One of three tokusatsu shows produced by Tsuburaya Productions to celebrate their 10th anniversary, Jumborg Ace is an action-packed show following the adventures of Naoki Tachibana, a pilot for Otone Airlines, who soon is given the power by the Emerald aliens to transform his plane into the giant robot Jumborg Ace in order to battle the evil Growth aliens and their kaiju. A wild, and bombastic show, Jumborg Ace has the same sort of energy the classic 70’s super robot anime had in spades and brought to life wondrously by Tsuburaya Productions at their peak.
ANTIGONE
Much like the other tokusatsu shows of the 1970’s, Jumborg Ace would feature different evil generals that would command their own arcs of the show, and Antigone here is our first major villain! The first commander of the Growth aliens, Antigone arrives on Earth and quickly causes trouble for the planet. In his first attack, he causes his monster King Jaigras to kill off the Protective Attack Team (or PAT)’s Captain Tachibana, the brother of Naoki, giving our hero a personal grudge in battling Antigone and his forces.
Antigone’s a pretty good villain to kick off the monsters we see in Jumborg Ace. The design, by Kakou Yonetani is a solid alien design. Originally designed for Godman (not to be confused with Toho’s Go! Godman), the predecessor project to Jumborg Ace, the Tutankhamen inspired monster makes for a very memorable villain, and I like how the black, white and gold color scheme makes this guy just pop. The staff he has also allows him to create monsters from various animals and objects, giving him a very Super Sentai sort of vibe to his monster creation M.O., though it does beg the question of why he doesn’t just create an army of monsters right off the bat, but that’s tokusatsu for you.
KING JAIGLASS
Antigone’s first monster, born from a lizard that he transforms with his staff, King Jaiglass is the one who kills Captain Tachibana during his initial rampage. Jaiglass is a pretty standard saurian monster, but he’s far from a terrible one, and sometimes you just have to kick things off with a big dinosaur. I really like his long arms and golden crest he’s got on his head. Designed by Yonetani, Jaiglass had the very generic name of Lizard King early on in production until Yonetani himself objected and it was changed. The design was meant to convey that Jaiglass was a cybernetic creature with the golden crest he has, representing the lack of life the creature now has. The crest was supposedly very heavy, so the monster was given long arms to help give the suit actor enough balance to preform.
While King Jaiglass would never return, the suit would be used for Tsuburaya’s other two anniversary shows in 1973. The suit itself would be altered into the monster Blacker in Fireman, while Jaiglass’s tail would be used for Okariyan’s in Ultraman Taro.
RUBANGER KING
Born from a discarded kaiju toy, Rubanger King is a character I overlooked when I first watched Jumborg Ace about some six plus years ago, but upon rewatching the show for this article, I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed this guy. Rubanger King is essentially a Swiss Army Knife kaiju, armed with all sorts of weapons such as his back shell opening up to reveal missile launchers, the horn on his head being able to become a sword, and a blinding flash ability that leaves poor Naoki blind for most of the episode! Despite being just another MOTW, and an early one at that, Rubanger King shows off how powerful and deadly the Growth kaiju can be.
Rubanger King is a very strong Yonetani design. Taking inspiration from the legendary kappa from Japanese mythology, Runbanger King feels like a very classic sort of kaiju, and I love how the silver he has on his body makes him feel very cybernetic, even if there’s nothing too overtly mechanical about the design, and the glittery frill he has helps the monster become very eye-catching. The sword he has was originally designed for the monster Death Kong King, who was originally meant to appear in episode 2 before the characters were swapped around. The monsters of Jumborg Ace, starting with Rubanger King here, would often be given their own weapons in order to allow for scenes with the monsters dueling Jumborg Ace with sabers and the like. I think that was a really cool idea on the show’s part, and it helps make this group of creatures and their specific fight scenes stand out compared to the other giant hero shows that were on TV at the time.
One curious thing to note is that Rubanger King is born form a discarded doll of the Tigris alien from the 1971 tokusatsu show Silver Kamen. I might be looking into this perhaps a bit too deeply, but Silver Kamen was the main rival program to Tsuburaya’s Mirrorman, and it makes me wonder if this was a subtle dig at the short lived program that Mirrorman battled for ratings a few years back. Probably not, but interesting nonetheless.
TITANGER
Sent to attack an industrial complex, Titanger isn’t as notable as the previous two monsters, mainly since his episode deals with Naoki’s nephew Kazuya who is still processing the death of his father. In addition, Titanger’s suit feels much cheaper than Jaiglass or Rubanger King. Yonetani’s design is supposed to be a mechanical bat, which I feel like is a good idea for a monster, though I’m not sure if Titanger hits the mark completely.
