Tension Inspection presents Going Ultra. This
is MJ. I'm an author. I'm an artist. I'm an analyzer.
Find all my work at mjmunoz .com. Prepare yourself
for hard -hitting Ultraman discussion and analysis.
Would you choose to live a beautiful lie with
the people you love or embrace a painful truth
alone for the sake of the world? That's the question
Ultraman Ark asks in its final episode. And honestly,
the first eight minutes got me crying and working
on this little intro here. So, yeah, I thought
episode 8, or sorry, I thought episode 25 of
Ark was absolutely amazing. I loved it. It was
fantastic. There's never been a better episode.
And it was just, it was fantastic. This is full
spoilers for Ark. One of the things I really
like is that there's no climactic battle. I mean,
there is a climactic battle, and crazy stuff
happens, but really... Um, it, the, the way that
the episode, uh, gets to reach the point of a
fully climax is that it has Ark just do some
stuff. And because he's a wizard now, because
he's a magical, uh, you know, spaceman, uh, he's
just able to do these things and he's able to,
um, manifest victory over this horrible evil
because He has the imaginative capacity to, and
it is, you know, a little bit of a hat pull,
but at the same time, based on Swede's comments
earlier in the episode, it's also a legitimate
thing. So, man, I took so many screenshots of
this episode because it was so crazy, all the
things that were happening. I don't want to do
a synopsis. I don't want to do a review of the
episode, but I do just want to touch on all these
different points. So let me see if I can look
at each of these images and kind of like... Say
something based on each of them because there's
just so many great shots in here and there's
so many meaningful moments Um, so I'm gonna go
back and I'm gonna start with Swede real quick
Yuma realizes that he's in a dream see I feel
like I'm recapping now, but I'm not recapping
I'm giving context for the moment when Yuma realizes
he's in the dream and he wants to break out of
it Swede takes over as the voice of the TV anchor
and then she Crawls her way out of the screen
which was like a really cool She doesn't actually
crawl away all the way out. She rests her arms
on it and says, like, look, if I, as a higher
being than you, had the capacity, the ability
to deceive myself and delude myself into imagining
that everything was just okay, everything was
just hunky -dory, then I would have already fixed
my problem with my universe or galaxy or whatever
being about to explode. I felt like that's what
she was saying, and I thought, huh, I wonder
if Yuma, if he just went there, could he fix
it? Fuck. That'll be addressed later. But for
now, I thought that was a really great moment.
I liked the breakdown. The only thing I thought
was a little bit confusing is, is this dream
happening now after the end of 25, episode 25?
Or was it happening during episode 24 when he
was in the dream? Probably not during 24. I think
that was a separate issue. But also like, I don't
understand how the skip crew was able to create
this Ghostbuster machine thing that Shu wore
and used. to go ahead and fight the kaiju and
break the barrier that it had around it. Very
Ghostbusters 2. Very end of Ghostbusters 2. It's
a strange thing that happened. And like, I don't,
they looked like they were in their office, which
if it's the set, it's the same set, but it's
supposed to be like a different branch or whatever,
that's fine. But I honestly didn't feel like
that was very well explained. So like, it's not
a perfect ending. And then they also like made
sure to mention like, oh yeah, we took a sample
of this energy from such and such and we're using
it here. Boom. It's in your little... backpack
in your, in your proton pack shoe, um, like,
was that from the Pikachu episode, or the, the
electric mouse, the electric rat, was it from
that episode that they had the sample, or was
this from somebody else entirely, I don't even
know, I don't even care though, because, whatever,
BS, hand wave it away, they were able to make
a solution for Ishido to somehow interfere with
the electromagnetic waves that were coming from
the, um, from Gael, Gil, Baku's little belly,
thing. His little troll belly button jewel thing
that he's got going on there. And yeah, he was
able to disrupt the thing and able to wake up
Yuma. And one thing I really loved is that everybody,
Chief Bond said it, Ishido said it, the others,
I think, felt it too. They're like, we're going
to save Ultraman. No, we're going to save Yuma,
our friend. And I thought that was really cool.
I thought that was really touching. I really
enjoyed that. I read in the trivia, which I'm
not going to read to you because it's just kind
of, some of it's a little bit obvious, but some
of it's just kind of interesting. You should
check it out for yourself at the Ultraman Wiki
or wherever you get your Ultraman trivia, is
that he, he, the man who played Tetsuya, I believe,
is Yuma's father. He had like a bowl of nothing.
He had a plate of nothing and he poured imaginary
soy sauce on the bowl and the production crew
saw that and they got him a blank newspaper.
A newspaper with no, like it had all the framing
or whatever, but it was no actual newspaper.
I don't quite know how they did that, but they
did. And that's pretty cool. It's sitting on
the table there. And like Yuma's bed is empty.
