Ultraman Tiga (character)

Ultraman Tiga
Ultra Series character
Ultraman Tiga as featured in Ultraman X The Movie.
First appearance	Ultraman Tiga (1996)
Created by	Tsuburaya Productions
Portrayed by	Shunsuke Gondo Koji Nakamura
Aliases	Tiga Tiga Dark (Original name/form)

Ultraman Tiga (ウルトラマンティガ Urutoraman Tiga)^[1] 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 the giant's direct descendant and reincarnation, to fight against monstrous threats during the series' course. 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 Tiga Dark (ティガダーク Tiga Dāku) 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 due to the aforementioned traits and started to appear in succeeding media of the Ultra Series, either as himself (without proper explanation) or as an alternate reality version of the character.

Ultraman Tiga's grunts were provided by Yūji Machi (真地 勇志 Machi Yūji) during his series, who would later become the narrator of Ultraman Dyna, the succeeding series after Tiga.^[2][3] 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 Shunsuke Gondō (権藤 俊輔 Gondō Shunsuke) in Multi and Power Type and Koji Nakamura (中村 浩二 Nakamura Kōji) 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 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 storyline 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.^[4] Also the original setting for the pyramid was instead supposedly to house five instead of three Ultras, with two statues being destroyed and the other two merging with Tiga to bestow him his Type Change abilities.^[5] The crystal on his forehead was meant as a trademark to reflect the sunlight during lighting effect.^[6] Unlike Showa Era series, Tiga's aerial combat scene was done with Chroma key special effects instead of doll props.^[7] One of his rejected 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.^[8]

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, until it was decided to simply have them recolored from original costume designs.^[9][10]

Naming

Tiga's name is Malaysian and Indonesian 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 Mountain Gulliver (マウンテンガリバー Maunten Garibā) 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 is based on the 1726 Ireland novel Gulliver's Travels.

History

Ultraman Tiga

Ultraman Tiga facing against his final opponent, Gatanothor.

30,000,000 years prior to the series, Ultraman Tiga and two other Ultra Warriors were ancient giants that protected humanity from countless catastrophes. The three soon laid to rest into giant statues and placed inside a giant golden pyramid.

In the present day, two ancient monsters, Golza and Melba awakened and attempted to destroy the giant statues. GUTS members (under guidance by Yuzare's hologram) 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.^[11]

In the present day, after TPC awakened the dark giants by accident, Daigo (who had lost his ability to transform and was about to marry Rena) 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 (which is a sign of genuine love) 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 Lens 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 (both in-series and by fans) to be a spiritual successor to Ultraman Tiga, due to sharing the similar ability to Type Change, and his combat style in Flash-Type (his basic form) 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.

Ultraman Gaia: The Battle in Hyperspace

Tiga and his successor Dyna were summoned by Tsutomu via the Red Sphere when Ultraman Gaia was brutally defeated by King of Mons and his servants, Bajiris and Scylla. Tiga chased Bajiris to the underwater and had a short scuffle before destroying it with Zeperion Ray, further weakening King of Mons and for Gaia to finally ending the destroyer's own life. Tiga, Dyna and Gamu (Gaia's human host) were soon returned to their homeworlds when Tsutomu wished for the Red Sphere's nonexistent.

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 (the son of Daigo and Rena) 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

