Set in the futuristic age of the 1980’s, Mirrorman is the story of Kyotaro, a man who discovers that his father was a being from the second dimension, who had fallen in his attempts to stop the aptly named Invaders, who seek to subjugate the Earth. Kyotaro is able to transform into Mirrorman and together with the Science Guard Mecha or SGM, he defends the Earth from the Invaders and their monstrous threats.
Conceived as sort of a sister-show to The Return of Ultraman, Mirrorman is a very eerie and dramatic tokusatsu program, and despite being a dyed-in-the-wool Ultraman fanboy, this show is easily my favorite of all the tokusatsu programs I’ve seen. While it might seem strange to be covering a non-Ultra show here, I do plan on branching out to other Tsuburaya Productions shows, and in addition, there are some surprising links to Mirrorman and several 1970’s Ultraman productions.
THE INVADERS
The main villains of the show, the Invaders are a diabolical race hailing from a world simply known as the Dark Planet. Having coveted the Earth and its beauty, the aliens will stop at nothing to possess the planet.
In the vast amount of tokusatsu shows I’ve seen, I truly believe the Invaders from Mirrorman are easily the most dangerous, and intimidating of them all. They’re not concerned with goofy plans, or making monsters out of household objects to invade Japan, nor do they find the need to make bombastic announcements to the heroes every episode or growl about their plans failing, vowing to get revenge. Instead, the Invaders go about their business quietly, and many of their plans are incredibly effective and often catch Mirrorman and SGM off-guard, such as trying to assassinate Kyotaro as soon as they realize he’s a threat to their plans. Even when the show is retooled half-way through, the Invaders still keep their menace.
The Invaders’ human forms, inspired by the real world reports of the Men in Black throughout the 50’s and 60’s UFO scene, aren’t just mere disguises, but rather, they are corpses piloted by them in order to walk around human society relatively unnoticed. While they mainly wear sunglasses to hide their glowing eyes, as well as protect them from bright light, their only weakness, sometimes the show throws Invaders that are perfectly disguised humans, or in some cases, freakish being such as this Invader above taking on the guise of the faceless nopperabo from Japanese folklore.
It takes until episode 10 until we see their true form, resembling freakish, albino fish monsters. Due to the fact that they’re wearing all black clothing, I wonder if they’re intended to be floating, disembodied heads and hands.
For the duration of the series, the Invaders would keep the fish look, albeit now all green instead of the white we saw earlier in the series. Honestly, I find both looks to be pretty good, as they both hammer home just how creepy and inhuman these guys are, even when compared to the usual colorful rogues gallery of tokusatsu baddies. While the Invaders sadly never would return, the costumes would be re-painted and used as the Growth aliens from Jumborg Ace in 1973, a show that is a semi-sequel to Mirrorman.
IRON
Mirrorman’s first opponent, Iron sets an interesting precedent for most of the monsters seen in the show. While the Invaders will occasionally summon kaiju, the Invaders are usually more prone to transforming into kaiju themselves to battle Mirrorman. Apparently this was done to help differentiate Mirrorman from the various other hero shows that were playing at the time. Iron is the first example we see in the show, having been an Invader who was trying to steal film with the evidence that they were behind a series of abnormal weather events.
Iron himself is a pretty good monster to open the show with, and while he has that classic 70’s tokusatsu feel, he feels completely original and unique to Mirrorman and doesn’t feel like he’s from Ultraman. There’s a lot of stuff I really like about him as well, as the gold coloration which helps him contrast nicely with the silver Mirrorman, as well as the human-like face on such a strange looking body. It’s not too overtly creepy, but it does add a sense of eeriness and uncanny valley to the character.
