Engine Inspection presents Killing Ultra. This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist,
I'm an analyzer. Join me as I talk about Ultraman Blades, our episode one first wave.
So the first thing I want to say is that I like that Gento is a proven hero. Not
only is he a captain, not only has he moved up in the ranks, so we know that he
has competency, but beyond that we know that he has helped people before out of
serious jams. He's been in situations where people's lives have been in danger,
he's put himself on the line and he's gone forward and protected people, so
already he's the hero. You kind of get that, you know, speaking about Ultraman in
context, you get that a little bit with maybe the SSSP with Shikibu Hayata,
because there's no proof that he isn't a hero, but it's never cited
specifically in what I've seen of the show, which is first eight or so
episodes that he did something big, and Gento is in a world of kaiju, and the
continuity, what I know the continuity between Ultra Q and Ultraman is a little
hazy, so I couldn't say if there are definitely... kaiju is like an ongoing
thing, and the Science Patrol has been combating them all this time because
they didn't have an Ultraman before, they were just tiny, or they were just, you
know, people on the ground fighting kaiju, and it would have been a whole different
circumstance. Anyway, regardless of that, talking about Blazar, I like that he's a
proven hero, I like that he is calm and he's mature and he's a captain, he's
helping to lead people and to inspire people, and that his big criticism, so to
speak, of one of his subordinates and kind of a... somebody who's a little more
green, at least in that elite unit, assume an elite unit, is that he's
forgetting that everybody's gonna come home and he's gonna do everything he can
to make that happen, and what I like about that is that he's kind of full
of it, because later on when he puts himself in danger and triggers somehow
the Blazar brace and stone manifesting on him, he is talking to a guy who says,
like, you're full of it, you would have told me to leave you behind, even though
you're telling me that I'm not gonna leave you behind, and that's cool, because
he's definitely heroic and his character is proven to the people around him, the
people who he's serving with, and I really like that, that's really nice that
he's such a great laudable guy, and that's really cool, I like heroic heroes,
noble heroic heroes, yeah, I like a guy who's a little dark sometimes, um,
Fukumachi from Giver, if you know who I'm talking about, you know, I definitely like
that, but I also like these good, you know, standard, not necessarily by the
book, but like these noble guys who are like, yeah, I'm gonna do whatever I can to
save whoever I can in whatever situation, and I meant Agito Makishima, not
Fukumachi, Fukumachi's the straight-laced good guy, nice guy, Makishima's the one
you got to watch out for, and that's why I like him. I don't know if that is what
made this weird feral Ultraman who was passing by, or who knows what, come into
contact with him, or resonate with Gento, or what, but it is interesting that all
of a sudden he's just there, and then this brace appears on him, and then he is
forced to transform into this giant savage who's climbing up buildings and
jumping down on them, and are jumping down on the kaiju, and then like ripping
off its armor carapace thing, and then hitting it with it, which is a great
classic. Ultraman, well I guess I was gonna say carbonator move, but carbonator, you
know, stole it from Ultraman, which is great, because you should steal things
when they're wonderful, and just say it's an homage, that's what you do. So yeah, I
really love that, I absolutely love what a savage he is, what a beast he is, it is
really fantastic, you get to see that in the original Ultraman too, he's, you know,
knocking off limbs, he's knocking off horns, he's using them to stab the kaiju that he's
fighting, and things like that, and I really have not a ton of familiarity
with Ultraman, like I really like Ultraman Z, I've seen it like two or three times
now, and it's such a great show, I love how it gives this context to kaiju, and
it like, um, figures out how to place kaiju in the world, but it starts off with just
kaiju are a threat, kaiju are enemies, and we must destroy them no matter what, and
then you get some nuance, and you get some nuance, and you get some characterization,
and some struggle for the, for Hikari, and, Haruki? Haruki, not Hikari, Haruki, anyway,
and then, but like here, we're in the beginning stages, you get to see the savage beast, but
it turns out that Gensou wakes up on the floor, very close to where he had transformed into
Blazar, and he's not even sure what happened, he pulls the Blazar stone out of his pocket
I think, or maybe it's in clutch in his hand as he's passed out, and he realizes, oh this
wasn't all a dream, there's something going on here, um, actually that's in the preview
for the next episode that it wasn't a dream, he, or actually I skipped ahead to the next
episode for other reasons that I won't talk about right now, but anyway, he uh, he looks
at the stone and he realizes something's going on here, and he's like shocked, and it like
freeze frames on him, this like shocked face of, I don't know what's going on, uh, I don't
exactly know what just happened, and this is crazy, and it's cool because you get to
see some moments when the Blazar suit actor is there, he like looks at his hands, and
is kind of like, huh, what's going on, and then he slowly starts to ramp up his intensity
and his frosty in his fighting, um, and after kind of stumbling around, well, I don't know
if he's stumbling around because he's so brutal, and like such a savage fighter, or if he's
stumbling around because he's like getting used to the body, I can't quite tell because
Gensou doesn't seem to remember being, um, being Blazar, and that reminds me of something
from Guyver as well, from the old 12 episode OVA, yeah, 12 episode OVA, uh, something happens
to the Guyver, Guyver Unit 1, because there's three of them in the show, uh, Guyver Unit
1, something happens to him, and the armorer's defenses kind of kick in, and he just becomes
a slaughter machine, and he doesn't quite remember, like he, he knows he killed, uh,
he knows he did stuff, but he doesn't quite remember, and then eventually he remembers
and it causes him issues. I don't think we're going to have that sort of thing happen in
Blazar, I don't think it's going to turn out that this, um, Bazinga, Bazinga, that this
Bazinga guy did was like, you know, someone's dad, or like, you know, in some way connected
to him emotionally, that's going to cause issues for him down the line. I don't think
they're going to do that same thing, especially because I believe the guy who worked on Z
is the same guy who's working on this as the director, so he shouldn't, um, or the producer
maybe, he's having a lot to do with the main thrust of the show, so I wouldn't think he'd
retread that ground. I hope not, and let's see. Um, I really look forward to finishing
all of Blazar in a sprint as I race towards, uh, Ace, I believe it is, is that what it
is? The new one coming out, uh, 2024. Anyway, um, yeah, I like the guy, I like kind of the
setup of what's going on here, I like how alienated, and I like how just thrown into
it we all are, and like, there's not even like title cards and stuff explaining things
to you, it's just, here's some action, watch it unfold, and see as things get crazier and
crazier, it was a lot of fun. Um, the best thing was the, just like how feral, uh, it's
like almost comedic and laughable how crazy, um, Blazar gets to be, he's like jumping and
like, you know, like trilling and stuff like at the Kaiju, um, kind of, what was cool was
it seemed like it was, um, Gento in there, like, recognizing that behind him was one
of his guys that he was trying to protect, who he actually went over to before the building
was going to fall and he caught it, and pushed it back up, and then started fighting, uh,
and he's like trilling and then like, he's like doing this like to, to get him away from
that guy so he doesn't actually kill him, um, like that, uh, so he doesn't accidentally
kill him with debris or whatever, uh, and he saves the guy, um, by being a weirdo, and
uh, by being a deadly weirdo, and I like that, I guess I like that in my superheroes too,
I like them to be very noble, but then be deadly weirdos.
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Until next time, be well.
This is MJ signing out.
This has been a Story Over Everything production.