Friend in the Forest

Friend in the Forest
Ultraman Cosmos, episode 9
Information
Airdate	September 1, 2001
Directed by	Masaki Harada
Written by	Junki Takegami
Special Effects Directed by	Masaki Harada
Viewer Ratings	4.9%
Continuity
Previous	Sleeping Maiden
Next	The Bronze Devil

Friend in the Forest is the ninth episode of Ultraman Cosmos.

Plot

One night, TECCH Thunder 1 went on a chase against a Chaos Header cloud at the Yamawarawa Mountains until it escaped to the moon. The Yokai named Yamawarawa lived in the mountain area and met a boy named Yuichi.

Yuichi reported this to Team EYES members Musashi and Shinobu, but his discovery was dismissed by everyone, including his father (Yasuhiro). Musashi found a kindred spirit in the boy, even as relating his experience to meeting an Ultraman as a little boy. While Yuichi was taken away by his father, Yamawarawa grows into large proportions to chase the little boy, but was forced to flee when TECCH Thunders 1 and 2 open fire on the monster. Yuichi was blown away by the attack and tended by Yamawarawa to somewhere else while his father sought Team EYES' help to find his son.

Yasuhiro was forced to admit of his previous experience encountering Yamawarawa as a kid. Back then, he met the Yokai after injuring his right leg and the two spent their time at the forest before his father led a group of villagers to find him. Ever since then, he played with Yamawarawa until he was forced to move to Tokyo after he bullied by the villagers for his experience with Yamawarawa being deemed as a fairy tale. Eventually he realized that he pressured Yuichi in the same way as the adults did to him in the past. TECCH Thunder jets spotted Yuichi and attempted to rescue him, but Yamawara grew large to fight against the vehicles.

Musashi was forced to transform into Cosmos to halt the monster's attack, even to the point of assuming Corona Mode. Yasuhiro showed the Yokai the acorn that he held into as their final parting gift from the past, confirming himself to be the young boy that Yamawarawa used to play with. Yasuhiro apologized as he is now an adult and could no longer play with his old friend like they used to be, forcing Yamawarawa to disappear from the scene.

Yamawarawa continued to wander in his forest, while giving a handful of fruits to the camera as the credit approached its ending.

Cast

• Musashi Haruno : Taiyo Sugiura
• Harumitsu Hiura : Daisuke Shima
• Shinobu Mizuki : Kaori Sakagami
• Keisuke Fubuki : Hidekazu Ichinose
• Koji Doigaki : Koichi Sudo
• Ayano Morimoto : Mayuka Suzuki

Guest Actors

• Yasuhiro Iwata : Tamotsu Ishibashi
  • Yasuhiro Iwata (childhood): Noboru Hanzawa
• Yuichi Iwata : Daisuke Kizaki
• Yasuhiro's Father : Shimon Kumai

Voice Actors

• Ultraman Cosmos : Hiroyuki Sato
• Narration : Hiroshi Isobe

Suit Actors

• Ultraman Cosmos:
  • Hiroshi Nekomata
  • Daisuke Terai
• Yamawarawa : Kazunori Yokoo

Appearances

Ultras

• Ultraman Cosmos
  • Luna Mode
  • Corona Mode

Kaiju

• Yamawarawa

Home Media

• Ultraman Cosmos Volume 3 features episodes 9-12.

Trivia

• The sequel to this episode is episode 36 "The Mountain of Yōkai."
• It was produced alongside episode 4, "The Fallen Robot," as a paired storyline under Masaki Harada's production team. The costume designs for Yamawarawa and Igomas were created by Shinichi Wakasa's Monsters Studio. However, unlike Igomas, Yamawarawa's design carries a Jim Henson-inspired aesthetic, with interchangeable chest components of varying lengths used to distinguish between its human-sized and giant forms.
• According to producer Hiroyasu Shibuya, the protagonist Yasuhiro can be considered "another Musashi"—he claims to have seen Yamawarawa, but no one believes him. Musashi shares his own childhood experiences with Yasuhiro, encouraging him to "never forget his dreams." In this way, the episode continues the theme from the film: hoping that children will hold on to their dreams as they grow up.
  • Although the episode briefly touches on the presence of the Chaos Header at the beginning, its core focus is on the bond between the young boy and Yamawarawa. Shibuya explains that if growing up is an inevitable process, then saying goodbye to Yamawarawa may also be something that cannot be avoided.
• This episode was made available on the official Ultraman YouTube channel from April 7, 2021 for two weeks as part of the Ultraman Foundation's Springtime stay-at-home support initiative in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.