Super Dimensional Showdown A confused Tsutomu Niiboshi turns to find his mother holding the TV remote in one hand and one of his school exams in the other. She reprimands him for spending too much lime watching Ultraman and not enough time on studying and playing sports (he received a score of 35 on the test, which sports a series of Ultraman doodles on the back). She hides the videotape and sends him to bed. Undaunted, Tsutomu gets up in the middle of the night, grabs a snack, and finds his video, which his mom hid in the rice cooker. He continues watching, but at the crucial scene, the reception goes crazy. Tsutomu suddenly finds himself in a dimensional rift, like a virtual reality black hole, where he sees visions of a glowing red globe and a young girl praying amidst a burning city...
ULTRAMAN TIGA, ULTRAMAN DYNA & ULTRAMAN GAIA:
SUPER DIMENSIONAL SHOWDOWN
Tsutomu Niiboshi (Kaku Hamada) is a huge Ultraman fan. So much so that he alienates himself from his other classmates. In Tsutomu's world (the real wortd), Ultramanis just a television program. Even his one best friend, Vu Hirama (Yu Irinomi), gets tired of hearing about Ultraman all the time. He scoffs when Tsutomu explains his vision and chalks it up to watching too much Ultraman. Things become weird when a new student (Mai Saito), a girl who looks exactly like the one in Tsutomu's vision, joins their class. Her name is Risa Nanase and she quickly becomes friends with Tsutomu. Since both of them feel like outcasts, they form a true bond of friendship. In the school yard, Tsutomu is working on a big chalk drawing of Ultraman while the other children play ball. He tells Risa about his favorite storybook, Gulliver'sTravels. He wishes that he was big and strong and able to go on fantastic adventures. Risa asks whether the story has a happy ending. They're suddenly interrupted by a stray basketball. Tsutomu picks it up and the other children ask him to join the game. Risa silently urges him to join. He's about to when three school bullies approach him and snatch the ball away. The main bully is Hiroshi Kashimada (Vuuta Sato), while his followers Wataru (Vuki Sugita) and Kouhei (Keito Takimoto) are little more than "yes-men," particularly Wataru who pretty much parrots everything Hiroshi says. They refuse to let Tsutomu join in the game. Hiroshi asks Tsutomu why he likes Ultraman so much, to which Tsutomu replies, "because he's strong." The three bullies laugh and chide Tsutomu for liking Ultraman.
Later that day, Tsutomu goes to his private retreat - an abandoned warehouse - where he keeps some toys and a huge chalk Ultraman drawing on the floor. He laments the fact that he's not as strong as his hero, Agent Gam (Takeshi Voshioka). Amidst his toys, he finds the strange red globe from his vision. He picks it up and it glows in his hands. He drops it suddenly and it begins to speak to him. It says that it will grant his greatest wish. Frightened, Tsutomu leaves it alone. The next day, he tells his friend Vu and Risa overhears. Intrigued, the three of them return to the warehouse to investigate. They find the ball, just as Tsutomu described, but are afraid to pick it up. As they're leaving, Risa says, "Wouldn't it be great if it really granted your wish?" This encourages Tsutomu to pick up the grapefruit-sized ball. Grasping it, he says that he wants to meet the real Agent Gam. The globe flashes brilliantly and his wish is granted.
The three of them run outside and see Gam's fighter plane appear in the sky, amidst rolling waves of water. Tsutomu is excited that his wish has really been granted and they run to follow the plane's progress. Gam wonders where he is, since he was just over the Bermuda Triangle a few moments ago. The plane attracts the attention of others, including the three bullies from school. When Tsutomu tells some other kids that it was the red globe that granted his wish and made the fighter appear, Hiroshi doesn't believe it. While holding the globe, however, the bully blurts out that a monster should appear as well. The globe glows, Hiroshi drops it and a monster does indeed appear: Satan Bizo.
