From Another Planet with Love

is the banned twelfth episode of Ultraseven. Although it aired in 1967 without issue, the episode has not been rereleased since 1970, with the exception of its inclusion in the CINAR English dub in 1994, where it was called Crystalized Corpuscles.
==Plot==
A number of young ladies have fallen ill and all seem to be wearing peculiar looking metallic watches. An all male group of space vampires from the planet Spehlia (like Spee-lia) are on Earth seeking the blood of young girls. They use these watches as a means of draining the blood from their victims in a bid to save their race after some unspecified space war. 
After a small boy puts on his sisters watch, the blood encapsulated within turns out to be of even better interest to the aliens. Turning their attention towards children, the otherworldly bloodsuckers devise methods to entice kids into their grasp.
==Cast==
*: 
*: 
*: 
*: 
*: 
*: 
===Guest Actors===
*: 
*: 
*: 
*: 
**
**
**
*: 
*: 
*: 
*: 
===Voice Actors===
*: 
*: 
===Suit Actors===
*: 
*: 
==Appearances==
===Ultras===
*Ultraseven
===Kaiju===
*Alien Spell
==Banned==
The episode 12 originally aired on December 17, 1967, and was rebroadcast on June 19, 1969. Initially, during the rebroadcast, the episode 12 followed the typical airing schedule and also included the release of toys and related merchandise.
In the summer of 1970, Masahiro Sueyasu, who was working in sales at Tsuburaya Productions at the time, requested Takeuchi Hiroshi, with whom he had a friendly relationship, to create detailed Ultraseven monster design materials. Takeuchi compiled materials from the monster picture books supervised by Shoji Otomo and articles from magazines such as Weekly Shonen Magazine, creating a collection of materials. In this collection, the alias of Alien Spell was noted as , which later became an officially recognized design proposal by Tsuburaya and was distributed to various publishing companies. 
Although this alias was not used in the show, the editor of the magazine, Shoji Otomo, coined the name because Alien Spell's design, complete with keloid scars, resembled hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombings.http://www.inoue-daisuke.com/dancho/things/old/things2014.html
In the October 1, 1970 issue of the magazine "Shogaku Ninensei" published by Shogakukan, there was a supplementary item called "Monster Battle Cards". In this, the alias of Alien Spell was described in hiragana as "Alien Hibaku" which translates to "Survivor Alien". A certain junior high school girl who saw this card discussed it with her father, Tatsumi Nakajima, who was a member of the Tokyo Atomic Bomb Survivors Association. Her father then sent a protest letter to the editorial department of "Shogaku Ninensei". Under the coverage of the Asahi Shimbun, the protest sparked by this incident quickly spread to various organizations related to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb explosions after October 10, evolving into a nationwide protest event in Japan.https://fanblogs.jp/midorinokojiki/archive/353/0http://www.inoue-daisuke.com/dancho/things/712.html
At that time, the president of Tsuburaya Productions, Hajime Tsuburaya, issued a public apology on October 21, 1970, and decided not to disclose any further information about Alien Spell. Additionally, all publishing companies, including Shogakukan, were prohibited from mentioning it in their publications. The episode 12 was henceforth voluntarily sealed by the production unit.https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/entry/ultra-seven_jp_5c5aa716e4b0cd19aa941045
In 2005, Akihiro Takahashi, the former director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, left a comment after watching the series: "Even if it were 31 years ago, I wouldn't consider it discriminatory. I could sense the message of peace being conveyed." 
Meanwhile, in Issue 890 of "FLASH" magazine, screenwriter Mamoru Sasaki engaged in a dialogue with Tatsumi Nakajima, who was involved in the protest at the time. Nakajima stated, "My letter of protest ultimately led to Episode 12 being sealed. I feel that freedom of expression has been suppressed. It's terrifying to see things disappear so easily." He further elaborated, "The issue escalated from my letter of protest, but I did not protest against TBS for airing the program. I criticized the secondary use of the cards, not the content of the program itself. Protesting without watching the program is a significant problem."https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2023/06191102/?all=2https://twitter.com/tetsuya_kuroki/status/847069258412580865
Additionally, he expressed confusion about the portrayal of the Seabozu creature in humanoid form and the depiction of scars. Although he didn't protest at the time, the term "Bloodsucking Alien" also concerned him because some victims might perceive blood issues as hereditary. Nakajima believed that losing originality would render the effort meaningless. While acknowledging the existence of real-world issues, he argued that sealing off the program itself was not the solution.
The Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs issued the following statement: "We do not fully understand the process of the protest at that time. Even after watching the actual episode now, we do not see any particular problem, but the feelings of the survivors themselves are important. I believe that it is possible to release episode 12 after explaining the circumstances."
