I have done writeups for Christmas episodes of Tokusatsu before but I have never done one for Halloween.  This is mostly because there aren’t a lot of them.  Halloween might be mentioned or the episode might start with everyone in costume but it is quickly tossed aside and never really the focus on the plot. However, on October 26, 1996 Ultraman Tiga gave us a treat, the episode On Halloween Night (ハロウィンの夜に) listed as just Halloween Night on the old 4Kids DVDs. It was the 8th episode of the series.

It begins pretty much as Halloweeny as you could expect with a witch flying in front of the moon!

The witch’s arrival is noticed as a huge spike in magnetic energy is detected in a nearby town.  Because that town celebrates Halloween in a very, very traditional way, the GUTS team (the scientific defense team of this series) has to blend in so they all go in Halloween costumes to investigate.

We get to see the town next and holy crap do they ever celebrate Halloween right with proper decorations and kids roaming the streets in costume!

There is even good, old-fashioned trick or treating like you’d see in America.

Our lead character Daigo (dressed as a pumpkin-headed clown) and his romantic interest Rena (in a cute catgirl costume) come across a woman dressed as a witch passing out huge lollipops to all of the children and ONLY the Children.

Daigo pretty quickly notices something about this witch in a nearby reflective surface.

The witch notices him seeing her lack of a reflection and takes off, with Daigo in pursuit.  Meanwhile, one of the little boys gives Rena a spare lollipop he was supposed to give to his little brother because he thinks she’s so pretty. She cannot resist trying it right then and there.

Daigo chases the witch but loses her in front of an empty field.  When he turns his back, a creepy mansion appears behind him.

Daigo goes to investigate and finds the inside of his spooky abode matches the exterior with cobwebs and strange decor.

He goes to the second floor and a door creaks open for him, revealing a room filled with light.  He enters to find abandoned playground equipment.  The door vanishes and traps him inside with a group of weirdly zombie-like children wearing Jester hats.

 This is also when the monster of the week, the true form of the witch, reveals itself.  This is Giranbo, the dream-eater.

After blasting Daigo into unconsciousness, Giranbo traps him in a tube and returns to its witchy persona.  It explains that it has come to Earth to feast on the delicious dreams of children, who do not really need them because they will toss them aside like their dolls and games when they get older.  The dreams of adults give it a stomach ache so it has planned to steal the dreams of all the children in town.

Giranbo also knows that Daigo is Ultraman Tiga and with him out of the way there will be nothing to stop it from devouring all of the children’s dreams that night.  That’s what the lollipops were for, anyone who tastes them will be drawn to Giranbo’s home (now a giant jack o’ lantern) to be captured and their dreams harvested.  This includes Rena!

It is thanks to Rena being effected that the GUTS team gets alerted to what is wrong  They attack and the attack frees Daigo.  Enraged, Giranbo begins to sink the jack o’ lantern in preparation to take all of the children and leave Earth.  However, once freed, Daigo becomes Ultraman Tiga and lifts the giant pumpkin from out of the Earth.

The battle is then on between Giranbo in its true, monstrous form and Ultraman Tiga.  It’s a pretty forgone conclusion who will win and soon, all of the children are freed and their dreams returned to them.

Now, as I said, it’s very rare to find a truly Halloween-centric episode of tokusatsu.  The GUTS team even comments on how strange it is to find a town that celebrates Halloween in the same way as they do in Western countries but that it might soon spread just like Christmas.  

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday and for it, I wanted to share this little bit of fun.  It was a great episode and very seasonally appropriate.  Anyway, this is just my way of spreading some season fun and wishing all of you:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!