Finale was peak. This was my first Ultraman season, and I'm thrilled thar it ended up being such a great one

Thank you Tsuburaya for ditching Reiwa Gaia and making Blazar instead. As much as I would've enjoyed Reiwa Gaia this was a real good show. Dare I say Reiwa's finest tokusatsu shows sponsored by Bandai for me are King-Ohger, Geats, and Blazar. :rock:

In some ways it was kind of a spiritual tribute to Gaia in some sense even if it wasn't as direct as Trigger or Decker.

Yes, definitely not a direct tribute but in terms of doing things differently it does match up to a certain extent.

My one sour note about the finale is doing a final battle after all the speech about communication and laying down their weapons and ending the conflict in a non-violent way.

But we can't have an Ultra Series ends without a final battle to the end.

The scene with Gento talking to "Dead" Blazar was just so good. I couldn't help but get a little teary when Blazar actually spoke.

The show's themes of communication and understanding being the thing that actually saved the day for everyone (well, that and Blazar blowing up a monster) is a nice message.

Earth-kun giving a thumbs up. :thumb:

Back to Basics but at the same time doing it's own twist on the Ultraman formula. Ah Blazar, what a good show. Can't wait for the movie!

Yeah, I have to assume V99 had like no direct control or command of the Space Kaiju after they were released and they were simply designed to destroy.

Besides it would be kind of underwhelming to have such a great Final Boss Kaiju and then it just up and leaves after all the destruction it had done.

Plus we needed Blazar to finally use his Ultra Beam!

So we now have a modern Ultraman show that does not feature a talkative Ultra, can do without legacy support, is not about collecting toy trinkets, has no side forms and the show actually features a cohesive plotline that explains why a certain conflict which results in Earth being threatened is happening. Instead of some world-breaking monster just randomly being pooped out of space in the last episode.

I love all of this. On paper. Because in execution - I don't know. Blazar kind of lost steam for me during the last third. It's not that the show got worse or anything, I just stopped caring. It never really "got" me. Not once. Other shows have iconic moments for me that I fondly remember, Blazar doesn't.

I see nothing wrong with it; I'm just not crazy over it. I am very happy it ended the dreadful remake-trend though; I disliked both Trigger and Decker. It's also a great palate cleanser, when the next Ultraman show rolls around; I'm ready for the usual legacy fusion Ultra with four side forms and a silly catchphrase.

Ideally they further refine the Blazar formula but if I had to guess, they panicked after Decker, got Z's director and gave him free reign just to be sure they had something good on their hands, and such creative freedom won't return for a while.

I kind of miss the form changes. And the yelling out of the Ultra name when they transform.

I realized I haven't talked once about Blazar here when it started airing. So I guess better late than never.

In general, I enjoyed it although admittedly I feel like I respect it more than anything. I respect the style and tone that it goes for. I respect that it is willing to leave certain things a bit vague and let the audience think and ruminate on them. While I wouldn't really say it's my personal preference for Ultra nor would I want every Ultra show to be like it, I do appreciate that we can get a show like it in the current toku landscape.

From what we know from interviews, development on Blazar started roughly around 2021 when Trigger was airing. And by all accounts, Decker did well, continuing Ultra's upward momentum in sales and gaining a warmer reception than Trigger.