It's in the middle of an empty room. He pulls
a single bottle of water out of the fridge and
he's like, wait a minute. And then the only thing
I have a little quibble with is his parents were
like, oh, isn't it a miracle that we survived?
And Yuma's like. A miracle. Yeah, it was a miracle.
This is fake. It was a little too sudden, but
also, this is the world of Ultraman. It's the
world of Kaiju. It's the world of, well, Ultras.
I think miracles should be fine. Like, if they
had played it off as being something ordinary,
I would understand. Or like, oh, that was all
a dream. Don't worry. But I guess, like, Gilbaku's
and Swede's, like, hastily put together a world.
This is from the trivia. Like, it was supposed
to be like, they didn't do a very good job. They
did a very good job of selling the lie. So that
part is a little disappointing, honestly. I wish
it had been a little bit of something else that
tipped Yuma off that this wasn't real. But ultimately,
I'm okay with it. It's not that big of a deal.
A lot of great shots. A lot of cool images going
on here. I wish we'd gotten a little bit more
of Ark fighting in the Dream Bubble City thing.
But it was cool that, like... I'm confused as
to, like, was Hoshimoto destroyed or not? I don't
think it was because they're all in Hoshimoto
later. Maybe it looked as if it had been destroyed
because of this dream bubble thing. Maybe. And
maybe that ending was just to fake us out. I'm
not really sure. But it's cool that when Yuma
awakens as Ark and he, like, does this cool cartwheel,
like, he passes in front of this building that
I'm pointing at. You can't see. He passes in
front of this building that has this really great
mirrored surface, the windows, and... You can
see his reflection of his hand casually in there
as he's posing to fight and stuff. And then he's
like, oh, look at this mirror and see if I can
talk. And because it's a dream, he can talk to
Yuma. But before, what I was going to say, when
he goes into that world, I saw one of the buildings
kind of move a couple feet or slide. And I thought,
was that an accident in the production? And then
as I was thinking that thought, the buildings...
came and hemmed him in and he had to like, I
don't even know how he got out of the way. Like
he jumped out of the way or knocked buildings
over or what, I don't know what he did, but it
was really cool. And it was a lot of fun. Um,
so that was neat. Uh, I really liked this. Uh,
this is a great image. It's like a split second.
I had to go back and capture the image. It was
really difficult to, well, not really difficult,
but it was just, it was harder than usual to
capture the image. Cause it's for a second arc
is there and doing his beam pose and the GDF.
planes are flying over to attack the kaiju while
he's, like, still waking up, and it makes a really
cool moment, and I can't remember, did those,
did they actually kill Gilbaku, is that what
happens, and then Swede takes on her, her alien
form, or whatever, her fighting form, maybe that's
what happens, yeah, but, like, that, that Swede
kaiju is, like, anyway, Swede is, like, really
nasty, um, and she gives a great, like, I hate
and resent you performance. And, uh, yeah, she's,
she's not a nice lady, not a nice lady at all.
And her form being like a weird, like inversion
of arc, maybe like, she's almost like an evil
arc in her kaiju form. I think anyway, um, she's
got the fin instead of having two eyes, she's
got like this gap, this like weird hollow gap
that kind of shows Solana, I guess, maybe from
her home galaxy. Cause she's supposed to be somehow.
I guess Lord Zesu made her a separate... Because
he mentioned in the previous episode, like, don't
forget if you fail, I can still unlock you. So
I think he unlocked her, and what he unlocked
was the fact that she is a Zesu gate as well.
So her form is almost like if you took the onyx
in that weird ball kind of shape that it had,
and all the ridges and whatever on it, if you
took the onyx and then you reshaped it into like
an armor... It turned her into like an evil ultra
with that. And even her, the color timer is like,
even though I said the face has like a hollow
in it and it shows Solana coming through, it's
almost like when they showed, when they went
up close on the chest, you could see Solana like
flaring in there, almost like as if that solar
energy was coming and it was going to come out
of the hole in her chest and unleash all the
solar energy and kill the planet, which was really
cool. And then I love that Yuma. And here's another
little complaint. And the complaint is about
the execution of the effect and not the actual
concept behind it. So somehow Yuma, like his
power is all drying up and I think maybe Swede
is nullifying the Zesu gate in him, the Galaxer,
the whatever, the Onyx. I think that's what's
happening. But somehow I guess he, I don't know,
maybe it was kind of like zero one. It almost
seems like Yuma in this dream state. creates
himself a super form that is beyond, um, even
farther beyond. Um, I don't know why that joke
has become so popular with me lately. Anyway.
