1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,200 This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. Find all my work at MJMunoz.com. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:15,840 Welcome to Going Ultra. This is episode 8 of my coverage of Ultraman Zet. And this episode 3 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:23,120 I have dubbed Ultra Flashy. So, I'm going to be talking about this episode of Zet, episode 4 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:28,460 8 like I said earlier, which features training, tests, and teases. This episode was a little 5 00:00:28,460 --> 00:00:33,680 off for me. Find out why as I address a few topics that caught my attention. So first 6 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:42,040 off, Celebro. Celebro? What do you want to Celebro? The pronunciation of that name is 7 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:47,160 kind of funny given the context of the English language, but it's actually not that comical 8 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:51,920 or comedic. It did strike me a little funny, but that's definitely not one of the things 9 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:57,440 I had an issue with at all because, well, there's no reason to have an interest with 10 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:04,520 it. It makes sense. It sounds like cerebro. I don't know how you say this, but a Japanese 11 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:11,480 ification of the word cerebro, which makes sense. You know, the whole L and R thing from 12 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:17,780 Japanese, or maybe it's the L and R thing in English that we are too lowly to understand 13 00:01:17,780 --> 00:01:25,320 from Japanese. But the basic thing is it looked like cerebro or celebro went into Shinya Kaburagi's 14 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:29,640 brain, or at least it attacked his face, and then it was inside of him and now it's controlling 15 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:37,160 him and talking through him and things like that. So he feels like a brain parasite now 16 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:42,160 that goes into other creatures and controls their minds and causes them to do different 17 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:47,560 things. And that's pretty interesting. What's kind of more interesting is I guess that means, 18 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:56,440 or the implication is that Juggler has had interactions with celebro before and that 19 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:00,800 raises a whole bunch of other questions. And I hadn't thought about that till now, but 20 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:06,800 that's cool that he knows him and that there's a potential backstory between the two of them. 21 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,760 And I don't know where celebro would have been doing something that Juggler would have 22 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:15,640 run into him, but that's cool that they have potential shared backstory together. And I 23 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:21,920 like that. So that was definitely a good thing. Shinya mentioned when he got his first new 24 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:25,000 medal or two in the beginning, or towards the beginning of the episode, that it was 25 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:32,880 time to do some tests and then he turned into a, you know, medal madness monster. And it's 26 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:39,000 a good thing I'm not doing the dub for this. That would be what it is. Behold, my medal 27 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:48,560 madness monster. Ha ha ha. Anyway, he goes and tests them, but who is he testing them 28 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:54,040 for and what is he testing? And I guess who is he testing? Is he testing himself? Is he 29 00:02:54,040 --> 00:03:01,840 testing the potency of the medals from the Zetriser? Is he testing the Alliance forces 30 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:08,160 on earth? Is he testing Zet himself? I don't really know who he's testing. Maybe he's testing 31 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:15,200 to see if other Ultras will come to the planet with him causing the damage he's causing. 32 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:20,760 And it's unclear to me now that I think about it. Whether the Devil Splinters spreading 33 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:28,200 has anything to do with Celebro or if it was the, not Street Shark, Space Shark, Daringan, 34 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:34,480 is that his name? If he was doing it or if it was Celebro, or Celebro rather, working 35 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:41,720 through the Street Shark. Street Shark. No Vin Diesel here. Through the Space Shark. 36 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:47,360 And yeah, I'm just not sure about that. But that's another interesting connection. So 37 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:52,040 I know it's kind of funny. You know, I could have asked these questions before, but having 38 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:58,440 a name to the character kind of heightens my awareness of him and makes me or helps 39 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:03,480 me to think about it in a little more concrete terms, I suppose you could say. 40 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:09,560 Next thing is something I didn't like so much was the cat fights that were going on, sort 41 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:17,240 of. So you've got this pair of alien ladies. You know, the alien, well I'll talk more about 42 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:22,280 them later. But what's more important is that we had these ladies fighting and like seeing 43 00:04:22,280 --> 00:04:28,280 Yoko fighting with Haruki makes total sense. Seeing her fight with Yuka makes a little 44 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:31,760 less sense because I'm just not sure Yuka is a real combatant. Although she is shown 45 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:41,740 running in the