Ultraman Tiga (character)


Ultraman Tiga is a fictional superhero from the 1996 Ultra Series, Ultraman Tiga, which ended a 15 year long hiatus of the serial television Ultra Series, with the last one being Ultraman 80, whose final episode was in 1981. In the series, the titular character's body bonded with Daigo Madoka, a man who was a descendant of Super Ancient Civilization to fight against monstrous threats during the series' course. Tiga's case is regarded as a, due to his host Daigo controlling his body instead of Tiga being in control of himself. Following the destruction of the dark ruler Gatanothor, Daigo lost his ability to transform into Tiga, signifying that the ancient warrior's role on Earth was over. His own movie The Final Odyssey further revealed his backstory as an incredibly powerful evil Ultraman in the past known by the name until he defected to the light after falling in love with a human named Yuzare.
During the run of the series, Tsuburaya Prods. celebrated the 30th anniversary of Ultra Series, by having Ultraman Tiga meet with an alternate version of the original Ultraman. Aside from that, Tiga's appearance laid a huge impact on the Ultra Series, as not only being the first Heisei Era Ultra Warrior, but also introduced the ability for Ultra Warriors to change their forms and appearances. Tiga himself enjoyed a huge popularity among fans and started to appear in succeeding media of the Ultra Series, either as himself or as an alternate reality version of the character. His series in fact won the Best Dramatic Presentation of Seiun Award in 1998.
Ultraman Tiga's grunts were provided by during his series, who would later become the narrator of Ultraman Dyna, the succeeding series after Tiga. His grunts were recorded and recycled for Tiga's future appearances. During the movie Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey and Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers, his grunts were provided by Hiroshi Nagano, Daigo Madoka's actor. Meanwhile, his suit actors were in Koji Nakamura Multi and Power Type and in Multi and Sky Type.

Character conception

The design of Ultraman Tiga was meant to be a break from the traditional red colored Ultras. His proposed coloring was red, blue, purple and silver, a trend that would be passed on to succeeding Ultra Warriors of Heisei Era Series. Tiga's first archetypal design was made in a form of a clay statue by :ja:マーブリング・ファインアーツ|Marbling Fine Arts company. Two other prototypes were also submitted by said company, and in the end one of them was chosen as Tiga's default design. The other two statues were however incorporated to the story line as stone bodies of Tiga's past allies, who fought alongside him to protect the ancient civilization but unlike Tiga, their bodies were destroyed by Golza and Melba before Tiga's body would merge with Daigo. Also the original setting for the pyramid was supposedly to house five instead of three Ultras, with two statues being destroyed and the other two merged with Tiga to bestow him his Type Change abilities. The crystal on his forehead was meant as a trademark to reflect the sunlight along his crest during lighting effect. One of his NG design was recycled by Maruyama into Evil Tiga, an Ultraman that appeared in episode 44 of his series, who went rogue after a forced merger with his human host, Keigo Masaki. The very first suit to be made was the Multi Type, where it lacks peepholes for the suit actor and photography was taken by the Yomiuri Advertising for the promotional campaign. His Color Timer changes thanks to the built-in diode. His gold/silver striped Protector was crafted through die-cutting and due to the initial one had its color easily wear off, the new one has become part of the suit's fabric since the shooting of episode 5 and 6. In the original planning, Tiga's Protector was meant to be used as a removable boomerang. Unlike Showa Era series, Tiga's aerial combat scene was done with combination of Chroma key, doll props and CGI. According to designer Hiroshi Maruyama, the Spark Lence was designed by Bandai and denied any participation in its creation.
Since the suit actors of Ultraman Tiga have different physique, his suit for each Type Change was produced twice and differently for them:
In Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey, the three newer forms that appeared in the movie, Tiga Dark, Tiga Tornado and Tiga Blast supposedly would have had their design separated from Tiga's Type Change forms. But because of time constraints, it was decided to simply have them recolored from original costume designs.