Iron was designed by Kakou Yonetani, who had previously worked on Return of Ultraman earlier in 1971. Yonetani based the design of Iron off of horseshoe crabs, manta rays and Plooma from Return of Ultraman, with his face being modeled after a Noh Mask, a kind of mask used in traditional Japanese Noh plays that seem to change expression based on the angle you look at them at. The original design as seen above included fangs for Iron, but they were dropped thankfully, as I think the creature looks much creepier without them. The character originally had the placeholder name of Mysterian before being given his final name.
Iron would go on to become Mirrorman‘s most iconic monster, and would return for a rematch with our hero in episode 8, given a new design on his back by Tsuburaya Productions mechanical designer Tetsuzo Osawa, as well as an illusion of Iron being conjured in episode 15. Past the show, Iron would inspire similar characters such as the demon Cakuyu in the 2006 reboot, Mirrorman Reflex, as well as the evil general Iaron who served as Mirror Knight’s opponent in the movie Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial.
KITTYFIRE
A monster an Invader transforms into after their plans to convert an apartment complex into a base are foiled, Kittyfire is naturally of course, a fire-based monster if it wasn’t obvious enough.
While Kittyfire isn’t as creepy as Iron is, we do get a really striking transformation when Kyotaro catches up to the Invader. Even for a nearly 50 year old show, it’s probably one of the most startling sequences in tokusatsu.
In terms of design, I really dig Kittyfire. I really tend to enjoy tokusatsu monsters that take flame as a motif and really lean into it, and Kittyfire is no exception. I really like the devilish face the monster has, which really fits the fire theme wonderfully. The monster keeping it’s arms up most of the time makes the creature feel really dynamic, even when just viewing it as a photo.
Kittyfire was another monster done by Yonetani, and originally looked much differently based on the concept art. While the fire theme is still recognizable, I can’t imagine liking the version we see here as much as the one seen in the show itself. The final design by Yonetani took inspiration from starfish, as well as giving a light feline touch to the monster’s face to match the monster’s name. Kittyfire was originally going to have a Noh mask inspired face, much like Iron, but special effects director Koichi Takano requested the monster have a stranger face.
While not as popular as Iron before, Kittyfire would appear again in episode 6, as well as appearing as an illusion summoned in episode 15.
DARKRON
Yeah, Darkron! We’re pretty early on so far, but we’ve just hit one of my favorites! Darkron here was an Invader who kidnapped an entire train just to get one scientist who was working with SGM on a new missile.
Darkron in my eyes has one of the best designs of all the monsters seen in Mirrorman, let alone 70’s tokusatsu in general. He caught my eye long before I saw the show in the various reference books I own, and he was just as cool when I finally got to watch the show myself. His design is just great, I love the yellow and blue color scheme, the spikes covering his body and the creepy face is reminiscent of Iron’s face. He’s just an absolutely perfect design, and the fact he throws out some crazy abilities such as illusionary powers and even trapping Mirrorman in a subspace makes him a memorable foe.
Darkron was designed by Shichiro Kobayashi, the same writer behind the celebrated Leogon episode of Return of Ultraman. Darkron actually wasn’t intended to be used in Mirrorman, but was rather designed for Return of Ultraman as an alien known as “Gailos”. While I love the Darkron we got, there is a small part of me that wishes that the design did show up in Return as it is a wonderful design, and the show could’ve used a good alien design, since many of them from the latter part of the show are lacking. Kobayashi’s approach to designing Darkron was apparently derived from King Joe, a little odd at first when you compare the two, but there’s a definite sort of feel one gets from both of the designs. For Darkron’s horns, Kobayashi took inspiration from a ghost that appeared in the manga Iga no Kagemaru. Producer Toyaki Tan originally wanted Yonetani to rework the design, but only corrected the monster’s color tone and arms and it went out as is. A good thing too, since I can’t imagine Darkron any other way.
Darkron would have a very interesting life outside his initial episode, reappearing once again in episode 20 of the show, as well as inspiring the demon Senkyu from Mirrorman Reflex, as well as showing up as the first monster in the bizarre and somewhat comical Redman series of shorts by Tsuburaya, even managing to sneak a quick cameo in the 2018 graphic novel Redman: Kaiju Hunter Volume 1 in the book’s preface.
