Hello and welcome Ultraman Connection readers! Over the past several weeks we’ve followed Ultraman Z as he learns about the legacy of the “New Generation” Ultra heroes. He’s fought alongside a number of them already, both in his own series and in other appearances since, like in the Ultra Galaxy Fight specials. Team-ups and crossovers have occurred regularly in the Ultraman series ever since Return of Ultraman in 1971, but aside from Z himself, there’s another New Generation hero who had a notable number of guest stars in their own show.
Ultraman X was the first Ultraman show to feature an international, simultaneous English-subtitled release alongside its airing in Japan. Because of that, it was a lot of people's first introduction to the franchise – mine included! It’s appropriate then that Tsuburaya took the opportunity to feature a number of other Ultra heroes alongside X and his partner, Daichi Oozora. This week, let’s take a look at those crossovers, and the Ultra heroes they showcase.
It’s almost a cliche to see Ultraman Zero show up in a crossover nowadays, but episode #5 of Ultraman X was the first time he showed up in a televised series, and not a theatrical movie or special side-story. In the episode, an Alien Nackle kidnaps Rui, a member of Xio, as part of his plot to steal spark dolls from Xio’s base.
Appropriately enough, the original appearance of Alien Nackle in Return of Ultraman also featured a team-up of Ultra heroes! This time, instead of the original Ultraman and Ultraseven showing up to help save the day, Zero makes his characteristically flashy appearance to fight off the Kaiju, Black King. Later, he gives Daichi and Ultraman X a copy of his “Ultimate Aegis” armor, which allows him to travel through dimensions – mostly for the purpose of making dramatic entrances like this one.
Actually, come to think of it, Zero making cameo appearances to drop off new power-up items for New Generation heroes is also something of a cliche in the franchise now. In his defense, Zero is quite an expert at traveling through different dimensions of the Ultraman multiverse at this point. Who would be better for the job?
The next guest star is a little bit more of an obscure character than Zero. Ultraman X coincided with the tenth anniversary of Ultraman Max, so it would be quite unfair for Zero to get a special appearance, and not Max himself! This episode is very interesting for a few other reasons than just featuring an Ultra hero from a series I feel is criminally underrated. Episode #8, “X in Peril!”, is a significant point in Daichi’s own character development within the show.
For his entire adult life, Daichi had been motivated to become a scientist in pursuit of two very similar hopeful wishes. He wished to find a way for humans to coexist with the Kaiju who were held in suspended animation as “Spark Dolls”, but he also pursued that line of scientific research in order to follow his parents’ work, in their footsteps. So when a man showed up claiming to be a former friend of his father’s, and also has the key to a new breakthrough in Daichi’s work, it seemed too good to be true!
Of course, it was.
Any viewer who was familiar with Ultraman Max would immediately know something was fishy with this setup. The man in question, a supposedly brilliant scientist who worked with Daichi’s father, claimed to be Kaito Touma. Readers, Kaito Touma was not a scientist. He wasn’t even a member of the defense team DASH in the Max series,until he stole one of their jets and made a haphazard attempt to rescue civilians in the path of a Kaiju attack in the first episode!
As you may have guessed, Kaito Touma is also not a very bright man. So you might see why it makes no sensewhatsoever for him to be posing as a scientist in this episode! The supposed Mr. Touma is actually an Alien Sran (which also first debuted in Max.) He infiltrated Xio to sabotage their work and draw out Ultraman Max for revenge!
It’s also interesting to note – while doing my best to avoid spoilers – that Max and Kaito actually separated from each other at the end of the show. When Max arrives here, he still happens to be using the appearance of his former partner and friend. Max remarked that using Kaito’s appearance is his way of honoring his memory, and a reminder of why he chose Kaito as a partner in the first place. He may not have been the smartest guy but his steadfast faith in his friends, and his courage to put his own life on the line to protect them, was Kaito’s real strength.
At the end of the episode, that message of courage inspired Daichi to continue his work despite being betrayed by this unfortunate setback. I can’t think of a better way to respect the anniversary of Ultraman Max than by using it as such an important touchstone for Daichi’s characterization in his own series.
The next cameo appearances in Ultraman X – yes, “appearances” – feature characters who are much more recent than Ultraman Max and Kaito Touma. In fact, audiences in Japan only just saw them the previous year in Ultraman Ginga S! This two-parter kicked off with the Xio team and Daichi encountering someone who seemed to come from a completely different defense team from a different version of Earth, but by this point none of them are strangers to Ultra heroes from other universes popping out of wormholes. This new Ultraman – Sho, also known as Ultraman Victory – also is familiar with Daichi and Ultraman X, because Ultraman Zero had already mentioned them!
No, seriously, Ultraman Zero is just that one friend who knows everyone.
This interdimensional team-up, including Hikaru Raido as Ultraman Ginga, was necessary to counter the interdimensional threat of the three “Spectre” siblings, Juda Spectre, Mold Spectre and their sister, Gina Spectre. Newer fans of Ultraman might recognize Gina from the Ultra Galaxy Fight specials, but this was actually the first time all three siblings appeared in the modern New Generation series, an update from their original debuts in the Andro Melos show in the 1980’s. It took the combined efforts of all these Ultra heroes, and the defense teams of two different Earths, but they managed to foil the Gua army’s invasion of their world in a spectacular showdown.
The final crossover episode of Ultraman X isn’t a spectacular interdimensional showdown, but is a much more tightly-focused exploration of a single character… although not Daichi himself this time. After all, Daichi already has X as his partner, it wouldn’t make sense for him to form the same kind of bond with a different Ultraman, and this guest star – of a sort – is all about bonds.
In episode 20, “Bond -Unite-”, Lieutenant Sayuri Tachibana of Xio was unexpectedly given the power of Ultraman Nexus, in order to save her daughters when a Kaiju attacked their lakeside house in Canada. At that moment, thousands of miles away and helplessly pinned under rubble as a result of a different Kaiju attack, Lieutenant Tachibana desperately hoped for the strength to protect her own family – and was given it!
This actually becomes something of a crisis of conscience for Tachibana. She had always been the steadfast and cool-headed anchor for the Xio team during their most intense trials. Now that she herself was given the power of Nexus, she felt that she couldn’t both serve as Xio’s Lieutenant and Ultraman, dividing her responsibility to her team from her responsibility as a parent.
Of course, the thing about the power of Ultraman is that they are both the same responsibility. In the Nexus series, Nexus only regains the full power of Ultraman Noa as a result of the bonds everyone shares, the hopes and desires to protect each other, just like Tachibana feels for her family and for Xio.
It might seem strange to include an anniversary crossover episode in Ultraman X so close to the show’s conclusion. However, Nexus’ final words to Daichi, telling him to not give up on those bonds, create a perfect segue to the climactic finale of the series. The encouragement and strength Daichi and X received, not just from Nexus but from all the Ultra heroes who appeared in this series, would prove to be crucial against the otherworldly, frighteningly powerful threat of Greeza immediately in the next episode.
Crossover stories like these are fun for longtime fans, who get to see their favorite heroes again. They’re also great for new viewers who are introduced to characters with a legacy waiting to be rediscovered in turn. But I’ve always felt that the idea of what it truly means to be an Ultra hero makes more sense in context with the legacy of the franchise as a whole, with all the varied examples of heroes who have gone before to illustrate it. Ultraman X is no different, even when Daichi and X show up as cameos in later shows and movies!
Maybe this has inspired some of you readers to go back and check out these shows for yourself, if you haven’t already. After a trip into the past, Ultraman Connection will always be here for news and updates about current and future Ultra heroes too, so stay tuned for more.
