Characters / Ultraman Zearth

Ultraman Zearth

Ultraman Zearth

Human Form: Katsuto Asahi

Voiced by: Masaharu Sekiguchi

• Aliens Among Us: Like Ultraseven, Ultraman Leo and Ultraman 80 before him, Zearth opts to use a human form as a disguise while on Earth. As he's the newcomer at Mydo, he's mostly tasked with keeping their base and associated petrol station clean, though this works out in his favour, as he has the ideal opportunity to transform into his real form without being discovered should he need to, as he's normally left behind when the rest of the team are on a mission.
• Beware the Silly Ones: For all his self-doubt and Butt-Monkey status, it should be noted that Zearth is still an Ultraman and has shown feats equal if not greater than other Ultra Heroes. Since in his first movie he was able to defeat an alien and monster in combat without the help from the defense force. On top of that supplementary materials stating that he has the power to rewind and advance time, a feat only shown to be used by Shining Ultraman Zero, and the ability to create a temporary hyperspace, which was later shown as an ability of Nexus.
• Butt-Monkey: Asahi, the most hilariously accident-prone Ultra-host. He's equally prone to disasters when in Ultra form!
• Classical Anti-Hero: Zearth suffers from severe doubts in his own self-confidence, made most apparent when Shadow defeats him in the opening to the second film, as he has to work through a crippling bout of self-doubt and a fear of failure in order to triumph later on.
• Determinator: In spite of his own various issues, he continues to perform his duties as an Ultra-warrior and strives to improve himself. In Ultraman Day THE LEGENDS, he was introduced as "The Warrior Who Tirelessly Tries his Best".
• Henshin Hero: With a toothbrush, no less! Just as how you're meant to replace a toothbrush every so often, he goes through two, replacing the original with a new example in time for the second film.
• Hypochondria: During the first movie he suffers from a serious form of the condition, even in Ultra form!
• Informed Ability: According supplementary sources he has the power to rewind & advance time and create a temporary hyperspace.
• Non-Standard Character Design: His external color scheme focuses more on red, instead of silver like all other ultras before him. He's also the first Ultra that can open his mouth.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's deathly afraid of germs, muck and dirt, which he have to train himself to get over in the first movie. This fear almost kills him in the first film when Benzene forces him to cross a lake of oil, as his fear causes his energy to rapidly deplete and makes him almost drown when he briefly sinks below the surface.

Mydo

The Mysterious yonder defense organization. The resident planetary defense force of the series.

Katsuto Asahi

Zearth's human form.

• Almighty Janitor: Literally, his germophobia greatly interferes with him completing his training as a member of Mydo, as such he’s been relegated to being the base's janitor, but while his teammates are off on their missions he transforms into Ultraman Zearth to help them.
• No-Respect Guy: All the other members of Mydo look down on him, with the exception of Tohru Hoshimi.
• Trauma Button: After his defeat at the hands of Ultraman Shadow, he develops a fear of Shadow's fighting stance and spiked knuckles, which Lady Benzene exploits to her advantage.

Captain Shinpei Ohkochi

• Atomic F-Bomb: Lets out a big "Oh Shit!" when Midori informs him that Zearth's Speciushula beam hitting Cotton-pope would cause an Earth-Shattering Kaboom.
• Large Ham: He's very dramatic and loud in his reactions to virtually anything.
• Perpetual Frowner: He is never not scowling.

Butsukichi Konakai

Captain Ban Satsuma

• Actor Allusion: He's played by the same actor as Dan Moroboshi, and he's Mydo's captain much like Dan in Ultraman Leo. His surname Satsuma also references Jiro Satsuma, the human that Ultraseven based Dan's appearance on.

Manabu Kazu

• Good All Along: He hacked into Midori behind Captain Satsuma's back and forcibly reprogrammed her, but all of this is only done so that he could formulate a plan against Ultraman Shadow.
• Punny Name: The kanji for his name are the same as the kanji for "math", fitting his role as a computer geek who likes to use numbers to describe things.

Tohru Hoshimi

• Nice Girl: The nicest and friendliest member of the MYDO crew.

