Blog Dec 19, 2022

ULTRAMAN CONNECTION WATCH CLUB: ULTRASEVEN EP 1

Hi all, welcome to the Ultraman Connection Watch Club! I’m EJ, editor-in-chief of UltramanConnection.com.

And I’m Sarah Last, staff writer for recaps and reviews!

And, of course, classic Ultraman superfan. Which is why I’ve called you here today! Tell me Sarah, have you watched Ultraseven?

Ultraseven was actually the first Ultraman series I ever watched! My younger brother bought me the old Shout Factory DVD release for Christmas one year, and I was instantly hooked. It was my gateway drug of sorts for the rest of the franchise, and I still enjoy revisiting it frequently.

Exactly what I like to hear! As you know, Ultraseven is in the middle of its 55th anniversary. To honor that, we’re going to be looking at a cultivated collection of all-star Ultraseven episodes, starting with Episode 1, “The Invisible Challenger”.

I’ve probably seen this series at least four times over, but I always love the chance to dive back into the classics. Let’s get started!

Well, before we get into the actual episode, we should get into those drums and horns that herald it. “Ultraseven no Uta” has become a truly legendary piece in Japan, as famous there as the Doctor Who theme in the west, with the same level of prestige. I still have the bad habit of mumbling “Seven! Seven! Seven!” at the self-check-out when my total comes up to anything with a 7 in it. That’s not too weird, right?

No weirder than certain characters in Ultraman shows and movies making meta references to it in-universe. I can see why, it’s catchy!

After that fun, triumphant number, the mood abruptly shifts, as a narrator warns us that Earth is facing a harrowing, unending assault in the shadows from countless alien invaders. Compared to Ultraman and Ultra Q, the initial tone of Ultraseven is dark, even frightening. It’s a series existing in that Cold War period, mixing the relative optimism of a recovering Japan with the increasingly cold and nervous energy of global politics. It uses the backing of this narration, a shot of a busy city at night, incredibly well, using simple tricks like a basic zoom to turn every isolated headlight into a star from which a new invader could emerge…

The very first line of the show is “Earth is being targeted…”, and if that doesn’t set the tone for the rest of the series perfectly, then I don’t know what else could. The idea of taking things that are comfortably familiar to the average audience, and then twisting them into the opportunity for a malicious invading force to strike against humanity, becomes something of a recurring pattern in this show too. The way the police officers in this first scene treat their ordinary duty at a traffic stop seems very rote and routine at first, but then the major threat of this first episode drops — mysterious disappearances, right into thin air before their eyes!

Immediately after, we cut to the base of the Terrestrial Defense Fund, and their crack team, the Ultra Guard; and immediately, we are hit with another tonal difference from previous entries. In Ultraman, the Science Patrol was at its core a group of mystery solvers and scientists; in Q, our main recurring cast revolved to some degree around journalism and discovery. The Ultra Guard, while not soldiers, are absolutely a more militarized iteration of the “defense team” concept than its predecessors. The lens of “uncovering mystery” that has defined previous teams still exists, but in many ways that mystery is viewed through the lens of espionage, of the spy thriller. The villain is hiding, executing a monstrous plan, and that is what needs to be uncovered.

It matches the more ominous tone of the opening in my opinion. The show immediately makes the point that the stakes are higher than before, but also immediately shows off the fact that humanity is prepared for it this time. The investigative trio of Ultra Q, and the SSSP in Ultraman accidentally stumbled into strange, dangerous things more often than not, but here humanity is actually mounting a proactive defense. I do find it humorous how close to bragging it feels though.

At the same time, it’s honestly very sad to me. We don’t know how many invaders the TDF has had to fight off previously, but they’ve been made ready. Humanity’s faith in others has seemingly been damaged by bad actors, and that’s something that should warrant the arrival of a certain hero…

That’ll come soon enough, first we’re introduced to the rest of the Ultra Guard, the supporting cast for this season. There’s one familiar face here from Ultraman, with actor Sandayu Dokumamushi playing the role of Furuhashi — a completely different character from the previous series.

Okay, maybe two familiar faces — there’s Kenji Sahara hanging around on the command staff too!

Make that three, though you may not have actually seen his face before; Lt. Amagi is played by Satoshi “Bin” Furuya, the suit actor for the original Ultraman himself!

Can’t forget about him! After the new crew is established though, along with their sweet ride, the last one to the party arrives fashionably late.

I’ve always found Dan’s initial introduction to be hilarious, because of how bizarrely out of place he is compared to this well-oiled industrial machine making up the TDF and the Ultra Guard. The narrator just ran through a fact sheet of everyone’s statistics and competencies… and they all get shown up by a random hobo who sits himself on the hood of the Pointer out of nowhere.

