"The repellent giant beast Maga-Jappa appears, turning even water malevolent with the seas themselves turning foul and the stench even rising from wells."
- ―Maga-Jappa in Pacific records
Majappa is a monster that appeared in Ultraman Taiga. A variant of the monster named, Maga-Jappa , previously appeared in Ultraman Orb as the King Demon Beast of Water.
Subtitles:
- Majappa: Aquatic Hazardous Monster [1]
- Maga-Jappa: King Demon Beast of Water
History
Ultraman Orb
Whilst everyone else slept, Jugglus Juggler summoned Maga-Jappa at Okunara Lake. The giant seahorse-like creature sank into the water, where chemicals on its skin polluted the otherwise-pristine environment. The following day, many businesses that depended on the lake suffered due to the polluted water.
Gai Kurenai eventually found the monster still bathing in the water. At first, Maga-Jappa wasn't even aware of the Ultra's presence, but soon noticed Gai's harmonica. Gai began to tell the monster about proper bathing manners, but this only served to irritate the King Demon Beast, who began firing his Maga-Water Flow at him. Gai suddenly encountered Jugglus Juggler, who had been watching the confrontation from nearby. During the confusion, Jugglus managed to steal Gai's Orb Ring, but Gai engaged Jugglus in a hand-to-hand fight and got the device back.
Later, the SSP, along with Ittetsu Shibukawa, showed up and tailed after the monster, who was headed towards Narasawa Dam. After Ittestsu managed to stall the monster with Shin's Super Absorbent Polymer Gun, or SAP Gun for short, Gai transformed into Ultraman Orb to fight the monster.
Maga-Jappa's abilities meant that the fight very quickly became in his favour, as the constant chemical stench he gave off repelled Orb. Not even Orb's Sperion Light Ring (Shuriken Type) could harm the creature.
Orb, realizing that he needed a stronger form to fight the creature, transformed into Burnmite form for the very first time and the smelly monster didn't stand a chance against the Ultra's new form. After suffering from the Stobium Counter and Foot, Maga-Jappa was destroyed once and for all by Orb Burnmite's Stobium Dynamite. In the aftermath of the fight, Gai obtained Ultraman Jack's Ultra Fusion Card from the monster's Maga-Crystal and Jugglus obtained the monster's Kaiju Card.
Trivia
- Suit Designer: Kengo Kusunoki.
- Maga-Jappa's first design had a minor difference where his Maga-Crystal originally embedded on his chest, instead on his forehead like most of the King Demon Beasts has.
- Although it seemed that Maga-Jappa had no relation to Ultraman Jack and neither his native series, Maga-Jappa's suit was actually modified from Zoa Muruchi's suit.
- The day after Maga-Jappa's episode aired was the 45th anniversary of Godzilla vs. Hedorah's original release in Japan. Much like Hedorah, Maga-Jappa is a creature whose main abilities revolve around chemicals and pollution.
- Maga-Jappa seems to be able to understand human speech, as he becomes irritated when Gai lectures him on bathing manners.
- Maga-Jappa's design went through many different stages during production. The first design had Maga-Jappa be much larger and having the motifs of both whales and several other deep-sea dwelling creatures, but ultimately considered too complicated. By request, the design was changed again to be more streamlined, similarly to Muruchi. When modeling, Maga-Jappa's head was going to be designed with a sea slug motif, but later changed to that of a seahorse motif. The final design is stated to be a combination of both shrimp and octopus motifs.
- The final design is also said to be a tribute to both Ganza and Tagarl from Ultraman Taro.
- This is fitting seeing as Orb's Burnmite form, a form that draws elements of Taro's design, debuts in this episode.
- The final design is also said to be a tribute to both Ganza and Tagarl from Ultraman Taro.
- Maga-Jappa possibly draws inspiration from the kappa, a river monster in Japanese Folklore. The two have similar names and are both monsters associated with water.
- Maga-Jappa's place was initially to be taken by Maga-Takkong, but because a Takkong suit wouldn't fit into the storage warehouse, its role was scrapped and replaced by a modifed Zoa Muruchi suit - which became Maga-Jappa.
- Interestingly, both have Ultraman Taiga as their first reappearances, since their debut series.
Ultraman Taiga
Majappa is an alien monster that was captured into a talisman-like device by Maiko Namekata's grandmother, and was passed down from generation to generation as a "perfume bottle" that was never meant to be opened. However, the Villain Guild wanted to get their hands on it, sending their agents Alien Keel and Hupnath. In a brawl between Keel and Homare Soya, the talisman was shot, which released Majappa whose first move was to kill Hupnath, who was fighting Hiroyuki Kudo, using its water jet attack. Hiroyuki first transformed into Ultraman Fuma to deal with the monster and initially had the upper hand, until Majappa used its odorous gas and invisibility to turn the tables. Maiko used her powers to see through Majappa's cloaking ability to help Fuma, who knocked it down with shuriken before switching to Ultraman Taiga. Taiga was overwhelmed by Majappa's gas and suction attacks, until he transformed into Photon-Earth and proceeded to maul Majappa. The monster was finished off using the Aurum Strium. The Present for Each
Trivia
- Majappa's suit is a slightly repainted Maga-Jappa, with blue colors coating over its original red/orange accents and the Maga-Crystal.
- Director Masayoshi Takesue states that Majappa is the original variant of the species and also referred to it as a Plain Jappa .[2]
- This makes it in a similar case to Magatanothor, whose naming sense is also having alterations to the "Maga" title. Likewise, both monsters are aquatic in nature, as Majappa is themed after crustaceans and Gatanothor is based on mollusks.
Ultraman Z
Majappa is seen rampaging alongside a Bemstar and a Segmeger under the influence of the "Devil's Splinters".
Data
- Stats
- Height: 62 m
- Weight: 62,000 t
- Origin: Unknown Planet
- Powers and Weapons
- Underwater Adaptation: Majappa is capable of living in an aquatic environment.
- Majappa Camouflage : Majappa can turn invisible to travel unseen.
- Majappa Aroma : Majappa releases a strong smell from its mouth that causes the opponent to be disoriented.
- Majappa Water Flow : Majappa can fire a concentrated beam of water from its snout. While the beam behaves like a liquid when Majappa fires it, it acts like a conventional beam weapon when colliding with objects, and is powerful enough to send an Ultra flying.
- Majappa Suction : From the suction cups on its arms, Majappa can pull enemies towards him as the suction cups "inhale".
- Stats
- Height: 60 m
- Weight: 35,000 t
- Origin: Okunara Lake
- Powers and Weapons
- Underwater Adaptation: True to its title, Maga-Jappa is capable of living in an aquatic environment.
- Tough Hide: Maga-Jappa's body is thick enough to resist multiple Sperion Light Ring (Shuriken Type) attacks.
- Invisibility: Maga-Jappa can turn invisible to travel unseen.
- Maga-Odor : Maga-Jappa constantly releases a strong smell from his body that easily deters enemies. This can pollute a large area of water quickly or can be released as a toxic white smoke from its mouth.
- Maga-Water Flow : Maga-Jappa can fire a concentrated beam of green polluted water from the tip of its nose. While the beam behaves like a liquid when Jappa fires it, it acts like a conventional beam weapon when colliding with objects.
- Maga-Suction : From the suction cups on its arms, Maga-Jappa can pull enemies towards him as the suction cups "inhale".
Merchandise
Maga-Jappa has a 7" DX figure in the Ultraman Orb wave of figures.
Gallery
Ultraman Orb
Ultraman Taiga
Ultraman Z
Miscellaneous
References