By Joe Gibson
Here on Plan9Crunch I
have written articles and even some videos (links at the bottom of the essay)
pertaining to major landmark kaiju and tokusatsu franchises (Godzilla, Gamera,
Kong and Giant Robo). Indeed, my father Doug Gibson has said that I am the resident
kaiju expert on Plan9Crunch. Now whether or not that is true for those subjects
I will not say, but the fact is that, as far as Ultraman is concerned, I am
barely 2 steps ahead of most of the rest of you. Ultraman is simply too large
of a franchise to quickly master, and, before this year, I was content to never
even try to dip my toe in. Over thirty shows, over a thousand monsters, the
thematic web of Eastern symbolism and Christianity, the multitude of genius
suit actors, suit designers and show writers, it is all too much for me to wrap
my head around to impart to you, so this is not what that is for. We have
released a video as a very rough introduction to Ultraman on the YouTube
channel (Getting Into Ultraman - Plan9Crunch), but, for today, we are focused on a very specific chapter in a very
specific corner of the Ultraman multiverse (yes, it’s a Multiverse with
multiple universes that the Ultramen can switch between at a moment’s notice,
don’t question it, at least not yet). Specifically, my focus is on what a
specific show seems to be saying about the juxtapositions of war and peace,
darkness and light and power and weakness as well as the moral implications of
these things.
Ultraman Orb was the
2016 anniversary show and consequently featured gimmicks stacked on gimmicks to
sell more toys and cards that I will not mention here, but it was also quite an
ambitious project to where the 25 episode series was just one chapter in a
planned 10 part story, the story of the leads Gai Kurenai and Jugglus Juggler.
Forgive me for spoiling a rivalry built up with a good deal of tension and
intrigue, but Gai is the eponymous Ultraman Orb and Jugglus Juggler, katana
wielding suit wearing Majin (demon) used to be his close friend. Juggler,
within the context of his modern day appearances in Ultraman Orb as well as
later series, is a self centered multiversal terrorist that makes unwanted
sexual advances toward strangers (it is unclear when he is joking and when he
is serious about it), but one that ultimately has the capacity for redemption
whether or not he will choose to act on it. Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga,
essentially a classic action serial about Gai and Juggler’s first mission
together, basically has the task of showing who Juggler was to Gai before and
what caused their split.
This leads to the first
topic of note. Though it was technically ordered to Amazon Prime Video as the
adult alternative to the more kiddy Ultraman Orb main series and is much
earlier in the 10 chapter story (Origin Saga is Chapter 1 while the main show
is Chapter 6), it is still a prequel and the expectation on the viewer is that
they understand the core dynamic of Gai and Juggler. This is evident in how the
series builds and releases the tension surrounding the integration of their
friendship in the main plot. As they both faced the trial to become Ultraman
Orb and both expected Juggler to be chosen, the mission Gai gets from
Orbcalibur (the transformation gimmick is a sword, and if that seems arbitrary,
Ultraman Zero transforms via eyeglasses) is both Gai and Juggler’s mission.
Gai, emotional and reckless, struggles a lot early on as Ultraman Orb, and
Juggler, as a more measured, cold and composed counterpart, is an early mentor.
This is the opposite of their dynamic in the main show where Gai was a wise
loner and Juggler was the hot headed impulsive freak carrying out various acts
of terror so his old friend would notice him, and that is where the show first
challenges your expectations.
The end of each episode
features a teaser for the next one, and I think quite clearly is playing into
audience expectations waiting for the shoe to drop and these iconic rivals to
become enemies finally, showing the upcoming swordfight between Juggler and
Gai…that turns out to be mere sparring training and the still very human
Juggler getting infected by the evil armored buglike Bezelve/Bezelb possibly to
explain his armored Majin form…but he gets cured almost immediately and the
Majin form is something he discovers himself not some curse thrust upon him.
The inevitability of his heel turn means that no matter what positive role he
has to Gai and or Micott (one of the royal guards of the planet being menaced
by the Bezelves), the audience knows he is doomed to fall from grace somehow
and also knows it will happen over the course of a war between Dr. Psychi and
Empress Amate that Juggler himself warned Gai not to get involved in.
