"In a few years, we may be able to travel to the Moon. Further, there is no definitive proof that there is no life on the Moon or Saturn. Thus, if we are able to go to the moon or another planet, it is possible that we may someday face the same fate as that strange girl."
―Narrator
The Stolen Ultra Eye(盗まれたウルトラ・アイ, Nusumareta Urutora Ai) is the thirty-seventh episode of Ultraseven.
Dan was in pursuit of a flying sauser entering Earth, when the little girl Maya on board suddenly attacked him and stole his Ultra Eye. Alien Magellan attempted to seal Ultraseven and destroy Earth with an Interplanetary Ballistic Missile. While Maya waits for someone to take her back home, Dan informs her that she has been deserted here on Earth...
According to an interview with Yoichi Iwasa, the episode's screenwriter Shinichi Ichikawa recalled:[1]
Reflecting on his past, Ichikawa shared that he used to dance and bowl in cabarets around Shinjuku and Roppongi, often playing until dawn. He quickly connected with strangers, enjoying conversations, dancing, and games. When they shared their hometowns, they came from places like Hiroshima, Nagano, and Akita—none were true natives of Edo (Tokyo), but all were full of dreams.
At dawn, they would stumble into the bright sunlight, still drunk, feeling an unexplainable fatigue and emptiness. When parting, no one exchanged names or contact details, each returning alone to their lodgings. Wrapped in thin blankets, sleep eluded them despite exhaustion. Loneliness crept in quietly, and soon tears fell. These feelings formed the emotional core of Ichikawa's writing for Ultraseven.
Ichikawa poured his sense of "youthful loneliness and desolation" directly into this episode. He channeled his experience of moving from Nagasaki to Tokyo through Dan, while Maya represented the young women he briefly met in cabarets from Hiroshima and Akita. These dream-chasing youths in Tokyo faced an unfillable loneliness and emptiness.
During the drafting phase, the episode was titled "The Target Dances" (標的は踊る, Biai wa Odoru), but Maya's character differs significantly from the final version. In the draft, Maya is ready to die from the start. When Dan forcibly retrieves the Ultra Eye, Maya chooses suicide upon realizing the mission failed. Dan's feelings for Maya are portrayed as love at first sight. According to Shinichi Ichikawa, the episode is mainly "a story about Dan's first love."[2]
This draft depicts Maya as impulsive, intuitive, decadent, and destructive—a young woman burning with idealism but haunted by loneliness.
When Furuhashi calls her out, Maya smiles as she walks out, growing even more amused by the confusion she causes. She reveals she once contemplated suicide but rejected it. When Dan asks her name, she stops smiling and stares at him, then replies with a smile, "Call me Maya."
In another scene, Maya, with a hint of sadness, says, "Four more hours, and it'll all be over." When Dan points out this means death for everyone, she calmly responds, "Of course, it's not just me. You, Earth, the Sun… everyone will die together."
The draft includes a scene where Furuhashi and others discuss an enormous threat. Furuhashi repeatedly adds zeros to a paper, calculating explosive power—starting from a one-million-ton bomb (Tyranoton), increasing by a million times (Kasumaton), then another hundred times... The paper fills with countless zeros. Amagi interrupts, "It's Bramton!" As the numbers become incomprehensible, Furuhashi crumples the paper in frustration. Soga asks, "If it's a Bramton-level bomb, is Earth doomed?" Amagi replies, "Not just Earth. The entire solar system's planets would turn to meteors!"
The draft also depicts Captain Kurata leading V3's failed counterattack, the destruction of the V2 space station, and a failed diversion involving Ultra Hawk No.1 (split into three parts) and Ultra Hawk No.2. Eventually, command orders a desperate nuclear counterattack. While the sci-fi framework remains in the final script, the plot shifts focus to Dan and Maya's emotional connection, changing the story's balance significantly.
The script cover titled "Another's Star"
The provisional title was "Another's Star" (他人の星, Tanin no Hoshi), but the producer changed it to suit the show's target audience—children.
At the episode's end, Dan's inner monologue expresses his feelings for Maya. The draft reads: "Maya… I still have many questions for you… I'm an alien… how could I not be your friend?" The final version is: "Why didn't you even try to live on another planet? I'm an alien, just like you were."
The draft shows Dan reclaiming the Super Eye from Maya and transforming into Ultraseven to try and divert the interstellar missile "Bramaton," but he fails. Maya's left hand then turns into a strange alien hand as she presses the music box button, choosing to end her life.
Budget limits meant no costumed aliens or monsters appear in this episode, and even Ultraseven's action scenes are brief.[3]
The main confrontation happens in a small bar called "Noah," resembling a stylish nightclub. With a live band playing, young people dance or play games, reflecting the influence of American hippie culture and Japan's go-go dancing craze at the time.
The music at Noah features Takeshi Terauchi performing "Blue Star" and "Incomplete (Symphony No.8)."
The jukebox Maya uses lacks the "I" button, which some interpret as symbolizing "absence of love" or "loss of self." However, this was a practical design choice to avoid confusion between "I" and "1," common in jukeboxes then.[4]
The episode's final scene, where Dan walks through Tokyo's streets, was filmed at the Lotteria near Shinjuku's East Exit.
This scene was reportedly shot guerrilla-style. It was originally planned for Dōgenzaka, but lighting issues moved the location to Shinjuku. Dan boarding the Pointer was filmed in front of the fountain plaza at Setagaya Sports Center.
Planetarium interior scenes were filmed at Gotoh Planetarium, now replaced by Shibuya Hikarie.
The band The Echoes, known for performing Ultraseven no Uta, is believed to have made an uncredited cameo. Although a band performs onscreen, viewers hear The Wonders' music. The filming location was either the Toho Built movie set or a TBS set. It's unclear if this was truly The Echoes or a temporary stand-in band.[5]
Ichikawa later reused some elements from this episode in his script for Keiji kun (Part 1), notably the jukebox as a central plot device. The crime drama revolves around a PYG (a Japanese band) single played on the jukebox, which exposes false witness testimonies and uncovers a murder mystery.[6][7]
A trailer for this episode narrated by Mamoru Miyano was released on June 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.[8]
