[GrandComplete]

Episode 2 "A Hero Appears"
Picking up where things left off is Gaia's debut battle against C.O.V., in which every step of the initial struggle causes dust and soil to burst forth, showing the absolute size of Ultraman in this show. It’s here that we see Gaia’s signature finisher, the Photon Edge. A charged energy whip shot from Gaia’s head. What a funky finisher! The animation of the beam and how flexible it is are so unique to this show. It’s almost as amazing as this real monster explosion. something that has been mostly lost in modern shows.
Afterwards, we get a full look at the aerial base, and I've got to say this is one of my favorite bases in Ultraman; this behemoth makes you feel the scale of XIG. To me, the entire model and set piece is peak Ultraman; it's awe-inspiring and sparks the imagination. Fun fact: the model used in the show and in the opening are two different props. Thanks to u/ChiefCmdr010 on Reddit for pointing that out.
In general, this episode is great for Gamu. We are shown a lot of his personality: his excitement, his slight childishness from treating the simulator as a game, and his getting pressed when Atsuko dismissed him, but tempered by his desire to join XIG to fight on the front lines not just as Ultraman but as Gamu himself.
One of Gaia’s greatest strengths (and weaknesses, admittedly) is in how huge the XIG is, as they were already introduced to Team Lighting in the last episode as our main squad of fighters led by Kajio. a secondary set, "Team Falcon," and even name-dropping a third squad, "Team Crow." And in the latter half of the ground division, with Team Hercules—such a wide group of characters—you get the sense of each of their groups' position within this organization and how they contribute overall to XIG.
We saw how Konaka's more unified teamwork among writers manifested itself as the Radical Destruction Bringer (who I will now refer to as the RDB because typing that name every time is going to get annoying), whose true goal for C.O.V. was to awaken an Earth kaiju in order to destroy the planet.Serialized storytelling is best used to call back and expand on aspects of previous episodes, layering them with questions and answers and how the story reacts to them. and already shown in just the second episode.

So, let's talk about the episode's kaiju, Geel, a subterranean kaiju.

The bipedal nature corresponds to its earth-appropriate, magma-themed abilities. I love the red core in its belly that opens up. The grunts it makes have a screechy quality to me with a reverb effect that sounds really unique to me (4/5).

Who can forget the electrophoton capsule storing Gaia’s light? I love it. What a great homage to the OG beta capsule right here!


Another thing I’m excited to talk about is that despite the ED song playing, the episode still continues. This is something you'll notice a lot in Gaia. It just shows how much story is being packed into an episode. It reminds me of that stretch of Ex-Aid episodes where the OP was skipped and the song played near the end of an episode to make room for more content.

This week's track has to be the Aerial Base theme. One part military & one part wonder this absolute behemoth of headquarters is represented well with the music with the soaring score mixed in with the beating drums.