In the second of our little mini series of reviews I will look at the first episode of the 3rd Ultra series, thus the second Ultraman series, Ultraseven.

Originally Ultraseven was not a part of a shared continuity with Ultraman. The Ultrapart relates to an Ultra series rather than an Ultraman series. This would be changed several years later when Return of Ultraman (which didn’t have the return of Ultraman in it – it had a different character Ultraman Jack who looked a lot like Ultraman but was a part of the same species) retconned Ultraman and Ultraseven to be part of the same continuity.

We open up in the not too distant future (future of when this show was made, so could be well over 40 years in our past) and the Earth is under threat of alien invasion. The Ultraguard stand to protect Earth from invasion.

Two Ultraguard members Furuhashi and Soga are sent out to investigate some disappearances only to have their car halted by a strange man Dan Moroboshi. While he refuses to let them go forward, a passing police car does and vanishes, then they are quickly attacked by invisible aliens. I know a bunch of people reading this that watched a particular episode of Red Dwarf season 8 probably have alarm bells ringing in their heads. Don’t worry the alien Cool (yes that’s what they are called) are using cloaking devices and we do see what they look like properly.

But who is this Dan Moroboshi? He is in reality Ultraseven an Alien from Nebula M78 and has assumed the form of Dan Moroboshi rather than how in Ultraman. The alien used the human as a vessel, Ultraseven is Dan and Dan is Ultraseven. He was never in any way human always an alien assuming human form. This makes quite a different dichotomy between our leads, as Dan will always be an outsider trying to blend in.

Ultraseven’s design is also very different from Ultraman and from most Ultras going forward so he stands out easily in the crowd. When the action starts he first uses his Capsule Monsters, a feature that would later go on to be an inspiration for Pokémon with him first using Windon who despite looking like a robot is apparently not (Ultraman Z would reuse him and make him a piloted mech).

When we get to Ultraseven transforming it’s a fairly different one than many Ultras too, with the use of his Ultra eye to transform, a sort of sunglasses-like mask he wears rather than some button pressed handheld thing. We also see he is able to fight at human size in this episode as opposed to always being a giant.

Watching the first episode does help show that this was not meant to be a direct sequel to Ultraman, but its own thing. Ultraseven would go on to be one of the most beloved and celebrated series in the franchise and it’s all here as to why that would happen. But of note we don’t get an origin for Ultraseven in this episode. We find out in a later episode how he assumed the identity of Dan Moroboshi. So in episode one he’s quite a bit of a mystery, and if you weren’t paying attention to the beloved opening song lyrics you wouldn’t know Dan was Ultraseven until he transforms.

The first episode is one to enjoy and naturally the way to start watching this beloved series.