1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,100
Engine Inspection presents Killing Ultra. This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist,

2
00:00:05,100 --> 00:00:09,900
I'm an analyzer. Join me as I talk about Ultraman Blades, our episode one first wave.

3
00:00:09,900 --> 00:00:15,740
So the first thing I want to say is that I like that Gento is a proven hero. Not

4
00:00:15,740 --> 00:00:18,340
only is he a captain, not only has he moved up in the ranks, so we know that he

5
00:00:18,340 --> 00:00:23,420
has competency, but beyond that we know that he has helped people before out of

6
00:00:23,420 --> 00:00:26,700
serious jams. He's been in situations where people's lives have been in danger,

7
00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:30,860
he's put himself on the line and he's gone forward and protected people, so

8
00:00:30,860 --> 00:00:34,020
already he's the hero. You kind of get that, you know, speaking about Ultraman in

9
00:00:34,020 --> 00:00:40,020
context, you get that a little bit with maybe the SSSP with Shikibu Hayata,

10
00:00:40,020 --> 00:00:42,940
because there's no proof that he isn't a hero, but it's never cited

11
00:00:42,940 --> 00:00:46,900
specifically in what I've seen of the show, which is first eight or so

12
00:00:46,900 --> 00:00:53,660
episodes that he did something big, and Gento is in a world of kaiju, and the

13
00:00:53,660 --> 00:00:57,500
continuity, what I know the continuity between Ultra Q and Ultraman is a little

14
00:00:57,500 --> 00:01:02,420
hazy, so I couldn't say if there are definitely... kaiju is like an ongoing

15
00:01:02,420 --> 00:01:06,580
thing, and the Science Patrol has been combating them all this time because

16
00:01:06,580 --> 00:01:10,100
they didn't have an Ultraman before, they were just tiny, or they were just, you

17
00:01:10,100 --> 00:01:12,940
know, people on the ground fighting kaiju, and it would have been a whole different

18
00:01:12,940 --> 00:01:16,980
circumstance. Anyway, regardless of that, talking about Blazar, I like that he's a

19
00:01:16,980 --> 00:01:21,220
proven hero, I like that he is calm and he's mature and he's a captain, he's

20
00:01:21,220 --> 00:01:25,420
helping to lead people and to inspire people, and that his big criticism, so to

21
00:01:25,420 --> 00:01:28,460
speak, of one of his subordinates and kind of a... somebody who's a little more

22
00:01:28,460 --> 00:01:33,620
green, at least in that elite unit, assume an elite unit, is that he's

23
00:01:33,620 --> 00:01:37,180
forgetting that everybody's gonna come home and he's gonna do everything he can

24
00:01:37,180 --> 00:01:41,300
to make that happen, and what I like about that is that he's kind of full

25
00:01:41,300 --> 00:01:46,020
of it, because later on when he puts himself in danger and triggers somehow

26
00:01:46,020 --> 00:01:54,460
the Blazar brace and stone manifesting on him, he is talking to a guy who says,

27
00:01:54,460 --> 00:01:59,220
like, you're full of it, you would have told me to leave you behind, even though

28
00:01:59,220 --> 00:02:02,460
you're telling me that I'm not gonna leave you behind, and that's cool, because

29
00:02:02,460 --> 00:02:06,860
he's definitely heroic and his character is proven to the people around him, the

30
00:02:06,860 --> 00:02:09,540
people who he's serving with, and I really like that, that's really nice that

31
00:02:09,540 --> 00:02:14,540
he's such a great laudable guy, and that's really cool, I like heroic heroes,

32
00:02:14,540 --> 00:02:19,260
noble heroic heroes, yeah, I like a guy who's a little dark sometimes, um,

33
00:02:19,260 --> 00:02:24,540
Fukumachi from Giver, if you know who I'm talking about, you know, I definitely like

34
00:02:24,540 --> 00:02:28,220
that, but I also like these good, you know, standard, not necessarily by the

35
00:02:28,220 --> 00:02:31,180
book, but like these noble guys who are like, yeah, I'm gonna do whatever I can to

36
00:02:31,180 --> 00:02:37,220
save whoever I can in whatever situation, and I meant Agito Makishima, not

37
00:02:37,220 --> 00:02:41,700
Fukumachi, Fukumachi's the straight-laced good guy, nice guy, Makishima's the one

38
00:02:41,700 --> 00:02:47,500
you got to watch out for, and that's why I like him. I don't know if that is what