Um, yeah, I, I pretty sure Yuma creates for himself
an extra power. So, uh, in the notes, I'm going
to read from the notes and it says regarding
the concept of arc finalized overload sensation,
uh, Tsujimoto explained when ultra man fires
a beam. Oh, maybe that's not, I know. I think
that's like the final form of arc. that just
looks like base Ark. I don't know if there's
anything different about him. I don't think there
is. And it's just kind of funny that it seems
to be this other thing. Let me pause real quick.
Yes, it's very unclear what this is. Like Ark
has a cool fight and he gets extra powers, but
like his superpowers aren't actually what helps
him to win against Swede here. Like it's his
heart, but let me get back real quick. So the
mono gallows horn he gets knocked all the way
back to the forest whatever the mountain where
the mono gallows horn is and he somehow this
is what i was getting at there's a clear cube
that's being assembled in the sky like a dungeon
dice monster dice but it's going in reverse and
opening it's closing and it's it is like it's
like here's the mono gallows horn over here over
here, and then here's the cube, and it's forming
one, two, three, four, five, six, and it stays
there, and Yuma passes that, and you see him
going past those things, or you see him going
past the Monogalus form, you see the cube, and
you see him unleashing what looks like all the
powers of the Galaxer just on his own. He's like,
he does this, and then, like, one, two, three,
four, like, blades come out, almost like the
feather things from the Galaxer. I sound like
an idiot just trying to describe this, but it's,
you know, it's accurate. You know what I'm talking
about. And then other ones come from behind him
because he does some other flourish. And then
as he gets to Swede, because he's running towards
her and he's attacking with his melee or his
ranged attacks, he gets to her. She's like, she's
walking all off, possibly with Solana energy,
possibly with just whatever Onyx energy she has
or Zesu gate energy she has. And then the final
thing that happens is the cube comes crashing
into her and it looks like the... Monogalus horn
was inside of the cube. You saw the episode,
so you know what I'm talking about. But the amazing
thing is that I want to point out is that with
his imagination, he figured, oh, I'm just going
to plug that hole. I'm going to plug that hole.
I want to say something else. I'm going to plug
that hole and the tip of the Monogalus horn gets
lodged in her and he comes along and he does
this great chop and he like twists into a crouch
and does a little pose and the camera captures
it. It looks really great. It's fun. As much
as I said there wasn't, like, a big spectacular
fight at the end, there was a cool fight, but,
like, the climax is an emotional climax that
happens in just, like, a moment. Like, he's beaten
her, and it's done. They're over. And then he
has this whole thing with the skip crew for a
couple minutes, which was fantastic. So, anyway,
I really like that. What I didn't like about
that was the effect shot didn't show the cube
forming around the Monogalos horn, which it should
have. And I don't know why it didn't because
it wouldn't have ruined the surprise. It would
just be like, why is he making a cube among the
other girls? And then when it crashes into her
and it stabs into her chest and you realize that
she's like trying to pull it out, but she can't
with her kaiju fingers because it's wedged in
there and he's chopped it off. It's just so cool.
And it would have been great had the effect been
correct and like properly lined up. And even
like they did this thing where like arc and.
Yuma show up at the same time, like, Yuma's superimposed
onto Ark, and, like, his hoodie is, like, unzipped
in a way that kind of matches the, like, the
patterning on Ark's chest, which is pretty cool,
but, like, it's not quite right, and, like, he's
over here a little bit, Yuma is, so it's, like,
like, they could have done a little bit better
job, but, like, it's still really good, and I'm
fine with it, I'm not mad about those things,
they're not ruining the show for me at all, it's
a great show, great climax to the, to the, like,
great emotional finish. to the, uh, to the story
and to this episode and to the show overall.
And I really, really liked it. So that was a
lot of fun. Um, and then like, I'd been complaining
about the lack of trick shots and stuff like
that. And like, I want the spectacle, but I want
the heart too, but like the heart's been there.
Um, which I'll get to in a minute. The heart's
been there for sure, but the spectacle on top
of it just makes it all the sweeter. And I love
that she's pushing him back, pushing him back
as he's doing his final attack. And she pushes
him all the way around the world. And then they're
standing back to back and he's just continuing
the blast. And it just like shows this like infinite
power almost that he has. And I guess it's the
infinite power of imagination, which I will get
to that in a bit. But then he does the thing
that he used against the... where he shakes the
beam, and for whatever reason, that's able to
shake it in such a way that it destroys her.
It goes through that void head of hers and completely
destroys the kaiju, and then, like, that's it.
Then we're done. Like, there's no fallout. There's
no, like, pausing. Like, he walks past her. She
explodes. Zesu's head pops up, and she explodes.