• Ultraman Boy no Urukoro (2003): In this series, Tiga is voiced by Ryohei Nakao (中尾 良平 Nakao Ryōhei).^[12]
• Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers (2008): In this film, Ultraman Tiga was transformed by Daigo Madoka (both are alternate reality versions of themselves) and personally fought against Super Alien Hipporito before he was joined by Dyna, Gaia, the alternate Ultra Brothers and Mebius in defeating Giga Khimaira and the dark mastermind himself.
• Ultraman Ginga (2013): Ultraman Tiga's Spark Doll was among the Spark Dolls to fall into the possession of Dark Lugiel and was corrupted into Tiga Dark (ティガダーク Tiga Dāku) until the recently-redeemed Jean-Nine defeated him and his Spark Doll state was claimed by Hikaru. Kenta briefly used the Spark Doll alongside Chigusa (Ultraman) and a reformed Seiichirō to hold off Super Grand King long enough for Ginga to free Misuzu. In the aftermath of Ginga's battle with Lugiel, Ultraman Tiga and other Spark Dolls were freed from their curse and return to space. In the Extra Episode, a copy of Ultraman Tiga's Spark Doll was utilized by Kenta again to fight Zetton, who was controlled by Dark Lugiel's former minion, Alien Magma. In the original plan, Tiga Dark was meant to be used by Tomoya's father instead of being a corrupted version of himself.^[13]
  • Ultraman Ginga Theater Special (2013): Ultraman Tiga's Spark Doll was briefly used by Hikaru in order to fight against Tyrant, who was "Darklived" by Alien Icarus. Having been drained up most of his energy, Tiga was almost defeated until Tomoya brought Jean-nine into the battle and the two defeated Tyrant, separating Alien Icarus from the six Spark Dolls.^[14]
  • Ultraman Ginga Theater Special: Ultra Monster Hero Battle Royal! (2014): Ultraman Tiga was among the sketches that Tomoya drew in his book until a strange cosmic energy wave took effect thus materializing Ultraman Tiga and other sketches into Spark Dolls. Tiga was used by Chigusa when he and his friends tried to play using Ultra Warrior Spark Dolls until a software bug created a group of five dark Ultramen for them to fight. Chigusa/Ultraman Tiga fought against Evil Tiga and won by firing his Zeperion Ray.
• Ultraman Ginga S: Showdown! Ultra 10 Warriors!! (2015): Tiga was among the Heisei Ultras that were held captive by Etelgar until the UPG members freed them. While the other Heisei Ultras made their way to Etelgar's tower, Tiga, Dyna and Gaia were left behind to fight against Five King before joining other Heisei Ultras to destroy Etelgar's castle. In the Ginga S Movie, he was voiced by You Murakami (村上 ヨウ Murakami Yō).^[15]
• Ultraman X (2015): Though not himself, but since Tiga donated his powers to Hikaru and Sho, his apparition appeared when Ultraman Ginga Victory used his main finisher Zeperion Ray against Guar Spectre.
• Ultraman X: Here It Comes! Our Ultraman (2016):^[16] An alternate Ultraman Tiga was revealed to be one of the ancient Ultra Warriors that sealed the Devil Beast Zaigorg in the Baradhi Ruins in the ancient times. In the present day, a statue of him was shown in the same ruin as well and his Spark Lence was picked up by Yuuto Tamaki, the son of an archaeologist named Tsukasa Tamaki. However when a greedy adventurer named Carlos Kurosaki stole the blue stone that was used to seal Zaigorg, the monster reawakened once more. Tiga's statue was scanned by Dr. Guruman of Xio, who planned to create his Cyber Card alongside that of the original Ultraman. Tiga was reawakened once more in the modern times when Yuuto's will to save his mother activated the Spark Lence, allowing Yuuto to use Tiga's power and join Ultraman X and the original Ultraman to fight against Zaigorg. Tiga faced against Gorg Antlar and joined X in a formation of Beta Spark Armor. According to the movie pamphlet, Tiga was meant to fight against Gorg Fire Golza instead of Gorg Antlar.^[17]
• Ultraman Orb (2016): Ultraman Tiga's Ultra Fusion Card was obtained by Ultraman Orb/Gai Kurenai sometime prior to the series. Alongside the original Ultraman Card, Tiga's power was used as well when Gai transforms into Ultraman Orb's Spacium Zeperion form. Orb also utilized Tiga's powers such as Power Type's strength and Sky Type's speed.^[18]

Profile

Ultraman Tiga's Type Change forms: Multi-Type (middle), Power-Type (left) and Sky-Type(right)

