WEBVTT 00:00:00.330 --> 00:00:03.209 This episode of Ultraman Omega is fantastic. 00:00:03.830 --> 00:00:07.330 It's definitely the best Ultraman Omega episode 00:00:07.330 --> 00:00:10.529 so far. I bet it will be the best or in the top 00:00:10.529 --> 00:00:15.029 three of the entire series of Omega. And it's 00:00:15.029 --> 00:00:17.190 definitely one of those transcendent episodes 00:00:17.190 --> 00:00:20.250 that goes beyond Ultraman and goes into just 00:00:20.250 --> 00:00:23.089 great television, great storytelling. It was 00:00:23.089 --> 00:00:26.500 much more mythic than science fiction. Yeah, 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:28.300 it's much more mythic than science fiction, and 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:30.440 it reminds me of some discourse I've seen online 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:32.960 from a certain person I follow on Twitter or 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:37.280 X, whatever. And anyway, I'll probably talk about 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:40.100 his discourse. I should actually credit him and 00:00:40.100 --> 00:00:42.840 see who it is I'm talking about before I just 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:45.039 go ahead and blab on about this. So hold on just 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:50.700 a moment. Here he is. I found the man. It's Ultra 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:54.210 Kiel. Ultra Keel, there we go. So it says, his 00:00:54.210 --> 00:00:56.009 bio says, I'm a Tokusatsu fan and I love Godzilla 00:00:56.009 --> 00:00:58.909 and the Heisei TGG era Ultraman. My hobbies include 00:00:58.909 --> 00:01:01.530 mobile building. model building, sorry, miniatures 00:01:01.530 --> 00:01:03.350 I communicate between Japanese and Western Tokusatsu 00:01:03.350 --> 00:01:06.450 fans. You can see there's me looking at it. Crazy 00:01:06.450 --> 00:01:08.849 face I'm making. Anyway, so yeah, he's a lot 00:01:08.849 --> 00:01:10.209 of fun. He says some interesting stuff about 00:01:10.209 --> 00:01:12.849 Ultraman, and I find it interesting, which is 00:01:12.849 --> 00:01:14.609 why I talk about it. I've asked him questions. 00:01:15.250 --> 00:01:17.530 I find it interesting, like, I'm not saying because 00:01:17.530 --> 00:01:19.769 he's Japanese I need to take his opinion as gospel. 00:01:19.909 --> 00:01:22.569 Of course not. It's just, it's interesting to 00:01:22.569 --> 00:01:25.849 see a Japanese fan, an older fan, who's into... 00:01:26.299 --> 00:01:28.140 well i'll let you i mean he said reason two in 00:01:28.140 --> 00:01:30.420 his bio so um does he said something about kaiju 00:01:30.420 --> 00:01:33.540 being gods and like godzilla being or you know 00:01:33.540 --> 00:01:36.099 kojira whatever being like a god and that's the 00:01:36.099 --> 00:01:38.439 kind of story a kaiju story is kaiju are not 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:41.519 giant animals and i just i have a i like ultraman 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:43.420 a lot um but i have an interesting relationship 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:46.400 with kaiju the concept of kaiju which i got introduced 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:48.859 to in a bigger way by concrete revolution of 00:01:48.859 --> 00:01:50.900 the anime which you might think sounds ridiculous, 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:52.480 but I don't think it sounds ridiculous. It's 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.560 fairly reasonable, and we'll talk about why as 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:56.680 we go on. It's something I'll touch on at some 00:01:56.680 --> 00:01:58.019 point, but I want to talk about the episode overall. 00:01:58.599 --> 00:02:01.879 There is this, like I said, so the kaiju ends 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:05.700 up being Ohibinushi, the serpent deity beast, 00:02:05.900 --> 00:02:11.900 and he is, he's named after, actually, so there's, 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:14.719 I'd say, I think it's Ohibinushi Nomikoto or 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:18.080 Nomiko. This girl here is, hold on, I'll show 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:23.819 you. here we go why am i not okay so here we 00:02:23.819 --> 00:02:27.300 go this girl is miko and this kaiju she named 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:30.400 