As the official website of Tsuburaya Productions stated: "The mature biological son of Mother and Father of Ultra comes from Nebula M78 of the Land of Light to Earth. On Earth, he assumes the form of Kotaro Higashi, a member of the defense team ZAT. Taro is a member of the Ultra Brothers, lead instructor of the Space Garrison and even a mentor to Ultraman Mebius. His finishing move is Strium Ray, among others." [3]
Kotaro transforms by using the Ultra Badge (ウルトラバッジ, Urutora Bajji), which was stored on the left shoulder of his ZAT uniform when not in use. [46] Kotaro pulls the Badge and spreads his arms before drawing the item in the same position as his face and lifts it towards the sky, shouting "Taro!". This is followed by Taro emerging from a black background as he rises towards the screen with silver rings accompanying him. [41]
Ultraman Taro is said to be the strongest Ultra Brothers at the time of his debut on Earth, evidenced by the fact that his Color Timer usually only blinks at the end of the battles and he is capable of surviving even after being stabbed by Depparas' tusk in the gut. He is also known as the hero with 11 skills. [52] In contrast to his brothers, he shouts most of his attacks' names. Taro's main finisher is Strium Ray (ストリウム光線, Sutoriumu Kōsen), which is done by charging his body with energy as his hands raised above and lowered to his waist as they took the "T" formation and fired an energy beam. [3] This firing ray is said to have twice the power as Ultraman Ace's Metallium Ray [53] and even outclassed those of Ultra Brothers. [54] A stronger version also existed, named Neo Strium Ray (ネオストリウム光線, Neo Sutoriumu Kōsen) by placing his hands in an "X" position. [lower-alpha 4] Back in his childhood, the young Taro prefers using a finisher named as Taro Shot (タロウショット, Tarō Shotto). [56]
His strongest attack is the suicidal Ultra Dynamite (ウルトラダイナマイト, Urutora Dainamaito), as he charges his body with fire and runs towards the opponent. [54] [57] It is once used against Alien Katan as his body reconstituted due to his Ultra Heart (ウルトラ心臓, Urutora Shinzō) [58] As a result of its dangerous nature, Taro sealed it until he is forced to use it again in Ultraman Mebius during a failed attempt to destroy Inpelaizer. In this scene, the explosion effect was added to appear as if parts of Taro's body were scattered as a result. [59]
In Ultraman Story, Taro merged with the rest of his five brothers with Ultra 6 Polymer (ウルトラ6重合体, Urutora Roku Jūgō-tai), [60] and became a Super Ultraman (スーパーウルトラマン, Sūpā Urutoraman). [61]
Kotaro Higashi | |
---|---|
Ultra Series character | |
First appearance | Ultraman Taro (1973) |
Created by | Tsuburaya Productions |
Portrayed by | Saburō Shinoda [2] |
Kotaro Higashi (東 光太郎, Higashi Kōtarō) is the protagonist of Ultraman Taro and Taro's initial human host. Due to the original setting of the series of the time, Kotaro's case was an inversion of the original trope as he was supposed to become an Ultraman instead of fusing with them.
Kotaro is originally a traveler who returned to Japan by hitching a ride in the Hibimaru (日日丸) tanker ship. After saving the ship's crew from Oil Drinker, Kotaro plants the seed which grows into Tigris Flower which becomes the space monster Astromons. To fix his mistake, he tries to fight Astromons on his own, only to fall several feet from the sky. After his injuries heal the following next day, Kotaro joins the ranks of ZAT but loses his life when his aircraft is shot down. His body is brought to the Land of Light and bestowed with the spirit of Ultra to become Ultraman Taro, taking down Astromons moments after the fight. [62] Under orders from his captain, Kotaro lives at the Shiratori residence, whose patriarch–Kiyoshi Shiratori–is the captain of Hibimaru.
As an aspiring boxer, at one point Kotaro goes on a strict diet which affects his job. He also befriends several children he meets after the Astromons incident. In the final episode, Kiyoshi Shiratori loses his life by Samekujira, a space monster commanded by the invader Alien Valky. Ultraman Taro manages to defeat the monster and Kotaro severs his bonds to preserve his humanity, throwing the Ultra Badge to the sky. Alien Valky tries to assassinate Kotaro but he manages to kill it by luring the alien to an oil refinery. In the end, Kotaro bids farewell to ZAT and his friends as he travels abroad.
