1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,740 This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work 2 00:00:04,740 --> 00:00:12,520 at MJMunoz.com. This is Going Ultra and I am talking about Ultraman Blazar, episode 1. Originally 3 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:20,160 aired July 8, 2023, directed by Kiyotaka Takuchi of Ultraman Z and other things, and written 4 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:26,400 by Keigo Koyanaki. I will come back to them at the end of the episode because I want to 5 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:30,880 discuss them a little bit at the end of the episode. This first episode is titled First 6 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:39,680 Wave and it features the first transformation or first appearance of Ultraman Blazar in 7 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:46,080 this world as far as I'm concerned. As many of the Ultra series are, this appears to be 8 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:51,880 totally unconnected to any Ultraman series, although it has, you know, it exists vaguely 9 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:58,120 in a world of Ultraman 1966, let's say, where Ultraman had appeared at one point. However, 10 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:03,720 the mention of a previous Ultraman does not talk about him being on Earth, it speaks of 11 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:09,400 him rather being in space and that astronauts have seen this giant that they've codenamed 12 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:14,680 Ultraman over the years and it's just kind of a rumor thing. Kind of like the idea of 13 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:20,240 astronauts today in the United States talking about how, oh yeah, we've seen aliens or UFOs 14 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:28,080 before and, you know, just vague little tidbits of information. I think some people have more 15 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:34,080 profound or more curious things to say about UFOs, but I don't really follow that because 16 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,920 that's not my jam. So I'm going to talk about this episode of Ultraman instead of UFOs, 17 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:45,880 right? Anyway, so I'm going to be honest, I was a little underwhelmed. I love Ultraman 18 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:51,920 Z. I had understood, I think incorrectly, that Ultraman, well, maybe half correctly, 19 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:59,280 that Ultraman Z was Taguchi's baby, but really Koto Higihara who died before the series tragically 20 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:04,800 at 37 years of age, before Ultraman Z could be finished, but yet he had written the first 21 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:10,800 few episodes, the last couple episodes, and I think one or two in the middle. His, he 22 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:15,320 kind of set the vision and I think Taguchi and the others all made it happen on Ultraman 23 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:20,040 Z. So I was expecting, so I was coming from the wrong frame of mind because I didn't understand 24 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:25,760 that. So now I don't know what to expect from Blazar except for like kind of cool visuals 25 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:32,040 and maybe a cool style or approach to it still from Taguchi. However, we may not get that 26 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:37,920 or I may not like that because I feel like we're getting a little bit more of a hard 27 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:47,320 science fiction edge to this entry of Ultraman and it was weird to not have the, to not have 28 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:51,080 things spelled out. It was weird to not have things be blanketed. It was weird to have 29 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:55,520 there be so much darkness. There was plenty of light shots, but there were a lot of shots 30 00:02:55,520 --> 00:03:04,600 in the dark and the fight wasn't quite as dynamic or acrobatic or exciting or energetic 31 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:10,120 as I thought it would be. And I'm somebody who has bemoaned the use of forms in Ultraman 32 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,560 because they don't really make sense to me. And I thought, you know, we should really 33 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:17,160 have an Ultraman who just has, you know, a single weapon that they use in different ways 34 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,960 and that'll be really interesting and exciting and, you know, more realistic. And you know 35 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:25,200 what? It'll be versatile and it'll sell toys too because you just have the one weapon transform 36 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:29,880 and turn into all these different things. But I got to say, it was a little, I don't 37 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:34,880 know, a little sedate, I would say. It was a very sedate opening to an Ultraman show. 38 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:40,040 As far as we know, Hiruma, you know, Genta Hiruma did not die. He was not spoken to by 39 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:45,480 an Ultraman. He was sort of forcibly changed into Ultraman until, I'll make jokes about 40 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:52,800 later in shorts or something. So, you know, that was kind of weird and I was surprised 41 00:03:52,800 --> 00:04:03,640 by that. And we had no interaction of him and the Ultra at all. Interesting, it appeared 42 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,960 in learning about writing and trying to become a novelist, I guess you could say, a, you 43 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:14,280 know, pulp Toku