Ultraman Orb Episode 8 – The Urban Merman Review

Sorry for the delay with this review, but my attendance at Northeast Wrestling’s “Wrestling Under the Stars V” and coverage of the event have set me way back in my personal schedule. However, as one can see I did manage to complete this review before Episode 9 is eventually added to Crunchyroll. Now to properly start off, the previous episode of Ultraman Orb was really damn good! Hopefully this episode, episode 8, will be just as good as its predecessor, or be close to it.

Summary:

A fish shop owner leaves work for the night, and heads to feed a Ragon as well as its child who’ve been living in a nearby warehouse. Meanwhile, Naomi has a weird nightmare/dream where Juggler saves her before turning into Gai. She however awakens in the office, as the others learn that local area has become deprived of fish. This leads them to believe a large kaiju may nearby feed off the sea-life, so S.S.P. begins to research the event. However, their case leads them to the fish shop owner and the Ragon he takes care of due the parent leaving the warehouse to search for him. The Ragon wants help, as the child has become sick but with the crowd outside the owner has to sneak out, but is followed by the S.S.P. team to the warehouse. There S.S.P. and the fish salesman attempt to aid the sick Ragon child, while Gai learns of a kaiju that is burrowing underground. There is some difficulty calming the sick child, so they insist Naomi to sing it to since it likes music, but they’re soon interrupted by the arrival of Gai.

Gai manages to get everyone out of the building, as the kaiju, Gubira surfaces and has been hunting the Ragon as a source of food. The Ragon child is almost eaten when it returns to its home in the warehouse to rescue its toy boat, leading to Gai transforming into Hurricane Slash to rescue it. Orb fights Gubira, but rather than killing the monster subdues it and returns it further out into the ocean where it can live a stable life. Following the attack, VTL and S.S.P. team up to help the Ragon find a new home in a nearby river where the fish salesman can still visit them, but to be hidden in plain sight. Before the Ragon leave, the child wishes to hear Naomi sing here alluring song. However the song attracts Gai’s attention and he questions how Naomi knows it. Her only reply is that, it is song that she has felt she has known for a long time. Once the Ragon leave, Gai immediately suggests that they have pizza for dinner as he heads for the office.

 

My Thoughts:

Episode 8 is not a terrible episode, and is not entirely a great episode. It is rather more a good or decent episode that can go 60/40 from scene to scene; it is seemingly a wild card in my opinion due to the plot being overly light-hearted, and family oriented. The story of the Ragon could have been better explained, like their relationship with the fish shop owner or how they came into his protection, as well as possibly contained an explanation for their high intelligence. Now, the Gubira could have been the reason for the Ragon to have appeared, but it is seemingly more of a coincidence that the kaiju surfaced and was eventually lured to them. What was astonishing was the fact that neither the family was eaten, nor the kaiju was killed off in the episode which is actually a first for the season, and probably the only time the audience may see Orb allow a kaiju to live. The only other huge thing to take in from the episode is that my hypothesis of Naomi being the reincarnation of the girl from Gai’s past maybe even more true, due to Naomi’s knowledge and ability to perform the song from Gai’s past.

Overall the episode is easily an episode one does not entirely need to see, but can still enjoy as it is very family friendly. However by learning that Naomi could be reincarnated opens up further possibilities for the series, but can help shed more light on Gai and Juggler’s past. Maybe the revelation from this episode may play a part in tonight’s brand new episode, which features the return of the Planetary Invasion Syndicate and a Fake Ultraman Orb!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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