Ultraman Tiga's statistics below were never mentioned in the original series, but were brought up in magazines and official websites:^[1]

• Height: 53 m (120 m as Glitter Tiga, 20 m when used by Tsubasa)^[19]
• Weight: 44,000 t
• Flight Speed: Mach 5 (Multi Type)
• Birthplace: Unknown
• Year Debut: 1996
• First Appearance: Ultraman Tiga (1996)

Description

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."^[1]

Transformation

In all of Tiga's hosts, they transforms through the use of Spark Lence (スパークレンス Supāku Rensu) or any of its variations.^[20] In the early episodes of the series, Daigo Madoka transforms by placing the Spark Lence in the same position as his chest before pressing the button and the Spark Lence form Tiga's Protector before forming the whole body. In later 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.^[21]

The Spark Lence also had multiple variations aside from the one that appeared in the series:

• Black Spark Lence (ブラックスパークレンス Burakku Supāku Rensu): A dark variation of the Spark Lence which appeared in The Final Odyssey, with the black color replaced the original one's golden-colored initials. Also referred as the Spark Lence of Darkness (闇のスパークレンス Yami no Supāku Rensu), it contained the dark power of Ultraman Tiga, which allowed Daigo to transform into Tiga Dark. When in use, Tiga emit a mass of darkness, which is strong enough to break Yuzare's light barrier and release the Shibito Zoiger across the city. In said movie, with Tiga Dark regained his light and the device was nowhere to be seen afterwards, its current status is unknown.
• Bronze Spark Lence (青銅のスパークレンス Seidō no Supāku Rensu): A bronze variation of the Spark Lence which appeared in the direct to video movie, Revival of the Ancient Giant. This was discovered by the huntress Mahoroba when slaying Kurayami no Orochi. Tsubasa Madoka first used it to battle against Jomonoid but his incompatibility made him unable to draw Tiga's full power, rendering the giant's size as 20 m short and is only being able to destroy Jomonoid before Amui discovered the Spark Lence's compatibility with him and used it against Dogramagma/Dogouf, now being able to fully utilize Tiga's strength and successfully destroy the evil sorcerer. The item was later in Amui's possession afterwards.
• A petrified version of the Spark Lence appeared in Ultraman X The Movie, which was discovered by Yuuto Tamaki during his adventures in the Baradhi Ruins. The Spark Lence resonated with his desire to protect Tsukasa (his mother), which allowed Tiga to lend the boy his strength by saving her from a steel beam. Yuuto's bravely once more allowed him to become Tiga and repaired the X Devizer for Daichi to use again to become X before the two were joined by the original Ultraman and fight against Zaigorg's army.
• X Park Lence (エクスパークレンス Ekusu Pāku Rensu): A variation that was summoned through the use of Ultraman Tiga's Cyber Card. This is used by Daichi Ozora, the host of Ultraman X alongside the X Beta Capsule to create the Beta Spark Sword and provided Ultraman Exceed X with the Beta Spark Armor.

Features

• Tiga Crystal (ティガクリスタル Tiga Kurisutaru): A gem located on his forehead, this allows Tiga to initiate Type Change (タイプチェンジ Taipu Chenji) by changing his body color and fighting prowess to his preferences. Tiga's Type Change process usually took only 0.5 seconds.^[22]
• Protector (プロテクター Purotekutā): The yellow and silver stripes breastplate on his body. When Tiga Multi Type initiates Tiga Slicer (ティガスライサー Tiga Suraisā), the Protector generates the energy before he launched it towards the enemy. In the original planning, Tiga's Protector (as well as the Tiga Slicer attack) was meant to be used as a removable boomerang.^[23]

Forms, powers and abilities

In most forms, Tiga demonstrates the use of Hand Slash (ハンドスラッシュ Hando Surasshu) beam attack.

