In exchange for Don Nostra's prized possession, the rare Ultraman Belial card, Juggler makes his last offer to defeat Ultraman Orb. However, he double-crosses Juggler and sends Alien Nackle to kill him.
Plot[]
The episode begins one night when Naomi returns to her team, her uncle, and Gai at SSP headquarters from another part-time job to enjoy another takoyaki party, however, Jetta, Shin, and Ittetsu all made excuses to avoid it because they didn't want to endure a fourth helping of takoyaki, leaving Naomi and recently awakened Gai to finish the seafood.
Meanwhile, in their spaceship, Jugglus Juggler displays his EnmargoKaiju Card as a Tarot reading for Alien NackleNagus as a warning of sudden death for him. Nagus didn't believe it, even though he asked him to do it, and will prove him wrong someday. Jugglus was then given the Kaiju Card of Black King from Don Nostra for protection while the latter mentioned to the former about the discussion from last episode and asked him to take care of Gai/Ultraman Orb himself and take the Ultra Fusion Cards he had, much the collaborator's delight. It is soon revealed that Don Nostra's Ultraman Belial card was the reason that Juggler approached his union in the first place and that the card is important to him as the Ultra's. Juggler leaves to take on his opponent while Don Nostra supposedly held on to his promise.
Back at SSP base, Naomi struggled to pay the bills while Gai enjoyed his helping of takoyaki when Juggler showed up from out of nowhere and proclaims when the sky is most beautiful and explained the Gai that he came to take his life and then teleported out. Despite Naomi's attempts to talk him out of it, Gai went out to confront his nemesis as he explained to her that he was someone whom he had trouble getting rid of, and promised her that he will return. Back on the ship, Nagus complained to Don Nostra that Black King is his most powerful card and that he just gave it away to Juggler without his permission, but the latter explained to him that "the truly intelligent will set a tiger against a dragon and then reap the rewards", and gave Nagus a job to do.
Jugglus Juggler then arrived at a grassy field where he was confronted by his nemesis Gai, who was playing his Orbnica as he came in. As the two of them brawled in hand to hand combat, hop, Juggler remarked that the look on Gai's face reminded him of a certain day. The two of them continued fighting to end the feud once and for all. While they were fighting, Don Nostra talked to the evil one about his link with the Ultra's host. According to him, they walked separate paths, Gai with the light, and Juggler with the darkness, and he encouraged him to convince Gai that the darkness was greater than the light. Juggler knocked away Gai's Orbnica, distracting him long enough to lose the upper hand.
Juggler encouraged him to get serious and taunted him about being scared of hurting the ones he loved, which claimed to have resulted in Orb losing his true powers. Gai, however, shrugged it off and gained the upper hand on Juggler and explained that he claimed to have stopped Juggler's true plan: breaking the seals of the Lord Monsters to resurrect the Mega Lord Monster, Maga-Orochi. Later on, Juggler used his Dark Ring to summon Black Ring while Gai transformed into Ultraman Orb in his Hurricane Slash form with his Orb Ring to stop him.
While both giants were evenly matched with each other, Orb decided to change into his Burnmite form to counter the monster's tough defense, but, the fight still ended up being evenly matched. Juggler watches the match, disappointed in the Ultra, but before he can command the monster to finish the job, he was shot in the back literally and figuratively by Nagus, the Alien Nackle assassin. After being shot in the chest, Juggler falls over and seemingly goes out in an explosion with Orb watching the whole thing. Nagus happily reported his success to Don Nostra and he commanded him to finish the job. Afterwards, the two giants finished their fight with Ultraman Orb coming out on top.
Naomi heard the door open and thoguht Gai came back, but it later turned out to be Jetta and Shin who just came back. While the two of them checked in with their timecards, Naomi cleaned up Gai's mess as he came back for real much to his and Naomi's delight.
Back on the ship, Don Nostra and Nagus were discussing about their success, despite not being able to kill Ultraman Orb, such as seemingly killing Juggler and obtaining his Lord Monster Kaiju Cards. Nagus suggested to use the beasts to assault Earth in a new operation when he suddenly died after being impaled by a katana. That katana belonged to Jugglus Juggler, who revealed that he survived Nagus' gun by using Bemstar 's Kaiju Card. Don Nostra attacked him with his Grip Beam, but Juggler reflected the attack with his sword and later transformed into his true form. Juggler then killed Don Nostra by slashing and stabbing him with his katana, resulting in him exploding. Ultraman Belial's card flew out and Juggler obtained it, reclaimed his Demon Beast cards, and laughed as he has finally obtained the final card he needed for his plan.
Gai's Ultra Hero Special Study[]
Gai: Ultra Hero Special Study. Here's today's hero!
Screenwriter Yuji Kobayashi explained that when writing this episode, he wanted to reveal Gai's past while also hinting at Juggler's plan to resurrect Maga-Orochi. Producer Yukinobu Tsuruta remarked that it was enough simply to clarify what had been vague before.[2]
Regarding Gai and Juggler's showdown, Kobayashi focused on conveying Gai's true feelings. To contrast with Gai's emotions, Juggler's lines were carefully revised and sometimes pared back after being written. Naomi originally had more scenes with Gai, but these were reduced to prevent the story from feeling too romantic.[2]
Director Suguru Tomita recalled that the scene of Juggler's apparent death was filmed on a clear day. After consulting with cinematographer Hajime Takahashi, they decided to shoot the fall and explosion with backlighting.[2]
For Juggler's Majin form, the sparks falling from the ceiling after he deflected Engetsu's beam with the Jashin Blade were produced using dragon fireworks.[2]
For the stabbing motion when Juggler strikes Engetsu, action coordinator Hiroyuki Okano instructed the team to make the slash resemble the Engetsu Sappo, with the deadly precision of Mondo Nakamura's assassinations.[2]
Metron Tea (眼兎龍茶, Ganto-ryu Cha) was seen on display at the Planet Invasion Union headquarters. This fictional drink originally appeared in Episode 24 of Ultraman Max, titled "The Unmarked Town."
Burnmite's way of defeating Black King is a tribute to Jack's method of killing Black King, where the background first shifted to red while they performing their respective killing move.
For a brief moment, Orb Hurricane Slash threw his Sluggers, causing Black King to deflect it without problem. This is a nod to how Jack used his Bracelet Boomerang from his Ultra Bracelet to attack Black King, only with little to no effect.
