toriwrites

·         The man, the myth, the legend. He’s kept himself busy recently, becoming a professor, a father and a sofubi. In this show he, through some mysterious power, turns into a child. Thanks to this, his motivation and self-control also revert to his childhood levels and he turns into a carefree, spoiled child.

Taiga

·         After seeing his father turn into a child, he desperately searches for any way to turn him back to normal, but keeps running into trouble! Even Tregear appeared at the end! What in the world is Taiga to do!? Taiga pushes forward while all the while screaming “CAN’T WE JUST GET BACK TO NORMAL!” He becomes Kotaro’s bodyguard.

The Ultra Brothers

·         Upon seeing Kotaro, all the Ultra Brothers exclaim “this takes me back!” and “so cutee!”. Even though Taro just literally turned into a kid, they all agree that as long as he’s safe and happy then it’s all good! And give a jolly laugh. Anytime they’re around baby taro, they all collectively have 2 IQ. (im not joking this is how the fan report puts it)

Scenes from the report, in order. Text only, sorry.

Remember, Kotaro = child taro form
The Ultra Brothers who don’t seem to care that Taro just turned into a kid somehow

Ace: He used to kind of cower behind us and cry a lot, didn’t he.

Man: This brings back so many memories

Seven: Haven’t seen him look like that in a long time.

Taiga, seeing these old Showa guys just starting to talk about the old days

            Taiga: ???????????? AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS THIS IS WEIRD???

Taro’s now a spoiled brat. Reverted to his youngest-child self. Adorable.

            Kotaro: Taiga nii-san, my legs are tired, give me a piggy back ride!
            Taiga: Uh…
            Kotaro: … hm? But Zoffy gave me one!
            Taiga: FINE

Upon fighting a kaiju, Kotaro loses the spoiled brat act a bit, as well as loses his adulthood memories for a short while

            Kotaro: I’m Taro!!! I’m not your dad sir!!!!

            Taiga: … actually, I’m a friend of your parents. I’ve been asked by your mom and dad to bring

you home safe and sound. (what a good kid!)

Through it all, they’re attacked by some people from the past, including Tregear who finds that seeing kid taro brings back some memories. However, through it all Taiga dreams of an old memory, of his dad talking to him…

            Adult taro: When facing evil and injustice, don’t lose to that part of you that says “I can’t do this”. That’s what being brave is all about!
            Young Taiga: I’ll make sure to remember that always dad!

Taiga whisks Taro off to a safe place. However, little Taro is scared to be alone. Taro says that he not strong like dad (father of Ultra) or Taiga (his guardian). But Taiga gives him the Taiga Spark…

            Kotaro: Why are you giving me this…?

            Taiga: So that you can stay strong here by yourself! Since you’re so worried and scared right I would never leave you alone. But like my own father taught me, even just by myself, I can be brave!

Taiga, remembering the words his father tells him, faces the Baruki alien threatening him and young Taro:

            Baruki: You gave up your Taiga spark? You’re no match for me without it!

            Taiga: Who knows? I have my bravery on my side. And with it, I can’t lose!

Thanks to all this, Taro is able to revert back to his old form and he and Taiga save the day together!

At the end, this short scene happens…

            Zoffy: Taro, you know your son has grown up quite a bit, even if you haven’t noticed it…

            Taro: Haha… I understand a now. He really is my son, isn’t he.

Some random cute scenes not in the summary above:

Kotaro: Taiga’s such a cool name!

Taiga: R-really!? (blushing)

Taiga, with baby taro behind him: I won’t let you lay a finger on my dad!

Taiga, keeping his promise to Taro: It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand! I just… I just have to protect that promise I made to my father!

Kid taro, before losing his memories: While you may have fought and won some battles, you’re still a child.

Taiga, pissed: Look who’s talking!!

• Taro and Tregear were childhood friends.
• Tregear was Taro’s only real friend, but felt inferior to Taro because Taro was seemingly the perfect hero
• Tregear, wanting to stay with Taro, takes the Garrison exam along with Taro. Despite his efforts, Tregear just misses the cut.
• Tregear joins the Science and Technology Institute (宇宙科学技術局) and starts working under Hikari on a device that can solidify life-force. This becomes the Taiga spark, named jointly by Taro and Tregear long before Taiga’s birth
• Tregear's struggles with the Land of Light seemingly being a perfect place without darkness is what leads him down the wrong path. Learning about the reason Belial fell to the dark side, as well as hearing about Hikari’s fall into darkness, just pushes him further.
• Tregear decides that he doesn’t want to be an Ultraman anymore, so he fuses with ancient, sealed away demons to gain power as well as cut off his body from his color timer. This gave him the ability to travel dimensions as well.
• Tregear at this point feels like he’s overcome both light and darkness, though the one wall left in his way is Taro.

