This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work at MJMunoz.com.
Join me for a discussion of Ultraman Zet episode 16, featuring research, rampaging, and revenge.
This episode is off-kilter, sweet, and a touch tragic. What did you think of it?
My name for this episode, or for this review, is Ultramercy, and I will get to why that is the case in...
Well, by the end of the episode, so stick around for that right now.
So I want to talk about Kid Yuka first. It's interesting to me that Yuka encountered this Kaiju that I don't remember the name of, but it had a cool name.
Sorry. Metsubos is what it gets turned into. Horobos, I believe, is the name. Yeah, yeah, Horobos.
So she encountered Horobos as a... I think she was at a four-year-old kid, and seeing that Kaiju up close, seeing it so much larger than life,
had a lasting impact on her, and caused her to be interested in, I would assume, studying, researching, dissecting Kaiju today.
And maybe even Kaijin, or the unlucky alien who happens to cross her path, right? Thinking about you, Mr. Spikey.
And I find that to be really interesting. I like that. I like her connection specifically to Horobos and her... not her hometown, but her grandma's hometown.
We can assume that Granny is long dead by now. Rest in peace, Obachan. There's no one like you.
And the... I don't know. It's interesting how we have that set up. So there's that personal tie to her, and then you see throughout the episode
that she's desperate to help Horobos calm down. But at first she just seems excited to find out where it is, and find any clue that she can.
Urine samples or whatnot, to find out more about this Kaiju that should be reawakening after 333 years. But we don't really see her full,
I guess, relationship with it, or understanding of... not understanding, but like, reaction to the Kaiju until really the end of the episode.
As it gets... the climax gets more and more desperate and exciting, and it ends up being kind of sad because she has to see this Kaiju basically put down
after she fails to soothe it because of the intervention of Kaburagi. It's interesting though that she saw this thing, she's got to be only 20-something.
So let's say 18-20 years ago. Let's keep... be broad. Let's say she's 30 maybe. So 18-26 years ago she saw this thing, and it's only supposed to wake up every 333 years.
Then I would ask, what was it doing awake at that time and place, you know, when she was a little kid? Shouldn't it have been completely dormant or sleeping?
I would think so. It appeared that it was there and then it dug itself under the ground to hide, or whatever, and you know, that I get.
But I don't know, did she... you know, how did this little kid, this little pipsqueak, interrupt its hibernation or whatever? That doesn't really make sense.
So I wonder what that's supposed to be. I mean, had she come across it sleeping, that would make more sense.
And it didn't move. Maybe its eyes were always glowing or something. That would be different, and I would kind of take that a little differently,
and it wouldn't cause me... it wouldn't give me such pause from such an otherwise cool... I mean, it was an awesome shot. Don't get me wrong.
Mouth agape, eyes glowing red, and then it dives down into the earth. Super cool.
Maybe just don't have it dive down and ever leave, and you know, yeah, that's the kaiju that you encountered. I don't know.
But then, why wouldn't other people know about it, and why would it be a mystery? I guess it had to have moved.
But then why have it have this 33 year... or 333 year wake up period or interval for its hibernation or whatnot? That doesn't really make sense.
Make it shorter? I don't know. Anyway, it was interesting to me that when they found the site where she had encountered Horobos,
she... well, you could see there was like a tree line that matched, but there was all this city development around it.
And it made me think, is it possible that they started developing this area, you know, 20-something years ago,
and that's what woke up Horobos and... or, you know, interrupted his slumber and sent him somewhere else.
And now, the... excuse me, the 333 year period is over, and it's time for him to wake up fully,
but the land had been... you know, he had been disturbed, and maybe was going to be more aggressive anyway,
because of how the land had been overdeveloped. And that kind of ties into Kaburagi.
He's not letting the kaiju exist in their natural form. He's using these monster metals. He's synthesizing them.
He's basically like mucking around and using advanced science and technology to do all sorts of things.
Like the Ultras made the Ultra Metals by voluntarily, you know, giving of their essence somehow to make the metals.
How were the monster metals formed? I'm not sure. It feels like maybe Celebro stole that technology, the concept...
I mean, he has a Zetriser, right? He stole that technology and the concept, and then maybe he's gone around
and personally attacked or invaded the bodies of monsters to get bits and pieces of them to synthesize the metals.
It's not clear. We've seen him take a chunk of a kaiju though and turn it into metals, so that's very possible.
That's very possibly what he's doing. Then again, the scale of a kaiju, is that like a skin scraping?
You know, just a sample of a few cells and it's not that big of a deal? Or what? It's hard to say,
because you have to factor in that they're being combined with the Belly-El factors of the...
or rather, the Devil Splinters, and that's, you know, causing a lot of this too.
So, anyway, my point is though that Khabaragi is so furious about his Belly-El metal being missing,
and I don't think he can synthesize another one because Riku's not on the planet, right?
That he goes over to Horobos when Horobos is calmed and when things are okay,
and he throws more metals into it to turn it into what do they call it? Metsubos, I think?
