Ultraman Zearth (character)

1="SHEEATCH!!!!"

- Ultraman Zearth's grunt

2="You're so good with that flute, Tohru. Whenever I hear you play it, it just fills me with strength!"

- Katsuto Asahi (as Ultraman Zearth) to Tohru Hoshimi, Ultraman Zearth

Ultraman Zearth (ウルトラマンゼアス) is one of the Ultras, hailing from the land of Pikari in Nebula Z95 (a parody of M78). He appears in two films, Ultraman Zearth 1 & 2, and two film shorts, Ultraman Densetsu 1 and 2. He recently appeared in stage shows, alongside with Ultraman Nice. He also made a cameo in the Revive! Ultraman poster.

Character Traits
Ultraman Zearth is a parody Ultraman. He hails from The Land of Pikari (Land of Sparkles in English) in Nebula Z95. He has a big red face and dislikes dirt, and will go to great lengths to wash it off his hands. His goal is to clean the polluted Earth. He transforms with an electric toothbrush, which is consistent with his hygiene fixation. He's not quite adept at being a superhero, but at least he tries his best. He fights the monsters Benzen, Lady Benzen and Lady Benzen's robot Ultraman Shadow, who served as his brief rival.

His human form is Katsuto Asahi. In this form Zearth still maintains his intense dislike of dirt.

Appearances
Zearth's first movie, Ultraman Zearth, was released in 1996 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original Ultraman, as part of the Ultraman Wonderful World (along with Revive! Ultraman and Ultraman Company). Zearth's movie appearances include Ultraman Zearth (9 March 1996) and Ultraman Zearth 2: Superman Big Battle - Light and Shadow (ウルトラマンゼアス２ 超人大戦・光と影) (4 December 1997). Ultraman Zearth 2 is paired with the first Ultra Nyan short.

Ultraman Zearth
An Ultraman from the Land of Pikari in Nebula Z95, Zearth came to the planet Earth to defend it from the forces of evil, creating the human identity Katsuto Asahi, a member of MYDO, an Earth defense team that used a gas station as their secret base. Due to his fear of dirt he was placed in the lowest position in the team, the janitor. His occupation as a janitor appealed to the dirt fearing Zearth’s own love of cleanliness. The fact no one took him seriously didn’t bother him, since he was not allowed to go out on missions, it gave him the chance to transform out of sight. When the dreaded Cotton-Poppe attacked Japan, Zearth transformed to practice in the Japanese countryside while MYDO searched for the monster. During Zearth's practice, He got dirt on his hand while training, desperately washing it off. Unknowingly, Zearth had let the evil Alien Benzene know of his phobia. Soon the alien used this to discover the truth of Zearth’s human form and continued to torment him with oil. Benzene soon captured a group of children and Zearth's love interest, luring Zearth to fight his monster with the plan that the explosion from his beam would destroy the Earth, leaving the alien to plunder Earth's remain for the gold he sought. MYDO caught up with Zearth and warned him of the scheme. With the barrier blocking him, the only way to get to the hostages was to cross a huge pool of tar to rescue them. Zearth tried but his crippling fear caused him to sink, his color timer blinking rapidly, disappearing below the surface. It seemed the Ultra hero was doomed but MYDO and the children cheered for the hero, giving him strength. His love interest remembered Katsuto's words of how he felt stronger by hear her flute played with all her heart. Restored, the mighty giant erupted forth back at full power, doing battle with the vile kaiju, proving his strength. He eventually knocked out Cotton-Poppe with the Zearth Knee Strike, then used the Super Zearth Kick to send Benzene flying into outer space before lifting Cotton-Poppe and taking him into space, safely using the Speshusshura Beam to obliterate the beast, while its master drifted through space.

Ultraman Zearth 2: Superman Big Battle - Light and Shadow
Not long after, Benzene’s wife, Lady Benzene arrived to try her luck. Sending her underling Ultraman Shadow to attack the hero, he was ambushed in Antarctica, easily being pummeled and being given a bloodshot eye. Finally, he was struck by the Shadolium Beam, which due to his fear, overwhelmed his own, knocking him out. The battle left Zearth emotionally crushed and unable to fight due to complete terror of Shadow. But, after receiving a message from his father, as well as a capsule monster named Miraclon, Zearth decided to train and become powerful enough to face the evil android. But time wouldn’t allow him to gain enough training before the evil Ultraman reappeared in the city. But Zearth hadn’t yet overcome his fear of Ultraman Shadow enough to combat him. Instead, the Ultra sent his capsule monster to fight for him. However, while Miraclon defeated Shadow’s capsule monster Darklar, Miraclon was pummeled by Shadow, forcing him to be recalled, allowing Shadow to enslave the city for his mistress, including Katsuto's love interest. After a great deal of training, Katsuto regained confidence and transformed into Ultraman Zearth to battle his doppelganger. The two collided in an epic battle in Shadow City, Lady Benzene's base. Zearth’s training allowing him to overwhelm his nemesis, finally sending him plummeting from the sky with his newly developed Ultra Heel Drop, damaging his head, revealing the circuitry inside and seemingly defeating Shadow. But Lady Benzene commanded Shadow to rise again, recharging him. The two fired their finishing beams against each other, this time they were evenly matched but with a boost from Lady Benzene, Shadow began to overpower Zearth. With the voices of millions chanting behind him, Zearth found enough strength and switched to the mighty Cross Speshusshura Beam. The attack slammed through Shadow’s ray, finally slamming into his body and blowing the robot apart. After the battle, Lady Benzene appeared, congratulating Zearth for defeating Shadow but telling him it was far from over and she’d be back to conquer the Earth before she left in a shower of golden particles. Zearth restored the minds of all the enslaved humans, and sent them home before leaving himself, with new found inner strength he would forever be the Earth’s protector should the people of Benzene try to attack the planet again.

