By Joe Gibson
Intro
Ultraman Omega is the
newest Ultraman show, airing as I have been writing this and when this will go
up on the blog and probably after for a little bit. (These new Ultra shows will
generally have 25 episodes and a movie.) I suspect some of our audience here
has watched a few of the older Ultra shows when they aired on American sci-fi
channels, but outside of whatever die-hard or new Ultra fans stumble upon this
article, I think you could fairly call it a Herculean task to keep up to date
on the Ultra series. Though I have long been a fan of Godzilla and tokusatsu in
general, only recently have I begun to get into the Ultra series, and that is
because of the sheer amount of content to sift through. After all, there are at
least as many Ultraman shows as there are Godzilla movies, and, unlike the now
2-3 year gaps between Godzilla releases, a new Ultraman show comes out every
year, and maybe they will slow down after the anniversary next year, but who
really knows?
We are technically in
the Reiwa era of tokusatsu entertainment, but New Generation is the subtitle
most often applied to these new 21st century productions after the Showa series
and Heisei series have passed. New Generation is not only a category grouping
production cycles, season lengths, common creatives and common tropes, but it
has also become a large part of the discourse given that some new shows have
deliberately referenced previous shows as the “New Generation” version. As
such, it kind of poisons the well to compare any new show to anything that came
before in the fandom, which makes it simultaneously the best and worst time to
jump into any new Ultraman show. At its worst, a show will be blatantly
inspired by a previous one and/or have like 7 past Ultra heroes show up
alluding to previous themes and conflicts, and, at its most unobtrusive, there
will be an episodic crossover with the directly previous Ultra hero or possibly
a secondary Ultra in the show that either has his own previous adventures or
not. Ultraman Omega, thus far, is on the self-contained end of this spectrum,
even downplaying the Ultraman part of Omega’s identity when he remembers his
name (he is an amnesiac in the show).
As of right now, 9*
episodes of the 25 have aired, mostly vague Monster of The Week filler episodes
emphasizing the characters involved in the show, with the most recent episode
being a recap episode (I usually skip these, but I especially like this cast
compared to other Ultra shows, so I watched it as well). Based on the
descriptions for the September batch of episodes, the show is about to pivot
into more overarching plot considerations with an actual attack team, so, from
almost every angle, now is the best time to come here and debrief on my
thoughts on the show so far. (For American 20-26 episode television, there is
usually a midseason break after the 9th episode anyway.) I have noticed a large
variety of opinions on this show ranging from positive to negative, so my goal
here is to influence you to watch a couple episodes from my coverage and add to
the discourse or just to put my thoughts out there for those already watching
it, since this is a somewhat unprecedented situation for me, being able to post
and talk about a tokusatsu show as it is airing instead of years later.
So, enjoy my
recollection and impressions, as truncated as I can make them (still ultimately
about 5000 words), of 9 episodes of television back to back.
Episode 1
Ultraman Omega opens
with an action set piece on some kind of moon involving a horde of insect type
creatures whose suit has been repurposed from a previous kaiju. Actually, in
this scene, CGI portrays these monsters, and you cannot really tell (but I also
think they will come back in suit form for an episode later on), which is good
because while I take the hardline stance that I think the Ultra series should
stick to suitmation because they are the only ones still doing it, it is really
only in the last couple decades that the CGI in kaiju media has been good
especially on a television budget. Advancement in the genre is advancement in
the genre. In any case, the name of these creatures puzzles me a little
bit.
Evidently, the creators
wanted to mix the words bug and insect, and, for whatever reason the b turned
into a v. Vugsect, depending on how you say it, can sound a little crude, but
the other romanization of this word is Vagsect, which is closer to a yonic
symbol than it is to the original pun (and again, especially in plural, the
name sounds pretty crude). Anyway, Omega fights the horde of Vagsects,
destroying the moon, and falling to Earth to lose his memory with no real
context for all of this.
