Ultraman Arc eps 5-6: unlearn your biases
Aug. 22nd, 2024 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alchemicinkTwo really enjoyable episodes! Both contained some good character development, along with some interesting kaiju fights, and I was interested from start to finish.
Spoilery thoughts for episodes 5 & 6 under the cut:
Episode 5
I feel like the tagline for this one could have been "time to swim, Yuma!" 😂 But, seriously, the underwater kaiju fight was really cool to me. I loved that both Arc and Livyjira glowed in the dark, like those strange deep-sea fish you see in nature docs. And Arc's fighting moves were as entertaining as ever. Hilarious that he's stuck a tree up a kaiju's nose (or, rather, blow hole in this case) twice now 😂
But more than the kaiju fight, I really enjoyed the plot with the SKIP team. They got to do some science!! Most of it was a montage, but I was just so excited to see them work. It really felt like that was the kind of investigative work they do on a regular basis, even though we don't get to see it that often onscreen.
This episode gave more focus to the Chief, and it was great to learn more about his motivations. (Learning that he liked to do paleontology makes sense since he introduced himself in episode one as the geologist specialist.) Compared to the previous episode with a focus on Rin, this one did a better job at showing us who Hiroshi really is. Perhaps that's because we got to see him interact with his old mentor? I don't know, but I did enjoy their conversation about regrets over not investigating their old discovery in more depth.
Episode 6
This was another good character focus episode, this time centered on Ishido. I liked getting to see another side of him, even if the reveal is that he doesn't trust or like aliens.
This could have been a preachy episode with a very broad message, but I liked that it was a little more complicated. Ishido clearly has seen some shit with aliens in the past, so that colors his perception of Numa, the alien Croco.
But the thing with prejudice is that people often forget (intentionally or not) that one person is not representative of the whole. So Ishido may have been rightfully wary based on his past experiences, but that doesn't mean he should have jumped to negative conclusions so fast. Especially when the others at the inn could vouch for Numa!
I thought the storyline was quite compelling! And I deeply appreciated the conversation at the end with Ishido and Yuma, talking about being able to see other viewpoints by using your imagination as empathy. Very meaningful.
And again, I enjoyed the kaiju fight! I liked that Yuma knew the detail that Shagong call to others to share food (since his specialty mentioned in episode 1 was kaiju biology. That's something he'd know!). So the three-on-one fight was interesting to watch. Plus, I just really like the Shagong design in general, so I was happy they brought them back.
But I was a bit confused about their size, since I thought in episode one that they established that Shagong had gotten so big because of eating rocks thanks to the parasite 🤔 but maybe I misunderstood...
Either way, I bet we'll see Shagong again!
Miscellaneous things
☆ I haven't watched Abaranger yet, but I saw that the guy who plays the Chief was also the red ranger in that series, so I appreciated the Abaranger reference in episode 5 ("I was a dinosaur kid too") Very cute!
☆ I'm fascinated by the little glimpses we get of how kaiju affect every day life. Like in episode 2, it was the mention of the need for more housing since kaiju destroy so many homes. And here in episode 5, there's a bit where evacuees are interviewed about their shelter experience and how much they'd like to just go home. I like the inclusion of these details. It makes the world feel so much more real.
☆ I wanna know why harboring aliens is illegal?? And also, how many aliens come to Earth??
☆ My only complaint about episode 6 is that those mushroom lunch meals went to waste! They never even got a chance to eat them ðŸ˜
☆ Speaking of food, total missed opportunity for Ishido to tell us about which kind of mushrooms go best with coffee 😂 Just like he told us boiled eggs and coffee are a great breakfast in episode 5! His personality just being "COFFEE" will never not be funny to me.