storage coveralls with Yoko and Haruki. So in the beginning, in the OP. 46 00:04:41,740 --> 00:04:46,680 So I don't know what that's supposed to imply necessarily. If she has compatibility as a 47 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:54,160 pilot, perhaps because she helped design them. If she can also pilot them or has piloted 48 00:04:54,160 --> 00:05:00,920 them before and that's, I don't know, maybe an aspect of her job or her character or her 49 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:04,440 as a person that we just haven't seen yet because they haven't explored it. But it's 50 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:14,080 implied. So I find that interesting. I mean you could conceivably have Yoko and Yuka both 51 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:20,440 in a mech, one of the two mechs there and then have Haruki acting as Zet at some point 52 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:25,000 and that would be kind of neat. And I feel like that's almost implied by the OP, but 53 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:30,000 not really. Alright, moving on. You know, it was weird that she was so interested in 54 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:36,840 that alien and she wanted to fight her and like she was dodging a lot of hits from this 55 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:41,840 competent alien combatant and then she was landing some weird hits on her. Like I think 56 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:47,280 she slammed her head against a, I don't know, the couch or like something in that room, 57 00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:50,480 the house that they were fighting in at one point. And it was weird. She very much reminded 58 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:55,420 me of Happy Le Pew, which I think I mentioned in my original analysis review of this when 59 00:05:55,420 --> 00:06:02,200 I watched it a year or so ago. But yeah, still she's got like a strong energy and it's scary. 60 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:08,640 I think she was even scaring that alien, which is a funny thing to think about. So yeah, 61 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:13,920 but I didn't like the idea of, like I feel like Koichi Sakamoto directed this, especially 62 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:18,280 with the lady with the fish dance, how she was kicking and stuff. It just felt off. And 63 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:23,520 like I said, I'll touch more on that in a little bit. Let's see. So Hippocurve's play, 64 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:31,360 I'm not sure what Hippocurve is about or what Juggler is doing. You know, he helped out 65 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:38,160 Zett by giving him, Haruki and Zett, by giving him the medals to make Gamma Future, which 66 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:46,600 is a great form. And I don't quite understand why he's helping him to survive, why he doesn't, 67 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:51,040 you know, want to kill him or what he's fighting him for, what he's fought him for in the past, 68 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:56,520 but then he says he needs a new toy to play with. But if the toy isn't up to snuff, then 69 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:03,000 I'm surprised that he would continue to want to play with it. But there's clearly something 70 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,480 else going on because he's trying to figure out, he's piecing things together. He wants 71 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:14,420 to know what Shin is up to. And he is aware of Celebro and it seems like there's some 72 00:07:14,420 --> 00:07:21,680 larger thing going on that he's trying to suss or ferret out. And I'm not sure where 73 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:26,720 he's going with that or what he's going to do, but I do definitely enjoy seeing him do 74 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:34,120 it. So I'm not complaining. Okay. So the pits, we had two alien pits. These were the alien 75 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:42,760 ladies who I guess, Kaburagi, Shinya, was buying alien body samples from so that he could, 76 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:49,800 you know, mine them for metals. Oh my gosh. Monster coin. Sorry. I like Bitcoin. If you 77 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:54,120 think I'm dumb because of that, ask me about it. Maybe we'll have a reasonable conversation 78 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:59,960 instead of you just being mean and accusing me of being a bad person, potentially. But 79 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:04,600 anyway, I don't need to fight for that. It's just, you know, just something to mention 80 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:09,840 in passing. Anyway, yeah. So, you know, these pits, they're aliens. You would think they'd 81 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:16,880 want to blend in and be as inconspicuous as possible. And yet, you've got this lady rolling 82 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:22,120 around in fish nets with like a, I don't know, Yakuza kind of thuggish look. I mean, I guess 83 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:26,600 it depends on where you are. If you're around a bunch of people who are dressed like that, 84 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:31,180 then you would blend in. But none of the storage, all the storage people dressed in uniforms 85 00:08:31,180 --> 00:08:35,880 and you know, Kaburagi's in uniforms and this nice house. I mean, it could be like a Yakuza 86 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,400 house, which means, or which is, you know, makes it reasonable for them to dress like 87 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:45,000 that. But another lady, she was dressed a little more sensibly or conservatively. So, you know, 88 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:50,840 she definitely blends in. But then you have, you know, the lady in the fish nets and she's, 89 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:55,680 yeah, she, she kind of sticks out, I would think. And that was kind of odd to me and 90 00:08:55,680 --> 00:09:00,160 felt weird. And again, made me think like, is Koichi Sakamoto directing this thing? Which 91 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:04,400 he might be. I didn't check the episode credits on who directed it. So whatever. 