What happened with Omega
and the Vagsects on that moon seems to be one of the main mysteries, especially
insofar as Omega himself will also probably want to figure that out. I do not
know where the show is going with this, but I am insistent one of the larger
Vagsects will have to come back as either a MOTW or one of the final three
foes. Since I have not seen anything officially identifying Omega as part of
the Intergalactic Defense Force (the garrison most Ultras find themselves under
serving in), I think it would be really interesting if the original Omega pre
amnesia was more morally dubious, but given how quickly Omega in human form
relearns empathy, I think he either is part of the garrison or will be offered
a place there after the movie (Ultraman Orb notably refused to join their ranks
when offered, but Omega wants to make friends and find his place in the world,
so he probably will accept).
In any case, after he
lands on Earth, he loses his memory, and, through very efficient character
building scenes in his lodging with his favorite foods and childhood relics, we
learn a lot about the other lead of this story, Kosei. Omega, in his amnesiac form,
needs someone to play off to show the nuances in his Ultra instincts and
growing humanity, and Kosei, especially when reacting to Omega relocating him
through the air away from danger, is perfect for this. Kosei’s strong sense of
morality also both endears him to the audience and keeps him relevant to the
action as he refuses to abandon a crying girl in the danger multiple times. I
am speeding past the nuances here because I do not want this to go on too long,
but I encourage you to watch episodes one and two for the best showing of
Kosei’s character and episode five for Omega’s.
The MOTW is not actually
the Vagsects but a new creature and suit as far as I can tell named Graim, who
has a drill on his nose and sharp claws. As a genuine threat to not only the
small humans but amnesiac Omega, I find the fight compelling and not merely
obligatory, though there is some debate on the choreography and intrigue of it.
While I have my issue with the concept of the slugger (mohawk blade many Ultras
have in order to detach and use as a knife), this episode shows the coolest use
for one in what happens to Graim. (Though Graim dies, he does not blow up,
which I found curious, and, sure enough, he will be back in the next batch of
episodes.) The last important thing of note to this fight is that the English
subtitles have an annoying habit of translating every sign and billboard
whenever they are available, not even always in English. If you are the kind of
viewer to make drinking games, take this into consideration*
Episode 2
I found the character
work in this episode even better than the premiere, and that is because of the
introduction of Ayumu, a researcher now part of the government’s effort to
understand the kaiju, who chances upon Omega, the man who has all the answers
but remembers them one vague hint at a time. Specifically, Omega, who Kosei
names as his cousin Sorato as a cover, is too naive not to reveal his identity
to Ayumu, and Kosei has to keep her from realizing the full magnitude of what
Sorato has just done repeatedly. (In the coming episodes, Sorato will literally
summon his slugger in front of Ayumu.) Though this bit has a shelf life and
absolutely should not go on too long, it is gripping here. Arguably, stuff like
this puts Kosei as not just co-lead and deuteragonist but as the main character
and protagonist.
I define the main
character by having the most screen-time but protagonist as the most important
character, like how a narrator and POV character is not necessarily who the
story is about such as in the Great Gatsby or Attack on Titan. Sorato being a
mostly content comedic vessel in these episodes contrasted against Kosei who is
not only the POV character but the active character keeping a secret and
befriending Ayumu tips these scales a certain way. However, it is also true
that Ultraman Orb, very early on, seemed to have more screentime and
perspective for Naomi than for Orb, reversing this gradually until it was fully
Orb’s show, so we will have to watch the entire series closely to truly appoint
a main character and protagonist.
Dugrid, an amphibious
kaiju converted from a preexisting suit, actually deals the greatest damage to
Omega, ripping the costume in the real world. But no uh, though this fight is on
a technical level less original than Graim’s, the presence of a dam and the
recollection of Omega’s beam keep this fight interesting. What I gravitated
toward the most in this episode was the squelching sound effects placed over
the fight that were near constant to communicate the beast’s texture. One
criticism of the show I have heard is that the soundtrack is quite dull, and,
since the only sound I can strongly remember is Dugrid’s sticky body, that
might be true. As the obligatory counter, this episode does not have notable
inexplicable billboard translation, so I thought they had fixed that, but it
was just because there were no billboards present in this final fight (those
intrusive translations will be back the next two episodes)*
Episode 3
So, ever since the third
show in the Ultraseries, Ultraseven, the kaiju have not just been Monsters of
the Week but have also been helpers to the main hero. Ultraseven had capsule
monsters, Ultraman X had Cyber Gomora, Ultraman Z had Sevenger, Ultraman Blazar
had the clearly Mechagodzilla-inspired Earth Garon, and Ultraman Omega has the
Meteokaiju. This episode debuts his first helper kaiju, and, interesting
enough, this monster bonds with Kosei, not Sorato. Though Omega struggled
against Graim and Dugrid, to justify a team-up, this fight has to be even more
difficult, and, so, the MOTW is Pegunos, a very impressive penguin that can
fly…by using the power of cold. Rekiness is the name of the meteokaiju, so
called because of his telekinesis, and, while I cannot necessarily argue that
the choreography of the first two episodes is not as uninspired as other
commentators have claimed, weaponizing its own flight inducing cold to restrain
Omega and then being telekinetically attacked by rocks makes Pegunos’ one of
the most interesting kaiju fight scenes I have ever seen. Pegunos is, of
course, a heavily modified Peguila suit, Peguila also being a penguin with cold
powers. In Peguila’s case, it was a monster from Ultra Q, and the first
Ultraman season that came after modified that suit into Chandlar, so there is
precedent for this specific instance of suit conversion.
