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Ultraman Arc

Ultraman Arc, which is the 36th entry in Tsuburaya's long running tokusatsu franchise, aired its final episode last week. I recall when I first watched the trailer before its July 2024 premiere, I thought it looked goofy and feared it would be a corny series geared for young children. To my surprise, I ended up loving it. It's the best of the new generation Ultra shows since Ultraman Z. 












The story introduces SKIP (scientific kaiju investigation and prevention center), which was established by the GDF (Global Defense Force) to investigate and aid in evacuation during kaiju attacks. It's members include Yuma Hize, a young man who lost his parents years ago during a kaiju attack. Now as an adult, Yuma joins SKIP as an investigator, with a background in kaiju biology research. The other members are Hiroshi Ban, the team leader, Rin Natsume, a programmer, Shu Ishido, a member of the GDF's science division who specializes in alien and space kaiju research, and You-Pi, their lovable robot. At the start of the series, there's a giant horn-like object stuck in the ground, a leftover from a battle with an alien named Monogelos, the beast that was responsible for the death of Yuma's parents. When more kaiju start appearing, Yuma is aided by Ruiton, a being of light, who helps him transform into Ultraman Arc to defend Earth against threats.













What made this series so good was that it's primary focus was on the writing, taking time for characters development and telling good stories instead of putting all the emphasis on special effects and monster action. Though they clearly didn't skimp out on that aspect either, as the kaiju scenes and fights were all top notch and well done, utilizing a lot of creativity. Just like Z, Arc took its time to tell its stories and introduce plot points here and there that would have big payoff later. Everyone in the cast were fantastic, each bringing their talent to making their character relatable and likable. Yuma's arc was told throughout the course of the series, slowly revealing his background, and why he was chosen to embody Arc. I loved how this was done, instead of simply giving him a generic 5 minute explanation of why he's now an Ultraman.










After the massive disappointment that was Trigger (a disorganized mess), and the just so-so Decker and Blazar (which I got bored with halfway through after a fantastic premiere episode, before it fell back to basic Ultraman series tropes), it was nice to see a show that wasn't trying to skate by on simple nostalgia and made a real effort to be its own thing. Like the original Showa shows, Ultraman Arc attempted different styles from episode to episode. Some were fun and comedic, others were action packed and suspenseful, and some were sweet and touched on themes of isolation, loneliness, characters learning to challenge their long held beliefs, zenophobia, and friendship. The end result ended up being one of the best Ultra series. For me, Arc is up there with the original, Seven, Tiga, Nexus, Max and Z. I'm glad I chose not to judge a book by its cover (or in this case, the trailer) and give this show a chance, as it proved to be absolutely worth it.








 

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