• Taro and Tregear are classmates in elementary school. Taro’s the popular one, a personality “like the sun”, well loved by everyone, and Treger’s the complete loner who ducks out even when he plays with others.
• Taro’s name in the Land of Light’s language means: someone who’s brave and has a strong sense of justice (勇気があり正義を愛するもの)
• Tregear’s name in Land of Light’s language means: morbid curiosity (狂おしい好奇心)
• Taro tries to befriend Tregear and asks if they can play after school. Tregear agrees, only if Taro does what he asks.
• Tregear takes Taro to an area marked with a “No Entry” sign and asks him to push the vegetation out of the way so they can climb in. Taro protests, but Tregear says he’s too weak to do it (as a blue ultra) and pushes Taro to do it.
• They come across a Great War memorial and gravesite. Once they figure out what it is, they escape.
• Taro and Tregear are pulled aside by their homeroom teacher and scolded for trespassing. When the teacher asks whose idea it was, Taro lies and says it was his idea, much to Tregear’s surprise.
• Taro asks Tregear if they’ll hang out, and Tregear agrees. Taro yells “Yes, we’re friends!” then jumps for joy, backlit by the Plasma Spark Tower’s light.

• Tregear remarks that he hasn’t been able to get that image of an elementary aged Taro jumping for joy, back lit by the tower’s light (as bright as a sun), out of his head. It feels like yesterday to him and remembers the day they became friends fondly.
  •  
  • (Tori’s note: this is why Tregear reacts to this moment going “Taro” in the Taiga finale, as it reminds him of that defining moment of his childhood)
  • 
• Tregear and Taro have gotten into some stupid things over the years, such as hitchhiking to another planet, playing with the cute baby kaiju on the planet… only to be chased by the very angry momma kaiju. Taro also asks Tregear to help him to write love letters as he’s not too great with writing.
• Tregear thinks of Taro as his personal sun, that he’s really only happy when he’s around.
• Tregear feels like he’s a shadow compared to Taro, which leads him to research more about the darkness - how come, if the Land of Light is a place of light and happiness, does no darkness exist?
• Taro runs into Tregear writing a poem, which he reads alone and remarks that Tregear is a great poet:

• Taro invites Tregear on a mission to explore a cave with a rumored kaiju called Gagoze. Gagoze is a kaiju that can mutate based on DNA it consumes. The mission goes sideways, with Tregear about to be killed/consumed by multiple Gagoze while Taro fights another Gagoze kaiju to protect the residents of the planets. Tregear tells Taro to let him die so he can save the townspeople, but Taro refuses, and manages to save everyone.
  • (Tori note: this whole bit is full of Star Trek references: flying on a spaceship scanning the planet, tricorder-like devices suffering from magnetic interference, nutrinos galore, and topped off with Taro going “So you’re saying I should overlook sacrificing one to prevent the sacrifice of the many!?” 🤭 someone’s a trekkie!)
• Tregear admires Taro as a hero, and wishes he could be like him, though doubts he has the ability.
• Taro tells Tregear that he wants to join the Garrison and be a protector of the light. Tregear decides that he’ll join the Garrison as well so he can continue to be with Taro. He works hard to pass the exam, but barely misses the cut. It’s the first time Tregear has ever failed at something in his life. He then goes on to join the Science and Technology Institute instead.
• This is the end of Taro and Tregear’s adventures together…

