Hello and welcome, Ultraman Connection readers! Last week, Ultraman Arc started off with a bang, showcasing the characters, this new world, the threat of Kaiju and Arc himself in several notable and fun ways. This week continues that, and I think bumps up the pizzazz of this series to new levels. There’s a lot to cover, which will involve open spoilers for episode 2 of Ultraman Arc, so make sure you watch it for yourself before continuing!
All ready? Let’s get started!
The episode of this week covers one of the most common bread-and-butter plots of the Ultraman franchise. The various series have always had an eye on the future, while also being concerned with lessons from the past, and how both times can conflict with each other. Often, this plays out by representing some sort of encroaching industrialization – like a brand new housing development – which collides with nature, or a rural location with an important history.
In this episode of Arc, the same storyline starts to unfold when the SKIP team receives an urgent warning – from a kid! Hayato was concerned about his father’s construction project, new apartments which were being built over the rumored location where a legendary Kaiju, Leodo, had been buried.
Hayato’s dad might have been portrayed as an outright villain in other Ultraman series, so I was surprised when Arc painted him in a rather sympathetic light. In his mind, he’s taken the necessary precautions, and the circumstances of Kaiju attacks in the city made this expanded urban development an urgent project. Even Shu Ishido, the team’s newest addition, admits that he wouldn’t have believed Hayato as easily as Yuma did.
The premiere episode of Arc showed off some of Yuma’s qualities, his desire to help people and his headstrong commitment to following his instincts on these cases. As it turns out, that second quality is really what makes him stand out from the rest of the team, and even among other Ultraman protagonists in general.
Yuma, in a word, is imaginative. He looks at things from a different angle, notices details that other people might have missed, and is willing to see things from other peoples’ perspectives in his job. I suspect his eagerness to believe Hayato’s story came from some personal experiences too – he looked noticeably upset when the kid was being scolded by his dad for believing in “fairy tales”. I wonder if Yuma sees something of himself in Hayato and his situation… But that’s just speculation for now.
Of course, the “fairy tale” is all too true in this case. That’s a good thing, since this would’ve been a very short episode otherwise! Even though the construction was halted after discovering a mysterious stone formation, the intrusion woke up the Kaiju anyways, and Leodo started its rampage.
Luckily for us – and for Hayato who was nearly sucked up by the Kaiju’s colossal proboscis – Yuma’s trust in his story meant that he and the rest of SKIP arrived just in time to intercept Leodo’s attack.
And when Yuma transforms into Ultraman Arc, well… that’s where the real fun begins.
The fight against Shagong in the previous episode showed off some dramatic cinematography work, filming the entire thing as if it were a single long take. It also conspicuously included a running timer showing precisely how long Arc had been fighting. This week’s fight against Leodo doesn’t include either of those elements but it still got my attention for a whole host of other reasons.
I am not exaggerating when I say this might be my favorite Kaiju fight of the entire franchise.
First of all, the composite shots. Can we talk about the composite shots? This type of special effect dates back to the original series. I’m sure it’s a lot easier to perform nowadays with CGI assistance as opposed to cutting and layering parts of film strips by hand. But that’s also my point! They didn’t have to go this hard with miniature effects. They didn’t have to purposely film inside of a moving car and then superimpose it on a shot of Leodo’s rampage in the background, or show Leodo’s toxic mud attack destroying a miniature model of a backhoe while our characters leap out of the way.
The sheer variety of their use was genuinely surprising this episode, and I was impressed by the attention to detail, planning and hard work required to pull those effects off.
It’s kind of fitting that this episode, and the franchise in general, with its emphasis on bringing the past, present, and future together, shows off so many special effects techniques which are only possible by combining practical suits and miniatures with CGI light shows. Even camera technology has progressed to the point where they can put the cameras on the suits themselves and film the fight from the perspectives of both Ultraman and the Kaiju! The audience event gets a CGI effect of literally seeing these events from behind their eyes at the same time.
What a way of reinforcing this week’s theme about looking at things from a new angle!
Don’t forget, readers – this is only the second episode. If the directors, producers, writers, special effects artists, and the rest of the production crew went this hard with one of the most common Monster-Of-The-Week plots of the franchise, then I have no idea what to expect from the rest of the season. It’s going to be a fun ride, though.
Join us next week for more insane spectacles, heart-warming characters, and everything else you love about Ultraman, right here at Ultraman Connection.
