It’s Friday and time for more of THE ULTRAMAN! We’re up to Episode 10: Strategy of the Monster Mirage. What exactly does that mean? Read on and find out!
Everyone in Japan is watching as the famous magician, George Sataki, is going to teleport himself from the faraway Zarrom Desert into Japan. George is dressed like a cross between Mandrake the Magician and Dracula. Also, teleporting is for wizards, George. Anyway, he’s just left in the middle of the desert by his helicopter and a minute away from starting his act when a giant tail grabs him and drags him under the sand. Instead of George appearing on stage, a giant monster does instead! Everyone panic! By the time the Science Defense Squad gets there, the monster is gone and weirdly, there’s no trace of it–not even a footprint!
Hikari goes to visit the magician’s family while Marume and Tobe head out to the Zarrom Desert to the exact location that George was dropped off. There they find evidence of a monster. Mutsumi shows a photo analysis of the monster and turns out it is a dead ringer for Zarrom, a monster discovered ten years ago in the Zarrom Desert. I don’t know why that wouldn’t be the first suspect. It’s named after the damn place. Or vice versa. I didn’t ask. Back at home, George’s son is being bullied outside his home for his dad being a fake magician while Hikari finds out from the wife that the magician intended to use hypnotism or mind powers to teleport.
…
That’s not how hypnotism works! I imagine they mean telekinesis but the translation isn’t up to snuff. Or even illusion. Especially with what happens next.
From the ocean, Zarrom shows up, but this time there’s plenty of signs to show he’s there as he tramples across the city, leaving destruction in its wake. The team scrambles fighters to attack it but their weapons aren’t doing much as it makes a beeline for the part of town the Sataki’s live in. Then it stops in its track and closes its eyes and another monster appears in a different part of town! Tobe and Marume peel off to attack but the new creature is gone. But how? Hikari has an idea about that and heads back to the Sataki’s house via parachute to hopefully get there before the monster. Can he figure out the mysterious illusions of the monster? Will Ultraman save the day?
I’m happy to say that he does and in epic style. After saving the Sataki boy who runs after the monster with a bat, Ultraman shrinks down and flies into the monster, giving us our own fantastic voyage through a kaiju before he lobotomizes the monster by destroying its brain. Oh and then he uses his powers to make a large glowing box around the monster after returning to normal size and breaks down its molecules to make George appear in a smaller glowing box. No, I’m not making this up.
It’s an interesting episode, if not a great one. Zarrom’s design isn’t much to write home about though I’ll always appreciate a four-legged kaiju not looking like a man crawling around on all fours. I’m also not crazy about magicians unless they are on a Terror Train or a Defender of the Earth so that might be coloring my opinion a bit. This episode gives us another kid but he’s not terribly annoying and is grieving so you can give him a pass on making bad decisions. I won’t forgive them on the hypnotism letting people teleport. It was clearly supposed to be an illusion. ILLUSIONS, MICHAEL!
Anyway, until next time, Ultra Fans!