Through his ability to Type Change, Tiga can switch forms based on fighting abilities and body performances:

• Multi Type (マルチタイプ Maruchi Taipu):^[24] Tiga's default form, which bears both the color red and purple. In this form, his fighting performances is balanced in terms of agility, strength and beam attacks. In the past, this form was resulted when Tiga Dark stealing Camearra's, Darramb's and Hudra's powers. His main finisher is the Zeperion Ray (ゼペリオン光線 Zeperion Kōsen), which is performed when Tiga makes V-shaped cross arm formation, spreading them open and drawing them backwards, creating a line of light before he performs an L-style beam similar to Ultraseven's Wide Shot. In episode 41, he also used the Multi Spacium Ray (マルチ・スペシウム光線 Maruchi Supeshiumu Kōsen), which was evidently analogous to the original Ultraman's signature attack. In The Final Odyssey, after absorbing the powers of Darramb and Hyudra, Tiga Blast evolved further into this form due to his act of saving Rena as a genuine love.
• Power Type (パワータイプ Pawā Taipu):^[22] Tiga's first alternate form, which bears the color red. It focuses on strength, defense and enhanced firepower at the cost of his own speed. In the past, this form was obtained when Tiga stole Darramb's strength. This form's finisher is the Delacium Light Stream (デラシウム光流 Derashiumu Kōryū) and an alternate version of the Zeperion Ray.
• Sky Type (スカイタイプ Sukai Taipu):^[22] Tiga's second alternate form, which bears the color purple. It focuses on speed and aerial combat at the cost of strength and firepower. In the past, this form was obtained when Tiga stole Hyudra's speed. This form's finisher is Ranbalt Light Bullet (ランバルト光弾 Ranbaruto Kōdan).

In addition, Tiga also have accessed these forms:

• Glitter Tiga (グリッターティガ Guritā Tiga):^[19] Tiga's strongest form, resulted when he was revived through immense light entering his body. This form first debuted in the last episode when Tiga lost to Gatanothor and was revived when children from over the world donated their light to Tiga. This form appeared once more in The Final Odyssey when the lights of deceased ancient Ultramen entered Tiga's body. In this form, Tiga's body is covered with the Glittering Shield (グリタリングシールド Gurittaringu Shīrudo) that repels any incoming projectiles and this makes his average attacks considerably stronger than any of the Type Change forms can offer. His finishers are the Glitter Zeperion Ray (グリッターゼペリオン光線 Gurittā Zeperion Kōsen) and the Timer Flash Special (タイマーフラッシュスペシャル Taimā Furasshu Supesharu). In The Final Odyssey, he used the Zera Death Beam (ゼラデスビーム Zera Desu Bīmu) when trying to detonate Camearra/Demonzoa in off-screen.^[25]
• Tiga Dark (ティガダーク Tiga Dāku): Tiga's black and silver form. This is in fact Tiga's original appearance during his days as a dark giant. According to Darramb, Tiga Dark was considerably the strongest of the dark giants but because of Daigo using his power for good, his full power could not be utilized. In Ultraman Ginga, this Tiga demonstrated the ability to launch purplish Hand Slash beams and is capable of enlarging smaller evil beings to the size of an Ultra Warrior through a ray fired from both of his eyes.
• Tiga Tornado (ティガトルネード Tiga Torunēdo): Tiga's partially restored light form, which obtained when Tiga Dark absorbed Darramb's Fire Magnum. This form retained the black color of Tiga Dark and had the red markings in the same position and coloring as his Multi Type. His main finisher was the Delacium Light Stream.
• Tiga Blast (ティガブラスト Tiga Burasuto): Tiga's second partially restored light form, which was obtained when Tiga Tornado absorbed Hudra's Hugust. This form had the purple markings in the same position and coloring of Multi Type, nearing close to the of the appearance of said form while retaining his darker face and a black and silver-colored Protector. His main finisher was the Ranbalt Light Bullet.