There will be more to
say on Juggler in a bit, but the main plot of the show is the invasion of
Planet Kanon by Dr. Psychi, and this is the main demonstration of its themes.
On the lush Planet Kanon, the very naive Empress Amate rules a peaceful society
informed by the wisdom of the Tree of Life that spreads its seeds throughout
the universe, is believed to sustain the entire planet and has spread its seeds
and associated wisdom throughout the universe, and Amate is capable of calling
upon the power of the Tree to become a godlike protector known as the War
Deity. Characters later link this same tree with the development of intelligent
life throughout the universe.
Conversely, Dr. Psychi
rules over the Bezelve (I am using the spellings available to me in the
Millcreek closed captions; as I understand it, the more widely accepted
spelling is Bezelb, which will be important when we get to where the writers
derived that name from) horde in a barren wasteland where the Bezelves infect
other beings with a poison called Kugutsu to take over their minds. The Queen
Bezelve incubates and distributes this Kugutsu across her subjects, reinforcing
a governmental structure but also mimicking the spread of the Tree of Life
(this comparison will be important later). Psychi comments on this comparison,
and, through Amate’s diplomacy efforts (sending Captain Shinra to talk things
out after Psychi’s threat of invasion) the show forces us to hear him out.
Psychi’s thesis is that
dystopian peace is better than the suffering of war, and he compares the
Kugutsu to the utmost obedience to the Empress that Captain Shinra and the rest
of the peacekeeping structure have. In that comparison, the Kugutsu technically
has higher efficacy. All of the Bezelves and their slaves cooperate perfectly,
whereas Amate’s wartime cabinet are at each other’s throats to where warhawk
General Raigo frames Captain Shinra for attempting to assassinate the Empress
just so that he can influence Amate to be more radical in her response to the
invasion. The flaw with Psychi’s argument is that the very first thing one
infected with the Kugutsu does is fight, because fighting increases the amount
of Kugutsu in the system, meaning that, ultimately this “peace” is born from
constant invasion and suffering. That underlying truth creates two
possibilities (Psychi is lying or Psychi is naive), and each would play into a
different existing theme.
Psychi is obviously a
terrorist invading a sovereign nation for very selfish reasons, but the show
allowed us to at least consider his viewpoint. Why do I say that? This
conflict, at least initially, notably does not take place on Earth where we,
the Earth-bound audience, have a preexisting bias to prioritize our viewpoint
and way of life over alien invaders, and Kanon, blank slate as it is,
contributes heroic characters but also dissidence in the highest levels of the military
structure and confusion in the primary decision maker. (Even in our
world, a government with a confused and inept ruler and a bloodthirsty hawkish
top General warrants some criticism to say the least.) Most importantly, the heroes of this show
are Gai and Juggler, who have nothing to do with Kanon outside of saving it
from this invasion. However, this show, through Psychi but also Amate’s own
unwillingness to fight back against the invasion for the suffering it would
bring, carries the implication that fighting back against oppression can be bad
because of the suffering it will bring, but this is a show about Ultraman, who
always will fight for what is right no matter the cost to himself
(specifically, this is Ultraman Orb, who only spares the kaiju of the week once
or twice in the main show). This is a complicated scenario also because other
Ultras are in play (badass Ultraman Dyna, pacifist Ultraman Cosmos, and rivals
Ultraman Gaia and Ultraman Agul), each of whom had their own show and journey.
Consequently, except when expressly relevant, I will try to ignore the later
and earlier shows.
The stakes of battle in
this conflict tie around control of the Tree of Life (though Psychi threatens
to destroy it, he actually wants its fruit as an insurance policy. More on that
in a moment) and being under control of the Kugutsu. All monsters and humans
beaten by a Bezelve will undergo infection from the Kugutsu (via tail spike
insertion), and, as we learn once Juggler falls to it, a seed from the Tree of
Life is the only cure. So while Psychi can comment all he wants on the
similarities between the structure of the society built around the Tree of Life
and the one built around the Kugutsu, and he can claim that the Kugutsu is the
safeguard for the rapid expansion of the Tree of Life and its associated side
effects of wisdom and war throughout the universe, it is more true that the
Tree of Life uniquely can negate the Kugutsu. The Tree of Life reigns over all,
and the Queen Bezelve only exists because of it, and Psychi can only carry out
his plan because of the wisdom the tree evolved the whole of the universe to
bear, while Psychi himself also wants to keep his wisdom, just rob everyone
else of theirs.
