1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,800 This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. Find all my work at MJMunoz.com. 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:11,640 Welcome to Going Ultra! This episode is called Ultra Grit, and I am talking 3 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:16,480 about analyzing, discussing, reviewing Ultraman Zet Episode 5. So I'm watching 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:20,360 this dub, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. So I'm gonna be talking about 5 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:25,720 ancient secrets, current secrets, amazing action, as well as other topics which you 6 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,280 will hear shortly. So I'm gonna jump right into it without further delay 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:35,080 because this show was so great. I'm gonna talk about marvelous miniatures and that 8 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:42,180 poor car. So the episode opens up with a shot of Alaska. You can't see my square 9 00:00:42,180 --> 00:00:48,280 scare quotes on that, but Alaska. And in Alaska there's a, you know, giant sheet 10 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,720 of ice like Alaska has all the time. Of course it actually feels more like the 11 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,400 Arctic than Alaska, but I've also never been to Alaska and seen its wondrous 12 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:59,760 sights. So you know, it's probably mostly accurate. Anyway, there's a giant fissure 13 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:04,760 in the ice and it cracks open and something crazy happens when displacing 14 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,080 and destroying, sadly, a little ice trundle. I don't know what it's actually 15 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:14,560 called, but it's a vehicle, like a large heavy vehicle, that's meant to use its 16 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:18,720 treads to go over snow over long distances. I believe I've only ever seen 17 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:24,140 one in, well not in real life, but one, I have an actual one displayed on film 18 00:01:24,140 --> 00:01:28,920 before and that was in the X-Files movie, which had the subtitle of Fight the 19 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:33,140 Future, which was fabulous. Anyway, this one looked a little faker and like a 20 00:01:33,140 --> 00:01:36,440 little less well detailed. Like I don't think there were transparent windows. We 21 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:40,160 couldn't see anybody piloting it, which is fine. They could have even just iced 22 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:44,080 over the windows and had them appear as if they were translucent, you know, like 23 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:48,560 a window is, but they didn't. But still, I think the effect looked really good. It 24 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:54,020 was a short-lived effect. It was on screen for five seconds tops. I think it 25 00:01:54,020 --> 00:01:59,120 was closer to two though, and it looked really good. And that was just one of 26 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:05,160 many amazing things that was done with miniatures. We had the bikes crashing and 27 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:10,440 tumbling over and one bell ringing on a bike when Zet plowed into there, you know, 28 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,080 got knocked back to the earth while fighting Pegula, and that was really 29 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:20,800 exciting to see. And we have more. The car that gets flipped over and you see 30 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:25,040 inside of it a perspective shot from the backseat, the mid-seat, the center console, 31 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,960 I don't know. And there's all these things that are flying in the car, around 32 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:33,760 in the car, as it's getting flipped over from Pegula's ice blast, which I guess has 33 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,480 air in it that displaces the stuff, you know, whatever is in its way, whatever 34 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:41,920 matter is in its way. And then finally the car gets crushed by Pegula's foot. 35 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:46,720 And yeah, it was all very impressive. There was more than that. There was a 36 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:51,560 nice shot. Well, I'm gonna talk about the director at the end, so I'll come back to 37 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:56,200 it later. So anyway, starting off with the miniatures, it was a bang or a 38 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:00,560 banger, I guess as the kids might call it today, and then just they kept doing 39 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,480 great things with miniatures, and it was a marvel to behold, and I really enjoyed 40 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,040 it. Next, I want to talk about Hippie Cur's game. Of course, I'm talking about 41 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:11,520 full spoilers. I'm not gonna talk about the rest of the series, but I'm gonna 42 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:16,000 allude to it and hint to it. So if you haven't seen Z already and you're along 43 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,200 for the ride for Z because it's a dub, and that's easier than watching subs, hey, I 44 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:25,440 sympathize with you. I'm there, but you're gonna want to maybe... well anyway, I'm 45 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,680 gonna keep it safe for you unless you're hypersensitive to spoilers, then you got 46 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:34,320 to get out of here for a minute. But anyway, so Hippie Cur's game. We've