Hitogata

Hitogata
Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy, episode 24
Information
Airdate	September 15, 2004
Directed by	Akio Jissoji
Written by	Chiaki J. Konaka
Continuity
Previous	ALICE in the 365 degree world
Next	Darkness

Hitogata is the twenty-fourth episode of Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy.

Synopsis

Abandoning philosophy and awaiting death in a world filled with other people's memories, Kadono encounters a single individual.

"I think, therefore I am."

Cast

• Kakunoshin Watarai : Masao Kusakari

Guest Actors

• Yoshihiko Kadono : Masami Horiuchi
• Taro Magara : Minori Terada
• Kyoko : Yuko Daike
• The Doll : Mignon

Voice Actors

• Narration : Shiro Sano
• The Doll : Chisako Hara

Appearances

Kaiju

• The Doll

Home Media

• Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy Volume 12 features episodes 23-24.

Trivia

• This episode draws inspiration from Edogawa Ranpo's 1926 short horror story,The Inhuman Love. Character names like Kadono and Kyoko are also drawn from the story.
• The episode references the Clairvoyance Incident, which took place at Teito University in 1910. It involved two women, Chizuko Mifune and Ikuko Nagao, who claimed to possess clairvoyant abilities. A series of public experiments and debates were held by scholars and journalists to test their claims. The story also features a professor believed to be based on Fukurai Tomokichi, who participated in several clairvoyance experiments.
• There are two versions of the script. Although both have the same title as the final episode, one is marked as a "working title." The former survives as a standalone document, whereas the latter is bound with another episode titled "Darkness.".
  • While the two versions are mostly identical, the climax differs notably: in the original draft, Kyoko discovers that the doll is a monster and tries to stab it. Kadono intervenes to protect the doll and is fatally wounded, which brings the story to an end.
  • Aside from Professor Watarai, the episode features the same four main characters as the final version. The script describes Kadono’s home as an antiquarian bookshop, which is slightly different from its on-screen portrayal.
  • The script concludes with Kyoko, dressed in black, walking away with a Boston bag containing the doll; her destination is unknown. In the script, the doll is referred to simply as "The Doll", though in the dialogue notes, its name appears in katakana as Hina .

• According to the account on Chiaki J. Konaka's website, he helped structure and script Eko Eko Azarak -eye- before working on Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy. Director Mitsunori Hattori invited him to write two episodes for the series, which was to be directed by Akio Jissoji. Initially, Konaka and Sadayuki Murai were each set to write one episode, but Jissoji found both of Konaka’s ideas compelling and assigned him to write two.
  • Konaka’s proposals reflected his interpretation of Jissoji's style. One of these centred on dolls and was inspired by Jissoji’s 1988 film Akutoku no Sakae, which featured ball-jointed dolls created by Katan Amano and Ryo Yoshida. In 1994, Konaka attempted to adapt Edogawa Ranpo's The Inhuman Love for TBS's Ranpo - Mysterious Women -, but the project was cancelled due to a conflict with Shochiku's film Rampo . Years later, Konaka revisited the theme, reimagining the story from the perspective of a man in love with a doll.
  • In his initial draft, Kadono was conceived as a literary author, but this was deemed too active a role. In the final version, he became a reclusive figure who rarely left his home. However, Jissoji made major changes to Konaka’s original ending. In Konaka’s version, Kadono’s emotions transfer to Hina, causing her to grow into a five-metre-tall doll that disappears into the dim backstreets of the city.
  • The initial plan was to use a traditional Japanese Iki doll, but Konaka suggested a more romantic aesthetic by Koitsukihime instead. Ultimately, Jissoji chose an 18-year-old, handcrafted doll by Jin Yamamoto, treating it as an essential "living actor" for the production.
  • The room scenes in Kadono's film were shot in an old pawnshop in Hongō, which is said to have once been a favourite haunt of the writer Ichiyo Higuchi. The director worked with remarkable efficiency, filming many scenes out of sequence. When an assistant director mentioned that lighting adjustments would take time, Jissoji replied impatiently, 'We can't wait!'