My Friend's a Monster

My Friend's a Monster
Ultraman X, episode 17
Information
Airdate	November 18, 2015
Directed by	Takanori Tsujimoto
Written by	Kyoko Katsuya
Continuity
Previous	Feature Report! 24 Hours Inside Xio
Next	Wataru's Romance

My Friend's a Monster is the seventeenth episode of Ultraman X.

Synopsis

In the rural town where she had moved, Sakura befriended the suddenly appearing friendly monster Pigmon. Sakura and Pigmon spent their days playing together, becoming close friends.

One day, when Sakura went to the shopping mall, Pigmon followed her into the city. The townspeople, surprised to find Pigmon, clashed with Daichi. Just then, the sea monster King Guesra appeared!

Plot

Sakura and her mother had just moved to a new house, which was rumored by the neighbourhood for a red ghost sightings. Sakura witnessed a monster, which likely based on the red ghost interpretation but dismissed by her mother and continues her work.

At the Operation Base X, Xio just recovered a briefcase of Spark Dolls (Saramandora, King Crab and three others unknown), which began to surface after the Dark Thunder Energy's appearances. While Daichi brings the Spark Doll to the lab, the Lab Team members tried to use Guruman as a target to attract the Dark Thunder Energy, believing that certain monster cells, as well as Spark Dolls are equivalent to "lightning rods".

The next day, after returning from school, Sakura finds a small bouquet of flowers at the front door and spots the monster from before, learning its name as Pigmon and plays with it. That night, Sakura asks her mother if she can keep a peaceful monster as a pet which the latter agrees, thinking her daughter was joking. After a day playing with Sakura, Pigmon returns to its home at night, placing the headress made by Sakura beside several toys before put to sleep.

Sakura and her mother prepare to leave for shopping mall and during that time, Pigmon sees a dark cloud and the city below it, Tatara City, proceeding to chase Sakura's car. Pigmon arrives at the shopping mall as well but accidentally invokes panic at nearby citizens due to its appearance. By the time Xio officers arrive, Pigmon had already tied and placed with a balloon on it. Several civilians deemed it as a threat except Sakura, knowing it meant no harm. Guruman recognizes the monster, having mostly spotted in Sydney, Australia and Luxembourg. The effect from the Ultra Flare may had awaken them as a result. Pigmon awakens and jumps in fear but misunderstood for rampaging which made a civilian attempted to attack it. Daichi analyze the monster through Gao Diction and finds it fearing of "something".

But it was too late for Pigmon: the Dark Thunder Energy strikes the Tatara City and brings forth a green fish monster, identified by Daichi as Guesra's variant, King Guesra. The man whom attacked Pigmon before was about to be crushed from several falling rubble until Pigmon saves him, at the cost of its own. X arrives on the scene and tries to fight King Guesra, but its poisonous scales and barrages of thorn attack overwhelms X, even the Bamstar Armor is easily penetrated. X finally uses the Exceed X form to cleanse King Guesra from Dark Thunder Energy before turning it into a Spark Doll via Xanadium Beam.

Pigmon seemingly dies from the injury as Sakura mourns over its loss. According to Daichi, ever since their awakening in the Ultra Flare, Pigmon would always seeks children as their playmate and due with most of them leaving for adulthood, they would wait again till new friends would come. While several civilians clean Pigmon's shelter, Sakura returns from her school again and finds Pigmon alive, as Xio had temporarily placed it under their care for medical treatment before releasing it to Sakura.

Daichi's Monster Lab

• Daichi: Daichi's Monster Lab! This time, we're looking at this monster!
• X Devizer: Now analyzing Pigmon.
• Daichi: The friendly rare beast Pigmon, they are small and cute but will risk their own safety at times to protect people. Its a monster with courage to spare.
• X: And this time we're showing you Pigmon's card.
• Daichi: Being strong isn't just about winning fights. The kindness that lets him befriends humans must be its true strength.
• Daichi and X: See you next time!