seen 47 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:39,920 Hippie Cur playing with a Rubik's Cube. We saw him talk about in the last episode 48 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,240 at the very end how he needs to find a new toy to play with. He said that while 49 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:51,680 looking at Beta Smash, so Z, right? And here we have him effectively playing with 50 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:57,040 Z in multiple ways. I just want to say this real quick. Yeah, this is my 51 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,920 spoiler-resection, it's fine. They've been dropping clues since episode 1. I know 52 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,440 this is only episode 5, but in I believe every single episode there has been a 53 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,240 clue that something's going on with Hippie Cur. The first episode, it's that 54 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:12,440 he leaves, I think, to go to the bathroom, and he ends up traveling very quickly to 55 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:17,920 the site of the battle where Sevenger is knocked over, and Yoko is checking on 56 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:23,600 your boy Haruki, and we see somebody in a gray uniform, like storage uniforms, and 57 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:27,160 I think we see a little bit of his long hair on the side of the screen, and I 58 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:31,040 believe we see him pick up medals, but maybe he doesn't actually pick up medals. 59 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:35,000 I can't remember, but regardless, he was there. He traveled there suspiciously 60 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:40,760 quickly, and it was odd in the second episode while he's training with Haruki 61 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:45,160 to help him improve his fighting technique so he can defeat whatever the 62 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:50,560 kind of... no, Niranga in Sevenger, because that's the only mech they have available 63 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:57,800 at the time. He seemingly vanishes on him, and like entirely disappears from the 64 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,960 scene inexplicably, and then reappears from behind him and hits him, and you 65 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,720 continue sparring with him and fighting with him, and then he gives him his sage 66 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:11,600 advice, hinting at the fact that he is a salty veteran? No, a senior veteran? No, 67 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,800 that's not it. He's experienced! That's what I'm trying to say. You know it, I know it, 68 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,280 everybody knows it. Anyway, so he's trying to explain to him, or it's, you know, a 69 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:22,640 demonstration of how he is experienced, and I think that's good and interesting. 70 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:28,720 Moving on from there, in the third episode, he mentions... what does he mention? 71 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:35,200 Oh boy. Oh! No, never mind, that's this episode. I can't remember what the clue 72 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:39,080 is in the third episode, but it's there. I hinted at it, I dropped a hint of it in 73 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:43,920 my last review, I believe, or in my episode three review, and oh! One more 74 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,360 thing about an episode, or in this episode, when he steals the Zetriser, 75 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:52,880 which I'll come back to the Zetriser later, he vanishes similarly, and the way 76 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:57,280 the camera pans around, I believe it directly mirrors or parallels how the 77 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:02,240 camera panned around when Haruki got knocked over in the dojo. In fact, when I 78 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:08,160 watched this originally, in 2020 I think, when I was watching Z back in the day, I 79 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,720 made that observation, then I went back and I compared, and I looked at it. I'll 80 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:16,040 see if I can find the video of it, because I think I made a video comparison 81 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,960 of the shots, because it struck me how similar they were, and how interesting 82 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:25,160 they were. One more thing, well no, I'll talk to that about the... I'll bring that 83 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:30,520 back up when I'm talking about the... sorry, of this ringing in the vehicle with me. 84 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:35,000 When I talk about the director, but yeah, I'll leave it at that for now. So, I 85 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,880 haven't really said anything about Hebi-Kur's game, other than I'm identifying 86 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,760 the parts that he's played in the game, I'm identifying the parts in the 87 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:46,280 narrative, or the story, or the show, that the creative team, the cast, the crew, the 88 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:50,600 director, whatever the writing has put for us. It's given us breadcrumbs as 89 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,200 to who Hebi... or that something is wrong with Hebi-Kur, something's different 90 00:06:54,200 --> 00:07:00,500 about him, and there's actually... looking at the comments on YouTube for 91 00:07:00,500 --> 00:07:04,640 this, there's actually... the butt-grabbing thing is apparently a clue as well, and 92 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:09,520 