The intense battle between Ultraseven and Neo Pandon rages on. And there's a mysterious man watching over it. Just when it seemed like Seven was at a disadvantage, Neo Pandon suddenly stopped moving and released a mysterious seed into the mountains before fleeing. While the seed was eradicated through pesticide spraying, analysis by the Ultra Guard revealed that the seed originated from Earth. Meanwhile, Kazamori encountered a mysterious girl. What exactly constitutes life worthy of living on this planet...?
Plot
While Seven was fighting against Pandon, Suwa controlled the monster through the use of a strange device. Pandon demonstrated the ability to catch Seven's Eye Slugger with relative ease and overpowering the Ultra. It also unleashed strange yellowish particles and retreated underground to call off the fight. Kazamori reaffirmed that he is now unified with Seven.
The Ultra Guard analysed the particles that Pandon unleashed to be seeds of an unknown plant. He also destroyed most of the plants while sparing a single specimen for study purposes. According to Mizuno, Alien Ghose in the past manipulate Pandon through the use of a mind control device which was later confiscated and kept away in TDF's 2nd Armory. The Ultra Guard went into said armory to discover the place already in shambles and the controller itself was replaced with an identical dummy. At the lake which Mizuno polluted to destroy the unknown seeds, Kazamori found a mysterious girl purifying it. The little girl teleported away after being sighted, leading Kazamori to the late Satomi's holiday villa. She once again played a game of teleportation that lead him to an elder's house. The elder stated that the little girl as Mitsuko, who he named after his deceased daughter from two decades prior. The elder stated that Mitsuko “grew up fast”.
At night, Suwa introduced himself to Kazamori as the man responsible for controlling Pandon. Despite Suwa's claim that the old mankind are barbaric for killing Mitsuko's kind, he is none the different for trying to control her race through great power. Shima and Yuki went patrolling the mountains by foot after their Pointer was damaged in the middle of their trip. By the time Kazamori met Mitsuko again, she had already grow into the form of an adult. Mitsuko revealed that her kind was killed and she is the only surviving member left. She was hunted down by Shima and Yuki after restoring the dead vegetation. While spending the night at the elder's house, Mitsuko was alerted by Kazamori to run after the Ultra Guard is approaching her location. The two officers had a run-in with Mitsuko and Shima quickly assumed her to be Pandon's controller. Her green blood was collected and analysed to be one an Earth plant, one that has evolved to gain sentience and finally appearing human.
During the day, Kazamori tried to protect her and even go as far as to explain the matters to his former captain. He explained that Mitsuko came from a species of evolved plants whose purpose is to restore Earth's greenery, while Pandon acted as a spreading agent and her entire race is about to be manipulated by a certain mastermind who plotted the invasion. Suwa try to pressure Mitsuko to his side, but once he was spotted, Mitsuko was further misunderstood by Rumi to be his partner in crime. Suwa once again unleashed Pandon to attack the Ultra Guard members, forcing Kazamori to transform into Seven and join the fight. Mitsuko refused Suwa's genocidal conquest against the old humans and confiscated his Pandon Controller to quell the monster's anger. Unfortunately Shima once more misunderstood the situation where he assumed Mitsuko to be Pandon's mastermind and stole the controller, inadvertently unleashing his own anger to turn Pandon berserk. His paranoia led him to shoot Mitsuko while Seven killed the monster.
In her dying breath, Mitsuko ordered Seven to protect the last member of the Plant Life Form as she disappeared into nothingness. Through Mizuno's findings, the Ultra Guard regretted their decision and misunderstandings after finally confirming the truth behind Kazamori's words, as well as driven guilt by their earlier genocide against her race, which makes them none the different than their predecessors. Meanwhile, Kazamori stole the last of the Plant Life Form seed from UG to protect her kind as he promised with Mitsuko. The scene ended with him gazing over the site which was once used to be TDF Far East Base, now being left in ruins due to UG's action in detonating it to eliminate all of the infiltrating aliens.
Each episode was originally released on a separate DVD. The complete series was later released in a DVD box set titled Ultraseven 1994～2002 Perfect Collection on April 18, 2012.[1][2]
Ultraseven 35th Anniversary: EVOLUTION disc 4
Ultraseven 1994～2002 Perfect Collection DVD-BOX
Trivia
This episode serves as the first episode in the series, released directly to video. It was decided before production that this episode would be released first, establishing the central storyline from this point onward.
The title EVOLUTION was chosen to signify that the story was no longer confined to the framework of The Final Chapters but was instead moving toward a new phase. Following I Am an Earthling, the series' world was envisioned as entering a period of new upheaval and transformation.[4]
According to producer Hiroshi Chikasada, the core concept of the series focuses on depicting the "return of Ultraseven," told in a nonlinear fashion. The story begins with episode 4, using the events that follow to lay the groundwork for future developments. As a result, viewers may not fully understand the plot on their first viewing, but will gain a deeper understanding upon rewatching. Since each viewer has their own subjective perspective, their interpretations may differ. Chikasada hopes this narrative approach will be effective. Additionally, in shaping the series, it was felt that the content needed to go beyond "I Am an Earthling," so the story was intentionally directed toward a heavier tone.[5]
Masahiro Tsuburaya once mentioned that there were initial ideas for a series that would focus solely on the "Ultra Guard," set in the Ultraseven universe, but without Ultraseven himself. This concept explored how humanity would protect Earth in Ultraseven's absence. While this idea was considered for the series, the production team eventually felt that Ultraseven's return was essential and decided to develop the story in that direction.
Takano explained that during production, there was a key question: "How much of the episode 3's plot can be revealed?" The instruction given was "almost nothing," which made writing the script a challenging task. The team found themselves caught between adding more content and adhering to the restrictions, resulting in some frustration.
In the initial draft, there was a scene where Shima chases Mitsuko, only to be caught up in a mysterious phenomenon. However, after reviewing the first cut, there was a divide in opinions, with some suggesting the scene should be shortened. Ultimately, after further discussion, it was decided to remove most of the scene.
As for Saori Nara, who portrayed Mitsuko, the original intention was to tailor her performance to her "energetic" image. However, Nara herself wanted to incorporate a more introverted aspect into the character. The only guidance she received was to avoid making the character too gloomy. In this episode, Mitsuko has almost no lines, so Nara was primarily asked to convey more through her expressions.
Due to scheduling conflicts, Nara was only available for episodes 4 and 5. As a result, the series adopted a nonlinear release strategy, ensuring her appearance at both the beginning and the end of the storyline.