Stats

 * Age: 9,500 years old
 * Height: 60 m
 * Weight: 54,540 t
 * Flight Speed: Mach 19.9
 * Running Speed: Mach 5.55
 * Swimming Speed: 889 km per hour
 * Underwater Speed: 889 km per hour
 * Tunneling Speed: Mach 1
 * Jumping Distance: 1000 m
 * Home World: The Land of Pikari in Nebula Z95, 2,990,000 light years from Earth
 * Human Form: Katsuto Asahi
 * Transformation Item: Pikari Brusher (ピカリブラッシャー) (Pikari Brusher 2 in Ultraman Zearth 2)
 * Features: Still being a half-baked warrior, he becomes weak due to lack of confidence.
 * Physical Strength: Unknown, able to lift Cotten-pope (79,000 t) over his head.
 * Weaknesses: Zearth originally had a fear of any substance considered 'filth' such as mud, oil etc. The fear was so great that attempting to walk across a pool of oil caused his Color Timer to go off. He has since overcome this fear.

Transformation
Zearth's transformation is the same in both movies. Katsuto brushes his teeth with his special toothbrush and raises it into the air, similar to how Hayata used the Beta capsule. In the first movie, a typical rise was shown while in the second film, the rise scene was given a transformation effect in real time, with Katsuto turning into Zearth in a tower of light and then flying of into the sky for his showdown with Shadow. Zearth's transformation item in the first films was the Pikari (meaning sparkle) tooth brush, which was a white electric toothbrush that he kept in his top pocket. In the second film the second Pikari Toothbrush was red and yellow and resembled his body markings.

Special

 * Speshusshura Ray (スペシュッシュラ光線): Also known as Speciu-shula Ray, this attack is Zearth's "+" style beam attack. It can destroy monsters in one shot. Zearth usually shouts "Sheetch" before firing it. This move has been quoted by the MYDO AI, Midori, and Alien Benzene, as a dangerous attack that could destroy planet Earth in one shot if it hits a particularly powerful source of energy, such as the kaiju Gold Bomber.
 * Cross Speshusshura Ray (クロス・スペシュッシュラ光線): Zearth's "x" style beam attack. Can destroy monsters in one shot and is more powerful than his normal beam or Ultraman Shadow's Shadolium Beam at full power.

Physical

 * Super Zearth Kick (スーパーゼアスキック): A spinning kick with enough force to send an enemy flying into space.
 * Ultra Heel Drop (ウルトラかかと落とし): An axe kick using a flame covered foot.
 * Zearth Machine Gun Kick (ゼアスマシンガンキック): A powerful combination of kicks.
 * Zearth Knee Kick (ゼアスニーキック): Zearth concentrates energy into his leg and disperses it into his enemy via a knee kick, leaving them paralyzed.
 * Zearth Flying Drop Kick (ゼアス・フライングドロップキック): A drop kick from high above at maximum flight speed. Used to break Cottenpope's horn.
 * Zearth Chop: A chop from high above down the middle of an object
 * Zearshutoh (ゼアシュトー): A blow to the crown of the head.
 * Zearth Cross Ver. 1.0 (ゼアスクロスVer.1.0（バージョンイッテンレー): A chop in the air while gliding by the opponent.
 * Zearth KO Punch (ゼアスKOパンチ): A powerful and aimed punch aimed at the Solar Plexus.
 * Zearth Punch: Punches to key point of the opponents anatomy, dished out from left to right in continous blows.
 * Zearth Counterblow (ゼアスカウンターブロー): A horizontal chop.

