JIRASS
Jirass…Jirass is a bit of an odd one. While the reuse of Toho monsters isn’t new at all, Jirass, out of all of them is the most odd and perplexing.
The episode itself, which is quite bizarre even compared to the standards of the series at this point, is a strange mixture of mystery, comedy and even tragedy. Jirass was raised by Dr. Nikaido, a dinosaur obsessed mad scientist. But Jirass is no regular ol’ dinosaur. Jirass is the goddamn Loch Ness Monster. That’s right, Nessie is real in the Ultraman universe and looks like a Godzilla with a frill on it.
The fight itself with Ultraman is far from the expected, instead being a more comedic bout involving the two showing off their abilities. Ultraman even rips off the frill and waves it around ala a matador, exposing Jirass as Godzilla himself before the fight’s end. I’m not sure exactly what the thought process behind the decision to make such a matchup was. Is it Eiji Tsuburaya having a bit of fun? Is it him paying tribute to what put him on the map? Did he just want an excuse to have Godzilla and Ultraman fight? Whatever the answer is, it seems to be lost to time.
Jirass was made by combining the head of the Invasion of Astro-Monster suit and combining it with the body of the Mothra vs. Godzilla suit and then adding some yellow paint and a frill to it. There’s been a lot of conjecture why a Godzilla suit was used, but the most popular theory is that he was a last minute replacement for an unused monster. But this was not the case…
This piece of Tohl Narita artwork shows off exactly what Jirass was always meant to be: A reworked Godzilla. It’s just an incredibly baffling revelation to an already bizarre episode. Jirass has unsurprisingly, never reared his head again, but the image of Ultraman battling “Godzilla” is one that has remained infamous to this day.
GANGO
Gango’s easily one of the strangest monsters from the original show, arriving to Earth as a wish-granting meteorite. As you’d expect from one of these stories, the magical stone falls into the hands of criminal. Rather than using the rock to gain power or riches, he summons up Gango and has the monster run around and scare people for his amusement. The crook bites off more than he can chew however when he has Gango grow gigantic in the same building he’s in, knocking him unconscious and leaving the skyscraper sized monster to run rampant.
Story and design wise, I honestly really love this guy. The idea of a wish granting rock is an incredibly novel concept ripe for potential and I love how the monster’s initially used for pranks with his clownish nature even carrying over into the fight with Ultraman. As for Gango’s looks, I think he’s easily one of the more memorable creatures on the show. The mechanical claws and ears along with the colorful chest patterns remind me of something a child would come up with, and I’m saying that as a compliment to old Gango here. Gango was an altered Bemular costume with the tail removed and new arms added. Tohl Narita had stated he chose abstract shapes, inspired by totem poles to distract from the fact that this was a recycled suit and in all honesty, I think he did a fantastic job in doing so.
MUMMY MAN AND DODONGO
The Mummy Man is a monster that raises a lot of perplexing questions as to what it just is. Found perfectly preserved in a cave for 7000 years, the Mummy Man is brought in for study. However, the monster uses its psychic power to use the various machines used to analyze it to revive itself and then goes on to do the kind of stuff you’d expect a living mummy to do.
Mummy Man is certainly another oddball. A regular Universal styled mummy would feel pretty pedestrian for Ultraman and the direction they went with their version is an interesting one to say the least. This mummy could hardly be even called human and we’re never given a clear answer to what exactly it is. Is he an alien? Some sort of mutant? The last survivor of an inhuman civilization? It’s a story that feels like it’d fit within the pages of a pulp novel perfectly.
Upon the Mummy Man’s death, it awakens Dodongo to serve as the opponent for the traditional end of episode fight.
Dodongo is a monster I feel like gets a bit of a bad rep amongst many viewers thanks to how it’s executed in the show, being the kaiju equivalent of a pantomime horse. While it’s pretty laughable, I do applaud Tsuburaya for experimenting with new ways to bring monsters to life. Plus, you could tell they were in on the joke to as Ultraman even rides Dodongo around during the battle. Aside from his execution, Dodongo has a pretty solid design in my book, being based off of the Kirin from Japanese mythology. This wasn’t the initial design for the monster and it’s a change that I think was the right one.
PESTAR
Pestar’s another monster that I see get sort of a bad rap with viewers, mostly coming down to his execution, which much like Dodongo above, is portrayed by two suit actors, this time with both of them standing together at their sides. As clumsy as it is, it’s a truly striking monster design and I love how Tohl Narita was able to come up with such a bizarre creature. The features of a starfish and bat are two things that one would feel like don’t go together, but in my eyes, they work well in creating something truly unforgettable. Pester’s episode is based on an unused Ultra Q regarding an oil eating manta ray monster named Clapton, the same one that would be scrapped in favor of Bostang’s episode in Q.
GAMAKUJIRA
Gamakujira is another sort of pathetic monster. Rather than attacking humanity, the poor thing just wants to eat pearls and nothing else. He only wanted to eat pearls! Can’t you damn bastards leave him alone?! Gamakujira is another one of those that I feel like has an underrated design. Director Akio Jissoji really wanted the monster to look disgusting and make audiences nauseous, and while I’m not sure he succeeded as well as he hoped, I do think Gamakujira is definitely quite repulsive. I’m quite fond of his ribbed belly and the bumps on his body are nicely reminiscent of the pearls he consumes.
