Ultraman Ep. 36: Don’t Shoot, Arashi!

December 17, 2025December 17, 2025 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Kazuho Mitsuta. Written by Masahiro Yamada. Airdate March 19, 1967.

Science Patrol Member Daisuke Arashi is one of the character templates of the Ultra Series: the action-oriented, shoot-first defense team member who’s always ready to rumble with the monster of the week, whether it’s a smart move or not. This archetype has shown up many times since. The action-guy In Ultraseven, Furuhashi, is even played by the same actor who plays Arashi, Sandayu Dokumamushi. Defense teams need a person like this to balance the more peaceful and utopian approach the shows often take. There has to be someone around to say, “Let’s just shoot the damn thing!” even if that tactic rarely works. And poor Arashi has so often been wrong about shooting first.

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Ultraman Ep. 35: The Monster Graveyard

December 6, 2025December 17, 2025 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Akio Jissoji. Written by Mamoru Sasaki. Airdate March 12, 1967.

As soon as large numbers of children started to watch Ultra Q — a development TBS and Tsuburaya Productions didn’t predict — this episode was inevitable. Kids love monsters, and when Ultra Q changed into Ultraman, the kids got even more monsters. But as the youngsters rooted for Ultraman to defeat the monsters of the week, they also started to feel affection for those monsters. The show developed along with its young viewers, showing empathy toward these strange creatures in episodes like “Terrifying Cosmic Rays” and “Phantom of the Snow Mountains.” At last came “The Monster Graveyard,” a heartfelt and humorous memorial for all the innocent beasts who gave their lives in battle with Ultraman so children could be entertained.

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Ultraman Ep. 34: A Gift From the Sky

November 22, 2025December 6, 2025 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Akio Jissoji. Written by Mamoru Sasaki. Airdate March 5, 1967.

Have you ever watched an episode of Ultraman and thought, “This is fun, but I wish the show was structured more like a Road Runner cartoon?” Good news, there’s an episode just for you! Really, an episode for everyone, because “A Gift From the Sky” is a hilarious farce that flattens the show’s formula into a prolonged Sisyphean comedy. It’s the episode with the line “Aim for its butthole” and where Hayata mistakenly tries to use a spoon to transform into Ultraman.

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Ultraman Ep. 33: The Forbidden Words

November 12, 2025November 22, 2025 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Toshitsugu Suzuki. Written by Tesuo Kinjo. Airdate Feb. 26, 1967.

Meet the third of the great trio of Ultraman alien villains: Alien Mefilas. Not as famous as Alien Baltan. Not as tricky as Alien Zarab. But he’s the top of the heap: a baddie who’s the Ultra Universe’s hybrid of Mister Mxyzptlk and Galactus. He’s here to play word games, tempt humans with power, and crush the spirit of an entire planet — and brute force may not be enough to stop him.

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Ultraman Ep. 32: Endless Counterattack

October 25, 2025November 12, 2025 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Toshitsugu Suzuki. Written by Keisuke Fujikawa. Airdate Feb. 19, 1967.

In what feels like a flashback to the earliest episodes, “Endless Counterattack” is a formulaic rampaging monster story with a structure similar to middle-of-the-road episodes like “Science Patrol, Move Out” and “Lightning Operation.” Giant monster Zumbolar appears in the wilds and causes massive destruction with its fiery powers. The Science Parol must find a way to stop it as it trundles toward Tokyo. Ide comes up with an invention, Hayata changes into Ultraman, and the problem is solved after a whole bunch of stuff goes kablooie.

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Ultraman Ep. 31: Who Goes There?

October 11, 2025October 25, 2025 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Yuzo Higuchi. Written by Taro Kaido. Airdate Feb. 12, 1967.

Ultraman’s fighting style evolved over the show’s run. Starting with a close-contact, grounded style, Ultraman became more agile and flexible as Bin Furuya, the actor inside the suit, got more accustomed to the costume. The fight choreography changed to match. Furuya picked “Who Goes There?” as a peak of this fighting evolution. He’s right: the battle between Ultraman and the giant Vampire Plant Keronia is among the most athletic and dynamic in the show. Furuya as Ultraman executes impressive full-body flips and flying double-leg kicks that must have required intense training and practice. Furuya was right to feel proud — all of it looks fantastic.

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Ultraman Ep. 30: Phantom of the Snow Mountains

September 20, 2025December 6, 2025 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Yuzo Higuchi. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Feb. 5, 1967.

Tetsuo Kinjo contributed numerous excellent scripts to the first three Ultra shows. “Garmon Strikes Back,” “The Blue Stone of Baradhi,” and “The Ultra Guard Goes West” are some of his best straightforward action episodes. But Kinjo is best known for stories drawn from his childhood experience seeing the Japanese Empire’s oppression of the native Okinawans. In these scripts, Kinjo explored outsiders facing prejudice, sprinkling in elements of tragedy and the supernatural. “Phantom of the Snow Mountains” isn’t Kinjo’s finest script (I’d argue that’s Ultraseven’s “Ambassador of the Nonmalt”), but it may be his most representative: a sad, fable-like tale of a shunned girl and her connection to a possibly supernatural snowbeast.

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Ultraman Ep. 29: Challenge to the Underground

September 10, 2025November 30, 2025 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo and Ryu Minamikawa. Airdate Jan. 29, 1967.

After a string of great episodes, Ultraman was due for something on the routine side. When Goldon, a gold-consuming monster, bursts from the side of Mt. Otayama only seconds into the episode, it signals that “Challenge to the Underground” is going to be fairly standard monster-centric material. Which it is, but the average Ultraman episode is still a decent time.

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Ultraman Ep. 28: Human Specimens 5 & 6

September 3, 2025October 25, 2025 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Masahiro Yamada. Airdate Jan. 22, 1967.

Samaji Nonagase was one of the more prolific early Ultra directors. While he doesn’t receive as much attention as fan-favorite directors Akio Jissoji and Kazuho Mitsuta, he helmed several classic episodes: “Kanegon’s Cocoon” (Ultra Q), “The Monster Anarchy Zone” (Ultraman), and “The Secret of the Lake” (Ultraseven). He also wrote scripts under the pen name Ryu Minamikawa. He was fascinated by Alfred Hitchcock and liked to add gradually building tension to some of his episodes, such as the home-invasion story of “Project Blue.” “Human Specimen 5 & 6” is Nonagase’s best exploration of the suspense-centered story, and it helped to establish the future tone of Ultraseven and its parade of weird, crafty alien invaders.

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Ultraman Ep. 26 & 27: The Monster Highness

August 20, 2025December 12, 2025 ~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hajime Tsuburaya. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo and Bunzo Wakatsuki. Airdate Jan. 8 & 15, 1967.

The unofficial promise Ultraman makes to viewers is that it will deliver the thrills of giant monster movies in a TV-sized package. No episodes achieve this better than the first two-parter* in Ultra Series history. “The Monster Highness” is a VFX extravaganza that introduces the most famous kaiju in the franchise and smashes the thrill button as hard as it can with kinetic fights, heavy military action, and mass-scale urban destruction. Children all over Japan were on edge after the cliffhanger of Part 1 where Ultraman suffered a true defeat, ensuring that Part 2 would become one of the most viewed episodes of any Ultra show.

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