Ultraman Connection Watch Club: Ultraseven Episode 12 “The Man Who Came from V3”

Ultraman Connection Watch Club: Ultraseven Episode 12 “The Man Who Came from V3”

EJ

Hey folks, and welcome back to the Ultraman Connection Watch Club! I’m EJ Couloucoundis, editor-in-chief of Ultraman Connection.

SL

And I’m Sarah Last, staff writer and content creator for Ultraman Connection!

EJ

Sarah, after an absolute roller coaster of heartbreaking ennui and giddy madness, we’re back to an episode of Ultraseven that really feels like it could have happened anywhere in the classic Ultra Series, with “The Man Who Came from V3.”

SL

Well, not “anywhere”, after all how many other defense teams get a whole space station as part of their operations? As the name of this episode might suggest, our story this week focuses on the landmark V3 station, right from the opening where the audience watches TDF pilots scramble to defend it against an attack!

We’re just starting straight out the gate with action again, aren’t we? Giant golden dragons falling to Earth, and now an entire dogfight against an invading UFO!

EJ

V3 is one of my favorite elements of Ultraseven, and this episode helps illustrate why. Despite being a series about aliens, the Ultra Series is very terrestrial as a setting. We rarely see space as an arena, and V3 is one of the main elements that lets it happen in this series.

SL

I mean, MAT in the Ultraman Leo series had their main base of operations in a space station, but that rarely comes up as a point in that show from what I remember. Except for… ah, never mind, I’m getting off topic. 

Unfortunately, the jet fighters are no match for the UFO’s attacks, and all three members of the squad are shot down. Also similar to the last episode, this one deals Captain Kiriyama a blow that hits too close to home. Rather than challenging his pride as an officer protecting the Earth in general though, he has to deal with the personal loss of a close friend of his, Kurata, who is presumed to be killed in action.

EJ

Ultraseven at the end of the day, is a series about Dan Moroboshi, and what he gives up to protect the planet he loves. However, it’s rarely talked about just how much everyone in the Ultra Guard loses, constantly. Anne in several recent episodes has lost friends and loved ones to alien plots, and in both this and the former episode, Kiriyama is carrying a heavy weight. 

We spoke about this in the first Watch Club, Sarah, but this is a war we are witnessing, and even with the filter of an all-ages show on it, it’s difficult to not see the attrition that everyone in the cast seems to experience week-to-week. It’s never strangers being lost, it’s always great minds, or close friends — people who could have made the world a better place, lost tragically, and the survivors having to carry on with that loss.

Granted, my gloomy little talk may be a bit… premature.

SL

The Captain is convinced that Kurata has to be alive, at least. It just goes to show how much faith he has in his friend, and I think helps establish him as a character even when the audience has only known of his existence for such a brief amount of time.

Thankfully, his faith is rewarded when the Beta Hawk makes contact with a surviving fighter jet and its pilots later on -- including Kurata! But their happy reunion is short-lived when the same UFO, now hiding on the Earth, tries to attack them yet again.

I love the attention to detail throughout this episode, from the initial scene of the space combat, the miniature jets launching from the space station, how Kurata’s characterization is emphasized  as a man dedicated and determined to fight against the invaders, and even the blast marks and damage on the jets leftover from surviving their previous battle!

EJ

That initial dogfight is scary, too! The Beta Hawk’s gun jamming because of prior damage, that little patch of corrosion and pitting that makes it clear that it’s failed… so good.

And then we actually meet Kurata, and he’s great. His initial, two-sentence exchange with Commander Manabe of the TDF tells us everything there is to know about his character. He’s a bit snarky, but talented to make up for it. And of course, Dan runs in, eager to meet him. Dan so rarely seems impressed in the series, which makes sense, since, y’know, alien. However, he seems genuinely excited to meet Kurata here. They don’t say much else, but his pace and professionalism indicate how much he respects him; and also contrasts with how relaxed Kurata is.

I gotta admit though, the reunion between Kiriyama and Kurata is really very sweet. We haven’t talked about Shoji Nakayama’s portrayal of the captain, but I really couldn’t imagine anyone else playing him when you have moments like this.

SL

He’s great! I love how he balances both the kind of stern responsibility and high expectations the character carries as he leads his team, while also being very naturally charming and friendly in moments like this. It’s very clear why he’s the leader of the Ultra Guard, and why the other members of the team are willing to fight so hard under his leadership too. 

