Directed by Kiyotaka Taguchi. Written by Yuji Kobayashi. Airdate Sep. 2, 2013.
The mid-show finale is a tradition in the New Generation Heroes era. Since these shows are semi-serialized, with ongoing villains and subplots, it’s natural to build to a peak midway through the run to shift the status quo, retire some characters, introduce others, and deliver a major revelation or two. Ultraman Ginga established this with a two-parter that was only a modest increase in spectacle. Ultraman Ginga S goes bigger, resulting in one of the most enjoyable action installments in the New Gen era so far. Best of all, it opens up a new avenue for a character who, until now, has been a literal device.
The last episode ended with Victory and Ginga apparently defeated by the composite monster Five King. The defeat is worse than it first looked: Sho and Hikaru’s human forms have been separated from their Ultras to protect their lives, leaving both Ultra warriors powerless. Alien Chibull Exceller issues an ultimatum to Earth to surrender all its Victorium, or else he will make Five King go smashy all across the planet.
The action plot that follows is direct and rips along. Sho reveals the existence of the Victorians to the UPG and asks for their help, as the loss of the Victorium crystals will jeopardize the entire planet. Tomoya devises a plan to use the magnewave to resurrect Ginga and Victory so they can stop Five King’s rampage.
While the UPG rushes to execute the plan in time, Hikaru and Sho split up to deal with two different threats. Hikaru uses his collection of Spark Dolls to transform into different kaiju and battle Five King. Sho confronts the revived Android One Zero, who’s still trying to blow up the UPG base — this time by blowing herself up and taking out the whole city.
All this builds up to the anticipated rematch between Five King and the duo of Ultraman Ginga and Ultraman Victory. As big showdowns go, it does the job and doesn’t drag on too long, a common problem with New Gen shows.
However, the best kaiju action comes in the middle section, when Five King faces the previous guest monsters that also have “king” in their names: EX Red King, Eleking, and King Joe. The pyrotechnics are the biggest yet for the show. There are no power-ups, it takes place in a city at night (something I always like), and it’s just generally fun to watch pure monster-on-monster battles. Eleking is always welcome to drop by, even for a short tussle. These scenes also reinforce the show’s theme of relying on allies. Hikaru sees these kaiju as worthwhile partners, which Alien Chibull dismisses as foolish. To him, they’re just tools to use and discard.
Now that we’re on that topic … Alien Chibull is a silly lead villain. Not a complaint! He’s more entertaining than some of the “Dark Lord” types in the franchise’s long history, and this is one of the lighter shows. He rants in a goofy voice about how he has the greatest brain, screams “Scum!” at the Ultras during the big battle, and at one point says “Noooo problem!” in English, which is damn funny. His downfall is that he’s been too cavalier in thinking of his kaiju and Android One Zero as nothing more than “pieces.”
The episode’s coda brings out a “surprise” reveal that won’t surprise anyone who’s been watching since Ultraman Ginga. But it indicates that the villain danger level is about to increase. Considering Alien Chibull’s wacky antics here, it feels like the ideal time for a bad guy boost.
The most important development for the future is with Android One Zero, who hasn’t shown any personality to this point beyond her robotic function. She’s here for combat. And to look hot. But Alien Chibull has finally abused his servant robot enough to awaken her during her confrontation with Sho. (Alien Chibull probably shouldn’t have sent her on a suicide mission with the instructions to “disappear with the humans, you useless piece of junk.” Not exactly a loyalty builder, Chibull.) Android One Zero now has the opportunity to become a fully developed character, though the show will take some time getting around to that.
I appreciate that most of the mid-season shifts are subtle. For instance, the UPG reaches a level of confidence and teamwork they lacked at the start of the show, and Hikaru and Sho work together without any friction. This subtlety may simply arise from expediency — you can’t fit everything into 24 minutes — but it still works in the episode’s favor.
“Desperate Battle in the Sunrise” isn’t an astonishing half hour of Ultra entertainment, but it’s still entertainment. Even if it’s only marginally better than some of the previous action-heavy episodes, it shows the New Generation Heroes era beginning to find what it can do best. Will viewers want to return for the rest of the season? I think they will — even if just for more Android One Zero.
Rating: Good
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