The long history of the Ultraman Series has graced fans with countless exemplars of heroism and integrity, silver and crimson sentinels of compassion and kindness… And then there’s Ultraman Zearth.
To be clear, Zearth is still all of those things and is a fantastic Ultraman in his own right… But he’s kind of a wacky character beside that. Allow us to explain.
Coming from the Land of Sparkles, rather than the Land of Light, in Nebula Z95, and transforming using a toothbrush, Zearth is, like many other Ultras, here to help protect the Earth from threats that may harm it — and more specifically, to help clean the planet’s pollution problem up. Unlike the vast majority of those Ultras, however, Zearth has a nemesis that no amount of power can simply defeat, a scourge I’m sure many of us have had to fight against ourselves every day: Anxiety.
In truth, Zearth is among the strongest Ultra Heroes ever to fight for justice. That incredible strength, however, is unfortunately often held back by his fears and insecurities. A debilitating fear of grime and filth and persistent lack of faith in himself keep Zearth and his alter-ego, Katsuto Asahi, from greater both as a hero, as well as a member of MYDO, the Mysterious Yonder Defense Organization, which has relegated their mysophobic (That’s fear of dirty things) recruit to janitor status.
Despite his challenges, Zearth truly believes in the virtues of the Ultras, and is in many ways an exemplar himself due to fighting as hard as he does with the fears he does — something we can all strive to emulate, no? And Zearth has claimed several victories through his two movies, defeating the Alien Benzene, his wife, their Kaiju Cotton-Poppe, and even the very first evil original Ultraman, the robotic Ultraman Shadow.
Last time we saw Ultraman Zearth, he was helping to protect the universe in his own way with friends Ultraman Nice and Ultraman Kid in the battle against the Absolutians in Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Destined Crossroad. If you want to watch his original adventures, you can check him out in the Ultraman Zearth double-feature put out by Mill Creek, available now!