GAVADON
If there is a ranking of strangest Ultra Kaiju, Gavadon is probably in the top 10. The monster is a complete package of an oddball story and some strange designs. The episode in question has cosmic rays hitting a child’s drawing of a monster and bringing it to life…
Gavadon’s first manifestation (Gavadon A) really captures the “children’s doodle” vibe quite well and seeing such a simplistic monster in a miniature city is really surreal and dreamlike. Unlike most monsters though, Gavadon is only interested in sleeping and is quite harmless and eventually disappears
The children, disappointed that Gavadon wasn’t as ferocious as they had anticipated, get to work in redesigning the kaiju, hoping that when it manifests next they’ll see something more exciting. However, the new version of the monster, Gavadon B, is still only interested in sleeping. Ultraman eventually spares the monster after being convinced by the kids and transforms it into a constellation. While the second Gavadon isn’t as cute as the original, I do like how colorful he looks in comparison. And look at those pearly whites!
The original Gavadon B drawing was different than what we ended up with, resembling a walrus covered in graffiti. The Gavadon B we see in the show was originally the design for Dodongo, hence the skeletal limbs on the final design.
BULLTON
If Gavadon is in the running for strangest Ultra Kaiju, Bullton is one of the few kaiju that has it beaten for sure. A pair of meteorites combine to form the utterly bizarre Bullton, which begins to warp space all around itself. Even Ultraman himself has a hard time contending with a creature that laughs in the face of physics. I usually don’t like to throw around the term “Lovecraftian”, but a reality warping, living meteor is truly incomprehensible. Is Bullton even really alive? Is it sentient? What are its goals? The Science Patrol can handle your typical mutant lizards, prehistoric throwbacks and alien invaders, but Bullton is something outside their pay grade for sure. Fittingly enough, the monster is named after French surrealist poet Andre Breton, whom I’m sure would’ve loved to have known that he was the namesake of a reality warping rock.
Bullton is almost impossible to describe sufficiently, but it’s one that I feel is another winner. Narita designed the monster around the concept of an abstract moving shape and took inspiration from sea anemones. I’m also reminded of various other objects like coral and even rubber pet toys when looking at it.
Bullton would set a new standard for surreal monsters in the series and would return as a monster of the week in Ultra Galaxy, this time brought to life as a CGI model. Bullton would appear about a decade or so later in 2020’s Ultraman Z, and be the driving force behind one of the zaniest, and saddest, episodes of that particular show.
ZARAB
After arriving on Earth and preforming good deeds such as clearing up radioactive smog and returning a lost spacecraft, Zarab claims to want to establish peaceful relations with humanity. Of course, it’s clear to us from the get go that Zarab has something up his sleeve..
The alien plans to invade Earth alright, but he executes his invasion under the guise of an Imitation Ultraman in order to frame the giant from M78. It’s predictable story sure, but it’s made enjoyable by how entertaining Zarab is as a villain. He knows he’s clearly up to no good and is smugly taking advantage of the fact. I’m a big fan of just how weird he looks and it really reminds me of the really bizarre aliens in older UFO reports. The silver, domed head is a feature I especially like, and it makes me wonder if Zarab is intended to be a cyborg. Imitation Ultraman isn’t a shabby evil doppleganger either and I can see why it’d serve as the basis for every evil Ultraman design here on out.
ABORAS AND BANILA
Probably the most infamous monster rivalry of the franchise, the blue Aboras and red Banila were sealed away in two small capsules by some long dead civilization. As you can probably imagine by now, the two become unsealed and begin duking it out in modern Japan. We never get a clear answer of how this civilization was able to trap them or why aren’t able to destroy them, but I suppose if they were able to we wouldn’t have an episode now, would we?
Of the two, I think Aboras is definitely the cooler one and he’s honestly no slouch at all, being able to fire acidic foam and shrugging off two hits of Ultraman’s Specium Ray! Aboras is a repainted Red King suit with a brand new head and somehow that small little addition really adds to the final design. Originally he was the episode’s only monster, being the tool of an ancient human and kept in a small bottle when not giant in the first draft. I’m not exactly sure why they changed this story to the one we have now, but my best guess it was a tad too similar to the Dodongo episode. In all honesty, Aboras is among my favorite monsters of the franchise, right up there with guys like Kanegon and Baltan. There’s just something about him that I really like, even if I can’t pinpoint exactly why I do love him.
Banila on the other hand feels a lot more “throwaway” compared to his counterpart as the monster does not feel as interesting or memorable as Aboras. Tohl Narita based this guy on a seahorse, which helps give Banila a unique profile. Admittedly, I used to be real cool in terms of my feelings towards Banila and once thought him to be lame, but over the years he’s really grown on me as good monster, and worthy opponent for Aboras.
HYDRA
Hydra is one of those monsters that I feel has potential to be really interesting, but it’s one that never really stuck out in my mind. Hydra first shows up attacking cars on Route 87. As the Science Patrol investigates, they notice the similarities between Hydra and a monster statue designed by a young boy named Akira. The story only gets stranger as it’s uncovered that young Akira died after being hit by a car on Route 87…
The concept of a vengeful Japanese ghost as a gigantic monster is a fun kernel of an idea, but the episode in question doesn’t really do all too much to really play off of it as well and I’m of the opinion that this is a story that would’ve worked much better in Ultra Q. In terms of design, I find Hydra serviceable enough I guess, but nothing about it really sticks out in my mind.
The statue used to represent the one little Akira designed is a real statue located in Izu Cactus Zoo, a botanical and zoological garden that has made many appearances in tokusatsu shows over the years.
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