39
00:02:47,500 --> 00:02:56,020
made this weird feral Ultraman who was passing by, or who knows what, come into

40
00:02:56,020 --> 00:03:00,380
contact with him, or resonate with Gento, or what, but it is interesting that all

41
00:03:00,380 --> 00:03:04,180
of a sudden he's just there, and then this brace appears on him, and then he is

42
00:03:04,180 --> 00:03:10,460
forced to transform into this giant savage who's climbing up buildings and

43
00:03:10,460 --> 00:03:14,100
jumping down on them, and are jumping down on the kaiju, and then like ripping

44
00:03:14,100 --> 00:03:17,260
off its armor carapace thing, and then hitting it with it, which is a great

45
00:03:17,260 --> 00:03:22,020
classic. Ultraman, well I guess I was gonna say carbonator move, but carbonator, you

46
00:03:22,020 --> 00:03:24,940
know, stole it from Ultraman, which is great, because you should steal things

47
00:03:24,940 --> 00:03:30,820
when they're wonderful, and just say it's an homage, that's what you do. So yeah, I

48
00:03:30,820 --> 00:03:36,340
really love that, I absolutely love what a savage he is, what a beast he is, it is

49
00:03:36,340 --> 00:03:39,100
really fantastic, you get to see that in the original Ultraman too, he's, you know,

50
00:03:39,100 --> 00:03:42,580
knocking off limbs, he's knocking off horns, he's using them to stab the kaiju that he's

51
00:03:42,580 --> 00:03:48,100
fighting, and things like that, and I really have not a ton of familiarity

52
00:03:48,100 --> 00:03:51,060
with Ultraman, like I really like Ultraman Z, I've seen it like two or three times

53
00:03:51,060 --> 00:03:57,820
now, and it's such a great show, I love how it gives this context to kaiju, and

54
00:03:57,820 --> 00:04:04,440
it like, um, figures out how to place kaiju in the world, but it starts off with just

55
00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,700
kaiju are a threat, kaiju are enemies, and we must destroy them no matter what, and

56
00:04:07,700 --> 00:04:10,900
then you get some nuance, and you get some nuance, and you get some characterization,

57
00:04:10,900 --> 00:04:19,460
and some struggle for the, for Hikari, and, Haruki? Haruki, not Hikari, Haruki, anyway,

58
00:04:19,460 --> 00:04:23,940
and then, but like here, we're in the beginning stages, you get to see the savage beast, but

59
00:04:23,940 --> 00:04:31,900
it turns out that Gensou wakes up on the floor, very close to where he had transformed into

60
00:04:31,900 --> 00:04:37,460
Blazar, and he's not even sure what happened, he pulls the Blazar stone out of his pocket

61
00:04:37,460 --> 00:04:41,020
I think, or maybe it's in clutch in his hand as he's passed out, and he realizes, oh this

62
00:04:41,020 --> 00:04:45,980
wasn't all a dream, there's something going on here, um, actually that's in the preview

63
00:04:45,980 --> 00:04:48,900
for the next episode that it wasn't a dream, he, or actually I skipped ahead to the next

64
00:04:48,900 --> 00:04:52,700
episode for other reasons that I won't talk about right now, but anyway, he uh, he looks

65
00:04:52,700 --> 00:04:56,300
at the stone and he realizes something's going on here, and he's like shocked, and it like

66
00:04:56,300 --> 00:05:01,540
freeze frames on him, this like shocked face of, I don't know what's going on, uh, I don't

67
00:05:01,540 --> 00:05:05,980
exactly know what just happened, and this is crazy, and it's cool because you get to

68
00:05:05,980 --> 00:05:10,260
see some moments when the Blazar suit actor is there, he like looks at his hands, and

69
00:05:10,260 --> 00:05:15,540
is kind of like, huh, what's going on, and then he slowly starts to ramp up his intensity

70
00:05:15,540 --> 00:05:21,620
and his frosty in his fighting, um, and after kind of stumbling around, well, I don't know

71
00:05:21,620 --> 00:05:25,820
if he's stumbling around because he's so brutal, and like such a savage fighter, or if he's

72
00:05:25,820 --> 00:05:30,140
stumbling around because he's like getting used to the body, I can't quite tell because

73
00:05:30,140 --> 00:05:34,740
Gensou doesn't seem to remember being, um, being Blazar, and that reminds me of something

