Directed by Yoshikazu Ishii. Written by Akio Miyoshi. Airdate Nov. 11, 2013.
Watching this episode brought into focus a recurring problem with the New Generation Heroes shows: they frequently struggle to deliver major emotional payoffs in stories with big stakes. This issue isn’t as noticeable or grating as the prolonged, numbing fight scenes or the glut of transparent merchandising. But it’s still a major stumbling block that keeps me from feeling fully engaged with this phase of the Ultra Series. “The Holy Sword of the Future” is the first of the New Gen episodes that sets up a shattering moment — a significant story event in a semi-serialized narrative — only to then settle for a six-out-of-ten execution. For a story this important, that’s far too low.
The New Gen shows tend to operate on roughly the same level throughout a season. The high points usually don’t feel much more substantial than the potboiler episodes. This is why offbeat episodes often work the best: they break out of the drone of the rest of the series. We’re about to see examples of these excellent, weird episodes, but at the moment, we have a droning episode with a status quo shake-up that hardly shakes. It just sort of sits there … droning.
I’ll issue a spoiler warning before discussing the episode’s major event. First, let’s deal with the standard business of another Ultraman Ginga S episode.
Alien Guts has botched one attempt after another to destroy Ultraman Ginga and Victory, but this time, he has a great plan. Well, it’s the exact same plan: turn some kaiju Spark Dolls into full giant kaiju and let ‘em loose. The sole change is that he uses choju, not kaiju! Casual viewers not up on the long history of the series may wonder what the difference is, but it doesn’t hurt the episode. The choju are just tougher and have loads of firepower. Audiences can take it from there.
The chosen choju are Verokron and Doragory, a.k.a. the Coral Reef Monster and the Poisonous Mothman. Classic monsters who’re among the most memorable of the choju introduced in Ultraman Ace. Verokron and Doragory are deadly, but they’re also nutty, packed with personality, and are absolutely the highlight of the episode.
The choju brothers lay down some serious hurt on Ultraman Victory in their first encounter. Sho ends up in the hospital, dying from the venom Doragory pumped into him. The only hope to save Sho is for Shepardon, the Victorian’s guardian monster, to transfer some of its power to Sho. Unfortunately, Shepardon is already weakened from when Alien Chibull tried to drain Victorium from its body. When Verokron and Doragory appear again, it looks as if Ginga will have to fight them alone.
As a basic action tale, this is all serviceable. Verokron and Doragory are shown as extremely dangerous foes capable of taking down both heroes. Although the fights aren’t anything spectacular, they favor close-contact grappling and tussling over a bloat of distance attacks and laser blasts. As tokusatsu action goes, it’s solid.
However, the episode has bigger business it wants to get to. Spoilers from this point…
During the finale, when it looks as if Verokron is about to kill the still weakened Ultraman Victory, Shepardon appears to repulse the attack. Expending the last of its energy, Shepardon collapses and dies.
The cute, friendly dog kaiju is dead. The guardian monster that bonded with Sho when he was a child gave its life to save his. It should be sad. It isn’t.
I like Shepardon. I’ll miss having the cute lug around. Yet … I don’t feel a sense of loss here. The episode tries to wring emotion from the moment with flashbacks to Shepardon guarding Sho as a child and healing his skinned knee. But the death doesn’t land because the episode around it doesn’t feel substantially different from a routine one. Shepardon’s demise is just another beat in a conventional story. It feels ordinary. It doesn’t even seem as if Shepardon’s sacrifice was all that crucial.
Making it worse, this guardian monster and Sho’s close friend is immediately transmorgified into another weapon in Victory’s arsenal: a garish plastic toy sword called the Shepardon Saber (on sale now). It feels insulting. Give the sweet monster a few moments of mourning before you turn it into yet more merchandise.
As I said at the start, this fumbling of major dramatic highs is a recurring problem with the New Generation Heroes era. It was present in Ultraman Ginga, but it was easy to overlook because of the show’s low stakes. The slicker, corporate-focused style of the New Gen shows tends to dampen the drama. Once a feeling of sameness descends on a show, it’s hard to land a real gut punch.
Well, that’s last call for Shepardon. I wish it had a stronger sendoff. At least it looks like Verokron and Doragory had a good time.
Rating: Mediocre
Previous: A Life to Regain
Next: Gan-Q’s Tears
The Ultra Project 