Cast

• Daichi Oozora : Kensuke Takahashi
• Asuna Yamase : Akane Sakanoue
• Wataru Kazama : Yoshihiko Hosoda
• Hayato Kijima : Ukyo Matsumoto
• Mamoru Mikazuki : Hayato Harada
• Rui Takada : Haruka Momokawa
• Takeru Yamagishi : TAKERU
• Chiaki Matsudo : Chiaki Seshimo
• Sayuri Tachibana : Sarara Tsukifune
• Shotaro Kamiki : Yuu Kamio

Guest Actors

• Kaori Aizawa : Kumiko Endo
• Sakura Aizawa : Kokone Hamada
• Ayano's mother : Saori Nakayama
• Misaki's mother : Tomoko Shimizu
• Ayano : Kane
• Misaki : Kokoro Kimoto
• Matsushima : Yoshinori Horimoto
• Tamura : Takashi Nishina
• Store Clerk at Shopping Center : Musuko Kintoki
• Pigmon's friends :
  • Junosuke Saito
  • Miki Kakinoki
  • Rin Takahashi

Voice Actors

• Ultraman X : Yuichi Nakamura
• Alien Fanton Guruman : Yasunori Matsumoto
• Xio equipments, X Devizer: Hibiku Yamamura

Suit Actors

• Ultraman X : Hideyoshi Iwata
• Alien Fanton Guruman : Hiroyuki Fukushima
• King Guesra : Kazunori Yokoo
• Pigmon : Satomi Maruta

Appearances

Ultras

• Ultraman X
  • Ultraman Exceed X

Kaiju

• King Guesra
• Pigmon

Trivia

• Kumiko Endo made a guest appearance in this episode, playing the role of Sakura's mother. This marked her return to the Ultraman series after her previous appearance as Ryo Kusunoki in Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy.
• According to screenwriter Kyoko Katsuya, the original plot for this episode focused on the interaction between an office worker and Pigmon. However, since the episode "Gan-Q's Tears" from Ultraman Ginga S had already addressed a similar theme, the story was changed to one about a young girl reconnecting with Pigmon.
  • Due to the need to maintain a sense of pacing, the production team decided not to use flashbacks. With this in mind, they focused on how to depict the passage of 15 years. In the earliest draft of the script, the story was about a young girl, now an adult, reuniting with Pigmon. Although the plot had its ups and downs, the place where Pigmon returned remained unchanged. Given the many sad events in real life, the team ultimately chose to end the episode on a hopeful note.
  • Originally, there were concerns about the Pigmon suit's condition, and there was consideration of having Burezaren from Neo Ultra Q appear instead. However, it was ultimately decided to keep Pigmon due to the story's theme, which didn't require a monster with special powers but rather one that could still survive and remain relevant to the plot.
  • The appearance of King Guesra was chosen by Katsuya, considering that the setting involved Spark Dolls spread across the world. Originally meant to appear in the sea, King Guesra’s appearance on the street added an interesting twist.
• Takanori Tsujimoto mentioned that, due to his love for flying prop battles, a new skill for King Guesra was developed. This skill involved shooting poisonous spikes from its back like missiles. The scene where a car is struck by these spikes and is sent flying used a miniature model, with high-speed photography adding a sense of weight and jump. The fiery special effects also helped reduce the noticeable prop feel of the miniature model.
  • Regarding Xanadium Beam, the shot originally had it passing through the gaps of buildings at a low angle, but the team felt it wasn’t enough. They wanted to capture a bird's-eye view as well. To make this work, the art department suggested creating an X-shaped intersection, which was further emphasized in the composite electronic circuitry effect.
• The main episode's setting, Tatara City is a reference to the Tatara Island from episode 8 of the original Ultraman, where Pigmon was found.
• An allusion to the original Pigmon is that this also shown tied with a pink balloon.