• Tregear starts working under Ultraman Hikari on technology product relating to “solidifying lifeforce” (命の固形化に関する技術研究). Hikari is working on his life-saving device at the moment, and Tregear is working on an “astral particles conversion system”, that can turn things/people into and back from astral particles
  • (Tori notes: this research focus is probably why Hikari made the Geed capsules too… seems to be his specialty!)
• Tregear feels like he’s more of the sidelines of Taro’s life now, as he’s working hard at the Garrison and they don’t have time to hang out much. When they do, Tregear feels better and happier, but it’s fleeting as they can’t stay together for long.
• Taro comes back from his mission on Earth, and gushes about humanity and learning the source of light comes from the bonds and love shared between people. Tregear tries to play devil’s advocate, remarking about how there are tons of bad humans, and how they’re destroying their planet, starting wars, still has racism. Taro replies saying that you can’t dismiss all of humanity because of a few bad apples, and still loves the planet very fondly.
• Tregear has Taro try out his new invention: a terminal device that works with keys, created from Ultras turned into astral particles, and that when the terminal reads the key, their body can be transformed into that Ultra’s body/person for some time.
• Taro is impressed but asks Tregear to name the system. Tregear suggests “Taro Spark”, but Taro, while flattered, suggests naming it the “Taiga Spark” instead. Taiga meaning “One who’s bravery burns like the sun” (太陽を抱く勇気あるもの). Tregear agrees.
• Taro likes the name Taiga so much that he decides, if he ever has a son, he’ll name him Taiga.
• As Taro leaves, Tregear is reminded of another old poem he wrote:

  たとえ星雲が凍って	Even if the nebula froze over
  闇が宇宙を覆ったとしても	And all of existence was covered in darkness
  太陽のような君がそばにいてくれたら	As long as you, burning like the sun, are at my side
  僕は寒くない	I’m not cold
  だからそばにいておくれ	So always stay by my side

• Tregear feels like the Land of Light is missing something while Taro’s offworld. He’s struggling deeply with the problem that with light, there must be darkness, which drives him to research more in the archives.
• Tregear comes across Belial’s file, which he reads with great interest. He learns that Belial decided to steal the plasma spark because, even though he was an excellent warrior who fought in the Great War, he was passed for a higher position when the Garrison was created.
• (Tori’s note: As far as I know, this is the first time we’ve seen this story of why Belial went evil actually cemented in canon! It’s all just been director/actor headcanons before this it seems, so that’s cool. )
• Tregear struggles with this - why are Ultras given such power, if they can fall to temptation and the darkness? Do Ultras even have the right to be guardians of the light if they can go bad?
  • (Tori’s note: In this years’s Ultra Expo at Tokyo Dome City, Hikari confronts Tregear for a short moment...)

• Tregear goes on his own to do some soul-searching, and ends up on the trash planet Chutsuora, remarking it’s quite fitting for him to be amont items that have lost their usefulness.
• Tregear finds a primordial pool on the planet. He uses it to bring forth a slug-like creature similar to Gagoze, the kaiju him and Taro encountered on their final adventure together. As the creature grew, it developed eyes and small front limbs, somewhat resembling the kaiju Namegon. Taro names the kaiju Sunaaku, meaning “Something small/chibisuke” in the Land of Light’s language. Tregear and Sunaaku get along well and he brings him along.
• Sunaaku, continuing to devour trash, grew to a size 100s of meters in height and started to go after the people on Planet Chutsuora’s capital. Tregear faces against Sunaaku, though as a blue ultra he’s quite a weak fighter, and was unable to stop Sunaaku’s rampage. Tregear finds that he can put a bug in Sunaaku’s DNA and change it, and Sunaaku suffers as the bug goes through his system. Sunaaku turns into a small flower, which Tregear plucks while saying “I guess neither you or I could ever have lived on this planet”
  • (Tori note: This scene was put to fanart beautifully, check it out here: https://twitter.com/Moyo10D/status/1243970672759468033?s=20)
• Tregear feels deeply lonely - among tens of thousands of stars, he’s all alone in the depths of space.
• He hears rumors that Taro has had a son and named him Taiga. Tregear jokingly feels like he helped name Taiga, in a way.
• Tregear determines that while Taro is the extent of all the Light holds, Tregear himself is the extent that all the Darkness holds. But he muses that they still achieve the same thing, despite being on opposite sides of the coin. He wants to research why light and dark are so mixed as things were more pure when the universe was young, so he goes back to the planet he and Taro were on to look at the old cave writings.

• Tregear has been traveling a long time at this point, and has found that both light and dark have no worth, that they’re both illusions. Existence is just nothingness, a vacuum.
• Tregear decides to throw away his Ultraman heritage. In order to do so, he goes to a well that is like a hell, trapping old sealed away demons (evil gods). He uses a spell to draw them out of the well, and then then merges the spirits into himself. This lets him cut off himself from his color timer and draw power from the demons instead. The demonic power also allows him to jump dimensions.
  • (Tori’s note: a friend mentioned that every time Tregear teleports, something that looks like a  demonic summoning circle appears behind him. Likely related to how he gained that power.)
  •  
• Tregear is involved in Murunau (from the Ultraman Orb movie) gaining her power, and encourages Lugocite and Griza to continue their rampaging. 
• It goes into him trying to draw Ultraman Rosso/Katsumi into darkness, because he senses he’s the one most lost in his path and also because of his connection to Taro
• The book ends with him stating he’s overcome everything - light, dark, his ultraman heritage. But one wall still stands in his way, Taro. And his son, Taiga, also interests him… Who gets to decide justice, anyways?

