Pretty much, the more Retsudan styled episode this time like last time is likely just to give them time to properly edit the last of the footage they have without overworking.

Luckily these episodes don't dig into the episode count and are really just there to help space out stuff cause of the whole world situation.

I am curious about it though given our talking Belial on a stick reminds me of Zaruba from Garo, and the way he's talking it sounds like he's narrating it this time, which sorta reminds me of the first Garo Clipshow.

I think some were speculating that Z might have a slightly higher episode count that prior New Gen Ultra shows since it had a slightly earlier start date than usual. With these two special episodes though, that means Z would have the same episode count of roughly 24-25 episodes.

The new Medal sets have been previewed.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EmDdc2PX...jpg&name=large

To be honest, they’re kind of a letdown. The only thing they do is recreate older Ultra combinations.

So I caught up to the voice dramas, and learned some pretty interesting thing. Apparently Z's background is a mystery, with people speculating that he might not be a Land of Light native after all. Dunno if this will be revealed in the show proper, I hope so, the main show needs to have development for Z himself.

Were there any times you could see damages on the suit? Ace's appearance made me think how well kept the suits are. I assume the Showa suits are updated versions, but I wonder about the new ones.

I mean, Geed looked fine.

There's a picture that's floating around that I can't really find at the moment but it's like a warehouse with about... I think 6+ Ultraman Rosso suits hung up?

I think they just make tons of them.

Maybe Z is actually a purified kaiju, possibly Zetton, who not only gained the ability to communicate but who was exposed to the light source on the Ultra homeworld! If remotely true, it would be a good detail to incorporate into The Absolute Conspiracy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSwGrmfoSu8

This week on Ultraman Z, Z finally learns how to stay on topic during a recap special, only to have the mic stolen away from him anyway. ずるいっすよ、ゼロ師匠！

Dunno how long the suits last, but Ultraman himself was crafted a new suit for Ultraman X movie and it became the main suit.

Pretty interesting really, when you have Rider whose suits clearly aged (W is the latest to demonstrate this), although Ultraman are just simple rubber suits, they're easier to mass produce.

Ooohhh I like that theory. Regardless I hope it becomes a plot point. Don't really like it when an Ultra stays mysterious. Like we still don't know where Ultraman X came from and how old is he. And the only thing we know about Ginga is that he's from a future and originally one being with Lugiel.

One thing that's for sure is that they're not a Land of Light native.

You might one a buckle-up of you wanna learn anything about the more mysterious Ultra's. Because it took 23 years since Dyna first appeared for us finally get an explantion of who he is. Cause the show explained nothing about him.

Didn't bother to watch the recap, the preview for next week is promising though - M1 is low-key my favorite Ultraman monster. I don’t know what exactly it is about it that I find so fascinating, but I'm always happy to see it again.

Although I am a bit bummed that they apparently aren't continuing the trend of portraying M1 as the same entity from Ultra Q, like when it appeared in Ultraman X. That episode was awesome btw. I think I'm going to rewatch it.

Oh, and I hope Tsuburaya uploads the Ultra Q episode featuring M1 to YouTube like they did when the Kemur Alien appeared in Z.

I could see them uploading both the Q and X episodes!

My favorite part of this episode was Zero talking fondly about the time he spent with Leito in Geed. You can tell it had an impact on him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4co3HgyzTk8

This week on Ultraman Z, Hebikura attempts to save a monkey's life by making lots of phone calls, and then everybody dances. This one's kinda awesome, you guys.

Some real nice Bako focus this week, and a nice reappearance by M1. Admittedly I was wondering if they'd keep with it being the same M1 from X, but this is a nice iteration of it regardless.

Also yes, when in doubt about trying to stop a rampaging monster, dance!

Next week, D4, and in all honesty with the way things are looking I'm firmly betting our final opponent for this season is going to be the Allied Forces and whatever big plot they cook up via advanced weaponry.

Given how it feels like we are nearing towards the end, I am curious when Ultroid Zero is gonna show up.

Well from episode descriptions I've seen for the next two...

I'd like to say it's going to go like this

21: D4, oh no

22: Barossa III: The Revengeancing

23: Oh this Ultroid thing is cool, I think everything will work out.

24: OH NO THIS THING IS NOT COOL EVERYTHING IS NOT FINE.

25: The Real Final Boss is humanity's hubris.

Oh for the love of... :lolol

I'm legitimately hoping for something like this, because Z is doing a really solid job of building towards a unified theme about the weight of power, and I'd like to see it reach a good payoff.

This episode is the most I've enjoyed watching the STORAGE crew just being themselves and playing off each other!

I know this was partially a Bako-focused plot, but I thought the episode did a particularly nice job of showing off Hebikura in his element. So much of the show has been spent going "hehe, he's also that tricky Juggler doing cool alien things" that we kinda rarely see him just being a captain and interacting with the others like a normal person, so I appreciated getting to see more of exactly that.

This episode was weird in a fun way. A lot of the moments just made me go "What??", especially with M1 dancing it off to the drums.

Tho, I have VERY MINOR gripe tho. Bako acted kinda weird in this episode. He hasn't seen his daughter in 3 years, so I kinda expected him to be a lot more happy when he saw her. Instead he was kinda "Eh." about it. And there wasn't an explanation why and was just quietly resolved with the end part.

