Jetto Jagâ

Real Name: Jetto Jagâ

Identity/Class: Sentient mechanical being / robot

Occupation: Servitor, household assistant, caretaker; occasionally Protector of Humanity

Affiliations: Goro Ibuki, Rokuro Ibuki, Hiroshi Jinkawa, Gojira

Enemies: Megaro, Gaigan, the Seatopians, the Nebula M Spacehunters

Known Relatives: Goro Ibuki (creator)

Aliases: Jet Jaguar (English translation)

Base of Operations: Tokyo, Japan

First Appearance: Gojira tai Megaro (Toho Studios, first aired on March 17, 1973 in Japan; English translation “Godzilla vs. Megalon”)

Powers/Abilities: Able to grow from normal human size to gigantic stature, around 380 feet tall. Possessed of superhuman strength, agility and durability. Jetto Jaga can achieve supersonic flight speeds in excess of Mach 3 or approximately 2,600 miles per hour. In addition, Jetto Jaga presumably possesses advanced navigational and self-correcting guidance software enabling it to travel tremendous distances without getting lost which is why the Seatopians were so interested in him. Jetto Jaga can project intense amber light beams from it’s eyes, for either illuminating darkness or as a defensive measure in blinding his opponents momentarily. Jaga was programmed in hand to hand combat and was a formidable and fierce fighter. Among his lesser abilities was the ability to somehow communicate with kaiju, communicating directions to Megaro and later convincing Gojira to make his way to Tokyo. Presumably, this ability may have been some form of communication that ordinary human beings are incapable of detecting as neither Jaga nor the other kaiju appear to have the ability to verbally communicate.

Jaga was also sentient to a limited degree; although it’s programming required it to obey verbal orders and commands, the robot was apparently designed for adaptability, presumably so that it could cope with new or unexpected situations even to the extent that it could literally reprogram itself should the situation warrant it. This adaptability enabled Jaga to literally reconfigure its internal structure and configuration, enabling its body to increase its physical stature so it could face Megaro in physical combat. Jaga enlarged his physical structure from a normal human size to gigantic proportions of nearly 165 feet with a commensurate increase in weight as well as an exponential one in strength and durability. The nature of this ability was never fully explained, presumably Jaga possesses full control of its physical configuration to the molecular level, enabling it to force an expansion of his body’s molecular structure, presumably at a cost of tremendous energy which may be why he could only maintain this size for brief periods.

History: An undersea kingdom known as Seatopia had suffered greatly from the various ecological problems unleashed by an uncaring humanity’s recklessness and polluting ways. Fearful that they were facing extinction, the Seatopians decided that for their civilization to survive, mankind must die. As they prepared to unleash their deity, a powerful kaiju known as Megaro upon humanity, agents stole a key component in their plan, the mechanical man known as Jetto Jagâ. Invented by the brilliant scientist Goro Ibuki, Jetto Jagâ was a remarkable multipowered robot that Ibuki mainly used to aid him around the house and look after his younger brother, Rokuro. Agents of Seatopia kidnapped Goro, Rokuro and their friend Hiroshi Jinkawa and took them and Jetto Jagâ to Seatopia along with Jagâ’s primary control unit. When Megaro was released from his slumber, the Seatopians used the mechanical man to guide the Seatopians’ deity to Tokyo where the creature proceeded to destroy the city.

Goro, Rokuro and Hiroshi escaped from the Seatopians and Goro used a backup control unit he had concealed to regain control of Jetto Jagâ. Realizing that perhaps only the King of the Monsters, Gojira, held enough power to battle Megaro, Goro ordered Jagâ to immediately fly to Monsterland and summon the mighty kaiju to fight on humanity’s behalf. The Seatopians quickly realized that they had lost control of Jagâ and realized that their plan might be doomed if Jagâ succeeded in mustering assistance from Gojira and immediately opened communications with their occasional allies; the Nebula M Spacehunters. After alerting Gojira, Jagâ raced ahead to Japan where he found Megaro in the process of destroying Tokyo and struggled to delay the destructive cockroach until Gojira could arrive. Expanding its size and stature to match Megaro, Jagâ battled the gigantic cockroach. Although overmatched in power, Jagâ’s superior fighting skills enabled him to hold his own until the arrival of a new foe, Gigan. Sent by his controllers, the Nebula M Spacehunters, Gigan quickly combined forces with Megaro and the two kaiju pummeled Jagâ until the arrival of the King of the Monsters turned the tide.

Battling it out between Gojira and Jetto Jagâ, Gigan and Megaro found themselves losing ground and finally the dreaded space cyborg fled, abandoning Megaro who was forced to retreat as well. Afterwards, Jetto Jagâ extended a hand of friendship to the King of the Monsters in thanks for its assistance. Clasping the mechanical man’s hand briefly, Gojira left for his sanctuary in Monsterland. Jetto Jagâ shrank back to his previous human size and returned to living with Goro Ibuki and Rokuro.

Comments: Jetto Jagâ was created through a contest for fans held by Toho to design a new robot hero. The concept was to develop it into a live action tokusatsu show like Ultraman which was extremely popular at the time. Jetto Jagâ was the winner and Toho originally planned to have him first star in a film before he would go on to star in his regular TV series. During pre-production however, Toho tried several trial audiences with early test films with Jetto Jagâ, which were all disappointingly negative. Deciding that Jagâ would be unable to carry the film on his own, Toho shut down production. However it was later decided to combine Jagâ with a film starring Gojira, possibly as a cost cutting measure and making use of some of the test footage already filmed or perhaps enabling Gojira to carry Jagâ on his own star power. Jetto Jagâ was portrayed by Tsugutoshi Komada.

The film was almost universally panned by audiences, both Japanese and American alike. This film was probably most responsible for ruining Gojira’s reputation in the US for years as nothing more than a bad actor in a cheap rubber suit as it was perhaps the most widely seen movie due to an aggressive marketing campaign. One critic proclaimed Gojira’s appearance in the movie as “crossed between Kermit the Frog”. In Japan, the ticket sales were the some of the poorest of the various Gojira films. Toho took the hint; neither Jetto Jagâ nor his monstrous costar, Megaro have been seen in any further films, although both have made some redeemable appearances in several Gojira video games.

Profile provided by Michael Higuchi.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

Back to Japanese heroes main page

Home.

All images and characters depicted on this site are copyright their respective holders, and are used for informational purposes only. No infringement is intended and copyrights remain at source.