Alien Zelan

Alien Zelan (ゼラン星人, Zeran Seijin) is an alien that first appeared in episode 31 of Return of Ultraman.

Subtitle: Space Phantom (宇宙怪人, Uchū Kaijin)

History

Return of Ultraman

Two young children visited the MAT base. While the girl, Minako Ibuki, who was the daughter of Captain Ryu Ibuki, was very talkative, the boy, Teruo Kazama (風間 輝男, Kazama Teruo), silently glared at Hideki Go, the human host of Ultraman Jack, making him uneasy. Telepathically, Kazama revealed his knowledge of Go's secret identity and exposed himself as Alien Zelan, threatening world domination and provoking Go to transform into Ultraman Jack to fight a kaiju. Go attempted to stop the alien to protect Minako, but everyone believed he was a harmless child and restrained Go, allowing Alien Zelan to escape. No one believed Go's story, and soon, Alien Zelan released the kaiju, Plooma.

As Go and the MAT team attacked Plooma, Alien Zelan continued to provoke Go to become Ultraman Jack, but Go refused. Alien Zelan further complicated MAT's efforts by allowing Plooma to hold him in his human form, pretending to endanger himself to prevent the team from attacking the monster. Plooma eventually finished his rampage, letting Alien Zelan float into the sky on a balloon, where MAT 'rescued' him. In the hospital, Alien Zelan continued to manipulate Go, appearing as a harmless child and further damaging Go's reputation while gaining the girl's trust. Later that night, Alien Zelan used a remote to summon Plooma, but a nurse interrupted him. Realizing she saw too much, Alien Zelan vaporized her with his eye beams and then lay back down as Plooma attacked.

After Plooma was decapitated by the Ultra Bracelet, Jack tried to retrieve it, only for Alien Zelan to take control of it and attack him with his own weapon. Jack was forced to evade the Ultra Bracelet's attacks, even when Alien Zelan split it into hundreds of them. Alien Zelan managed to knock Jack to the ground and convert the Bracelet into a constricting weapon. The entire time, Alien Zelan's goal was to destroy Jack using his own weapon. Jack's timer began to blink rapidly as the weapon constricted him.

However, the Captain Ibuki soon arrived, finding the alien. Alien Zelan tried to use his eye beams, but Ibuki dodged and shot the remote from his grasp, then shot him in the throat. The mortally wounded alien staggered forward and finally died, reverting to his true form. This allowed Jack to regain control of the Ultra Bracelet, rendering Alien Zelan's plot futile. ^{In Between a Devil & Angel}

Trivia

• Actor: Kentaro Nagayoshi
• Voice actor: Tetsuya Kaji
• The suit would later be modified into Alien Mates.
• The original Alien Zelan is one of the only enemies in the Ultraman Series to gain control of one of the Ultra's signature weapon and be able to properly utilize it with efficiency.
• Although not the first alien in the series, Alien Zelan is the first actual alien to appear.

Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey

An Alien Zelan who was a Reionics was seen commanding the monster Arstron against the Space Beast Galberos and his master Alien Nackle. Try as he did, Arstron could barely hold his own against Galberos and was killed by the three-headed monster's fireballs, causing it to explode, with Alien Zelan engulfed in the explosion. ^{Great Frenzy! Reionic Burst}

Trivia

• Voice actor: Sei Okazaki
  • Okazaki was a producer for this show and other Ultraman Series productions.
• This Alien Zelan sounded older as opposed to the child-like original.
• The Alien Mates suit from Ultraman Mebius was modified into Alien Zelan for said alien's appearance, akin to how the original Alien Zelan suit was modified into the Alien Mates suit in Return of Ultraman.

Ultraman Orb

Alien Zelan was chased by Ittetsu Shibukawa after investigating a crime scene involving paint and a chalk outline and presumably killed off-screen by a shot from the VTL captain's rifle. ^{Hard Boiled River}

Trivia

• The Alien Zelan suit from Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey was reused for this reappearance.

