Hello and welcome, Ultraman Connection readers! If you enjoyed last week’s trip down memory lane, revisiting some of the Kaiju and aliens from Ultraman Blazar, then you’re in for a treat this episode. The crossover fun didn’t stop with Mogusion’s defeat, and now Ultraman Arc and the heroes of this version of Earth are tasked with stopping an even greater threat!
Although they probably wouldn’t call that task fun. Still, it was interesting to see how SKIP and Ultraman Arc dealt with Mogusion in their own unique way, along with some help from another familiar face returning from last year – Zangill, the wandering alien samurai!
For those who missed out on Zangill’s introduction last year in Blazar… you should take a minute to go watch it for yourself. That episode (coincidentally also #17) was one of my favorite stories from the whole show, and we’ll also be discussing spoilers from it as part of this recap.
All caught up? Good, now… where were we?
Oh right, with Zangill somehow coming back from the dead a second time to warn Shu and Yuma of an interdimensional threat named “Hellnarak”. That leaves the audience with multiple questions – like how do you get such an unbelievably metal name like Hellnarak, it’s like naming a villain “Super-Hades”, but far classier. We haven’t even seen this monster yet, apart from Mogusion’s terror-stricken hallucination from the previous episode, and that’s already enough to convince me it’s just as much of a threat as Sweed and the Kaiju Zadime from episode 15.
But why is Zangill here to warn the SKIP team in the first place? In Blazar, Zangill was carrying out his own personal mission of redemption. After losing his life to his own bloodthirsty commitment to a cycle of violence, Zangill sought to find peace by severing the spirits of Kaiju also caught in that cycle. Even though it was necessary for the SKaRD team to kill many of the Kaiju they faced, the hatred and grudges left behind by those violent deaths still prevented their spirits from finding rest. Once Zangill freed 108 ghosts, he earned himself a quiet spot in the afterlife along with them.
That might seem like an oddly spiritual concept for a show which often is more focused on futuristic technology, aliens, and other science-fiction tropes. However, longtime fans of Ultraman may recognize this idea of Kaiju spirits from the very first Ultraman series in 1966! The SSSP back then faced a similar dilemma regarding the restless spirits of dead Kaiju, and even held a funeral service for many of them which had been defeated over the course of their battles.
Still think it sounds a bit silly? Think of it this way – what kind of heroes would they have been if they did not feel any sort of remorse or shame for the lives that they ended in those fights? It’s said sometimes that funerals are more for the benefit of the living, rather than the dead, and that’s very true here as well. Even when the “dearly departed” being honored is a Kaiju.
In a more literal sense, bad things also happen in the Ultraman franchise when the spirits of dead Kaiju and aliens are unable to rest in peace. This episode of Arc isn’t the first time a villain has tried to summon them for evil, destructive purposes in the world of the living. The Kaiju Graveyard itself has factored into multiple stories from Ultraman Mebius onwards. But this week’s episode has a lot of similarities to another episode from the original Ultraman, “The Littlest Hero”. In that story, the friendly Pigmon makes contact with the SSSP to warn them about another Kaiju who is summoning monsters to build an army!
Of course, Pigmon was one of those summoned Kaiju as well, but wanted to help humanity instead of fighting against them. In the same way in this week’s episode, Zangill was also resurrected by Hellnarak, but chose to fight alongside Ultraman and his friends on this version of Earth.
Last week, I wondered if this was the original Zangill from Blazar, or another member of his kind who was coincidentally serving as a samurai psychopomp. His dialogue with the SKIP team seems to make it clear that it is the same character from last year, and his love of coffee confirms it beyond all doubt.
But Zangill and Mogusion are far from the only restless spirits who had been forcibly conscripted by Hellnarak. The abyssal Kaiju Gedos appears next, along with the unlikely fan-favorite beetle Kaiju Taganular!
Well, okay… a lot of Taganulars. A veritable Starcraft zerg-rush of Taganulars.
Ultraman Arc may be able to handily defeat Gedos, but Zangill struggles in the fight against Taganular. He’s running on literal fumes, without the strength he had in life, but also while fighting against Hellnarak’s dark energy which seems to have compelled the other Kaiju spirits to go berserk. Thankfully, Ultraman Arc just got a fancy new power upgrade a few episodes ago, and his Galaxy Armor lets him pull off far more ridiculous stunts than Blazar’s fiery sword.
Seriously, I think this might be the most busted set of abilities we’ve seen an Ultraman wield since Ultraman Z’s Gamma Future form. Not to mention, for as much as I love Z and Haruki, Arc and Yuma consistently apply those powers in creative ways to even greater effect. In short, it’s an absolutely spectacular battle to cap off this crossover story.
It also caps off Zangill’s time remaining on Earth. He only had enough energy to warn our heroes about the threat of Hellnarak, and lent his remaining strength to give them the best shot of overcoming it. At the end of the day, against a gorgeously vivid sunset serving as a backdrop, and with a long-desired final cup of coffee, he once again passes on to his rest. Hopefully for good this time.
And so, all good things must come to an end. Just like this thrilling crossover…. Eventually. But we’re not done just yet, Hellnarak is still out there, and his waves of summoned Kaiju still threaten the Earth! Even with the secret technique Zangill entrusted to Ultraman Arc, can he and the rest of the SKIP team find a way to defeat the cursed conductor of this chaos?
You’ll just have to wait until next week to find out! Until then, stay tuned right here to Ultraman Connection.
