EXPO 2023 Stage ReportForgive me this is my first time writing an EXPO report, or any sort of event report for that matter. Typing this up on my phone the next day bc i was mega tired after the event. Also, hopefully I have the charas right. I've been watching the ENG dub for Blazar so the JPN voices are unfamiliar, and it was hard to make out faces (forgot my glasses)...
The stage is set up like the letter K: a spot for scenes on the left, right and center, along with two walkways that go out into the crowd. I was seated on the left side, between the left stage and left walkway.
Preshow has a lady going over the rules for the event with a mascott costume for Pig-chan from Kaiju Step Wandaba It is so cute, i was going to explode... General rules are presented in both english and Japanse Its stuff like no photos unless a camera icon is displayed on the screen, no talking, ect. Photos were only at the end, during the new gen segment/bows.
Stage show starts with a quick fight scene, talking about all the heroes that have been seen so far. Screen says: 1966 (year) Five fights broke out, one for each era (ish). Center stage had Ultraman fighting Bemular(), Tiga took left stage (havent seen Tiga, couldnt name the kaiju he fought), left walkway was Zero Vs Belial, right walkway was ginga, I think Can't remember, it was hard to see from my spot. Right stage was Taiga fighting a kaiju I couldn't see. All scenes froze and they took turns doing the finishing blow. Whole time a rock ver of Ultraman's theme was playing.
Screen says : 2023 (year)
Mini fight, SKaRD members Emi and Yasonobu() fighting aliens. After a quick tussle, strange robots show up, and proceed to protect SKaRD. They show confusion. Cap Gento shows up, these are SKaRD's new tech: combat robots. He has a tablet to control them. Scene plays out, a new hire shows up. New member is given the tablet. She gets a phone call at one point, clumsily dropping the tablet as she tries to answer it. The robots all break. She speed answers phone and says "call me later please,".
A barossa shows up, seems to have the power to make evil clones He takes over the robots and SKaRD has to fight them. Barossa summons a kaiju, Gento is busy fighting so calls in Earth Garon. Barossa makes an evil clone of Earthy. It has a purple ish colour scheme and has a chainsaw on its hand. Barossa says he's made improbvements. They fight, taking it off stage as Gento takes on Barossa. He transforms into Blazar to take on the Kaiju as Earthy was distracted by Evil Earthy. Barossa makes an Evil Blazar. (Differentiated by having his eyes/blue parts not lit up) they fight. Shortly into the fight, Evil Blazar runs off stage, before coming back in a new form. It was hard to see but i would describe it as similar to Another Riders from Kamen Rider Zio. The back fin was super spikey, his face looked distorted. The general vibe felt more feral and unkept. They fight again, Blazar trying to call Firdran when he is overpowered. Firdran is unable to come, and Blazar is swept off stage.
Cut to Emi and new hire. They're worried about the barossa. They talk for a bit, seems like new hire was in the dumps about breaking the robots and leading to all this happening. Gento is heard in the distance as a voice, doesn't mention where he is (as he is still Blazar iirc)
They find Firdran, who is in a cage. They make a decice to free Fridran, and the audience powers it via Ultra Charge. Firdran is free, and flies off.
Fight scene again, Blazar powers up with Firdran, and he takes on Another Blazar as Earthy takes on Evil Earthy. Barossa summons more kaiju, and theres some impreesive stunts (the lift where Blazar was on top of a pile of Kaiju was really cool)
At some point Earthy is fighting Evil Earthy. A wormhole opens up, and Yoko arrives in Sevenger They take on evil earthy together. Some of the screens on the back were using old X cyberspace footage. (I wanted Cyber Gomora to join the tag team... Sadly, he did not.)
The fight lasts a bit, but eventually Blazar defeats Barossa. When asked how a single person is this powerful and can keep getting up, Gento says something along the lines of "because I'm not alone" Very cool scene as Gento was on right walkway, mirroring Blazar's movements. Gento slowly makes his way to just behind Blazar, and they punch him in synch.
Ending scene, Yoko flies back into the wormhole. SKaRD has some chatter the audience laughed at. Wasn't fully able to understand, something about Yasonobu wanting to inspect a screen()
After, the new gen ultras came out for pictures/to welcome the SKaRD team for bows. After the ultras roamed the crowd, giving out fist bumps. I was too far in to get one, however... Overall, the event was very fun, even if I couldn't fully understand the dialouge. I would highly reccomend it to any Ultra fan who is visiting Japan when an event is on