74
00:05:34,740 --> 00:05:42,100
from Guyver as well, from the old 12 episode OVA, yeah, 12 episode OVA, uh, something happens

75
00:05:42,100 --> 00:05:45,580
to the Guyver, Guyver Unit 1, because there's three of them in the show, uh, Guyver Unit

76
00:05:45,580 --> 00:05:50,020
1, something happens to him, and the armorer's defenses kind of kick in, and he just becomes

77
00:05:50,020 --> 00:05:54,980
a slaughter machine, and he doesn't quite remember, like he, he knows he killed, uh,

78
00:05:54,980 --> 00:05:59,060
he knows he did stuff, but he doesn't quite remember, and then eventually he remembers

79
00:05:59,060 --> 00:06:01,860
and it causes him issues. I don't think we're going to have that sort of thing happen in

80
00:06:01,860 --> 00:06:06,380
Blazar, I don't think it's going to turn out that this, um, Bazinga, Bazinga, that this

81
00:06:06,380 --> 00:06:12,300
Bazinga guy did was like, you know, someone's dad, or like, you know, in some way connected

82
00:06:12,300 --> 00:06:16,900
to him emotionally, that's going to cause issues for him down the line. I don't think

83
00:06:16,900 --> 00:06:19,540
they're going to do that same thing, especially because I believe the guy who worked on Z

84
00:06:19,540 --> 00:06:23,980
is the same guy who's working on this as the director, so he shouldn't, um, or the producer

85
00:06:23,980 --> 00:06:29,500
maybe, he's having a lot to do with the main thrust of the show, so I wouldn't think he'd

86
00:06:29,500 --> 00:06:34,220
retread that ground. I hope not, and let's see. Um, I really look forward to finishing

87
00:06:34,220 --> 00:06:39,260
all of Blazar in a sprint as I race towards, uh, Ace, I believe it is, is that what it

88
00:06:39,260 --> 00:06:46,020
is? The new one coming out, uh, 2024. Anyway, um, yeah, I like the guy, I like kind of the

89
00:06:46,020 --> 00:06:49,460
setup of what's going on here, I like how alienated, and I like how just thrown into

90
00:06:49,460 --> 00:06:52,940
it we all are, and like, there's not even like title cards and stuff explaining things

91
00:06:52,940 --> 00:06:57,380
to you, it's just, here's some action, watch it unfold, and see as things get crazier and

92
00:06:57,380 --> 00:07:04,220
crazier, it was a lot of fun. Um, the best thing was the, just like how feral, uh, it's

93
00:07:04,220 --> 00:07:09,420
like almost comedic and laughable how crazy, um, Blazar gets to be, he's like jumping and

94
00:07:09,420 --> 00:07:14,940
like, you know, like trilling and stuff like at the Kaiju, um, kind of, what was cool was

95
00:07:14,940 --> 00:07:19,140
it seemed like it was, um, Gento in there, like, recognizing that behind him was one

96
00:07:19,140 --> 00:07:22,300
of his guys that he was trying to protect, who he actually went over to before the building

97
00:07:22,300 --> 00:07:26,380
was going to fall and he caught it, and pushed it back up, and then started fighting, uh,

98
00:07:26,380 --> 00:07:31,620
and he's like trilling and then like, he's like doing this like to, to get him away from

99
00:07:31,620 --> 00:07:36,900
that guy so he doesn't actually kill him, um, like that, uh, so he doesn't accidentally

100
00:07:36,900 --> 00:07:42,820
kill him with debris or whatever, uh, and he saves the guy, um, by being a weirdo, and

101
00:07:42,820 --> 00:07:46,660
uh, by being a deadly weirdo, and I like that, I guess I like that in my superheroes too,

102
00:07:46,660 --> 00:07:49,700
I like them to be very noble, but then be deadly weirdos.

103
00:07:49,700 --> 00:07:54,020
I hope you enjoyed that, subscribe to Kip Up With Me, like and share to help me reach

104
00:07:54,020 --> 00:07:59,060
more people like you, and go to MJMunoz.com to find your next favorite thing.

105
00:07:59,060 --> 00:08:02,820
And don't forget to let your voice be heard, stories are always better when you're part

106
00:08:02,820 --> 00:08:04,620
of the conversation.

107
00:08:04,620 --> 00:08:06,260
Until next time, be well.

108
00:08:06,260 --> 00:08:08,860
This is MJ signing out.

109
00:08:08,860 --> 00:08:24,500
This has been a Story Over Everything production.