Ganta Takemura

Midori

Mydo's supercomputer, which only the captain can access.

• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: She wrongly predicted Cotton-pope to be weak to fire, much to Captain Ohkochi's dismay.

Digital Kanegon

A robotic mascot for the Mydo gas station.

• Expy: Of Pig from The☆Ultraman, both of them being robotic versions of iconic Ultra Series monsters that are associated with the their respective defense forces.

Monsters and Aliens

Appearing in Ultraman Zearth (1996)

Alien Benzene

As Akuma Ogami

• Aliens Among Us: While blending in with humanity, he assumed the form of a Japanese businessman named Akuma Ogami.
• Big Bad: Of the first movie.
• Dark Lord on Life Support: Downplayed, he suffers a chronic illness which can be treated with gold, and he literally needs all the gold in the world to cure himself.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In the sequel, it's revealed that Alien Benzene does have a wife, Lady Benzene, which he genuinely loves.
• Evil Genius: Unlike most alien invaders in the franchise who skips straight to attacking earth with their kaiju, Alien Benzene is smart enough to maintain a human form (as a wealthy businessman, no less!) to observe earthlings, and slowly plot his invasion plans while remaining visible to the public.
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Both him and his wife are ruthless alien conquerors, and proud of it.
• Eye Beams: In his alien form, he can shoot energy blasts from his huge, oversized eyes.
• Kick the Dog: He's absolutely fond of this trope even as a human. While demanding Asahi (Zeaarth's human form) to fill up his gas tank, he purposely wipes his sludge-coated hand on Asahi's (knowing full well that Asahi is a hypochondriac), uses his car to to smack Asahi around, and empties an ashtray outside his car just to give Asahi a bit more work to do, simply for shits and giggles.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His name in human form, Akuma Ogami, which literally translates to "Demon God".
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: With his wife, Lady Benzene, in the sequel. When communicating with each other via intercom, both Benzenes repeatedly goes "I wuv you... I wuv you too..." repeatedly, and it's hilarious.
• Twinkle in the Sky: After his pet monster Cotton-poppe gets destroyed, he's then on the receiving end of a Megaton Punch that sends him into the stratosphere. The sequel reveals he survived, though.

Cotton-poppe / "Gold Bomber"

• The Dragon: The kaiju minion of Alien Benzene.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: His body is packed with so much energy that if he was hit by any form of energy blasts, it will result in an explosion that could shatter the earth. Naturally, Zearth have to find a way to defeat him without using his ranged energy attacks, so that this trope does not happen.
• Feed It with Fire: A literal example; when MYDO surrounds Cotton-pope with a Ring of Fire, the monster simply slurps the flames like it was noodles.
• Horn Attack: Can shoot energy blasts from its horns.
• Kaiju: One which serves as the main threat of the first movie.
• Metal Muncher: A monster that feeds on gold. Whose debut have him sucking the gold from Kiyomizu Temple turning it into a grey husk.
• Pet Monstrosity: Of Alien Benzene.
• Spell My Name With An S: Cotten-poppe, Kottenpoppe, Cotten-pope.

Appearing in Ultraman Zearth 2: Superhuman Big Battle - Light and Shadow (1997)

Lady Benzene

In her human form

• Aliens Among Us: Much like her husband before her, Lady Benzene has her own human disguise as well; her name's shown to be Kagemi Ogami when she uses her credit card on Digital Kanegon.
• Avenging the Villain: Subverted; she's the villain of the second movie who intends to avenge her husband's defeat in the hands of Zearth, but her husband is still quite alive.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: From her ship's control panel, this is how she analyzed Zearth's strengths, weaknesses, fighting moves, etc. before creating Ultraman Shadow, an anti-Zearth weapon, based on her research.
• Big Bad: Of the second film.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She is the wife of the first Alien Benzene, and she does love him despite being a ruthless alien invader herself.
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: She and her husband are both ruthless alien conquerors, and proud of it.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Much like her husband, her human form's name is this, roughly translating to "Beautiful Shadowy Demon God".
• Orcus on His Throne: Well, on "her" throne, but she spends much of the film behind her spaceship's controls, and unlike her husband, never confronts Zearth directly in a fight.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: With her husband, the original Alien Benzene, in the sequel. When communicating with each other via intercom, both Benzenes repeatedly goes "I wuv you... I wuv you too..." repeatedly, and it's hilarious.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: She packs up after Ultraman Shadow's defeat, and what happens to the Benzenes after the movie is unknown.