mikoto but then his name is transformed to something 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:32.280 else he starts off as a little guy that can fit 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:34.120 in the palm of her hand and you see throughout 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:37.139 the episode that uh he's pulling energy from 00:02:37.139 --> 00:02:40.400 her here um and it's interesting because she 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:45.150 lost her mother and She's mourning and her aunt, 00:02:45.250 --> 00:02:46.669 she's living with her aunt now and her aunt is 00:02:46.669 --> 00:02:49.569 a farmer lady who's out in the sticks and she's 00:02:49.569 --> 00:02:51.349 trying to take care of her. But it's hard because 00:02:51.349 --> 00:02:53.629 she's a teenage girl. She lost her mother. She's 00:02:53.629 --> 00:02:57.430 very sad about that. And I just found it interesting 00:02:57.430 --> 00:03:05.990 that Soroto is introduced to the word Tomodachi, 00:03:06.069 --> 00:03:09.539 friend, and also they speak about family so there's 00:03:09.539 --> 00:03:11.979 family and friend and like friends can be family 00:03:11.979 --> 00:03:14.699 and family can be friends so to speak and like 00:03:14.699 --> 00:03:16.259 there's a lot going on with his learning and 00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:17.699 i've kind of forgotten about this aspect of omega 00:03:17.699 --> 00:03:19.780 that he's an alien so auto is an alien learning 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:21.580 to be human or learning to fit in a human world 00:03:21.580 --> 00:03:23.780 and he also has these dealings with kaiju so 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:25.000 this is like a very interesting episode because 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.060 it's not some big spectacle the fight is cool 00:03:27.060 --> 00:03:30.020 um but it's not like you know this bad kaiju 00:03:30.020 --> 00:03:32.520 is doing these things it's this girl's sad and 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:35.900 she finds joy and comfort in this little animal 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:38.889 and i was thinking about it uh she lost her mother 00:03:38.889 --> 00:03:40.550 then she goes to live with her aunt and her aunt 00:03:40.550 --> 00:03:43.030 has this kaiju on her on earth for some reason 00:03:43.030 --> 00:03:44.750 and it's a tiny thing that she finds out in the 00:03:44.750 --> 00:03:48.090 woods out in the sticks um literally and uh by 00:03:48.090 --> 00:03:51.750 the way what's with this jacket isn't she wearing 00:03:51.750 --> 00:03:54.710 the jacket that the guy from build war I'm pretty 00:03:54.710 --> 00:03:56.469 sure that's the exact jacket, and I think they 00:03:56.469 --> 00:03:58.430 even put Kentaro Kisaragi in that at some point, 00:03:58.469 --> 00:04:00.569 which is weird, the way they seem to share props 00:04:00.569 --> 00:04:03.550 among Toei Kamen Rider stuff, but then also Tsuburaya 00:04:03.550 --> 00:04:04.990 gets in on the action. I'm pretty sure that's 00:04:04.990 --> 00:04:07.530 the exact jacket that Banjo was wearing. Anyway, 00:04:07.629 --> 00:04:10.430 just a little tangent. But anyway, so she's hurt, 00:04:10.490 --> 00:04:12.930 and she's lonely, and she's sad, and she's depressed, 00:04:13.030 --> 00:04:14.949 basically. But then she finds this little guy, 00:04:15.110 --> 00:04:17.509 and she starts taking care of him, and as she's 00:04:17.509 --> 00:04:20.649 nurturing him and investing... in him, he's growing, 00:04:20.870 --> 00:04:23.009 and she sees that, and he's kind of like this 00:04:23.009 --> 00:04:25.189 pet slash friend that she has this relationship 00:04:25.189 --> 00:04:29.430 with, and the story, she, there's like a shrine 00:04:29.430 --> 00:04:31.470 or a marker of some sort, I don't understand 00:04:31.470 --> 00:04:33.689 the full significance of it, because I'm not 00:04:33.689 --> 00:04:35.329 Japanese, didn't grow up in the Japanese country, 00:04:35.410 --> 00:04:37.790 haven't studied or researched it, and she says 00:04:37.790 --> 00:04:39.110 that there's a legend that there was a snake 00:04:39.110 --> 00:04:41.790 god who fell in love with a woman, and I don't 00:04:41.790 --> 00:04:43.209 remember what she said beyond that, or what happened, 00:04:43.290 --> 00:04:44.430 and I didn't go back to the episode, because 00:04:44.430 --> 00:04:48.910 time, I'm pressed for time, so