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This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. Find all my work at MJMunoz.com.

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This is Ultraman Zet Episode 3. The Ultraman Zet Episode 3 review. I'm calling this episode

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Ultra Presser. I'm going to go ahead and get right into it. My topics for the episode are

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budget cuts, hay fever, the pressure of the presser, a robot to rival Ultraman, and Gamora

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did nothing wrong. Sort of. So here we go. Budget cuts and cutting costs. So I was delighted by

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the fact that this world of Ultraman Zet has a monster defense force storage that has an actual

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budget that needs to prove their efficacy, that needs to legitimize their need for an increase in

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budget or a maintenance and increase in budget. And basically has to prove that they are worth

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it because that's really cool. That's a more hard sci-fi idea and I like that. I'm pretty sure that

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popped up in Evangelion 2, or in Evangelion as well. So that's another fun little connection

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between the two, which I feel there's a conversation between some Evangelion and Ultraman and some

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Ultraman and Evangelion. That's the sense I'm getting. So with that said, I will talk about

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the sub-subject of this, which is cutting costs. And I think that the crew and, I don't know,

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producer or executive producer, I don't know how you quite define all of that, made a very

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interesting cost-cutting decision for this episode in a few places. One of them would be that the

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drones that were taking Gomorrah to the island, his new island home while he's hibernating,

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I think they were literal actual life-sized functional drones that you can buy and utilize

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for whatever. I'm pretty sure I noticed cameras on their faces and from what I've seen of drones,

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because I don't dabble in them really, or I don't dabble in them, so I've never used a drone,

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I don't intend on using a drone, I've never priced drones. That's not true. I might have looked at

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one time because I heard of people using drones for a tripod, basically as a tripod, and I thought

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maybe I should do that. And I looked at prices and I think that it was going to be too costly,

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so I decided not to. But regardless of that, I noticed that these drones were actual drones,

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and that made me laugh, it made me happy. And actually, now that I think about it some more,

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they very well may have been, because they were large, they very well may have been drones that

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were used or are used in the Super Riot productions, because I know for a fact that Super Sentai and

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Kamen Rider, which are tele properties, do use drones in their fight scenes. I don't know, that

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is to say I have not seen any obvious evidence that I can recall this time that Super Riot production

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uses drones in their fight scenes, or any of their recordings really, so I couldn't say. But it

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wouldn't surprise me if they did, and even if they don't use them for fight scenes in the same ways

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as Kamen Rider and Super Sentai do, I still believe that they would have them at least to test things

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out or make use of them in some sort of way. They could have been, you know, some sort of production

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cost and they were repurposed in that way. So again, the costs are being reduced to make the show in

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the show when they're talking about budget cuts, budget cuts and, you know, having a not so flush

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wallet, which is kind of a fun, kind of a fun thing for me. So there were, let me see, one or two other

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things that I thought were good cost cutting measures that were taken. I failed to think of them at

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the time, but that drone thing was definitely one of them. That was a lot of fun. Oh, well, here's a

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simple one. I'm sure that Gomorrah suit was empty until it absolutely needed to not be empty anymore

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when Gomorrah was waking up. So having an empty suit hauled around, that definitely works as something

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to cut costs. Okay, moving on to hay fever. I find it kind of hilarious that hay fever is what awakens

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Gomorrah and causes all this damage and this rampage and almost puts the, puts storage at risk of losing

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their budget because of Haruki having a difficult time fighting Gomorrah. I do really like at the end

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that the American branch official of the, gosh, what is it called? I don't remember. It's the United

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something or other, I believe is what the international anti-monster something or other. Anyway,

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whatever that's called, that guy, Steve Bills? Anyway, I don't know, but regardless, he liked that

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Sevinger had such a hard time with Gomorrah because Ultraman even had a very difficult time

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with Gomorrah and he recognized the fact that Sevinger was able to keep up with Gomorrah as

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well as it could was evidence of its efficacy, its usefulness, and that these people in the Japan

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branch know what they're doing and they are a good choice to give more money to or to not cut the

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budget up because they're going to use it effectively and well. So that was cool. But again,

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just this idea that Haruki and Gomorrah both suffer from hay fever and that's that's what wakes them