Darklar

He's NOT as scary as he looks. Trust us.

• Fake Ultimate Mook: A menacing-looking monster covered in sinister looking spikes, shoot electric bolts, and... gets defeated by the adorable Miraclon after he's summoned.
• Horn Attack: He can blast orange, V-shaped bolts from his horn.
• Kaiju: Unlike Cotton-pope before him though, he's far less of a threat.
• Pet Monstrosity: Of Lady Benzene and Ultraman Shadow.
• Spikes of Villainy: All over his back and body, although it's mostly just for show.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Was sent to earth by Lady Benzene to test MYDO's efficiency. And gets defeated in less than a minute after it's deployment, in the hands of the cute Miraclon, no less!
• What Happened to the Mouse?: He gets recalled by Ultraman Shadow after getting his ass kicked by Miraclon, and never reappears afterwards. Perhaps he get shelved by the Benzenes for losing.

Miraclon

No, Miclas didn't get a new paint job. Why'd you ask?

• Awesome, but Impractical: While he's a powerhouse on his own, unfortunately Miraclon can only remain active for 1 minute. Hence after being recalled, he's absent for the rest of the film.
• Expy: He's a more colorful incarnation of Miclas from Ultraseven, from being summoned from a capsule to it's design being based on a bipedal buffalo. Heck, as he first appears, there's even a meaningful nod from Captain Satsuma (played by Kohji Moritsugu a.k.a the original Ultraseven) acknowledging the connection!
• Killer Rabbit: Don't let his adorable appearance fool you, he's perfectly capable of defeating the scary-looking Darklon in less than a minute.
• Leitmotif: Has a goofy theme with a sitar as its main instrument whenever he's on screen.
• Meaningful Name: "Miracle" Clone, fittingly given his origins as being created by Miclas' genes.
• Shock and Awe: Miraclon can fire electrical bolts from his hands. These bolts can also lift opponents into the air before smashing them down with severe impact, which Darklon finds out the hard way.
• The Worf Effect: Shortly after defeating Darklon, he's taken out (non-fatally) by a single punch from Ultraman Shadow.

Ultraman Shadow

• Arch-Enemy: The closest Ultraman Zearth has to one.
• Attack Reflector: His colour timer, which MYDO assumes was a weak spot, turns out to have a foldable chrome shield around it, capable of deflecting attacks fired into it. Which MYDO fails to find out until it's too late.
• Dark Is Evil: If the name itself isn't enough of an indicator already, Ultraman Shadow's designs are predominantly black as well, in contrast to the red-themed Zearth.
• The Dragon: The second-in-command to Lady Benzene.
• Evil Knockoff: An evil robot based on Ultraman Zearth.
• Expy: Yet another evil robotic clone of an Ultra, much like Robot Ultraseven before him, designed by alien invaders to defeat the lawful Ultras. Both of them are even assembled in a similar-looking facility before being unleashed.
• Mass Hypnosis: Thanks to mind-control waves from his red eyes, Ultraman Shadow can brainwash entire towns, which he then controls marching them to his master's headquarters.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes are red, and glows when he's using his powers to wreak havoc.
• Power Fist: Shadow can equip himself with the Shadow Merikens, a set of black brass knuckles which allow him to fire his hands off on energy threads to hit opponents from a distance, as well as shoot bolts of energy from them.
• Robotic Reveal: The humans, and Ultraman Zearth, find out he's truly a robot (which the audience already knew, since he's shown being assembled in a factory in a prior scene) once Zearth breaks through his armor.
• The Bus Came Back: After over twenty years without any on-screen appearances, Ultraman Shadow was brought back as Alien Zarab's sidekick in Ultraman Regulos: First Mission, and is explained as having been built from the original's blueprints, which Zarab stole from Lady Benzene.