Regarding the current stance of Tsuburaya Productions on this episode: "episode 12 has become an absent work due to past reasons, and there are no plans for its public release."https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2023/06191102/?all=1
==Archived Media==
After the ban on episode 12, all commercial publications from Tsuburaya Productions were unable to publish even the title of this episode. To this day, detailed information about the related events cannot be published in any materials. In recent years, reference books have noted episode 12 as "currently missing" in broadcast data, and the practice of annotating that this episode cannot be disclosed has become the established handling method. Only a few books have mentioned the content of episode 12:https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/スペル星人#封印後のメディア露出
*In 1984, the deluxe edition of " Ultraman Illustrations Book - Chronicle Encyclopedia" published by Take Shobo featured a full-page promotional photo of Alien Spell and scenes from episode 12, along with story summaries in each episode introduction.
*In 1986, the playback catalog included in the VHS version of Ultraseven released by Toei listed the title of episode 12, the name of Alien Spell, the writer, director, and first air date.
*In 1989, the LD version of Episode 3 released by Bandai Visual included an article titled "What is the Dreamy Episode 12?" written by Hisashi Yasui and Sho Aikawa, which provided an explanation of the episode (including planning situations and missing circumstances) and detailed plot.
*In 1992, the first edition of the commercial magazine "Bessatsu Takarajima: Introduction to monster science" published the episode 12, but after pressure from Tsuburaya Productions, it was replaced with other articles in the second edition.
*In 1995, Sanyo Shobo published a collection of scripts by Mamoru Sasaki titled "My Hometown is Earth," which included the complete script of episode 12.
*Since 2002, the doujinshi group "12 Waka Kai" has been releasing self-funded fanzines titled "1/49 Project Ultraseven Episode 12 Complete Collection," which contain detailed information and interviews with relevant personnel.
*From July 19 to August 31, 2014, the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design held an exhibition titled "Tohl Narita: Art/Special Effects/Monsters - The Origin of Ultraman Creation," showcasing Tohl Narita's design sketches, sculptures, and paintings from the Aomori Prefectural Museum collection, along with previously unreleased original sketches of the Alien Spell shown to the public for the first time.
*In 2017, Shogakukan published "The Story of Anne," with the subtitle, script, director, and special effects supervisor of episode 12 listed on page 70. It also mentioned an interview with director Akio Jissoji, which was included in the DVD Ultra Heroine Legend - From Anne to Ultraseven, released by Pioneer Entertainment on February 25, 2004. "Although the DVD did not include it, there is still a discussion by the director about episode 12," and "Mr. Jissoji also hoped for an early unsealing," as commented by actress Yuriko Hishimi.
This episode has never been officially released in a home media format. In the early 1980s, bootleg VHS tapes of episode 12 were widely circulated in the Japanese market, and in the late 1990s, a more complete extended version of the episode appeared on DVD. Additionally, bootlegged versions of episode 12 from broadcasts outside of Japan were also circulated.
In the 21st century, with the development of the internet, video files of episode 12 began to circulate online, but their sources are unknown.
==Trivia==
*The building depicted as the hiding place of Alien Spell in this episode is actually the "" located on the south side of Inada Park in Okamoto, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. The official name of the building is "," and it was designed by Reiko Tomita and Yasuyoshi Hayashi as a private residence. Due to its proximity to the offices of Toho and Tsuburaya Productions, it appeared multiple times in movies and TV dramas. It was later demolished during the 1985 period.http://www.ultraloc.org/locations/hyakumado/index.htmlhttps://ogikubo-toho.com/seitihanjou.html
*The matter of the ban was not communicated to the production staff or actors for a long time. Later, in an interview, the screenwriter Sasaki Mamoru said, "I found out much later. My original intention in writing was to make children understand that nuclear tests are not acceptable, but the ban caused serious problems, which troubled me greatly."
*On August 3, 2001, the director of this episode, Akio Jissoji, expressed in an article published in the Asahi Shimbun about the reasons for the sealing of Episode 12 that he believed it to be an excellent work depicting the terror of nuclear weapons. He expressed confusion about the rumors and speculation surrounding it. He stated that anyone who watches it will understand that the plot is filled with a fervent desire for peace.https://ameblo.jp/ameblojp-blog777/entry-12779683499.html
*In the mini-program Ultra Fight produced in 1970, a segment from this episode was re-edited into a 5-minute version titled and aired on October 8th. Due to the same reason, the episode is now unavailable and is treated as a "missing episode."
*Shoji Otomo had already used the name "Alien Hibaku" in a 1968 book, but this went unnoticed at the time.
*Anne's actor, Yuriko Hishimi, believes that the episode should be unbanned.https://twitter.com/Tetsuya_Kuroki/status/847085748293591040/https://muuseo.com/8823hayabusa/items/610
*In 2004, when Ultraseven was rebroadcasted on Family Gekijo, a caption was inserted stating, "Episode 12 of Ultraseven is permanently missing, so it will not be broadcast. Thank you for your understanding."
*In 2017, Huffington Post writer Kenji Ando asked Tsuburaya if the episode would ever be rereleased, and they responded saying that they had not changed their stance since 1970.
==References==
Category:Episodes
Category:Ultraseven
Category:Ultraseven Episodes
Category:Banned Episodes