Directed by Hirochika Muraishi. Written by Kazuyoshi Nakazaki and Hirochika Muraishi. Airdate Dec. 7, 1996.
One fine day in Tokyo, the Ultraman Tiga creative team was lounging around, bandying about ideas for a show that didn’t have a strong overall plan from the beginning. Writer Kazuyoshi Nakazaki said, “Hey, you know what’s a great movie? The Predator.” Writer-director Hirochika Muraishi, answered, “Yeah, it’s a bit like that short story ‘The Most Dangerous Game.’ ” And right there and then the two sat down at a computer and hashed out the script for “The Unleashed Target.”
Or at least that’s my guess at what might have happened. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. The episode just feels like it was cobbled together in a hurry based on the premise of doing an Ultraman riff on Predator and Richard Condon’s oft-adapted “The Most Dangerous Game.”
It’s not a bad episode. I can enjoy Tiga’s B-sides when they have some spectacle and don’t bore me. “The Unleashed Target” is serviceable Ultra-formula entertainment with a hint of something more intriguing that might have emerged with a bit more thinking and a rewrite.
Alien Muzan, a standard chortling extraterrestrial villain, has sent two humanoids from another race to Earth in capsules so he can then hunt them down. The two targets, Lucia (Asami Katsuragi) and Zara (Shogo Shiotani), both have bracelets locked onto their arms — the trophies Alien Muzan must bring back after he’s disintegrated his quarry. When GUTS investigates the crash landings of the capsules, they encounter Lucia. Lucia soon escapes from GUTS, and Daigo becomes fixated on saving her from the fate her hunter has laid out for her.
It’s a decent enough premise, but it doesn’t go much deeper into either predator or prey. The three aliens are almost entirely nonverbal, a concept that may have worked if the story offered more background to the hunt. As it is, the characters feel like blanks, especially Zara, who quickly gets lost in events. Lucia shows off some interesting moves, such as doing a giant leap into the air to retrieve a child’s lost balloon. No one on the crowded city street finds Lucia’s super-leap unusual, but this is Tokyo in the Tiga universe. The population sees giant monsters every week, so what’s the big deal about a semi-superhuman high jump?
Daigo takes a special interest in helping Lucia, but not for any specific reason. Daigo is able to detect her presence, apparently because of his alien Ultra senses, which hints that Tiga has special sympathy toward another alien alone on Earth. Nothing comes of this, however. Daigo takes the lead because he’s the main character and the episode needs to have some emotional hook, weak as it is. The story would’ve worked better if Lucia were the only target sent to Earth so she could have more time to develop a connection with the audience and the cast. Two alien targets needlessly eat up screen time.
In a mediocre episode, we can at least hope that the monster of the week will give us a lift. Alien Muzan may not seem like he can rescue an episode, but he turns out to be a solid surprise when he goes into his giant form for the climax. What at first seems like an uninteresting kaiju becomes suddenly strange when Muzan’s head detaches from between his shoulders and extends out on a long appendage. It’s a clever design that expands on the standard monster costume.
There’s a hint of a more introspective and interesting episode in the coda when Daigo and his teammates have a moment to contemplate one of their failures. The tragic turn doesn’t fully work because what came before had too little weight to it, but it’s still a surprise.
At least we got an odd-looking kaiju out of it.
Rating: Mediocre
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