EJ
Hello, and welcome back to the Ultraman Connection Watch Club! Today we’re taking a look at Ultraseven episode 15, “The Eye That Shines in the Darkness.” I’m EJ Couloucoundis, editor-in-chief of Ultraman Connection.
SL
And I’m Sarah Last, content creator and staff writer for Ultraman Connection!
EJ
Tell me Sarah, did you ever have an imaginary friend when you were younger? Or maybe a wild animal you found when you were a child, that you sort of “adopted”?
SL
I remember taking home a couple of turtles I found in a creek one day, and trying to persuade my mom to let us keep them in an aquarium! She wasn’t convinced though… Is this episode about turtles?
EJ
It’s about something like turtles.
And by that I mean alien monsters.
SL
The word “like” is doing some real heavy lifting in that sentence.
It’s interesting to get a kid-focused storyline so quickly after the international spy mystery that was “The Ultra Guard Goes West”, but this type of story becomes pretty iconic with the “style” most fans nowadays associate with the classic era of Ultraman.
EJ
And honestly, the initial hook for this episode is great. The Sakura 9 spacecraft, thought lost, is somehow giving off a signal again after disappearing three months prior on a mission to the planet Annon. It’s the kind of premise most great, spooky sci-fi is built on!
SL
The cold open the audience is immediately dropped into also helps build that tension. It’s clear that there’s a lot of confusion at the TDF’s headquarters, trying to figure out why the lost spacecraft is returning after the initial mission was shut down. The unspoken question hanging in the air, what caused it to come back to Earth — or who sent it back — grips you right as the episode begins.
EJ
Their reasons to fear are reasonable too. Even if there’s no malicious intent behind the spacecraft’s return, the TDF staff bring up the possibility of alien bacteria or the like being unleashed on Earth. And after the last several years… Well, I get it.
The Ultra Guard’s interception of the craft once it lands doesn’t… exactly go to plan though, as the ship detonates violently, blowing it, and its surroundings, to smithereens!
SL
Right then, problem solved! Good work everyone, see you back at the base—
Only Dan’s superhuman senses pick up something suspicious, a screech left behind after the explosion dies away. He goes to investigate along with Amagi and Anne, but the volcanic fumes from the mountain quickly force them to retreat before he can discover the source of the noise. The audience, however, gets a glimpse of the titular “eye”, before it blinks away back into the unassuming rocks.
EJ
And man, that eye! It’s a simple effect, but easily one of the most effective in the whole series, especially because it comes out of nowhere. Dan is walking, curious, and suddenly the rock behind him opens up to look at him! So spooky and cool.
SL
A lot of the horror elements of this series work so well, I think because of how minimalistic they tend to be. We don’t see a gigantic monster or bizarre alien right from the start, just a vague sense of unease, and now proof that something weird and dangerous is happening. More importantly, something weird or dangerous that our main characters are completely unprepared for.
Turns out the Ultra Guard weren’t the only ones searching around the mountain either, the next scene cuts to a young kid showing all his friends a cool rock that he just found! I’m sure that’s fine.
EJ
This is why the episode is like turtles. Hiroshi, a young kid, finds a cool but otherwise innocuous rock while running around, and brings it home with him. Like finding a stray animal, he’s charmed by it without realizing that it could be dangerous, or worse, with the mistaken assumption that he can tame it. When the neighborhood kids that bully him try to take the rock, they are all driven away by a painful sound so devastating that the Ultra Guard investigates
And when Hiroshi is alone, the eye reappears to talk to him…
SL
You were right, that eye opening special effect is so good, I yelped a little when it just pops out of nowhere on Hiroshi’s wall!
The bearer of that eye tries to convince Hiroshi to help him get his body back from the mountain. He tries to sound friendly, and promises that he can reward Hiroshi. What’s the reward? Well, by making him strong enough to take revenge on the bullies who tried to steal the rock earlier! Of course that’s what he wants the most, right?
The alien “eye” tries to sound friendly and generous, but he’s promising only a way to gain power over others, to make the other kids hurt in return. There’s no actual friendship here, just a game of abusing that power. That note helps cue in the audience to the fact that the alien may not be exactly trustworthy, but Hiroshi… Well, he’s a kid. And it’s really scummy for our alien threat of this week to take advantage of that to get what he wants.