novelist, mostly, and superheroes. Anyway, generic superheroes and then, you 44 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:20,240 know, Toku heroes. Anyway, I have heard the advice of you want to write, you don't want 45 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:25,320 to say what people are thinking and I guess that would mean no internal monologue or yeah, 46 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:30,800 no internal monologues. And you also just want to describe things as if you were, you 47 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:36,920 want to write as if you were a camera recording people doing things. So what they say, what 48 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:42,520 they do, the actions they take, the way things physically actually appear to the eye, you 49 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:49,320 say those things or you write down those things. You do not write down internal thoughts or 50 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:58,080 feelings or say somebody feels this way. So, and also in, if you look at early, if you 51 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:02,640 look at early footage behind the scenes stuff of like George Lucas when he was working on 52 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:08,240 the original Star Wars, he wanted it to feel like a documentary. He wanted to drop you 53 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:13,720 in a world. He wanted to not explain things and he wanted to let the scenes play out and 54 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:18,880 kind of let the camera tell the story and almost have the camera feel a little voyeuristic 55 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:25,600 where it's sitting there in this world and these things are happening. And maybe that's 56 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:31,600 why there's no real like crazy shots. It's just kind of more simple, basic sedate level 57 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:36,760 stuff. And I kind of felt the same way with this. We got a lot of shots from the ground 58 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:42,720 while Blazar and Buzang were fighting and there was like a bridge in the way of the 59 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:47,960 fight scene and there was kind of an, it was kind of awkward, but it was kind of cool, 60 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:59,800 but it was memorable or remarkable for what it does is when Aruma first transforms into 61 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:08,140 Blazar, he doesn't get the classic Ultraman tension or transformation scene where his 62 00:06:08,140 --> 00:06:13,080 fist goes up in the air and you see the Ultra growing towards the screen with a, you know, 63 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:18,280 sort of a flashy background and there's the Beta, there's not the Beta capsule, there's 64 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:26,280 the Blazar brace and the Blazar stone and he activates those against his will. They 65 00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:30,120 just appear, it just appears on his wrist and his hand and then they're forced to be 66 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:40,160 put together by the red lightning of Blazar. And then he doesn't get the standard transformation. 67 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:44,200 He's gigantic and it's kind of, it's again, an odd angle. You just see his hands reach 68 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,320 up and grab his building, this ring pushover and he pushes them back in place. And then 69 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:53,160 he kind of, he looks at his hands at one point and kind of looks back and forth. So you can 70 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:58,000 tell there's something going on with this giant, something unexpected. And maybe that 71 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:06,160 is the representation of the merger of the Ultra and the man. And then, uh, yeah, it's, 72 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:09,600 I don't know. It's interesting. It's, it's kind of a sedate fight. It gets exciting towards 73 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:14,440 the end. Like the last, well, once that color timer hits red or starts flashing red, then 74 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:19,640 the fight gets really, you know, more energetic. He's desperate. And I don't know if that's 75 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,840 because he's, you know, her rumor is being told that things are more desperate and he 76 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:29,000 needs to be more careful or finish this fight quickly by the Ultra or if it's like an instinctual 77 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:39,080 thing or what. Um, but yeah, I just don't know. Uh, he, he gets, uh, I gave this episode 78 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:45,400 subtitle and it's on the thumbnail, uh, space Savage, uh, because this guy feels like a 79 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:50,680 feral animal a little bit. He feels like a space Savage. He's got all these weird grunts 80 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,960 that they're not even, they're not like the classic Ultraman grunts, which I think sound 81 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:57,520 bizarre as somebody who's not like a long time Ultraman fan. I just think they sound 82 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:01,920 really weird and I kind of don't like them. If I'm telling the absolute truth. I never 83 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:07,400 mentioned that during a Z, but it's true. I've made my, my confession here. And, uh, 84 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:14,240 I mean, it does go to making them sound more alien and it is a interesting distinctive thing, 85 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,840 but I just, I don't like it personally. It's just, it doesn't, uh, it does not suit me. 86 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:25,360 So anyway, that's, that's interesting that he has that, uh, that reaction. And I guess 87 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,960 let me double down and get to the focus on the savagery. He does this weird thing where 88 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:34,360 he's hit like right before he rips off of his arms, he jumps like three or four times 89 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:40,440 in the air. Uh, almost like, like a, I don't know, like a real weird nervous, excited energy. 