anyway, it's very 00:04:48.910 --> 00:04:52.089 interesting she has affection for this snake 00:04:52.089 --> 00:04:56.170 and she's giving him life he's siphoning energy 00:04:56.170 --> 00:04:58.509 from her she's becoming anemic actually so it 00:04:58.509 --> 00:05:01.410 seems like uh the the energy the life energy 00:05:01.410 --> 00:05:03.910 that he's getting from her is actually like you 00:05:03.910 --> 00:05:06.110 know literal life energy so he eats metal but 00:05:06.110 --> 00:05:08.730 then he also seems to get nourishment from the 00:05:08.730 --> 00:05:12.949 iron in her blood and um you know her aunt is 00:05:12.949 --> 00:05:16.350 concerned for her reasonably and uh It's just 00:05:16.350 --> 00:05:18.769 interesting that she lost her mother, then she 00:05:18.769 --> 00:05:20.829 becomes like this surrogate mother to this snake 00:05:20.829 --> 00:05:22.769 thing. I don't know if they didn't just cast 00:05:22.769 --> 00:05:24.509 an older woman and have it be a reflection of 00:05:24.509 --> 00:05:28.629 the woman in love with the snake god story for... 00:05:28.629 --> 00:05:30.910 Like, I'm not sure why they didn't just do that, 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:32.329 because that seems like the most logical thing 00:05:32.329 --> 00:05:35.209 to do. But, I mean, this is sweet and innocent, 00:05:35.370 --> 00:05:38.329 but also dangerous, because she wants to be with 00:05:38.329 --> 00:05:41.129 Miko. She named after herself, which is kind 00:05:41.129 --> 00:05:46.959 of funny. And... she wants to be with him and 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:50.480 like leaves home even though she knows it's having 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:52.500 this negative effect on her. She has these silver 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:55.420 streaks in her hair, which you can kind of see 00:05:55.420 --> 00:05:57.759 here. Let me see if I can find a better picture 00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:59.459 of it. Oh, and then here you can see it much 00:05:59.459 --> 00:06:01.699 better. And I noticed that about her like right 00:06:01.699 --> 00:06:03.199 off when we first saw her. And I thought, oh, 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:04.879 because it was conspicuously placed on purpose. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:06.860 It's a visual medium. And they're trying to tell 00:06:06.860 --> 00:06:08.920 the story in the best way possible. So, you know, 00:06:08.939 --> 00:06:10.240 there's something going on. But I thought she 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:11.899 was withdrawn. So I thought, oh, she's just like 00:06:11.899 --> 00:06:14.420 a, you know. rebellious teenager kind of deal 00:06:14.420 --> 00:06:16.399 doesn't like being out in the country whatever 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:18.259 she longs for something and that's going to be 00:06:18.259 --> 00:06:21.160 related to the kaiju of the episode so um that's 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:24.019 not exactly how it went um this silver streak 00:06:24.019 --> 00:06:26.199 in her hair is a sign that i think some of her 00:06:26.199 --> 00:06:28.459 life some of her vitality her youth is being 00:06:28.459 --> 00:06:30.420 sapped by this creature and the creature even 00:06:30.420 --> 00:06:34.040 does it to her aunt which i didn't grab a picture 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:37.939 of but um yeah it's just it's really interesting 00:06:37.939 --> 00:06:41.519 that And look at this look on her face. She looks 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:43.379 like she's so happy to be doing this, to be giving 00:06:43.379 --> 00:06:47.019 this life energy to this kaiju. And this is a 00:06:47.019 --> 00:06:49.319 world that's new to kaiju, or that kaiju are 00:06:49.319 --> 00:06:50.680 new to. How do you phrase that? I don't know. 00:06:50.759 --> 00:06:52.240 But she's saying, oh, you think this is one of 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:54.180 those kaiju things? And she obviously wants to 00:06:54.180 --> 00:06:56.000 protect him and care for him and nurture him 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:59.819 and love him in a pet way or in a friend way, 00:06:59.980 --> 00:07:02.779 not in a lover's kind of way. That doesn't seem 00:07:02.779 --> 00:07:05.420 to be... to be the implication. But I know there's 00:07:05.420 --> 00:07:06.899 like something deep