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up is kind of hilarious and also kind of interesting from a, I don't know, real world, again, hard sci-fi

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perspective. It's just something I hadn't thought about that a kaiju would have allergies, but I

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guess they could. Why not? Although I think the scale of the pollen would have to be, it would

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take a lot to make them have an issue, but I mean, Gomorrah wasn't sneezing the whole time. It was

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maybe two or three times the most that they sneeze. So enough of that. Moving on to the next topic,

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the pressure of the presser. I enjoy the fact that Haruki messed up his last mission by knocking

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that observatory out of commission and I believe effectively destroying the entire thing, which is

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not good. And I like that he had a redemption, a chance at redemption and that it all coincides

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to make it so that the storage's budget is on the line and they need to make good with this

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presentation and they're going to have a press conference sort of thing with their backers who

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are part of the international group. And it's interesting that they get that opportunity and

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it creates all this pressure for them, like I said, and then they're put in a great position to see

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the transport going on and to be in the path of Gomorrah when things go poorly as they do. And

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that definitely makes things more exciting. You actually get to see them, you know, Yoko on top

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of the roof shooting at Gomorrah and saying one of the coolest lines I've heard in the show so far,

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which is, if your eyes are itchy, let me scratch them for you. With my bullets is the unset part

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of that, which is really awesome. But it put these people in danger and it put them front and it put

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storage's efforts front and center. And it was a high pressure situation, even though it should

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have been simple. And I really love the line. I love how they set that up by making us believe

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that the likelihood of Gomorrah waking up was super low, especially with Yuka saying that there

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was, I think, a one or less than 1% chance that Gomorrah would wake up. And, you know, statistically

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speaking, such and such, and Hibikura was very excited about that. Oh, good. So that was really

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neat that they set it up like that. And then when you start to notice, I think him sniffling and

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then definitely by the time he sneezes, you realize, oh no, this is not going to go well.

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But that was really an effective way to build up the tension and make it a lot of fun. And then

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having the press there, that TV channel with all those, I think there were bystanders just watching

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as well as the ground crew from storage that was supporting Sevenger with the power courts and such.

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That was all really neat. And each of those elements added to the pressure and added to

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the stakes and made it even more desperate for Sevenger to be able to defeat this Kaiju and

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ultimately for Ultraman 2, because like I said earlier, he was having trouble and had to step

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up and only through something from a few episodes ago, or I think the first episode, yeah, so a

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couple episodes ago, which was Yoko finding that Ultraman medal and then hanging on to it.

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Was he able to defeat Gamora because having the Ultraman medal allowed Haruki and Zet to become

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one of the coolest forms, a really fun form for me, which is this beta smash. And yeah, he was a lot

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of fun to watch. I'm going to move on to the next topic, a robot to rival Ultraman. So I wonder,

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is it wise for humans, frail as we are, to have robots that can rival Ultraman? I would say it's

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clear so far that Sevenger is not as strong as Ultraman and it's interesting that we have robots

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like Sevenger and because there is the Kaiju threat, their existence is legitimized, but as far as we

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know, there has been no war waged by one nation against another by use of their giant robots,

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probably because the power needs of the giant robots are so great that it would cost a great

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expense upfront and then you might only get a very short window of time to use it. For example,

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Sevenger's three minutes of battery life and it wouldn't be an effective weapon, so other weapons

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are more effective. It's interesting to think of the Mecha as a weapon. Sevenger is a weapon.

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It's a weapon meant to defend against the threat of aliens and Kaiju, but it is, when it comes down

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to it, a weapon and it can be used for good or evil. And you got to ask the question, if

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storage continues to develop these machines, these fighting robots, these weapons, and the goal is to

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make one that rivals the strength of Ultraman, then other than, I guess, mutually assured destruction

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or the idea that they will be left defenseless in the event that something bad happens, what's to stop

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some human group from creating a fighting robot that can rival and surpass the strength of Ultraman

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and attack and kill Ultraman for some reason? I guess there is nothing to stop that from happening.

