Seiji Hokuto

Biography

Gallery

"Don't lose your kindness. Caring for the weak, helping each other and making the effort to become friends with those of other lands no matter how many times you're betrayed."

―Seiji's word to Mirai, Ace's Wish

Seiji Hokuto
Data
Ultra	Ultraman Ace
Transformation Item	Ultra Rings
Type	Hero
Age	20 years old
Gender	Male
Home World	Planet Earth (formerly) Land of Light (Currently)
Family	Unnamed father (deceased)
Affiliation	Yuko Minami (partner) TAC
First Appearance	Ultraman Ace episode 1 "Shine! The Five Ultra Brothers"
Latest Appearance	Ultraman Saga
Portrayed by	Keiji Takamine

Seiji Hokuto is Ultraman Ace's male human host. His female partner and former fellow host was Yuko Minami.

History

Ultraman Ace

Seiji Hokuto and Yuko Minami after being killed by Verokron, shortly before Ace revived them.

Seiji was a truck driver for an orphanage, and was delivering bread for the children when the first of Yapool's Terrible-Monsters, Verokron, attacked Tokyo. Seiji bravely continued on his way back to the orphanage to evacuate the children with his truck but the missile Terrible-Monster forced his truck off the road. Undaunted, Seiji continued on foot to the orphanage. After arriving he helped a nurse, Yuko Minami, move all of the children to a safe bunker. Both Seiji and Yuko re-entered the building to rescue any remaining children, however Verokron's missiles brought the building down on the two brave humans, killing both of them. Ultraman Ace saw the heroism of the duo from afar and selected both of them as his hosts, reviving them and granting them the Ultra Rings so that the two humans could transform into him in times of need, assisting the Ultra in stopping Yapool's schemes.

Later after the defeat of Lunaticks, Yuko revealed herself to be from the long destroyed Lunar civilization of the moon, and returned to wandering the cosmos with her people, since the beast responsible for her home's destruction had finally been slain, leaving Seiji the sole owner of the Ultra Rings and sole host to Ace, though she returned once in a while to visit Seiji. Due to this, Seiji was targeted by Yapool.

During the Alien Simon incident, Seiji was pushed into a position where he would have to risk revealing his identity, as he shot Simon when the alien revealed that he was really Yapool in disguise, causing a group of children to lose their faith in him, Ace, and TAC all at once. In spite of Yuko warning him that if he revealed his identity as Ace's host, he would be unable to return to his human form, Seiji revealed the truth to the children and TAC before transforming into Ace, regaining everyone's trust.

Fortunately, despite being left no other choice but to reveal the truth, Hokuto had kept his human form, and was able to return as Ace's host in the future.

Ultraman Taro

In episodes 33 and 34, he returns with Shin Hayata, Dan Moroboshi, and Hideki Go. The group gathered for a celebrative barbecue with Taro and Zoffy in human forms. Unfortunately the Ultra Brothers' celebration was interrupted by Alien Temperor. For a time the Ultras switched hosts. Eventually they transformed and defeated the evil invader and returned home. He always wanted to help Kotaro unlike the rest of the Ultra Brothers. ^{5 Seconds Before the Great Explosion of the Land of Ultra!}

He was angry at Kotaro for his arrogance of defeating Temperor. ^{The Last Day of the Six Ultra Brothers!}

Ultraman Mebius & the Ultra Brothers

In 1986, Ultraman Ace and the Ultra Brothers chase Yapool (who possessed the Terrible-Monster U-Killersaurus to Earth, after which they imprison the monster under the ocean near Kobe City. In the process, the Ultra Brothers lost their powers and were forced to stay inside their human host. Seiji Hokuto took the profession of the head chef at a restaurant. 20 years later, in 2006, Seiji and the other Ultra Brothers transform again in order to help Mebius. Eventually, the Ultra Brothers regain their powers and returned to normal when Zoffy and Ultraman Taro came to help them in the last battle with the Ultimate Super Beast. ^{Ultraman Mebius & the Ultra Brothers}

Ultraman Mebius

Seiji as he appeared in Ultraman Mebius

Seiji reunites with Yuko

He also appears in Ultraman Mebius with Yuko Minami. He telepathically contacts Team GUYS and directs them during their battle with Lunaticks on the moon. When Mebius was defeated by his old enemy Yapool, Seiji/Ace telepathically contacted him and gave him the strength to rise again allowing the young Ultra to defeat the other dimensional demon. When Team GUYS was being pressed by Lunaticks, Seiji transformed into Ace once again and defeated Lunaticks after a long battle. ^{Ace's Wish}

Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers

Seiji with Ultra Brothers in Human Form

An alternate reality version of Seiji also appeared in this movie as an alternate version working as a baker and married to an alternate Yuko (who was an Earth-born Human). Along with the other Ultra brothers he was at a loss when Mirai claimed he was his 'brother' (brother in arms). At the end he and the other four transformed into their Ultra forms and destroyed Giga Khimaira and the Black Silhouette. During the part where Hayata's and Moroboshi's wives talk to them, Seiji telepathically contacts Yuko unknowingly (or she sensed him). The scene also implies the four were aliens and the basis for the Ultraman Series, and that after living as humans for so long they forgot their pasts. In the end Seiji and Yuko fly into space with the other Ultras and their families to what is suspected to be M78. ^{Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers}

Ultraman Saga

The Five Legendary Ultra Brothers in their human forms as Hayata, Dan, Go, Seiji, and Gen.

Seiji appeared in the Ultraman Saga movie with Dan, Hideki, Hayata, and Gen, each serving as the mouthpiece for their Ultra counterparts. They met in the Land of Light when Seven/Dan noticed that Zero had just moved to another universe. While they questioned why he would do that they also noted that something was going around different universes and taking monsters, even some from the Monster Graveyard. They noted that it was a powerful source of minus energy and that unfortunately they could only monitor a few of the countless alternate space-time zones. Ace and the other Ultra brothers would fly to the alternate Earth to assist Ultraman Saga against Alien Bat's monster weapons. Ace would face his old enemy Verokron again and defeat him with the Metalium Beam.

Transformation

Ultra Rings: Seiji and Yuko are each given a ring to summon Ultraman Ace. When the rings touch, both hosts combine to form Ultraman Ace. After Yuko left back to the moon, Seiji wore both rings and was able to transform into Ace on his own.

Original transformation with Yuko

Seiji's transformation

Powers and Weapons

• Combat Training: Like any defense team member, Seiji is a trained pilot and marksmen.
• Ultra Rings: Seiji can use the rings to transform into Ultraman Ace.
• Telepathy: By using this ability, Seiji is able to communicate with others through his mind.
• Superhuman Feats: Like other Ultra hosts and forms, Seiji demonstrated superhuman abilities.
  • Superhuman Strength: Seiji is able to match the strength of powerful aliens and put up an even fight.
  • Enhanced Reflexes: Seiji's reflexes are far faster than a normal human's, being able to react against a disturbance at a moment's notice.

Merchandise

Medicom Toy

• Seiji Hokuto (Real Action Heroes, 2008)
  • RAH Number: 398
  • Release Date: December 2008
  • Price: 13,440 yen
  • Materials: ABS, PVC (doll), Fabric (clothes)
  • Accessories: TAC Helmet, Ultra Rings, TAC Gun

Released as part of the Real Action Hero Series, Seiji Hokuto is a 300mm tall action doll complete with fabric clothes, and he utilizes the RAH301 Kai Doll body. He also comes with a removable TAC Helmet ,Ultra Rings and TAC Gun.

Trivia

• Seiji was born on July 7.
• Seiji has blood type B. ^{Pyramid is a Terrible-Monster's Nest!}
• Aside from being the hosts for Ultraman Ace, Seiji and Yuko share another similarity. Both of their surnames have the kanji for geographical directions: the Seiji's surname, Hokuto has North , and Yuko has South .
• It is said that his father passed away shortly after Seiji's birth.
• According to a 2021 interview with Keiji Takamine:
  • In 1971, he was invited by Yoji Hashimoto of TBS to visit Tsuburaya Productions for a camera test in preparation for a new Ultraman series starting the following year. Consequently, he filmed some action scenes near Toho. Later, while organizing the warehouse, Tsuburaya Productions found the film reels from that shoot. It is said that Mitsuhiro Sano, who played the role of Kozo Yoshimura, did the same.
  • At that time, Takamine was living in Osaka and only traveled to Tokyo when he had work. Before confirming the role of Hokuto, he was told, "You will need to shoot for at least six months. If the ratings are good, it will definitely be a year!" Takamine thought, "If that’s the case, I can rent an apartment in Tokyo and stay for at least a year.” This decision led him to move to Tokyo, where he initially stayed in a university friend's apartment in Seijo.
  • It is reported that 2 to 3 weeks after the series started, the third assistant director went missing. Takamine then contacted his friend Masashi Takeyasu, who was working as a TV assistant director in Kansai, to quickly take over the position of the third assistant director.
  • Regarding the transformation pose, it was actually Director Eizo Yamagiwa who requested him to come up with a good idea. Takamine, inspired to create a transformation pose cooler than that of "Kamen Rider," designed the "Ultra Touch Pose" pose together with Kenichi Sakuragi.