Ultraman Arc is the story of Yuma Hize, and the hero he created as a boy. We don’t know all the details yet, but the power of Arc builds from a chance meeting with a heroic being of light he had as a boy, that has returned to him as an adult.
If we had a nickel for every time that’s happened, we’d have 3 nickels, which isn’t too many, but it’s weird that it’s happened that many times, right? Arc is the third such time we’ve had the bond between human and Ultra start in childhood, and we want to highlight the previous two times that bond has been forged. This is going to be a series that takes place over the week, starting today with the origins of Ultraman Cosmos — Come back in a few days to get caught up on Ultraman Taiga!
When we first meet young Musashi Haruno, previously Musashi Isohata, he is a fifth-grade boy trying to find his place in the world by looking out into the night sky. The son of a deceased astronaut, Musashi seeks to reach out and touch the space that his father died trying to make it to, and meet the legend out there in the stars — Ultraman.
It is on the night of a lunar eclipse, staying out in the park with his friends and trying to get a good look at the moon through his telescope, that Musashi sees something impossible flash through the sky. The silhouette of a giant speeds past the moon — It’s Ultraman!
As the night passes, a terrible thunderstorm rolls in, and soon, Musashi is alone in the rain. He has no way to know that, above his head, Ultraman Cosmos and an Alien Baltan, Basical, are fighting among the stormclouds. Both of them exhaust themselves in their battle and fall to Earth, Cosmos landing in the forest right near where Musashi is camped out. The impact terrifies the boy, and soon, the stress of the night puts him to sleep.
When the dawn breaks, Musashi wakes, and roams into the forest himself, trying to find what caused that terrible crash. What he finds in a dense copse of trees is a giant of azure light — the very Ultraman he has been looking for. Seeking to help the giant, Musashi begins stringing up reflective surfaces over the forest, attempting to bring the light of the sun into the darkest parts of the woods where the Ultra lies, weakened. Using his own telescope to finally illuminate the giant, Musashi succeeds, revitalizing Ultraman Cosmos and allowing him to stand strong.
Cosmos thanks Musashi, and offers to grant him a wish. Musashi, whose only reason for helping was his natural kindness, seeks little in return, but shares his dream of going to space and flying with Ultraman with Cosmos, and the giant happily grants that, lifting Musashi up and carrying him through the sky. Afterwards, the two, having bonded as friends, promise to meet again, and Cosmos grants Musashi a beautiful blue pyroxene, representing their new connection.
This meeting would only be the beginning of an incredible adventure, leading Musashi to meet the SRC (Scientific Research Circle), and get mixed up in the plans of Basical, the Alien Baltan. His destiny, now intertwined with Cosmos, would lead him to the path of a “true hero,” as Cosmos told him he would be one day.
We don’t want to spoil the story of Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact any more than we already have, as it tends to get missed in many people’s watchthroughs of the series, but we want to encourage you to seek it out for yourself, as part of Mill Creek’s Ultraman Cosmos collection, available now. Come back next time, when we go through the meeting between young Hiroyuki Kudo, and the young hero — Ultraman Taiga.