Naming

Tiga's name is the Malaysian language for the digit number 3, referring to Tiga's Type Change ability, which revolves around him changing into three forms.
In episode 2 of the series, after Tiga first appeared, GUTS tried to find a suitable name for the giant. With sub-captain Munakata's suggestion being rejected, it was Daigo who gives the giant his actual name, which was accepted by the rest of GUTS' members. The rejected name Mountain Gulliver seems to be based on the 1726 Irish novel Gulliver's Travels.

History

''Ultraman Tiga''

30,000,000 years prior to the series, Ultraman Tiga and two other Ultra Warriors were giants that protected the ancient Earth from countless catastrophes and numerous dark forces. With their deed done, the giants left their bodies as stone statues in the, while their essence departed to space.
In the present day, two ancient monsters, Golza and Melba awakened and attempted to destroy the giant statues. GUTS members discovered these statues in the pyramid as well but during Golza and Melba's attack, one of the officers, Daigo, merged with Tiga's statue and reanimated the giant once more, fighting against Golza and Melba. Although Golza managed to escape, Tiga nonetheless killed Melba. Starting from that point, Tiga would return once again to battle against other monsters and alien threats, including a returned Golza and those who responsible for the destruction of the ancient civilization. At one point, Daigo/Tiga was brought into the past and met an alternate incarnation of the original Ultraman, joining forces to destroy the sealed monster Yanakagi. Near the finale, Daigo revealed his identity to Rena and Captain Iruma before facing against the great destroyer Gatanothor. The giant monster was too great for Tiga to handle and in the end, he was petrified into a stone statue. It was then the light of humanity was able to revive Tiga and turn him into Glitter Tiga, giving him the power to defeat Gatanothor and save the Earth. However, Tiga's victory came at a cost: Daigo was no longer able to become Tiga after the Spark Lence disintegrated into dust after his final battle.

''[Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey]''

Taking place two years after the series finale, this film revealed another part of Tiga's past: long ago, Tiga was one of the ancient giants to be swayed by the darkness and rose to prominence when several of the ancient giants corrupted due to the stresses of the civil war. He was considered to be the strongest of all Dark Giants in existence and had defeated many of the heroic Ultras in the past but after falling in love with a human named Yuzare, Tiga switched sides. He betrayed his own comrades and stole their powers for his own before sealing them as stone statues.
In the present day, after TPC awakened the dark giants by accident, Daigo was haunted by Camearra's dreams, for she was intent on luring him into R'lyeh and transforming into Tiga Dark. Although Daigo was forced to comply to their and thus, breaking Yuzare's protective barrier, Daigo refused to join them and in a similar fashion to the original Tiga, slowly regained his light by absorbing Darramb's strength and Hudra's speed before killing them. Facing Camearra in his partially restored light form, Tiga was on the verge of defeat until Rena appeared and provided assistance. When shielding Rena from Camearra's attack, this fully restored his light form but his actions of saving Rena had made Camearra even outraged and she turned into Demonthor, killing Tiga with relative ease until the remains of ancient giants revived him into Glitter Tiga to finish the monster. Although Daigo had returned to his normal life, what happened to Tiga is unknown as of his Dark Spark Lence was either retained or lost in a similar fashion to the original.
As mentioned above, Tiga's grunt was provided by Hiroshi Nagano in conjunction with Daigo's speaking voice but when the movie was featured in episode 8 of Shin Ultraman Retsuden, Tiga's scene was re-dubbed with Yūji Machi's grunts instead.

''[Ultraman Dyna]''

Although not appearing, the giant was mentioned and referenced several times in the series. Ultraman Dyna, the series' titular Ultra Warrior is considered by many to be a spiritual successor to Ultraman Tiga, due to sharing the similar ability to Type Change, and his combat style in Flash Type was near identical to that of Tiga's default Multi Type.

''[Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light]''

In this crossover movie, Tiga was summoned by the hopes of survivors from Queen Monera's attack after Ultraman Dyna was captured and killed by the villain. The giant rescued and revived his successor and they team up and saved the Earth from Queen Monera's reign of terror. After the battle, the two disappeared into glittering lights and Tiga gave Dyna his own light, therefore further cementing the latter as his official successor. In this movie, Tiga Multi Type demonstrated the technique called, combining his Zeperion Ray with Dyna's Empowered Solgent Ray.

