[GoldenXtreme]

Went ahead with Ultraman Blazar too. I was not pleased with this one, to the point this might actually be my least favorite show in the Ultra series that I have seen!

The motif of the show with its emphasis on communication, even when it seems impossible, is honestly a very nice idea. The main character learning to work with an Ultra who cannot communicate properly with words and the fact that Gento is the first Ultra host who also acts as the team captain both seem like they will offer unique territory for the show to explore, but the final result is utterly half-baked. Yes, under the golden brown crust of these appealing elements lies an underdone core of doughy, weak characterization and plot! I know I keep bringing up the "25 episodes" issue when talking about the New Generation shows, but I don't think any number of episodes would have fixed this show. This show once again features a team that is a government organization, which is... fine but doesn't really enthuse me since it is the default for the Ultra series. Gento acts as the team captain, but I didn't feel like he made much of an impression on me as a leader. It actually kind of freaked me out how often he would tell his team he was going to do something, then run off to transform instead. Just didn't feel like he was doing well rallying everyone together. In terms of individual episode quality, the show also felt rather weak to me. Most episodes felt like they were treading well worn territory for the Ultra series without anything new to add. I will give a shoutout to the Kaiju Insurance episode though, that one rocked. In spite of the show being about communication, the cast is pretty underdeveloped. We learn a handful of snippets about most of them, but never really dig into much beyond the surface level details. It took Teruaki until episode 20 to get a focus episode at all! They also try and touch upon the often shifty and villainous actions of the government, but it doesn't really ever escalate beyond the higher-ups yelling a bit at SKaRD about how they will be in hot water. No, for real this time! Dobashi acts as the big government villain of sorts, but his behavior is so exaggerated its hard not to laugh. V99 meanwhile engages with their own rather absurd grudge against Earth, sending some truly malevolent Kaiju over in retaliation. But everything gets resolved after talking to them for like 5 minutes, then they run off and leave Earth to deal with the giant planet destroying monster they sent. Everything plotwise just too much of an underdeveloped mess for me to overlook, even if the show LOOKS nice.