[Fish Sandwich]

Not sure if I'll actually keep up with posting about Blazar, but I really enjoyed the first episode. I kind of wonder if it's maybe not a great indicator of what the overall show is like, but it comes off like they deliberately traded establishing the status quo in favor of establishing the broad tone, and just leaving a big impact, both of which I think it did a fantastic job of. Taguchi just doesn't miss, man. You can feel the eagerness to do crazy fun new things like always, and while you aren't getting the instant charm of Z or the effortless charisma of Orb here, what you do get is a fast paced premiere that never once lets up on the momentum.

I also quite liked how Blazar himself was portrayed. This franchise has always been about wrestling matches with big mean creatures, so it's actually a shockingly good fit to have the hero be some kind of jungle adventure story savage who'll just straight spend a whole fight yelling ROOOOOY at a monster. I wonder if that might lose anyone coming to this show for the hard SF angle, but personally, I found it extremely endearing. "Communication" is apparently a big theme for this show, and I appreciate how much effort was put in to make Blazar feel unknown and alien not simply to new viewers, but even to existing fans who have expectations about these their Ultramen. Everything from the way the first thing he does in battle is turn around and climb a building down to the off sound his Color Timer makes is so delightfully weird. I have no clue what this dude's deal is, but if a big part of the story is finding out, that honestly sounds super exciting?