The series goes on to
connect the concept of wisdom to the Tree with the revelation that the Tree of
Wisdom’s dispersal through the universe leads to the evolution of reasoned wise
man, with Psychi’s ultimate goal to be creating a universe lacking wisdom that
leads to the free will to launch wars. However, the War Deity (the benevolent
protector giant Empress Amate could choose to become in order to protect her
people) and the Queen Bezelve are actually sisters. If this all has seemed very
alien and abstract to you, my audience that I presume has very little context
for anything Ultraman and far less about the mythology of Planet Kanon, it
might start making more sense now. These are warped Christian symbols.
The Tree of Life is the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because it is responsible for the wisdom
of man throughout the universe, spreading its seeds so that this wisdom but
also the ensuing war can reach Earth. Even corrupt warhawk Raigo and his
pregnant wife still exist culturally in orbit of the Tree of Wisdom because it
reaches the core of every human or humanoid. This could make Kanon the Garden
of Eden, as, in the second half of the show, the conflict and our characters
move from there to Earth, and, incidentally, Jugglus Juggler as a demon
wielding a flaming sword is the reason it does, but we’ll get back to him soon
enough. The characters that taste of the fruit of the Tree of Life (need
detoxification from the Kugutsu) are Amate, Juggler and Gai, so we will have to
examine their character arcs in a moment. (The various monsters under the
Kugustu are not important in specifics, because, otherwise it would be absurd
to have Birdon as one of Gai’s weak starter villains and equally absurd not to
have Red King as one of the monsters brainwashed to fight forever and ever to
multiply Kugutsu [Red King loves to fight].)
Queen Bezelve infects
the War Deity twice, and, because the other romanization of her species is
Bezelb (Beezelbub), it is clear she is a Satan parallel (and her insectoid
design is apparently a reference to the devil’s title of “Lord of the Flies”),
but, because she is quite literally tempting The War Deity, a protector both
divine and human that has an end times prophecy related to the fate of the
Queen, that means the War Deity is the Christ figure here. The textual evidence
for this comes from the prayer that Amate recites to become the War Deity,
wherein she asks the Tree of Life to consume her flesh, an inversion of the
sacrament. However, this takes us from mainstream back into a niche because the
idea of Christ and Satan as siblings strikes me as uniquely Mormon.
In Mormon lore, Lucifer
presented an alternative plan and destiny for humanity where they lack free
will entirely and all go to heaven because they commit no sins. A third part
(category designation more than mathematical calculation) of the host of heaven
follows Satan out, and demons go on to possess people up to Christ’s time,
similarly to how the Kugutsu overtakes a person. Psychi’s plan through Queen
Bezelve is to prevent war through Kugutsu mind control, ensuring peace at the
cost of wisdom. (I should also clarify that the Queen also wants to spread the
Kugutsu through the universe but also presumably wants Psychi under its influence
and without the robot companion Partel he built using wisdom, so both villains
are Mormon Lucifer coded in their goals, just one more than the other.) While I
hesitate to say any similarity to Mormonism in media is intentional, the
similarity is uncanny.
As humanity evolved its
wisdom from the Tree of Life, Gai's ascension into Being of Light Ultraman Orb
and Juggler’s journey into his Majin form must be considered a form of
evolution in this universe. Indeed, Shohei the earthling who evolves onscreen
from the Tree to gain a form of telepathy with Amate mirrors how Juggler
describes the exponential growth of Gai after attaining his evolution. It is
all somewhat miraculous, and the envy from the characters unable to tap into
this corrupts them (Juggler constantly muses about how he feels betrayed by
himself but also by destiny for not being chosen, and the form that he does
attain is that of a demon born from his suffering), but the fear of losing it
also motivates Raigo’s hawkish actions and the confused mistakes Amate and
Shohei make in trusting The Queen on their respective planets that almost
plunge the entire universe into chaos. Saying this all still feels like the
religious symbolism holds, especially because The Queen is a deceptive villain,
posturing herself as a sympathetic fallen angel being used by Psychi in order
to get a clear shot of Kugutsu into the War Deity multiple times.
