[DISCUSSION]Ultraman Z, Episode 23

[BBally81]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Ultraman Z, Episode 23; "Prelude To A Nightmare"


This Week: STORAGE under the GAFJ's complete supervision has developed the 4th Special Airborne Armor, Ultroid Zero, based on analysis of Ultraman! Yoko is chosen as its pilot, but on the day of its launch test, monsters begin to rampage all over the place! In the face of a monster attack of unprecedented scale, the GAFJ run STORAGE unveils their most powerful robot to show off its true strength!

"Oh yeah, I feel completely safe, with this walking uncontrollable weapon of mass destruction around."​

Remember, this is a SPOILER ZONE! If you are trying to avoid spoilers, this is not the place for you.
HOWEVER! This is not the place to discuss future episodes. You may discuss previous episodes, next-episode previews and related subjects, but stick to the episode at hand. Please be considerate of those who haven't watched ahead yet. Thank you

 

[Dr Kain]

I feel like this is just the halfway point to the show. There is no way in hell they can end this satisfactory in just two episodes.

Oh, and I can't believe it, but this main villain might be even worse than Saki from R/B.

 

[Toku Prime]

I don't get that feeling. The shutdown of STORAGE a couple of weeks back felt like a fairly typical "end of the second act where it all goes wrong for the heroes and they have to rise up again" story point. Since then I think they've done a good job of giving this sense of impending doom as if something really big is going to happen.

I think Cerebro's next logical next step is to take control of Ultroid Zero's pilot (Yoko) and steal the robot so that he can use it for himself to take on Ultraman and potentially destroy the Earth. This week also established Yoko as a potential love interest for Haruki, so of course the final fight won't just be about stopping Ultroid Zero but also trying to save her.

 

[Dr Kain]

See, there's still too much left to tell. We have the whole Ultroid Zero stuff just introduced. We still don't know what the hell Cerebro is, how he takes over people, what his goal is, what his origins are, why he makes coins of monsters, why he wanted to bring Belial back, etc. Then we still need to know what drove Juggler to come to this Earth to be a good guy. How he established himself as a soldier. What his actual goal is. Why he is there in the first place.

There is no way they can answer all of that in just two episodes.

Personally, I think Yoko should have died in episode 21 and that her death could have been utilized to have Haruki question the morals of the short dude and the government while motivating him to put an end to the Ultroid Zero plot.

 

[scikaiju]

So I'm pretty sure they confirmed that the short commander, seriously does he have a name, was taken over by drink when he kept muttering that word. And an explanation to Yoko's arresting deal,still about the older man thing. I think I the devil splinters thing was cropped, unless they are setting up the movie really early. The preview said Juggulsr and seem to plans would final be revealed next episode, I'm fighting it'll be Cerebro's plan being detailed with Juggular explaining what he's been doing to counter act it. If not it should be interesting to see what they end up doing.Not saying it'll be good just interesting.

 

[Toku Prime]

See, there's still too much left to tell. We have the whole Ultroid Zero stuff just introduced.

Big robot for Ultraman to blow up in the final fight. What's more to tell?

We still don't know what the hell Cerebro is, how he takes over people

The first episode. They dealt with this straight away in the very first episode.

Granted, it was in a darkened tunnel. Probably because they didn't want us to realize how s**t it looks when an actor unconvincingly pretends to wrestle a CGI stingray creature. But nevertheless.

I'm pretty sure he even got the standard caption proclaiming him a parasitic alien.

what his goal is, what his origins are, why he makes coins of monsters, why he wanted to bring Belial back, etc.

The first time Juggler met him in the flesh there was a very transparent plot dump where Juggler says how Cerebro is renowned for having destroyed many worlds essentially just because it amuses him to do so, and presumed he was after the Devil Splinters to obtain a power capable of destroying this one.

Of course, the whole Devil Splinters thing was really just an excuse to introduce a silly talking sword toy, so it was promptly forgotten after it had served it's purpose. Now he wants the robotic fake-Ultra planet-destroyer so that they can have a more traditional one-on-one fight in the finale.

Then we still need to know what drove Juggler to come to this Earth to be a good guy. How he established himself as a soldier. What his actual goal is. Why he is there in the first place.

Now that is an actual mystery. As I've mentioned before, it seems like he's trying to learn the values that he lacked in Orb (and Orb Origin showed it was why he'd been passed over for Orb's powers). Heck, even the opening theme tune has been asking whether he will be good or evil when the final battle comes. I must admit, part of me wonders whether they will even answer it properly here or whether that particular story is going to have a "go see the movie" cliffhanger?

Having said that, didn't one of Orb's writers once say in an interview that they'd mapped out some big 10 part story that Orb, Orb Origin, and the Orb movie were just three parts of? So who knows, maybe this is just another part of the epic Jugglus Saga (lmao only kidding)

 

[Dr Kain]

I have no idea about anything about a 10 parter Orb story thing, but that seems ridiculous. Does he think this is Kamen Rider Decade?