1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. Find all my work at MJMunoz.com. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:11,480 Engine Inspection presents Gelming Ultra. This is a little teaser I have for Ultraman 3 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:20,480 Blazer. Ultraman Blazer is coming out in July 2023. I was curious as to why the Ultraman 4 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:29,480 Z dub, which I have dubbed Ultraman Zet, was being released and was coming out at all. 5 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:33,940 I mean starting in April 2022. And then I was wondering why it's being released in such 6 00:00:33,940 --> 00:00:39,520 rapid succession. Two episodes a week, I believe it's Saturday and Sunday, every week starting 7 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,880 the first or second week of April. That's all of the month of April. So it's a 25 or 8 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:50,400 26 episode show, right, if I'm remembering correctly. And that would mean 13 weeks. 13 9 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:57,180 weeks is roughly three months, right? So if we go from April, which is the fourth month, 10 00:00:57,180 --> 00:01:01,920 we go one, two, three months forward. That's the seventh month, which is July. So Ultraman 11 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:08,840 Z, as far as I know, is one of the most popular recent shows. It's the most recent show though. 12 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:13,840 Yes and no. But it's definitely one of the most popular recent shows. Honestly, I dropped 13 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:19,320 off of Trigger and I think Decker is done and over. And I didn't watch that one either 14 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:23,960 because Trigger didn't really catch my fancy and I got busy and was focused on other things 15 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:30,320 in the meantime. However, the dub of Z, or Zet rather, has brought me back in and I'm 16 00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:35,560 watching it and I'm very excited. And all of a sudden I see this news about Ultraman 17 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:40,480 Blazer coming out and I'd seen little rumblings of it here and there just because I'm tangentially 18 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,720 involved. I don't keep up on the community as much as I could because, you know, I've 19 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:49,560 got, well, anyway, because of good reasons, I'm busy with other things and that's more 20 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:54,320 my focus. So anyway, but I love these stories and, you know, I'm kind of sharing them with 21 00:01:54,320 --> 00:02:00,560 my kids a little bit and we're watching them and having a good time. So anyway, you know, 22 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,160 I'm very excited to watch Z again and I was actually thinking about how am I going to 23 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,680 get my kids to watch this? I guess I'll read the subtitles to them or I'll wait till they're 24 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:12,100 older or whatever. And then here we have the Zet dub. We've watched the first five episodes 25 00:02:12,100 --> 00:02:18,160 of it and it's been great so far. But moving on to Blazer, Blazer is coming out in July. 26 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:22,800 It's having a worldwide release day and date. Japan is getting it in their native language 27 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:27,280 and I'm going to get it in my native language, which is English over here in America. So 28 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:31,880 I'm really excited about that. We're going to have, well, like I said, day and date. 29 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:40,680 And I think if the dub of Blazer is as good as the dub of Zet is, I think it'll have a 30 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:47,520 lot of success. I think it will go over very well. I'm enjoying, well, as you say, there 31 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,640 was a new character in the most recent episode of Zet that I watched and I was wondering 32 00:02:51,640 --> 00:02:55,200 how they would handle that character. And I think they handled that character very well. 33 00:02:55,200 --> 00:03:01,800 It was very nice. They did a good job. And again, since Tsuburaya is such a classy tokusatsu 34 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:07,360 production, I predict that the Blazer dub will be handled very well. And I'm just, I 35 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:13,320 continue to be impressed by how good of a job they're doing at making the international 36 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:19,020 appeal of Ultraman even stronger. And why do I argue that having a dub makes the appeal 37 00:03:19,020 --> 00:03:24,140 even stronger? Well, because you don't have to be able to read. So not only do you have 38 00:03:24,140 --> 00:03:27,920 to read, you don't have to read, or not only do you not need to be able to read, you don't 39 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:32,840 need to actively be reading in order to fully comprehend the show. And while these shows 40 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,900 are monster bash-a-mups, there's also some depth and some interesting things going on 41 00:03:37,900 --> 00:03:43,280 with storytelling. Otherwise, frankly, I think I'd be bored and I would move on and not spend 42 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:48,400 any more time on them than I have to to watch them. Or I wouldn't even be watching in the 43 