Hello and welcome, Ultraman Connection readers! Whenever an Ultraman show comes to the end of its season, our heroes often find themselves at their lowest moments, in the most dire circumstances or facing the most deadly threats the universe can summon against them. They are each distinguished in turn by the ways in which they overcome these dark times.
Ultraman Arc is no different in that respect, and our main character Yuma Hize has already carried on the tradition admirably in previous episodes. He’s already faced off against the terrifying Trigelos, an evolution of the monstrous space Kaiju which first threatened the Earth on “K-Day” sixteen years ago, and also took the lives of his parents in its attack. Despite Trigelos’ increased strength – and increased number of horns – Ultraman Arc defeated it with the help of the SKIP team, the Earth’s Global Defence Force, the GDF, and even another inhabitant of Arc’s homeworld, named Biorno!
And that, unfortunately, brings us to the problem this week.
After defeating Trigelos in the previous episode, the Kaiju seemingly detonated, taking out a huge section of Hoshimoto City in the process. The last thing we saw before the new year was the panorama of destruction witnessed by the remaining members of the SKIP team, with Yuma and Arc nowhere to be found. With two weeks to wait until the next episode’s airing, I know all of us feared the worst. Not exactly a fun time to spend the holiday season, I’ll say!
The previews for this week’s episode compounded that sense of dread. They suggested that the events of Arc, all the battles and victories and friends we made along the way were merely illusions dreamed up by Yuma’s imagination. Was the show about to get seriously metatextual? Or was this suggestion itself an illusion? As episode 24, “The Descending Dream” opened, I know I was watching with bated breath, waiting to get some answers from the show.

Right away, the scene between Yuma and Arc felt “off”. The previous times when Arc, or rather, Routine, communicated with Yuma, he did so on equal footing. Even though these conversations were often in a mirror dimension, separated from the “real” world in some way, Arc deliberately used settings that Yuma would recognize, reflections of real places with history, space and weight behind them. This conversation, in contrast, took place in a strange blank void, utterly lacking any other recognizable features.
The message this supposed “Arc” delivered to Yuma also didn’t fit with what we’ve seen previously. It suggested that his own existence, all the other Kaiju they encountered, and all the events of the previous 16 years were all an illusion and that he was about to “wake up” from this dream. All he asked of Yuma was to let go, and return to “reality”.
It almost sounds reasonable as it’s explained to Yuma. Of course there’s no way fantastical creatures like Kaiju would suddenly appear in one small city all at once, defying all our knowledge of the laws of physics and material science. It’s impossible for an alien like Ultraman to appear and coincidentally take on the appearance of a childhood fantasy hero. None of that stuff ever happens in the real world, right?
Of course not, this is just a TV show after all.
All snarking aside, this appeal to practical materialism doesn’t quite convince Yuma. Instead the illusory Arc presents one other detail which almost seems irresistible – the idea that his parents are still alive, and waiting for him. He almost believes it for a second, but one other detail brings him back to the true reality of the world around him.
Yuma’s character is defined by the loss of his parents in many ways. However, he is defined by the ways in which he has moved forward from that loss. His father’s dying words, to “run”, inspired him into the future, to reach out and accomplish things that would have otherwise been impossible, and to reach out to others who also have experienced those losses. I’m sure he would love to have his parents alive again, but the connections he has now to the people around him are even stronger, and end up pulling him out of this illusory trap.
Sweed, Ze Su’s right-hand agent in this scheme, wisely realized that Yuma is at his weakest when he’s alone. Not just when he’s separated from Arc – more on that detail in a second – but when he doesn’t have the support of those friends and teammates.
Earlier in the season, in episodes 11 and 12, Yuma was forced to work alone as a result of refusing to attack the robot Givas. It was only briefly, but you could see how he was hurt by that decision, and the thought of being opposed to the rest of the SKIP team. In episode 22, “The Man in the White Mask”, Yuma was also attacked by a foe who tried to trap him in an illusory world. The titular masked man had to cut off Yuma’s support, making each of his teammates in SKIP forget themselves and leave him alone, before he could force Yuma himself into the same fate.

In each of these cases, the strength of Yuma’s bonds with others save him, more than his own strength. Even when Yuma thinks he’s alone, others unite around him, inspired by his own example. In a way, Yuma inspired himself to overcome the masked man’s illusion in episode 22, by recalling his passionate childhood art more strongly than he recalled the tragedies and losses which also marked that childhood.
Out of all the connections Yuma has made though, one of them has inspired a particular character more than any other in this series – Shu Ishido, the GDF special agent. In a way, I think the development arc around Shu has really defined this series, more than Yuma’s character alone. It’s one thing to see Yuma overcome the tragedies he’s faced and grow stronger, but we can see the importance of his character reflected in how other people around him also change for the better.
Shu started the series as a taciturn, serious professional who was willing to commit to violence, lies and other shady means in order to protect the world from extraterrestrial threats. It was clear he believed in his mission, but you could also tell that he didn’t much like the violent side of his job. This makes sense, of course he would dislike violence and paranoia if he fought so hard to preserve others from experiencing it themselves!
Yuma’s example gave him a way out of that seeming paradox, a way to have the strength to overcome threats without being forced to bear the burden of his missions alone. Throughout the series, Shu has moved from begrudging respect, to admiration of Yuma’s honest imagination and optimism. Yuma isn’t just a coworker to him anymore, or even just a friend, he’s a symbol of the future Shu desperately believes in.
Even more so now that Shu also knows that Yuma is Ultraman Arc.

The look on his face as Yuma once again runs forward – into battle against Guilebaku – says it all. He believes so totally in the strength of Yuma’s imagination, but in that moment also totally believes that Yuma will die in this battle.
It just ripped my heart out watching, I’ll tell you guys.
Things certainly seem grim for Yuma and Arc at this moment. Biorno appears in this episode to deliver more bad news – the Onyx has been poisoning Yuma and Arc ever since it became a part of their Galaxy Armor. I had wondered why Arc had been silent for so long ever since that mid-season event, but it turns out that he had been using all his energy to protect Yuma from the effects of that lethal radiation. No wonder Sweed could impersonate him to try and trick Yuma, Arc couldn’t step in to argue his case!
Even with the support of everyone behind him, Yuma and Arc together may not have the strength to overcome Sweed and Guilebaku in this final showdown. Even worse, falling here won’t just mean their deaths. It will also mean that Onyx is no longer contained, which will destroy the entire planet in a catastrophic meltdown!

Still, the power of Yuma’s imagination has overcome all the challenges they’ve faced to this point. What’s one more? There’s only one more episode left to find out, so we hope you’ll join us for the thrilling conclusion of Ultraman Arc this week.