It is time for The Ultraman Episode 33: Duel with Ultraman!
This title is a complete misnomer. It really should have been called Ultraman vs. The Boogens, because that is what it is. There’s very little duel and more underground action. Anyway, let’s get into it.
The episode opens with a shot of a tropical beach and people sunning and enjoying themselves. Then the tranquility is shattered by jets of magma shooting into the air from the ocean and a giant tsunami washing over everything. This is happening all over the Pacific, where it seems that nature has gone awry and causing natural disasters. The Science Defense Squad scrambles as Captain Gondo doesn’t believe that these are naturally occurring events, as there were no warning signs.
They head to Merci Island, where there has never been any earthquakes but currently they are experiencing one. Gondo has the team take the Passenger II–a giant drill–down into the Earth while he and Pig stay topside and monitor everything. Tobe is against it since they haven’t taken the Passenger II out anywhere but the captain overrules them so off they go.
After an underwater current sweeps them away and damages the radar, Hikiar and Mutsumi go out to investigate while Tobe fixes everything. In the cave, they find strange green octopus/starfish/slug monsters that seem to be eating the rocks. The creatures are too small in number to be responsible for the disasters, but that’s only because the two don’t see the monsters combining with each other and growing larger.
Uh oh.
Hikari and Mutsumi get back on board the Passenger II just as more of the creatures, which are called Gamiba, attack. I think Boogens has a better ring to it but what do I know? The Gamiba land on the craft and start to eat it, so the team escapes and starts blasting them off. After Marume kills a bunch with his cannon, the remaining creatures combine into a giant Gamiba that actually looks cool, sort of like Porunga from DBZ. It’s a large, green serpentine creature with wings with spines that connect from the bottom of its two arms. It can also spit acid!
The giant Gamiba stomps on the ground and creates a fissure that magma pours out of, surrounding the Passenger II. The crew starts to pass out so Hikari rides them out of the lava and into safety before passing out himself. Topside, the captain frantically tries to raise the team to make sure they are alive. Will they awaken so they can get out in time?
Considering this isn’t the end of the series, it seems likely they will!
Decent episode. It’s always fun when it gets switched up and the team gets to go somewhere interesting like underground. I’m not entirely sure how the monsters ended up causing all the disasters if they were in one place but hey, it worked.
We basically got two monster designs this episode, with the smaller ones looking nasty but not terrifying, and then the larger one which is more suitable for fighting Ultraman. Can’t say it was much of a duel, though. Ultraman dips the creature in magma, burning off its left arm. The Gamiba tries to escape by flying up to the surface. Ultraman pursues. The creature tries to eat him so Ultraman fires a beam right down its throat. The end. Really should have been called “Gamiba Fucks Around and Finds Out.” That probably wouldn’t go over well with the networks though.
That’s all for this installment. See you next time for the next installment, Ultra Fans!
