Takeshi Tsuruno is a Japanese actor and musician. Takeshi Tsuruno is also his real name, though written with the kanji 靏野 剛士. He is known for his role as Shin Asuka, the protagonist of Ultraman Dyna.
Career[]
He is known as the leader of the musical units Shuchishin and Aladdin. As a member of Shuchishin and Aladdin, he appears regularly on the variety show Quiz! Hexagon II and his band's singles have appeared high on the Oricon Charts.
In 2022, Tsuruno was appointed as the Ambassador for Ultra Heroes EXPO 2022 Summer Festival.[1]
Personal Life[]
Takeshi Tsuruno is married to his former stylist, Miki Endō since 2003. The couple has five children: a son named Eito , March 27, 2004 and three daughters named Uta , January 6, 2006; Oto , July 15, 2007; and Iro , November 6, 2009 and his youngest son was born on June 6, 2016.
He named his albums after his daughters, and after recording his first album and before the birth of his third daughter he mused naming an album after his son such that it was called Tsuruno Mugendai (つるの∞（無限大).
Takeshi's hobbies are guitar, trumpet, fishing, and cycling.
Health issues[]
He was confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19 on 27 August 2020. His other family members tested negative but were placed under self-isolation.[2] As of March 2021, Takeshi has fully recovered from COVID-19.
Roles[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Ultraman Dyna | Shin Asuka/Ultraman Dyna | Voice (Ultraman Dyna) |
| 1998 | Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light | ||
| 2000 | Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey | Shin Asuka | |
| 2001 | Ultraman Dyna: The Return of Hanejiro | Shin Asuka/Ultraman Dyna | Voice (Ultraman Dyna) |
| 2008 | Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers | Shin Asuka/Ultraman Dyna | |
| 2009 | Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie | Shin Asuka/Ultraman Dyna | |
| 2012 | Ultraman Retsuden | Shin Asuka | Episode 38 "Ultraman Dyna! Towards Tomorrow!!" |
| Ultraman Saga | Shin Asuka/Ultraman Dyna | Voice (Ultraman Dyna) | |
| 2015 | Ultraman Ginga S The Movie: Showdown! The 10 Ultra Warriors! | Ultraman Dyna | Voice |
| 2016 | Ultraman Orb THE ORIGIN SAGA | Shin Asuka/Ultraman Dyna | Voice (Ultraman Dyna) |
Stage[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Ultraman Festival 2001 Live Stage Part 1 | Ultraman Dyna | Voice |
| 2021 | NEW GENERATION THE LIVE: Ultraman Trigger STAGE 1 | ||
| NEW GENERATION THE LIVE: Ultraman Trigger STAGE 2 | |||
| 2022 | TDG THE LIVE: Ultraman Dyna STAGE 1 | ||
| Ultraman Saga | Voice Part 1 | ||
| Ultraman Dyna (Parallel Isotope) | Voice Part 2 | ||
| NEW GENERATION THE LIVE: Ultraman Decker STAGE 2 | Shin Asuka/Ultraman Dyna | Stage screen (Shin Asuka) Voice (Ultraman Dyna) | |
| NEW GENERATION THE LIVE: Ultraman Decker STAGE 4 | |||
| 2023 | NEW GENERATION THE LIVE: Ultraman Decker STAGE 5 | Ultraman Dyna | Voice |
Video games[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | CR Pachinko Ultra Battle Retsuden: Fight Zero! The Strongest Young Warrior | Shin Asuka |
Stock grunts[]
This section refers to Tsuruno's grunts being reused per stock audio in other Ultraman Series media:
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Ultraman Dyna | Terranoid | Episode 49 "Final Chapter I: A New Shadow" |