90 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:45,160 Um, I don't know, like I wrestled in high school and you just like, I don't know, I 91 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:49,680 would get this feeling of like anxiety or something and just like, I wanted to run or 92 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:53,280 not run away, but just like, I wanted to like move my body. Like there was something inside 93 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:59,640 of me that just wanted to move and do something. And I would pace, I would, uh, you know, do 94 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:04,320 the Shinji, you know, clench your hand thing. Um, Shinji Ikari from Evangelion, of course. 95 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:10,680 Come on. What is Shinji, what I want to be like in high school. Anyway, so he did that 96 00:09:10,680 --> 00:09:15,600 and then he rips off of his arms and then, uh, like that's kind of where things get really 97 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:19,400 exciting. And like, he even, he does this weird, like, uh, I don't know if you'd call 98 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:23,400 it like an ax kick with his heel, where he like almost flips over and like comes down 99 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,760 with his heel on Buzanga and he doesn't actually, I don't think he actually knocks it. He might 100 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:30,680 knock him down. I'm not sure, but anyway, then he wraps up the fight, getting things 101 00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:35,160 real exciting. He calls a black hole forth from the palm of his right hand, you know, 102 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:40,560 kind of a real cool pose. And that's where the spiral, the official dub version of it 103 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:46,920 to spiral braid comes from. And he uses that to, I don't think he shoots. He does the thing 104 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:51,640 where he's like shooting energy at a Buzanga before then, but then, which looks really 105 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:56,760 cool. I love the effect of it. It's super neat. Um, to reference Evangelion again, cause 106 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,160 apparently I'm just going to keep doing that. Uh, when I talk about Ultraman, it almost 107 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:05,200 looks like he's like thrusting his hand at the AT field and it's reacting by like shooting 108 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:11,040 out this, you know, distortion of energy at his foe. Um, anyway, but yeah, the spiral 109 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,800 braid coming out of his hand with that black or from that black hole thing is pretty cool. 110 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:19,500 Uh, and I like the effect of it. Um, it was a little weird. The shot, he was like super 111 00:10:19,500 --> 00:10:24,560 far from Buzanga whereas for, were, as I thought he had been a lot closer to him before then, 112 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:31,720 it acted more like a, a ranged weapon than a melee weapon, which is what I was expecting. 113 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:39,200 So that's a little weird. Um, but yeah. And then, uh, yeah, I mean, that's kind of it. 114 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:45,520 Um, that's the most remarkable stuff. I guess too, we had the instance where the, that woman 115 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:50,360 in the white hood with the shorts for some reason at night, uh, was, uh, she hit it with 116 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:53,760 a, she had Buzanga with a bazooka, like a special, I think she's going to be a scarred 117 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:59,920 member. Um, and I think she's there. Oh, anyway, she's one of the scarred members. Um, I think 118 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:05,040 she's like the spy infiltrator one who's going to like work with people, I guess on the ground 119 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:09,600 and gather intel. I think that's her deal. Um, anyway, it's weird that, well, I'll talk 120 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:12,560 about scarred in the next episode. I don't want to talk about that right now. Um, so 121 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:18,080 yeah, I mean, I was a little underwhelmed, uh, but the thing that impressed me most is 122 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:23,880 like, this doesn't feel like Ultraman Z. It doesn't feel like, uh, it feels less like 123 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:28,280 the original Ultraman even, uh, which I think is interesting. It has more of this hard science 124 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:34,280 fiction edge, which is fine. And I think I like it, but I just, I know I, I feel like 125 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:38,560 I'm reacting in a weird way to it. Um, you know, I overall did enjoy the fight. Uh, it 126 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:43,200 was a very, it was very human focused and I know I almost, I hope that the tone kind 127 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:49,920 of stays the same. And I'm not saying