''Ultraman Tiga Gaiden: Revival of the Ancient Giant''

Sometime in the past, the sorcerer Dogramagma threatened the peace of Sakimoria village with a giant Dogū statue monster Degouf until Ultraman Tiga saved the village. In the present day, which took place 20 years after the end of Ultraman Dyna, Tsubasa Madoka was involved in a time slip by the same sorcerer who tried to bring Jomonoid into the past, thus bringing Tsubasa by accident. When Tsubasa discovered a Spark Lence, he tried to transform, bringing forth the giant like his father but due to his incompatibility, Tsubasa wasn't able to fully utilize Tiga's strength, whose height was almost as half as the original with a shorter time limit. In his second transformation, Tsubasa as Tiga managed to destroy Jomonoid but was knocked out by Dogouf, another Dogū monster made by Dogramagma until Amui realized his compatibility with the Spark Lence and used it instead, successfully bringing the giant in his full power and destroying both Dogouf and Dogramagma. With the battle ended, Tsubasa returned to his era and Amui became the Tiga Village's protector.

Subsequent history

Fewer of Ultraman Tiga's statistics below were mentioned in episode 2 of the original series, with additional details were brought up in magazines and official websites.
When Tsubasa Madoka transforms into Ultraman Tiga, the giant's appearance and powers are comparably shorter due to their incomplete merging.
As the official website of Tsuburaya Productions stated: "From 30 million years ago, the giant of light was revived, demonstrating the ability to Type Change. He is transformed by Daigo Madoka, a member of the investigation team GUTS from the Earth Peace Alliance TPC."

Transformation

In all of Tiga's hosts, they transforms through the use of or any of its variations. In certain situations, Daigo Madoka transforms by placing the Spark Lence in the same position as his chest before pressing the button and the Spark Lence's "wing" appendages form Tiga's Protector before forming the whole body. This technique was briefly shown transforming him into a human-sized Tiga, which was once used against the Alien Raybeak platoon. In most episodes and other succeeding media, the hosts transform by raising the Spark Lence and pressed the button in a similar way to the original Ultraman via his Beta Capsule. Upon transformation, their body change into light energies that eventually turns into Ultraman Tiga. In episode 43, the Spark Lence can respond to any nearby giant of light statues and was stolen in the following story by Keigo Masaki to merge with Evil Tiga.
The Spark Lence also had multiple variations aside from the one that appeared in the series:
The true presence of Ultraman Tiga is regarded as the "light of hope who would appear in response to the united hopes of humanity when it resonated with its stone statue". In most forms, Tiga demonstrates the use of beam attack.
Through his ability to Type Change, Tiga can switch forms based on fighting abilities and body performances:
In addition, Tiga also have accessed these forms:
The list below refers to later Ultras who possess a replica of or inherited their powers from Ultraman Tiga.

