One of the odder branches of the Ultraman franchise, ‘Heisei Ultraseven’ isn’t a show proper, but rather a series of specials for TV and home video. The series, consisting of 15 different specials were produced between 1994 and 2002, is set in a universe where the events of all the other Showa era Ultra shows aside from Ultraseven didn’t occur. In this world, Seven returns to Earth after having been absent for nearly 30 years. While Seven does assume the guise of Dan Moroboshi again, he also takes Ultra Guard member Kazamori Masaki as a host body while on Earth. Aimed at an older audience, the Heisei Ultraseven specials tackle some more mature and esoteric themes compared to a lot of other entries in the franchise’s catalog.
ELEKING AND PITT
Starting us off right is the most iconic monster from the original Ultraseven: Eleking! While Eleking here doesn’t differ too much in terms of appearance to the original, he has been given the ability to spew out carbon dioxide in an attempt by the Pitt aliens to cause further damage to the Earth’s biosphere. It’s a bit of a weird angle to take a character like Eleking in, but it does feel very topical, especially in our modern age.
The Eleking costume was one that was originally constructed for a commercial for the 1993 Ultraseven video game for the SNES. While the events of the of this series are unconnected to any of the other entries, some reference books refer to this incarnation of Eleking as Eleking III (with the Eleking from Ultraman Taro being II). On that note, while this series is in it’s own universe, this particular special does feature cameo appearances of Baltan, Guesra, Pestar, Gavadon, Twin Tail and Oil Drinker as monsters the Ultra Guard battled during Seven’s absence.
While the Pitt aliens maintain the same sort of role they had in the original Ultraseven, there was at one point during the writing process, a story involving a friendly Pitt who gave her life to help Ultraseven save the day, which personally, I feel like is a concept that has some legs. The Pitt costumes are from Ultraseven I Loved, a two part TV drama about the filming of the original Ultraseven.
METRON AND DINOSAUR
Returning again for a rematch with Ultraseven is Metron! Here, a pair of Metron plan to create a perfect society using garbage, which is a front for a Metron missile base where they plan to destroy the ozone layer and then colonize our planet. Helping them in their plan is a revived dinosaur that aids them in battle against Seven.
While it’s a logical choice to bring Metron back, I feel like that their plan, while interesting, lacks the oomph and social satire that made the original Metron so memorable. That being said, it’s far from a bad outing for the most iconic alien from the original show. The Metron suit used here is one that was a modified costume used for special events. Much like Eleking, this iteration of Metron is known as Metron III in some books.
Metron’s dinosaur friend feels a bit plain, but it’s sort of fun to see such a regular monster battle Ultraseven seeing how outside of Rigger, there weren’t many pedestrian giant reptiles on the original show. Much like Metron, the suit was one originally made for special events and attractions.
VARI’EL
An alien that’s a hybrid of plant and animal life, Vari’el plots to restore the Earth to its natural beauty, with a major part of his plan involving memory erasing plants being spread around Japan to create his own personal army. To make matters worse, the monster even manages to erase Ultraseven’s own memory, causing Dan to wander around as an amnesiac.
Our first new alien in the series, Vari’el isn’t as sleek as the returning Narita or Ikeya monster designs, but he’s still quite good. Vari’el was designed by Akihiko Iguchi, who previously did monster designs for Return of Ultraman and Ultraman Ace respectively, and I think he does a pretty good job in realizing Vari’el here. Iguchi leaned heavily into the botanical theme and tried to have the alien seem feminine due to how an actress plays the being in his human form. I’m quite fond of a lot of features Iguchi added onto the monster, such as the flower-like hands, the alien’s insectoid face, as well as the large flower on his shoulder, which feels very reminiscent of Aquarius from Ace, another monster Iguchi had designed.
GUTS AND SULFAS
Returning for another go to conquer the world, the Guts aliens here base their plan around Mantle Plumes, or volcanic hotspots around the Earth. The Guts state this is part of the Earth’s natural “life cycle” to create such a phenomena to wipe out life on the surface, and offers to save mankind by using special bacteria to alter humans so that they can survive in such an environment.
Of course, the Guts aren’t doing this out of altruism, and when the Ultra Guard and Seven suspect something is up, the Guts send out their pet, Sulfas, to do battle with Seven.
The Guts we see here in this episode is a pretty good recreation of the original design seen in the 60’s, and while I do think the character’s inclusion is inevitable in this line of specials, I do wonder if Guts was the best choice for this particular story. While the idea of an alien race altering humans for their own sinister purposes under an altruistic guise is a classic Seven sort of episode, I feel like Guts is maybe not the best choice for it. Guts was an alien that brought Seven and the Ultra Guard to their knees, so I have a hard time with the scene where the TDF considers whether or not the aliens are telling the truth. You’d think their crucifixion of Ultraseven was a recent enough memory to shut down any seeds of doubt.
