Hello and welcome, Ultraman Connection readers! As of this writing, we’re entering into a holiday season of bright lights and merry-making, but there are times when these warm holidays can seem awfully bleak for some of us. The brightest lights often cast the deepest shadows, especially when something obstructs our way towards it. In a similar way, Ultraman Arc has been all about the light of imagination for this entire season. The ability to not just envision a better future, but also to see the path towards it and to follow it has defined much of this show.
And for much of the show, we’ve seen the optimistic imaginations of our main characters in SKIP, especially Yuma Hize who fights as Ultraman Arc’s partner. Last week, we dove into a new perspective, to see more of the citizens of Hoshimoto City and how they relate to SKIP and Arc from the sidelines. In this episode, we also take a step outside of SKIP to spend a day in the life of Aoi, a friend of Rin Natsume.
Both Rin and Aoi had big ambitions from their youth. We already know Rin’s backstory, of her hard work to establish her expertise as a brilliant mechanical engineer. In contrast, Aoi’s dreams of becoming a sci-fi writer… seem to have stalled out along the way. She’s working instead as an overburdened, unappreciated, and most likely unnamed staff writer putting together mere “content” for sale.
I’d make a joke about this episode hitting too close to home, but at least I only do one article a week. Poor Aoi works late to meet her last-minute deadline for three of them on the same day.
During this stressful late-night grind, scrounging for any idea to use for a story that will launch her into the career of her dreams, Aoi instead finds a mysterious red sphere that promises to grant her wish. Surprisingly, she doesn’t wish to become successful or famous right off the bat, she only wants to meet the magical idea she had for a story – to meet the eponymous “Dream Bird.”
The Dream Bird, dubbed “Dori” isn’t exactly a bird, but a baby Zandrias. This Kaiju has appeared in many different Ultraman series, starting with Ultraman 80, in many different contexts. One connecting theme across all of these stories relates Zandrias’ childishness to stubborn conflicts the human characters face in their own lives at the same time. Whether it’s frustration over a controlling parent, unrequited love, or unrealized dreams in this case, Zandrias’ attitude often connects with our own flawed humanity in heartfelt ways.
For Aoi, Zandrias’ appearance causes a lot of problems, but gives her new motivation and inspiration to write. It even seems to give her advice for her stories, providing a bright spot of hope in her otherwise dull and wearisome job. Dori is almost treated like a child… but eventually children have to grow up.
Once Dori starts getting bigger, Aoi can’t hide the Kaiju any longer, and SKIP is called in to deal with the issue. As you might imagine, if a government agency came in and threatened to take away your sole source of hope, your ticket to the dreams of success and prestige you’ve always desired, you might react rather poorly too.
It’s difficult to say whether Aoi reacted as she did because she truly cared for Dori as a living being, to protect its unique innocence from the GDF. Was that the case, or was she upset because they were about to destroy a profitable source of inspiration for her career as a writer? Like all things in life, it’s probably a little of both. Even the most idealistic desires of our hearts can be flawed. We don’t always act with the noblest intentions, even if we aspire to them.
The GDF may have also aspired to noble intentions, but their actions only made the situation worse. Several of the soldiers literally fired on the Kaiju as it stood in the open, when the only threat at the time was an understandably-distraught civilian trying to protect it!
At that moment, facing the awful reality of losing her dreams – and worse, losing them at the hands of the organization meant to protect her – Aoi snaps. She no longer wishes to be a writer who will inspire others to dream. Her new wish, in fact, takes the form of something that will obliterate dreams in revenge.
King of Mons is also a returning Kaiju, from the movie The Decisive Battle in Hyperspace which united Ultraman Gaia with Tiga and Dyna. Back then, even the combined strength of these three Ultra heroes couldn’t take it down. In this appearance, it now serves as a terrifying parallel to Ultraman Arc’s own source of strength – imagination.
While Arc is an avatar of hopeful imagination, the strength of courage to imagine a better future, the King of Mons is an avatar of annihilation. It overcomes all threats and all other challenges because it utterly destroys them. The future it represents is one of smoking, charred ruins. And Aoi immediately recognizes this. Her one moment of anger called forth this monster, but she herself is not a heartless monster and instantly regrets her words.
Just like in real life, Aoi can’t un-say those words. She can’t take back her wish. But she can wish for something even stronger than a monster, stronger than her anger and hatred, to fight back against it.
In the Battle in Hyperspace movie, a child’s wish also brings forth the King of Mons, and a different wish summons Ultra warriors to protect the Earth against it. This week, Aoi’s wish doesn’t summon another Ultraman… but an old friend we haven’t seen in quite a few episodes.
What, you thought they just picked Clair de Lune to play in this episode on a whim? Nope, from out of the dark side of the moon, Givas returns to fight alongside Arc as a true ally this time!
Even then, the true threat to the Earth can’t be destroyed just by killing the King of Mons. Givas and Arc protected the city from its rampage, but they can’t destroy the thing that gave the Kaiju its form or its potency.
The Red Sphere eventually reveals itself as a mirror of sorts, reflecting Aoi’s own heart. Ultimately, she created Dori and the stories that it inspired. Her flash of rage created the King of Mons. And now, she is the only one with the power to end this story, by wishing for the Red Sphere itself to disappear.
This final conversation between Aoi and the Red Sphere really stuck with me after the episode was over. The sphere itself tells her that she should let it become “a dream”... however we should know by this point that dreams are powerful. Dreams themselves have potency and inspire us to do great things – for better or worse – in every moment of our lives. The moment at the end when Aoi once again hears Dori’s encouraging voice may be imaginary, but that does not make it any less real.
And readers, I think that summarizes the importance of this show far more eloquently than any of my attempts at writing here. Regardless, I hope you’ll stay tuned right here to Ultraman Connection for the next time.