The only complicated
thing here is that there seem to be multiple characters applicable for Christ
and Satan appointments. Psychi could represent Lucifer, but Queen Bezelve has
the Mormon sibling relationship to The War Deity, who is both God and woman.
Actually, Psychi does end up having to merge with the Queen for the final
battle in this show, so that is intact as far as Christ and Shadow
relationships go. To whatever extent we can question how different Amate is
from the War Deity, we can also question that for Psychi and Bezelve in their
final form. However, where do Gai and Juggler fit into this? As a being of
Light that is also a man sent to Earth to save the world, Gai is already suited
to be a Christ figure, and he suffers through the temptation of the Kugutsu
just like Amate. Moreover, while there is no sacrament symbolism in his power,
the prophecy of the Crusader’s Peak where Gai and Juggler try to attain the
power talks of a Gifted One, and Crusader’s Peak literally choses Gai to be
that Gifted One by Anointing him with the color timer, making Gai an Anointed
One, which is a name for Christ, whatever.
A large part of Gai's
arc in the main series is dealing with losing himself to his extreme power and
forgiving himself for the mistakes made when under the influence of darkness
and light. The setup for Ultraman Orb the main series is that he has lost his
original form Orb Origin due to the trauma of accidentally killing a former
lover while dealing with a powerful monster called Maga Zetton, and that is why
he is a fusion Ultra (one of the gimmicks of the show) that has to use the
cards of previous Ultra heroes to transform into a hero. Eventually, after a
lot of development while fighting Jugglus Juggler, Gai unlocks Orb Origin once
more as his final form of the show but also technically his base form. Orb
Origin in the main show is predominantly a black and silver design with some
red highlights, but the version of Orb Origin that appears in The Origin Saga
is red and silver with small black sections.
Here is where we must
examine Gai and Juggler in terms of what they gain and what they lose. They
both want to be the Gifted One Crusader of Light, and Juggler is physically
better in almost every category, but something about Gai makes him special.
After getting Orbcalibur from the Light, Gai begins to exponentially increase
physically, particularly in endurance using his Ultraman Orb form, in offensive
capabilities and in his wisdom. Juggler’s Majin form is a dark reflection and
inversion of this but also still additive. Where Juggler’s strength was in
offense and he already carries a sword, his Majin form gives him armor, and,
while his sanity was starting to slip from the moment Orbcalibur chooses Gai
instead of him, the Majin form gives him a sense of clarity and purpose,
gaining the wisdom that the Tree of Life is the centerpiece of the conflict.
Once on Earth at his most enlightened, Gai will protect the Tree from whoever
is attacking it, but at Juggler’s most enlightened on Kanon, he chops the tree
down, ending the fighting but at a great cost. Ultimately, as I discussed, Juggler's sanity resume and continue its downward spiral, but in this cosmic cosmological battle, where the options were defend the Tree of Life or conquer it, Juggler found a third option using the same slicing technique he'll use in the third to last episode of the main show to draw Orb out for their fight.
The main thing that
keeps these two from being the Christ and Satan of this story is that this is
just the prequel. Gai’s greater temptation with darkness happens far later, and
Juggler from now until his latest appearance shows and films later is just too
dynamic of a character to be any static allegory, and, to my understanding
Juggler is also the Ultraman equivalent of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, a villain far
too beloved and charismatic to stay a villain. Even on this show, aired after
the main show and playing with imagery from it, Juggler never does take the
full plunge into evil that we expect him to.
While I watched this
show the first time, I had the suspicion and even the hope that Gai would find
himself infected by the Kugutsu at some point but be able to shake it off
himself, at the cost of staining his original suit dark. That does not happen,
but my thought process was that it wouldn’t be a contrivance since the inciting
incident of this story is the inferior in skill and mental acuity (at least
compared to Juggler) Gai being chosen to be Ultraman Orb, and it would be
interesting for him to be the one chosen to be a being of light because of
incorruptibility. Standard prequel stakes already apply to where we know he cannot
die or stay evil, and it would make his later brief corruption all the more
frustrating for him if he started his journey functionally incorruptible.
