A rogue alien ship attacks Space Station V3 and only a single member of its defense squad, Captain Kurata, survives. The ship crash lands on Earth and kidnaps Ultra Guard members Furuhashi and Amagi, demanding fuel in exchange for their lives. The fiery pilot Kurata and the cool-headed Captain Kiriyama clash over how to handle the delicate situation.
Plot[]
Space Station V3 encounters a rogue alien ship, which suddenly attacks. The station sends out its defense squad led by Captain Kurata, who is a close personal friend of Kiriyama. When all defense ships are shot down, Kurata is presumed dead. The alien ship, out of fuel, secretly lands in the Chichibu Mountains.
Furuhashi and Amagi patrol the area in the Hawk-1 and are surprised to find Kurata and his squadmate alive and still airborne in their ship. They discover the location of the alien craft, which fires on them. The Hawk-1 sustains damage and is forced to make an emergency landing, while Kurata's ship is directly hit, knocking his co-pilot out. He is forced to eject, leaving his squadmate to die in the ensuing crash.
Kurata returns to the TDF base where he is greeted by Staff Officer Manabe, Dan Moroboshi, and Kiriyama, who is happy to see his friend survived. Although Kurata wants to strike at the alien ship immediately, Kiriyama orders him to rest.
Meanwhile, Furuhashi and Amagi are revealed to have been captured by the Alien Iyros. They clone them and send their imposters to headquarters in order to steal fuel. The clones behave strangely and are unable to identify Kurata, which makes Dan suspicious. He follows them into the fuel depot and confronts them, killing them in the process. Kiriyama angrily questions Dan, but the imposters' bodies rapidly melt, confirming their true nature.
Kiriyama contacts the alien ship and arranges an exchange of fuel for the lives of his teammates, frustrating Kurata, who wants to strike directly at the ship and get revenge for his men. The two get into a heated argument and Kiriyama decides to do the exchange himself in the Hawk-3, alone. Kurata attempts to sneak into the Hawk-1 but is caught by Manabe, who gives him the keys to the ship and orders him to look after Kiriyama. Dan and Soga rush to the rendezvous point in the Pointer.
Kiriyama meets with the Alien Iyros' ship but is attacked after delivering the fuel. Kurata arrives to rescue him and the two reconcile. They launch a joint attack on the alien ship, which launches a smaller probe at them to defend itself. Dan and Soga try to rush the ship on foot but Soga is injured in the attempt, forcing Dan to go alone. He transforms into Ultraseven and boards the ship, where he rescues Furuhashi and Amagi.
The alien ship unleashes a giant Alien Iyros and flies off. The monstrous alien fends off several of Ultraseven's attacks, but is ultimately destroyed by a concentrated blast from his Wide Shot. Kurata and Kiriyama catch up to the fleeing space ship and shoot it down together.
Having avenged his men, Kurata returns to Space Station V3 aboard the Hawk-2, and Kiriyama bids him farewell.
The episode originated from producer Yoji Hashimoto's desire to highlight the captain. While Ultraman portrayed a scientific defense team, Ultraseven depicted a unit more akin to the military, inspiring Ichikawa to explore themes of camaraderie. The growing popularity of Ken Takakura’s yakuza films at the time also influenced the creation of Kurata.
While the core of the narrative focuses on the "brotherhood" between Kiriyama and Kurata, it contrasts this bond with the friendship between Dan and Soga.
In hindsight, Ichikawa admits that some elements now seem a bit naïve, even slightly embarrassing, but he remains proud of the story he crafted. He modeled the characters Kiriyama and Kurata after Tetsuo Kinjo and Hajime Tsuburaya, respectively. Meanwhile, Dan and Soga were inspired by Shozo Uehara and Ichikawa himself.
Although Kinjo and Tsuburaya's real-life dynamic was not as overtly "masculine" as Kiriyama and Kurata's, their relationship left a strong impression on the young Ichikawa. This explains why he naturally gravitated toward the more approachable Uehara. For Ichikawa, this episode is tied to deeply personal memories.
Shoji Nakayama said that he had known Hiroshi Minami for years because they had worked together at the same theater, Nakayama as a dancer and Minami as a jazz drummer.[2]
This episode marks Anne Yuri's third absence from the series.
The iconic music cue M46 is titled "Friendship of Old Comrades" in Toru Fuyuki's notes but is known as "Kurata and Kiriyama" on the CD release.[3][4]
This episode had both an early draft and a final script. There are several notable differences between the completed version and these drafts:
In an early draft, the tension between Manabe and Kurata was described more explicitly. Manabe confides in Kiriyama, "I was the one who reassigned him to the space station. Two years ago, during the pursuit of the Iyros saucer, he pushed himself too far, resulting in the destruction of his unit." Both the draft and the final script portrayed Manabe’s harsh view of Kurata, but this element was removed from the final episode.
Another draft scene emphasized the stark contrast between the two captains’ leadership styles. In the scene, Kurata shoots impostors disguised as Furuhashi and Amagi. This leads to a furious confrontation with Kiriyama, who demands to know why Kurata killed his own subordinates. Kurata fires back, "Did you expect me to stand by and watch them steal our fuel? What’s the point of taking robots alive?"
When Kiriyama suggests that they might have been real team members, Kurata icily replies, "It wouldn't matter. If they’re not robots, they’re traitors. Traitors are worse than robots and don’t deserve to live.” He then storms off, leaving Kiriyama to quietly reflect: "He's right . . . but if it were me, I don't think I could pull the trigger." Dan watches him with a sympathetic expression. This exchange was ultimately removed from the final episode.
The depiction of the alien Iyros evolved across the drafts.
In the early draft, the spaceship had no crew and was entirely controlled by an electronic brain. Streams of red, blue, and yellow liquid flowed from pipes at the rear of the ship and merged on the ground to form an Iyros.
In the final draft, the unmanned spaceship operated on an automatic system, and a human-sized Alien Iyros appeared before rapidly growing after encountering the Ultra Guard.
In the finished episode, a saucer rises from the water and fires a beam at a capsule-shaped object, which explodes to reveal Alien Iyros. Some viewers speculated that this creature was not Iyros, but rather a monster under its control.
Ichikawa confirmed that the bird-like creature was Alien Iyros, who was designed to grow larger when angered. Due to production constraints, only one monster suit was made, as the budget also covered new models of the space station, Station Hawk No.1, and team uniforms. Consequently, the single suit was always meant to represent Iyros.
.jpg "Item1 (2).jpg (46 KB)")
