Last Friday Ultraman fans from around the world attended the international premier of Ultraman Blazar episode 1 “First Wave” complete with multi-language subtitles. With over 40,000 live-streaming viewers on the Ultraman Official YouTube channel and over 4 million overall views in the first 72 hours, Blazar has reached the biggest initial audience out of any Ultraman pilot yet!
Fans hurled comments in a dozen languages at blinding speed in the YouTube chat box, and buzzed eagerly in the Ultraman Connection Discord, some even waking up early to accommodate the time zone difference. Members shared excitement for ‘Blazar Weekend’, some birthdays were even celebrated, including an especially important one!
Contributing to the party atmosphere, some truly inventive fans made some wonderful comments on Twitter and Instagram, both in real time and soon after.
Members were fascinated by the more militant, high-tech-reliant, no-nonsense nature of the First Special Mobile Brigade defense team. Many juxtaposed the seriousness of Captain Gento Hiruma with the seemingly primal fighting style of Ultraman Blazar and determined that Blazar might be unlike any other Ultra we’ve met so far.
Everyone is equally excited to see how the mystery of Blazar unfolds and how it will all be navigated by a mature adult protagonist who was arguably forced into the role of Blazar’s human host.
Despite the debates and speculation traded in the chat, everyone came together to chant the name of Blazar’s Kaiju opponent: BAZANGA! Who doesn’t love saying that?
Everyone was gripped by the true difficulty of the battle. Already the series is showing us a more human-centric perspective on Kaiju destruction. We get to see how long the battle between military and monster truly runs until Ultra intervention helps alleviate their burden. It was “serious vibes” as commented by many viewers.
Many admire Blazar’s ferocity and comment that his fighting style almost likens MMA. Some go as far as to say he mimics the animalistic nature of his opponents. Fans also refer to his iconic grunts and catlike screeches, admitting that they’ll take some getting used to but as we all know there is a reason for everything in the Ultraman Continuum.
But no matter how ferocious Blazar could be — and needed to be in the face of such a vicious Kaiju — there was still something very much Ultra about him. He cared about the humans around him. He tried to fend off Bazanga without using lethal force. For a moment, he even looked at himself, as if Gento’s humanity was somewhere inside him. Fans fell in love!
Everyone is hungry for more Ultraman Blazar. Be sure to join us every Friday at 8:30pm on the Ultraman Official YouTube channel for the premiere of new episodes and be sure to become a member of Ultraman Connection so you join us in the Discord and stay updated for all the latest Ultraman news!
