Hello and welcome, Ultraman Connection readers! Previously, we grappled with a question which has long haunted the Ultraman franchise, a question of mankind’s place in the delicate balance of nature, and our relationship to all other lives on our precious planet Earth. This week, in episode 18, we face another long-standing dilemma of the franchise…
Just how many more Barossa aliens are out there?
Admittedly, the Barossa aliens don’t have quite as long a history in Ultraman shows, being first introduced in Ultraman Z. In that original debut, the episode ended on a punchline warning that there would be 10,000 siblings of the defeated Barossa who would come seeking revenge. And indeed, later on in the same series, a second one showed up for exactly that purpose.
Or so they claimed. That successor Barossa, as well as others in subsequent series, seemed more concerned about their own conquest and fortunes rather than upholding family honor.
To be honest, I love seeing new Barossa episodes in the more recent Ultraman series. It’s almost become a calling card for Kiyotaka Taguchi, who was the lead director for Ultraman Z and also directed each of the following Barossa guest appearances in Ultraman Trigger and now in Omega. They usually herald a rollicking fun time each week, along with a riot of references and re-used props from other Ultraman shows.
This time is no different. The new Barossa, Zahgon, kidnaps Kosei and Sorato while they were away on a training exercise in the mountains. Funnily enough, Sorato’s capture seemed to be an afterthought, Zahgon’s primary target was Kosei himself – more specifically, his Meteokaiju partners! They’ve become the targets of the Barossa’s signature avarice, and he threatens Sorato’s life until Kosei reluctantly summons them.
When all hope of escape seems lost, Kosei is rescued thanks to an unlikely savior – another alien, who turns out to be the Barossa’s little sister! She’s taken an interest in human beings and wishes to collect them like porcelain dolls for display. It was slightly alarming to also hear her discuss humanity’s looming extinction, but I can’t say I’m all that shocked. After all, in the previous episode we already heard ominous warnings about ecological disaster.
And this is an Ultraman series, lest we forget. Extinction-level threats against humanity or the Earth as a whole tend to fall out of the sky – or erupt from the ground – every other week. You could say “The Earth might soon be destroyed” on any given Tuesday in this universe and probably be correct.
It was this confluence of humor, bizarre happenstance and the clash of alien personalities with our equally awkward protagonists, which made this week’s episode particularly fun to watch. The best Ultraman episodes are never just about one thing or one punchline. In between the jokes and references to older Ultraman series, (Hands raised, how many of you recognized the Zarab universal translator before it was name-dropped?), we also got a heartwarming focus on Kosei’s character and his bond with the Meteokaiju.
Previously, I wondered if Kosei would be able to fight alongside the Meteokaiju more effectively after developing more of a bond with them. Turns out that getting kidnapped by aliens, shrunk down to the size of a toy and forced to adapt to survive against these bizarre threats gave him a lot of insight into the Meteokaiju’s own situation while they’re stuck on Earth. Ironically, Kosei started the episode with a desire to train and grow stronger, and that’s what he got – just not in the way he expected by being thrown into the middle of an alien sibling rivalry.
The episode ends happily enough, but I’m sure that Kosei and Sorato will need all the strength from their training to deal with the oncoming threats in store. That goes for next week’s preview, but also the rest of the series as we rapidly approach the final endgame. Until then, stay tuned right here at Ultraman Connection for more.