going on here. Like, is he 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:08.839 a replacement for her mother? Is he like her 00:07:08.839 --> 00:07:11.579 son? Is he like a lover who would comfort somebody 00:07:11.579 --> 00:07:15.360 after a tragic passing like that? I don't really 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:17.339 know. And I'm not really sure what they were 00:07:17.339 --> 00:07:19.980 going for. Who's the they I'm speaking of? The 00:07:19.980 --> 00:07:22.779 they are the author or the writer and the director 00:07:22.779 --> 00:07:27.660 of this. So the writer is Masaya Honda. And the 00:07:27.660 --> 00:07:30.850 director is... Tominobu Koshi. So I grabbed their 00:07:30.850 --> 00:07:32.689 information to talk about them because I thought 00:07:32.689 --> 00:07:35.170 it would be relevant. So let me see, which one 00:07:35.170 --> 00:07:39.389 do I have first? This goes, okay, so let's talk 00:07:39.389 --> 00:07:42.089 about the director first. Yeah, let's talk about 00:07:42.089 --> 00:07:43.490 the director first. Well, no, I want to talk 00:07:43.490 --> 00:07:44.810 about the writer first because I thought the 00:07:44.810 --> 00:07:47.990 writing in this was really interesting. Let's 00:07:47.990 --> 00:07:50.650 see, that's trivia. Okay, so here we go. Masaya 00:07:50.650 --> 00:07:53.129 Honda is a Japanese screenwriter known for his 00:07:53.129 --> 00:07:56.209 work on anime series. He has served as a writer 00:07:56.209 --> 00:07:58.649 for Ultraman during the New Generation era. He 00:07:58.649 --> 00:08:01.389 worked on Ark. He wrote Message, You Are Givas, 00:08:01.470 --> 00:08:04.410 and The Man in the White Mask. I love Givas from 00:08:04.410 --> 00:08:07.329 Ark. He's fantastic. Message is related. It's 00:08:07.329 --> 00:08:09.790 the first part of the Givas story, and it was 00:08:09.790 --> 00:08:11.870 really good, really affecting, and gave me a 00:08:11.870 --> 00:08:14.139 lot of affection for this strange... Creature 00:08:14.139 --> 00:08:16.600 from another world. Interesting. Kind of a theme 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:18.379 there. And then The Man in the White Mask is 00:08:18.379 --> 00:08:20.180 about somebody who wanted to end suffering, I 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:22.319 think. And this episode touches on suffering 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:25.959 and grief. Yeah, this episode, Miko and Mikoto. 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:29.319 So let me see what else we have about here. Okay, 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:32.620 so that's all that there is said about the writer. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:35.559 So Message, You or Give Us, The Man in the White 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:36.940 Mask, those are important. Those are from Ark. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:38.799 Those were great episodes. I love them. Absolutely. 00:08:39.389 --> 00:08:41.509 And this episode, I also have a lot of affection 00:08:41.509 --> 00:08:42.909 for. Let's move on and talk about the director. 00:08:43.029 --> 00:08:47.809 So the director is Tomonobu Koshi. He's a Japanese 00:08:47.809 --> 00:08:52.070 director. Koshi's first role in the Ultraman 00:08:52.070 --> 00:08:54.850 series was an assistant director in Ultraman 00:08:54.850 --> 00:08:57.149 Max in 2005. He continued to work as an assistant 00:08:57.149 --> 00:09:01.240 director in subsequent entries. and began directing 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:04.340 episodes from Ultraman Taiga in 2019, becoming 00:09:04.340 --> 00:09:07.100 a well -known Ultra Series director in the 2020s 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:08.759 while continuing to be an assistant director. 00:09:08.919 --> 00:09:11.259 How interesting. He worked on Ultraman Max, Ultraman 00:09:11.259 --> 00:09:14.120 Mebius, Ultraman Saga, Ultra Zero Fight. Let's 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:17.779 see what else. Oh, okay. Specifically, also, 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:22.860 he worked on Ultraman Ark. What's important here, 00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:26.399 which, okay, the full one's answer was... Interesting. