Hello and welcome, Ultraman Connection readers! It’s that time of year again when the weather turns colder, and our thoughts turn warmer, towards festive thoughts of thanksgiving, merriment and good cheer at the close of the year. It’s also the time of the year when the end of each Ultraman season starts to draw closer, with Ultraman Omega by no means being an exception. Although it may seem like a cozy, comedic vignette with a heartwarming moral at first, this episode of Omega takes a far darker, ominous turn suggesting even more sinister events might arrive before the show’s finale.
It begins with Kosei and Sorato debating over a mousetrap – or rather, how to build a better one. Not in the sense of being more efficient, but how to take into account the mouse’s point of view. To most people in our efficiency-minded society, this might seem tritely sentimental. For Ultraman however, it’s really the heart of the matter, the whole purpose of each Ultra hero’s mission on Earth, and elsewhere in the universe.
Do we truly value the lives of everyone on the planet, or just the ones that are conveniently useful to us?
For Sorato, Kosei, and the rest of the newly-formed KSCT unit, the answer has already been clearly given. Even before the KSCT was officially founded, they always sought to understand the Kaiju of the week’s episode first, and only resorted to lethal measures if necessary. Which, unfortunately, was the case for most battles. Still, it’s obvious that these deaths weighed heavily on Sorato’s conscience. Especially in cases such as the iron snake Kaiju Mikoto, where allowing the Kaiju to live would have resulted in the death of other human beings, there is no easy answer.
Even though Sorato appears to be human, that compassion for all lives is the truest sense of humanity, a warm human heart, that he also embraces.
Does the rest of humanity live up to that example?
Like other Kaiju we’ve seen in the show, the brightly-colored dinosaur-like creature they encounter in a warehouse seems frightening at first. We quickly realize it’s more frightened than any of the human characters, however. This kaiju has an interesting ability as well, it can travel through time! In order to capture it and remove it back to its habitat (wherever that may be, is a more complicated problem…) a cartoonish chase sequence breaks out. They even threw funny sound effects and a cheesy bit of soundtrack to accompany it!
If this was the whole story, the KSCT learning to not judge monstrous-looking books by their covers, and to find empathy with bizarre kaiju they encounter in the course of their duty.
Of course, that’s not the whole story.
The sympathy they have for the kaiju goes beyond just cute, sentimental value. The cartoony chase around the warehouse – and through time – takes such a devastating toll on the kaiju’s health that it was dying in front of the team’s very eyes. Ayumu, the team’s Biology specialist and someone who has always had a passion for the Kaiju, can’t stand to watch it in pain and literally begins CPR on the monster!
I have to say, this is the most convincing CPR demonstration I’ve seen in a TV series in a long while. Probably helps that the actress is performing chest compressions on a suit rather than a real person on set, of course. But still, huge props for the authenticity!
Her desperate attempts sway the others to her side, and all three of them together – Ayumu, Sorato and Kosei – manage to revive it. Their efforts to save the Kaiju don’t stop there though! To make sure it can return safely to the future and be protected from whatever threat it fled from originally, Sorato and Kosei even decide to accompany it through time!
And here, readers, is where things take a far, far darker turn than I ever expected.
The future – right over where they had been standing only seconds before, but years in the past – was a blasted ruin of crumbling buildings, a red, stricken sky, and horrific devastation.
The first question might be to ask “What caused this?” and I appreciated that this episode left that mystery hanging ominously with no clear answer. Was there an apocalyptic kaiju attack? Or did humanity’s response against the kaiju turn into a literal “scorched earth” war of awful retribution? Maybe both? This mystery is further compounded by the appearance of the ships (weapons? Other kaiju?) which attacked both the juvenile kaiju, and seemingly killed its parent.
They certainly don’t look like anything made with human technology, but we’ve already seen the National Defense Force scientists make use of biological materials from Kaiju in their weapons. Who’s to say these can’t be the end result of biological engineering to turn the very flesh and bone of these creatures into horrifying engines of destruction.
Regardless of their origin, the threat against innocent lives is clear, and Sorato fights as Ultraman Omega alongside Kosei and the Meteokaiju to protect this family of kaiju in the far future.
Again, the eeriest part of this episode is the fact that none of these mysteries are explained – or even remarked on by Kosei and Sorato when they arrive in the future. The audience is clearly being primed to see this awful scene as a chilling warning against humanity’s current trajectory from this present point of the show. But I’m not sure if Sorato and Kosei know of the connection to humanity’s future at this moment. They may think that the spiked ships were the work of other aliens or a different unknown, bizarre kaiju.
It does make me wonder how much Professor Sayuki knows about the NDF’s other weapons R&D programs. She’s already shown that she’s aware of much more going on behind the scenes than what she’s willing to share with the others. Luckily for our heroes in the KCST, that appeal to secrecy appears to go both ways. I mean, after the last few episodes there is no way that she doesn’t know Sorato is Ultraman Omega at this point.
Do we trust her enough to not report that detail to the NDF? I’m not entirely sure at the moment. But I do know there’s only one way to find out, to explore into the future the old fashioned way – one day at a time. Until then, stay tuned right here to Ultraman Connection for more!