Apps

Daigo Madoka

Daigo Madoka is the main protagonist of Ultraman Tiga. He is passionately naïve, wide-eyed, eager, earnest and good-hearted, his possession of the DNA of the ancient giants led him to become Ultraman Tiga. Though not necessarily physically strong or particularly bright, he accepts and embraces his destiny to be Ultraman Tiga and shows that Ultraman Tiga's strength comes from his very human courage, love and spirit. Prior to the series, Daigo was only an ordinary TPC officer, that belonged to the transport division. He was recruited into GUTS by General Sawai after saving him from an invader's UFO. He believes that humanity is not a weak existence that always repeats old mistakes, but can make a brighter future for future generations. He fights to protect humanity and the world as Ultraman Tiga based on that reason.
In episode 43, the Spark Lence, was stolen by Keigo Masaki, who was also a descendant of the ancient giants like Daigo, merge with the giant statue he found into Evil Tiga, a giant of darkness. By this point, Daigo proved he was not invincible or a special existence and was just a feeble human outside. Ultimately, Daigo was able to recover the Spark Lence and defeat Keigo Masaki/Evil Tiga with his very human feelings and strength. Daigo finally confessed his true identity as Ultraman Tiga to Rena in episode 50 and transformed in front of her. As all hope seemed lost with Tiga defeated by Gatanothor and GUTS failed to revive him, the children of earth were finally able to revive Ultraman Tiga and awaken Daigo, who was trapped inside the statue, through their light to become Glitter Tiga. In the end, with Glitter Tiga's tremendous power, Daigo was able to defeat Gatanothor but lost his power and couldn't transform anymore when the Spark Lence turned into stone and disintegrated. However, with this, Daigo tells Rena he believes that every human could also become light with their own power.
In The Final Odyssey Daigo was about to marry Rena but his vivid visions of Camearra and the other dark giants began to haunt him and threatened his marriage, forcing him to comply to their wishes by becoming Tiga Dark but choose to defy them and used Tiga's newfound power to destroy them and married Rena in the end. During the epilogue, the married couple were sent to Mars and Daigo bumped into the maintenance crew Asuka, the future host of Ultraman Dyna but somehow foresee his fate and wishes him a good luck.
During Ultraman Dyna, Daigo was mentioned several times in the series but his flesh appearance is in episode 50. Daigo brought Asuka, who had fallen succumb to his previous injuries and had his daughter nursed him to health on Mars. Once awakened, Asuka was given a motivational quote by Daigo, who proceed to tell him of the responsibilities of an Ultraman before the youth was fetched by Ryo. After Ultraman Dyna was sucked into the black hole as a result from his battles with Gransphire, Daigo watched the Martian sky but smiled, knowing that Asuka was fine. It was soon revealed that he had two children from his marriage with Rena, the eldest daughter named and the younger son named Tsubasa
In Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers, an alternate Daigo is a childhood friend of Asuka and Gamu, with the three desired to fulfill their greatest ambitions but instead, all of them failed and assumed normal lives as an adult. On Daigo's part, his desire to follow Rena had him forsook his own dream as an astronaut and instead, he worked as a tourist guide until his encounter with Mirai Hibino/Ultraman Mebius from the prime reality universe changed his viewpoint. Daigo was the only one to believe in the existence of Ultraman but with Mebius was defeated and the monsters made their way for a rampaging spree, he quickly remembers his original dream, allowing him to receive the Spark Lence and become an alternate reality Ultraman Tiga before Asuka, Gamu and the alternate Ultra Brothers joined them.
Daigo Madoka is portrayed by, one of the performers of V6 and during his childhood in episode 9. According to an interview with then-president of Tsuburaya Productions, Kazuo Tsuburaya, he stated that the decision to appoint Nagano as the main cast is to invoke the image of a youthful protagonist. His first name, Daigo, was devised by the series' producer, Hiroyasu Shibuya while his last name Madoka first appeared in The Final Odyssey.
In an interview, Nagano mentioned that he injured his right arm sometime when recording in episodes 15 and 16. While recovering, a scenario for Daigo to be injured was made to cover this, as he mentioned that "Daigo's intended injury would have been the left leg instead". He was also given the actual prop for Spark Lence after the series ended, having used it again Superior 8 Ultraman Brothers but when the filming staffs try to give him GUTS' Machine Sherlock, he refused due to his inability to drive. Finally, Nagano mentioned that "if he were to return in the Ultra Series, he would refuse a role that is other than Daigo.".

Tsubasa Madoka

is the Neo Super GUTS rookie and is the protagonist of the direct-to-video Revival of the Ancient Giant. Aged 17-years-old, he is the son of Daigo Madoka, having been born 3 years after the conclusion of Ultraman Dyna and uses the pronunciation when addressing himself. His personality is the same as his father, willingly used the strength he possess to help others.
In the beginning of the story, Tsubasa originally went on a scouting mission while piloting the GUTS Eagle Alpha Superior. However, he found himself up against Jomonoid and was brought into the past by mistake, being healed by the villagers and soon participate in an attack against Dogramagma's Jomonoid. Discovering the bronze Spark Lence, Tsubasa remembered the tales of his father as Ultraman Tiga and tried to do the same with said item. Although he did transformed, Tsubasa's incompatibility only drew out a portion of Tiga's powers, as his version was 20 m short. This was however enough to defeat Jomonoid in his second transformation before being knocked out by Dogouf. Nonetheless, the final enemy was destroyed by Amui, who managed to draw out the full power of Tiga. In aftermath of the battle, Tsubasa met Mahoroba for the last time and noted her similarities to his sister, Hikari, hinting that she may be his ancestor. He soon repaired the GUTS Eagle Alpha Superior and return to his proper timeline through unknown means.
Tsubasa Madoka was portrayed by. His name was under suggestion by Hiroshi Nagano, Daigo's actor.