Ultraman Geed

Prior to the series, an infiltrating Alien Zelan appeared in Moa Aizaki's flashback, where he was seen taken care of by her. ^{Child of Battle}

In the present day, another Zelan (unknown if he is the same individual from the past or not) worked as an AIB undercover field agent. When tasked with observing Kei Fukuide, Kei caught onto their plan and destroyed the device keeping the alien disguised. The forceful removal of the disguise caused it great pain and compromised the mission. ^{The Geed Identity}

Trivia

• The Alien Zelan that Moa Aizaki helped in episode 15 was voiced by the episode's director, Ryuichi Ichino.^[1]

Ultraman Taiga

An Alien Zelan named Oshoro (オショロ) planted Gymaira on Earth so that it would absorb the planet's magic power, but it got hungry and started to eat people's life energy as well, causing them to not be able to have dreams. Oshoro also factored this in, as people would become mindless drones that could be easily conquered. Oshoro found Maria, a witch, and wanted to use her to control Gymaira as the instruction manual he had stated that only a magic user could control Gymaira. He captured Maria in his spaceship and used his device to call upon Gymaira from the underground, but it accidentally summoned Pagos instead. Getting into a brief fight with Homare Soya, he was hurt and teleported away, but not before saying that he would not give up. ^{One Afternoon When the Magic Was Lost From the Star}

Frustrated at his plan being foiled, Oshoro took Gymaira into hiding. However, Kirisaki approached him and transformed into Ultraman Tregear, and then knocked him out. The next time he appeared, he attacked Maria, but she managed to deal with him. After Gymaira's defeat, Oshoro flew away in his spaceship. ^{Even Then the Universe Will Still Go on Dreaming}

Trivia

• Actor: Taketo Kubota^[2]
• Suit actor: Yuto Nagachi
• Oshoro using a device to call monsters is a tribute/reference to the original Zelan, who used a device to control Plooma.
• The appearance of Alien Zelan was suggested by director Takanori Tsujimoto. Initially, in the story phase, he was meant to be a serious character. However, to contrast with Kirisaki/Ultraman Tregear, the final version turned into a more light-hearted character.
• The casting of Taketo Kubota for the role was also based on Tsujimoto's suggestion. Kubota's expertise in tap dancing was incorporated into the character's movements.
• The glasses worn by Oshoro are FA-082 produced by FACTORY900.^[3]

Ultraman Taiga The Movie: New Generation Climax

After hearing from Foreign Affairs X that Hiroyuki was being targeted by remnants of the Villain Guild, Kana Sasaki set out to find them in order to protect her employee. She came across them at their hideout and asked them nicely for information, but things took a violent turn as a fight broke out. Fortunately, Kana was joined by Gai Kurenai, who helped her fight off Alien Zelan, Alien Bado and Alien Ckalutch. They interrogated them after their defeat, and found out that they wanted to steal the Ultramen's Bracelets to sell them off and escape the Earth when Grimdo arrived. ^{Ultraman Taiga The Movie: New Generation Climax}

Ultraman Decker Finale: Journey to Beyond

An Alien Zelan was one of the lackeys of Professor Gibellus, who set his sights on Earth for his latest experiment. ^{Ultraman Decker Finale: Journey to Beyond}

Data

Stats

• Height: 1.65 m (Original), 1.7 m (Taiga)
• Weight: 46 kg, 60 kg (Geed), 70 kg (Taiga)
• Origin: Planet Zelan

Powers and Weapons

• Human Disguise: Alien Zelan can turn himself into a human.
• Telepathy: Alien Zelan can contact others through telepathy.
• Remote Controller: Alien Zelan had a special radio that controls Plooma and can possess Ultra weapons.
• Disintegration Ray: Alien Zelan can fire a blue ray from his eyes that evaporates victims.

Ultra Galaxy NEO

• Battlenizer: A Reionics Alien Zelan can use his Battlenizer to control his monster, Arstron.

Ultraman Taiga

• Remote Controller: Oshoro has a device that can summon monsters from the underground, but is subject to error.
• Teleport: Oshoro can teleport away if he wishes to.

Gallery

Return of Ultraman

Ultraman Taiga

Miscellaneous

References

1. ↑ Ultraman Geed Super Complete Works, pg 76. Interview with Ryuichi Ichino.
2. ↑ https://x.com/kubotataketo/status/1175963803495714817
3. ↑ https://blog.factory900.jp/staff/media/blog-2795.html