Directed by Shinichi Kamizawa. Written by Hidenori Miyazawa and Shinichi Kamizawa. Airdate Dec. 28, 1996.
I have affection for the offbeat Ultra episodes: the ones that take unexpected trips to different genres or spotlight a quirky new character as protagonist of the week. Some of these episodes are among the best in the history of the franchise, such as “Kanegon’s Cocoon” and “The Monster Tamer and the Boy.” Others, like “The Battle Between Red and Blue,” are merely charming and put a smile on my face for a half hour. You can’t spend every episode beating up monsters and alien invaders to save the world. Sometimes you need to just sit down with a nice old lady and eat popcorn and watch some TV.
The central conflict of the story sounds like business as usual for Ultraman Tiga. Two members of separate alien races have come to Earth to recruit humans as soldiers in their ongoing conflict. Redol and Abolbus share the planet of Standel, with Redol active in day and Abolbus at night. After Abolbus started a war to seize total control of the planet, both sides sought out fighters who could work in both day and night conditions. Agents of the two races have come to Earth to kidnap athletes and other powerful humans to turn them into their day-and-night warriors.
Aliens taking their outer space conflict to Earth is a fine premise, but the script has other business in mind: Redol ends up crashing (as in “crashing on the couch,” not crashing a spaceship) at the home of a sweet old widow (Shizuko Azuma). The old lady, who refers to Redol as “young man,” believes he’s nothing more peculiar than a fellow with unusual taste in modern fashion. She teaches the alien not to be violent and to abandon its kidnapping quest. Redol helps her by defending her from adolescent bullies and carrying her around town on his back.
The old lady — never given a proper name — is charming, polite, and firm about defending her friend. She’s genuinely happy to have someone stay at her house and ease some of her loneliness. A simple shot of her feeding pigeons in the park and the way she addresses the shrine of her dead husband tell us a lot about her solitude. All the scenes with the old lady and Redol are sweet without becoming saccharine. It’s all adorable.
The GUTS parts of the episode wisely don’t try to go darker as contrast. They get quite silly on theit own. Once Redol telepathically explains the conflict between it and Abolbus, GUTS plans to lure the other alien out with a show of strength. In other words, Shinjoh, Munkata, and Daigo stage a ridiculous nighttime street fight they hope will attract Abolbus’s attention as possible kidnap subjects. The three of them lumbering around and trying not to hurt each other while acting like street toughs is laughably unconvincing … but it ends up working anyway because the episode has the right tone to make it work.
Horii isn’t asked to take part in the faux fight, perhaps because his teammates don’t think he’s athletic enough. He instead stays with the old lady and Redol to watch television and have tea. This is one of the funniest things to ever happen in Ultraman Tiga. That Horri hardly objects to this assignment is perfectly in character. And Redol is wrapped in a blanket. Awwww…
The episode eventually reaches its climax with Tiga battling a giant Abolbus. It’s an adequate action ending, and I always like city fights set at night. There are a couple of freeze frames to add some Akio Jissoji-like style.
But nobody comes away from watching “The Battle Between Red and Blue” thrilled that Tiga defeated yet another alien invader. They come away remembering Horii hanging out with a sweet old woman and her alien roommate while they eat snacks.
Rating: Good
Previous: The Revived Demon
Next: Golza Strikes Back!
The Ultra Project 