Ultraman Leo (series)

Ultraman Leo (ウルトラマンレオ - Urutoraman Reo) is a Japanese tokusatsu TV show and is the 7th show in the Ultra Series. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions, Ultraman Leo was aired between April 12, 1974 to March 28, 1975, with a total of 51 episodes.

Plot
Ultraman Leo comes from Nebula L77 (Leo constellation), and takes the human form of Gen Otori. Ultra Seven appears to fight a new foe, Alien Magma and his two "pets", the Red and Black Gillas. Ultimately, Ultraseven is greatly overpowered and his leg is graphically broken by Black Gillas. Ultraman Leo drives off the foes, but Ultraseven is confined to his human form because of his injuries and due to the Ultraeye being damaged when he attempted to transform. Dan then maintains his role as Captain of MAC (Monster Attack Crew). Gen is a gymnastics teacher on the side and joins MAC to defend the Earth. Gen and Dan regularly train together, allowing Ultraman Leo to learn many moves in human form. In episode 34, Dan asks Ultraman Jack to take the Ultraeye back to M78 to be restored while he heals on Earth. However in Episode 40, MAC is destroyed by Silver Bloom, a saucer monster that belongs to Commander Black. During the attack Dan asks Leo to keep defending the Earth and disappears in the conflagration, it is later shown that he was taken back to M78 to be fully healed and restored as Ultraseven. Gen is now unemployed and spends most of his time training the kids to defend themselves as well as defending the Earth as Ultraman Leo. When Commander Black captures Gen when he cannot transform compeltely, Gen as Leo is dismembered, only to be brought back to life by Ultraman King. Leo would face Black's final monster, Black End, with the kids he trained, of whom the latter kill Black, and hand the sphere used to control Black End to Leo. Finishing his mission, Gen removes his Lion Ring and sets off to tour Earth, his "second home".

Years later
Ultraman Leo returns in Ultraman Mebius to help Ultraman Mebius fight Alien Reflect, an alien that defeated Mebius and stated that he would return later to kill Mebius.

Gen is displeased with Mebius performance in the fight with Alien Reflect and refuses to accept him as the defender of Earth. Gen then challenges Mirai to a one-on-one combat (as Ultraman Leo and Ultraman Mebius respectively) which leads to Ultraman Mebius' defeated at the superior combat skills of Leo and the power of the Leo Kick. Mirai then accepts the martial arts robes that Gen offers him and begins to train and practice to develop new techniques and develops his own version of the Leo Kick. It is called mebium drill kick. When the monster returned, Mebius' training was paying off until the monster captured the ship containing his GUYS comrades. The monster told Mebius to surrender or GUYS would be killed. Before Mebius can do anything, Gen who had been observing the battle nearby triggers his transformation into Ultraman Leo and together with Mebius, GUYS was saved and the alien destroyed by the combined power of Mebius new kick attack and the Leo Kick. Ultraman Leo then accepts Mebius as Earth's defender and departs. Reference Episode 34 of Ultraman Mebius.

Ultraman Leo is also seen with his twin brother, Ultraman Astra, along the other Ultra Brothers to resurrect the Sun during the final episode of Ultraman Mebius.

In Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend The Movie, Leo is the master of Ultra Seven's son, Ultraman Zero.

MAC members
The Monster Attacking Crew (MAC) is one of the most radically different Ultra support teams. As mentioned above, the captain is Dan Moroboshi, who is Ultraseven deprived of his ability to transform. MAC also has a flowing membership. Members get killed off and replaced with frightening rapidity. To top it all off, MAC gets annihilated mid-series (Episode 40). There are (were) bases in orbit above North and South America, Africa, Northern Europe, and Japan. This is in addition to numerous land-based bases as well.


 * Captain Dan Moroboshi the commander and leader)
 * Gen Ohtori (Ultraman Leo)
 * Ichiroh Aoshima (seen eaten alive)
 * Akio Kuroda
 * Kiyohiko Akaishi
 * Junko Shirakawa
 * Haruko Momoi

Episodes
List of Ultraman Leo episodes

Production and series notes

 * Ultraman Leo series was noted as the last of the golden age of the Ultra Series. During the 'Oil Shock' which hit world economy in the 1970s, the production of monster-based series became less popular, in addition to more animated series being produced.
 * Ultraman Leo got off on a bad start. The previous series, (Ultraman Taro), was extended from 49 to 53 episodes because pre-production of Ultraman Leo was running behind schedule.
 * The series was written for more of an adult audience than Ultraman Taro, because Tsuburaya was losing positive ratings from adults due to the child oriented nature of Ultraman Taro.
 * The MAC song sings about the MAC Mole and the MAC Shark, but these machines were never used in battle on the series. However the MAC Shark makes an appearance in the opening credits after episode 28.

Theme songs

 * Ultraman Leo
 * Lyrics: Yu Aku
 * Composition and arrangement: Makoto Kawaguchi
 * Artist: Ryuu Manatsu