Directed by Masaki Harada. Written by Kazunori Saito. Airdate March 29, 1997.
Rena asked Daigo out at the height of the apocalyptic events of “The Devil’s Judgment.” This episode opens on the apparent outcome of that: the two are on a date at a rural zoo on a pleasant sunny day. A zoo seems the right weekend getaway for them. (Although the two of them making jokes that the cows resemble Horii is a touch rude.) Anyway, because this is Ultraman Tiga, Rena and Daigo’s date is interrupted when a giant monster bursts through the zoo grounds.
The tunneling monster is Molerat, a pudgy and semi-cute kaiju that takes a nap right after emerging. GUTS gears up for an attack on Molerat before it can cause death and destruction — the usual stuff kaiju do, even though the sleeping monster appears to pose no immediate threat. Shinjoh is the team member most ready to start blasting lasers from the GUTS Wing, but Rena makes an appeal for mercy. Rena is an animal lover, as some helpful montages of the zoo creatures show, and she suspects this “monster” is no different than the other animals. Maybe it’s as “sweet” as they are.
This ignites the episode’s central conflict: a debate over what actually makes something a kaiju and what humans should do about them. Shinjoh believes that all kaiju do is make trouble. As he tells Daigo, “Just by being huge, that thing frightens people and stops the economy.” However, Yazumi discovers that this particular monster has been mutated from a normal mole rat to giant size through human contamination of nature. Rena protests that sheer size isn’t reason enough to kill a creature that’s done no harm so far — especially when its enormous size isn’t its fault, but the fault of humans.
There’s a time limit on how long this debate over kaiju rights can go on. If Molerat is indeed mutated from a mole-like animal, it will turn active at night and seek to sate its hunger on the nearest living things.
This episode is transparently Ultraman Tiga’s attempt to create an equivalent of Ultraman’s classic episode, “The Monster Graveyard” — a “Sympathy for the Kaiju” story. We’ll see more and more of these kaiju-kindness episodes in the Heisei era. In fact, Ultraman Cosmos is an entire show based on this premise. But “The Monster Zoo” is better than simply an imitation of “The Monster Graveyard.” It works with the established GUTS characters, making the debate over what to do about Molerat a reflection of what we know about Shinjoh, Iruma, Daigo, and especially Rena.
Shinjoh’s “attack-first” approach seems bloodthirsty, but he has an ally on the ground: Mr. Yamamoto (Mansaku Fuwa), the animal handler at the zoo who cares for the cows in the direct line of Molerat’s potential attack. Yamamoto, like Rena, is an animal lover who doesn’t want to see the animals he cares for come to harm, and that humanizes Shinjoh’s superficially cold philosophy about kaiju. Iruma, as befits her phlegmatic and balanced personality, is willing to hold back the attack on Molerat as long as the kaiju doesn’t threaten lives or property.
But night falls, and the threat does emerge. It’s up to Daigo when he transforms into Tiga to find a resolution that will work for everyone. Tiga’s solution is a clever one that hits the right emotional notes to satisfy the opposing camps of Rena and Shinjoh.
The action of the finale feels like a blueprint for many Ultraman Cosmos episodes to come. I have some issues with Cosmos overall, but the occasional Ultra episode that emphasizes an Ultra warrior using the power of gentleness is a welcome change when done right. “The Monster Zoo” does it right. It’s an intelligent story that understands how to put its characters at the center of an ethical dilemma.
I’m happy that the show treats Rena and Daigo’s romance in a natural, unforced way. Their growing affection is occurring on the fringes — in this case, serving as bookends for the story. It’s not the primary focus of any episode, but rather a series of gradual steps that come out of them working together. Daigo may not be the strongest of the main cast, but when he’s with Rena, we see the best of him.
Rating: Good
Previous: Memory of a Pale Night
Next: GUTS Base Under Attack
The Ultra Project 