Hello and welcome, Ultraman Connection readers! We left off on quite a cliffhanger last week, following the arrival of a new Kaiju threatening the peace and safety of not just Japan, but potentially the rest of the world! Our heroes were defeated by Eldeghimera’s terrifying new strength – and its ability to absorb other Kaiju to increase that strength. If it was just a matter of overcoming the Kaiju itself, that would be one challenge to face. However, both Sorato and Kosei have to deal with their own challenges, questioning their roles as heroes while fighting against the Kaiju.
So often when the characters in an Ultraman series hit rock bottom, that moment of desperation forces them to look at things in a new way, and grow as a result of the experience. Kosei certainly seems to be at his lowest point at the start of this episode. After all, Sorato’s injuries were in part caused by him shielding Kosei from Eldeghimera’s attacks. And that was before Omega threw himself in front of the newly formed “National Defense Force” base to protect it from energy blasts from the Kaiju! Sorato had it rough in the last episode.
When Sorato wakes up, and immediately decides that he’s going to leave the warehouse and go out on his own, that doesn’t make Kosei feel any better either!
It’s really interesting to see how much Sorato’s demeanor has changed over this first half of the series. He started off as almost a passive character when he was unfamiliar with Earth, the human beings around him, and their language and customs. It’s clear that he’s more at ease communicating with Kosei and others, so it’s almost unnerving to realize that he’s deliberately lying to Kosei when he assures him that he’ll be fine fighting the Kaiju by himself!
Okay, at the very least, he’s definitely downplaying the impact of this sort of decision. It seems like Sorato is trying to reassure his friend when he knows Kosei will protest and be angry about being left behind!
But Kosei, even despite his doubts, despite his shame about his mistakes during the last fight, and despite the fact that he’s been left alone without his usual amnesiac roommate to look after, still is antsy to do something. That drive to stand up, go out and meet the challenge anyways is a very characteristic part of Ultraman, and connects this moment in the show to some of my favorite parts of Ultraman Mebius.
Discussing one particular moment will involve some spoilers from the midseason of Mebius however, so let the reader be warned
In the last piece, I mentioned that Eldeghimera has a lot of similarities to the first major threat of the series, a Kaiju called Bogal. Sorato and Kosei also have a lot of similarities to the dynamic between Mirai – Ultraman Mebius himself – and Ryu, his partner and the second-in-command on the GUYS Japan team. However, those two aren’t the only members of the GUYS team. The rest of the defense team around them share in their passion for fighting to protect the Earth, and face challenges similar to this throughout the series.
During that show’s midseason, Mirai even tries a similar ploy to fight the mechanical Kaiju Imperizer by himself! Mirai knows this battle will be his greatest challenge yet – and in fact might be the mission he was sent to Earth for in the first place. He’s fully willing to die in order to defeat this threat against the planet, and doesn’t wish to drag his friends into a lethal situation such as this. In the days leading up to Imperizer’s arrival, he finds small ways to say goodbye to them, helping out at their jobs, making their favorite dishes – or in Ryu’s case, taking him out for a picnic complete with a basket of sandwiches.
I guess loving food from Earth is also a characteristic Sorato shares with his predecessors.
Now, if you’ve been paying attention to Ultraman Mebius up to this point, you probably can see where this is going. Mebius has only been able to face every threat and overcome it with the help of the defense team, fighting alongside them as an ally. But they don’t know that their goofy teammate Mirai is Ultraman at this point. When Mebius falls in battle, sustaining grievous injuries from his fight, it could have sealed the fate for the defense team and the rest of the planet. They could have easily given up after seeing Ultraman defeated. Heck, Mebius himself could have fallen into despair, thinking he’s not strong enough to stop Imperizer.
Obviously he doesn’t, and the defense team doesn’t, because there’s still an entire second half of the show. But that defeat paradoxically sparks the catalyst for them to come back stronger – especially once they know Mirai’s identity. Making mistakes, and facing failure is not the same as defeat.
Kosei, Sorato, Ayumu with her research, and even the newly-formed National Defence Force (NDF) all come to the same realization. They are all different people with different personalities, likes, dislikes – and even completely different home planets in Sorato’s case. But they all share the same passion. It’s not just a passion for winning, or a passion for defeating opponents, or a passion for being recognized and praised as a hero.
It’s a passion for protecting the lives of the planet.
When Sorato recognizes that Kosei shares this passion, both of them can reunite and fight alongside each other once again, with even more strength than before. Ayumu uses her passion to drive her research further, discovering the secret to defeating Eldeghimera’s biological proliferation. And at the end of the day, with the Kaiju defeated, and our heroes rediscovering their courage and heart to make them stronger, everything seems like a happy ending back to normal.
Except… Well, I did say the GUYS Japan team discovered Mirai’s identity as a result of his first battle against Imperizer. And in a similar way, Ayumu finally catches Kosei at the proverbial scene of the crime, discovering his connection to the Meteokaiju. Both Kosei and Sorato certainly have a lot of explaining to do, and the next episode I”m sure will go into great detail recounting all of it for her.
Until then, stay tuned right here to Ultraman Connection for more.
