Ultraman Orb Episode 25 – The Wandering Sun Review

It is finally here, the final episode of Ultraman Orb! In this review I will cover only the episode on its own, but will review the entire series as a whole for another time and day. Hopefully to serve as padding until it is confirmed that a fan-subbing group will pick up Ultraman Orb the Origin Saga, or it is distributed internationally so that I can keep this hype-train alive. I will also being doing countdowns of my Top 10 Fights in the series, and Top 10 Moments where one can easily expect Juggler to take center stage in that one most likely! Anyways, let us begin with the review of Episode 25…

Summary:

The episode begins with Gai coming to grips with Naomi’s death however he soon discovers Juggler merely knocked her out and took her as a hostage. Meanwhile Shin and Jetta realize they could die at any moment now, as Shin hurries to find a weakness of the Orochi and get the message to the outside world. VTL current engages the Orochi in battle, as Gai rushes to save Naomi from Juggler at the nearby pier. Naomi begins to realize she is Gai’s Achilles heel! Gai and Juggler with Naomi face off, as Juggler becomes hysterical. The two argue what holds the universe together; darkness or love? Naomi then proceeds to tell Gai that if she is to die she regrets nothing, and tells Juggler to get things over with. However a VTL ship comes crashing in on the trio and Juggler chooses to save Naomi which allows them all to realize Juggler saved Natasha. These moments of pure heroics have Juggler torn, as Gai thanks him for everything he did and that he must look after Naomi! Gai rushes into battle with the Magata no Orochi using everything in his arsenal.

Luckily Shibukawa manages to locate Shin and Jetta saving them before time runs out for the duo. He found them by tracking where update from on S.S.P. site originated from. Together Shin and VTL manage to figure out the Orochi has a weak point due to a tree blocking a part of its growth. Naomi sees that Gai is in need of help, and she convinces Juggler he is the one that can turn the tide, allowing Orb to save the earth. The two join forces once more, as Shibukawa manages to alert VTL on where to target the monster. VTL’s attack is successful, allowing Gai and Juggler to get in close, but the Orochi pulls in Juggler. Gai is then forced to take both of them down in the greatest Orb Supreme Calibur yet! At sunset, Gai tells Naomi he must leave, but she wishes to join him. Gai denies her that wish, but Naomi then wishes to at least hear the Orbnica which he agrees to as he walks off into the sunset. The others arrive to show Naomi they are now famous, and shout their farewells however Naomi knows they will meet again someday, as Juggler looks on from afar.

My Thoughts:

HOLY CRAP THIS FINAL EPISODE HAS A TON OF FEELS! Before we get into those feels I would like to say the way Naomi survived was definitely an ass-pull move because it was either an illusion, or he just knocked her out with the blunt side of the katana. However, Juggler using that type of ploy to get Gai to surrender to darkness was not entirely a bad move, since we learn later that Juggler has a real attraction to Naomi. That attraction also becomes a revelation as Naomi realizes he saved Natasha during the battle with Maga Zetton, as well as was the motivation for his “face turn” at the end. Now, how the audience comes to learn this is simply wonderful on several levels through the acting, and with VTL’s attack on the Orochi in the background. The visual of VTL attacking Orochi was intense, and courageous which set the mood for the standoff as Naomi began to realize Gai coming to save her only was a diversion! When she was willing to accept death it showed Juggler that she no longer feared him; Naomi also knew she was holding Gai back from being the world’s hero and was willing to sacrifice herself, understanding what life is all about. I also enjoyed the confliction within Juggler, as I and others expected Tsuburaya would redeem him to have a cheery ending for the entire cast. Aoyagi portrayed the character’s confliction well from the tears shed to the how Juggler could not comprehend his own actions for saving the lives of both, Natasha and Naomi.

Orb 25 Resolve

Once Gai rushed off to battle Magata no Orochi, his transformation into Orb Spacium Zeperion was one of the most incredible sequences in the entire series to date. Having Ultraman and Ultraman Tiga appear flying alongside of him, as he ran into battle was incredible as he then was lifted up and crashed into area unleashing the Zeperion Ray. Now, we saw Zeperion Ray in the preview for this episode which that visual had me immediately hooked, but the lead in brought out how serious the moment was. Then as Gai/ Orb shifted through the forms to confront the Orochi were great, as they didn’t use the stock footage transformation sequences. Had all of those clips been reused, they would have hurt momentum of entertainment for the viewer. When Gai finally turns to the Origin form, this is where the battle seems to go back in the favor of the Orochi and heavily focused on Juggler’s redemption. How Naomi got Juggler to even help Gai, was by saying she would accept his date for a cup of coffee; which was hilariously awesome because it once again proves men will do anything for the women they have crushes on! Their overall teamwork was pretty basic to stuff seen in the past; however it was a moment fans waited to see either during flashbacks (luckily we get those as its own series on Amazon Prime), or in this moment of redemption. Juggler’s sacrifice was an expected moment to occur in the battle, but it was negated when he appeared during the final scene. Some do argue that since he was not noticed by the other cast members it would mean he could be dead, or just pulled a “Piccolo” as some would use that reference.

Orb & Juggler

The subplot with Shin, and Jetta is subjectively good since it had them believing they were going to die, but sought to find the Orochi’s weakness. Now, the discovery made was a little odd as to what exactly the weak point was; since it was actually a less developed area that occurred via minor blockage in the evolution process. However how they attempted to get the word out, and how it led to them being found was somewhat cool! Using the S.S.P. website to get the information out to the world was pretty smart, but was a huge gamble and luckily Shibukawa stays invested in their work, so he was notified of the update. A friend of mine actually made the weird comparison that this was like the ending for the Tri-Star Godzilla on how the protagonists got the nest in Madison Square Garden bombed, and I would agree that the two are similar in regards. Overall it gave the two a good send off as being supporting characters.

Orb 25 They Did Something!?

Once we got to the final scene things came together almost seemingly perfect seeing that Naomi seeks to be with Gai, but he cannot let that happen since they are two different people. The open ended and hopeful send off for the two is amazing, but felt like this should have all be concluded in another series, or film. However I know that will not happen in this day, and age; I would have even taken an epilogue montage for the end credits! Never the less, I feel like the episode capped off the series leaving us on the same note that Gai/ Ultraman Orb is a heroic Ronin-like protagonist…

Rating: 5 out of 5

The End
The End

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