GIANT ROBOT ZERO
Sent by Antigone to sabotage the launch of a powerful missile that’s set to destroy a planet, Zero, unlike so many other tokusatsu MOTWs, actually manages to succeed in his mission before Jumborg Ace defeats him! Not bad Zero!
Zero’s a pretty fun robot monster, and there’s a lot of really cool features to this guy that I enjoy such as all the different weapons and gadgets he’s got in his hands, as well as those devilish horns which make him fit in really well with how the Growth commanders look. If Zero looks somewhat familiar, it’s probably because he’s based on the monster robot Noa from Mirrorman. Originally intended to be made from the repurposed Noa suit, it was then decided to create a new suit due to the arm opening mechanisms that Zero has.
While never named in the episode directly, Zero was originally just named Giant Robo, but the Zero was added to his name in order to differentiate him from the Giant Robo manga and tokusatsu series that was popular in the late 1960’s.
DEATH KONG KING
We’re pretty early, but we’ve already hit one of my favorite monsters from Jumborg Ace! Created from the panda doll of Kazuya’s friend, the panda monster uses the kids to gain access to a power plant in order to destroy it.
The idea of a giant panda kaiju is a fun idea, and Death Kong King certainly is far from boring. Much like his predecessor Rubanger King, Death Kong King is loaded with various abilities, such as the power to hypnotize people while in his stuffed animal form, his chest being able to come off and be used as a shield, those spheres on his legs that can function as grenades, and the ability to roll into a giant ball! He’s just cool as all hell and I love monsters who have unexpected abilities.
Death Kong King’s original name was Garapanda, and was originally intended to appear in episode 2, but was replaced with Rubanger King, who took the sword that was originally intended for Death Kong King. During the shuffling around of the monsters, Garapanda was renamed to Death Kong King, taken obviously from King Kong for a playful homage.
Death Kong King wouldn’t appear past this episode, but would often be seen as one of the more iconic monsters from Jumborg Ace (as he should be). The monster would make a cameo in episode 9 of Ultraman Leo, and during the final years of Chaiyo’s control over the Showa Ultra series and Jumborg Ace, one of the two films Chaiyo announced for a 2015 release was Jumborg Ace vs. Ninja Panda, which obviously meant our friend Death Kong King here. While I don’t anticipate that we’ll ever see this guy in the future, I’d love to see a matchup between him and the panda-obsessed Ultraman Ace alien Steel!
MONS ROBO
A cybernetic monster, Mons Robo initially is defeated during his first battle with Jumborg Ace, but soon gets a second chance to go on his rampage when Naoki’s boss sells the Cessna that is Jumborg Ace, forcing Naoki to try and buy it back.
Mons Robo is a fun cyborg monster, and it makes me sad that all the photographs of him don’t show off his single eye underneath that lens he has on his head. With his pudgy body and mouth full of little sharp teeth, he’s also oddly cute. I kinda want a cat-sized version as a pet, not gonna lie.
GROWTH ALIENS
While we’ve seen Antigone, it takes us until about episode 7 to see the actual Growth aliens in the flesh, and from here on out, they’ll serve as the main goons for the various Growth commanders, often transforming into their monsters in the show. Like I mentioned prior in my Mirrorman article, the suits for the Invaders were recycled here for the Growth aliens. There was originally a different design by Yonetani for these guys, but budget concerns forced them to bring out the old Invader costumes and alter them a bit by giving them kabuki-themed facepaint.
While they aren’t as menacing as the Invaders, I do think there’s quite a bit of charm to these guys, and the fact that they look so different from their commanding officers, as well as sharing many of the Invaders’ powers makes me wonder if there’s some sort of connection between the two alien races. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch after all, since Jumborg Ace is established to be a sequel to Mirrorman.
KING TEDGON
While Tedgon here doesn’t look too out of the ordinary compared to several other of the monsters we’ve seen so far, it’s his creation that makes him stand out from the rest of the show’s earlier monsters. You see, King Tedgon isn’t just another cybernetic space monster, but rather something even more morbid: he’s made of corpses! Antigone’s latest scheme involves him taking over a local hospital and killing everyone who resides there so that their corpses can be used to create brand new monsters for their invasion. It’s wonderfully morbid and feels like the Growth took a page from the Invaders’ playbook, but that’s why I love it.
King Tedgon himself is a pretty cool looking monster, albeit I almost wish he looked more like he was made out of corpses personally, but perhaps that’d be too much for a show like Jumborg Ace. I really like how he looks like a souped-up version of Gudon from Return of Ultraman, and that big hump he has for his back brings to mind a gigantic brain!
