Daicon Film's Return of Ultraman

Daicon Film's Return of Ultraman (DAICONFILM版 帰ってきたウルトラマン) is a 1983 Japanese superhero kaiju parody fan film directed by Hideaki Anno.[2] The film is a sequel to two previous Ultraman fan films produced by Anno; in the latter of those two, Ultraman leaves Earth, and this film's title refers to Ultraman's return after the events of the previous film.[2]

Plot

One day, a meteorite called "Lambda-1" suddenly landed on the streets of Hiratsune City, instantly reducing the entire central area to rubble. At the base of the MAT (Monster Attack Team), a monster elimination team affiliated with the Earth Defense Organization, Captain Ibuki receives a report of the damage and explains to the members gathered in the command center.

That night, MAT created a computer simulation based on various collected data, recreating the meteorite's impact and the damage to Hiratsune City. The meteorite was determined to be 60 meters in diameter and 130 kg in mass. And soon after, three life forms emerged from the meteorite and began to move.

Captain Ibuki speculates that the meteorite is a capsule used to send a monster to Earth, and concludes that the series of destructive acts is leading to an alien invasion.

He ordered his team members to launch the Mat Gyro and Mat Arrow 1. As the team members are sent out, Captain Ibuki receives a message from the Earth Defense Force General Staff Headquarters through Nishi (the command room operator) stating that "everyone near the meteorite's impact point has been wiped out, with no survivors.

They explain that if the MAT base reaches "Level 4," it means that the use of thermonuclear weapons against both the meteorite and the monsters is unavoidable." Meanwhile, the three lifeforms hiding underground begin to wreak havoc in the urban areas of Hiratsune City.

Three Mat Gyro units arrive on the scene and begin their attack on the monsters. The Matt Gyro Force fought back bravely and temporarily succeeded in repelling the three life forms, but immediately afterwards, the three life forms combined to form the giant monster "Bug Jewel" (キルアン "Kiruan")

Upon receiving this report, Captain Ibuki orders the launch of Matt Arrow 1, which is equipped with a laser cannon unit to reinforce the Matt Gyro, and also orders the Matt Gyro Unit to attack with napalm bombs until Matt Arrow 1 arrives. Officer Hayakawa, who received orders from Captain Ibuki, still hesitates to attack the city where there are over 5,000 survivors. Still, the order to attack with napalm bombs is not rescinded, so the city of Hiratsune is turned into a sea of flames by the napalm bombs and rocket attacks.

The Matt Arrow 1 arrives and fires its laser cannon at the monster, but a barrier created by the monster blocks the beam. Officer Ibuki, aboard the Matt Arrow 1, attempts to escape the scene by detaching and jettisoning the laser cannon's battery pack unit, which has run out of energy, but his Matt Arrow 1 is shot down by the monster's attack.

Over 20 hours have passed since the meteorite fell, but still no effective means of attacking the monster has been found. After returning to the base, the troops were forced to wait for orders from the Earth Defense Force General Staff Headquarters.

At that moment, an order is received from the Earth Defense Force General Staff Headquarters: "At 8:00 a.m. today, attack the monster with thermonuclear weapons." After receiving orders, Captain Ibuki calmly transitions the MAT base to "Level 4" and orders the Mat Arrow 1 to be equipped with thermonuclear weapons, declaring that "I will personally carry out the attack." However, Officer Hayakawa tried to release the Level 4, saying, "There may still be over 5,000 survivors at the location where the monster is. What's more, Officer Ibuki, who was shot down, may also be alive. We can't just leave them to die!"

He pushed aside the other officers and desperately persisted with his captain. However, the captain scolds him, saying, "Avenge your comrades. Are you still an Earthling?" and he is placed under arrest and confined to his room. Officer Hayakawa then holds his transformation device, "the Ultra Eye", in his hand and stares at it, muttering with a regretful look on his face, "I'm an Earthling. And I'm Ultraman. Damn it!"

Then, just as the MAT Arrow 1, piloted by Captain Ibuki himself, took off from the MAT base, Officer Hayakawa put on the Ultra Eye and transformed into Ultraman, becoming gigantic, and destroying part of the MAT base.

Ultraman flew to the scene to catch Matt Arrow No. 1, forcibly removed the thermonuclear unit, and showed its location to Captain Ibuki. There, Officer Ibuki was found collapsed. Captain Ibuki rushed to his side and, although seriously injured, he regained consciousness. The battle between Ultraman and Bug Jewel was extremely fierce, with all of Ultraman's techniques being repelled by Bug Jewel's powerful barrier. As his Color Timer flashed, he counterattacked with an Ultra Gaze at close range, and using the Ultra Bracelet he had recovered, destroyed the Bug Jewel's barrier. With the barrier destroyed, Ultraman finishes the monster off with a Specium beam. Ultraman, holding the thermonuclear unit which was about to explode, flies into the sky and turns into light. As the MAT members who arrived to rescue them in the Mat Gyro rejoiced at the survival of Ibuki and his son, Officer Hayakawa appeared out of nowhere, and Captain Ibuki reflects on his mistake and shakes hands with Hayakawa Ken.

Cast

• Hideaki Anno as Ultraman (here, the character is referencing Ultraman Jack)[1][3][4]
• Yasuhiro Takeda as Captain Ibuki
• Shiyuichi Hayashi as Hayakawa (MAT member)
• Takeshi Sawamura as Ibuki (MAT member)
• Takashi Gyôten as Yamaga (MAT member)
• Toshihiko Nishigaki as Imamura (MAT member)
• Yuki Nishi as Nishi (MAT member)
• Norio Tamura as Kiruan (Monster)

Characters

Staff

• Hideaki Anno (Director)
• Toshio Okada (Writer)
• Takami Akai (Editor and Camera man)
• Takeshi Sawamura (Producer)
• Yasuhiro Takeda (Producer)
• Makoto Konishi (Sound Effect Artist)
• Naoki Haraguchi (Art)
• Shiyuichi Hayashi (Art)
• Akira Ibusuki (Art)
• Yasutaka Iwamoto (Art)
• Keiichi Kojima (Art)
• Satoru Kuwahara (Art)
• Kenji Nagato (Art)
• Kiyohide Taguchi (Art)
• Jun Tamaya (Art)
• Shôhei Toyama (Art)
• Hiroaki Utahara (Art)
• Tatsuya Yamamoto (Art)

Production

Release

The film was released on August 20, 1983, as a part of the Nihon SF Taikai convention called DAICON IV, in Osaka, Japan, held on August 20–21, 1983.[13] Hideaki Anno attended a screening of the film in Tokyo, where he met his future friend and collaborator Shinji Higuchi for the first time.[14] They would later collaborate on Shin Ultraman with Anno returning to the title role.[15]

It was later scheduled for release on DVD on August 5, 2001, and sales ended on June 30, 2004, as it was a limited-time product.[14]

Reception

The film was sold as a DVD on August 5, 2001, at 6,800 yen, in a limited-time sale until June 30, 2004.[14]

To celebrate the release of Shin Godzilla, there was the release of a Blu-Ray box which included all of Hideo Anno's live action movies from 1998 to 2004, including this film as one of those movies.[18]

External links