Hey all, Sean here, and we’re back with another pair of Ultraman Arc episodes! This week, we see Mr Ishido logging down everything we’ve seen, as well as SKIP giving their thoughts on Arc, then, we’ll be getting a blast from the past! So, without any further delay, let’s go!
Recaps
Episode 13: Shu’s Report
The episode opens with Shu in his office, typing on his laptop while humming a tune. It’s a report about Givas and it’s “behavioural principle”. We then see a flashback to the arrival of Givas from episode 11, as Shu narrates about what happened during the events of the Givas two parter. He mentions something called “Onyx”. Later, we see another flashback, this time to Yuma’s interaction with Givas, as Shu narrates that while Givas left Earth, many questions remain unanswered. We then see Rin enter SKIP HQ, expecting no-one, but she finds Shu there, who had dozed off, as he had been working all night. Shu then realises that he’s out of coffee and starts panicking; Rin mentions that she told Yuma to get some more. YouPi reminds Rin that whenever coffee is mentioned, Shu acts like a completely different person, such as the financial crisis during episode 8, when Kanegon was hogging all the Hoshipay. Rin then remembers during that time, Shu got Yuma on board with helping him livestream to get Hoshipay points.
YouPi then remembers how he helped with fighting Kanegon alongside Arc, with Rin adding that the crisis was a scary time, and that during that time, all Shu cared about was getting viewers on the livestreams, something Shu doesn’t like being reminded of, even though he’s still doing the livestreams.
Captain Ban then enters, having brought in some coffee, which Shu recognises as “Kopi Luwak”. Shu gives a brief explanation about it, with it being a rare form of coffee. Ban says that his old mentor, Professor Makino, from episode 5, gave it to him. We then get a flashback to those events, as YouPi points out that Arc pops up everywhere. Ban reveals that the professor sent him the coffee because he asked Ban for a favour, that being to proofread a book he plans on publishing, with Ban asking Rin and Shu to join him. Ban asks where Yuma is, before Rin reminds him that it’s his day off, as everyone gets to work. We then get a flashback to episode 10, as the team talks about what happened with Noisler, who’d followed a signal from Yuma’s old classmate Kazuo, who had been communicating with an alien named “Fio”. We then get a flashback to Nezutron from episode 4, who fed on energy, with Rin commenting that some people think Nezutron becoming giant was her fault.
YouPi mentions how even Arc had a hard time fighting Nezutron, as Rin mentions it was the first time Arc used one of his armours, specifically the Solis Armour. Shu added that he used the same armour to fight Neronga and Pagos in episode 9. Suddenly, Yuma enters, having brought some dorayaki his grandmother bought. The team then fills him in on what he’s missed, as they move on to talking about the Luna Armour, which was first used against Homger in episode 7, with Rin noting that while the Solis Armour boosts strength, the Luna Armour boosts speed. YouPi brings up that nobody knows anything about Arc himself, or why he protects humanity. Shu then asks what the team thinks of Arc, as the GDF hasn’t reached a conclusion about him either, with Shu theorising that most of the GDF see Arc as a threat. As SKIP discusses Arc, Yuma leaves, under the pretence of putting the food somewhere. We then see Yuma in a small room, looking at the Arc Cube, as we get a flashback to Yuma’s childhood and then his fusion with Arc in episode 3. Yuma then recalls Arc telling him to “unleash his imagination”, as he took on the form of Yuma’s childhood drawings, even then, Yuma doesn’t know everything about Arc. Yuma remembers that he’s only called Arc, because Mr Ishido came up with his name. Yuma returns to the main room at HQ, as everyone remembers that they’re supposed to be reading Professor Makino’s book.
The episode ends with Shu getting a call from someone named Nibuya, who is labelled as “Unit Chief” in Shu’s contacts, as we get a look at a document labelled “ONYX REPORT”.
Episode 14: Flash of the Past:
The episode opens with some in a suit playing soccer, who is then approached by Shu, who’s holding a briefcase, and as their conversation goes on, we learn that the man is Nibuya, Shu’s supervisor. Nibuya gives Shu the results of scans done on the green light emitted by Givas, with Shu asking where the result is located, Nibuya telling him it’s in the Kitsunemagori forest, with it being revealed what is codenamed “Onyx” was in the Hoshimoto area all along. We then see a woman absorbing energy from the Monohorn, as she then disappears. We then return to SKIP HQ, where Yuman and Rin learn from Ban that there was a sudden high frequency at the Monohorn, reminiscent of the Digelos incident. Ban sends Yuma and YouPi to scout out the area while Rin analyses the data. Before they can begin, Shu runs in, asking if they’d heard about the Monohorn, with Yuma telling him they were just about to go there, with Ban reassigning YouPi’s job to Shu, everyone gets to work.
