My Beloved Ultraseven is a docudrama that aired on NHK in two parts on February 13 and February 20 in 1993. It is a dramatization of the production of the 1967 series Ultraseven, written by Shinichi Ichikawa, who was a writer for the original show. It mainly focuses on actress Yuriko Hishimi, who played Anne Yuri.
Synopsis[]
The People I Met in My Dreams []
In the 1960s, a young production team projected their dreams onto the production of Ultraseven on the Tsuburaya Productions stage. However, just a month into filming Ultraseven, a traffic accident occurred, tragically leading to the death of the scriptwriter, Akai, and serious injuries to the actress playing Anne, Hishimi. This sudden news shocked everyone. The unfinished script was completed by the emerging writer, Shinichi Ishikawa.
Yuriko, a female student studying physical education at university with aspirations of becoming a sports teacher, took on a part-time job at the filming location of Ultraseven. However, Director Mitsuda noticed her and chose her to temporarily fill in as the lead actress for the character "Anne Yuri".
The Power to Dream []
As the filming of Ultraseven drew to a close, Kinjo had been concealing his Okinawan identity. While living on the Honshu, he felt troubled because he wanted to write a story about Ultraseven, who, like him, was also a "stranger". However, the script for the final episode, "The Biggest Invasion in History", faced difficulties.
At this time, Yuriko, at the request of Moritsugu's former girlfriend, Naoko, agreed to hide Michael, an American deserter abandoned on the battlefield of the Vietnam War. This entangled Moritsugu and Nishimura as well. They planned to hide the deserter inside the costume of the monster Pandon and arrange for his departure during the outdoor shooting of the final episode. However, this plan depended on Kinjo completing the script.
Cast[]
| Character | Real Life Counterpart | Actor |
|---|---|---|
| Yuriko Hishimi / Anne Yuri | Yuriko Hishimi | Eriko Tamura |
| Kohji Moritsugu / Dan Moroboshi | Kohji Moritsugu | Yu-ki Matsumura |
| Naoko Fuyuki | N/A | Kaoru Hyuga |
| Shozo Uehara | Shozo Uehara | Toru Nakamura |
| Shinichi Ishikawa | Shinichi Ichikawa | Teruyuki Kagawa |
| Tetsuo Kinjo | Tetsuo Kinjo | Shiro Sano |
| Onisuke Akai | Onisuke Akai | Mineaki Hata |
| Hiroko Naito | N/A | Mika Kaneko |
| Takano | Koichi Takano | Tomorowo Taguchi |
| Kumagai | Ken Kumagai | Yosuke Nakajima |
| Haruko | N/A | Lioness Asuka |
| Kiriyama | Shoji Nakayama | Ryo Hayami |
| Amagi | Bin Furuya | Shunji Matsudo |
| Furuhashi | Iyoshi Ishii | Seigen Nakayama |
| Ryuji Muro | Koji Uenishi | Kenjiro Nashimoto |
| Soga | Shinsuke Achiha | Toshikazu Fukawa |
| Mitsuta | Kazuho Mitsuta | Sansei Shiomi |
| Takuya Sakai | N/A | Tetsuya Bessho |
| Security Guard | N/A | Hideyo Amamoto |
| Bunta | N/A | Naoya Ban |
| Yachiyo | N/A | Atsuko Jouraku |
| Mikuni | Yoji Hashimoto | Ichiro Zaitsu |
| Eiji Tsuburaya | Eiji Tsuburaya | Seijun Suzuki |
| Mitsuyo Kinoshita | N/A | Miho Takada |
| Kyoko | N/A | Yu Akagi |
| Ultraseven | N/A | Hiroyuki Okano |
| Suit actors | N/A | Kazunori Yokoo Toshio Miyake Kazushi Takahashi |
| Michael | N/A | Ryan Purgess |
| MP | N/A | Andrew J. Thatcher |
| Woman selling poetry books | N/A | Yuriko Hishimi |
| Pianist | N/A | Yoshiya Koga |
| Detectives | N/A | Hiroyoshi Asakawa Kazumasa Takemoto |
Staff[]
- Director: Mikio Sato
- Screenwriter: Shinichi Ichikawa
- Music: Akira Miyagawa
- Action choreographer: Kunihide Kuruma
Home Media[]
The docudrama first released on LaserDisc and VHS. On October 23, 2002, it was released on a two disc DVD set.[1]
Gallery[]
Images[]
Trivia[]
- The series includes the filming of an unproduced Ultraseven episode titled "Revenge of 300 Years", with new suits for Alien Talk and Armored Human.
- The UG actors mainly refer to each other by the names of their characters, and so are credited as such.
External Links[]
References[]