I want it to be dark and serious, but we're like, 128 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:55,320 blazar is treated as this alien thing. The transformation of him or her Huma in, so I'm 129 00:11:55,320 --> 00:12:02,160 reading Kenshin right now of her room into blazar is this alien thing. We don't know 130 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:06,680 why he was chosen. We don't know how he was chosen, uh, by blazar. I'm assuming he was 131 00:12:06,680 --> 00:12:11,460 chosen by blazar. It doesn't seem like we've got the traditional setup. I don't even know 132 00:12:11,460 --> 00:12:15,840 if we're going to get the, uh, you know, any indication that this is the original setup 133 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:21,440 of an ultra pairing with a human because they're both in desperate need of somehow, uh, they, 134 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:24,840 they must pair with each other or else they will die or whatever, um, in order to save 135 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,240 the world. It almost seems like it's, it's optional, but it also seems like it's not 136 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:33,480 optional for her room to transform based on how he was forced to transform this episode. 137 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:40,040 So, uh, yeah, space Savage. I mean that, that Ultraman blazar, he feels like some sort of, 138 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:44,400 like not vicious creature, but like this, I don't know, like this unhinged Savage kind 139 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:52,280 of guy. And I thought that was interesting. And like the way it was done, it's very like, 140 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:56,200 like things are very unpolished. Uh, I'm not saying the show isn't slick, but I'm just 141 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:01,160 saying like the presentation of the Ultraman stuff, it doesn't have, uh, the Polish and 142 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:06,520 the shine and the, Hey, let's, you know, chat my name. Ultraman Z. It's like, it doesn't 143 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:13,280 have that pop and that, uh, like, you know, bubbly friendly edge to it. It's there's the 144 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:19,480 brace. There's the stone sticks in there. Transform, you know, no, it's a non, um, there's 145 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:25,320 no magic. There's no wonder. There's no, like, uh, there's no catchiness to the transformation. 146 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:31,000 It's just a, you know, big, ugly, silent, dumb translate, uh, you know, um, transformation. 147 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:38,240 And then it turns into, you know, fighting. And I know it's just, it's weird how alien 148 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:43,360 it feels. And I think that's odd. I think it's odd. I think it's an interesting choice. 149 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:47,160 I like, you know, it's bold to bold choice for sure. Um, we'll see. I'm curious to see 150 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:51,200 what other people's reactions are to this as well. And, uh, I think that's it. I'm going 151 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,080 to run through. Uh, I grabbed a bunch of images, uh, from this. Oh, I was also going to talk 152 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,760 about these guys. Okay. So this is going to, this is going to be an extra special episode 153 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:03,280 of blazar. My blazar coverage where it's going to run extra long. I'm going to look at to 154 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:11,240 Gucci's, um, information real quick. So, okay. It says he's known as the main director of 155 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:17,240 Ultraman X, Ultraman Orb and Ultraman Z. I believe, well, I believe juggler comes from 156 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:22,280 one of those two shows X or orb. I think it's orb. I don't know for sure. So that's kind 157 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:27,400 of fun that he did that with this character. Um, and let me see Ultraman series direct. 158 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:37,400 Okay. So he's got, he worked on as well. Ginga. I'm just going to name off a bunch. Um, jeed, 159 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:45,080 red and blue or R and B, taiga. Uh, let's see trigger. Huh. Ultraman, a new power of 160 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:50,200 Singapore. I don't know if that is decker and now blazar. Uh, worked on music videos 161 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:56,400 apparently before. Uh, let's see others. He's worked on Hibiki, Kabuto, Denon as a visual 162 00:14:56,400 --> 00:15:02,760 effects artist. Oh, that's cool. Kiva, um, long haired mince monster Guevara. I don't 163 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:06,680 know what that is. Uh, the next generation Pat Labore. I'm assuming that the live action 164 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:12,360 Pat Labore movie, love and peace from 2015 female weapon, seven Oh one machine sent I 165 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:18,640 care a major from 2019, man. That's crazy. And then, uh, Denon's and on he did the monster 166 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:22,800 design. I did not know that it's cool. And he's a special effects director on common 167 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:29,040 writer, black sun, which I still have yet to finish. So super interesting, super interesting. 168 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:35,520 All right. So that's enough about our main director for the show. Uh, and our writer 169 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:41,520 of this episode, Kago Koyanagi. Let's see what has this gentleman worked on before. 