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:28.679 Internet Pentagon was just okay. The Light of 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:31.080 Fear, I liked. Demon Slicing Meteor Sword, I 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:34.100 really liked. The Man in the White Mask, very 00:09:34.100 --> 00:09:36.600 impressive episode, which the writer also worked 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:38.500 on, so they worked on those together. And then 00:09:38.500 --> 00:09:41.379 he's done 4, 5, and 6. I haven't seen 6 yet, 00:09:41.379 --> 00:09:44.740 but Episode 4 had great action in it with, you 00:09:44.740 --> 00:09:46.460 know, Punk Omega, which was super fun to see. 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:48.500 And then look at other works. Comrade Akiva, 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:51.100 Assistant Director. Okay, this guy's great. He's 00:09:51.100 --> 00:09:52.799 wonderful. I love him. He was one of my favorite 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:56.590 Comraders. Don't tell Toei. Anyway, so that's 00:09:56.590 --> 00:09:58.350 really interesting. That's who these guys are. 00:09:58.429 --> 00:09:59.330 That's some of the stuff that they've worked 00:09:59.330 --> 00:10:03.909 on. And I don't necessarily know why the episode 00:10:03.909 --> 00:10:05.870 hit me as hard as it did. Like it's about loss. 00:10:05.950 --> 00:10:08.210 It's about grieving. It's about trying to find 00:10:08.210 --> 00:10:11.409 your way. But also Sarato has this aspect of 00:10:11.409 --> 00:10:14.070 the episode where he kills this kaiju because 00:10:14.070 --> 00:10:16.110 he has to, but he doesn't want to because he's 00:10:16.110 --> 00:10:18.669 killing this girl's friend and he's killing... 00:10:18.940 --> 00:10:20.759 somebody who could be her family, you could say. 00:10:21.100 --> 00:10:23.580 And like, if she is grieving her mother and this 00:10:23.580 --> 00:10:25.419 is like a replacement for her mother, he's in 00:10:25.419 --> 00:10:27.720 effect killing her. But also what's interesting 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:31.899 and what's so deep and painful, like, look at 00:10:31.899 --> 00:10:33.340 this, look at the performance. I'm sorry, I don't 00:10:33.340 --> 00:10:34.879 know the actor's name, but like, this is great, 00:10:34.980 --> 00:10:38.100 great sadness. And I love the contrast that Kosei 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:40.320 has no idea what's going on. He thinks, oh yeah, 00:10:40.360 --> 00:10:42.159 we just killed a kaiju. It was bad. We need to 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:44.100 kill kaiju because they're bad. And you know, 00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:45.539 it was going to destroy the town. Like, you know, 00:10:45.559 --> 00:10:47.960 he's like, he's super happy right now. And Sorato's 00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:49.720 over here. kind of suffering and bearing the 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:51.720 weight of having to have killed this thing. But 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:55.080 also, it wanted to die. Like, I'm pretty sure 00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:58.120 that this kaiju committed suicide by Ultraman 00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:04.120 because it... I don't know. Like, look at this. 00:11:04.139 --> 00:11:07.679 Hold on, let me see. So this is it after she's 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:10.039 collapsed, after Mikoto has collapsed, or whatever. 00:11:10.179 --> 00:11:12.220 He's trying to, like, take care of her, and he's 00:11:12.220 --> 00:11:14.139 there kind of surrounding her, protecting her. 00:11:14.779 --> 00:11:17.039 maybe even though he's draining life from her 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:18.379 which i don't understand what that means like 00:11:18.379 --> 00:11:21.179 their love is unsustainable because he's a monster 00:11:21.179 --> 00:11:22.820 he's a god he's from this other world they're 00:11:22.820 --> 00:11:25.100 not meant to be together whether that's his lovers 00:11:25.100 --> 00:11:27.779 or as you know just friends or whatever and it's 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:30.840 killing her to love him and to be with him. It's 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:32.220 strange. Like, that's what's happening. I don't 00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:33.700 know why. I don't know the mechanics of that. 