☆ And speaking of mushrooms, Numa's mushroom-powered spaceship made me think of Star Trek Discovery (which is also, technically, mushroom-powered). Probably unintentional, but it made me laugh
My previous Arc reviews: Episodes 1-2, Episodes 3-4
If you wanna watch along, the series is on YouTube! The English dub playlist is here (still currently not in the right order) and the Japanese sub playlist is here (most recent episode at the top of the list, currently) 😩
Spoilery thoughts for episodes 5 & 6 under the cut:
Episode 5
I feel like the tagline for this one could have been "time to swim, Yuma!" 😂 But, seriously, the underwater kaiju fight was really cool to me. I loved that both Arc and Livyjira glowed in the dark, like those strange deep-sea fish you see in nature docs. And Arc's fighting moves were as entertaining as ever. Hilarious that he's stuck a tree up a kaiju's nose (or, rather, blow hole in this case) twice now 😂
But more than the kaiju fight, I really enjoyed the plot with the SKIP team. They got to do some science!! Most of it was a montage, but I was just so excited to see them work. It really felt like that was the kind of investigative work they do on a regular basis, even though we don't get to see it that often onscreen.
This episode gave more focus to the Chief, and it was great to learn more about his motivations. (Learning that he liked to do paleontology makes sense since he introduced himself in episode one as the geologist specialist.) Compared to the previous episode with a focus on Rin, this one did a better job at showing us who Hiroshi really is. Perhaps that's because we got to see him interact with his old mentor? I don't know, but I did enjoy their conversation about regrets over not investigating their old discovery in more depth.
Episode 6
This was another good character focus episode, this time centered on Ishido. I liked getting to see another side of him, even if the reveal is that he doesn't trust or like aliens.
This could have been a preachy episode with a very broad message, but I liked that it was a little more complicated. Ishido clearly has seen some shit with aliens in the past, so that colors his perception of Numa, the alien Croco.
But the thing with prejudice is that people often forget (intentionally or not) that one person is not representative of the whole. So Ishido may have been rightfully wary based on his past experiences, but that doesn't mean he should have jumped to negative conclusions so fast. Especially when the others at the inn could vouch for Numa!
I thought the storyline was quite compelling! And I deeply appreciated the conversation at the end with Ishido and Yuma, talking about being able to see other viewpoints by using your imagination as empathy. Very meaningful.
And again, I enjoyed the kaiju fight! I liked that Yuma knew the detail that Shagong call to others to share food (since his specialty mentioned in episode 1 was kaiju biology. That's something he'd know!). So the three-on-one fight was interesting to watch. Plus, I just really like the Shagong design in general, so I was happy they brought them back.
But I was a bit confused about their size, since I thought in episode one that they established that Shagong had gotten so big because of eating rocks thanks to the parasite 🤔 but maybe I misunderstood...
Either way, I bet we'll see Shagong again!
Miscellaneous things
☆ I haven't watched Abaranger yet, but I saw that the guy who plays the Chief was also the red ranger in that series, so I appreciated the Abaranger reference in episode 5 ("I was a dinosaur kid too") Very cute!
☆ I'm fascinated by the little glimpses we get of how kaiju affect every day life. Like in episode 2, it was the mention of the need for more housing since kaiju destroy so many homes. And here in episode 5, there's a bit where evacuees are interviewed about their shelter experience and how much they'd like to just go home. I like the inclusion of these details. It makes the world feel so much more real.
☆ I wanna know why harboring aliens is illegal?? And also, how many aliens come to Earth??
☆ My only complaint about episode 6 is that those mushroom lunch meals went to waste! They never even got a chance to eat them ðŸ˜
☆ Speaking of food, total missed opportunity for Ishido to tell us about which kind of mushrooms go best with coffee 😂 Just like he told us boiled eggs and coffee are a great breakfast in episode 5! His personality just being "COFFEE" will never not be funny to me.
☆ And speaking of mushrooms, Numa's mushroom-powered spaceship made me think of Star Trek Discovery (which is also, technically, mushroom-powered). Probably unintentional, but it made me laugh
My previous Arc reviews: Episodes 1-2, Episodes 3-4
If you wanna watch along, the series is on YouTube! The English dub playlist is here (still currently not in the right order) and the Japanese sub playlist is here (most recent episode at the top of the list, currently) 😩