Other

 * Ultra Warp Beam (ウルトラワープビーム): Zearth teleports objects/people using beams of light from his eyes.
 * Zeascan (ゼアスキャン): Sterilizes the area within a 50km radius.
 * Ultra Rewind (ウルトラリワンド): Rewinds time.
 * Ultra Stretch (ウルトラストレッチ): Slows time.
 * Ultra Blender (ウルトラブレンダー): Makes hyperspace temporarily. It is similar to Ultraman Nexus' Metafield ability which was later demonstrated.
 * Z Capsule Light Monster Miraclon: A gift to Zearth from his father.

Ultra Hero Series

 * Ultraman Zearth (1996/2000/2004)
 * Release Date: 1996 (Vintage), July 29, 2000 (Reissue), July 24, 2004 (2nd Reissue)
 * ID Number: 22 (Vintage), 17 (Reissues)
 * Materials: ATBC-PVC
 * JAN/ISBN: 4902425768113 (Reissue)

Ultra Hero Series Ultraman Zearth features 3 points of articulation (arms & waist). The figure was reissued twice in 2000 & 2004.

Sound Battler

 * Ultraman Zearth (199?)

Role-Play

 * Super Cleanliness Transformation Brush: Pikari Brusher (1997)
 * Release Date: 1997
 * JAN/ISBN: 4902425568584

The Pikari Brusher accessory is a functioning electric toothbrush, and it has no light & sound gimmick.

Kyomoto Collection

 * Ultraman Zearth (1996)
 * Release Date: 1996
 * ID Number: 11
 * Materials: PVC
 * JAN/ISBN: 4902425536972
 * Accessories: Display stand

Yutaka
Released by Yutaka under the Hearty Robin logo, this smaller-sized Ultraman Zearth figure is packed with Alien Benzene.
 * Ultraman Zearth VS Set
 * Release Date: 1996
 * Materials: ATBC-PVC
 * JAN/ISBN: 4907953305953


 * Ultraman Zearth 2 VS Set

Another release of the figure above, this time packed with Ultraman Shadow.

Trivia

 * Ultraman Zearth is the first Ultra to ever "open" his mouth. During the final battle against Ultraman Shadow, Zearth lets out a battle cry before overpowering Shadow in their beam clash, ultimately destroying Shadow. The inside of his mouth was a blue light showing his inner tissues to be mostly or entirely made of energy. The second Ultra to ever do this was Ultraman Belial. However, Belial is constantly seen with his mouth opening and closing while he speaks.
 * Standing at 60 metres, Zearth is one of the tallest Ultras in any series. He is the fourth tallest Ultra behind the three Ultras of the Ultra Force, and the tallest Ultra to appear in a live action series.
 * Despite being seen as the most cowardly of all Ultra heroes, Zearth is surprisingly strong, defeating an alien and a monster at the same time with no help from a defense force. He can also rewind time, speed up time and slow time, something not many Ultras can do. Despite that, Zearth is also not the first Ultra to run from a fight, that would be Ultraman Jack, who retreated from Bemstar in an attempt to regain his energy, and later in the series refused to fight Zetton for fear of the monster. Zearth also only refused to fight because of his lack of confidence in his own abilities and not actual fear of his opponent like Jack.
 * It appears that Zearth does not have a time limit on Earth since his color timer only ever blinked when he had to wade through tar (he has a hygiene obsession) and when Ultraman Shadow defeated him in the Arctic. In neither of his final battles, both of which went past three minutes, his color timer didn't change color.
 * Curiously, Zearth is the first Ultra to show his eyes being visibly damaged by an opponent, as shown when Shadow punched him in the face, his left eye turned red, the Ultra equivalent of a black-eye.
 * Zearth is the first Ultra (real, imitation, etc) to fire his beam from his left hand.
 * Zearth is also the first Ultra to hold his hands in an X position to fire his Ultra Beam.
 * Zearth's suit is made from the same type of material as Ultraman Great's and his color timer is also the first to use LEDs. His gloves are also the first sewn into the suit itself.
 * Zearth's movie is the first Parody created by Tsuburaya.
 * Ultraman Zearth is the first Heisei Movie Ultra. He is also the first Ultra to debut in a movie as opposed to a TV series.
 * Zearth is the only known Ultra to use more than one transformation item (as the Pikari Brusher was upgraded/replaced by the Pikari Brush 2).
 * The replacement of the Pikari Brusher, may stem from the fact that in real life, toothbrushes need to be replaced after a certain number of usages.
 * Zearth is the first Ultra to have his rise scene take place in real time, this occurred during the second movie.
 * A third Zearth movie was proposed, but at that time the Ultraman Tiga and Dyna movie was being produced and it has not been spoken of again.
 * In the Ultraman Legend 2003 King Jubilee, the second song is called B-Boy and performed by Zearth Junior, possibly hinting that Ultraman Zearth is a father.
 * Zearth also has a Father, whose role is possibly similar to Father of Ultra. The only known image of him is a shadowy outline of a being with Ultra horns.