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And I like that that idea is set up in this episode so early on in the show when you have

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no idea what exactly the show is. Well, you have some idea, but you don't know where the show is going, and

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it kind of creates another opportunity for things to develop in a different way. And you have to

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wonder, you know, is that a possibility? Is that something that's going to happen? If so, when will

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it happen? And who would do it? It certainly wouldn't be storage. It would have to be some other group,

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right? And are there other Kaiju fighting groups across the world? It sure sounds like there are.

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We have yet to get exposed to many of them because we are so fresh in the show and there's more to

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explore and, you know, we got to stick around and find out, I guess. Okay, so my last thing is Gamora

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did nothing wrong, right? Sort of? I don't know. Yeah, Gamora definitely did some wrong. I'm not a

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you know, I think I haven't finished watching Comrade or Black Sun, but I think I agree with

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stop kaiju hate, and I'm wondering if there needs to be a stop kaiju hate, which if you've watched

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Concrete Revolution at all, that's in there. If you haven't, you should because it's really cool.

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But if kaiju are part of the natural ecosystem, then why must they be exterminated and treated as

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something just to be killed? Storage was not doing that with Gamora. Initially, they were trying to

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transport Gamora peacefully and non-violently to a place where in the event of Gamora's reawakening,

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or cessation of hibernation, however you want to say that, that the kaiju would not be able to

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cause a great threat to people and would therefore not need to be

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exterminated or put down or however you want to phrase that. And I appreciate that. I think that's

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good, and I think it's lamentable that the only solution that Zed has at this time is to go ahead

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and kill a kaiju that's getting out of hand because I mean what else are they going to do? Just let

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people be killed? Let's say it's not murder. Let's say it's just an animal rampaging and attacking.

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Are they going to kill a kaiju? Are they going to kill a kaiju? Are they going to kill a kaiju?

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Rampaging and attacking. Are they going to let people be killed for that? I don't think that's a

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good idea. That doesn't seem moral or just or utilitarian to me. So on multiple standards of value,

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I think it's a bad thing to let kaiju rampage and it's kind of a necessary evil you could say

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to kill a kaiju when you have to. And I guess if you leave it at that, you could always

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just assume that you have to, but that doesn't mean you have to. You're free to explore other

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possibilities and I would like to see more of that because that just makes sense to me.

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I like the kaiju fighting stuff. You know, it's cool. I've watched all of Z before. I know what's

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coming in Zed and it's just interesting to me that the way things are being done is interesting to me

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because each episode gives us more information and it kind of dulls it out in such a way that

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we're learning more about this world and eventually we're gonna have some really interesting questions

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asked about the world and I think that's a lot of fun. So anyway, I really enjoyed this episode.

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Excuse me. The fights were very exciting. Beta Smash is fun. Everybody up in the office or up

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in the building watching the fight, cheering it and you know slapping high fives and celebrating

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and things like that was really fun. That was just, it was so fun. It was almost infectious

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cheerfulness and happiness and excitement and that was really, really interesting to

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to watch and to feel come across because it just made me happy. I smiled. I had a big smile when

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everybody else was having a big smile so that's kind of fun. But yeah, this was a really good

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episode. I really liked it. There was a lot of good stuff to talk about and I think I'm going

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to go ahead and get out of here. I don't believe I have yet updated my outro for this so I'll just

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let you know that if you go over to MJMunios.com, specifically if you go into the show notes for

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this episode, you will see a link to something called Ava and the Glow Bug or Grow Bug and that

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is a children's picture book that I have written that is inspired by Ultraman and if you're liking

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Z, I think you'll like it. So go ahead and check that out. It will be in the show notes. I don't

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have illustrations yet. I have some sketches but they're not on the website but I do have a desire

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to turn this into a full-fledged children's picture book and you might see a campaign about that in

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the near future. So I hope you do and I hope you support it because if you like Ultraman and Kaiju

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stuff then I think you should like this book I'm working on. So anyway that's it. I hope that you

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are well, you be well, and you do well. This is MJ signing out. I hope you enjoyed that. Go to

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MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments, or other feedback you might have. There you can

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find all of my analysis, art, and fiction. I cover books, tokusatsu, comic books, anime, and more.

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Look around. You're sure to find something else that you'll enjoy as well.

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