Just that. Otherwise, fun episode.

--

Altho, I'd like to bring up another issue, that I personally don't have, but I do see often in the social medias. Yoko's constant losing. I've seen people take issue with this, especially now that she's in King Joe, but what are everyone's thoughts on this? I feel like this'll be fixed with Ultroid Zero, but it doesn't seem like Ultroid Zero is here for long.

Yup, this episode was something alright :lol

https://i.imgur.com/XF7X7P3.gif

I enjoyed it, although I definitely prefer the more serious take on M1 from Ultraman X.

Well... I think that was intentional. They mentioned the mother on purpose, and I think it's obvious that Bako wasn't a family man. I suspect there were some ugly things in the past that caused them to split, and I assume Bako still can’t quite cope with it.

I think he feels guilty, feels that he doesn't deserve to be treated so lovingly by his daughter. He minimizes contact on purpose and is very shy about either getting to close or letting his daughter too much into his life, fearing he could fail her again.

Honestly, I've also noticed that King Joe loosing so much is kind of weird. But that's just Tokusatsu for you; the power-up from a few weeks ago is suddenly weak as hell.

Pretty unrelated to the episode, but I’ve learned how Z can use the Galaxy Rising medals that Geed gave him.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hyMU1fTcykg

On the subject of Yoko losing constantly, I feel like that's something they can't really correct at this point. While she's gotten two good wins, a lot of the other time is her flailing around and getting beaten.

The issue is simple, STORAGE needed another pilot that wasn't Haruki and Yoko, because Haruki by principle has to usually win. Meanwhile that sort of just leaves Yoko at the spot of the one who loses. If we had another pilot that ended up going out and piloting the robots sometimes and losing, then it would be a bit less of an obvious issue given it's not just her that's failing, but the secondary pilot as well.

That's one of my minor gripes with Z, but also here's another minor one if nothing really happens by the end of the series with it.

Remember Devil Splinters? I sure don't.

Alternatively, they could have written it so that she was actually fighting like an equal alongside Z more often than not, instead of just jobbing to threats before Z shows up...

So I noticed on the Bandai website that Ultraman Z Original is getting an Ultra Action Figure(pretty much the RKF of the Ultra series)next March. I wonder... whoever he will be facing in the last episode, could it be that he is gonna duke it out with the big baddie in his original form during the last episode?

Tbh, Original Z always seemed weaker than Alpha Edge. It can be that the villain somehow separates Haruki from Z and they have to find a way to merge again since they are both stronger together.

Also, I hope they start showing what is Juggler's plan in all of this. Or will it be leading into another movie where Gai could potentially show up.

I think they're probably just releasing it as a bookend 'special' thing rather than it having a lot of final episode relevance. Neat that they're doing it, though! I was considering getting a Base Form Z but didn't wanna drop SHF money on it.

No doubt about that. Now it could be no big deal and they just release it for the collectors out there, but one possibility I thought was what if they go the route of Z finally decides to drop the medals? And during the epic final battle he decides to rely only on himself and Haruki's combined strength and skills. Cause while I love the forms that Z can utilize, it does kinda suck he hardly fights in his original form.

Haruki's final form is Sevenger. Having realized he taught Storage all he knows with how to deal with the threats, Ultraman Z can go home now.

Just got caught up with episode 20.

Is it weird that the dancing didn't really faze me at all? Like, there was a part in the back of my mind that was going "This looks really weird" and remembering the Ohranger meme, but I think I've watched enough toku at this point that I'm just like "Yes. Giant robots dancing with discount King Kong. This is normal."

Of course, there's also the fact that it fit with the whole theme of them using increasingly silly ideas to get M1 to stay still. He's simple-minded enough and they're desperate enough that distracting him with dancing makes perfect sense.

...right?

I didn't bother me, either. I see it as the writers rejecting a tragic ending by going all the way opposite with a goofy, upbeat resolution.

A little preview for the lights and sounds deluxe Sevenger figure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfVQ8VnvuJQ

Serious question: since the SHF got revealed and will inevitably be cheaper, is anyone still considering the DX toy?

Well this is apparently something above a DX level toy. The paint job and detailing looks better than recent DX robots (looking at King Joe Storage Custom), but who knows how it will fare against a true SHF.

I wonder, would Z show up in future crossovers as his original self or would he still have access to his forms lik Alpha Edge? I've a feeling during crossovers, he'd only show up as Z Original and then as DRC for those final form scenes with the rest of the Ultras.

Just making sure in case I need to buy his Z Original SHF.

I think he will show up more in his original form if The Absolute Conspiracy trailer is of any indication. But in future TV guest appearances when in battle we will probably see him start with his Alpha Edge form as always since that is kinda his flagship mode of fighting. And if my memory serves me correct he has fought in his original form at times such as when he had to fight in human size, etc.

He's like that in Absolute Conspiracy because that's literally what he looked like before meeting Haruki. There's no Orb Origin situation going on with him so he'll mostly be Alpha Edge in future appearances, but Original will show up occasionally like it has in Z.

Could be like Zero, who literally believed that he couldn't go to Beyond Form without a host. Geed served as the genesis for Zero's transformation, and that's the only thing I can't account for in Z's case. Could Z become Alpha or Beta or Gamma or Delta without being joined or would someone other than the original host have to facilitate a transform?