Dogengers Season 1 is finally over. Why don't you tell us your thoughts.
While many of us have been "real life heroes" for a long time, this was our first filmed production, so to be honest I was pretty worried about this going in. I honestly didn't think it would gain this much popularity. Beyond our wildest imagination...

How do you feel about all the comments put on twitter and NicoNico?
It seemed that this weird movement started that, whenever someone (especially KitaQman) appeared on screen, the commenters would post in unison showing their appreciation in red text (laughs). I've always loved the internet myself, and I've watched videos on Nico for a long time. And so to be sucked into a running jokes through the NicoNico comments, it something I'm really proud of.

So, you said you were worried about Dogengers going into it. What did you think about  it when you were first told about it?
I thought that there was no way it was getting off the ground.

That's pretty blunt! What made you think that?
Well, Shabberyman, who works at the the Secret Society of Darkness as producer and script writer, told me about the production late last year. He told me "You're gonna star in it, of course!"... But, honestly I'm more of a realist so I just told him "I think you're dreaming a bit too big".

Well at least you were being honest.
As he talked about how suit actor Yoshifumi Oshikawa and director Fumie Arakawa were brought on board, and as he raised the money for special effects and explosions... I started to think it wasn't such a pipe dream after all.

From what I know about tokusatsu production, it feels reasonable once you explain all that.
Even so, Shaberryman was so fired up when he talked about all this that I really didn't want to rain on his parade and speak my mind. It wasn't until after it was set to air that I told him that I never believed it was going to happen. Kind of felt like Shaberryman won.

While Dogengers is set in Fukuoka, you (as KitaQman) are are representative of Kitakyushu. Did this cause any dilemma? 
Well, originally with a KitaQman vs Yabai Kamen story we were thinking "we've got to show off Kitakyushu more!"... But instead, we went with that I move to Fukuoka with the heroes and become friends, without being sucked into becoming a part of Fukuoka. So it feels like I'm a representative of Kitakyushu in Fukuoka.

I see.
You may not have noticed, but we did have many filming locations in Kitakyushu. And a few companies based out of Kitakyushu are represented, like Onimaru Homes (which provided Tanaka's house) and Nejichoco.

Nejichoco came up a few times, didn't it.
Well, part of being KitaQman is getting my sponsors exposure, so I don't see a problem with it.

What was your impression when you first read Shaberryman's script?
I didn't get it honestly, which got Director Arakawa and some others mad at me (laughs). Shaberryman's script was basically a hero stageshow script. There wasn't any descriptions or anything beyond what the characters were saying, so when I read it I just couldn't imagine what it was supposed to be. So I kind of stopped reading halfway through (laughs).

Since you didn't finish reading it, you didn't know what the story was, right?
Well I did skip to the end and read it! But I had no clue what was going on (laughs).

Did you feel anything was off about your character?
Yeah. I can't say it was completely different, but as this read like a normal stageshow, the things that KitaQman were saying were things that I would have never put in stageshow. But Shaberryman just steamrolle me and said "well, this is Dogengers' KitaQman, so we're going to just think of him as a separate thing and keep the lines".

Oh, so Dogengers' KitaQman is a different KitaQman character?
First off, the suit actor hired for KitaQman breathed a new life to the character with his very cool and stylish suit acting. So to bring the character back to how he usually is, I came up with some things in the recording booth.

Came up with things?
I adlibbed a significant portion of the show. KitaQman stands out for the rest of the cast as being a "flippant hero", and to make sure that I gave that impression to the audience, I decided to adlib with my tone of voice and quips and such. 

So the voice overs were done in scene/episode order?
As a local hero, I have a decent amount of voice over experience and I'm decently confident in my work, but... there were quite a few times where I went "why don't I try this" and nothing good came out, so we did have to do a decent amount of retakes.

I see.
I talked about this on twitter, but my voice tends to crack pretty fast, so I kept drinking sesame oil in the recording studio. So the studio ended up smelling like a Chinese restaurant (nervous laugh).