(First Aired: February 5, 1967)
Screenplay by: Tetsuo Kinjo
Directed by: Yuzo Higuchi
At a skiing resort, an unconscious man is being taken inside on a stretcher by some hunters from the nearby village. Upon awakening, the man tells his rescuers that he was attacked by the legendary Woo while hunting bears at Mt. Iidayama. During the hunt, he stumbled across Yuki, a teenage village girl who has earned a reputation for impeding hunters. Deciding to teach the meddling Yuki a lesson, he fired his gun to scare her off before chasing the girl across the snow. Yuki cried out Woo’s name, and to the hunter’s shock, the legend appeared over the hills, resembling just like the long-furred yeti-like beast of grandmothers’ tales. A few shots did not faze the giant creature, so the hunter fled before falling unconscious from fright and exhaustion. Concerned about the story scaring off skiers, the resort managers decide to call Science Patrol, but nobody notices that Yuki is listening worriedly outside the window.
While Hayata, Ide, and Arashi head to the scene, Yuki wanders through the snow when she suddenly falls into a pitfall. A group of boys around the same age as her walk up to their trap, bullying her for letting Woo try kill the hunter (who happens to be the older brother of one of the boys). They tell her to get out of the village and call her a monster just like Woo. Yuki tells them that Woo is not a wicked monster, and for herself, she only wants to fit in with the rest of the village. As they kick snow in her face, one of the boys notices the arrival of the Jet V-TOL, leading them to warn Yuki that Science Patrol will kill Woo.
Hayata, Arashi, and Ide meet up with the ski resort’s owner, Mr. Akita, who points to Mt. Iidayama. Mr. Akita explains that Mt. Iidayama, or Phantom Snow Mountain for its permanent coat of white snow, is where Woo supposedly lives. He admits to being skeptical about Woo’s existence, but knows monster stories drive the skiers away, so he expects the team to at least get to the bottom of the mystery. Nobody notices Yuki worriedly spying on them though. Soon, the three men are skiing through the mountains to Mt. Iidayama, but Yuki has gotten there first and messed around with the directing signs. Sure enough, Hayata, Arashi, and Ide are lost, which Arashi believes is the work of somebody trying to obstruct with their monster hunt. Hayata then ends up falling into a snow pit trap, breaking his leg. As Arashi and Ide help him, Yuki watches from behind the trees. She is soon spotted, so she runs off with Ide in pursuit. Ide catches up with her and scolds her for interfering. Yuki starts an argument with Ide that Science Patrol should stay away from Woo, who does not deserve to die at their hands. Ide, realizing that she must know if Woo is real, asks Yuki about it, prompting her to throw snow in his face before running away and leaving an irritated Ide behind.
Hayata, Arashi, and Ide return to the resort to talk to Mr. Akita about Yuki and drop the injured Hayata off. The resort owner explains Yuki is a perfectly normal human. She was found 15 years ago as a baby alongside her dead mother on the roadside. The fact that the baby was fine in the bitter chill, led the villagers to believe she was the daughter of the Yuki-Onna, so nobody adopted her except Kisuke the elderly charcoal maker, who died two years ago. The villagers’ dislike towards Yuki has grown worse with the appearance of Woo. At this point, Ide begins to feel great pity towards the outcast Yuki, relating that he had lost his mother when he was a boy.
Outside, the skiers’ time is interrupted when one of them comes rushing down the mountain shouting about the arrival of a monster. The monster is, of course, Woo, who sends everybody in and around the ski resort fleeing. Arashi and Ide remain to fire upon Woo, but Yuki comes in to tell them not to attack Woo. Yuki then runs up the slopes towards Woo, crying out for the monster to leave the people alone and not worry about her. However, one of the hunters from earlier fires upon Woo. Woo roars in rage and lumbers in, but Yuki’s calls for peace are picked up by the yeti-like monster, who turns around and leaves.
Elsewhere, a gang of villagers, including the hunters and the man who encountered Woo, find the town drunk lying dead from the cold in one of Yuki’s untouched pitfalls meant for Science Patrol. Taking it as the final straw, the men decide that if they are to save the village, Yuki must be chased as far away as possible. While the angry mob trudges through the snow after Yuki, Arashi and Ide are asked by Mr. Akita to get rid of Woo, lest it destroy the resort.
Over Mt. Iidayama on the Jet V-TOL, Ide remains reluctant about going after Woo, theorizing that the creature is the spirit of Yuki’s dead mother protecting her child like a guardian spirit; it’s a theory Arashi takes no interest in. Meanwhile, Yuki is slowly followed through the snowdrifts by the angry mob, who are waving their guns and shouting threats. The exhausted Yuki calls out Woo’s name and the monster appears in the mountains and in front of the Jet V-TOL. Woo is fired upon by the plane, but the monster knocks the Jet V-TOL into a nearby snowdrift. The enraged Woo then marches towards the resort, where the staff and remaining guests are leaving as fast as possible. Soon, only the injured Hayata is in the building, so he pulls out his Beta Capsule and becomes Ultraman!
Ultraman and Woo proceed to fight each other, while Yuki wanders through the snowdrifts, having finally lost the angry mob. However, the intense cold and exhaustion is beginning to catch up with her. Too weak to go further, Yuki collapses. She weakly calls out to Woo, and the monster pauses in the middle of its brawl with Ultraman. As Yuki’s cries fade, Woo roars one last time before vanishing from the world with Yuki. With that, Ultraman leaves. Later, the now-healed Hayata arrives at the Jet V-TOL and awakens the unconscious Ide and Arashi, prompting the trio to return to HQ while they wonder about the mystery of Woo and pity Yuki, the girl who was hated as a freak by the locals.
Tropes:
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Tetsuo Kinjo, who is from Okinawa, based Yuki on his own experiences with the Japanese' racial discrimination against the Okinawans.
- Downer Ending: Yuki is chased down by an angry mob and dies in the snow, with Woo disappearing with her, but the ski resort is destroyed by Woo's rampage.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Despite the episode's Downer Ending, the last shot shows Science Patrol flying back to HQ while a cheerful arrangement of the opening theme plays in the background.
- Synchronization: Woo's life force is implied to be connected to Yuki's own life; when Yuki dies, Woo disappears as well.
- Tragic Monster: Woo is heavily implied to be the spirit of Yuki's deceased mother taking the form of a yeti-like kaiju, which contextualises all of its actions as protecting Yuki from the villagers' discrimination and bullying.
- Would Hurt a Child: The villagers have no qualms going after Yuki with rifles after one of them dies in a pitfall that they assume Yuki had made.
- Yuki-onna: Woo is based on one, even though she appears as a hairy yeti-like kaiju. Yuki is discriminated by the villagers for supposedly being the daughter of a Yuki-onna.