Gam almost crashes right into the newly, arrived alien giant. Vu asks Tsutomu which monster it is and Tsutomu scratches his head, forgetting the monster's data. Hiroshi surprises everyone by quickly rattling off the monsters statistics, revealing that he, too, is an Ultraman fanatic. Gam puts his fighter on auto-pilot and transforms into Ultraman Gaia. However, in this world, his power is much less than usual; his color timer begins to flash almost immediately. Gaia still manages to make short work of Satan Bizo and Hiroshi clenches his fist in anger, vowing to create even more powerful monsters with the power of the red globe.
Gam returns to his fighter's cockpit, which has now landed in a park. Wondering why his power is so limited, he looks out the window to see a crowd of raving kids chanting, "Gamu! Gamu!" and then "Transform! Transform!" In a hilarious scene, Gam runs for his life from a mob of fans. He ducks into a toy shop (of all places) to avoid the mob and is shocked by all the Ultraman paraphernalia he sees, including a television which runs an episode of Ultraman Gaia and a moving Hanejiro figure from Ultraman Dyna. The shopkeeper recognizes him and holds out a toy Explender in Gam's henshin pose. Gam comes to realize that he's not in his own world. Tsutomu and company meet up with him and Tsutomu explains he called Gam here through the power of the red globe.
At Tsutomu's private getaway, Gam tells him that the red globe can also be used to call monsters and shouldn't be used again. Tsutomu pulls it out from his book bag and is surprised by the fact that the globe has increased in size. Gam calls his fighter and has the globe analyzed using the ship's computer, with which he's able to download the ball's memory. Meanwhile, Tsutomu pulls out his copy of Gulliver's Travels to give to Risa. Gam notices and says that it was his favorite story when he was younger. Gam shares his thoughts about the book and how he now feels like Gulliver, trapped in this alien world. Tsutomu asks Gam to autograph the book, but they're interrupted as the police suddenly surround the building!
In the ensuing chaos, Tsutomu drops the red globe and the bullies pick it up. Gam suddenly disappears with his fighter and appears back in his own world, submerged in the Bermuda Triangle. He flies back to the Arial Base and tries to explain what happened. He has a hard time explaining because he doesn't know what happened exactly, whether it was just a dream or if he really did visit another dimension. He's convinced that Tsutomu's world is for real when he notices Tsutomu's copy of Gulliver's Travels amidst his things. He also realizes that he still has the red globe's memory in his computer. He accesses the information with his laptop and is immediately drawn into the same virtual dimension world that Tsutomu was drawn into when he was first watching television. Gam has a conversation with the red globe and sees the same vision of Risa praying amidst burning ruins. The red globe reveals to Gam that it intends to destroy Tsutomu's world completely. Meanwhile, Tsutomu and his friends manage to find the bullies in a school classroom, designing new monsters out of clay. They don't realize they are now being controlled by the will of the red globe, which is steadily increasing in size. Hiroshi doesn't care for his two lackey's monsters, but he takes a few pieces from each and combines them with his own monster to create King-Of-Mons (King of Monsters). Tsutomu musters his courage and decides to rush into the school with Yu to get back the globe while Risa waits outside.
In the meantime, Gam convinces his superiors to let him test out the experimental dimensional travel mecha, Adventure. He can't tell them everything, but he insists that another dimensional world is in danger and that they please believe in him. Looking at Tsutomu's book, Gam vows that he won't let Tsutomu's world be destroyed. While the Adventure is crossing dimensions; Tsutomu and Yu confront the bullies. They're quickly overpowered and the red globe (now bigger than ever and with spikes), brings King-Of-Mons to life. As the kids watch from the roof of the school, the monster proceeds to wreck havoc.