However, they chose a
different path for this plot point. Orb Origin changes color very abruptly with
no explanation toward the end of the show, but Gai does undergo Kugutsu
corruption. It is actually Juggler who pulls Gai out of it though, and this
connects back to the main show (sorry to spoil it here). The thing that ends up
redeeming Juggler is that twice (the original fight against Maga Zetton and
against Magatano Orochi at the end) Juggler actually saves Gai’s explicit or
implied romantic interest. The specifics for why are not exactly clear, though
it seems pretty blatant that Juggler is 1 still in love with Gai 2 still
attracted to the idea of fighting alongside an Ultra and 3 might have some
level of attraction to Naomi the second of these damsels (she actually brings
up one of his earlier sexual innuendos back to him as the final push he needs to
fight alongside Gai). This show actually offers forth a new explanation that is
quite interesting.
I’ve brought up the
birth of Juggler’s Majin form as significant a few times, but this is where I
can reveal exactly what happens. Because of his own festering resentment for
being passed over by destiny to become Ultraman Orb, he is very antisocial to
the Kanon royal guard he encounters, especially Micott, who takes a special
interest in him. Micott practically throws herself at Juggler, most likely
romantically but explicitly through wanting him as a teacher with his special
swordplay style. In the final battle of Kanon midway through the show, Micott
is fighting a Bezelve, and Juggler can see exactly the mistake she is about to
make but has not trained her not to make it and so cannot stop the Bezelve from
killing her. In a fury, Juggler kills the Bezelve and every Bezelve he can
find, eventually tapping into a rage dark enough to adorn his body in a demon
armor. Though Juggler tries to corrupt Gai the same way he was corrupted over
the next few hundred years in universe, he cannot actually bring himself to do
this to Gai, because this is one of the worst experiences of his entire life,
and that is why he saves Natasha and Naomi in the main story.
Proceeding from this
point in the prequel though, this new Majin form, a new power only Juggler has
to counterbalance the unique power of Ultraman Orb he wanted, Juggler now has
the clarity to understand that the Tree of Life is the centerpiece of this
conflict. Juggler, flying in his demon form, flaming sword in hand, chops down
the Tree of Life in order to eject our main characters and conflict from this
setting. The characters who stay on Kanon, symbolizing Garden of Eden, are no
longer important to this story, as Amate, Shinra and Ricca (Micott’s partner)
all follow Gai to Earth. Though these characters will eventually return to
Kanon after the conflict is resolved, their God their War Deity is now divorced
from them after Jugglus Juggler, a demon who has tasted from the Tree of Life,
transgresses on their soil.
And the Earth arc is
where things get even more complicated. The Ultra series is set in a multiverse
where most Ultras protect their own Earth, but this is not the same Earth that
Ultraman Orb finds himself on in the main show, nor is it the Earth of Ultraman
Gaia and Ultraman Agul, the Ultras Orb meets on this Earth. At the same time, this
is where the more elaborate of Queen Bezelve’s manipulations happens, so the
twists and turns of the show, the moments where the characters decide and
revise their decision of who is the more immediate enemy the Bezleves or Psychi
or the Earth military forces, add to the somewhat jumbled confusion we have
already been parsing. Whether intentional confusion or not, it gets much more
complicated, but I believe I have isolated the thematic concepts whose
throughlines carry through the end of the show. I have not had other thoughts
to compare notes with in making this, which is part of why this has taken so
long to release. I invite all of you who have seen Ultraman Orb The Origin Saga
to share your thoughts and point out your own interpretations or areas where I
might be wrong. If you haven’t seen the show, it is available to stream on
Prime video, so I invite you to watch it there and give your thoughts here to
let me know if I should release a follow-up to this with clarifications and
concessions. Thanks for reading, and here are some links to other kaiju stuff
on Plan9Crunch.
Kaiju Playlist on Plan9Crunch YouTube link:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzpsBkJrfDIEBg2cFH6uobJXIPocsfuWs&si=Kl1yE3m8eRvU_YP5
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https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2025/06/part-two-godzilla-minus-one-strengths.html
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