Though there is
progression in the trio’s dynamic (not necessarily enough yet since they are
still keeping Ayumu in the dark; she ought to be the Hermione of the group yet
more often than not has a cameo level appearance), Rekiness surprisingly steps
up as a character with his specific fondness and connection to Kosei instead of
Sorato as we might have expected*
Episode 4
In this episode, there
is a rather childish split between Sorato and Kosei that somewhat infantilizes
Kosei in the way it happens (especially how he needs a kind and warm father
figure to explain the theme to him after having essentially a tantrum), but
that is merely my perspective, and the vast majority of auto translated
comments under the YouTube video found the plot inspiring. In any case, it
codifies the friendship and partnership of Sorato as Omega and Kosei as
Rekiness on the battlefield, so there is plot utility to these decisions even
if I find it a waste of time. I think my issue is that, in the early episodes,
the stakes were so high or weirdly specific for Kosei that to see a more down
to earth simple conflict of feeling left out did not feel similar to my
previous understanding of the character. Ayumu’s integration in the plot to investigate
the MOTW with Sorato makes sense and follows up on her previous trajectory, but
it is a little strange that she has not figured out Sorato’s secret yet
especially when very little would change this point on if she learned it here
(I guess that spoils that she is not that important in this batch of episodes
despite third billing).
This week, the monster
is an evolved dinosaur, a Therizinosaurus called Therizirus that can also turn
invisible for as of yet unclear reasons. As you might have guessed, this suit
is not new either, instead a converted Basser, a bird kaiju that has only
appeared in special forms like Maga Basser or Rai Basser and never the actual
base Basser. The suit’s conversion into Therizirus likely means we will never
see normal Basser, but Therizirus is cooler anyway, with his birdlike
movements, sharp claws and more fierce design. Rekiness has to condense himself
into a weapon for Omega to use, a sword that he can slice with at superspeed,
which is where the toyetic parts of the show come into play.
The meteokaiju will
largely exist as armor/weapon pairings for Omega, and, as they are based on
mythical creatures from Eastern culture, there will likely be four of them.
