Directed by Tatsumi Ando. Written by Shozo Uehara. Airdate August 25, 1968.
We’ve arrived at the last episode of Ultraseven before the epic two-part finale. What better way to pass the time than with a throwback to the beginning? “Who Are You?” feels like it could’ve been developed from an unused Ultra Q script, and it wouldn’t take much work to turn it back into one. This moody, low-key episode is a pleasant reminder of the franchise’s origins — to the point that I almost wish it were even more like Ultra Q.
Any fan of The Twilight Zone will find the upfront premise familiar, since the identity-loss story is nearly identical to that of the Charles Beaumont-penned episode, “Person or Persons Unknown.” A working-class fellow discovers one day that no one in his life remembers who he is or that he ever existed.
Sato is a businessman who drunkenly stumbles out of a taxi at the drab housing complex where he lives with his wife, Toshie (Miki Sanjo), and his son, Ichiro (Takashi Fujimoto). Neither of them recognizes Sato. The local policeman doesn’t know him either. No one in the neighborhood remembers him at all. What’s going on? Sato … who are you?
This is Ultraseven, so we’re going to receive more answers than in a Twilight Zone episode, and part of the answer will be, naturally, “aliens.” Sato catches sight of several bizarre-looking humanoids around the apartments, prompting him to realize his problem may require the assistance of the Ultra Guard. He also wonders if someone is putting on “late-night TV theater,” a funny assumption. Before Sato can explain the situation over the phone to the doubtful Furuhashi (sounds like plain old police work to him), the strange beings surround the man, and he vanishes.
Before we go any further, let’s pause to admire actor Akiji Kobayashi, who plays Sato. Kobayashi was the beloved Captain Muramatsu from Ultraman, and he had a key role in the Ultra Q episode “Challenge from the Year 2020.” It’s great to have him back, and his performance as a desperate and confused man whose life has become a nightmare helps ground the first half.
Sato’s disappearance coincides with the detection of strange sound waves in the area, prompting the Ultra Guard to investigate the housing complex. The same people who didn’t know who Sato was last night are now worried about his disappearance. When Dan and Furuhashi hunt around the complex, they make a major discovery that uncovers the mystery of what happened to Sato-san — but in doing so, they also discover a hostile alien settlement program and imminent attack.
Even though the initial mystery surrounding Sato is explained midway through, the episode never loses its sense of the uncanny and the weird, which extends into the visuals in the climactic showdown. Ultraseven shares similarities with Ultra Q in its science-fiction approach and willingness to downplay giant monsters, and “Who Are You?” is where the original show in the franchise shows its influence most strongly.
The alien villains of the week, Alien Huk, are memorably adorable. They look like humanoid Shar-Peis. They use a unique fighting style during the finale against Seven. The suit performers were acrobats from the Koyama Sport Center who fight Seven with flips and somersaults choreographed like a gymnastics performance.
Alien Huk’s land seizure scheme is similar to that of the aliens in “The Vanishing City.” The Alien Huk version is more complex and wildly inefficient when you take any time to consider it. Dan has to do a lot of hypothesizing to explain the bizarre events to Furuhashi. The weird visuals showing the movement and rise and fall of the complex’s buildings sell what’s happening much better than the dialogue and help sustain the weird mood.
There’s an undercurrent of despair around the cramped, ugly-looking housing complex where most of the action occurs. According to Furuhashi, 15,000 people live in this place, and everything about it is bleak and joyless. The opening with a drunk businessman returning to this “home” feels like the start of social commentary. That soon evaporates as the alien story takes over. The episode ends with a light joke about Sato returning to his family, but there was an opportunity to loop back to the beginning with a final hit of the strange and even more inexplicable. That’s how “Person or Persons Unknown” ends, and an Ultra Q version would have done something similar. This is one of the places where I wish the episode had drawn even more from Ultra Q.
However, this remains an enjoyable episode among the strong last batch of Ultraseven episodes. It maintains an aura of mystery even after the initial enigma is solved. The action in the last third, taking place at night and featuring strange visuals and tricks from Alien Huk as they fight Seven and the Ultra Hawks, feels like a natural outgrowth of the earlier eerie atmosphere.
Rating: Good
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