if you were a watcher of another Ultraman show, which I won't name yet, you 93 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:12,040 would know it. But if you want to go look in those comments, I commented and 94 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,720 interacted with somebody, and we talked about this specifically. It's very 95 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:20,900 interesting. But anyway, moving on from there, we don't know what Hebi-Kur's game 96 00:07:20,900 --> 00:07:26,280 is. Obviously, he wants to be entertained, he wants to enjoy what's going on. What 97 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:30,640 ties to greater powers of darkness does he have is unclear at this point, 98 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:34,840 although he can command them to some extent because he, you know, used them to 99 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:43,880 clone the Zetriser, which is similar actually to what the space shark guy or 100 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:50,040 the parasite thing within it did, including the Zetriser and, I don't know, 101 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,680 maybe some monster medals or something like that. So, because we've seen that 102 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:59,560 Haburagi, I believe is his name, he also has a Zetriser, or a type of a Zetriser, 103 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:03,440 that he uses to make his monster, or to do stuff with his monster combinations. 104 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:07,040 So that's interesting that there's a parallel between the two of them, and 105 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:12,880 obviously the one guy is evil, and Hebi-Kur has been acting for humans. He's 106 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:17,320 been acting to save people's lives for now, but was that just a game? And now 107 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:21,560 that he's mastered being a good civilian like that and helping defend human 108 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,960 lives, and he's mastered a Rubik's Cube, what else is he gonna master? Is he gonna 109 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:30,080 become a master of evil? I don't know, we'll have to watch and find out as the show 110 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:35,520 continues. Moving on from there, concerning pilots. So, while this is an 111 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:41,440 Ultraman show, and while Zet ultimately saves the day and does a darn good job 112 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:46,880 of it and looks really cool doing it, this is a show with a Science Patrol-like 113 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:52,360 team in storage, and they have pilots who weren't counting on an Ultraman to 114 00:08:52,360 --> 00:09:00,080 come save the day. The Galactic Allied... no, no, that's, that's, whatever, the Earth 115 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,320 forces that have all worked together, there's an international team that 116 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:09,320 storage is part of. The Global Alliance? Someone like that? They are not counting 117 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:13,080 on an Ultraman being there to save the day. They need to be independent 118 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:19,760 operators who can handle the mess of the Kaiju on their own, and that's what Yoko 119 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:24,200 wants to do, that's what Haruki wants to do, and they want to do it in their 120 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:29,080 capacity as pilots of these mecha, and this is a little strange, it rings a 121 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:33,920 little strange, but ultimately it's good, you know, Haruki yells out, this is my job, 122 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,400 or that's my job, to defend people, protect people, and Yoko's, you know, 123 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:41,820 better than me, and she was doing it and willing to give her all, and I have to do 124 00:09:41,820 --> 00:09:48,120 the same thing. Great, fabulous, I love how fiercely dedicated they are to their 125 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:53,760 job, which, yeah, they get paid for it, but I think it's more than a job, it's, you 126 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:57,720 know, things are both, things are nuanced and complicated, so while it is a job, it 127 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:02,400 is also a duty and a privilege and a, I don't know, calling, I guess, to put their 128 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:08,480 lives on the line to protect people, and I think that's great, we get that shown to 129 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:14,520 us through the interactions of Yoko and Haruki here, yeah, Yoko and Haruki 130 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:19,200 here, and it's just interesting to see it all played out, because we haven't 131 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:23,920 really talked much about why they join storage, or the tragic backstories that 132 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:31,520 may or may not exist for them, you know, and it's just their job, but it's not 133 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:35,480 just their job, because it's saving lives in a very open and plain and 134 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:39,680 extreme way, and it's kind of interesting that with their lives being on the line 135 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:45,600 that there aren't more storage pilots available, maybe because there was just 136 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:49,680 the one mech at first, they only needed the two, I have no idea if Yuka could 137 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:54,080 pilot them, I would kind of assume not, since it seems like Yoko and Haruki 138 