Rekiness is the Azure Dragon, Trigaron from this same batch of episodes is the
White Tiger, I believe I have seen art depicting the Vermillion Bird kaiju, and
the Black Tortoise may appear in the show or the movie or the stage show or not
at all. The episode reveals that Rekiness can function for 10 whole minutes,
which debatably takes the cool factor away from Omega’s 3 minute capabilities,
but the fact that he is a culture symbol and reference contextualizes why he is
so darn cool (Western audiences have no problem with Jesus archetypes having
cool special powers; in fact, we expect it)*
Episode 5
Episode 5 is the main
thing holding me back from declaring Kosei the unambiguous main character and
protagonist because this episode keeps the focus solely on Sorato encountering
and learning to understand a specific human character conflict that happens to
involve a monster. Teenager Miko, reacting to traumatic family circumstances
gravitates toward a snake kaiju that subsists on metal, I think specifically
iron because while alloys in farming equipment suffice, it also sucks the iron
out of Miko’s blood or something to that effect. The episode is somewhat
ambiguous about what Mikoto’s intentions are (it could be anything from a
sinister parasite to a magical spirit), but, as we see this situation through Sorato,
his emerging beliefs about friendship give a sympathetic reading of these
events, even after Mikoto grows to giant size. The show is able to balance the
power creep of Omega fairly well because the struggle in this fight for Sorato
is emotional not really physical. I have less to say about this episode except
that Mikoto is a new suit or I guess puppet, and I do not recall any billboards
in the subtitles*
Episode 6
In this episode, Ayumu
and a coworker inspect the fallen body of a pink mole kaiju that died
mysteriously when its mate emerges and chases them into the forest, where
Sorato and Kosei wind up. As I mentioned that Sorato playing off a more
in-focus Kosei helps to visually develop the amnesia, I also appreciate how
some episodes have Sorato and Kosei as a dynamic duo comedically crashing a
different character’s focus episode to communicate that Kosei is also learning
the Ultra side of things from Sorato, mastering his own capsule monsters like a
hyper specialized Reionics. The issue here is that the focus ends up split
between Ayumu, who sorely needs it, and her annoying coworker, who defies the
very notion of a hero’s journey or story cycle to interject the same annoying
personality flaws into every scene. I should clarify that my knee jerk reaction
does not mean the episode is poorly written; the utility of a singularly
annoying character would be to make Ayumu look better by comparison, very
simply show off an antitheme, or just have a consistent character true to his core
flaws (mainly this latter category). I just will rewatch this episode less
because of that man.
The pink moles are
called Gedrago, and, even though they are yet another reused suit, this new
monster is interesting on its own, demonstrating an iconic mating dance the
entire time during the fight because it only emerged to reproduce with its now
dead mate. As Ayumu is nominally the main character of this episode, she is the
one that figures out that Gedrago is basically a larger version of a fictional
mole in that universe that does the dance, and Sorato listens to her because
she is his friend and again nominally the main character this episode. (I
really hope she figures out that Sorato is Omega soon.)*
Episode 7
While this episode deals
with the arrival of the second Meteokaiju Trigaron and a vile streamer trying to
discredit Omega, it would be disingenuous for me to start with anything but the
reappearance of Gomora, a classic kaiju from the original 1966 Ultraman show
who has made intermittent reappearances since Ultraman 80, because everything
in this episode points back to Gomora or makes him look good in some way (which
I appreciate because he is a good kaiju, one of the best, in fact). The episode
begins with a fight against Gomora where Omega thoroughly loses (it is
technically because Sorato has just contracted his first cold), and Gomora even
shakes off Rekiness’ telekiness (he’s just that strong). Finally, the
meteokaiju, for whatever reason, is inside of a meteor that resembles Gomora’s
distinctive horns for no reason other than to make us think Gomora has
something to do with Trigaron (he does not). The only thing that gives me pause
about this episode’s reverence for Gomora is that he is
usually a more sympathetic kaiju than this (even a hero sometimes), but that is
probably the tradeoff of coming right after two sympathetic kaiju and being the
kaiju that forces a team-up. Also, they wanted to reference the “Gomora gets
his tail cut off again” bit, which works a little better if we are rooting
against him.
While I can give
apologetics for Ayumu’s coworker’s minimal characterization last episode, the
main human antagonist of this episode, clickbait streamer Wolfy, is a very
shallow caricature of the worst human being (rude to people on the street,
farms for content with clickbait and also generative AI misinformation) but
holds this episode back from being a thorough interrogation of the trust
society places in Omega. There just is not sufficient time in the episode for
the confrontation between him and Kosei in the episode to make more than one or
two points, and the show resolves it with Kosei’s rock turning into a kaiju
in front of an entire crowd with nobody commenting on that. Ideally, Wolfy
would have been a more serious character interrogating the trust Kosei and
society have in Omega a little more effectively, which I think means that it
would have been a two parter, something Gomora is no stranger to starring as
MOTW in*
Episode 8
It is interesting to
reread the script up to this point and realize just how much better this episode is than the last few consecutive ones. I almost want to
review it by itself. It manages to avoid many of the issues with the
previous episodes, while also being one of the most bizarre homages I have ever
seen. This is the Brigadoon episode, essentially where time and space separates
a specific town from the outside world, only accessible under irregular
circumstances, but Mons Ahgar, a monster from previous shows, is trapped there
with the spirit of a little boy that warns travelers away.