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:35.019 I don't know how that works in with human society 00:11:35.019 --> 00:11:37.120 or real life, but that's what's going on here. 00:11:37.659 --> 00:11:40.340 And then, you know, he fights Ultraman because 00:11:40.340 --> 00:11:42.539 Ultraman shows up and that's what you got to 00:11:42.539 --> 00:11:44.679 do. And Reckoness comes and attacks him. And 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:47.820 while he's fighting Reckoness, Omega's just standing 00:11:47.820 --> 00:11:50.159 off. So Rato doesn't really know what to do. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:54.379 but he sees the destruction he sees the the conflict 00:11:54.379 --> 00:11:56.320 the fight going on which is a great shot too 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:59.100 and like the music yeah the music drops out and 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:03.419 you just get to hear um or it's it's it drops 00:12:03.419 --> 00:12:05.340 out it's muted the sound definitely like limits 00:12:05.340 --> 00:12:08.559 itself or is subdued and you can see this concentration 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:12.299 on omega in this interesting scene where it's 00:12:12.299 --> 00:12:15.860 like uh i'm gonna call him mikoto uh like looks 00:12:15.860 --> 00:12:19.990 at him and then he like, charges him, and I'm 00:12:19.990 --> 00:12:22.629 pretty sure that this kaiju is crying, and there's 00:12:22.629 --> 00:12:24.309 something about the performance of it, the hand 00:12:24.309 --> 00:12:28.190 performance of this puppet, essentially, there's 00:12:28.190 --> 00:12:30.269 something about it that was, like, really nice 00:12:30.269 --> 00:12:31.889 and warm, like, in some places it looked a little 00:12:31.889 --> 00:12:33.549 cheesy, like, when it was trying to slither, 00:12:33.629 --> 00:12:34.889 it, you know, it looked fake, it looked cheap, 00:12:34.970 --> 00:12:36.830 whatever, not cheap necessarily, but just, it 00:12:36.830 --> 00:12:38.529 didn't come off as well as it could have, but 00:12:38.529 --> 00:12:40.879 these composite shots where it's gigantic, work 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:44.379 great um especially like here i thought this 00:12:44.379 --> 00:12:46.279 was wonderful it's great compositing work they 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:47.799 look like they're in the scene together and it 00:12:47.799 --> 00:12:50.440 just really works also like this little cue going 00:12:50.440 --> 00:12:52.820 back to the effects of they gave some fake shedded 00:12:52.820 --> 00:12:54.960 skin to show that it's growing it's a wonderful 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:56.659 effect like that's so brilliant it's so cheap 00:12:56.659 --> 00:12:59.600 um not cheap like is in poor quality but like 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:01.320 it's such an effective way to use your money 00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:03.460 to build this thing which they probably cast 00:13:03.460 --> 00:13:05.500 off of molds for this thing or for the the bigger 00:13:05.500 --> 00:13:08.850 suit and I don't know maybe they expanded it 00:13:08.850 --> 00:13:10.169 and then cast it doesn't matter but they did 00:13:10.169 --> 00:13:11.889 it in such a cool effective way there's like 00:13:11.889 --> 00:13:13.870 this this really works to sell this effect that 00:13:13.870 --> 00:13:16.269 this thing has grown this snake dragon thing 00:13:16.269 --> 00:13:19.190 with his hair tufts in his ear and his little 00:13:19.190 --> 00:13:22.789 horns has grown and now he's this kaiju he's 00:13:22.789 --> 00:13:25.809 this monstrous size and he can't be left alone 00:13:25.809 --> 00:13:27.409 he can't be left to persist he can't be left 00:13:27.409 --> 00:13:29.929 to live because if he does his life will destroy 00:13:29.929 --> 00:13:32.649 the lives of others including the life of the 00:13:32.649 --> 00:13:35.049 one he loves so therefore he attacks Ultraman 00:13:35.049 --> 00:13:38.000 and despite the fact that he's fighting Reckoness, 00:13:38.019 --> 00:13:39.700 I guess he knew Reckoness was a scrub. So he 00:13:39.700 --> 00:13:45.360 charges at Omega and Omega just slowly pulls 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:47.600 his slugger off and he runs past him and slashes 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:49.600 him and he kills him and he turns into a bunch 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:53.200 of cherry blossom leaves. And I think the cherry 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:54.759 blossom is supposed to be associated with death. 