And it's this, you know, very destructive, very angry monster that absolutely goes on a rampage.
And it's... I don't know, it feels like there's a tie, like a thematic tie,
to man-meddling with, you know, the land and, you know, spoiling it with its development into, you know, whatever it was.
You know, man-made structures instead of natural structures, and Khabaragi messing with the, you know,
the natural Kaiju that was calmed by seashell music, you know?
And it seemed like that Kaiju, Horobos, and humans had some sort of equilibrium with each other,
and now that equilibrium is being disturbed, and it's partly through the ambition of Ascension.
It's not man, it's Celibro, it's Ascension, right?
Ascension is messing with nature in a way that's destructive and self-serving,
and he doesn't care about the cost to anybody else.
And, you know, then we get to see the rampage that Metsubos goes on,
and, yeah, maybe it's part of his... I mean, he was calming down by the music,
and, you know, it seemed like there was some sort of natural pattern, a natural flow that had been established
between the Kaiju and humanity, and when that's interrupted, because, well, like I said,
the intervention of having these other, you know, Kaiju parts put into him, he goes crazy and goes on this rampage,
and it's twisting his Kaiju nature, because I think he would otherwise be sort of peaceful.
It's unclear, it's odd, it's strange. I mean, should Kaiju feed off the earth somehow?
Oh, that'd be interesting. Kaiju fed off of nature in a weird way.
Sorry, I'm thinking as a writer now, how would I make Kaiju work?
Because I kind of wanted to do Kaiju a little bit.
Smaller Kaiju, 50 foot tall, 100 foot tall at the most, I think.
Hmm, I gotta think about that later.
Anyway, but there's like this twisting and warping of nature that messes things up,
and I think there's a lot of legitimacy. I believe in keeping things as natural as possible.
But then again, I'm just a hick from the South.
Oh wait, no, I'm a member of the family.
We have super noni, too, so I mean, lots of different peoples have their natural cures
and remedies and things like that that they'd rather use than stuff from Big Daddy Pharma,
but we're not going to talk about that right now, are we?
I do want to talk about Delta Rice Claw, because I think Delta Rice Claw,
I neglected to talk about it before because it kind of didn't feel like it mattered.
I think last episode was the one where it debuted with Grieza and Riku and Riku!
Sorry. I bet you can guess how old I am if you didn't know already.
And the Delta Rice Claw is an interesting form. It's kind of cool.
I like the fact that the medals are gold.
I like that this is its final form, Zet's final form, and it's special.
And I think I noticed that when Jede went away, he didn't have his crazy awesome Giver armor anymore.
That's what I call it. It's not really Giver armor.
But there's aspects of that with the blue shield-type pattern armor on your boy Delta Rice Claw's legs, it looks like.
That's where he has it. And it's interesting.
And I think the head is kind of like what Zero's head shape looks like.
I think I'm beginning to understand a little bit more how the Ultramedals change the shape and the look of him for the forms,
based on which Ultraman is first.
And I don't know if it's like the primary Ultraman, or the Oz medals almost,
where the first Ultraman mentioned is where the head shape sort of comes from.
It's like their head shape blended with Z's head shape, and then maybe color scheme is next, and then I don't know what the third thing would be.
I haven't examined the pattern that closely, and I don't know Ultraman as well as I could.
So I'm struggling a little bit to nail it down where everything is coming from, but that could be the case.
But anyway, Delta Rice Claw is cool.
The name's a little long, I think it should be Delta something else.
I think that would be a little bit better, just to keep the pattern of them all being one word.
And Delta Claw would be fine, or just Delta Rise, I think.
Delta Rise, that sounds cool.
Anyway, I think the claw is from the Belly-L metal, though, but just make him Delta Claw, that's fine.
That'd be cool.
And I think he should have a big claw on one of his hands.
But then he's got the, spoilers, Belly Rock, I think that's what they're going to call it in here,
because that's what it was in the Japanese with the subtitles.
That's the Belly-L needle thing.
And I don't know. I don't know.
It's a cool form. It's decent looking.
The Nightshot didn't sell it that well, which was interesting.
You would think the opposite.
Oh, which by the way, it's crazy to me that they're debuting this new form,
and yet they're still showing off the other forms and making them cool.
Although I guess maybe that makes sense that you kind of spread that out,
because at some point he uses Gamma Future, and he's got like a plasma cape, which is awesome.
And he uses it to sweep aside some stuff. It's like he uses it to block things, I think.
And then it's flowing majestically behind him as he's running around fighting this Kaiju.
And that was super cool. Oh, and then I almost forgot to mention.
So, Delta Rouse Claw, I like it. I think it's a cool form.
I love the idea of swallowing darkness and growing beyond.
Being able to withstand that darkness is what unlocks this AX level of power,
which is something I said last episode, but I said that about the weapon, not so much the form.
So, I think that's interesting. I love the thematic nature of that. I think it's really cool.