170 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:45,900 He has age 39. I still have time to become a successful director. It's been an active 171 00:15:45,900 --> 00:15:53,160 writer since 2006, which is cool. Uh, let's see, let's see. It says he's Japanese screen 172 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:59,000 writers, participated in the screenwriting of the Ultraman series generically in 2006. 173 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,520 Koyanagi joined an animation production company and worked on production management and setting 174 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:08,960 creation and setting creation. In 2011, he left the company and became a freelance screenwriter. 175 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:13,800 Since then he has worked on the scripts for many animation works in 2016. Koyanagi took 176 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:18,800 on the first story composition and script for an original robot anime that was broadcasted. 177 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:24,000 After that, what was it? Tell me after that, he served as the story composer along as the 178 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:29,800 script writer for popular anime works with themes such as vampire legends, werewolf legends 179 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:34,160 and heroes and fantasy worlds. In recent years, he has been in charge of military research 180 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:38,320 in various works, contributing to enhancing the entertainment value of works through military 181 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:43,320 depictions. Boy, howdy did this Ultraman blazar have heavy military stuff in it. Koyanagi 182 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:46,440 participated in the Ultraman series for the first time as a military advisor in Ultraman 183 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:51,720 Z. I remember this now and worked as a script writer for Ultraman Trigger new generation 184 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:59,800 Taiga. And in 2023, Koyanagi serves as series composition for Ultraman blazar. Let's see 185 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:04,520 Ultraman series, Kotofukuha wrote the following episodes of the following series. I don't 186 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:12,680 know why that says that here. Somebody must have messed up on the wiki. Hmm. Anyway, yeah, 187 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,260 so I don't know why this is not citing the animation that this guy's worked on unless 188 00:17:16,260 --> 00:17:24,540 it was like highly inappropriate. But I'm not gonna skew into that at the moment. So yeah, 189 00:17:24,540 --> 00:17:29,280 this guy definitely makes sense as a military advisor. I don't remember seeing Koyanagi 190 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:34,160 as a writer credit on Ultraman Z. But this last time I watched it, I didn't really pay 191 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:38,840 that close attention. But yeah, I can see I mean, this was a very, like I said, it was 192 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:42,400 very human focused. It was very focused on the military. I guess I should speak to the 193 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:47,960 character of Genta Haruma. It's interesting that he like he's got the quirk with the meditation. 194 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,280 I kind of didn't like that he was like seeing visions in his meditation. It felt a little 195 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:55,800 bit like Combinator Drive and like where everything else is so hard science fiction here to have 196 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,720 that aspect of it. I know it was kind of weird for me. Although I guess it's kind of like 197 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:03,280 the um, what is it the black speech, the black thought, whatever, full metal panic, they've 198 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,960 got like, black alchemies, or whatever they called it. Anyway, they've got this weird 199 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:11,120 thing where this girl from this, it's I guess it's a light novel series turned into an anime 200 00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:17,160 full metal panic. This girl has the ability to like, do weird stuff with technology. And 201 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:21,520 there are other rare people like her. And there's people in fighting robots, who are 202 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:26,440 paramilitary and terrorists and things like that, who deal with all that stuff. Interesting 203 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:31,040 show. Well, little fanservice for my taste, but interesting show nonetheless. Light novels 204 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:36,120 probably better anyway. So like, it's weird that you've got this real science fiction 205 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:42,480 world. And then you've got and I don't think Ultraman blazar being in the show like ruins 206 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:47,000 the science fiction aspect of it. I think it's just another part of it's another dimension. 207 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:53,360 It's an unexplored or on unexplored or on it's just kind of an unexpected thing for 208 00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:58,100 there to be. But why couldn't there be these aliens who can merge with humans through some 209 00:18:58,100 --> 00:19:03,600 means, technological, or because they're just that's the way their species works. Why can't 210 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:08,360 there be that in a science fiction story? That doesn't make sense to me. What then doesn't 211 00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:11,840 or that that makes sense to me that that could work well then doesn't make sense to me is 212 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:15,800 that, you know, people would have these weird visions or whatever. So like the idea of meditating 213 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:20,040 is cool. And then I guess they kind of broke what I said earlier about the show was more 214 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,440 showing things in like this documentary like style, because we do get into her room his 215 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:28,720 head I guess, to see the vision of what he's going to do. And I guess that's interesting. 