Ultraman Tiga (character)
During the run of the series, Tsuburaya Productions celebrated the 30th anniversary of Ultraman 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 (without proper explanation) 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 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 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 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 (as  well as the Tiga Slicer attack) 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 Sparklence (Ultraman Tiga's transformation item) 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 and Indonesian 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. Past. 30 million years prior to the series, 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. The redeemed Tiga join forces with two other unnamed giants to protect 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. 5,000 before "Ultraman Tiga" in "Revival of the Ancient Giant", the sorcerer Dogramagma threatened the peace of Sakimoria village with a giant "dogū" statue monster Degouf until Ultraman Tiga saved the village. When Dogramagma threatened  the village again and the Tiga Pyramid, a time-displaced Tsubasa Madoka tried to transform into Tiga, but his incompatibility resulted with the half-sized Tiga barely able to kill Jomonoid until Amui used the Sparklemnce on himself, successfully bringing the giant in his full power and destroying both Dogouf and Dogramagma. Section::::"Ultraman Tiga". In the present day, two ancient monsters, Golza and Melba, were awakened and attempted to destroy the giant statues in Tiga Pyramid. GUTS members (under guidance by Yuzare's hologram) discovered these statues but during Golza and Melba's attack, 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 Sparklence disintegrated into dust after his final battle. Two years after Tiga defeated Gatanothor, TPC awakened the dark giants by accident during their trip to R'lyeh. 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 (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, Tiga's whereabouts (including his Dark Sparklence) remain ambiguous. 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. Profile. 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." 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 Sparklence in the same position as his chest before pressing the button and the Sparklence'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 Sparklence 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. Forms, powers and abilities. The true physical appearance of Ultraman Tiga is regarded as "the light itself incarnated through mankind's united hope upon his stone statue". In most forms, Tiga demonstrates the use of beam attack. All of his  forms retain the breastplate and , the latter allows him to into forms based on fighting abilities and body performances: In addition, Tiga also have accessed these forms: Human hosts. Daigo Madoka. is the main protagonist of "Ultraman Tiga". He is passionately naïve, wide-eyed, eager, earnest and good-hearted, his ancestral origin from the Ultra-Ancient Civilization 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 fights to protect humanity and the world as Ultraman Tiga based on the belief that humanity is not a weak existence that always repeats old mistakes, but can make a brighter future for future generations. At the end of Tiga's fight with Gatanothor, Daigo lost his power but reassured his friends that mankind themselves can become light on their own. Daigo married Rena at the end of "The  Final Odyssey" and eventually had a daughter named Hikari. He returns in the penultimate episode of "Ultraman Dyna", nursing Shin Asuka after his battle with Zeluganoid and giving his fellow Ultra host several words of encouragement. 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 Sparklence 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". 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, who was born at some point after the conclusion of "Ultraman Dyna" and like 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 , 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", whpo is 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 Sparklence, 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 Yuto Tamaki in "Ultraman X The Movie" would break his record, who also shared the same Ultra Warrior. Yuto 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, Yuto 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 Sparklence, which he refer to as . When discovering that his mother was in danger, his desire to save her resonated with the Sparklence, X Devizer and the blue stone that was used to seal Zaigorg. Seeing this, Guruman had Rui escort him to his mother, and the Sparklence endowed him the strength needed to lift up a steel beam and save her. As Yuto  and Tsukasa were about to be trampled by a wall, the boy quickly raised the Sparklence and transformed into Ultraman Tiga, simultaneously fixing the damaged X Devizer for Daichi to transform into X. After the battle, Tiga vanished and returned Yuto to his mother, where she commended him for his bravery. Yuto was portrayed by . In an original plan, his mother, Tsukasa was meant to use the Sparklence instead due to her actress, Takami Yoshimoto being known for playing Rena Yanase in "Ultraman Tiga" before Kiyotaka Taguchi changed the plans. Reception. In an interview, voice actor Yuji Machi stated that  he had fond memories of watching the first three series, "Ultra Q", "Ultraman" and "Ultraseven" as a child and recalls popular monsters such as Pigmon, Kanegon and Alien Baltan, as well as drawing parallels of Dan Moroboshi's relationship with Anne to Daigo and Rena in "Tiga". At the age of 18 years old, Machi was trained under the actor Yasuaki Kurata to prepare for his job as a suit actor in outdoor hero shows. He recalled acting as Ultraseven, Ultraman Taro, Leo and 80, as well as monsters Pigmon and Red King. His first direct involvement with Tsuburaya Productions  was the narration of "Gridman the Hyper Agent", citing Hikaru Urano's narration of "Ultraman" as his source inspiration. His voice role of Ultraman Tiga was offered to him by then-producer Nobuyuki Koyama due to his experience as an Ultraman suit actor in outdoor stage shows. The grunts provided by Tiga were carefully devised alongside director Shingo Matsubara and Hirochika Muraishi. Machi calculated that he provided grunts for at least 10 episodes that required him to be present for recording, while the rest was made by reusing his recorded grunt. Episode 13 in particular has him providing different grunts  to emphasize Tiga's fight with Alien Raybeak, as the fight was done in real life instead of special effects. His favorite episodes were episode 3 (featuring the actor Hiroyuki Takano), episode 49 (featuring the crossover with the original Ultraman) and the final episode that focuses on Daigo and Rena's relationship. After the end of "Ultraman Tiga", Machi would later on serve as the narrator of "Ultraman Dyna" and had a cameo appearance in episode 1 of "Ultraman Gaia". He also interacted with Shin Asuka's actor, Takeshi Tsuruno while guiding him over the dubbing of Dyna's grunts . His latest reprisal to Tiga was during the "Ultra Heroes Expo 2021 Summer Festival in Ikebukuro Sunshine City", noting that it was his first time portraying Tiga talking normally and felt glad that his voice role is well-received by the audiences. 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 (the first-place winner), 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 (especially in the pixiv site) tends to illustrate Madoka with the Sparklence and/or having her wearing the GUTS uniform. 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. 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 (Tsuburaya's official toy-line of poseable action figures) 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.