Ultraman Gaia
Ultraman Gaia is a Japanese tokusatsu TV show and is the 14th show in the Ultra Series. Featuring Chiaki J. Konaka as series composer and produced by Tsuburaya Productions and Mainichi Broadcasting System, Ultraman Gaia was aired on JNN TV stations from September 5, 1998 until August 28, 1999, with a total of 51 episodes.
Overview
Ultraman Gaia takes place in yet another universe, one that is totally different from the world of the Shōwa era Ultramen, as well as the world of Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Dyna. In a departure from most of the other series, there are two Ultramen as the main characters. They have conflicting philosophies in regards to defending the Earth from a mysterious, malevolent and extremely intelligent cosmic entity.The first half of the series explores the growing tension between them, and their eventual clash. The second half has them reconcile their differences so they can defeat their common enemy.
The show is also different from past Ultra Series installments in that the support team, XIG, has more personnel than the defence teams in previous installments.
In this series, Ultraman Gaia is the lead, but Ultraman Agul is prominently focused on as well. They are often at odds with each other in the beginning of the series. Their philosophies are as different as their skin colors. Unlike Gaia, Agul is completely blue. Gamu Takayama, the human host of Ultraman Gaia, believes that Gaia is here to save Earth and humanity. On the other hand, Fujimiya Hiroya, the human host of Ultraman Agul, believes Agul to be Earth's natural defence mechanism. He is at first more interested in protecting just the planet itself, even at the expense of humanity. But this was discontinued after Gaia and Agul would work together as one to face more powerful monsters.
Story
The story takes place in the year 2000. CRISIS, a supercomputer developed the Alchemy Stars, predicts around 1996–1997 that Earth and humanity would be annihilated by something known as the "Entity that Brings Radical Destruction". Technology developed by the Alchemy Stars is used to form an international defence organization known as Geocentric Universal Alliance against the Radical Destruction. This is done secretly, so as to avoid causing a worldwide panic. The eXpanded Interceptive Guards is the combat wing of G.U.A.R.D, operating in a floating sky fortress known as the Aerial Base.20-year-old Gamu Takayama, a scientist and member of the Alchemy Stars briefly encounters Gaia during some virtual reality experiments he performs with the secret purpose of discovering the will of the Earth, later merging with him in order to fight various monsters that threaten the safety of the Earth. During his battles, he encounters Ultraman Agul, whose human host is Hiroya Fujimya, a former Alchemy Stars member. Both clash because of their ideals regarding the protection of the Earth but eventually resolve their differences to battle their common enemy.
Episodes
- Seize the Light!
- A Hero Appears
- His Name is Gaia
- Gamu of the Sky
- Another Giant
- The Ridiculing Eye
- The Cleansing of the Earth
- The 4,600 Million Years-Old Ghost
- Seagull Takes Off
- Rock Fight
- The Dragon's Capital
- Monster Encircling Net
- The Night of the Marionettes
- The Challenge from the Anti-Space
- When the Rain Stops
- The Birth of Agul
- Shadow of Space, Light of Earth
- Agul vs. Gaia
- Lilia's Maze
- The Fossil of Ruin
- The Sea of a Mysterious Light
- The Wings of a Stone
- Gamu Expelled!
- The Determination of Agul
- The Showdown for Tomorrow
- The Final Resolution
- A New Battle ~Version-up Fight!~
- The Advent of the Heatwave
- The Distant City: Uqbar
- The Demon's Cocoon
- The Accursed Eye
- The Future Seen Before
- Battling the Legend
- Crash of Souls!
- Ransom for a Monster
- The Sky of Reunion
- The Fourth Symphony of a Nightmare
- Ground-Breaking Tusks
- The Lake of Sadness
- I Want to See Gaia!
- The Resurrection of Agul
- Gamu vs. Gamu
- The Silver Eyes of Izak
- The Attack of the Space Monsters
- The Living Planet
- The Attack of the Forest
- X.I.G. Destroyed!?
- The Revenge of the Death God
- An Angel Descends
- The Cry of the Earth
- Earth is Ultraman's Star
International broadcast
Other media
Films and team ups
- ', Gaia is one of the main Ultramen to appear in this movie, alongside Tiga and Dyna.
- Ultraman Gaia: Gaia Again, A 45-minute Original Video Tokusatsu release set several years after the end of the series. Ultraman Gaia and Ultraman Agul return to fight a new enemy, along with help from mysterious undersea creatures.
- Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers, Gaia teams up with Tiga, Dyna and Mebius in this movie, alongside Showa-era Ultra Heroes.
- ', Ultraman Gaia is one of the Heisei-era Ultra Heroes to fight along with other 9 Heisei-era Ultra Heroes.
- , Ultraman Gaia and Ultraman Agul return to fight the Bezelbs where it approaches the Earth, along with help from Ultraman Orb, Dyna and Cosmos starting on the eighth episode. The planet Earth in this show is not the one from Ultraman Gaia, as there are no mention of Gaia and Agul's names by its residents.
Video games
Cast
- Gamu Takayama: Takeshi Yoshioka
- Hiroya Fujimiya: Hassei Takano
- Akio Ishimuro: Hiroyuki Watanabe
- Tatsumi Chiba: Sei Hiraizumi
- Seiichiro Tsutsumi: Takashi Ukaji
- Atsuko Sasaki: Ai Hashimoto
- Georgie Leland: Maria Theresa Gow
- Ayaka Ukai: Ayaka Tanaka
- Katsumi Kajio: Masami Nakagami
- Yasushi Kitada: Katsuhiko Hasegawa
- Satoshi Ogawara: Yusuke Sawaki
- Tatsuhiko Yoneda: Kuronosuke Kagawa
- Koichi Hayashi: Shogo Shiotani
- Toru Tsukamoto: Shin Ishikawa
- Miho Inagi: Tomoko Kawashima
- Julie Mishima: Izumi Matsuda
- Kei Tadano: Kei Ishibashi
- Satoru Yoshida: Masaru Matsuda
- Mitsugu Shima: Kei Kagaya
- Takanobu Kuwabara: Koji Nakamura
- Atsushi Koyama: Shunsuke Gondo
- Renji Matsuo: Tomu Saeba
- Michael Simmons: Samuel Pop Aning
- Ryuichi Senuma: Hiroshi Ishii
- Higuchi: Ryōsuke Kaizu
- Kōsuke Ranbashi: Mitsuo Hamada
- Catherine Ryan: Debbie Regier
- Daniel McPhee: John O'Connor
- Ritsuko Sasaki: Azusa Sawamura
- Kyoko Inamori: Makiko Kuno
- Megumi Kuroda: Tomoko Ōtakara
- Yuki: Ai Hasunuma
- Shimizu: Kazuya Shimizu
- Kenji Tabata: Hiroshi Tsuburaya
- Reiko Yoshii: Yukari Ishida
- Michifumi Inoue: Eisuke Tsunoda
- Sato: Togo Okumoto
- Makoto: Hiroaki Nishijima
- Nakaji: Masashi Kagami
- Shigemi Takayama: Aki Mizusawa
- Yuiichi Takayama: Sen Yamamoto
- Narration: Hiroshi Isobe
Music
- "Ultraman Gaia!" by Masayuki Tanaka & Kazuya Daimon
- "Lovin' You Lovin' Me" by B.B.WAVES
- "Beat on Dream on" by Tomohiko Kikuta
- "LOVE IS ALIVE" by Sudo Hitomi
- "Gaia No Chikara" by Tanaka Masayuki & Daimon Kazuya
- "Blue rose" by Kikuta Tomohiko