The new kaiju, Sulfas, ain’t too bad honestly. The first new monster designed for the specials by Akihiko Iguchi, Sulfas is a pretty cool looking rock-insectoid monster, a combo you don’t quite see that often in tokusatsu programs, and I really love how his craggy, rock-like exterior and sulfur-expelling tubes on his back really match well with the volcanic setting he battles Ultraseven in.
BANDERAS
The incarnation of the sun of the Banderas System, Banderas wishes to extend it’s lifespan by absorbing the Minus Energy from the people of Earth. It’s an interesting concept for a monster, and while it feels a bit more suited for something like Ultraman 80 with the Minus Energy angle, the special does raise some interesting discussion on if it’d be a good thing for humanity to give up all of their negative traits and how that’d affect our society. Additionally, while Banderas wants Minus Energy, he isn’t completely evil with his desire to take away all of Earth’s, rather, he just wants to burn brightly again after the beings who inhabited his system had perished or left when he went dark. Awww…
The idea of a sun’s avatar being the monster of the week is something that feels like it’d fit more in one of the more whimsical 70’s entries, but it’s intriguing enough to work here, especially with how they play Banderas up as a shade of grey. The design, by Iguchi, is alright, but perhaps not as alien as one might expect a sun’s incarnation to look, but there’s plenty to like about it, such as the single eye, headless body, and red color scheme, he certainly looks like something from the Showa era, that’s for sure. Sadly, as mentioned in Iguchi’s latest artbook, the design sketch for this character has been lost, which is quite unfortunate.
VALKYRIE
Heads up, seeing as how the 1999 specials have a lot of twists and turns, I’m going to put a big, ol’ SPOILER WARNING here. I highly recommend watching this particular episode before you continue!
Hailing from the small moon of the same name, the Valkyrie aliens take umbrage at the Ultra Guard’s “Operation Friendship”, where several remote missile stations are placed on planets to stop alien invaders before they even make it to Earth. Viewing this as an invasion, a member of the Valkyrie race plots to destroy the Ultra Guard. Using his ability to possess human bodies, Valkyrie infiltrates the Ultra Guard’s moon base and destroys it, killing veteran member Furuhashi. The alien continues to ruin the Ultra Guard’s reputation by controlling the citizens and media of Japan and cause the Ultra Guard to disband.
The first monster of the Ultraseven 1999: The Final Chapter series of specials, Valkyrie is a great alien to start off on. The idea of alien invaders attacking Earth because they view us as invaders is a concept that has been done a few times in the original Ultraseven, but this is in my opinion, the best it has ever been done in all of Ultra, as the special explores mankind’s relationship with the stars and their own defense forces, making this ugly looking alien sympathetic, even if he’s a darker shade of grey than something like the the Pegassas. Additionally, the killing of Furuhashi helps establish just how dangerous these guys can be, as the killing of a defense team’s leader, especially one that is a beloved character such as Furuhashi, hadn’t been done in any prior Ultra entry.
Valkyrie’s design by Iguchi was originally meant to be a blue color, but director Shinichi Kamisawa ordered the design to be a deep, blood red in order to match Valkyrie’s design inspiration of blood vessels, muscles and internal organs for maximum eeriness. It’s a design that I wasn’t too keen on at first, mainly since it felt like it didn’t match up with original Ultraseven designer Tohl Narita’s own monster design philosophy, but Iguchi does help create a wonderfully grotesque being. It also helps that the special the alien appears in is quite possibly, one of the greatest Ultra stories ever filmed, giving the Valkyrie aliens some great material that rivals even many of the best entries from the original Seven.
GREAT IRON MASS, KYURU AND GAROIANS
A massive robot from outer space, the Great Iron Mass appears from underneath a mountain range. Armed with an advanced particle beam, the vessel appears to be virtually unstoppable.
While the Great Iron Mass is dangerous, it is not a weapon of war. Rather, it was the vehicle of the friendly Kyuru alien, who crash-landed on the Earth twenty years ago. Finding himself stranded, the Kyuru alien, under the guise of science fiction author Yoshiya Henmi, wrote a story about his shuttle, which included several diagrams of the parts he needed in order to repair it, hoping that some reader may create these parts in the future so he could return home.
However, the Garoians, a spider-like race of beings, seeks to take control of the robot, and use its power to conquer the Earth. Fearing the Ultra Guard’s Operation Friendship threatening them, they decide to invade the Earth before they find themselves wiped out.
Even needing repairs, the Great Iron Mass is a force to be reckoned with, especially with its indestructible body and deadly particle beam. Does Seven stand a chance?
