The Suspicious Neighbor

The Suspicious Neighbor
Ultraseven, episode 10
Information
Airdate	December 3, 1967
Directed by	Toshitsugu Suzuki
Written by	Bunzo Wakatsuki
Special Effects Directed by	Toru Matoba
Continuity
Previous	Operation Android Zero
Next	Fly to Devil Mountain

The Suspicious Neighbor is the tenth episode of Ultraseven.

Synopsis

Akira, a young boy with a broken leg, spies peculiar goings on at his neighbors house. He tries to tell his mother, but she doesn't believe him. With recurring strange phenomena, the Ultra Guard get involved. Upon visiting the little boy, Dan vanishes; seemingly sucked into another dimension. In this otherworldly place, Dan meets Icarus, an alien with plans of planetary conquest. Occupying the Fourth Dimension, Dan is powerless -- he cannot change into Ultraseven, nor use his capsule monsters. Meanwhile, the Alien Icarus attacks the Earth in their enormous saucer.

Cast

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

Guest Actors

• Alien Icarus : Ren Yamamoto
• Akira Mizuno : Hiroshi Nakajima
• Ritsuko Mizuno : Kahoru Yuri

Voice Actors

• Narrator : Hikaru Urano

Suit Actors

• Ultraseven : Koji Uenishi
• Alien Icarus : Kunio Suzuki

Appearances

Ultras

• Ultraseven

Kaiju

• Alien Icarus

Home Media

• Ultraseven Volume 3 features episodes 9-11, and 13.

1999 release

2009 release

Trivia

• This episode was actually the seventh produced after the official start of the series' filming.
• This episode had both an early draft and a final draft, with notable differences from the final version:
  • In the draft, a scene depicting a rift to an Fourth Dimension originally involved a dead pigeon. A sharp tear appeared in space, with the pigeon caught at its edge. As the rift gradually closed, the trapped pigeon eventually fell to the ground. In the final version, this was changed to show the pigeon suspended mid-air, disappearing in front of Dan due to the dimensional distortion.
  • To visualize the fourth-dimensional space, the draft 1 featured Amagi throwing a red ink bottle out of a window. The bottle would fly through the space, only to vanish abruptly. In the draft 2, this was revised to a red baseball bat, with the script describing the space as resembling "a three-dimensional abstraction viewed through a kaleidoscope." The baseball bat twisted, emitted an eerie echo, and spun rapidly through the distorted space. This sequence was ultimately cut from the final version.
  • In the draft 1, the Alien Icarus explains how they discovered the fourth dimension: "When our photon rocket exceeded its maximum speed, we accidentally fell into and discovered this world. Our science has since developed a device capable of connecting this alternate dimension with the three-dimensional world", was omitted in the draft 2 but retained in the final version.
• According to an interview with art director Noriyoshi Ikeya by Yoichi Iwasa:
  • Designing the Fourth Dimension set proved to be one of the production's biggest challenges. Initially, this task was supposed to fall under the main production art team. However, since the setting involved an alien environment, the responsibility shifted to the special effects art team. Reportedly, when the main team approached them with, "Figure something out," intense discussions ensued.
  • Although the work on Mighty Jack had not yet started, Tohl Narita was already focused solely on designing aliens and machinery. For Ultraman, Narita had previously created concept art for dimensional effects, such as with Bullton, which were later processed to achieve the desired look. However, that method wasn't applicable here.
  • The idea to use balloons was apparently proposed by Ikeya, who suggested, "Just rolling some balloons around might give us the right effect." As for incorporating animal bones, it might have been Narita's suggestion—though this remains uncertain.
  • Reportedly, Akihiko Iguchi, who was part of the Kaiju Booska production team at the time, was brought in to assist with this episode. His tasks included continuously making yellow balloons for the fourth dimension scenes.

• It is said that during the post-dubbing of this episode, Yuriko Hishimi, who played Anne, had a hoarser voice due to a hangover from drinking too much the night before. According to Hishimi, Ren Yamamoto specifically guided her when she was delivering the line "Dan~!", encouraging her to put more emotion into her performance.
• For a few frames when Alien Icarus is teleporting towards the camera, the staff members who moved Alien Icarus's ears' hands can be seen.
• This episode was later featured in New Ultraman Retsuden episode 11 "The Suspicious Neighbor! Seven vs. Alien Icarus."