216 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:32,840 I do like though, that he wants every he wants to make sure everybody comes home, you know, 217 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:37,680 being this captain or this leader of this division squadron, whatever, like he wants 218 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:43,400 to make sure he takes care of all his men, and that he will bring them home, like I said, 219 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:48,760 and I like to when he's rescuing that guy, right before he, right before he gets transformed 220 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:52,800 into blazar, that he's tells the guy something like, I told you everybody goes home, the 221 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:57,120 guy said, Yeah, I know you would have told me to leave you here, though. And he kind 222 00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:01,520 of laughs and it's like, No, I wouldn't have, you know, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. And that 223 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:06,920 was kind of cool. So I like the character of the guy. We didn't get to see much of it 224 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:12,640 because it was just very much him in a stressful situation where he's commanding and such. 225 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:16,120 So I don't feel like we got too much of an insight into his character. But we did get 226 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:21,800 I did like and appreciate it. So that's good. I think I'm gonna like this guy for the series 227 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:27,080 and little flashes we've seen of him and other things in other preview materials I have liked. 228 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:31,520 So that's that's good for me. And let me see, is there anything else I wanted to talk about 229 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:43,720 specifically before I close out the episode? I do not think so. Yes, so I am going to go 230 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:49,080 ahead and close out the episode. Overall, I don't know, I'd give it like a seven, six 231 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:52,800 point five, seven out of 10. I think it was entertaining. I liked it. But it just it felt 232 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,320 so weird and so alien and so foreign. Despite the fact that I was listening to it in English. 233 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:04,840 It's the dub. It was weird. I like I like hearing Johnny and wash. This voice that he's 234 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,520 doing is interesting, though. It doesn't it doesn't feel like Narukami, which is what 235 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:12,160 I was expecting. For some reason, I don't quite know why. And it's like harder than 236 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:17,760 Vash to stampede. And yeah, I don't got any I don't know anything else. I like the fact 237 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:21,320 that they're bringing back that the title card. I wonder if it's always going to be 238 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:25,440 at the end of the episode. I'd be OK with that. That's all right with me. Because if 239 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,920 like for the immersion, they're keeping things more, I don't know, sedate and pushing stuff 240 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,320 off like that till the end. Maybe that's what they're going to do. Maybe not. I don't know. 241 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:39,000 But yeah, overall, I did like it. I'm interested to see what's next. And this didn't start 242 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:45,280 the way I expected it to. And that's OK. Sometimes our expectations can be defied. And it's a 243 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:50,280 good thing. So I guess we'll stick with it and see. I'd like to know what you thought 244 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:57,040 about this premiere, this debut of Ultraman Blazar and just what you feel about the show 245 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:02,320 so far. We're feeling with the cast and anyway, just all your thoughts in general. Let me 246 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:09,520 know what occurred to you, what objections you had or what you loved, because I think 247 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:13,840 I shared a decent amount of stuff that was negative as well as positive. So if you've 248 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:19,280 got well, you know, you got anything to say, say it and we'll talk about it. It's fine. 249 00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:25,120 All right. With that, I hope that you're well. This is MJ signing out. 250 00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:31,540 I hope you enjoyed that. Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments or other 251 00:22:31,540 --> 00:22:37,960 feedback you might have. There you can find all of my analysis, art and fiction. I cover 252 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:44,120 books, tokusatsu, comic books, anime and more. Look around. You're sure to find something 253 00:22:44,120 --> 00:22:49,720 else that you'll enjoy as well. This has been a story over everything production.