Directed and Written by Kyota Kawasaki. Airdate March 15, 1997.
We start big. We start explosive. GUTS and TPC’s ground forces are waging a furious battle against giant monster Jobarieh. The action is pitched on a large scale, with the tanks and GUTS Wings in full assault mode. They manage to drive Jobarieh into a temporary stasis, which is good news, because they have another major operation that’s just about to go into action.
Flashback to a week earlier. The GUTS team is planning “Operation Clitter Extermination.” This is when the audience discovers that this is the third installment in the “Clitters Trilogy,” which started with “Second Contact” and continued in “Phantom Dash.” Kyota Kawasaki directed all these episodes, but this is the first one he’s also written.
Surprisingly, the episode doesn’t involve Gazort, the giant monster formed from a Clitter conglomeration. Gazort has always seemed like a package deal with these beings in Earth’s upper atmosphere, and it took lead monster duty in the first two episodes. But Kawasaki chooses to take a new approach to TPC’s final conflict with Clitters, where GUTS plans to destroy their remaining nests above Earth using a dual assault from the Artdessei and the GUTS Wing 2. Kawasaki’s interest isn’t repeating the action style of the earlier installments. He uses this final chapter to explore the overall philosophy and purpose of GUTS, as well as Ultraman Tiga, through big character drama.
The episode covers a large amount of territory with the main cast, but it’s balanced so well that it never feels overstuffed. A character-by-character rundown of what’s going on:
- Rena is concerned that Operation Clitter won’t deal with the underlying cause of the Clitters’ existence: human-created electromagnetic disturbances in the atmosphere. She refuses to accept the rest of the team’s belief that there’s no way to avoid or slow down human technological progress.
- Yazumi, in his first major role, openly opposes Rena. He brazenly states that GUTS must continue to be “bigger and stronger” in their ongoing battles with monsters and aliens to protect Earth.
- Mayumi, Shinjoh’s sister, is still grieving the loss of her fiancé to the Clitters (in “Phantom Dash”) and sifting through her feelings about death.
- Daigo begins to reevaluate the purpose of Ultraman Tiga after he and Rena discuss if it’s possible that humans can find coexistence on Earth with other beings. Perhaps Tiga’s job isn’t to protect humanity, but to protect the Earth. Pieces of newly translated material from Yuzare’s time capsule also give Daigo reason to reconsider his role as Tiga.
- Captain Iruma, reflecting on the same mysterious data from the time capsule, has started to consider why monsters appear at all, and what greater meaning there may be to this.
Some of the best dramatic scenes so far in Ultraman Tiga arise from these conflicts. Rena has the most focus, although she doesn’t dominate the episode. She calls the human race “immature” and questions why Tiga would even bother protecting them (something she says to Daigo, who is Tiga). The conclusion of the episode justifies her stance about the Clitters, although there’s also a touch of cynicism to the resolution that prevents the story from getting too moralistic.
The most notable scene comes between Mayumi and Yazumi, two characters you wouldn’t expect to ever have any kind of interaction. This is the first time Yazumi has had the opportunity to show a real personality, and he’s played as brash and filled with youthful ignorance. This wasn’t what I originally expected from Yazumi, given how quiet he’s been before, but this is also the first time Captain Iruma has allowed him to express himself within GUTS. Getting a touch carried away makes some sense. Although Mayumi is close to Yazumi’s age, her experience with death has given her greater wisdom, and she snaps at Yazumi as having a childish attitude. Yazumi learns something by episode’s end, and we can see a truly interesting personality emerging from the GUTS member who has so far had the least to do.
Amid all this personal and philosophical drama, “One Vanishing Moment” also piles on the action — some of the largest VFX set-pieces yet on Tiga. Most of the action involves the TPC fighting Jobarieh, creating a panorama of explosions, attack vehicles, and laser blasts. All of it meshes with the drama, never distracts from it.
Jobarieh is a one-off plot device monster, its origin and purpose never dealt with. This is exactly what the script needs from its kaiju of the week. The battle with Jobarieh splits the TPC’s forces right as Operation Clitter is about to begin, opening up dramatic space for the characters and giving Tiga something to punch in the finale as he wonders about his own purpose.
The Clitters Trilogy is a powerful arc within Ultraman Tiga, and it ends in the best possible way: it is unexpected (no Gazort!), definitively concludes its storyline, has plenty of action, and leaves the characters more interesting than they were before.
Rating: Classic
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