00:10:54,080 --> 00:11:00,120 possess a martial arts prowess which enables them to to do that, obviously 139 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:04,280 Captain Hibikura could do it, but he is not for some reason, so anyway, that's all 140 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:07,760 curious interesting stuff that I could talk on and on about, but really it's the 141 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:13,080 determination, the dedication, and the grit and the willingness to do this 142 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:19,560 difficult job with this, you know, deadly or lethal calling to it that these two 143 00:11:19,560 --> 00:11:23,720 pilots have that really impresses me, and while I was a little surprised at the use 144 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,680 salty language where Haruki said, you know, what the hell kind of pilot am I 145 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:30,280 anyway if I can't do this or that or whatever, you know, it's surprising for 146 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:34,800 ultimate geared towards kids, but you know, that again, maybe it's not so surprising, and 147 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,480 I don't know if that's like a liberty that they took in the translation because 148 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:42,480 I don't remember what the sub said, but I find that curious, but still it shows, it 149 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:47,280 demonstrates the dedication, the determination, the level, the 150 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:53,960 seriousness of the situation, because Haruki doesn't seem frivolous to me in 151 00:11:53,960 --> 00:12:00,520 that way with how he speaks, so yeah, this shows that it's serious and that things 152 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:05,880 are grim and dark and he's gonna step up to handle the situation with 153 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:10,800 everything he's got just like Yoko did, and I mean, you know, you can joke about, 154 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,920 or I don't know, you could joke or complain if you wanted to about, you know, 155 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,640 wokeness or, you know, strong female character or whatever, but like that's, I 156 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:23,480 think that's silly in this situation because Yoko is a strong female 157 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:28,080 character, she's doing things, she's, you know, the better pilot, maybe it's a 158 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:32,320 little silly, the arm wrestling thing, but I'm okay to indulge it, but for the 159 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:35,760 sake of the show, and I don't know her workout routine, I don't know those 160 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:40,040 techs workout routine either, so you never know, but anyway, and Haruki doesn't 161 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:43,280 have like a huge build compared to her, so I think he'd only be naturally a 162 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:47,300 little bit stronger than her if that, but depending on training that kind of 163 00:12:47,300 --> 00:12:52,760 changes things, but regardless, she pilots the mech well, which is its own thing, 164 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:57,480 I've heard of very impressive, or women who are very impressive marksmen, you 165 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:01,800 know, with regular guns, and you know, the gun is the great equalizer, and I think 166 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:06,720 the mecha is the even, you know, the great equalizer to another degree, so that 167 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:10,840 makes sense to me, and she's just utterly competent at her job, and but not only 168 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:14,080 is she competent, she's, you know, courageous and willing to sacrifice 169 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:18,340 herself, and she has that determination, and I don't think that Haruki 170 00:13:18,340 --> 00:13:25,040 lacked that determination, but seeing her express it so strongly and clearly and 171 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:32,380 resolutely, I think really inspired and impacted him, and caused him to do the 172 00:13:32,380 --> 00:13:36,600 same thing, and I find that impressive, and really I love the heroism of both of 173 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:41,160 them, it was very cool to see him rescue her in the way that he did specifically, 174 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:46,160 both in that he used the environment cleverly, used a jetpacks on Sevenger to 175 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:50,040 melt the ice, to thaw it out, and then he used that crazy jetpack contraption 176 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,840 thing that they have, and you know, like the men or something, to go pull her out 177 00:13:53,840 --> 00:14:00,480 of the cockpit, and it was awesome, it was really awesome, yeah, and I love that, 178 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:03,520 I love that their, I love their work relationship, their friendship, their 179 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:09,880 like co, I don't know, like their, their fraternity of being fellow soldiers 180 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:15,360 against kaiju and stuff, it's, it's very cool, and like I said, the grit and the 181 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:20,360 determination was very, I don't know, shocking, and I don't know, it felt like 182 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,400 it weighed a lot thematically in the episode, which is why I think even the 183 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:30,360 spear was brought to them, to Zet basically, because of the determination 184 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:33,280 of both of them, and