00:13:54.820 --> 00:13:55.940 Please correct me if I'm wrong. It's something 00:13:55.940 --> 00:13:58.899 I remember hearing. at some point i believe the 00:13:58.899 --> 00:14:01.960 uh the japanese word for it is sakura and i believe 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:04.659 skull is like very close like skull man i looked 00:14:04.659 --> 00:14:05.980 it up because i'm into ishinomori school man 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:08.919 and i'm pretty it's like sakura you know man 00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:11.940 or whatever so like it's very close um if it's 00:14:11.940 --> 00:14:14.360 not the exact same word and it's interesting 00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:19.320 that like he represents death sort of um when 00:14:19.320 --> 00:14:23.179 i say he i mean uh mr uh ohibanushi represents 00:14:23.179 --> 00:14:25.940 death in this way and like i don't know it's 00:14:25.940 --> 00:14:28.220 just it's interesting because like Concrete Revolution 00:14:28.220 --> 00:14:31.259 told me that kaiju are like pure rage and kaiju 00:14:31.259 --> 00:14:32.559 are just like these things that want to destroy 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:34.879 humans but they also represent like the monstrosity 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:37.860 of human beings and I don't know Concrete Revolution 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:39.740 is a complicated show like I like it a lot but 00:14:39.740 --> 00:14:42.340 there's also things that I don't like um and 00:14:42.340 --> 00:14:45.460 it's not aesthetics um it's like I don't know 00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:46.620 like I'm not sure I like what it's saying I'm 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:48.240 not sure I know what it's saying but what I think 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.120 it's saying I don't think I like except for I 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:52.860 do so like I said I have a complicated relationship 00:14:52.860 --> 00:14:55.740 with that show and I don't know what Omega is 00:14:55.740 --> 00:14:57.399 saying about Kaiju right now. And I don't know 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:01.620 what it's saying about grief or loss. Like, just 00:15:01.620 --> 00:15:04.279 to slow down, Mikoto is grieving over her mother. 00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:06.340 Then she finds this friend who she can take care 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:09.240 of. And it gives her life to invest herself in 00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:11.379 caring for this other being and in taking care 00:15:11.379 --> 00:15:13.460 of him and in loving him and nurturing him. However, 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:17.960 he keeps growing and he gets too big and he's 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:22.559 becoming a drain on her. So, but she wants to 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:27.360 stay with him. and she follows him and what she 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:29.799 does it continues to drain her life and it continues 00:15:29.799 --> 00:15:34.059 to put her in danger and his solution is to go 00:15:34.059 --> 00:15:36.860 away where she cannot follow him she goes away 00:15:36.860 --> 00:15:39.639 or he goes away and gets himself killed by omega 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:42.419 so that she can be free of him and then after 00:15:44.779 --> 00:15:47.759 supposedly or assumedly, she mourns over his 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:50.320 loss. She is able to connect with her aunt who 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:52.419 she wasn't able to connect with before and see 00:15:52.419 --> 00:15:55.440 her aunt as a loving family member, somebody 00:15:55.440 --> 00:16:02.879 more than a friend. And it's like, is it about 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:05.340 letting go of grief and loss and letting yourself 00:16:05.340 --> 00:16:08.639 move on to the next part of your life, not being 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:12.200 held back by grief? I don't really know. And 00:16:12.809 --> 00:16:15.129 if kaiju are not just big animals which she treats 00:16:15.129 --> 