Sakura-9, an unmanned spaceship launched as part of a suspended investigation research project on Planet Annon, suddenly returns to Earth. When the Ultra Guard investigate the landing zone, the ship suddenly explodes.
A child finds an oddly shaped rock in the debris, and is later contacted by a mysterious voice claiming that the rock is its body. The voice instructs the child to return the rock to the crater created by the ship's explosion, promising to grant him great power.
Plot[]
The TDF are puzzled when it receives signals from the unmanned spaceship Sakura-9, which was part of a now suspended research operation to observe the planet Annon. The spaceship has re-entered Earth and is projected to land in Jigokuyama, prompting Captain Kiriyama to send Dan Moroboshi, Anne Yuri, and Amagi to investigate.
The ship gently lands on the surface, but suddenly and violently explodes. Dan hears a high-pitched screech imperceptible to Anne and Amagi. When he rushes into the crater for the source, a giant eye opens on one of the boulders, but goes unnoticed.
Meanwhile, a little boy named Hiroshi finds a creature-shaped rock near the area. Several other children attempt to take it from him, causing the eye to materialize on a nearby tree and incapacitate them with a psychic attack. The three Ultra Guard members rush to the scene, where Dan hears the screeching once again. He notices the eye and fires at it, but it vanishes.
In the evening, Hiroshi is contacted by the eye. It tells him that the rock is actually its body, which was flung far away after it destroyed the spaceship. It then orders Hiroshi to return the rock to the crater, promising to grant him the power to defeat his bullies. When Dan, Anne, and Amagi arrive at Hiroshi's house, they encounter the eye spying on them once again. Dan question's Hiroshi's mother, and they find his room empty.
A policeman notices Hiroshi walking alone at night, but the boy ignores him. He informs the Ultra Guard, who instruct the policeman to form a search party. Hiroshi slowly makes his way to Jigokuyama, and several members of the search party are incapacitated by the eye when they try to stop him. The boy begins to doubt the eye's intentions, and it explains that it will ensure peace on its planet is never disturbed again. When Dan catches up to Hiroshi on a bridge, the eye collapses it, sending Dan crashing down a ravine. He alerts Anne, who notifies HQ. Kiriyama sends Furuhashi and Soga to find the boy using the Hawk-1.
Anne and Amagi catch up to Hiroshi, but the eye stuns them. Dan is unable to prevent him from throwing the stone in the crater, where it turns into a giant kaiju. The creature's movements cause Dan and Hiroshi to tumble down the crater and fall unconscious. Furuhashi, Soga, and Kiriyama arrive on the Hawk-1 and fire at the stone kaiju, but do no damage. It fires a beam at the ship, forcing them to the ground.
Dan awakens and transforms into Ultraseven. Kiriyama demands the kaiju explain itself. It responds that it intends to destroy Earth for launching an attack on its home planet, and though Kiriyama attempts to explain the misunderstanding, the kaiju refuses to believe an Earthling.
Ultraseven steps in and the two battle. Gaining the upper hand, he stuns the kaiju and vouches for Kiriyama's words, reiterating that Earthlings do not mean Planet Anno any harm. The kaiju takes his words as an alien, but vows to never let anyone invade its home planet. The eye detaches from its giant stone body and Ultraseven escorts it out of the atmosphere. The Ultra Guard return Hiroshi to his mother and he makes peace with his bullies.
The narrator remarks that there are many unknown beings out in the vast reaches of space, so humanity must use caution while advancing its space development.
This episode was actually the thirteenth produced after the official start of the series' filming.
According to screenwriter Keisuke Fujikawa, he was often asked by Tsuburaya Productions to revise scripts. However, for this particular episode, only a finalized draft exists—a rarity within the Ultraseven series. Additionally, the episode stands out for featuring a child as the main character and exploring the potential negative consequences of scientific progress, themes seldom seen in the series.
According to an interview with producer Ken Kumagai by Yoichi Iwasa:[2]
The inclusion of numerous child actors in this episode was a direct request from TBS. Their aim was to help young viewers connect emotionally with the story, thereby encouraging children to continue watching Ultraseven. Unlike Ultraman, which had a recurring child character like Hoshino, Ultraseven lacked a regular child presence. As a result, child actors were brought in for guest appearances in various episodes. However, with a limited pool of child actors, Tsuburaya Productions often had to recruit young performers from other shows such as Miss Comet and Ken (Chako)-chan.
One of the child actors, Chiharu Inayoshi, had previously played Osamu in Ultraman episodes 26 "The Prince of Monsters: Part 1" and 27 "The Prince of Monsters: Part 2." Due to his charming on-screen presence, he was invited to appear in this episode as well.
The storyline of this episode, where Annon mistakenly perceives Earth's observation rocket as an act of invasion, was deliberately crafted to resemble the plot of Ultra Q episodes 3 "The Gift From Space." However, the production team did not anticipate that this type of story would end up being broadcast consecutively.
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