Directed by Yoshikazu Ishii. Written by Kenichi Araki. Airdate Dec. 4, 2013.
The Ultraman Ginga team, aware they have only a few episodes remaining, goes all-out with an action-crammed half hour. Or as all-out as the budget permits. They also pack in some silly comedy and a few key revelations to set up the finale. It’s a scattershot episode, with six different giant combatants and all the major characters jostling for screen time, but it’s fast-moving and lively. I prefer that to some of the drab earlier outings.
The action picks up where it left off, with Ginga facing Ultraman Dark, who can also transform into Ultraseven Dark. Hikaru’s vision pierces the shell of his opponent and sees the human beneath who is controlling these evil Ultramen: Mr. Isurugi, Misuzu’s father. Before Hikaru can share this with anyone else, Isurugi uses his tag-team of two Ultra warriors to defeat Ginga and knock Hikaru unconscious.
What follows is a fast parade of scenes punctuated by kaiju action. Hikaru’s uncle, the priest Hotsuma, reveals to the Ultraman Taro doll that he’s one of the chosen ones and knows of the battle between the Ultras and the dark ruler behind the Spark Dolls. Misuzu, Chigusa, and Kenta wonder why Misuzu’s father has started acting like an icy monster. Alien Nackle turns the missing Ms. Kuroki (the complaining construction company executive from the last episode) into the monster Antlar.
With Hotsuma’s help, the trio of Misuzu, Chigusa, and Kenta transform into the three-faced kaiju Jasyuline to fight Antlar. Mr. Isurugi tries to tempt Hikaru to join the Dark Side and become Ginga Dark. Tomoya escapes a magnetic trap and arrives in time as Jean-Nine. And Hotsuma informs Ms. Shirai, the school principal, that he knows the true identity of the one behind the Dark Spark.
That’s a lot happening, but the pacing is fleet-footed to keep it from becoming a tangle, and the action is effective and varied enough to maintain interest. All the kaiju suits are reused, and the fights are still stuck in the same field they’ve all been in, but there’s a greater sense of fun and energy here than in many of the previous Ultraman Ginga battles.
The two dark Ultras aren’t much to talk about: once again, the outfits are merely charcoal paint on Ultraman and Ultraseven costumes. However, the climactic confrontation between Ginga and the Dark Ultras has some savage moves and real rage behind it.
Jasyuline is a pleasingly unexpected pick for a recycled suit. Jasyuline is a deep-cut kaiju, culled from the Ultraman Mebius episode “Father Returns.” The kaiju looks like a stone totem with three faces, which makes sense for letting three characters combine inside it as one fighter. They then stumble around clumsily trying to control it, a comic bit that works thanks to Jasyuline’s humorous appearance. (The comedy from Antlar’s magnetizing power is much less successful and goes on far too long.)
A downside of cramming so much into the episode and keeping the action in constant motion is that there’s scant space to spend with its most important dramatic conflict: Misuzu and her father. Hikaru has more interaction with Isurugi than Misuzu does. First, Isurugi tries to lure Hikaru into joining the Dark Ultras, and then Hikaru tries to appeal to Isurugi’s feelings for his daughter to break him free from evil. Misuzu has only a brief exchange with her father at the end, cutting her out of an important relationship for most of the running time.
Hotsuma has always acted like he knows more about what’s happening with Ultraman Ginga than he lets on, so it’s not a major surprise that he’s a “chosen one” like Hikaru. It’s still jarring to see him casually having tea with the Taro figurine without any explanation for how the two got to that point. However, it’s always funny to see the Taro doll posed to take part in ordinary situations.
Mild spoilers for the cliffhanger coda…
Although Mr. Isurugi’s story wraps up, the episode stops on another cliffhanger. Alien Nackle uses the Dark Spark to control Misuzu — the last of Hikaru’s friends who hasn’t gotten the evil transformation treatment yet — while she’s vulnerable because of her anger at her father. Meanwhile, Hotsuma has his lingering revelation about “Who the ruler of the dark is.” As hooks to move into the finale, it’s decent. The show has finally engaged me, and it didn’t need a bunch of chatter about “following your dreams!” to do it.
Rating: Good
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