Or, like, I don't know. He does whatever, and
then fades away. And, like, that's it. And then
it goes through the emotional climax of the episode,
which is really fantastic. Swede said something
like, I'm so resentful of you because your power
of imagination, because you're this lower life
form you disgust to be, it could fix our problem,
the problem in our solar system. And then, again,
spoilers, you've seen it, so you know. At the
end of the episode, it's been three months, they
do a flash forward, and it seems like Yuma...
uh, signaled him in the sky with some flashing
lights, and then now he's back on Earth, and
he called, he called into the skip hotline, you
can tell, because everybody's so excited, and
they're fighting over, you know, who gets to
talk to him, or whatever, and, uh, of course,
his boy Ishido is talking to him, or Shu, I should
say, um, and it's been three months, and I guess
in that time, Yuma has traveled to the home galaxy,
and he's fixed Solana with the power of imagination,
which is awesome, because it almost feels like,
in this final confrontation, kind of metaphorically
and accepting the pain and like choosing to live
with the pain Yuma slash arc has opened himself
up to be this channel for infinite energy and
infinite possibility and he can do anything with
his imagination because he's this flawed inferior
human being um he can go to someone else's galaxy
and fix their so like change the reality of their
world and fix their issues so that they can continue
to live and flourish and That's really awesome.
That's really, really awesome. I absolutely love
that. I think that's an incredible thing. I am
forgetting something from earlier that I wanted
to bring up at this point, but I don't remember
what it was, unfortunately, for now. Oh, I don't
remember what it was, but I do remember something
else I wanted to talk about, which is this. And
I am planning on, well, anyway. I think it's
so beautiful. Let me go back to my images so
I don't forget about it. Well, I won't forget
about it. I think it's so beautiful that Yuma's
being tempted. to embrace this false world and
to live happily with his parents but the memories
this is like you know the memories either whether
they're real or they're constructs of his memories
only these recreations of his real mom and dad
show up and they encourage their son to do the
right thing they tell him to get out of here
which i believe was an exact duplicate time to
run you might get out of here uh is what they
said to him to help save his life He was ultimately
almost crushed to death by the monogamous one.
We know this from the show. And his life was
saved, but Ark had to sacrifice all his power
basically to save his life. Fantastic. Really
interesting way to do it. Very tragic. Very cool.
And they're telling him to run. And they're telling
him to get out of that dreamlike world. And he
chooses to do that. We see him as a little boy.
running away from, like, nodding, and like, you
know, I'm gonna do this, and he runs away from
his parents, and they're encouraging him to go,
and then he passes by the camera, and then you
see adult Yuma running, and he holds up the thing,
and it, the diamond comes out of it, and then
Ark comes, and he's flying, and then he flies
straight at the enemy kaiju to face it, and to
face danger, and to face certain doom, and that's
so beautiful, and so amazing, because What is
the object of parents but to raise their children
into adults who will become people who can transform
themselves through will and grit and determination
and imagination and creativity into a being of
light who can combat cosmic horrors? What is
a more beautiful symbology and representation
of what it is to raise... a child, to have a
child, to bring a child into this world and then
raise them so they can go forward and fight for
the future and make something better. Like, that's
just absolutely gorgeous and I absolutely love
it and I absolutely love this finale. I'd love
to hear your thoughts on this because I enjoyed
it so much and thought it was so friggin' fantastic.
More Ultraman coverage will come in the future.
I'll let you know when to expect it. soonish,
but not too soon. And yeah, I'd love to have
a conversation about the show and about what's
going on. Also, Ultraman Omega has been announced,
but that's coming. We don't know when yet, but
we do know it's coming. So that's something to
be excited about and talk about as well at some
point soonish. That's about all I have to say
for now. One last little bit of business before
I get out of here. Let me tell you about my middle
grade novel, Mockwing Mayhem. It's coming out.
I'm working on cover design with a cover artist,
and I'm working on building newsletter and all
sorts of stuff. Speaking of which, the book's
called Mockwing Mayhem, and this is the synopsis
from the back of the book. Sinister gremlins
lurk in the shadows, always hunting for children.
Only the growbugs stand in their way. When a
mockwing, a mist -born gremlin, discovers a hidden
growbug fort, it doesn't attack alone. It calls
an entire flock. Now chirp the bold and quiver
the cautious find themselves in a battle they
were never trained for. Outnumbered and outmatched,
can they survive the mockwing's onslaught and
save their master? Be the first to know when
the Growbugs take flight. Join the newsletter
to receive a release date announcement, exclusive
Growbug World content, special pre -order offers,
and behind -the -scenes insights into the creation
of the Growbugs and their world, which is featured
in Mockery Mayhem. Join me on this magical adventure
where tiny guardians fight enormous evil. And,
uh, yeah, I'd love for you to do that. Uh, you
can find notes to that links to that through
going through to the show notes or through the
show notes. MJMunoz.com is where everything's
going to be posted as well as grobugs .com,
which is also being worked on and, uh, in the
process. So until next time, folks, take care
and be well.