"Peguila Is Here!"
Episode Count: 5/28
First Appearance(s): Peguila (First Appearance)
Plot Synopsis
On special assignment from the Daily News, we find Manjome Jun on a ship, en route to a South Pole research base. In the midst of taking photos of the nearby icebergs and conversing with crew members, a large, smoke-covered mass flies over, knocking the ship's engine and radio systems offline. Jun retreats inside as the ship begins to get knocked around, breaking his arm in the process, before tumbling into a woman's chamber. As she tries to help him, a bag of her belongings falls, revealed to be full of…dirt? The woman is a friend of a researcher who went missing at the base three years ago, and she's headed there to spread some hometown soil in the area in his memory.
We move to the South Pole Base, sometime later, where workers are in a desperate rush to load up supplies and materials before the weather becomes too harsh to depart. The captain of the ship, against the wishes of the lead researcher, sets sail, leaving the base to transport the remaining supplies themselves. As one researcher heads to grab the remaining supplies by snowmobile, Jun is waved away from attempting to help, as his mission is clear; discover what happened to that missing researcher, Nomura. Providing him with Nomura's pocketbook, the lead researcher reveals that Professor Ichinotani had gotten in contact with him beforehand, that he knows all about his mission, and that he should trust him to solve this issue before the deaths start piling up. Taking a quick peek at the pocketbook, Jun spots a note about a strange noise…"Peguila". This thinking session is interrupted by the woman from the ship walking in, who the lead researcher introduces as Yoko Kuhara; the first female researcher at this base. While the three converse, a ruckus begins outside, as one of the heavy-duty snowmobiles is flung off the ground inside the winter storm, accompanied by the temperature dropping below -100 degrees!
With all the researchers retreating inside, Jun begins to discuss his findings in the book with them. Apparently, a heavy cold front, similar to this one, happened when Nomura went missing. Maybe he has swept away like the snowmobile. One of the other researchers seems very skeptical, believing what they just saw to be light refraction; a mirage. Jun believes it to be real, and that Nomura went out (alongside his dog) to investigate this "Peguila" that seems to be causing these incidents. Outside the room, Yoko overhears it all.
The next night, Jun attempts to sneak out to investigate, only to find Yoko attempting the same thing. Before he can question her, one of the snowmobiles inside the facility begins floating, as the massive form of Peguila approaches! The shock of this knocks Yoko unconscious for a moment, before being awoken by Jun. As the two discuss their plans, the door to the facility opens, and in floats the frozen, nearly dead body of the snowmobile researcher!
The next day, he begins to stir, mumbling about a monster out in the snow. As Yoko tries to care for him, he rises out of his bed, mumbling about Nomura, before attacking her in a fit of seeming insanity. After Jun manages to stop him, and he's put back to sleep, Yoko decides to steal a vehicle and head out looking for her friend. Of course, Jun and more of the researchers head out for her, finding her vehicle crashed, with her missing. Continuing their search, they find Yoko alongside a small dog, Saburo, who belonged to Nomura. They then discover, directly beneath them, the frozen body of Nomura, trapped beneath the ice, as Saburo's frantic barking warns of the oncoming Peguila! With a blast of his ice breath, the whole crew is blasted into the distance, snowmobile and all.
Jun wakes up, somehow alive, alongside Yoko, who he finally questions for her rash actions. Turns out, she was engaged to Nomura and only took this post to discover the truth about her late fiancée. Saburo turns up, unscathed, leading the two to question how he survived three years in the Antarctic with a bloodlusted Kaiju stomping around, with only moss to sustain himself. Meeting up with the others and retreating to the base, they discuss the attack by Peguila as the temperature drops further. Jun and Yoko reveal that inside the arctic moss is a chemical, "Peguimin H", which seems to prove hazardous to the beast, keeping Saburo from being attacked. The group rushes to prepare a weapon using the chemical before Peguila strikes the base!
Peguila makes short work of most buildings in the base, as the Peguimin H missile sits ready. With one of the researchers freaking out at the beast's approach, Jun takes over firing the missile, which proves just as effective as presented. Though they have successfully driven off the beast, their research station is in ruins, and, while the case of Nomura has been solved, it will not bring him back…
Notes: I LOOOVE this episode, not for any degree of amazing storytelling, but for the introduction of Peguila. It's one of my favorite Ultra Kaiju, and I do think it got quite a good first outing. A dangerous, unknown, smoke-covered entity terrorizing the South Pole; despite the danger, our boy Jun can't bring himself to not investigate. The
cold atmosphere of the episode lends well to this investigation of murder, before ramping up in the final quarter with full-tilt Kaiju action and a desperate final attack by the heroes which only JUST manages to drive off the threat. Overall, great episode. 8.5/10. Peguila is peak Kaiju.