Ultraman Arc Episode 3 Review “Unleash Your Imagination!”

Ultraman Arc Episode 3 Review “Unleash Your Imagination!”

Hello and welcome, Ultraman Connection readers! For the past two weeks, we’ve been astonished and excited by the beginnings of Ultraman Arc. With its fresh, new setting and characters, and the astoundingly creative spectacles accompanying each of the Kaiju fights, there’s a lot to appreciate about this new show.

The previous episode took a commonplace story within the franchise and delivered it with a down-to-Earth perspective coupled with out-of-this-world special effects techniques and direction. I couldn’t wait to see what the show would deliver this time, so imagine my even greater shock to find that this story turns the entire perspective of Arc around, and returns back to the beginning of these events.

Okay, actually it begins with a dream -- of a Giant of Light falling to Earth, while fighting a Kaiju.

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This itself is a memory, a flashback to K-Day, 16 years ago when these monsters first began appearing on Earth. It is also contained within another flashback, of Yuma’s first day on the job, three months before the first two episodes we’ve already seen.

Confusing? Not really, all of this builds on itself within the context of Yuma’s story. We received only vague hints about Yuma’s history and the arrival of the Kaiju on K-Day, so I appreciated this opportunity to fill in the details more specifically. The dream-like flow of his memories I think are important to the feel of this episode, and the bright, desaturated and glossy back-lit bloom of these scenes contributes to the idea of viewing things through the filter of a dream.

That being said, the present day scenes of Yuma working within SKIP also have the same bloom lighting, which makes me wonder if there is something more to the current assumed reality of his life, something we’ll uncover later on.

Only speculation at this point, of course. His past memories are dramatic and tragic enough without baseless hypotheses for the future. His initial dream, of the infamous “K-Day”, relives the memory of his parents’ death when he was only seven years old. While on a camping trip, a mysterious “eye” opened in the sky, dropping a mysterious being of light and the horrifyingly alien Kaiju Monogelos almost literally on top of them.

Monogelos clearly takes inspiration from the classic Zetton design, with its ridged body, seemingly-eyeless head, glowing yellow lights and intimidating screeching roar. Like Zetton, it also posed a huge challenge for the as-yet-unnamed Ultraman. Its attacks killed Yuma’s parents, and also left him with the “catchphrase” we heard in the previous episodes: “Time to run!”

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A motivating phrase to be sure, but it’s heartbreaking to learn that every time Yuma repeats it, he’s recalling his father’s last words to him, urging him to run to safety from Monogelos.

He doesn’t seem to make it to safety at first, and Yuma admits that he’s not sure how he survived the Kaiju attack either. He credits it to the “Giant of Light”, who must have saved him somehow. That seems like a reasonable assumption, but that also means the audience doesn’t yet know the details of how Arc first encountered him at that time.

We’re not done with the flashbacks yet! Yuma recounts this to Rin, while he’s on his first assignment working for SKIP. He must have the worst luck possible -- or maybe attracts trouble due to his connection with Arc -- because immediately after telling his story, another Kaiju very similar to Monogelos shows up, dropping out of the sky in the same way. This one has two horns, however, leading to its name of Digelos.

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I mentioned that Monogelos -- and Digelos like it -- was clearly inspired by Zetton because of its appearance. There’s another reason for that similarity, and it relates to the personality of these Kaiju. The previous ones we’ve seen, Leodo and Shagong, were creatures known to the Earth, with a context in this planet’s history and ecology, for better or worse. Monogelos and Digelos are completely alien and inscrutable in their aims. Are they here just to fight Arc? To destroy humanity? Something else? They may even be more like Greeza from Ultraman X and exist only as a terrible anomaly within the fabric of space-time itself.

Kaiju can be many things, and in this case, the utterly bizarre and unintelligible nature of these monsters means that they are fear incarnate.

For Yuma, and for the rest of the citizens of Hoshimoto City at that time, three months ago, there was only one chance, one hope they could hold onto in order to overcome that fear.

To trust in the power of Ultraman.

I find it fascinating that, even though Arc can talk to Yuma directly in words he can understand, he’s still just as mysterious as Blazar from the previous season. What does it mean that he and Yuma “are the same”, and that his thoughts produce Arc’s power? How did this union come about in the first place? Why does Yuma have this power? I don’t know how many of these questions will be answered during the course of the show, but it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. For Arc and for Yuma, there’s only one thing that must be done when lives hang in the balance of fragile time.

They run. Not away from danger this time. Now, he runs into danger, using the power he’s gained to protect others the same way Arc protected him 16 years ago.

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Using Arc’s power and the gift of his own imagination, Yuma overcomes his fear and destroys Digelos in a spectacular explosion. And I do mean spectacular -- when was the last time we’ve seen a physical Kaiju suit being blown up?

There’s so much else about this episode that feels significant, weighty in both emotional drama and uneasy portents for threats to come. If Digelos arrived without warning, seemingly to complete whatever unknown goal Monogelos started, then what’s to stop a third, a fourth, or a tenth Kaiju from appearing after it? Thankfully, this painful journey into the past also serves the goal of giving Yuma, and the audience, hope for the future. Until that future arrives, stay tuned right here at Ultraman Connection!