It’s great. Episode 1 Dan has this incredible chaotic energy, with his bright yellow leather jacket and big toothy grin. In some ways, this is the most alien that Dan ever comes across as, just because, like you said, his sudden appearance is just so weird… even if it is for the better.

It seems odd that Captain Kiriyama would immediately vouch for him to join the Ultra Guard, but Dan gets results! In that sense, the UG resembles the SSSP because of the eclectic sort of collection of personalities that make up the team — representing the best of the best Earth has to offer.

Even Dan himself represents the best of humanity, despite not being human himself, but that will be a topic for a later episode…

Now the sixth member of the Ultra Guard, Dan is here to help them deal with the kidnapping plot going on under everyone’s noses. Having only narrowly evaded getting abducted themselves, Dan gets Soga and Furihashi back just in time for the kidnapper, Alien Cool, to turn this plot into a hostage situation!

Alien Cool is an interesting first enemy for the show; compare him to Bemular, or Gomess and Litra. He’s NOT a big monster, but a funky little crab pancake man!

I love, love, LOVE Ultraseven’s propensity for using weird puppets, marionettes and otherwise unique designs for its aliens and monsters. A lot of the most recognizable, recurring creatures in Ultraman’s universe first make their debut in this season. Now, I don’t believe Alien Cool has appeared as frequently as, say, Alien Metron, or King Joe, but it's still a hell of a way to start out the show with a bang!

Ultraseven was the final entry in the Ultraman Series that was worked on by the “God of Tokusatsu” Eiji Tsuburaya himself, and you can really tell, with a deeply experimental bent to suit and creature design, and effects. An emphasis on “intelligent” creatures, regardless of whether they are humanoid or not, enables some of the most alien and creative characters to ever show up in not just the Ultraman Series, but tokusatsu as a whole!

Ultraseven is a bit more tightly focused than its predecessor because so many of its episodic plots boil down to “bad guys are invading the Earth!”, but it is endlessly creative in terms of the scope and designs of those invasion plans. The UG must get just as creative in order to fight back against the various threats they face, so each episode has something interesting and unique going on. I’m getting ahead of myself once again — but this episode does jump to a few neat novelties. There’s the dramatic saucer vs. jet fight here as the UG tries to fight back against Alien Cool, but when those efforts fail, we also get the first appearance of the Capsule Monsters!

Man, I love the Capsule Monsters so much. I can only imagine the look on a kid’s face watching in 1967 and being just gob smacked when the GOOD GUY has a monster of his own! Windam rules so much.

I can only imagine the parents back in 1967 trying to get toys for their kids after they watched this show too. If there’s one thing kids love, it’s collectible monster buddies. Genius marketing.

No kidding — how many other “monster buddy” franchises got spawned by that box of little capsules? The world may never know…

Unfortunately, though Windam is, as discussed, incredibly cool, it is also not particularly effective, active for only a single minute. Nevertheless, Windam gave Dan and the Ultra Guard what they needed most: time, for the real hero to show up.

This is another notable break from precedent — how much help Seven gets in fights, and how necessary human help is to save the day from some dire circumstances! The cooperation between Ultraman and the SSSP was a real core element of the original series, and I don’t want to downplay it. But usually when the big man himself showed up at the end of the episode, the fights were over quickly. In comparison, Seven struggles in a lot of his battles, only narrowly surviving thanks to his capsule monsters, or the Ultra Guard’s various weapons. Here, there’s no big climactic showdown against a giant monster, just enough time for Seven to get aboard one of the Alien Cool’s UFOs as it’s leaving the Earth.

Luckily for everyone who was kidnapped by the aliens however, that narrow window allows him to defeat the Alien Cool — in a rather gruesome fashion, with his famous “slugger” boomerang — and rescue the humans trapped by the ship.

Flying the Cool ship out into space, Dan returns it, ending the first of what will become many, many threats to the planet. The show ends with the Ultra Guard expressing gratitude for that mysterious wanderer, Dan Moroboshi… only for him to show up in uniform! Dan’s not going anywhere, folks.

With that, “The Invisible Challenger” comes to a close! A great start to one of the best series around. Where does it rank in the annals of Ultraseven history for you, Sarah?

The pilot only hints at how bizarre, frightening and just plain haunting the series gets in some of its most ground-breaking episodes later on, but from the start “The Invisible Challenger” establishes itself as something new and exciting and hooks audiences along for the ride. While it might not be in my top list of favorite episodes from this show, it’s exactly the right sort of tone, style, and set-up to get started. I really hope this little discussion encourages readers to check out the show for themselves if they haven’t already seen it.

Next time we meet, we’ll be moving on to a truly chilling story of replacement and deception, in Episode 2, “The Green Terror”! If you want to see that, stay close to Ultraman Connection!