End of disc alert! We’ve only got one left. The end is in sight! At least until I do another series. I might give myself a bit of a reprieve for my sanity, though.
This episode opens with Hikari, Mutsumi and Marume being roused in the night to check out reports of a floating island. Mutsumi asks if they can go on holiday afterward and they are all wearing bathing suits underneath their uniforms. Captain Gondo agrees but tells them not to make any plans until the mission is done.
Mutsumi lands to talk to the sailors of an oil tanker instead of using the comm for some reason. They’re a bunch of assholes who don’t believe the talk of the floating island and laugh at her. In an instant karma move, the floating island smashes into the tanker, splitting it in two and setting it ablaze. It’s also not an island, but a giant battleship.
Someone needs to get their glasses checked if they think that thing was an island.
After diving into the water, Mutsumi awakens in a strange hold wearing only her bathing suit because her uniform caught on fire. Convenient that she was wearing it. She leaves and finds she is on the battleship. The captain of the ship, a short old man named Captain Hattari tells her he rescued her because he made a mistake in running over the tanker. He’s not on Earth to cause problems. He’s only here to catch the most dangerous prey ever–Ultraman. It turns out that he was hired by Roigar of the Heller Empire to do so and Captain Hattari has hired a bunch of space sailors to help him.
Back at the Ultria, the team is searching for Mutsumi. They find the sailors from the ship and rescue them and are told that Mutsumi was brought about the strange vessel. Then they get a bead on the battleship and head out to intercept. Captain Gondo knows they can not attack with Mutsumi on board so he sends Hikari out on a boat as part of a rescue mission. When Hikari fires a flare signaling everything is ok, then they can attack with the Ultria.
Hikari rides out to an island near where the ship is docked and sees Mutsumi having the time of her life, diving into the water, swimming and talking with Captain Hattari. She is trying to convince him to give up on catching Ultraman, but he is set on it as it is the challenge of the lifetime. They head back to the battleship for breakfast, with Mutsumi swimming the whole way for some reason. When she gets on board, she overhears the crew on a comm with Roigar and it turns out that they are Heller’s soldiers in disguise!
Mutsumi goes to warn Captain Hattari as they are going to doublecross him when he completes his mission and runs into Hikari. Before she can tell him what is going on, they are surrounded by soldiers. The two put up a valiant fight, with Mutsumi kicking much ass in her bikini. That should be the name of the episode, honestly. But eventually Hikari is knocked overboard and Mutsumi is captured. The flare is set off and Ultria begins its attack. Even worse, Hikari can’t contact them to tell them Mutsumi is still on board the battleship.
Can Ultraman stop the battle between the two forces so they can save the Captain and defeat the even soldiers? Will someone get Mutsumi some clothes?
The answer to both of those is of course, no, and we are all the more enriched by it. I certainly wasn’t expecting another fan-service episode like. I thought we were done with that after the shower scene. I guess not! Not a bad episode and in a change of pace, there is no giant monster to fight! The main enemy here is misunderstanding. Hell, even Captain Hattari survives it. Lately they have been randomly killing off the friendly aliens so it is nice that he survives. Also nice to see more discussion with the alien, though I think hanging out at the beach with them is a little bit too far for meeting them minutes ago, Mutsumi.
That’s all for this time. See you next time for the next installment, Ultra Fans!