A group of college kids
with absurdly advanced technology and very eccentric personalities called the
Ghost Riders contact Ayumu to aid in their investigation. Ayumu, who is a more
active character than usual, drags Sorato and Kosei along with
her, very driven to investigate this phenomenon, which follows up on her
development in the episode with Gedrago (committing herself more seriously to
her work). When the little boy spirit warns her not to go forward, she still
does because she wants to understand what is happening and help the child,
which mirrors Kosei in episode one and seems like an important step to
elevating her to full tritagonist.
The Ghost Riders show
exactly how insane the SSP from Ultraman Orb would seem if they were not the
main characters, and, also, just like that show, the writers seem to be hinting
at Omega’s backstory through an episodic adventure that involves a ghost who
seems to know Omega and may come back later in a more important capacity.
But even though the Ghost Riders are actually insane, putting way too much
trust into an AI that immediately malfunctions and almost sucks Mons Ahgar into
the real world, the show takes otherwise annoying characters and makes them
funny with how both Kosei and Ayumu are confused at their behavior, but Sorato
finds them so amusing he joins in. This is the kind of trio dynamic that the
show needs, and also, with how Ayumu witnesses Omega in giant size doing the
Yippie Yi Aye dance of the Ghost Riders, she should have everything she needs
to figure out who Omega is in the near future.
The show finds a way to
implement its gimmicks (drinking game list) of Sorato sniffing the kaiju, funny
Kosei and Sorato banter, Ayumu musing aloud about the episodic mystery, Sorato
randomly remembering the kaiju’s name and pulling off a new ability out of
instinct really tightly back to back in the quintessential episode thus far.
One of the main draws of
the episode is the mythology it insinuates that many years ago a crimson giant
Daidarabotchi sealed away a celestial evil Aga (likely this is Omega and Mons
Ahgar given how the child recognizes Omega and uses Omega’s same hand sign that
he uses against all the kaiju to keep Mons Ahgar in place, and also how Omega
is able to close the ensuing portals barehanded in the first place). This could
mean reappearance for the child to give Omega some kind of additional power-up,
but it would be more unique if due to some timey-wimey Brigadoon shenanigans,
the little boy spirit is in fact Omega through his missing memories or maybe an
impression of a previous time he visited Earth and sealed the monsters. I am
not saying that speculation is canon to the show. I don’t know exactly the kind of
story they are telling, but there are many directions they could go with it. We
also should not forget that Mikoto also legitimately could be some kind of deity in
this pantheon.
The battle is also the
most inventive since the Pegunos fight. While Mons Ahgar is essentially just
very strong and able to spontaneously harden the soft spot of his head, the
Ghost Rider’s AI is constantly creating portals around them that Omega has to
stop from sucking them in. The meteokaiju in play this time is Trigaron because
he got introduced recently, and they need to follow up that momentum. Given
what happens in the fight, Rekiness would be the better choice, but Kosei tries
to use both and realizes he can only use one at a time, an organic
implementation of important exposition.
In this episode,
Trigaron communicates to Kosei that he also has a weapons mode, but I don’t
even care to frontload the review with that part because I find it really well
done how visibly tired Sorato got from resisting the portals even before his
color timer started blinking and how well the battle flowed into these points.
The sincerity of the show and this battles shines through in moments like when
he puts down his weapon to do a thumbs up and then speed-blitzes Mons-Ahgar to
death.
In the wrap-up, Ayumu
chews out the Ghost Riders for using science as a toy, keeping the commentary
on AI in this show largely negative, and she goes back to Kosei’s lodgings with
them to hang out, sharing an “older sister advice” moment with Kosei (he has
previously referred to her as that kind of figure to him, but this is the first
episode to show that in an efficient way). As of yet, this is the best episode
to understand Ayumu and what she can bring to the show*
Episode 9
Do you remember how
Gomora’s episode gave the most shallow exploration of how the public views
Omega that it possibly could by having a one dimensional villain fake
independent news in a subplot?
Well, the recap episode,
rather than the traditional clip show episode set-up, actually ostensibly
follows up on that premise (you’ll learn why I say ostensibly; though the
episode trailer promised this, it leaves something to be desired). If they were
going to do this, they should have led naturally from that episode into this
one because I feel like after Brigadoon and ghost children, I am the only one
still thinking about Wolfy and the crowd he incited.