specifically there was one instance where Haruki said 185 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:38,360 something like, about how they weren't gonna give up, and then the spear, I don't 186 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:42,240 think it came to them, I think it was during the fight with whatever Lord 187 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:49,000 Zapadon, or whatever it's called, Zapatos, sorry, and this, they were able to 188 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:53,640 activate it, and you know, do better at that time, and unlock a new level of 189 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:59,880 power with the spear, by you know, making the spear arrow thing, and I think that 190 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:04,240 was only due to his determination, which again, was reinforced by Yoko, and that's 191 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:09,240 just great, it's just great, you know, interactive character drama, and 192 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:15,360 storytelling, I think, so anyway, moving on from there, enough concerning pilots, 193 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:18,760 let's talk about the Zet Riser versus the Metal Riser, and this is a little bit of 194 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,560 a complaint, I called out last episode that I didn't like them, talking about 195 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:27,040 the, you know, Ultra, it's time for an Ultra Fusion, because it just plays odd, 196 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:33,360 plays silly, I think, and again, the Zet Riser, it doesn't make sense that it 197 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:39,160 would be called the Zet Riser, because it wasn't designed for Zet, specifically, he 198 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:45,000 I mean, it could have been the Z Riser, I'm, is Z for Zet for Zero, is that what it 199 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,600 is, that why it's a Zet Riser, because Zero is the one who had it, but we'll see, I 200 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:52,880 think in the next episode, or pretty soon, that somebody else has one too, and I 201 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,600 think for the sake of simplicity, and for the sake of the toyness of it, and just 202 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,440 the real-world application of it, it would make more sense for it to be called 203 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:05,520 a Metal Riser, because it uses Ultra Metals, and the Dark Zet Riser, or whatever 204 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:14,080 it's called, uses Monster Metals, so the fact that metals are the key factor in 205 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:20,320 the Riser, suggests to me, that that's what it should be called after, Metal 206 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:24,080 Riser, then it would make sense, it has Ultra Metals, it has Monster Metals, it 207 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:28,280 has whatever else kind of metals you want to put it in it too, and I think 208 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:32,280 that would be better, you know, you'd remove the Z branding from it, or maybe 209 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:36,600 because that one went to Z, it, you know, magically by Land of Light Technology, 210 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:41,320 customized itself to him, it gets a Z on there, and if Zero had one, it might get a 211 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:45,000 Z too, but it'll look different, or whatever, and I don't know, it just kind of seems 212 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:49,080 like from a, you know, toy making perspective, and you know, trying to sell 213 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:55,120 this thing, and market this thing, it makes sense to not have the toy aspects of it 214 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:58,520 interrupt, like it would be an equally good toy, if it was called the Metal Riser, 215 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:01,760 as it was called the Zet Riser, the only thing is, when you're looking for the Zet 216 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:06,120 toy in the store, I guess it being called Zet would work better, but if it has a 217 00:17:06,120 --> 00:17:09,680 picture of him on it anyway, then who cares, and then from a, you know, writing 218 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:13,120 perspective, it detracts, it doesn't detract from things to have it be called 219 00:17:13,120 --> 00:17:16,800 the Metal Riser at all, in fact, like I said, they're argued for, it leaves it 220 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:22,160 open to interpretation, and I don't know, extrapolation, or iteration in other ways, 221 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:29,080 as we are going to see, but you know, risers other than the Dark Riser and the 222 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:35,880 Zet Riser, so anyway, that's, this is kind of a silly thing, but I had to say it, and 223 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:40,320 then the last thing is a director assault, this director was assaulting my 224 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:46,640 senses with awesomeness, the flying scenes of combat between Pegula and Zet 225 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:53,520 were incredible, going through the clouds, the frost hitting the lens, the going 226 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:58,640 through the eye of the storm, that was all awesome, the laser, like the CGI was 227 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:02,600 made, I couldn't even tell what was CGI, and what wasn't, and where it was 228 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:07,040 integrated or not, or whatever, or what do they call it, composited, right, anyway, I 229 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:12,240 