We’re going to miss using this picture. This image was the cover of our very first episode recap of Ultraman Blazar, for Episode 1, “First Wave.” It’s atmospheric, an excellent pose — one of our favorites.
However, Blazar’s time on our televisions is rapidly approaching its glorious finale. The Space Bomber Kaiju, Varallon, has decimated the forces of the Special Kaiju Reaction Detachment, SKaRD in a brutal battle that knocked the moon out of its orbit, forcing Blazar to sacrifice himself against Varallon after saving the moon’s orbit and separating from his host and partner, Gento Hiruma. Now, seemingly nothing can stop the “Third Wave” of V99’s invasion forces as it hurtles down towards Earth.
So how did we get here?
Despite the myriad mysteries hanging over the series, the flow of events in Ultraman Blazar has been very straightforward, to the show’s benefit. Let’s take a brief moment to go over how we got to this final conflict, so we can properly appreciate where it’s all leading to.
Though Blazar starts with an attack on Ikebukuro by the Space Kaiju Bazanga, Varallon’s “First Wave” predecessor, in truth the story of the mysterious, wild Ultraman begins in 2020, when Gento Hiruma was acting as part of the Special Mobile Brigade of the Global Guardian Force, Earth’s primary anti-Kaiju defense organization. The SMB was functioning as guards for Yu Dobashi, former head of the GGF’s Japan branch and at-the-time director of the mysterious Test Facility 66 in Gifu.
At this time, Test Facility 66 was undergoing wormhole experiments in order to make contact with the mysterious alien civilization or entity known only as “V99,” led by researcher Tatsuki Aobe. Unfortunately, during the experiment, the unstable wormhole generated went wild and consumed the majority of the team of scientists, as well as causing massive damage to the facility, forcing the SMB to evacuate Dobashi and any remaining researchers. It was at this time that Gento, searching for people to rescue, encountered a wormhole himself, and reached out to the being on the other side in an attempt to save them, not realizing that who he was reaching out to was a powerful, but benevolent alien from the other end of the cosmos.
Three years later, the “First Wave” attack began as the Space Kaiju Bazanga launched an assault on the Japanese peninsula, proving almost immune to human arms of all sorts. The SMB, now led by Gento, moved in to try and take out Bazanga using intel generated during study of the creature, but the GGF’s bureaucracy twisted said intel in a game of telephone, endangering the team. Refusing to allow anyone under him to come to harm, Gento attempted to rescue a fallen member, only to come under risk himself as Bazanga’s rampage sent a building falling towards him.
At this moment, however, Gento’s good deed from three years prior returned in a BIG way, as the mysterious Blazar Brace and Blazar Stone appeared in his hands, the giant he had unknowingly bonded with taking control to allow Gento to become the savage giant known as Ultraman Blazar. Though the learning curve was initially a bit steep, Gento found Blazar’s power came easily when he embraced his savage instincts, and soon, Bazanga was blown to pieces by his Spiral Burrade lance.
Though Bazanga was defeated, the GGF recognized that it was a threat above those they were prepared to face, and General Retsu Haruno called in Gento, seen as a hero of the battle, to lead a new team with unique dispensation to handle Kaiju threats and relative autonomy — the Special Kaiju Reaction Detachment, SKaRD. Consisting of Emi Aobe, daughter of Tatsuki Aobe and intelligence expert, Teruaki Nagura, veteran of the Battle of Bazanga and deeply principled tactician, Anri Minami, close combat expert and infantry veteran, and Yasunobu Bando, master engineer, the team consisted of the genuine best and brightest the GGF had to offer — as well as problem children one and all, each one having principles and compassion that made them often come into conflict against the orders of the GGF top brass.
Underfunded despite the allegedly prestigious nature of the team, SKaRD’s primary asset was the Type 23 Special Tactical Armored Kaiju, Earth Garon. Armed with a number of top-of-the-line weapons like the Earth Fire particle cannon in its mouth, as well as a number of parts and programs so secret that even SKaRD isn’t allowed to investigate them, Earth Garon was the pride of humanity’s efforts to defend against Kaiju — and it certainly did its best! However, a combination of the insane power of the various Kaiju and SKaRD’s own unwillingness to endanger civilians meant that even Earth Garon was often unfortunately outclassed.