Kotaro Higashi is portrayed by Saburō Shinoda (篠田 三郎, Shinoda Saburō). [63] After auditioning for the role, he was first given a guest role Ichirō Shinoda (篠田 一郎, Shinoda Ichirō) in episode 20 of Ultraman Ace by producer Yōji Hashimoto (橋本 洋二, Hashimoto Yōji), who after seeing Saburo's suitability as a main character, decided to get a first impression on the actor at the filming site. [64]
In certain circumstances, Taro bonded with other people as substitute human hosts.
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Taro own human condition, and Saburo Shinoda Shimozuka plays rather than.
In addition, the comet be told why chose to study abroad the earth.
During the audition for Kotaro Higashi, Shinoda recalled that the role was also auditioned for by a fellow actor named Ken Matsudaira. [79] While visiting the set of Ultraman Ace, he was impressed with Keiji Takamine's character (Seiji Hokuto) wearing a scarf and decided to do the same during his filming as well. [80] Shinoda usually commutes to the filming studio by train and one time he woke up and found himself surrounded by children who were fans of Taro. [81] One of the few people he met during the filming was Takashi Tsumura (working under the name Hidesuke Tsumura at that moment), the actor of Tetsuya Kitajima in same series, whose father, Hideo Tsumura was a famous movie critic. While reading the script for his character, Shinoda portrayed Kotaro as a child when facing against monster attacks believing that the childhood nature is suitable for Taro. [82] When asked which monster is his favorite, he responded with Depparas from episode 10 of Taro. [83] He believes that Kotaro's decision to remain as a human being is a mistake. [84] In Tsuburaya's charity funding organization Ultraman Foundation, Shinoda was among the actors that gave their encouragement messages. [85]
Shinoda maintained a good relationship with the late Peggy Hayama, who voiced the Mother of Ultra and her human form, Lady in Green. Befitting her role in the show, he even viewed her as a motherly figure and was surprised to see her working even in her old age. Following her death in 2017, Shinoda mentioned that they have been met each other 40 times since the end of the show. [86] They even met each other at a restaurant, went to Tokyo Station and went home together in a bullet train. [87]
Today, several actors of recent Ultra Series were known to be fans of Ultraman Taro, including Mamoru Miyano (Ultraman Zero) and Hideo Ishiguro (Ultraman Orb). [88] [89] Taiyo Sugiura, the actor of Musashi Haruno in Ultraman Cosmos mentioned that as a kindergarten student, he wrote his wish on a tanzaku that he "wanted to be Ultraman Taro". [90] Additionally, Taiyo Sugiura and Saburō Shinoda starred in a late night drama named The Last Dinner (最後の晩ごはん, Saigo no Ban Gohan), where co-star Yūichi Nakamura expressed his delight to act alongside major Ultra Series actors. [91] Yuya Hirata (Katsumi Minato/Ultraman Rosso) of Ultraman R/B said that "Once I got the role of Ultraman, I looked back at the book and remembered how special Ultraman Taro was for me and realized that Ultraman was one of my starting points." [92] [93]
In 2006, a character popularity poll was launched in response to the 40th anniversary of Ultra Series. Based on Oricon's list, Ultraman Taro ranked the third place in all three categories: total, men and women alike. [94] Five years later in the Ultra Series' 45th anniversary, Ultraman placed ninth in the popularity poll and ranked tenth in 2013. [95] [96] As a supporting character in Ultraman Ginga, Taro is one of the few Ultras to join the title hero and Hikaru's actor, Takuya Negishi, in an award ceremony when the Ultra Series was nominated by Guinness World Records as the series with most spin-offs and sequels. [24] [97]
In 2010, Taro and his parents are one of the main topics of "Parent and Child Interview" from the December 23, 2010, print of Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. The article is related to the annual Oyako Day in Japan, including its founder Bruce Osborn. [98]
Ultraman Taro is the sixth show in the Ultra Series. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions, the series aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System from April 6, 1973, to April 5, 1974, with a total of 53 episodes.
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