couldn't even tell most of those shots if they were CG or live-action suits 230 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:16,680 with like a CG environment around them, or what, the jet stream coming off them 231 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:22,320 as they're flying through the clouds too, absolutely fabulous, yeah, I didn't even 232 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,640 know really how they landed the effect of Zet tumbling through the clouds and 233 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:30,160 then landing on the ground and crashing into the practical elements and having 234 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:37,000 practical elements, you know, of debris flying up around him, I don't know how 235 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:41,920 they did that, but that, the miniature in the beginning, the car flipping over, the 236 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:47,480 shot of when he knocked over Pegula in front of that, like preschool or kids 237 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:52,640 room, maybe kids classroom in the high-rise building, and all the toys and 238 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:57,760 stuff jump and squeak and make noise and crash around the room as they're dealing 239 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:03,200 with the seismic impact of Pegula falling, and that was fabulous, gosh, what else, 240 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:09,640 just the fighting, Yooka fighting in a sevenger was awesome, like it just looked 241 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:14,240 so fierce and so cool, and I like the little flourish of, she wanted to like 242 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:20,600 scoot herself over, so she almost struck the, you know, classic Ultraman, what is it, 243 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:25,480 the space-ium ray or space-ium beam pose, and the jets fired off and shot her in 244 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:30,520 that direction, and like it just looked cool, and it was a cool reference, but it 245 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,760 also made me think like, oh, so the jets on this thing are kind of motion 246 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:39,400 controlled by, the body has to take on certain poses or shapes or whatever, and 247 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:42,560 then they'll activate jets in a certain way that'll allow it to do stuff, like 248 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,240 that's such a cool idea, like a high level, I think it's a high level concept, 249 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:53,880 and like seeing the intricacy of that play out in a scene, like in this scene 250 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,720 in particular, it was a fairly simple straightforward way to do it, but it's 251 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:00,720 still, it opens up the mind to all these possibilities of what this can do and 252 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:06,280 how it can be shown. Another thing, when you know, Zet fell from the sky after 253 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:10,520 Pegula knocked him down, and he was in a bad way, he was laying down a certain 254 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,840 way with his head to the right of the screen, and then after Hebeker was 255 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:18,040 defeated, he's laying down with his head to the left of the screen, and I think 256 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,960 that's a parallel, it's talking about them kind of being equal opposites maybe, 257 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:30,400 and you know, rivals for this show, and that was really cool, and what else? What 258 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:35,440 else? There were, I just, there were lots of great visual flourishes, um, I thought 259 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:39,760 when he fired off the, like when he, when the light, when the, what, I don't know 260 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:45,680 what's called the spear, when the spear came down from the sky, you know, was in 261 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,760 the little rock, and it broke out of the calcification, or whatever you want to 262 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,800 call it, the fossilization, and it turned into the giant spear of light, and it was 263 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,200 glowing, and Zet grabbed it, and then like the light kind of transferred through his 264 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,400 hand, and went over his body, like down to the ground, like kind of grounding out or 265 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:06,500 whatever, like that was a super cool visual, and then him slice, doing two 266 00:21:06,500 --> 00:21:13,040 slices in the air to form the arrow, or I guess the bow, and then it like 267 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:16,600 superimposing itself over the spear, and then the way he cocked it back, and it was 268 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:20,360 like there's just so many cool visual flourishes, and I'm struggling to think of 269 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:26,960 more, yeah I can't think of anything else right now, but that was all super cool, oh and I 270 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:31,920 love like the, the spell, or the thing that Hebekerah says, which it's, it's 271 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:38,040 juggler, right, anyway, that he says when he's copying the, copying the Zetriser, 272 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:40,960 it's like a really cool thing, and it's talking about light, and darkness, and 273 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:43,880 darkness, light, and like a weird transference between them, and it feels, 274 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:48,200 