MULTI
I’ll admit that when I first became acquainted with Multi in my various Japanese reference books, the character never really appealed to me, but when I was finally able to see his episode, I quickly became a fan. In his debut episode, he’s an Invader who gets wrapped up in a scheme to capture some Cobalt 60 that fell out of his species’s hands after one of their own was killed in a hit and run by a couple.
Multi himself I have to say has a pretty solid design. The one Mirrorman monster design by Noriyoshi Ikeya himself, Multi hits upon Ikeya’s design philosophy is clearly seen with Multi here, and he’s a great example of what Ikeya’s imagination could bring to the table, and it’s easily comparable to Ikeya’s work on the Ultra shows he worked on previously as well as his work on Silver Kamen. Although he had gone to work on the rival Silver Kamen, Ikeya did come back at the insistence of producer Toyaki Tan after Yonetani had difficulty with designing Multi. Ikeya drew upon plants, such as cabbages for Multi’s unique look.
Multi would only reappear on more time in the show, kidnapping SGM’s founder Dr. Mitarai in episode 9.
INBERA
Rather than being an Invader who transforms into a monster, Inbera is actually an Invader vessel disguised as a giant bird. The giant bird serves as a guard dog to keep the superstitious locals away from the Invaders’ new base, hidden deep in the forest.
Inbera seems a bit less alien at first compared to some of the oddballs we’ve seen so far, but it’s far from a bad design in my eyes, and the jet-shape help throws the bird into being more strange and memorable than if the monster was just a literal giant bird.
Inbera was designed by Yonetani, who took inspiration for the creature’s shape from Concorde Jets mixed with eagles. The original design, as seen above, looks more like a traditional bird monster, but was changed to the one we have in order to make the creature seem stranger, something I feel was the right decision in the end.
GOLD SATAN
Originally a scientist who was assisting in the creation of a special gun to help SGM in the battle against the Invaders, he finds himself zapped by an Invader UFO and turned into the monster Gold Satan in order to kill the members of the development team.
Gold Satan always was a monster that creeped me out a tad. He’s not too out there, but with the fact that he’s human-sized, as well as being a former human himself, and with that creepy mask-like face drops him right in the uncanny valley, and makes him in my opinion, one of of the creepier opponents Mirrorman fights in the show.
Gold Satan was another design by Yonetani, and he apparently drew inspiration from the famous Oscar statuette from the Academy Awards, which actually surprises me, since I always figured Gold Satan to be based on Egyptian sarcophagi if anything. There were various different head designs drawn up for Gold Satan, but the simplest design was the one that was chosen.
While Gold Satan would be restored to his humanity, a second one appears in episode 12, having been a former jewel thief known as the Shinjuku Rose who was transformed into Gold Satan after the Invaders managed to get her corpse. Gold Satan is still pretty creepy in his (her?) second outing and is otherwise unchanged aside from the addition to spots added onto the body that are supposed to be evocative of jewels. The character, much like Darkron and Iron, would go on to inspire the mirror demon Naki in Mirrorman Reflex in 2007.
GRAVITY MACHINE
Not exactly a monster per se, but all of my reference books list this as one of the show’s monsters, and it’s a fun enough concept, so why not?
The Gravity Machine is a device created by Dr. Hino, a former SGM scientist who had a falling out with Dr. Mitari at some point in the past. Having partnered with the Invaders, Hino creates the Gravity Machine, which begins to project a strange forcefield in Namioka. The forcefield is impenetrable, and in addition, it freezes time for those trapped inside the area where it’s at. The field soon begins to expand and threatens to engulf Tokyo is it isn’t stopped.