Really nifty. So, there was that. Oh, and then I forgot, your girl, Yoko, ended up showing up
and sort of saving the day, because she gave Zet the chance to recover
and end up getting the win on Horribos or Metubos, and that was pretty cool.
Showing up in Queen Joe. Perfect. Perfect clutch. Clutch saving of the big guy.
It was super fun, super cool. And I love that the Canons, the Panadium Cannon Missiles, whatever they call it,
she's able to shoot the one, but have them land right on the target when she's connected to it, locked in with it.
That's pretty good. That's a good aim, good aim to not hit herself. That was cool.
And then that twist at the end with that Alien Barossa coming in got me kind of scared, because
I'm worried about what Zet's going to do. He's at his limit. That color timer's been blinking,
and I don't know if it's like every time he switches to a new form, it extends his time or what,
but he is not doing well, and I can imagine that that will be a very difficult situation for him to get out of.
Hopefully it's not super easy, barely an inconvenience, because that would kind of stink to ruin the tension
for the next episode, but yeah, we'll see. We'll see. I don't want to spoil it or talk about that.
So I think I covered everything. You know, Yuka, it's weird how she's like,
oh, I want to dissect you and whatever, even though she has this admiration for the Kaiju,
and wants to sort of protect them or live in balance with them, but at the same time she also wants to cut them up.
I don't know if it's just because it's almost like Pokemon. You know, in the world of Pokemon,
they work together with humans, and people can kind of harvest stuff from them a little bit like,
you know, you get an electric Pokemon at a power plant or whatever, and you use them for the,
or like, I can't remember what she's called, the big one with the egg in her belly or whatever,
that works with Nurse Joy? Is that what it is? I don't know. It's been a long time since I've really paid close attention to Pokemon.
But like, you have this coexistence type thing. Like, Yuka used the Nyoranga Horn to help power King Joe,
or Windom, I think, to make it charge faster and stuff like that.
Like, that's cool, like, using Kaiju bits and stuff like that, that you can obtain or harvest in, like, a peaceful way
for the betterment of mankind and for human flourishing, and it's like mutually beneficial.
You're not killing the Kaiju just for its horn, just so you can make this thing. Like, that makes sense to me.
That's like, you know, I would say the same thing about rhinos. If you really want rhino horns,
why don't you raise rhinos, like we raise cows or chickens, and harvest the horns from them,
and, you know, I don't know, give them a synth horn or something like that in order to make it better.
Not that I'm into synthesizing stuff, but just, you know, I believe for a while people were doing that.
They were growing and tending and herding rhinos for their horns specifically, and they weren't murdering them
and leaving them dead, rotting corpses just with a horn cut off. They were, you know, you cut off the thing,
because it's made of, you know, the same type of materials, hair and nails and whatnot.
So, and just an example I'm throwing out there off the top of my head.
So, anyway, I think there's a better way to do things, and Yuka has this weird tension where she seems like this mad scientist,
but sometimes she seems like a good mad scientist, and sometimes she seems like a bad mad scientist,
and in this one she seemed good. She seemed, like, really sympathetic, like she was really vibing with this Kaiju
and wanted to save it and make sure it was, you know, protected and, like I said, in balance with nature
and having this, like, harmony, but it didn't work out that way tragically.
And so basically she asked Zet to do a mercy killing of the Kaiju, and he went ahead and did it,
because that was the only way he could see to really free it from the corruption of the metal being combined with it.
I wonder if that's on enough. I wonder if they should be able to go and extract that.
But this is not Kamen Rider EX-Aid, so anyway, I'm going to go ahead and close off,
because I think I went a little longer than I had intended, but I did cover all the topics I wanted to cover,
and I talked about everything I wanted to talk about, so there's no more reason for me to be here.
I'm going to ask that you go ahead and check out my Ultraman-inspired story for kids, which is linked in the show notes here,
that you would get the, subscribe to the audio version of the podcast,
which you can find linked at the website in the show notes.
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I'm also starting up Writer Tears again, again, again. It's like the, it's anyway, it's a relaunch.
But I'm covering the Kamen Rider manga, the original in six parts.
I'm going to be covering Shin Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Agito, the dub is out.
It's been for a little bit, and I have been watching that. That's kind of fun.
And I think I'm going to cover that as well as trying to get into all the other stuff.
I've got the black Blu-rays, Kamen Rider Black Blu-rays at home.
I've got all of Kamen Rider, the original, 1971 and 1973 to watch as well.
So there's lots of good Kamen Rider stuff to cover, and I'll also be doing a little off-topic Kamen Rider,
a writer, I don't know, Kamen Rider Rant, Kamen Rider Crash, something like that.
I think it will be a writer rant, actually, about, like I said, off-topic stuff.
So you can look forward to that as well.
So we'll be covering Ultraman and Kamen Rider here, well, on my website, mjmunoz.com,
and in all my channels where I'm publishing the stuff.
So look forward to it. And anyway, I hope that you are well and that you be well.
Until next time, folks, this is MJ signing out.
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