In last week’s episode of Ultraman Geed, Ultraman Zero made the ultimate sacrifice! However, as we all know Zero will not be staying dead for too long. Episode 8 is going to swiftly revive our fallen hero, and give him a brand-new form. Ultraman Zero resurrection is going to send him, and Reito pass their limits into the BEYOND!
Summary:
Riku rushes Galactron once more before Kei puts the robot on hibernate; exhausted Riku loses his transformation, and the hostages are set free. The group returns to the Nebula House to recover, and REM clarifies that Zero is gone. Riku watches a news broadcast of Kei mocking him, and he seeks to hunt down Kei. However, Laiha attempts to stop Riku, as Reito is overcome by fear and just runs away. Reito plans to get his family, and escape before things worsen. Riku also realizes Reito makes a decent point on that he must do whatever to protect his family. The team begins to mourn Zero, but Riku has faith that Zero will find his way back to them.
The following morning Riku plans to fight Galactron even when there is no hope of winning. However, Riku is forced to witness some of the destruction before he can fully transform again. Meanwhile Reito works to help his family evacuate the city, but his family’s belief in Ultraman catches his attention. The family’s belief in Ultraman inspires Reito to rush to Riku’s aid even when he believes he cannot transform anymore. Laiha appears to tell Reito she is proven wrong yet again about Riku, Ultraman, and fate. Laiha presents the Ultra Zero Eye Neo to Reito again, who reclaims the item; in doing so Zero revived!
Now, together Ultraman Geed and Ultraman Zero face off with the damaged Galactron. Yet, Kei notices the two Ultras are more than a match now, so he summons another Galactron. The battle worsens briefly and Ultraman Hikari arrives to bestow a Geed Riser with new Ultra Capsules to Zero. Reito takes the Geed Riser, and the new Ultra Capsules, based on the modern Ultras, to unlock a form, Ultraman Zero Beyond. The form is more than enough for the two Galactrons’ to handle! Kei is left vexed by Zero’s revival and leaves, while Reito is emotional over their victory as he accepts his duty to be Ultraman Zero…
My Thoughts:
I am not sure if I love or hate this episode, as I find to been simply an okay episode. The pacing is what really tends to be a problem with not just this episode, but the entire series at hand. Events seemingly are occurring to either just promote the toys for the show, or merely elude to the series endgame. Yet, even now the endgame is shrouded in shadow with only catalogs for upcoming toys helping to clue in the audience. Compared to Ultraman Orb where around this time in the series the audience knew Juggler’s goal was to revive the Maga Orochi, whereas Ultraman Geed is hinting at something. The hinting is more like teasing at something that is supposed to be huge a climax/ revelation, but what is present does seem to hold the weight of what is to come.
Now, before going into Ultraman Zero’s revival and how he obtains the form, I want to talk about everything that lead to it. First off, the scenes pertaining to mourning the loss of Zero were done well. Riku’s frustration at being played by Kei was excepted but is justified due to the circumstance at hand. Laiha trying to calm Riku, then badger a broken and fearful Reito was a little hectic, because she tries to take control of the chaos like a leader should. However, she tears into Reito, a passive man that barely has any courage at all pushing him away further. This leads into a typical trope of Reito realizing that he had courage all along through his family’s belief in Ultraman. In addition, Laiha then appears later acting either like she realized she should have not been a hard-ass on Reito, or that in-doing so it would help him gather himself. I found Laiha’s calm and heartfelt words just too convenient, since in this case she was not proven wrong like previous episodes seemingly do to her.
Then as for Ultraman Zero’s revival, it was my biggest issue with the episode because he was not revived at all! Ultraman Zero just regularly recovers from a fatal injury, with maybe a dash of ‘friendship is magic’ syndrome. Zero’s recovery appears when Reito accepts to fight even without Zero at his side, and reclaims the Ultra Zero Eye Neo from Laiha. The entire death and revival was a pointless scenario because it also did not lead to how Zero obtained his Beyond form. Ultraman Zero Beyond was a form that was gifted to him by Ultraman Hikari who arrived with a brand new Geed Riser, and the New Generation Ultramen Ultra Capsules (Ginga, Victory, X, and Orb Origin). Then following receiving these items, Reito takes ‘forever’ to activate all four Capsules to form the new Alpha, and Beta Capsules to assist in unlocking the Beyond form. The revival and the way Zero obtains this new form was just mind boggling, even though the overall action in the on-going battle with the Galactron was incredible! Furthermore, I felt it contradicted the growth of Reito’s character, and made the form’s debut underwhelming.
I personally feel this episode should have dealt with Hikari sending the new Geed Riser and Ultra Capsules to Earth to help revive Zero, leading to Kei, Laiha, and Reito racing to obtain them. The race to control these items would have built up the whole life-and-death scenario set-up. Also, if Zero was dead, coming back from dead would been a working analogy as to why the form is called Beyond. Yet, never the less this episode’s positives and its negatives cancel each other out for me, which allows me to say it was just an okay one. From viewing the teaser for the next episode, I am sure it might begin to bring Reito family further into the fold since Reito’s daughter has a Little Star, which might be Zero’s Ultra Capsule. Furthermore, I cannot wait to see Tyrant appear in the series he is an all-time favorite of mine!