While it’s not really a monster, the Gravity Machine is a really fun concept, and works as a really unique foe for the series, presenting a legitimate threat to our heroes, and the twist of it being born from a former, disgruntled SGM member lays the drama on thick than if this was just something the Invaders brought themselves. I quite like the machine, even if it doesn’t alter gravity like it’s name suggests, and the design by mechanical designer Tetsuo Osawa is quite good, and reminds me a bit of a mecha version of Bullton from Ultraman in terms of shape and power.
ZAILAS
An Invader who transforms after their plan to retrieve a deadly space virus is foiled by SGM, Zailas is a decent enough foe in my eyes. Maybe not as unique or interesting as guys like Darkron or Kittyfire, Zailas himself still has that wonderfully creepy vibe the others pull off. It’s interesting they went with a second flame monster in the show, but as a fan of such creatures, the more the merrier, and I do like how they managed to make the character distinct from Kittyfire. While not my favorite, there is a lot to like about this guy, like the red-yellow color scheme he has, or his face which simultaneously reminds me of earlier monsters like Iron and Darkron as well as a pufferfish oddly enough. The name Zailas has a bit of an interesting history though, as the name was originally going to be used for the monster Gokinezula in Return of Ultraman. Zailas was given a dull yellow color to have him contrast to Darkron.
Zailas wouldn’t manage to get a second episode like many of the other monsters seen early on in this show, but he would appear as an illusion in episode 15 alongside Kittyfire and Iron.
NOAH
Plotting to assassinate those attending a scientific conference, the Invaders send down their robot, Noah, disguised a young woman in order to infiltrate, and brainwash a girls marching band that’s going to play at the conference so that at a certain time, they will activate a bomb to blow the scientists to smithereens. When Kyotaro investigates, he is captured by them. As Kyotaro escapes, Noah transforms into it’s true form in order to prevent Mirrorman from stopping interfering with the scheme.
While not one of my favorites, I do find Noah to be a really fun and unique threat for Mirrorman to face in this part of the show. While giant, killer robots aren’t anything new, the fact that Noah is a giant robot that is able to shrink down to disguise itself for the Invaders’ scheme is a fun concept, and just highlights just how outmatched humanity is by them. The design itself is a fun one too, feeling more monstrous than something like King Joe, and the face with human-like teeth is a creepy touch.
Noah was another design by Yonetani, and reportedly, he tried to make Noah feel feminine, incorporating elements from high class Japanese courtesans, or oirans, taking specific inspiration from the hairstyles, hairpins and teeth blackening to create a very memorable foe.
KING ZAIGER
Said to be the strongest monster in the universe, the Invaders summon King Zaiger to Earth to take care of their little Mirrorman problem for good. Despite being warned of how dangerous the creature is by the spirit of his own dead father, Kyotaro goes out as Mirrorman to do battle with it, and finds himself severely outclassed by the monster. It’s only through working with SGM that Mirrorman is able to vanquish the monster.
King Zaiger certainly lives up to his title of strongest monster in the universe, seeing as how the episode builds a good amount of dread to that confrontation between the two in a smoky volcano, easily one of the best battlegrounds in any of these kinds of shows. Zaiger himself is able to shrug off all of Mirrorman’s weapons, and is even able to blind the hero! In addition, once Mirrorman comes up with the strategy of using his hearing to locate the monster, Zaiger toys with Mirrorman by creating rushing winds and attacking nearby rocks to disorient him. Zaiger is probably the most dangerous enemy Mirrorman has confronted at this point, and he’s definitely earned that title for sure.
The design of King Zaiger is a simple, but fun one. I love his face, which looks oddly morose for such a dangerous monster, as well as his grey, cracked skin that fits the volcano landscape the episode is set in, but the coolest thing about him are those tendrils coming out of his head, which move all sorts of directions. This is another design by Yonetani, who intentionally designed Zaiger off of the concept of a classic scifi bug-eyed monsters, hence the bulbous head. He wanted Zaiger to have a different feel than the previous Mirrorman monsters and I think he really succeeded.
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