1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Ancient Inspection presents Going Ultra. This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:10,000 Join me as I talk about Ultraman Blazar episode 7 and 8, Rainbow Appears. 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:11,000 Wait a minute. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:16,000 Some of you probably don't think that's the actual title of the episode, but you get it. 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:21,000 The rainbow appears, a rainbow appears, upside down rainbow appears, whatever. It'll be fine. 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,000 So the first thing I want to talk about is... 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:34,000 Here, looking at my notes. So the Kaiju is inspired by the Australian Aboriginal Rainbow Snake deity, sometimes called Yurlungur. 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:39,000 Yurlungur. And I think that's really cool. I looked into it a little bit. 9 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:49,000 It basically... One of the key features of it is that sometimes it's male, sometimes it's female, sometimes it has a very destructive nature, sometimes it has a very positive nature. 10 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:56,000 There's an idea that all the gullies and streams and lakes and things like that in Australia were formed by it rolling around. 11 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:08,000 And it like, its body carved these structures. And then in different ways, one of them, there were a bunch of frogs that were sleeping in the ground or something like that. 12 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:15,000 And then it tickled their bellies and they spit out water as they laughed and those filled the lakes and rivers. Super interesting. 13 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:21,000 And then there's different stories about the rainbow, about, sorry, Yurlungur. 14 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:32,000 Being this force of like judgment and even at a point turning people into stone if they were wicked. 15 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:43,000 Also taking animals that were very noble and turning them into people. And I guess they would stay animals if they were not so great. 16 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:49,000 There's lots of different things, lots of different myths from what I skimmed and looked into. Just a little bit, I'm for sure not an expert on Yurlungur. 17 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:58,000 But there's a lot of cool stuff about the rainbow snake from this Australian Aboriginal culture and mythos, I'm going to say. 18 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:02,000 And I do mean mythos in the positive way, not in the negative way. 19 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:08,000 So anyway, that was pretty cool. It really seemed like, I think it's... I don't know where this is from, but like the Lord gave it the Lord took it away. 20 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:15,000 I'm pretty sure that's from the Tanakh and the Hebrew Bible. And I would say that's pretty accurate of Yurlungur. 21 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:28,000 And maybe that's... I don't know, the thing that I looked at the video that I watched for this to do a little bit of research didn't say that Yurlungur was the chief deity of the Aboriginal peoples. 22 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:38,000 But very well could be, very well serves, or in fact does serve a purpose of blessing and punishing and judging and condemning those who are wicked. 23 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:45,000 So, makes sense to me. Anyway, so that was pretty cool. 24 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:52,000 And that really fits in with the theme of this episode, which I'll get to towards the... well, in a minute or so. 25 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:59,000 I want to stop real quick and say in episode 8, the beginning, I think they were planning on how they were going to deal with... 26 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,000 I wrote his name down, hold on... how they were going to... 27 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,000 Oh, I wrote it down in different notes. Oh no, here it is. 28 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:14,000 Nijikagachi, how they were going to deal with Nijikagachi. And there was this awesome music. 29 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:21,000 I don't know if that score has appeared before and I just haven't noticed it or what, but it was absolutely fantastic and I really dug it. 30 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,000 So that was pretty cool. 31 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,000 Next thing I want to say is... 32 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:42,000 I thought it was really interesting that Teruaki and Gento kind of fought or disagreed over one of them having to confront the professor because Gento figures that they may have to kill the professor and he's okay with that. 33 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,000 And he wants to make sure that Teruaki is okay with that. 34 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:51,000 And I found that really interesting because Teruaki even asks him, well, are you okay with that? 35 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:58,000 And Gento says something like, basically killing this one man in order to save the lives of millions? Yes, I would do it. 36 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,000 And I found that to be very impressive. 37 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:10,000 It makes sense if you look at the broader context of Ultraman where he's constantly killing throughout the years throughout the show. 38 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:19,000 He's constantly killing Kaiju, you know, ending one life to save tens, hundreds, thousands, whatever it is at the time, depending on the circumstances. 39 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:25,000 And it's very interesting. I recently was thinking about how... 40 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Well, in the beginning of this Blazor coverage, I talked about how I like deadly weirdos. 41 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:36,000 And I also like deadly, thoughtful, soulful people. And Gento was one of those. 42 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:42,000 So that's really interesting. And I appreciate the fact that he is willing to take a nuanced look at things. 43 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:47,000 And yeah, if he can save the professor, he will. But if he can't, he's going to kill him. 44 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:52,000 And regardless, they're going to kill the Kaiju. So it's not even a question of... 45 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:58,000 Like, let's say the professor wanted this to stop... 46 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,000 Nijikigachi. 47 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:07,000 And then Nijikigachi was out of his control, so he went on a rampage anyway. Then they would kill the Kaiju. 48 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:11,000 And that's kind of a big deal, right? 49 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:16,000 I mean, killing a Kaiju should be similar analogous to killing a human being. 50 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:24,000 And therefore, if they're comfortable killing a person to save all these lives, or if they're comfortable killing a Kaiju to save all these lives, 51 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,000 they should be comfortable killing a human being to save all these lives. And that's where Gento is coming from. 52 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:33,000 And I really like that argument, and I like that nuanced approach to it, or that like... 53 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,000 The fact that they slowed down and talked about that for a minute, and then they went on with the rest of the episode. 