It’s been a whole week since the Ultraman Arc trailer dropped, and we at UC have only felt our hype intensifying. Yuma Hize, his alter-ego Ultraman Arc, and the mysterious being of light that enables that alter-ego, Rution — we have so many questions!
However, it’s only a year ago that we were busy poring over the details of the last big trailer to drop, for Ultraman Blazar. Here at UC, we’re still carrying our love for SKaRD, Earth Garon, and Blazar himself with us, so we want to go back and compare that classic trailer with Arc’s, to see what they have in common, and how they diverge. Without further ado, let’s dig in!
Savagery Vs. Sunshine
The most immediately noticeable difference between the two trailers is the lightning. Blazar is battling in the dark of night, lit by harsh city spotlights and the roaring flames of an explosion. Meanwhile, Arc is entirely sunlit, battling in the middle of the day, the sun overhead.
From a tonal point of view, this does a great job at distinguishing between the two characters. Ultraman Blazar is a warrior prepared to rip and tear — those who watched Episode 1 of Blazar, where the majority of the trailer’s moments come from, witnessed Blazar tearing apart Bazanga, outright ripping off the spine launchers from the Kaiju’s arms with his bare hands. There’s no dispute that he’s a hero, but his battles are raw, even violent at times.
Compare that to Ultraman Arc, and what we know about him. Arc is a superman from a child’s imagination — the “Invincible Hero” created by young Yuma Hize, made real by the power of Rution. Fitting with the straightforward dreams of a young boy, Arc battles the Kaiju we see in the trailer with fittingly-straightforward chops, as well as bright, shimmering beams that reflect the colors of a rainbow.
Surprising Scale
Something fans may not pick up on is the difference in scale between the two Ultraman appearances in each trailer. It’s a subtle detail, but does a lot to illustrate their stature in the worlds they inhabit.
Blazar’s trailer sticks the viewer in the middle of what we would later learn in Episode 1 to be Tokyo — Ikebukuro, specifically. A titanic metropolis, the capital of Japan, with buildings large enough to dwarf even Ultraman himself. This has the effect of, well, bringing Blazar into our world, helping the battles seem in many ways more real, and more thrilling. He leaps over buildings, using them for leverage as he clashes against Bazanga.
In contrast, from our very first clear look at Arc, he towers over the buildings we see. Hoshimoto City is clearly not as big as Tokyo, but the difference in scale between the hero and the buildings really builds this feeling of being “larger than life,” a hero big enough to look down upon any danger to humanity.
Both of these different styles really go to show how Tsuburaya Productions, the masters of using sets and miniatures to build a sense of scale, have honed that technique to the degree of using scale to create narrative tone.
Setting the Tone
One of the most powerful parts of both trailers comes down to the sound of both of each. The trailer music for Blazar was also a primer for what the soundscape of the show would be like — heavy drums, distorted horns, ritualistic grunts. There is a sense of ritual to Blazar’s music, the feeling of a modern retelling of ancient sounds. In many ways, it was a perfect representation of Blazar himself, a primal, yet deeply heroic figure, slowly gaining understanding of the world around him but never doubting that it needs to be defended.
In contrast, Arc’s sound isn’t just heroic, but hopeful in a way that fits builds Arc up as the hero Yuma — and the audience — were waiting for, with heroic strings over a frenetic beat, with plenty of synth guiding those strings along. Like Blazar, Arc’s trailer is energizing, but it gets you off your feet in a different way. Maybe it’s just us, but we could visualize the hero coming in to save the day to that sound — and maybe he will!
Where both trailers converge is actually right at the beginning — with loud, bass-heavy thuds that grab your attention. Something big is approaching, footsteps shaking the ground. The sense of scale of Ultraman has never been in doubt, but you can hear how big it is here. It’s great for priming you for the amazing trailer you’re about to watch.
We could keep delving in deeper to both of these trailers until Ultraman Arc actually premieres on July 6th, but if we do that, we’ll miss all the other reveals sure to come in the next 2 months! When that information starts dropping, we at Ultraman Connection will be sure to bring it to you, so stay close!