In other media

Comic Books

• In the Dark Horse Comics comic book adaptation of the series, Tiga was depicted in a similar way to his series counterpart (the English Dub version) but with additional plots such as having him meeting Daigo in a dimensional subspace. His two other companions (whose statues were destroyed by Golza and Melba) had a much larger role compared to their series counterparts such as assisting Tiga in protecting ancient human civilizations and bestowing Daigo with the knowledge to Type Change, the latter was one of the leftover plans of the original series which never made it into the final cut.^[26]

Novel

• Another Genesis, a novel series launched in 2012 has Ultraman Tiga portrayed in a similar way to his past. A long time ago, Tiga was a servant to a villain named Mirror Master and carried out his master's wishes by killing the innocent. Once he was bestowed with the light of reason from Luna, Tiga developed a change of heart, feeling genuinely remorseful for his past actions and tried to atone by fighting his own master, which ended up with him trapped in a prison of darkness made when Mirror Master lured Tiga with a duplicate of himself. Unlike other characters in said novel, Tiga retained his original appearance as Multi-Type, though the only changes he received was his muscular body and his markings looking like armor.^[27]

Apps

• In late 2013, LINE announces the second release of Ultraman stickers sold at the price of USD$1.99. Tiga was among the caricatures featured in the sets alongside other Ultra Warriors and Ultra Monsters.^[28][29][30]
• Ultraman Tiga is one of the characters to be featured in the smartphone game app, Ultra Universe (ウルトラユニバース Urutora Unibāsu).^[31]
• As a tie-in to the Ginga S Movie, a smartphone game was released, called the Ultra 10 Braves (ウルトラ10勇士 Urutora Jū Yūshi). Tiga was reimagined as the original ninja from Sanada Ten Braves, Kirigakure Saizō (霧隠才蔵), also called as Tiga (弖雅). His main weapon is a pair of katana.^[32]

Commercial

• Tiga stars in a 2014 Indonesian commercial, featuring the communications service provider Bolt ULTRA LTE. Here, the Ultra Warrior demonstrated the service's efficiency in speed, coverage and value.^[33]

Human Hosts

Daigo Madoka

Daigo Madoka
Ultra Series character
Daigo as shown in episode 39 of Ultraman Tiga.
First appearance	Ultraman Tiga
Created by	Tsuburaya Productions
Portrayed by	Hiroshi Nagano

Daigo Madoka (マドカ・ダイゴ Madoka Daigo) 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 Hikari (ヒカリ) and the younger son named Tsubasa (born three years after Ultraman Dyna)

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 Hiroshi Nagano (長野 博 Nagano Hiroshi),^[34] one of the performers of V6 and Takashi Nagata (永田 貴嗣 Nagata Takashi) 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.^[35] His first name, Daigo, was devised by the series' producer, Hiroyasu Shibuya.^[36][37]

Tsubasa Madoka

Tsubasa Madoka
Ultra Series character
Tsubasa in Ultraman Tiga Gaiden.
First appearance	Ultraman Tiga: Revival of the Ancient Giant (2001)
Created by	Tsuburaya Productions
Portrayed by	Shogo Yamaguchi

Tsubasa Madoka (マドカ・ツバサ Madoka Tsubasa) 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 Boku (僕) 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 Shogo Yamaguchi (山口翔悟 Yamaguchi Shogo).^[34] His name was under suggestion by Hiroshi Nagano, Daigo's actor.^[38]

Amui

Amui
Ultra Series character
Amui in Ultraman Tiga Gaiden.
First appearance	Ultraman Tiga: Revival of the Ancient Giant (2001)
Created by	Tsuburaya Productions
Portrayed by	Makoto Kamijo

Amui (アムイ) is an 11-year-old Sakimori villager and is the supporting protagonist of Revival of the Ancient Giant. He used the pronunciation Ora (おいら) when addressing himself and was given the Tigu Emblem (ティグの紋章 Tigu no monshō) 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 Makoto Kamijo (上條 誠 Kamijō Makoto).^[34] 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