Gam finally arrives back in Tsutomu's world in the dimensional craft. Gam switches the Adventure to battle mode and engages King-Of-Mons. Unfortunately, King-Of-Mons destroys the Adventure with ease. And Gam, too?! Of course not! In a burst of light, Ultraman Gaia appears and engages King-Of-Mons. Gaia holds his own, but King-Of-Mons stands up to all his attacks. The sight of his hero being beaten spurs Tsutomu into action. He bum rushes Hiroshi and knocks the globe from his hands. The bullies eventually realize that they were under the globe's control. Yu, however, picks up the globe and is temporarily
possessed by it. Taking advantage of this chance, the red globe causes King-Of-Mons to give birth to two other evil monsters: Skyuura and Bajiris. Gaia is no match for three separate attackers and they literally wipe the floor with him. A stray blast all but destroys the school and the kids hang on for dear life. The school is literally ripped in half and the red globe is thrown across to the other side. Tsutomu realizes that the red globe is needed to end the fight by giving Gaia more power. He has no choice, but to crawl across a concrete beam suspended across the two halves of the school building. Halfway across, he looks down and sees Risa with her hands clasped, praying, just like in his vision. His feelings for Risa and his hero, Gam, inspire Tsutomu to risk his life in order to get back the globe. Tsutomu repeats, "I won't let this world be destroyed," and jumps for the other side just as the concrete beam collapses.
Now, with the red globe back in his possession, Tsutomu wishes to help Gam...but nothing happens! The red globe says that it won't help and wants the world to end. Tsutomu falls to his knees, not knowing what to do while Gaia is continually pounded by the three monsters. Barely hanging on, Tsutomu sees the three bullies yelling, "Gaia, do your best!" His friend, Yu, calls out, "Tsutomu, don't give up!" With renewed hope, Tsutomu puts his faith in Ultraman, not the red globe. But, another stray energy blast hits the school and the kids are sent flying through the air by the ensuing explosion (all except Risa, who is still on the ground). Still holding the globe, Tsutomu yells "Hikari yo!" (Oh. light!). There's a blinding white light and the kids find themselves safely in the hands of Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Dyna! The two legendary Ultra warriors place the kids on the ground and turn to help Gaia.
It's a battle royale as the three Ultra warriors face off against the three monsters. During the three-way battle, Skyuura retreats to the sea while Bajiris takes to the air, followed closely by Tiga and Dyna: It's Tiga versus Skyuura, Dyna versus Bajiris and Gaia versus King-Of-Mons! The battles rage on, as Gaia powers-up into Supreme Gaia [see Ultraman Gaia episode #26]. But what of the fate of the red globe and what exactly is Risa's connection to it?
If you thought that 1998's Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna was great (and it was), you haven't seen anything yet. Quite simply, this film rocks on all levels (one even enjoyed it more than Gamera 3, but perhaps that's just me). While Tiga & Dyna had great special effects and action, but a very straightforward, action-driven story, the success of Tiga & Dyna & Gaia is owed mainly to its story, which easily appeals to both young and old audiences alike. In the theater, mothers were clearly into the story and humorous moments, while the children were literally leaping out of their seats in excitement over the action. The young cast did an excellent job in their roles, especially Gaku Hamada as Tsutomu and Mai Saito as Risa. Their range of emotion and expression made the viewer actually care about them and want to see them have a happy ending; When Tsutomu has to wish the red globe away, knowing that Risa will disappear as well, the scene is made especially touching because of the realistic performances. Not usually a big fan of movies with children in starring roles, but in this case, an exception is gladly made. Takeshi Yoshioka truly shined as Agent Gam, as well. In the eyes of Tsutomu, Gam is a real hero and his actions in this film are truly heroic. From the beginning of the Ultraman Gaia series until now, the character of Gam has developed fully (I have to admit that he annoyed me during the earlier episodes). Thanks to his hero, Tsutomu is able to rise to the challenge and become a hero himself. He saves the future and learns something in the process. At the end of the film, before leaving for school, he tells his mother, "I like Ultraman, but I love you." This is a message that I'm sure parents are glad to hear, but that children can appreciate as well. The extremely high quality special effects, coupled with the strong performances, make this movie a sure-fire winner for everyone. But don't just take my word for it. I hope that everyone reading this will have the chance to see the movie and judge for themselves.