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:53,840 first place. Like I said, I've chosen to skip Ultraman shows before and it's something I 44 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:59,440 could do again. But you know, Zed is so good and Blazer looks so interesting that I'm honestly 45 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:04,520 interested in it because it seems like it's taking a unique approach. Part of what threw 46 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:10,760 me off of Trigger was that it's kind of like these Disney live action remakes that they 47 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:19,240 do of their animated movies. There's something going on where I know Z had a lot of Tributey 48 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,660 type stuff going back to the original Ultraman. It was kind of like a new launch show, kind 49 00:04:22,660 --> 00:04:31,400 of like, you know, from the Commenrader world, kind of like Black or Kuga or Double or Zero 50 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,500 One, that kind of thing. So this is a new start to this franchise. You can watch this 51 00:04:35,500 --> 00:04:37,920 if you don't know anything else about it. It's going to be cool. It's going to have 52 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,440 some of the classic stuff in it, but it's going to do its own new thing and have its 53 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:48,960 own identity, which I think is good. But, you know, I believe Decker was a Dino remake 54 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:54,520 and Trigger was a, I don't know what remake, but I just, I don't have that attachment to 55 00:04:54,520 --> 00:05:00,040 the older series. And like I said, just something about Trigger, just I didn't enjoy. So I stopped 56 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:06,520 and when I knew Decker was going to be a, it is Dino, right? My Dino remake, whatever, 57 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,320 when I knew it was going to remake, I thought, oh, okay. So it's kind of a similar thing 58 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,880 where this is another remake. I may not be interested, so I'm just going to pass by. 59 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:19,840 But Blazer, as far as I know, isn't a remake of anything. And I find it very compelling 60 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:25,200 just on the aesthetic of the Ultraman himself. A lot of the problems that I have, or one 61 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:30,480 of the key problems I have with Ultraman, and this is partly out of ignorance and I 62 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:35,800 guess newness overall to Ultraman and partly just my own personal feelings about it, is 63 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:40,960 I do think there's a lot of sameness to the designs of the Ultraman and I'd like there 64 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:47,320 either to be more variety of color or maybe more distinct head shapes or something to 65 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:51,040 differentiate Ultraman from each other. The color time of being consistent on all of them, 66 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:55,840 I think is great. That's fine. The red, the silver, that's fine. The sleekness overall, 67 00:05:55,840 --> 00:06:01,520 I'm also okay with that. However, I just want a little more variety. I don't know if 68 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:06,200 Zett having all that blue on him is part of what attracted me to him or made him more 69 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:12,960 palatable or not, but regardless, that's an issue I have. It's a stumbling block typically 70 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:18,040 for me, is these designs being looking too similar to each other and I can't really 71 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,400 tell the difference between them. By the way, I do think that Gamma Future from Zett looks 72 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:25,360 just like Trigger or at least one of Trigger's forms and that kind of blows my mind that 73 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:31,640 these forms have such a weird design sense to them where they just kind of, again, run 74 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,560 into feeling identical to each other and I hope Blazer avoids that. I'd personally like 75 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:41,120 Blazer to have no forms and just have maybe cool weapons and accessories that he can use. 76 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:46,440 That would be pretty neat. But anyway, moving on to Blazer's aesthetic, he's gotten a symmetrical 77 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:57,160 head. The blue eyeliner type look on one side, or it's really on both eyes, it's very cool. 78 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:05,920 It reminds me of the old Japanese art, the wood print with the feudal type or samurai 79 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:12,320 characters or whatever with the heavy kabuki eye makeup type thing. If you've looked at 80 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:20,400 anything personified with Goemon in it, like that kind of look it has to it and then over 81 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:26,920 his left eye, that blazing out into this, I don't know what you'd call it, that flip 82 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:33,160 of, it's not hair, but you know what I'm saying, that blazing from his left eye looks really 83 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:38,780 cool. I like how the color timer has this swirl covering it in part and I like that 84 00:07:38,780 --> 00:07:45,160 the red and blue lines on him, they're small and they're almost like, they're not pinstripes 85 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,400 but they're these much smaller stripes and there's a lot more of them and they're all 86 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:53,040 over the place. That red and blue, you know, thin lines scattered all over his body gives 87 00:07:53,040 --> 00:08:00,080 him a bit of a chaotic feel. The swirling gives an aggressive edge and I think that 88 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:05,880 asymmetry just kind of, it takes away some of the smoothness of the design and gives 89 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:11,560 it an edge honestly and I don't like things that are dark. In fact, like again going back 90 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:17,800 to Kamen Rider, people love Goemon in part because it's so dark. I hate it. The darker 91 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,840 it got, the more I hated the show and the less it felt like Kamen Rider to me but I 92 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,320 won't detract from that. So I don't really like dark things. I like these things that 93 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,760 are made for kids to be for kids. I like the edge in them. I was surprised in the dub 94 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:36,500 actually to say, to hear Haruki say something to the effect of like, what the hell kind 95 00:08:36,500 --> 00:08:41,040 of pilot am I if I can't do this or that or whatever in the episode where his, well 96 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:46,480 in episode five I'll just say that. I don't want to give away spoilers. Anyway, but that 97 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:52,840 surprised me and I'm not 100% opposed to that. I would prefer it to be a little more toned 98 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:58,760 down especially because it's a children's show but you know, then again, you know, how 99 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:03,520 are most children hearing people talk but then again, you know, this is a fictional 100 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:09,600 controlled environment so you can control the way people talk. Anyway, the aggressiveness 101 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:15,320 in the edge of Blazer does excite me and entice me and I think it looks really good. It looks 102 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:20,760 really pleasing. That monster looked very exciting. I don't know what that thing was 103 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:24,640 but it looked really cool. It almost made me think of a Mecha maybe that somebody had 104 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:29,280 made which that'd be interesting if there were people making either outright, you know, 105 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:34,040 kaiju mimicking Mecha or maybe like a Mecha machine hybrid or something. I don't know 106 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:39,680 if that's something that's been done in Ultraman again because I'm not an ultra encyclopedia. 107 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:51,400 I'm not ultra aware and ultra well versed in all of Ultraman. Anyway, so what else is 108 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:56,880 there to say about Blazer? Oh, I really like the simplicity of the brace. It's cool that 109 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:00,520 you just throw the, you know, there's the Blazer brace and there's the Blazer stone 110 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:06,000 and you just set the stone in there and it has its own thing where I can imagine what 111 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,220 the mechanism is but it basically, you know, clicks into place and opens and closes over 112 00:10:09,220 --> 00:10:13,720 it which looks cool. It feels a little aggressive again and then you hit it from the side and 113 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:19,960 then it activates. And yeah, that thing looks really simple and cool. I like the idea of 114 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:24,200 him just having the brace and the stone that he sets in there and then he can, you know, 115 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:30,080 transform into Blazer. And oh, getting back into, so I talked about the aesthetic of him. 116 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:35,440 The guy, the guy who was out of the suit, out of the armor, out of the helmet and like 117 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:38,560 picked up a phone or something like that and they said his name was like, I don't know, 118 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:45,280 Kimura something or I didn't catch the whole name. Is there a go? Doesn't matter. We'll 119 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:50,400 see it later. Is that the guy who becomes Blazer? Cause he looks different from, he 120 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:56,000 looks a little, well, he looks different than, he looks a little younger there than the guy 121 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,920 in all the tactical gear with the helmet on who we see with the brace or who transforms. 122 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:07,320 I like that that guy looks older and I'm surprised frankly that he's older or that he, you know, 123 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:11,880 seems to be older. And I think it's a little bit exciting to have a bit of an older protagonist. 