The Duplicated Man is the fifth The Final Chapters episode of Heisei Ultraseven.
Synopsis[]
Chief Kaji planned to salvage King Joe from the sea and repurpose it as a weapon. In Ishidate City, where the president of Shin Kounan Heavy Industries, Kanemitsu, who took on the repair and modification of King Joe, resides, mysterious stone pillars appeared along with an earthquake. After Kanemitsu's daughter, Haruka, brought back a fragment of the stone pillar, Kanemitsu's behavior began to change...
Plot[]
Kaji arranged a deal with the New Konan Heavy Industries’ president Yutaka Kanemitsu on providing their technological support in TDF, in exchange providing said company a commercial success. He was approached by the president of Ikeda Manufacturing over their promise to buy the latter’s 6,000 engines, only for the former to brush it off that he had already bought the engines from Fukube Industries, breaching their agreement when Ikeda was on the verge of bankruptcy. His daughter, Haruka, saw his misdeeds and ran away to a nearby shrine in Ishidate City, Tokyo out of grief, at the same time discovering a strange monument. She took a pebble from the monument and left the scene.
The Ultra Guard rushed to the scene after receiving an earthquake report. As they investigate the monument, captain Shiragane recognize its resemblance to the lost Mu civilization’s Rahakam Stone from 12,000 years prior. According to Shiragane, the people of Mu had inhumane capabilities that they put to use in war and building civilizations. The Rahakam Stone was the object they revered to in order to replenish their powers.
Kanemitsu returned home to discover Haruka still terrified over his action from afternoon. While asleep, her fraction of Rahakam stone resonated with the monument to create a copy of Kanemitsu and replacing the real person during their sleeping hours. Kaji planned to rebuild King Joe as part of TDF’s fighting force and eventually mass-producing it for the organization’s national branches. Coincidentally, Kaji’s idea is also supported by Kanemitsu’s impostor, but instead as a rescue robot instead for militaristic purposes. This put both of them at odds since it breached their initial agreement. “Kanemitsu” invited the TDF staff officers to a visit in Ariake Factory for King Joe’s maintenance and explained that the robot will be guided by an AI that will obey to mankind alone and further reassured them that the world’s finest programmers are tasked in keeping an eye over the robot if anything went out of hand. Ikeda’s wife appeared in hopes of taking revenge for his suicide after his company was left into bankruptcy, but “Kanemitsu” decided to apologize and swears to provide her family with financial support as his compensation. Strangely enough, Haruka’s wish to further her study in America is also approved by her “father” after wishing at the Rajakahm Stone that night.
From the translated runic on the Rahakam Stone, it was written that mankind originated from the sea. Despite its parallel to the primordial soup theory, Shiragane hypothesized that it could be undersea civilization instead of mankind’s origin. A group of citizens suddenly gather over the monument due to having their wishes granted immediately. The police gather to barricade the citizens from the stone after 30 reports of deaths just by the day before. UG and the police forces discover that these stones have mystical properties that create wishes, with Haruka came close to discovering her father as an impostor. From Mizuno’s investigation, the stone is a plasma manipulation device, replicating human thoughts like a photocopier and thus granting their wishes. Through aerial analysis, the stone’s plasma concentration took place in both at the nearby shrine and even in the Kanemitsu family’s housing area. Kazamori suddenly get the idea that King Joe may be related to the Rahakam Stone, but thorough investigation on the factory’s president shows no sign of brainwashing, except that he had mend his relationship with others and changed for the better with his co-workers.
Shiragane decided to give Kazamori a day off in order to do his private investigation. When Haruka’s grandmother made her wish, the Rahakam Stone once again synchronized with King Joe and the Kanemitsu impostor. Kaji also get into the investigation over Kanemitsu’s sudden change and became paranoid due to its connection with King Joe, despite his hunch over the president being replaced with an impostor is correct. Dan return to his true form to discuss with Haruka, the latter admitted to have wished her father to be replaced with a kinder clone of himself. Despite everything went as he wished, she is still curious over the whereabouts of her real father.
While Haruka’s grandmother discovered the real Kanemitsu in her old house, Kaji inspected the Rahakam Stone once more to find the Kanemitsu impostor resonating with it. Dan joined the two and asked “Kanemitsu” over the origin of Rahakam Stone. It was summoned by the will of mankind over the years as they grew increasingly afraid of their own impending doom. In addition to being a “photocopier”, the stone is also an embodiment of the universe’s structure. It originally sank with the Mu civilization when its people refused to heed the Rajakahm Stone’s warnings. Through “Kanemitsu”, the stone reprimand mankind for forsaking the ocean for earth (hence the theory of evolution) and confining themselves to their own thoughts. Mirroring the concept of Rajakahm Stone as a photocopier, “Kanemitsu” transformed into “Kaji” to torment the real one over his warlike tendency. During the commotion, Kaji’s paranoid of King Joe being misused lead to the stone disappearing and eventually granting his wish as a its last laugh.
King Joe was activated on its own and begins terrorizing mankind after heeding Kaji’s words that the robot is a weapon of destruction and it won’t stop until mankind has been eliminated. As UG fail to intercept the robot, Dan transformed into Seven and fight it, but like their previous battle, King Joe overpowered Seven until UG assisted Seven in escaping. Using the robot’s original injury from its past, Seven consistently hit it with his Eye Slugger until King Joe finally exploded into scraps.
After the incident, the real Kanemitsu was treated at the hospital and properly reconcile with his family members. Shiragane congratulated Kazamori for conducting his investigation during his day off, but the other members begged their captain for this as well.
Cast[]
- Dan Moroboshi : Kohji Moritsugu
- Sanshiro Shiragane : Koji Nanjo
- Masaki Kazamori : Katsuyuki Yamazaki
- Keisuke Shima : Kunio Masaoka
- Takuma Mizuno : Wataru Koga
- Satomi Hayakawa : Kaoru Ukawa
- Rumi Honjou : Rieko Adachi
- Takenaka : Kenji Sahara
- Kaji : Shigeki Kagemaru
- TDF Staff Officers :
- Taro Suwa
- Tsuyoshi Nakano
- Masahiro Noguchi
- Yoshiteru Yoshida
Guest Actors[]
- Yutaka Kanemitsu : Kenji Kasai
- Haruka Kanemitsu : Fumina Hara
- Youko Kanemitsu : Yuki Kazamatsuri
- Tatsu Kanemitsu : Akiko Kazami
- Detective Otsuka : Hiroshi Miyasaka
- President Ikeda : Shinya Kashima
- Kanemitsu's Secretary : Miyuki Hozumi
- Chief : Masakazu Migita
- President Ikeda's Wife : Natsue Kimura
Suit Actors[]
Appearances[]
Ultras[]
Kaiju[]
Home Media[]
Trivia[]
- This episode is a sequel to episode 15 of Ultraseven titled "The Ultra Guard Goes West: Part 2".
- This episode was later featured in episode 92 of Ultraman Retsuden, "Revive! King Joe! Ultraseven's Decisive battle!." However, the scene showing Kazamori shifting his appearance to Dan Moroboshi's was cut, thus making them portrayed as two separate individuals.