The Marked Town

"And so ended the Alien Metron's plan to invade the Earth. The aliens' idea to use humanity's trust was frightening. But have no fear, this is a tale of the far distant future. What? Why's that, you ask? Because we humans still don't trust each other enough for aliens to prey on us that way."

―Narrator

The Marked Town
Ultraseven, episode 8
Information
Airdate	November 19, 1967
Directed by	Akio Jissoji
Written by	Tetsuo Kinjo
Special Effects Directed by	Jun Oki
Continuity
Previous	Space Prisoner 303
Next	Operation Android Zero

The Marked Town is the eighth episode of Ultraseven.

Synopsis

In Kitagawa town, reports of violent cases increased rapidly without reasons. At the same time, an airplane crushed and the pilot is also from Kitagawa-cho. What is happening in the town? Ultra Guard starts investigating, until the members sent to investigation also became voilent. The most likely reason might be the cigarettes...

Plot

In the Kitagawa town, a string of perplexingly fatal accidents have claimed the lives of hundreds of people. Furuhashi and Soga attempt to find answers regarding this seemingly cursed town. While patrolling the town, a crazed man with a rifle runs through the street shooting at people. Not long after, Dan is intercepted by a gravel truck. Discovering the truck has no driver, he is suddenly confronted by a disembodied voice telling him to leave the town. Later, both Furuhashi and Soga go on a rampage and have to be detained. It's finally learned that space seeds hidden within cigarettes by the evil Alien Metron drive smokers insane, turning them into violent, potentially deadly killers.

Cast

• Dan Moroboshi/Ultraseven : Kohji Moritsugu
• Anne Yuri : Yuriko Hishimi
• Shigeru Furuhashi : Sandayu Dokumamushi
• Kaoru Kiriyama : Shoji Nakayama
• Soga : Shinsuke Achiha
• Amagi : Bin Furuya

Guest Actors

• Kaneda : Hisaya Ito
• Young Man (Rifle Wizard) : Shiro Okamoto
• Detective Yoshimura : Takanobu Hozumi
• Detective of Division 4 : Haruo Suzuki
• Aiko Yuri : Miyuki Asakawa
• Hiroshi Yuri : Masaki Tomita
• Mourners :
  • Masaaki Tachibana
  • Akira Kitchoji
  • Kamayuki Tsubono

Voice Actors

• Alien Metron : Shinji Nakae
• Narrator : Hikaru Urano

Suit Actors

• Ultraseven : Koji Uenishi
• Alien Metron : Teruo Aragaki

Appearances

Ultras

• Ultraseven

Kaiju

• Alien Metron

Home Media

• Ultraseven Volume 2 features episodes 5-8.

1999 release

2009 release

Trivia

• This episode has a sequel episode in the series Ultraman Max, called "The Untargeted Town", which was also directed by Jissoji.
• This episode was actually the tenth episode produced after filming officially began.
• This episode is the only collaboration between Akio Jissoji and Tetsuo Kinjo.
  • Kinjo greatly admired Jissoji's direction, having followed his singing shows and studio dramas at TBS.
  • While developing a series about alien invasions, Kinjo, along with Shozo Uehara and others, explored various ideas. Kinjo proposed a disturbing concept where cigarette chemicals cause people to lose their sanity and turn on one another. Since roughly half of Japan smoked then, Kinjo believed this idea was starkly realistic and helped inspire this episode.
  • Before directing this episode, Jissoji worked on the 1967 adult drama Lemon-Like Woman, applying a realist style he carried into this episode, blending realism with surrealism for a unique atmosphere.
  • This episode was filmed simultaneously with episode 12, "From Another Planet with Love."

• The scene where Alien Metron and Dan sit on tatami mats in an old apartment, discussing Earth's fate, is one of the series' most iconic and surreal moments.
  • At the time, TBS planned to export Ultraseven internationally and instructed the staff to minimize Japanese cultural elements. Jissoji deliberately ignored this policy, especially in the scene with Dan and Alien Metron sitting at opposite ends of a small table on tatami mats. This drew producer criticism after airing, leading Jissoji to step back from directing Ultraseven and focus on period dramas in Kyoto.

The finished Alien Metron suit.

• Regarding set design, art director Noriyoshi Ikeya revealed the Alien Metron suit arrived unfinished, delivered all white. Due to tight schedules, there was no time to wait for Ryosaku Takayama to paint it, so Ikeya painted it himself using leftover spray paints in black, white, brown, and some yellow accents.
• The original script called for modern architecture, but the setting was changed to a Shitamachi area after location scouting. The special effects team recreated methane gas rising from the river. For the sunset scene, Ikeya explained they cut a circular hole in the background wall, covered it with plastic and tracing paper, and shone light from behind to simulate sunlight. Filming the sunset took four to five days, with the crew monitoring the changing orange light.
  • However, Kiyoshi Suzuki disagreed in The Return of Ultraseven, claiming the effect was created using an acrylic resin sheet and light filtering instead.
• The apartment used for Alien Metron's hideout was filmed in a building in Hamamachi, Kawasaki Ward. The building was later converted into a factory dormitory and now serves as a regular residence.

Alien Metron's Hide Apartment

Unused footage

• This episode went through three script versions, including two drafts: a preparatory and a final draft. Key changes include:
  • Both drafts removed the accident involving Anne's uncle's Concorde 5, the church funeral scene, and Anne's explanation about the captain's erratic behavior causing the crash—likely influenced by the numerous air disasters worldwide in 1967.
  • In the first draft, the "young man" and Furuhashi clearly display paranoid delusions and attack those around them.
  • The second draft shifted the plot from a plane crash to a taxi driver trying to assault a woman.
  • Regarding human madness, the preparatory draft described smoking-induced insanity triggering global disasters like a nuclear meltdown. The first final draft changed this to smoking causing people to turn against each other, leading to self-destruction. The second final draft took a more ironic view on civilization, highlighting the loss of human trust.

• • In the second draft, Anne quietly says, "With this, Kitagawa Town can finally breathe a sigh of relief," while watching the Alien Metron's ship burn at sunset. This scene was cut from the final episode.
  • The closing narration differs across all three versions, with the final narration distinct from the original script.
  • The cynical narration at the episode's end was not in the original script by screenwriter Tetsuo Kinjo. It was added by director Akio Jissoji, and some sources credit Mamoru Sasaki for writing it at Jissoji's request.
• The filming location for Anne's uncle's house was actually the home of novelist Eiji Yoshikawa in Ome, Tokyo.
• All classical music in the series was composed by Toru Fuyuki. The piece played during the small table scene is titled "SEVEN'S CHAMBER MUSIC".
• Jissoji later adapted this story into the novel Ultraseven: The Targeted Star.
• A trailer for this episode narrated by Hiroki Touchi was released on February 1, 2023 as part of a series of trailers created to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Ultraseven, that also promoted the episode being made free on TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION for a month.