But when Kiriyama decides to send the Ultra Guard out to confront the cornered UFO, we also see some conflict between these two characters. After all, Kiriyama is a captain, he has bigger responsibilities than just his personal pride, and more than just his personal relationship with Kurata. 

Gosh, I really am impressed at how well they’ve developed this dynamic between the two of them with only a few minutes of time in the episode. I could watch an entire series about just the Ultra Guard team.

EJ

Kurata’s acting goes beyond professional in this episode — this is genuinely one of the best and most natural performances I’ve gotten to enjoy in my time watching the Ultraman Series. 

Interestingly, Kurata knows who the threat is from the very beginning, calling out the foe of this episode, the Alien Iyros, during that initial exchange with Kiriyama. It actually serves to further impress upon the viewer just how good V3 is as an early-warning station, considering they have full awareness of their foe this time, even if it wasn’t enough to stop them.

SL

Like the individuals who make up the Ultra Guard, it’s really neat to see how competent and effective the organization as a whole is. The audience develops an appreciation for the UG as a global defense force, rather than just a half dozen people on the team we immediately follow. 

In the next scene we find out what happened to Ultra Guard members Amagi and Furahashi after the Beta Hawk was shot down by the Alien Iyros’ UFO. They’re still alive… but frozen in stasis by the same aliens who attacked! The aliens then create duplicates of them, and send them back to the base to steal fuel for the UFO to make its escape.

Kurata immediately suspects something is up, but the audience doesn’t need his intuition -- or Dan’s superhuman senses -- to figure that out. Because, somehow, the aliens in this episode managed to make duplicates who are even worse at pretending to be human than Dan himself.

EJ

There’s a lot of great performances in this episode, and the “fake” Amagi and Furuhashi are perfectly stilted and delightful in their utter failure at portraying their characters; doubly funny to me since the actors are playing the duplicates, and thus intentionally acting off here.

Going back to Kurata, the Iyros’ little duplicate plan is happening parallel with Kurata’s desire to take revenge on the alien for the loss of his men, and how that conflicts — dangerously — with Kiriyama’s hopes to save his men. As that tension mounts, release comes from an unexpected source — Commander Manabe. In Kurata’s first scene at the base, a short meeting between Manabe and Kurata indicated a long history between the two, and not necessarily a respectful one. Here though, Manabe chooses to enable Kurata — as long as it’s done to support Kiriyama, of course. 

There’s a real sense of untold history between the brass of the TDF, and it’s a great ongoing element throughout the series that is rarely seen more effectively here. I love that the TDF personnel recur across the show, and Manabe is my second favorite, after Commander Jinguji.

SL

Kurata immediately strikes me as sort of a “loose cannon” character, the kind that a commissioner would be banging his desk over and demanding that he turns in his badge after going out and acting without permission all the time. And again, the fact I can clearly imagine that sort of scene going on behind the scenes of the TDF just illustrates how fantastic the writing and acting is here. If it sounds like I’m repeating myself a lot, it’s just that good. 

I also love how torn Kiriyama appears to be, trying to balance his friendship with Kurata against his duties and responsibilities as a Captain for the Ultra Guard. Even Soga and Dan both are playing very distinct characters in this episode, who factor into this drama from interesting angles. 

Soga himself doesn’t seem too surprised when Kurata takes off against Kiriyama’s wishes to fight a rematch against the Iyros. Dan, however, is worried about the breach in official decorum. Side note: it’s just downright adorable how eagerly he wants to live up to his professional role on the team, but he still immediately commits wholeheartedly to backing up Soga when he suggests they join Kurata too.

EJ

There’s a youthfulness to Dan this episode that we don’t usually get, now that I think about it. His utter lack of awareness of Kurata and Manabe’s history when he came to get him aside, Dan is trying REALLY hard to be not just a team player, but almost teacher’s pet this episode. Kiriyama, Furuhashi, Amagi — everyone who Dan works with REALLY matters to him, and it’s rarely seen more clearly, or more endearingly, in this story.

SL

It’s also interesting comparing his character in episodes like this, to his own roles and responsibilities as a more experienced leader later on in the Ultraman universe. Oops, I seem to be accidentally bringing up Ultraman Leo a lot in this discussion! But I really do appreciate how so many pieces of the franchise fit together, while still working so well as character dramas when considered on their own.

Anyway, Captain Kiriyama arrives at the Iyros’ UFO to deliver the promised fuel… only for them to open fire on him! Gee, who could’ve seen that coming? 