Yuuto Tamaki
Ultra Series character
First appearance	Ultraman X: Here It Comes! Our Ultraman (2016)
Created by	Tsuburaya Productions
Portrayed by	Serai Takagi

Yuuto Tamaki (玉城 ユウト Tamaki Yūto) 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 Serai Takagi (高木 星来 Takagi Serai).^[39] 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.^[17]

Other hosts

• In Ultraman Ginga, Ultraman Tiga was transformed into a Spark Doll and was among those in Dark Lugiel's possession. It later ended up in Hikaru's possession, Ultraman Tiga would later be freed once Dark Lugiel was defeated, although another Tiga Spark Doll appeared certain times after the series:
  • During the Theatre Special, Hikaru Raidō (礼堂 ヒカル Raidō Hikaru), the host of Ultraman Ginga used Tiga's Spark Doll to fight against Tyrant but as it seemed that he would be defeated due to his time limit, Tomoya summoned Jean-nine, assisting the Ultra Warrior in defeating Tyrant.
  • Tiga's original doll was at first was reanimated by Lugiel into Tiga Dark to attack both Hikaru and Tomoya before Taro moved them to safety. After Tiga Dark was defeated by Jean-nine, his doll was collected by Hikaru returning to its proper state.
  • In order to assist Ultraman Ginga in rescuing Misuzu from Gray's influence, Tiga's Spark Doll was used by Kenta Watarai (渡会 健太 Watarai Kenta) to help delay Super Grand King while Hikaru tried to reach Misuzu. He would later use the Spark Doll copy of Tiga against Alien Magma and Zetton in the extra episode.
  • During the events of Ultraman Ginga Theater Special: Ultra Monster ☆ Hero Battle Royal!, Tiga's Spark Doll was among the copies which created when Tomoya's sketchbook of Ultra Monsters radiated by strange cosmic waves. Chigusa Kuno (久野 千草 Kuno Chigusa) would later use the Spark Doll when playing with her comrades but later participated in a fight against a group of five evil Ultramen, facing Evil Tiga. Ultraman Tiga and the other fake Spark Dolls would later reverted into Tomoya's sketchbook once the effects of cosmic ray radiation dried out.

Reception

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.^[40] Five years later in the Ultra Series' 45th anniversary, Tiga was placed fourth in the popularity poll after losing to Zero (the first place winner), who scored the first place and ranked first in 2013 with a total of 9369 voters.^[41][42]

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 (especially in the pixiv site) tends to illustrate Madoka with the Spark Lens and/or having her wearing the GUTS uniform.^[43]

Ultraman Tiga is also one of the guest of honors in the annual Act Against Aids (AAA) charity concert in Japan, as the character himself appeared during the concert when the songs from his series were played.^[44][45]

Merchandise

Ultraman Tiga was released multiple times as soft vinyl dolls by Bandai. His first ULTRA-ACT figure (Tsuburaya's official toy-line of poseable action figures) was released in March 26, 2011 with Tiga Sky Type and Tiga Dark's figure was released in April 23 of the same year.^[46][47][48] 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.^[49][50] There is also a promotion picture which featured the actual character playing his own ULTRA ACT figure.^[51] 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.^[52][53][54]

References

Published materials

• 宇宙船YEAR BOOK 1998. Uchusen別冊. Asahi Sonorama. 1998-04-10. 雑誌コード：01844-04.
• 地球はウルトラマンの星. Sony Magazines. 2000. ISBN 4-7897-1539-6.
• 『劇場版 ウルトラマンX きたぞ!われらのウルトラマン』パンフレット 2016年3月3日発行 編集：Shogakukan「Televi-kun編集部」 編集・発行：Shochiku株式会社事業部

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External links

• Ultraman Tiga in Tsuburaya Productions
• Daigo Madoka in Internet Movie Database
• Ultraman Tiga in Internet Movie Database