Fortunately for SKaRD and the people of Earth, Blazar would always appear in the nick of time to support Earth Garon, and defeat the Kaiju threat. Though this state of affairs often rankled the brass, the results are what mattered to SKaRD — but everything changed when Gebalga fell from the sky.
Blazar had had close calls before, and had even retreated from fights against threats like the ancient god-Kaiju Nijikagachi. Gebalga, the Space Electromagnetic Kaiju beat Blazar, sending the Ultra into retreat and forcing him to send the wounded Gento away. Though things seemed dire as Gebalga used its EMP powers to destroy infrastructure and weaponry directed at it while it rampaged. However, in Blazar’s absence, SKaRD and the soldiers of the ground did what the top brass could not, coordinating with a tilsonite spear designed to destroy the electromagnetic pulse-generating organ in the Kaiju’s body.
Even when the Kaiju survived the assault and continued its attack, the forces of Earth had done enough for Blazar to recover, and, continuing the trend of cooperation, reforged the tilsonite spear into a tilsonite blade, which was able to cut down Gebalga, returning peace to Earth… or so everyone thought.
Gebalga’s body had dropped a payload into Earth, filled with its young. Though it would be several months before any evidence of this was discovered, when the pollution Kaiju Irugo emerged from the Earth, spewing toxic gas before metamorphosing into a new Gebalga! Though Earth Garon and Blazar were able to defeat this Irugo, dozens of them began emerging from the ground shortly after, heralding the appearance of the species’ progenitor, the Brood Gebalga.
Easily three times larger than the first Gebalga, and commanding the endless, wormlike Irugo, the Brood Gebalga destroyed the tilsonite blade that had defeated the first Kaiju, and nearly cooked Blazar alive!
As this crisis was going on, Emi Aobe was searching for answers — she had joined the GGF to discover what happened to her father, Tatsuya. Her questions led her to the former director of Test Facility 66, Yu Dobashi. Dobashi had since retired, but still held immense power — power to threaten Emi to stop looking, and to force General Retsu to keep his secrets.
Unwilling to give up finding out what happened to her father, Emi snuck into the ruins of Test Facility 66, following clues Tatsuya left to her. At the end of the search, she found fire. A mysterious Kaiju, Firdran, emerged from the abyss of the test facility, headed towards Blazar. Recognizing the creature, Blazar merged with Firdran and used its power and a newly forged second tilsonite blade to find a higher echelon that allowed him to escape Brood Gebalga and cut it down, burning the root of the twisted system of Irugos, wiping them out entirely!
After Firdran’s escape, Emi was led to a mysterious journal by the spirit of Tatsuya, who had protected her from the flames. Within held all the secrets behind V99, and what had been being done at Test Facility 66 — but before Gento and Emi could learn the truth, Dobashi appeared, flanked by GGF soldiers, and confiscated the journal, leaving them in the dark again.
We approach the current moment. SKaRD learned through these battles that Bazanga was the “First Wave,” and Gebalga the “Second Wave.” They have learned the name “V99” and know the circumstances that led to the disaster at Test Facility 66. Even the battles with the Kaiju of Earth have come into new light, as creatures like the chiropteran Taganular and supersonic Deltandal were revealed to be defending the planet from horrors from beyond the stars. In the last battle against a swarm of Taganular, the Kaiju expelled a destructive blast meant to shoot the approaching “Third Wave” out of its path towards Earth, causing it to land on the moon and destroying themselves in the process.
Retsu Haruno has been relieved of his duties. Gento Hiruma’s body is badly beaten as a consequence of battling with Blazar. SKaRD’s existence is in peril.
And on the moon, Varallon, the Space Bomber Kaiju, prepares to end humanity.
Episode 24 has aired already, but we at UC would rather you watch it than spoil the surprise. Check out the final episode of Ultraman Blazar this Friday, January 19th, on Youtube or here on Ultraman Connection.
