Hello and welcome Ultraman Connection readers! Previously on Ultraman Omega, Kosei and Sorato joined forces once again with Ayumu, a biologist tasked with investigating the strange new Kaiju appearing around Japan. It’s been interesting so far to watch the series compare and contrast Sorato’s curiosity about the Earth, alongside Ayumu’s newfound drive to learn more about these mysterious creatures.
In this episode, Sorato gets to discover something else entirely new and unusual on Earth – dealing with a cold!
Being forced to take a sick day is all too often an annoying reality for most ordinary Earthlings, but Sorato tackles this new experience, and new challenges, with his characteristic gusto. Unfortunately, while he’s laid up, other new challenges arrive for our main characters. In addition to another Kaiju appearance, an internet personality (more like an internet troll) begins fostering suspicion against Omega to drive interest around his YouTube channel.
This seems like a lot for Sorato to overcome, even without running a fever! Luckily, he has Kosei and Ayumu to help out. After a chase around the city, avoiding a mob of upset civilians and a rampaging Kaiju, Kosei discovers the reason for its arrival. Ironically, it was following the arrival of something else from outer space, another Meteokaiju named Trigoron. After the fortunately-timed assist, helping Omega take down the Kaiju threat this week, it quickly joins Kosei’s team of Pok- er, I mean… modern day Capsule Kaiju! Yeah, we’ll go with that.
Speaking of classic references, the Kaiju in this episode is instantly recognizable to many fans as the Prince of Monsters, the Super Ancient Kaiju named Gomora! This is the first returning Kaiju in Omega, all the previous ones have been original to the series. Gomora, however, hails from the first Ultraman series in 1966, and has appeared in many other shows throughout the franchise over the subsequent six decades!
There’s one big reason why Gomora is so famously regarded in the franchise, it was the first Kaiju in the original series to outright beat Ultraman himself in a fight! The two-parter story concludes its first episode with Gomora triumphant, and Shin Hayata left without his Beta Capsule to transform again. Luckily, Ultraman is able to go for a second round and beat Gomora in the rematch, but that fight also became infamous because of its gruesome ending.
Gomora’s original appearance was a tragic struggle; a victory over a Kaiju that carried almost no catharsis or thrill, only aching, brutal regret in the end. Not all of Gomora’s appearances were quite as bleak, however. Gomora got a revival in the 2008 series Mega Monster Battle, as the lead member of Rei’s team of Kaiju, controlled by his Reionics Battlenizer. In this series, Gomora became a hero, a steadfast ally and a character in its own right, almost making top billing alongside the rest of the (mostly) human cast.
Just like the rest of the Kaiju in the Ultraman series, Gomora can serve many roles. It served as a beloved protagonist at the time, but many of its other appearances harken back to its roots as a dire threat fighting against Ultraman. An episode of Ultraman Z also featured a Gomora in very similar circumstances to the original series.
Instead of a misguided attempt at capture for scientific research, the defense team STORAGE attempted to move the hibernating monster to make way for a construction project. But history repeats itself – once as tragedy, second as farce – and an untimely bout of seasonal allergies causes Gomora to start rampaging after it wakes up. This time, however, Ultraman Z and the defense team beat the Kaiju handily in only a single episode. I wonder what made a bigger difference: Gomora’s hay fever, or Ultraman Z’s shiny new forms using the Ultra Medals?
In any case, it still is always a tragedy when Ultraman is forced to kill a Kaiju in order to protect other lives, and the original story of Gomora drives home just how painfully destructive that fight can become. This episode of Omega has plenty of laughs, but at the end of the day, Sorato and Kosei were still forced to destroy Gomora – once again – to protect the city. The civilians may have flipped their tune and recognized Omega as a hero because of his victory this week, but can Sorato truly regain his identity as an Ultraman if he can find no other way to protect lives on the planet?
We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, stay tuned right here to Ultraman Connection for more!