54 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Because that's an important thing to think about and to acknowledge and to understand. 55 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,000 And I mean, understanding the value of life. Speaking of understanding the value of life, 56 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:50,000 Tiroaki pleased with the professor that if he has this flood happen, essentially, 57 00:05:50,000 --> 00:06:00,000 that there will be plants and animals, flora and fauna, that are afflicted and hurt by Nichikaguchi's wrath, 58 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:06,000 and how he should consider that, even if he wants to discount the fact that people are part of nature. 59 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:12,000 And that's a really interesting take. I find that to be very heartwarming, 60 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:17,000 that he's thinking about appealing to the professor's love of nature and saying, 61 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,000 Hey, you love nature, and yet you're going to destroy all this nature in order to accomplish this goal of yours. 62 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:25,000 Like, are you really thinking this through? And is this really the best way to go about this? 63 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,000 Alright, so I want to get a little bit fun. 64 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:38,000 I love, towards the end of the fight, that they remark that he grabbed the rainbow 65 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,000 that Blazor actually reached up and was able to grab the rainbow. 66 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,000 I'm a little confused as to like the toyotic thing. 67 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:50,000 I think he got a new Blazor medal or whatever it's called to do the rainbow slash, and that's fine. 68 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,000 But it was really cool. It looked really great. It was like a beautiful toy. 69 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:58,000 I love how he like arced it between his hands and then, you know, cocked it back and threw that giant, you know, 70 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,000 rainbow saw blade that was super, super cool. I absolutely love that. 71 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:10,000 And I like this idea of him taking a little bit of the power from Nichikaguchi, or Kagachi, I should say. 72 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,000 And I think it's pretty cool. 73 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,000 I think it's very interesting that the professor is free at the end of the episode 74 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:21,000 because the authorities figured that there's no way one human being could control an entire Kaidu, especially one so powerful. 75 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,000 And I find that like a very interesting technicality. 76 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,000 And I wonder like, what do you think about that? Do you think that's good? Do you think it's bad? 77 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:34,000 It doesn't sound like Teruaki and Genta are going to like continue to have a close intimate relationship with him, 78 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,000 or, you know, any sort of relationship with him. 79 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:40,000 But like they don't seem mad that he's free. I don't think he could ever do this again. 80 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,000 But he had the intent to kill, you know, millions of people. 81 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,000 And I don't know. It's just it's really interesting. 82 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,000 And I'm not even mad at it. I just think it's more of like an interesting thing to think about. 83 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:56,000 And like, you know, this episode basically raises a question that a lot of, you know, science fiction type stuff has in the past, 84 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:02,000 which is do humans deserve to live? Do humans deserve mercy? Do they deserve, you know, forgiveness and redemption? 85 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:07,000 And, you know, the ability to repent for all their sins and all the harm that they've caused in the world. 86 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,000 And I think that's a very good question to ask. 87 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:15,000 And I like the fact that this kind of bravely asks the question. 88 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:21,000 And our heroes think that humans do deserve this protection, but our villain certainly didn't. 89 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,000 And I'm not saying he had a point, but it's just interesting. It's just interesting. 90 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,000 It's interesting that they raised the question. It's interesting how they examined it, 91 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:37,000 because I can see being sympathetic to his, you know, his pain and his plight that he feels for nature because of how it's being treated. 92 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:41,000 But the answer isn't genocide. And yeah, I just think it's it's fun. 93 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:46,000 I thought it was a really good episode asking that question and taking the time to examine who deserves to live. 94 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:52,000 And even at the end there where the professor and Teruaki were confronting each other, 95 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,000 the professor said, like, we're going to let God decide to the victor go to the spoils, basically. 96 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:58,000 I'm going to try to kill you and you're going to try to kill me. 97 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:04,000 And whoever wins, that's who nature deserves or proves is the right person because survival of the fittest or whatever. 98 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,000 And it's just interesting how dangerous that ideology can be. 99 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,000 And I really liked them touching on that. 100 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:12,000 Anyway, I really like this episode or this pair of episodes. 101 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:15,000 I thought they were pretty great. And I'm wondering what you think about them. 102 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:16,000 So let me know. 103 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 I hope you enjoyed that. Subscribe to keep up with me. 104 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,000 Like and share to help me reach more people like you. 105 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:26,000 And go to MJMunoz.com to find your next favorite thing. 106 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,000 And don't forget to let your voice be heard. 107 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,000 Stories are always better when you're part of the conversation. 108 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,000 Until next time, be well. 109 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:35,000 This is MJ signing out. 110 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:53,000 This has been a Story Over Everything production.