WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Ultraman: The Trials of Ultraman #1 by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom, Francesco Manna, Espen Grundetjern and VC’s Ariana Maher, on sale now.
Being a superhero is never easy work, least of all when you are almost single-handedly tasked with protecting the entire world from an invasion of interdimensional monsters. This is precisely the situation that Shin Hayata has found himself in during the Trials of Ultraman. Luckily, Shin has plenty of people working alongside him to save the world and convince its inhabitants that Ultraman is a force for good. As helpful as all that is, it might go over easier if the ones closest to Shin believed a word of what was being said.
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Ever since joining the USP as Ultraman, Shin’s life has become increasingly complicated. Hunting the various monsters that were strategically released from the Kaiju Vault is hard enough, but Shin hasn’t been getting a lot of support outside of his work colleagues and the Ultra itself. The emotional toll has been weighing heavily on Shin, leaving him looking for any sliver of hope that his efforts are paying off not just on a global scale, but an interpersonal one as well. Even something like a stranger’s appreciation would do wonders. With the USP having gone public in a bid to instill confidence through transparency, there are sure to be plenty of opportunities for some support from the general populace. Unfortunately, not many people seem to believe what they’re hearing.
No matter how far-reaching the Kaiju threat is, and no matter how many people see Ultraman battle the beasts with their own eyes, there are always going to be diehard skeptics. The admissions of the USP that they have been acting in secret for so long makes their current attempts to act in full view of the public ring hollow for some. For others, the idea that giant monsters from another dimension exist is more than they are willing to accept as a possibility. The negative reaction from nearly every angle is just another stressor for Shin, and he is genuinely hurt when the same skepticism is exhibited by his own father. In a moment of utter frustration, Shin reveals himself as Ultraman to his slacker dad, but the reaction is not what he was expecting.
Shin’s father is surprisingly nonplussed by this shocking revelation, merely shrugging it off as a wild claim made out of some strange sense of anger. The fact that in one of his lowest moments, even the person who should be closest to him wasn’t there for him becomes just another disappointment to overcome. There might not be much he can do to convince the world at large that what is happening around them is real, but that doesn’t mean Shin can’t try. If nothing else, the effort he is putting in is genuine, and that’s worth more than anyone’s opinion on the matter.
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