[GrandComplete]

Episode 3 "His Name is Gaia"

Right away, there is a lot going on in this episode, giving more context to the Alchemy Stars and a bit more on Gamu in general. This episode gives you Gamu's personality so well in three distinct scenes that all happen in just the first 10 minutes. Gamu watches a recording of himself and acts it out, showing off how much he wants to be active on the field rather than just be supported. Explaining to Atsuko that in this continuity, Ultraman is not an alien protecting the earth, but the earth itself protecting itself, and finally the creation of the Esplender, his proper transformation device, and naming it because of its association with light, it's all great showing his knowledge but also his youth, zeal, and childishness that make him such a well-rounded protagonist three episodes in.

The Esplender is such a cool design that you wouldn’t expect something that looks like a knuckle duster from someone like Gamu, but there is a certain elegance to it. The blue crystal center and the gold rims make it pop, color-wise.

The Esplender was actually supposed to have a feature where it would become the color timer, or in this case the life gauge, and rather than blink, the gauge would actually start narrowing like it was winding down, but this concept was scrapped.

So, despite being in episode one, let's talk about the KGB. I haven't brought them until now. And really, it’s because Gaia is such a massive show! And the post for Episode One was long enough as it is; would you really want another paragraph for that? But interspersed throughout the episode are news segments of people all over Japan giving their honest thoughts about the events of the show. giving a glimpse of the average Joe's POV in such a massive series. as well as the investigation into Gamu and the Alchemy Stars, which all tie into another person showing up. There are like two distinct stories going on right now, and it seems like things will connect later on, but it’s great to see so many points being pushed and pulled into one another. It will be exciting when or if these characters interact.

And man, I’m going to keep repeating myself, but this show has such an impeccable budget. Gaia is a massive show with numerous characters, stories, and locations. After the first two episodes, we got our first change in director. Everyone give your attention to Toshiyuki Takano, whose only experience with mainline Ultraman before this episode was the Dyna 45th episode.
(Side note: I can't find a single photo of this guy on the internet. He's a ghost really. If anyone has one I would be grateful).
He has done some Gridman, The Hyper Agent, and Heisei Ultraseven, and he’s good at conveying how big events are even in a show that is so deeply rooted on Earth. The charm of interaction between groups of characters that Toshiyuki cultivated will go on to be a staying power of Ultraman for the Heisei Era, but even early on, he’s shown a level of scale needed for such a big franchise as Ultraman.

And what a setting for our battle in the desert!It’s exciting, it’s vast, and I love how the suits can get dirty; it gives the entire area of dusty, windy sand, heat vapors, and wide spaces an almost ethereal look for his appearance.

And speaking of fights, the kaiju of the week, Apatee, is really cool. I'm always a sucker for things that are supposed to be a foil or reflection of our heroes.

From the knight motif to its vaguely robotic nature and even having a color timer and mimicking Gaia's stance, this is meant to be a foil for Gaia sent from space, and it almost even beat him in this fight. I don't know why he has an elephant-sounding roar, but I’ve always had a soft spot for elephant roars because of Ultraman Tiga, so I’m biased for this guy. Alright, 5/5 Kaiju and roars from me.

Finally, the theme of the episode is "Esplender," played when Gamu completes the Esplender. Sahashi specializes in leitmotifs; in this case, the melody of the Gaia battle theme, and this soothing, calmer version using softer instruments, much like Gamu inserting Gaia's light into Esplender, makes this track feel like Gaia's power and heroism turned into an embrace.