King Tedgon’s odd name is the result of an accident during the episode’s notice. Originally named King Deadgon, a typo in the episode’s notice rendered this guy’s name as Tedgon, with some books even taking further and calling him King Tetgon! Poor guy, though I do love how in the greater tokusatsu monster canon there is a guy who has Ted in his name.
While King Tedgon would be the only kaiju made from corpses that we see in the episode, we do see the Growth aliens working on some more, using the body parts of Red King, as well as Blue Condor and Agor from Tsuburaya’s 1972 hero show Triple Fighter.
GLASS KING
A giant bird monster, Antigone sends out Glass King to attack and absorb the energy from different power plants. While this is happening, Naoki dates a woman who is suffering from leukemia and sees the bird in her visions.
Hailing from an outstanding episode from the show, Glass King is just one of the coolest monsters we see in Jumborg Ace. Sleek, striking and simple, I really love this giant silver bird, and he always felt like one of the show’s best. Yonetani himself would agree with this assessment, as he found the eyelid mechanisms of the suit to be very impressive.
While such a cool monster never returned again, he did leave a memorable impression on me ever since I first saw him. The head itself would later be used for fellow Jumborg Ace kaiju Electric Bird.
KING GINGER AND FLIGHT KING
A cyborg monster, King Ginger is first sent out by Antigone to lure Jumborg Ace and then ambush the giant mecha with his monster partner, Flight King. While Antigone is unaware of Naoki’s connection to Jumborg Ace, he has the monsters attack the airfield where Naoki works, and cause additional trouble once they damage the robot, complicating a situation where Naoki’s boss, Banno, tries to bring on a new pilot for the Cessna. While Jumborg Ace is able to defeat King Ginger, Flight King retreats to get himself upgraded for round 2.
These two guys are pretty fun. I personally like King Ginger quite a bit, and I think Yonetani did a good job combining Twin Tail and a scorpion into a cool, unique kaiju. Flight King himself isn’t too bad, being based on Gubira from Ultraman, although the gold body looks much cheaper when compared to King Ginger, who is the more visually striking of the pair.
DOKUROS KING
A monster transformed from a puppy owned by an orphan who lost his parents during King Jaiglass’s attack, Dokuros King attempts to kill Jumborg Ace with a special magnetic trap that leaves the robot helpless.
Dokuros King is another cool monster, and the tragedy of this poor kid losing his parents and now his new puppy to Antigone is incredibly tragic. Unlike the object created monsters like Death Kong King, it appears if a living thing is converted into one of the Growth monsters, they’re just done for.
The design by Yonetani is a pretty good one, taking inspiration from seashells for the monster’s body, though the design of this guy always felt like a melding of Chibull and Takkong from the various Ultraman shows that preceded Jumborg Ace.
GOLDEN ARM AND DEAD FIRE
Warned by the Emerald aliens that Antigone is making a monster that will be able to take down Jumborg Ace once and for all, and that he must join with PAT to overcome this threat, the brash Naoki doesn’t heed the warning as he goes to battle Golden Arm alone.
While Jumborg Ace is able to defeat Golden Arm, the robot runs out of power and PAT’s Captain Kishi is killed in battle. A victorious Antigone releases his monster Deadfire onto the city of Osaka, gloating that the world will soon belong to the Growth aliens. The Emerald aliens, angered by Naoki’s headstrong approach, confiscate the ability for his Cessna to become Jumborg Ace. However, Naoki learns his lesson and not only do Jumborg Ace and PAT vanquish Deadfire, but even Antigone is at last, slain. However, the next commander of the Growth, Madgorne, reveals himself, setting the stage for the next conflict with the Growth aliens.
The final two kaiju of this arc of the show ain’t too shabby in my eyes. I have to commend Golden Arm for taking down Jumborg Ace, albeit I do find the design a bit sloppy and cheap compared to the other designs seen in the show. I do like his cape though. Much like his fellow kaiju from this series, Golden Arm is a tribute to another famous Ultra kaiju, Jamila.
Deadfire on the other hand, looks pretty good, almost reminiscent of Yonetani’s designs he did for the latter half of Mirrorman (fitting since Nobuyuki Ishida, Kyotaro/Mirrorman himself guest stars in these episodes). I really like this guy’s design in all aspects, such as the bellows on his body, his red-hair and those Baltan-esque hands. With Deadfire’s design, Yonetani took inspiration from the 1972 Tsuburaya film Daigoro vs. Golitah, with Daigoro’s long haired mother, as well as the tokusatsu hero Lion Maru to give Deadfire his memorable hairdo.
Easter's Kaiju Kompendium 