92 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:09,880 Now, last thing is, so this was like, I don't know if you could tell, but this was just an OK episode 93 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:14,480 for me. I'd give it, I don't know, six out of 10. Yeah, probably six out of 10, maybe 94 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:20,760 seven if I'm being generous. But Gamma Future is a really cool form. And is that what it's 95 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:25,760 called? Yeah, Gamma, because it's the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and then Delta later, right? 96 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:33,320 It's Greek letters. Anyway, it's a cool form. I feel badly because I dropped the trigger, 97 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:39,720 which is a re-imagining or modernization or whatever of Taiga. I dropped it because I 98 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,880 didn't like it that much. So, you know, I didn't force myself to keep watching it. And 99 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:49,600 I don't feel bad about that. But you know, the suit is OK. The base form looks fine. 100 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:55,440 And you know, he shows up here and I don't understand like them being like alternate 101 00:09:55,440 --> 00:10:00,520 dimension Ultramen who have mystical energy like that, like the, forgive me, but like 102 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:04,280 the mumbo jumbo behind, you know, what they are and who they are and why they make this 103 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:12,320 form like didn't make any sense to me. And I don't really care because the form looked 104 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:17,760 cool and it fought cool. I think this is the most like I almost wish that Zet just looked 105 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:22,520 like this all the time, like the gold or like the gold and metallic, I don't know, like 106 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:28,040 shoulder and neck pieces that he has going on and maybe something about the shape of 107 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:32,400 his head. It's just it's a really good looking form. And I like it a lot. And I don't understand 108 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:37,440 why you wouldn't just have this, you know, be the guy all the time. But, you know, here 109 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:44,440 we are not doing that. And his powers seem interesting, you know, mystical, like Ultraman 110 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:53,600 shoots a, you know, spacey M ray and you know, that's a shoot to, you know, a Zestium beam. 111 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:57,200 So it's like, I don't know how they grow giant and shrink and stuff. I don't know how much 112 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,200 from more mystical you can get. They come from the land of light. So that's kind of 113 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:04,160 a funny thing to call them. But the form still looks good. And I enjoyed its fighting style. 114 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:11,520 I like how flashy it was and like how there's a lot of finesse and poise to the movements 115 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:15,580 of the form and the suit acting. I'm presuming it's the same suit actor for all three forms 116 00:11:15,580 --> 00:11:22,280 or four forms, I guess, if you count Vanilla Zet or Blue Zet, I should say. And yeah, I 117 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:26,440 think the guy did a really good job and he just looks, you know, smooth as silk. And 118 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:32,000 I like how snazzy he is and some of the fun stuff he says. And yeah, I thought it was 119 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,880 cool. So I definitely dug that. And that was, I don't know what to say, it was like the 120 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:39,320 highlight of the episode. Well, I guess, yeah, that was the highlight of the episode, the 121 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:44,840 new form, even if it didn't really make sense how it got there and why and some other stuff. 122 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:48,360 But anyway, they can't win them all. They can't all be perfect. And I would say while 123 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:54,920 this had a high point of the game of future debut, the rest of it was just okay. So anyway, 124 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:59,240 that's all I have to say for Zet episode eight. I encourage you to go to the show notes and 125 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:05,480 check out all the stuff there. You can find my children's picture book manuscript inspired 126 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:10,360 by Ultraman. It's over there in the show notes. And you can check out everything else that 127 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:16,320 I do over on my author website, where I document all of my work as an author, artist, and analyzer 128 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:21,600 and all the other things that I analyze and review and talk about. Like I said, you can 129 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:28,160 find them all there. Anyway, for now, this is MJ signing out. I hope you enjoyed that. 130 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:34,920 Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments, or other feedback you might have. 131 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:40,920 There you can find all of my analysis, art and fiction. I cover books, tokusatsu, comic 132 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:46,240 books, anime, and more. Look around. You're sure to find something else that you'll enjoy 133 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:53,240 as well. This has been a story over everything production.