spared and chose to assist. Homger is accompanied by a spirit who takes the form a young woman and acts to bridge the gap between Homger and humanity.
Ethan’s Thoughts
Episode 6 was a great episode; the emotional moments really hit well and I like the subtle world building. There is one thing I’ve noticed with Arc that’s a lot more on the complaint side, but is Yuma only allowed to have one “imaginative” use of his powers per fight? For a series that has such emphasis on imagination, you might think he would have more creative moments in battle but, for the most part, it’s been standard Ultraman battles with one moment where Arc has a Jimmy Neutron brain blast and does something really cool and creative that turns the tide of battle. I don’t know, maybe it’s a budget thing or maybe they are saving all the really cool ideas for later on for a fight that will knock my socks off. None of this is to say the action has been bad, not by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just been way more average Ultraman than I was expecting.
This aside, seeing Arc win a 3 vs. 1 was very cool and this week’s one brainwave moment of “energy buzzsaw + shield = spinning blade” rocked so hard I clapped. Something else I really liked about this episode was the fact that, while having contrasting outlooks, Shu and Yuma really get along well and this wasn’t some “Shu’s here undercover” type of deals.
Episode 7 sure was something! If I’m honest I normally love it when Ultraman media poses the question to the hero of can you save everyone while also being compassionate and kind to your foe. That said, the execution this time was lacking, for me. There are two main aspects to this: one, ghost lady not explaining anything to Yuma and opting to chastise him for not knowing anything, and, two, the episode would have been better without the “the kaiju nukes the city to have its baby” angle. This second point makes ghost lady’s “I’m here so the kaiju can coexist with people” talk seem hollow but also actively makes my first point about her lack of communication way more annoying. It just does not make her seem like a nice, reasonable person when she’s angry and confused why people would want to stop a kaiju exploding with enough force to destroy a city; a thing she knows it would do!
This is why I say that losing the bomb aspect of the episode would be better, tying it in with nature more thematically. It would make it way way easier to sympathise with the kaiju if it just wandered into the city to have its baby and its pregnancy itself wouldn’t level a city.
On a more positive note, I do like them going for a “little girl friend with the kaiju” thing, similar to the most recent Godzilla vs. Kong, and the new Luna Armour is cool as heck! When the core emotional point of the episode hinges on misses, like it did for me this week, I’m not going to come away rating the episode too highly. With next week’s episode clearly being a metaphor for bitcoin I can confidently say, the is far from the most excited I’ve been for the next Ultraman episode to get here.
I must also announce that this will be my last Arc review. It may seem like I’m dropping the show entirely after what I’ve just said but that is not the case. Due to medical reasons, it makes more sense for me to focus more on solo stuff that I can pace myself better. If you have enjoyed my contributions here, keep an eye out for my reviews of Kamen Rider Gavv, and the Ultraman/Marvel crossover media! I know Shuwatch to Watch will be in great hands with Sean. Who knows, maybe I’ll come back and do a retrospective on Arc, eventually, if enough people get tired of only having my social media posts about Arc to get my opinions. Hopefully I’ll return next season to team up with Sean when I’m feeling better, but for the last time this year, I’ll hand over to Sean! Take it away!
Sean’s Thoughts
Thanks Ethan. Let me say begin by saying that episode 7 is probably my favourite so far from Arc. The idea of an alien stranded on Earth, trying to get home while having to deal with a prejudiced humans reminded me of the Return of Ultraman episode “The Monster User and the Boy.” Shu and Yuma’s ideals clashed in this episode, with Shu wanting to detain Numata, while Yuma wanted to help him get home.
The last thing I wanna touch on is how, instead of defeating the all of the Shagongs in this episode, Arc simply let the last one go and once again made creative use of the Barrier/Slash combo. Interesting and innovative all round. Numata flying his ship right towards a Shagong took me back to Shikishima flying his plane into Godzilla in the final battle of Godzilla Minus One and, just like Shikishima, Numata survived.
The second 10/10 rating for an Arc episode I will be giving!
Next up, episode 7. I also really enjoyed this one, the first episode that involved a kaiju not attacking but simply living out its life cycle while humanity deems it a threat. The Homger suit perfectly blended volcanic elements with the look of a tiger and, while we didn’t see her much, the actor playing the spirit gave a stellar performance, both the original Japanese and English dub actors!
In conclusion, an 8/10 from me.
I’ll be back next week, flying solo once again, with another Shuwatch to Watch. Thank you, Ethan, for your contributions to this series this year. Make sure you check out his Gavv reviews, and more!
What did you, our readers, think? Did you enjoy the episode? Let us know your thoughts and, until then, as always, this has been Sean and Ethan: Writers and reviewers for The Toku Source about to leave on their one week holiday to the Akebono Inn. See you next time!
