EJ
Hello, and welcome back to Watch Club! We missed you — hope the feeling’s mutual. I’m EJ Couloucoundis, editor-in-chief of Ultraman Connection.
SL
And I’m Sarah Last, staff writer and content creator for Ultraman Connection! Now that we’re all rested and ready to go, what are we tackling this week, EJ?
EJ
Sarah, last time we checked in on Ultraseven, we remarked on the sheer scale of the show’s storytelling. Well, I think we should do so againn… though, maybe from a different perspective?
SL
If there’s one thing Ultraman stories do well, it’s handling things on very big, and very small scales. After all, some of the best episodes we’ve seen recently deal with very personal, individual conflicts among the giant-sized battles against aliens and Kaiju! But this time, we seem to be dealing with a story that’s on a much, much much smaller scale.
EJ
With that, let’s get into one of my favorite episodes yet, “The Flower Where the Devil Dwells”. We start, fittingly, with a field of flowers! This is going to age me — more than my actual age — but it reminds me of those panoramas that TVs would show at the end of the broadcast day, usually accompanied by the National Anthem. Do you remember those, Sarah?
SL
I was lucky if I was ever allowed to stay up late enough to even see that, but yes I know what you mean! It’s a very peaceful scene, complete with a trio of ladies skipping through the beautiful landscape without a single care in the world.
That is, until one of them keels over unconscious after picking up an object that looks like a glimmering flower petal! With all the other dangers to worry about in this universe -- alien invasions, man-eating horrors from ancient history, the cruel intentions of your fellow human beings -- having to be wary of flower petals is where I nope out of here.
EJ
This is such a scary scene. The charming music abruptly cuts off mid-note as Kaori, our primary victim this episode, loses strength and collapses, blood running from her lips. It’s such a contrast to the prior scene that it really shocks the viewer — and though the petal is obviously the cause, it isn’t highlighted particularly at this point, and we don’t see a source. I remember seeing the petal and being nervous about how big a plant it could have come from…
We then cut to the Ultra Guard where the absolute WILDEST fact is dropped unceremoniously — apparently the Ultra Guard is always on standby to provide blood transfusions when ordered???
SL
I mean, they do say that Amagi’s blood is a rare type, so maybe it’s just a public database that… oh no. Oh no.
EJ, we have another Ultraseven plot that features Amagi. You know what that means.
EJ
Disaster looms…
SL
Even without that realization of an unfortunate pattern of narrative consequences, things are very uneasy at the hospital. The doctors aren’t sure what’s causing Kaori’s condition, all they know is that all the platelets have disappeared from her blood. Those of you who didn’t pay attention in high school biology should know that platelets are responsible for forming clots and scabs when your body is injured, so removing them would actually explain why Kaori suddenly started bleeding from her mouth.
The doctors hope that, with the help of Amagi’s blood transfusion, Kaori can recover. But for the meantime, she’s still apparently in a coma, and Dan notices the strange flower petal she still has in her hand.
EJ
I love that Dan recognizes this single flower petal from somewhere. The guy really is kind of a polymath, but it also makes for a bunch of fun images of him just constantly reading nature guides and going on hikes in his off-time. We’ve talked before about how Dan really is a cowboy at heart, haven’t we?
SL
On the other hand, I like the detail that he doesn’t instantly recall what the silvery petal is, or why it’s significant. I always got the impression here that he may have heard about it in passing, or read about it in a book, but he’s not an expert and isn’t perfectly knowledgeable in everything. All we know now is that this threat definitely isn’t anything found on this planet.
EJ
The petal is the least of the UG’s worries for now, though. Kaori has disappeared! Who knows where she’s gotten off to, and in her condition? Amagi rushes out to find her, hears a scream from the nurse that called in her disappearance, rushes in to find her unconscious… and then stares at her reflection behind him in a mirror for like 5 seconds before she judo chops him into unconsciousness himself. Disaster looms.