Amui

is an 11-year-old Sakimori villager and is the supporting protagonist of Revival of the Ancient Giant. He used the pronunciation when addressing himself and was given the headdress by Izare that would serve as an important plot to the story.
Amui was the resident who discovered Tsubasa's crashed GUTS Eagle before saving him and had the other villagers nurse him to health. When Tsubasa was unable to fight as Tiga against Jomonoid, Tsubasa senses the link between himself and Tiga. He took up the bronze Spark Lence, which prompted him to transform into Tiga, successfully bringing out his full power and put an end to Dogramagma's tyranny. He was hailed as the village hero for his bravery but while trying to find Tsubasa, he discovered that the crashed GUTS Eagle Alpha Superior was gone, knowing that Tsubasa had returned to his proper time.
Amui was portrayed by. He was originally the youngest actor to portray an Ultra Host until Yuuto Tamaki in Ultraman X The Movie would break his record, who also shared the same Ultra Warrior.

Yuuto Tamaki

is one of the characters in Ultraman X The Movie. He is described as an adventurous boy who aspires to become his mother's assistant in archaeological works.
After Zaigorg was released and Xio were sent into Operation Hell No.3, Yuuto was left behind in the Lab Team's care. During that time, he provided them with several artifacts he found and among them was a petrified Spark Lens. When discovering that his mother was in danger, his desire to save her resonated with the Spark Lence, X Devizer and the blue stone that was used to seal Zaigorg. Seeing this, Guruman had Rui escort him to his mother, and the Spark Lence endowed him the strength needed to lift up a steel beam and save her. As Yuuto and Tsukasa were about to be trampled by a wall, the boy quickly raised the Spark Lence and transformed into Ultraman Tiga, simultaneously fixing the damaged X Devizer for Daichi to transform into X. After the battle, Tiga vanished and returned Yuuto to his mother, where she commended him for his bravery.
Yuuto was portrayed by. In an original plan, his mother, Tsukasa was meant to use the Spark Lence instead due to her actress, Takami Yoshimoto being known for playing Rena Yanase in Ultraman Tiga before Kiyotaka Taguchi changed the plans.

Other hosts

Popularity

In 2006, a character popularity poll was launched in response to the 40th anniversary of Ultra Series. Based on Oricon's list, Ultraman Tiga was placed seventh in the list in according to the total of voters. He is ranked fourth place in by female voters and tenth place by of male voters. Five years later in the Ultra Series' 45th anniversary, Tiga was placed fourth in the popularity poll after losing to Zero, who scored the first place and ranked first in 2013 with a total of 9369 voters.
Tiga's host, Daigo, shared his surname Madoka with the main character of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Madoka Kaname. Because of this, the Japanese fandom tends to illustrate Madoka with the Spark Lence and/or having her wearing the GUTS uniform.
Ultraman Tiga is also one of the guest of honors in the annual Act Against Aids charity concert in Japan, as the character himself appeared during the concert when the songs from his series were played. He was also present in an award ceremony when the Ultra Series was nominated by Guinness World Records as the series with most spin-offs and sequels.

Merchandise

Ultraman Tiga was released multiple times as soft vinyl dolls by Bandai. His first ULTRA-ACT figure was released on March 26, 2011 with Tiga Sky Type and Tiga Dark's figure was released on April 23 of the same year. In August 2014, Tiga Power Type was released, followed by a reissue of the original Tiga Multi Type, which was meant to coincide with the Blu-Ray release of Ultraman Tiga. There is also a promotion picture which featured the actual character playing his own ULTRA ACT figure. In 2015, two exclusive figure releases were made: first is the re-release of Tiga Power Type and Sky Type bundled in the same box and later in November 2015 for Glitter Tiga bundled with Camearra.