The story here in the second 1999 Seven special is a really fascinating one, with the idea of a stranded alien revealing himself through the pages of a fictionalized account to help get himself home feels like vintage 60’s Ultra. Not to mention, we get quite the gaggle of creatures here!
Starting off with the titular robot, while I do wish this guy had a more proper name, the Great Iron Mass (let’s call him GIM for short), is a delightfully Showa looking robot, feeling like a colossal tin-toy in his battle mode. He’s maybe not as iconic as King Joe, but he’s a great robot, and the fact that this charming looking character is one of the most dangerous opponents Seven faces makes him very memorable.
Speaking of memorability, the Garoians are easily some of the coolest aliens seen in this particular miniseries. While puppet aliens aren’t new to Ultraseven, I love how in order to take over human hosts, they ride on the back of their heads! It’s a really memorable visual, and when you add in how scuzzy they look with their insectoid appearance, they’re easily some of the best aliens we see in the show, and I wish they would’ve broken out of this particular entry and into some other shows.
The true form of the Kyuru alien isn’t seen outside of a silhouette (bit of a shame since it’s such a bizarre looking shape that it boggles the mind to what it looks like), we do have Shoichiro Akahoshi playing Henmi, an accomplished actor who’s appeared in many tokusatsu shows of the Heisei era, and makes numerous appearances throughout the Ultra series. This isn’t his first time in an Ultraman episode (he popped up in Ultraman Tiga about three years prior), but he still does a fantastic job portraying a friendly alien who has been trapped on the Earth for decades.
LEMOJOIANS AND VOLAJO
A trio of space criminals, the Lemojoians escape the prison ship they were stuck on, and find themselves stranded on Earth. The Lemojoians have brought a devastating biological weapon known as Volajo to Earth. The Lemojoians can disguise themselves as humans like other alien races, but they can only remain in such a state for 10 hours a day.
The Lemojoians have an interesting backstory with them being alien fugitives, being somewhat reminiscent of Quraso from the original Seven. That being said, while it’s clear Iguchi tried to go for a mushroom looking appearance for these guys, it comes across as a lot more phallic than he perhaps anticipated, leading to these aliens feeling a lot more unwholesome than most of the Ultra kaiju family.
That being said, what helps make the Lemojoians stand out from the pack is that each of them has a unique appearance and build, which really helps them stand out in the mind. I’m quite fond of how the lone female Lemojoian looks, with her bulbous head fruit, and ghoulish looking humanoid face.
Their biological weapon, Volajo, is quite the sight to behold. While most plant monsters have a certain elegance to them, Volajo is one that feels genuinely putrid, almost reminiscent of rotting fruit and fungal growth than anything of beauty. I really like the orange color scheme, which feels very Halloweeny when paired with those dark green tendrils that make up it’s body, and that head in the middle of it’s body gives off a “Cthulhu” sort of feel with the flower in place of it’s mouth. Iguchi designed Volajo around the idea that the suit could be operated by the suit actor entering in backwards. Volajo was also planned to have legs initially, but director Toshiyuki Takano requested that those should be omitted. Without legs, Volajo moves by sliding around, which I personally feel fits this kind of monster and his body plan, so that was a wise choice by Takano.
DAIRYUKAI
The third Ultra story to adapt the famous Japanese fairytale of Urashima Taro, the Ultraseven specials don’t just take some light inspiration from the story, but rather events based on the story were a reality in the show’s universe. For a brief refresher on the tale, Urashima Taro is the story of a fisherman whom, after saving a turtle, is taken to the palace of the of Princess Otohime, who thanks him for saving the turtle, and allows him to stay in her palace. However, after longing for his home and family, Taro asks to leave, and is given a strange box called a tamatebako, that he is told not to open. Taro soon finds himself 300 years in the future and opens the tamatebako, becoming an old man. Here, the future that Taro finds himself in is Japan, circa 1999, and opening the tamatebako is revealed to have killed Otohime, which causes her sister to appear in Japan and try to exact revenge by creating a time slip. Further angered, Otohime’s sister soon summons Dairyukai, a monster that is the embodiment of Otohime.
While the Ultra Series is no stranger to fairytale elements, the events of this particular special don’t quite gel with the harder scifi elements of Ultraseven and it’s spinoff specials and does raise some questions to what exactly Otohime and her sister are (advanced humans? aliens? supernatural beings?) in the context of this show’s universe.
That being said, the monster, Dairyukai, is a good kaiju, and Iguchi did a good job in designing another aquatic saurian monster. Dairyukai, while not too distinct, has some really cool color contrast going on her body, and, in addition, what really makes her memorable is her cries, which are the combination of an inhuman roar and a woman screaming!
Easter's Kaiju Kompendium 