SL
There’s no denying the nurse’s story, that Kaori managed to choke her unconscious when she was attacked, but the “how” and the “why” are definitely evading the team at this point. Now Amagi has a concussion on top of it, and Dan notices another odd detail, that he also has another puncture wound in his neck!
Clearly, there’s only one explanation for this series of strange events, Kaori has been turned into a vampire! Cue the dramatic musical sting and crash of thunder!
EJ
My mind returns to one of my favorite episodes of the original Ultraman, where a certain bloodsucking plant, Keronia, craved the vitae of the living as well… but I’ll be honest, this episode is far wilder to me once we get into the cause.
SL
After giving her a more thorough check-up, and testing the “petal” Kaori was holding, the Ultra Guard finally discovers the cause. You see, Kaori has been infected with … Can I wait for another dramatic musical sting again, or is this bit getting old?
Ah, anyways, Kaori is now infected by a space bacteria.
EJ
DUN DUN DUUUUUUN! Though in this case, isn’t it more akin to a microscopic alien parasite?
SL
It’s definitely an arthropod of some kind. The prop team handling the special effects design here made it look like a gross earwig more than a bacteria. Which, admittedly, really helps to sell the severity of Kaori’s case. Even if she wasn’t running around attempting to suck people’s blood, you’d still want to get that thing out of her body ASAP.
Unfortunately, until the Ultra Guard can figure out how to do that, Kaori still poses a danger to everyone around her -- but particularly Amagi, since it seems she needs his blood to survive now! At night, she rises from her bed again and seems to hypnotize the poor guy into following her… to an amusement park?
Boy they’re really leaning hard into the “vampire” thing. This part of the episode is straight out of Dracula.
EJ
The Ultra Guard seeks to develop a compound that can destroy the parasitic alien, Dallie, but Dan can tell that there simply isn’t enough time to wait before Kaori’s life is forfeit. He transforms into Seven and miniaturizes himself to travel inside Kaori’s body, and… wow.
We’ve talked a lot about how good the effects and props on Ultraseven are, but this episode is a high point even among the series. We’ve made a lot of Fantastic Voyage jokes, but this really feels like it could have come from that movie. It’s utterly gorgeous and fascinating.
SL
There’s a ton of work that went into every detail of this set, and it helps a lot make this scene far more than just a trippy dream sequence. Remember, the alien “bacteria” is in Kaori’s lungs, and there’s very clear anatomical details here, right down to the blood vessels that Dallie is feeding from!
And while Dallie might seem like a tiny threat, this fight really challenges Seven since he can’t seem to attack the parasite without damaging Kaori’s body further. Things seem hopeless, until the doctors back in the hospital room deliver life-saving medicine, giving Seven just enough opening to deliver the decisive blow.
EJ
We go through the episode as we talk about it to make sure we don’t miss things, and something that always surprises me about this episode is just how long Seven’s journey to and battle with Dallie is. It’s a full third of the episode — which makes sense, considering that there’s no jet action due to the scale of the conflict.
The battle ends with Dallie slowly melting down into bubbling foam, and Kaori waking up from her coma, to a vase of flowers at her bedside. I feel like that would be a bit of a cruel joke to play, but I imagine Kaori isn’t stressed since she sees the tiiiiny Seven in the center of a flower. Tiny Seven is good for the soul, you see.
SL
It certainly brings a smile to my face. It’s a lovely way to conclude this harrowing and surreal episode. We get to see Kaori have the chance to stop and smell the flowers, and enjoy her life without being infected by a terrifying alien bug. Alas, Amagi is out of luck once again, since she doesn’t remember him at all!
This episode really stood out to me the first time I saw it, and it’s still on my shortlist of recommendations, not just for this series but the classic era of Ultraman in general.
EJ
Next week on Watch Club, we get another strange story that also introduces us to the last of the Capsule Monsters. Come back then for us to talk about Ultraseven Episode 31, “The Strolling Planet”.