Kosei works and lives in
the Taiyo Warehouse, somewhat noncommittally looking for another job and
residence while benefitting from the generosity of his boss. In the same
building, on the level above lives Nariaki Akaji. He listens to the radio and
essentially has an “As You Know” dialogue between himself and the Radio hosts
that overlays the stock footage. Fictional radio hosts actually do narrate the
episode previews every week, but, as you know, I think “As You Know” dialogue
is bad writing done any way except satire, so….
Nariaki looks back
fondly on those first two battles, even modeling Omega’s slugger and beam
attack (I am choosing to believe childish Nariaki Akaji is a parody of childish
Gamera director Noriaki Yuasa; it is up to you if you want to believe that as
well). However, he is surprised to learn of the incident with Mikoto in the
countryside as he could not directly witness that (or implicitly either of the
previous ones). It is interesting that the radio program jumps straight from
Mikoto to the Ghost Riders, but, in universe, they sent a lot of reports about
Mons Ahgar and the Brigadoon, so they would reach out to a radio show.
Nariaki actually
reflects on Sorato’s contemporaneous arrival to Japan with the kaiju and even
models Sorato’s physique and style in the same way as he does for Omega. This
all implies that this absolute moron is closer to figuring out Sorato’s secret
than Ayumu without even being in the field with them. Kosei and Nariaki
actually are friends that go out to lunch, and Kosei has apparently explained
much of the relevant backstory to Nariaki, hence how he can flirt with this
conclusion. Nariaki is also strangely attracted to Ayumu, but it is a more
childish hero worship akin to how he feels about Omega than a sexual thing.
The episode finally gets
to exploring the actual premise of “how do the civilians feel about Omega” in
its final three minutes, when the mother of the crying girl Kosei and Omega
saved in episode one calls in and (unknowingly) commends Omega (and Kosei).
Nariaki finds it very moving, and though he is acting in an annoying over the
top way, we are not really meant to look down on him for this. That’s why my
mind jumps to Noriaki Yuasa: a very simple eccentric man communicating an
earnest point in a weirdly passionate way. I like his movies more than I like
this episode.
The stock footage for
the Dugrid fight had the music, so, upon another watch, I maintain the
squelching sound effects are more impressive, but the track goes from whimsy to
tense buildup to an exciting rock chorus. Finally, the radio episode preview
reveals next week’s episode to be horned whale Gubila’s inevitable appearance
(Gubila being another kaiju from the original Ultraman that I like but is one
of the most overused Ultra kaiju ever). Though there were nice moments brushing
the surface level of this premise, the episode did not explore the general
public’s opinion on Omega. For what it is worth, the episode’s YouTube
description clarifies, it is just Nariaki’s biases and opinions explored in the
episode, but still.
I hope there was not
tonal whiplash from me gushing about one episode and heavily criticizing the
next, but, for one thing, the recap episodes generally aren’t good, and I
actually lied to you earlier; this was not episode 9 but a special episode, so
it is just barely above a stage show in terms of importance. You can easily
skip this one if you want to, but Nariaki is still a better character than
Ayumu’s coworker from the Gedrago episode*
Conclusion
So far, I love this
show, and, while I am trying to be more clinical in my breakdown of the show
here, I enjoy every episode exceedingly and might count it as my favorite Ultra
show so far. I may or may not cover the rest of the show in a blog post or on
the YouTube channel (I am about to get a lot more busy with school), and you
can let us know if you like the show, if you do not like the show or if you
want us to give more thoughts on it. As I said, I would encourage you to give
the show a chance. I find it to be quite special, and you might too. I would
rank the monsters thus far from best to worst: Pegunos, Rekiness, Gedrago, Therizirus,
Graim, Trigaron, Mikoto, Dugrid, Gomora, Mons Ahgar, and the Vagsects. The
thing is though I love almost all of those kaiju, hence Gomora, one of the all-time
greats being that low. It truly is impressive for a monster show to create such
a compelling monster cast with mostly recycled suits, and, with that, I will
leave you with some of the best intrusive billboard subtitle moments.
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