it felt like ominous, and like he's dabbling in darkness, but maybe more like 275 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,480 a Kingdom Hearts Riku type of thing, where he can use the power of darkness, 276 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:56,160 or wield the power of darkness for good or evil, and that was super interesting, 277 00:21:56,160 --> 00:22:00,480 because I guess, you know, Ultraman's the giant of light, and M78 is the land of 278 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:06,840 light, and I guess if light is a force with a power, I guess then darkness should 279 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:09,400 be a force of power, which I kind of touched on talking about in the last 280 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:14,760 episode, but just in more of a sharply defined way, and I guess if darkness can 281 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,840 be used for good, then can light be used for evil, and are we ever gonna see that 282 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,560 in Ultraman, or has it been done already, because maybe it has been done, I don't 283 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,920 know, but I think that's interesting, I think it opens up a lot of a interesting 284 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:28,280 story telling potential questions, and again, the reason I'm talking about story, 285 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:32,520 I'm talking about this, you know, Hebi Kura again, and the darkness and light 286 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:36,200 contrast, is because the directing and the visual storytelling was so strong, that 287 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:42,960 just the visuals alone bring all these questions to mind, and yeah, the visuals 288 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,920 tell the story, the dialogue tells the story, the visuals tell the story, and 289 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:54,320 I'm hearing both, or I'm seeing both, anyway, I'm seeing both, and it's 290 00:22:54,320 --> 00:23:03,920 interesting, so anyway, that's all I want to say, this was really interesting, and I 291 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,800 don't have anything else to say about the episode, other than I thought it was 292 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:12,840 really good, and very, I thought it was a very good episode, it was very well 293 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:17,720 directed, the storytelling was very compelling, and I'm super interested by 294 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,760 the turn with Hebi Kura, and where that's going, again, even though I already know, 295 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:25,840 I'm looking forward to watching it again, and seeing it from a slightly different 296 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:30,400 perspective watching the dub, so that's all I have to say, I encourage you to 297 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:35,720 check out my children's picture book manuscript linked in the show notes, it's 298 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,480 inspired by Ultraman, and it's part of a larger series of children's picture 299 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:46,160 books, that are all inspired by Tokusatsu, and I have one more book, a sixth book, 300 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:50,000 so there's five of those books, and then there's a sixth book, that kind of tells 301 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:54,800 a different side of those stories, and tells its own story as well, with these 302 00:23:54,800 --> 00:24:00,040 magical bug creatures, that I have in this world that I'm developing, so I 303 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,640 encourage you to check that out, and the draft that's up right now, it's a draft 304 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:10,760 1.9 of Ava and the Grow Bug, it's a, it's just one draft, and it's a previous draft, 305 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,840 and it's a good impression of what the story is going to be, but I'm going to go 306 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:19,760 beyond that, and make the story even better, that I've already made that 307 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,480 story even better, and then everything else is going to build on top of that, so 308 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:27,000 I encourage you to check that out along with everything else over on MJMunoz.com, 309 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,360 and you can link to all that through the show notes, and I also advise that you 310 00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:37,840 please check out the audio-only podcast, and that you subscribe to that, links are 311 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,880 in the show notes again, and if you want to increase my subscribers on YouTube, 312 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:48,960 and you know, follow my work there, you can do that as well, links will be in the 313 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:52,200 show notes again, that's that's how I like to do things, links in the show notes, 314 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:57,320 so check that out when you can, thank you very much, take care! I hope you enjoyed 315 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:03,600 that, go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments, or other feedback you 316 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:09,480 might have, there you can find all of my analysis, art, and fiction, I cover books, 317 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:15,320 tokusatsu, comic books, anime, and more, look around, you're sure to find 318 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:19,200 something else that you'll enjoy as well, this has been a story over everything 319 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:45,680 in production.