EJ
It does unfortunately paint the alien of this week, named Annon after his home world, as a bit of a creep. At the same time, look at what happened in the previous scene. Hiroshi is being bullied. And Annon doesn’t promise to hurt them exactly, but rather make Hiroshi too strong to be hurt. “If I had a pet tiger, nobody would mess with me.” Not to say that Annon is blameless here, he’s definitely manipulating the kid.
SL
It would be one thing if this was a last resort, used for self-defense, and it initially seems that way when the two begin their trek up the mountain. Annon says he will defeat anyone who tries to stop Hiroshi, but they encounter a search party organized by the Ultra Guard. No one is trying to hurt either of them, they’re all worried about Hiroshi instead!
EJ
I keep finding myself going back to this “child adopts a wild animal” messaging. Reading it in the kindest possible way, how would Annon know the difference between threats and friends? It’s the kind of thing that Hiroshi can’t really illustrate himself, and certainly can’t teach Annon.
SL
At the same time, Annon is definitely not just a wild, untrained animal. He has intelligence, and a reason for hurting others around Hiroshi. When the kid starts becoming upset about that, Annon doubles down. He sees what he’s doing as no different than Hiroshi wishing for the strength to stand up to bullies, and we also learn that’s why he came to Earth on the Sakura-9 rocket in the first place. Just like the Pedan aliens last time, a simple exploratory mission was mistaken for an invasion attempt, and Annon is striking back in revenge in the hopes of dissuading any possible attack against the planet.
But also just like the Pedan aliens, this response seems like…a huge overreaction. He doesn’t even try to communicate with humanity apart from Hiroshi. He also doesn’t communicate with Dan, like the Pedan aliens did. He just defaults to immediate, swift retribution…as soon as he can get his body back, of course.
EJ
In many ways, Annon is just as immature as Hiroshi. He can only interpret things one way, and has difficulty seeing different perspectives. What’s notable though, is that he doesn’t really…betray Hiroshi. He’s different from those Pedan commanders from the previous episode. He genuinely thinks what he’s doing is right.
And heaven help anyone who tries to get in the way of that.
By the time Dan catches Hiroshi, Annon achieves his goal. The rock, Annon’s sealed body, is thrown into the mountain, where it is reanimated and empowered by the sulfur and heat.
SL
Hiroshi and Dan both fall over a cliff in the middle of the struggle too! It seems like everything’s gone wrong at this point; the Ultra Guard decides to open fire on Annon, but can’t seem to even put a dent in his rocky body. Meanwhile, Hiroshi and Dan both are laid out unconscious with the battle erupting all around them. In any other desperate situation, with a different team perhaps, one might despair over humanity’s ability to defeat such a threat… but Captain Kiriyama isn’t your ordinary, run-of-the-mill commander, is he?
EJ
He certainly isn’t. In fact, he decides to go out and talk to Annon! That’s a relatively rare situation in Ultraseven, but Kiriyama himself is rarely on the ground. It honestly goes to show why he deserves to be captain, even if the answer Annon gives, of fear and reprisal for imagined attacks, isn’t a great one. But there’s been enough time for Dan to wake up and become Ultraseven!
SL
It’s also worth pointing out here that Seven’s first action after transforming isn’t to launch immediately into an attack. He takes the time to make sure Hiroshi is taken to safety first! That concern for the innocent lives around him really sets Seven apart from many of the other aliens humanity faces in this series.
Just like with the Pedan aliens, Annon doesn’t trust humanity’s word alone, but is convinced by Seven’s faith in their good intentions. Unlike the Pedan aliens last week, he also delivers on his own word, and leaves the Earth peacefully!
Hey… is this actually the first time in this show we’ve solved a problem without having someone or something destroyed in the process?
EJ
Ssssorta? I consider the Quraso incident to be a similarly happy ending.
SL
Yeah, an ending where “Space Prisoner 303” got set on fire. To be fair, he did kind of bring that on himself though…
EJ
Unlike 303, Annon was never a villain. He didn’t have designs for Earth. He was hurt, scared, and lashed out. He doesn’t trust humans, but that doesn’t mean he can’t trust others. He’s one of my favorite aliens in this series, and I’m super happy he got an ending like this.
SL
It really does leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling, which is all too rare in this series sometimes. Although if every episode ended like this, the real stakes of the fight to protect the Earth wouldn’t be as urgently dramatic either. I like that Ultraseven as a series can balance those different tones so well across its run.