Yuma mentions that Shu’s been busy lately, but Shu covers up his actions by saying that he’d only stepped out to buy some coffee beans, which makes sense to Yuma. We then get a flashback to Shu’s meeting with Nibuya, where he learns of the anomaly at the Monohorn, with Nibuya adding that with all the Monohorn-related incidents, and it’s possible connection to the “Onyx”, he needs to stay on guard. Flashing forward to the present, Yuma and Shu arrive at the Monohorn, with Shu asking if Yuma’s ok, knowing his history with the Monohorn, with Yuma saying not to worry about it. Just then, Yuma hears a voice calling out to him, saying;
“There you are, Rution…”
Yuma turns around, telling Shu he heard a voice, just as a strange, cube-like light appears and starts attacking the pair, however, Arc manifests, encasing the pair and getting them away in the nick of time, as the cube returns to an invisible being, later gaining a corporeal form, revealing itself to be a Kaiju, as the same woman from earlier approaches it. Yuma then wakes up; however, Shu is out cold. Yuma realises that the room is somewhere he went with his grandmother as a kid. Just then, Arc appears in Yuma’s reflection and is pulled inside. Arc begins talking to Yuma, as he goes on to explain everything, however meeting as they are in the mirror-world drastically drains their energies. Via a projector, Arc explains that far from Earth, lies Arc’s Galaxy, as he reveals his true name to Yuma, Rution. Continuing, Arc mentions that his Galaxy’s son, the star Sonia, was rapidly expanding, and if left unchecked, would wipe out all life. As leaders from each planet assembled to figure out a solution, one leader, Ze Su, advocated use of his “Ze Su Gate”, which would have teleported the discharge of energy to other galaxies, however, Earth was in the wormhole’s path.
Meanwhile, in the main world, Shu wakes up, however, the woman has found him and begins probing his mind with a blue beam of light, just as she did the Monohorn. Back in the mirror-world, Arc continues his explanation, adding that the leader’s in his galaxy weren’t willing to sacrifice another planet, even if it was foreign to them. However, Ze Su executed his plan anyway, so the leaders sent Arc to seal the gate, with Monohorn being sent to stop him by Ze Su. In the main world, the woman enters the projector room, sitting down, as she then sees both Yuma and Arc, despite them both being in the mirror-world. As the woman leaves, Arc finishes his story, as he sealed the gate before it could discharge, but then, Monogelos attacked him, leading to the young Yuma’s first encounter with Arc 16 years ago, however, we see more to Yuma’s past, as right after the Monohorn landed, it went straight towards Yuma, but Arc saved his life by fusing with him, but he needed time to recover, which explains why Arc took so long to appear to Yuma. Yuma adds that back then, despite what he said, nobody believed him, with Arc expressing his regret for not being able to save Yuma’s parents.
Yuma asks Arc about the fate of his home, given that Arc sealed the Ze Su Gate, just as the woman appears on the film reel, saying that Sonia will continue to expand, and then wipe out all planets. Arc reveals the woman is Sweed, a follower of Ze Su. Arc tries to reason with Sweed, however, she tells him their efforts only delay the inevitable, as she reaches out to grab Arc, he and Yuma teleport away. Yuma exits a mirror and comes face-to-face with Sweed, who tries to pull Arc out of Yuma, as she probes Arc’s mind for the seal’s location. Sweed uses some energy to reveal where the seal was hidden, as Yuma transforms into Ultraman Arc. Arc’s energy is already low, as he’s slowly used up his power, as Sweed summons the Kaiju from earlier, Zadime. Shu gets free from the energy holding him, just as Arc activates the Luna Armour. Zadime and Arc are evenly matched, however, Zadime overpowers Arc, right until Shu uses his gun to distract Zadime, buying Arc some time to use his Arc Finalize beam, causing Zadime to retreat. Arc detransforms into Yuma, having exhausted all his energy, and Shu finds the unconscious Yuma.
The episode ends with Shu receiving a video, the Seal, or as the GDF calls it, the “Onyx” has been unleashed.
Extra Lore and Fun Facts
Seeing as episode 13 didn’t give us much to work off of aside from the name “Onyx”, so let’s move on to episode 14.
Firstly, we learned of Arc’s origins, and the galaxy he comes from, a galaxy with a sun known as “The Star Sonia”, which is expanding, and is on the verge of wiping out all life in that galaxy, and while the leader’s try to find a solution, Ze Su opened his “Ze Su Gate”, the opening of which led Arc to Earth.
Finally, we have the alien and Kaiju of the episode, Sweed and Zadime!
Sweed is a follower of Ze Su and believes that the Ze Su Gate is the only salvation for her and Arc’s home galaxy. She is capable of using a blue energy beam to probe peoples minds and is the controller of the Kaiju Zadime.
Zadime is a Kaiju under the control of Sweed, and has a rock-like appearance. It’s abilities include multidimensionality, portal generation and various beam attacks.
Ultra Theory Corner
Circling back to a theory I had with the Givas episodes, episode 14 serves to provide more evidence that the Arc universe is slowly inching towards it’s Heat Death, given the evidence we have:
- Fio’s planet is dead due to pollution (Episode 10)
- Planet Meguma fell ever since it’s moon stopped shining (Episodes 11 and 12)
- Arc/Rution’s Galaxy’s sun is rapidly expanding (Episode 14)
Adding to this, the other galaxy’s at the end of the Ze Su Gate’s tunnels, we don’t know if those galaxies had inhabitants, so Ze Su could have wiped out other civilisations, which is what the other leaders wanted to avoid.
Hopefully in the next episodes, we’ll get some more answers.
Sean’s Thoughts
Episode 13 wasn’t really anything special, it was just a recap of the prior episodes and characters giving their perspective on certain events. However, it did mention one new thing, a mysterious subject called “Onyx”. Will we learn more about it? Only time will tell.
All in all, episode 13 gets a 5/10.
Moving on to episode 14, this one was interesting, as not only did we learn of Arc’s origins, but we also learned of why he’s on Earth to begin with, as well as what the “Onyx” mentioned in the previous episode is.
I can’t wait to see where this episode goes, all in all, episode 14 gets a 7/10.
What did you think, readers? Did you enjoy the episode? Let us know your thoughts! I will see you all this weekend for Arc #15!