124 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:18,960 Again, the guy in Trigger seemed really young and like, I don't know, naive maybe his character 125 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:24,160 wasn't so great. Haruki is very, he's young, but he's very earnest and like he understands 126 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:28,440 his limitations and who he is. But he also, he's, you know, martial arts expert and he 127 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:35,880 has competent core competencies that he, you know, utilizes in his work. And it's just, 128 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,640 they're a very different personality, the two of them, which is good. That's good that 129 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:44,560 they're different. And this guy almost feels a little bit, forgive the, forgive me putting 130 00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:50,000 it this way, but maybe he feels a little bit more like Hebi Kura. And I think that's interesting. 131 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:54,800 A little more seasoned, a little more experienced and not necessarily like he'll have his full 132 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,440 complete attitude, but at least the sense that you get from Hebi Kura in the early episodes 133 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:02,440 of Z I can see, like I get similar vibes from this guy. I'll just put it that way, which 134 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:09,640 is simple, a simple way to put it. So that's kind of exciting. I want to see something 135 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:13,720 a little different each time. I'm fine with there being the science patrol or the defense 136 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:17,800 force or whatever. And it being, you know, similar in that way, every universe that we're 137 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:21,960 in with these different Ultraman have a similar setup. And then, you know, it's too much for 138 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,520 the people to handle alone. So then the Ultraman comes in and makes everything better, saves 139 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:30,560 the day, whatnot. And that's fine. I just want each group of people to feel distinct 140 00:12:30,560 --> 00:12:36,240 from each other. And we didn't get to see any of the rest of his support team so far, 141 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:42,280 I think, especially if the guy without the helmet on is the same guy as the one who jumped 142 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:45,080 from the plane with the helmet. And that was cool. Him jumping from the plane, there being 143 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:49,320 night fight, just the, they picked the best shots. They picked the best shots to make 144 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,760 this thing look, I don't know, epic, very serious, very cool. Like it's going to be 145 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:58,880 super dynamic. And I'll just wrap up real quick. I thought Blazer's fighting style looked 146 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:03,760 really, he looked really dynamic. He looks really fierce. You know, very martial artsy, 147 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:08,680 very composed in the daytime shots. But in one of those nighttime shots where he's leaping 148 00:13:08,680 --> 00:13:14,360 and he's cocking back his right fist for a punch, he looks like, I don't know, like absolutely 149 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:19,800 unhinged, like overflowing with power and like ready to demolish whatever this Kaiju 150 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:25,600 is he's fighting. And that's, you know, that's really exciting. It's just visually, it looks 151 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:30,680 very compelling. And I was impressed by that. So yeah, I'm excited for Blazer. I'm going 152 00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:38,760 to be watching Zett all along and working on releasing, you know, my reviews of Zett. 153 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:44,240 And then as soon as, as soon as Blazer comes along, I will happily talk about that, you 154 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:49,880 know, time permitting. So anyway, yeah, I would love to hear your commentary or your 155 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,320 thoughts on Blazer. If you think it looks good, even if you look fierce, if you think 156 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:57,080 he looks edgy or angry or anything like that, that I described, or if you see something 157 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:00,680 different, I'd love to hear your perspective and for us to have a little bit of a conversation 158 00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:05,800 about this because that's what it's all about, right? Anyway, so that's it for me. I'm going 159 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:11,760 to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go ahead and get out of here. Thank you for your time 160 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:18,760 and attention. This is MJ signing out. I hope you enjoyed that. Go to MJMunoz.com to leave 161 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:24,280 any questions, comments, or other feedback you might have. There you can find all of 162 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:32,320 my analysis, art and fiction. I cover books, tokusatsu, comic books, anime, and more. Look 163 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:36,560 around. You're sure to find something else that you'll enjoy as well. This has been a 164 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:49,200 story over everything production.