I mean, besides Kurata. And Manabe. And Soga. And literally everyone else in this episode. It really seems like Kiriyama’s concern for his subordinates made him disregard other options for developing a better plan, or working more effectively with his old partner.

EJ

I don’t really have a problem with that in the context of the story, though. These are the mistakes made out of care, after all. And thankfully, Kurata does come to bail him out — to be clear, like I think Kiriyama knew he would. The sense of trust is palpable here, like this sort of thoughtless maneuver is something Kiriyama’s done before, and Kurata bailed him down then as well. 

As the fight is happening in the air, Dan and Soga are trying to sneak onto the Iyros spaceship from below. It’s… not going great, to be honest. No wonder V3’s forces were ineffective, this thing is more strapped than a Steven Seagal movie. 

SL

I think the pyrotechnics crew on set had entirely too much fun dropping what seems like fifty pounds of fireworks on this poor miniature model, and shooting roman candles around at everyone else.

EJ

When Soga is hurt during the barrage, Dan elects to go in alone to rescue Amagi and Furuhashi, and anyone who can count past six knows what time it is!

I had to do a double take when I heard Ultraseven speak to Amagi and Furuhashi. It happens so rarely that the humans actually hear the speaking voices of the Ultras, but at this time, Ultraseven was kind of its own thing, and the Ultra Series as we knew it hadn’t quite been set in stone, so it could happen!

SL

I think we remarked on this in a few previous episodes as well. Seven interacts with the human cast way more frequently than any other Ultra protagonist I can think of in the franchise, not only by just talking to them. It always surprises me to revisit this show and see just how often he shows up on their “normal” scale to help out, and no one really comments on having a red-and-silver suited alien running in out of nowhere. Not that I would complain about being rescued from an alien UFO, mind you. 

While Seven helps Amagi and Furuhashi escape, he’s trapped behind them  as it starts to take off, and the Iyros launch one last desperate attempt to stop the Ultra Guard.

So far in this episode, we’ve never seen the Iyros, only the interior of their UFO, and the ridiculous amount of firepower they blast out to attack the Ultra Guard. The first impression of their actual appearance is… quite bizarre. 

EJ

I like the design! It mixes qualities of birds and molluscs, and it’s actually a decent fight for Seven. More interestingly, though, it clearly isn’t USUALLY able to become this size, considering that it emerges from a capsule set up during the initial fight with the spaceship. It comes across like this was a last-ditch thing, to forcibly make itself giant.

SL

I agree, and Seven has to take a second to grow to match its size! It’s a neat effect, watching the camera drop down low to create the optical illusion, and provides a way of filming the classic Ultraman “Rise’ shot in a unique way.

But, man the Iyros really do give Seven a run for his money in this fight, with plenty of laser bullets and explosions to match. It even manages to block Seven’s slugger throw! Then we get to see Seven set up very dramatically for… what I believe is the first instance of his Wide Shot in this show?

EJ

It is! Pretty impressive of Iyros to draw it out of him, since I’ve always considered it Seven’s strongest attack. You actually see him trying his other finishers before resorting to this too, so there’s a tangible sense of escalation when he adopts that famous L-pose. The first time I saw it, it actually made me wonder how strong Seven was in comparison to the original Ultraman, due to the similarities between the Wide Shot and the Spacium Beam. That he’d never needed to use it before says a lot…

Anyway, Iyros being gone means that the saucer is soon to follow, and sure enough, Kurata and the Ultra Guard are able to avenge his men.

SL

The relationship between Kurata and Kiriyama really is the core of this episode, so it’s only fitting that the story ends with a final conversation between them, after Kurata leaves to return back to the V3. Both of them have their own duties and obligations to the people who serve with them, but they both share a deep admiration, respect, and concern for the other, and that shines through in Kiriyama’s final send-off in this scene. 

I’m going to be honest, it kind of broke my heart to see how he reacts to Kurata leaving!

EJ

I think there’s still a lot of story untold between the two. It’s always fascinating to just have untold history like this, and Ultraseven took advantage of a great pair of actors and their fantastic chemistry to build a story around. I know I mentioned that this could have happened anywhere in the Ultra Series, but it really is a truly great episode, and I highly recommend it to anyone who just wants to watch excellent acting paired with the endless fun of tokusatsu.

SL

This is definitely on my short-list of “must watch” episodes for the series, and for the classic era of Ultraman in general.

EJ

Next week is going to be a real treat, as Ultraseven’s most famous story begins. Enjoy some global fun as “The Ultra Guard Goes West, Part 1!” See you then!