00:16:18.909 him like a big animal um eventually uh if they're 00:16:18.909 --> 00:16:21.529 gods then like was this god's purpose to die 00:16:21.529 --> 00:16:25.389 so that he could teach her how to live um i don't 00:16:25.389 --> 00:16:26.509 know if that was the intent i don't know if that 00:16:26.509 --> 00:16:30.049 was the meaning um but something about this episode 00:16:30.049 --> 00:16:31.889 something about this story is stirring to me 00:16:31.889 --> 00:16:34.529 and it's beautiful and i really like it and appreciate 00:16:34.529 --> 00:16:37.250 it even if i don't really know what it is I find 00:16:37.250 --> 00:16:39.110 that interesting and very paradoxical that I 00:16:39.110 --> 00:16:40.809 don't really understand what it is, but I still 00:16:40.809 --> 00:16:42.970 like it. I guess I don't understand my wife, 00:16:43.009 --> 00:16:45.169 but I like her. So maybe there's a precedent 00:16:45.169 --> 00:16:47.450 for that in life. I just find it really fascinating. 00:16:47.509 --> 00:16:51.169 I'm wondering what you think about it. I'm a 00:16:51.169 --> 00:16:54.269 writer. I want to know how to capture this. Do 00:16:54.269 --> 00:16:56.710 the writers know? Do the directors know exactly 00:16:56.710 --> 00:16:59.509 what they're doing? They have a plan for this 00:16:59.509 --> 00:17:02.590 and they're executing it well or they're like... 00:17:04.009 --> 00:17:05.930 just throwing things out there and it works with 00:17:05.930 --> 00:17:07.430 who it works with and it works with who it doesn't 00:17:07.430 --> 00:17:08.430 work with who doesn't work. Like, I don't know 00:17:08.430 --> 00:17:10.069 the reception of this episode. Do people like 00:17:10.069 --> 00:17:11.849 it generally? Because I think it's a great episode 00:17:11.849 --> 00:17:14.089 of just, I think it's a great story, period. 00:17:14.750 --> 00:17:16.549 And that's pretty much all I have to say. I wonder 00:17:16.549 --> 00:17:17.809 what you think about it. I'd love to hear your 00:17:17.809 --> 00:17:20.289 feedback, your thoughts on the show, the episode 00:17:20.289 --> 00:17:22.089 itself, and also on my analysis of it. Did I 00:17:22.089 --> 00:17:23.849 hit on something good? Am I like on the edge 00:17:23.849 --> 00:17:25.329 of it? Like, had I known something, I would have 00:17:25.329 --> 00:17:27.230 been able to say it better. I'd love to know. 00:17:27.269 --> 00:17:28.609 I'd love to have that knowledge gap filled. I'd 00:17:28.609 --> 00:17:29.910 love to have a conversation about it. So please 00:17:29.910 --> 00:17:33.069 leave a comment here. Let's discuss it. And I'm 00:17:33.069 --> 00:17:35.190 going to be back on... This is my triumphal return 00:17:35.190 --> 00:17:37.609 to covering Ultraman. Again, I had to take a 00:17:37.609 --> 00:17:39.230 little break. I had a bunch of personal stuff 00:17:39.230 --> 00:17:41.369 happen. But I'm good now. Things are great. Things 00:17:41.369 --> 00:17:43.609 are moving forward. And I'm hoping to catch up 00:17:43.609 --> 00:17:48.990 with Omega while I'm also covering... And other 00:17:48.990 --> 00:17:51.289 things. While also doing more writing. I'm working 00:17:51.289 --> 00:17:52.910 on another book. And I have a book out right 00:17:52.910 --> 00:17:54.589 now called Mockwing Mayhem. There's a trailer 00:17:54.589 --> 00:17:55.849 for it here. It's about magical bugs battling 00:17:55.849 --> 00:17:57.430 monsters. And you might like it if you like to 00:17:57.430 --> 00:18:00.410 watch this magical dude. Or, you know, whatever. 00:18:00.549 --> 00:18:03.269 Science fiction giant dude battle monsters as 00:18:03.269 --> 00:18:05.289 well. So anyway, that's it for now, folks. Until 00:18:05.289 --> 00:18:10.069 next time, take care. Magical bugs battle monsters 00:18:10.069 --> 00:18:12.630 in this exciting fantasy adventure. Grimlings 00:18:12.630 --> 00:18:16.069 prey upon children. Grow bugs protect them. When 00:18:16.069 --> 00:18:18.210 a grimling finds a hidden grow bug fort, the 00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:20.930 whole flock makes a surprise attack. How will 00:18:20.930 --> 00:18:24.069 the grow bugs survive? Find out in Mockwing Mayhem. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:27.799 Learn more at growbugs .com where you can find 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:29.940 out more about our mailing list, receive behind 00:18:29.940 --> 00:18:32.119 the scenes information and get all the latest 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:33.559 news on the grow bugs.