| 2013 | Ultraman Ginga | Ultraman Dyna | Dark Spark War flashbacks in episodes 1, 7, 11 |
| 2015 | Ultra Fight Victory | Ultra Fusion Brace | |
| Ultraman X | Ultra Fusion Brace Episode 14 "The Shining Sky, and the Land Beneath It" | ||
| 2016 | Ultraman Orb | Gai's Ultra Hero Special Study Episode 8 "The Urban Merman" | |
| 2020 | Ultraman Z | Ultra Medal | |
| 2021 | Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga | Ultra Medal Episode 8 "The Propagating Invasion" | |
| 2022 | Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Destined Crossroad | ||
| Ultraman Decker | Episode 21 "The Price of Prosperity" |
Video games[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Ultraman Fighting Evolution 3 | Ultraman Dyna |
Stage[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | TDG THE LIVE: Ultraman Tiga | Ultraman Dyna | |
| 2022 | NEW GENERATION THE LIVE: Ultraman Trigger STAGE 4 | ||
| NEW GENERATION THE LIVE: Ultraman Decker STAGE 1 | Finale | ||
| NEW GENERATION THE LIVE: Ultraman Decker STAGE 3 | Curtain call | ||
| 2023 | TDG THE LIVE: Ultraman Gaia STAGE 1 | Part 2 |
Other Roles[]
- High-Speed Parahero GandD - Gen Morimiya
Discography[]
- Ultraman Saga
- Kimi Dake o Mamoritai (Cover) (A separate cover was released earlier as an independent single)
- Fierce Battle! Ultraman Takamiy
- Kimi Dake o Mamoritai 2013 (Cover) (with Toshihiko Takamizawa)
- Pachinko Ultra Battle Retsuden
- ULTRA BURN-Dedicated to ULTRA HERO- (with Toshihiko Takamizawa)
- Ultraman Orb THE ORIGIN SAGA
- ULTRAMAN ORB (Opening) (with Daisuke Asakura)
- Ultra Heroes EXPO 2022 Summer Festival
- NEXT NEW HERO
Gallery[]
![Tsuruno as Shin Asuka in Ultraman Dyna[3][4]](/wiki/File:Shin_Asuka_1997_2.png "Shin Asuka 1997 2.png (1.34 MB)")
Tsuruno as Shin Asuka in Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light
Tsuruno as Shin Asuka in Ultraman Dyna: The Return of Hanejiro
Tsuruno as Shin Asuka in Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers
![Tsuruno as Shin Asuka in Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends The Movie[5]](/wiki/File:Shin_Asuka_2009_2.jpeg "Shin Asuka 2009 2.jpeg (227 KB)")
Tsuruno as Shin Asuka in Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends The Movie[5]
Tsuruno as Shin Asuka in Ultraman Saga
![Tsuruno as Shin Asuka in Ultraman Orb THE ORIGIN SAGA[6][7]](/wiki/File:Shin_Asuka_Orb_1.png "Shin Asuka Orb 1.png (1.35 MB)")
Miscellaneous[]
Risa Saito & Takeshi
Takeshi Tsurno with Shota Minami
Takeshi Tsuruno with Takeshi Yoshioka and Hassei Takano
![The main cast of Ultraman Dyna in 2018, reunited after 21 years[8]](/wiki/File:Ultraman_Dyna_Cast_Reunion.jpg "Ultraman Dyna Cast Reunion.jpg (412 KB)")
The main cast of Ultraman Dyna in 2018, reunited after 21 years[8]
Takeshi with Ryosuke Koike and Yuya Hirata
![[9]](/wiki/File:IMG_20210101_085858.jpg "IMG 20210101 085858.jpg (461 KB)")
![Tsuruno and other Ultraman Dyna actors participate in Ultraman Dyna 25th Anniversary event at Ultra Heroes EXPO 2022 Summer Festival[10][11]](/wiki/File:Ultraman_Dyna_25th_01.jpeg "Ultraman Dyna 25th 01.jpeg (433 KB)")
Tsuruno and other Ultraman Dyna actors participate in Ultraman Dyna 25th Anniversary event at Ultra Heroes EXPO 2022 Summer Festival[10][11]
![[12]](/wiki/File:Superguts_2022_1.jpeg "Superguts 2022 1.jpeg (211 KB)")
![[13]](/wiki/File:Superguts_2022_2.jpeg "Superguts 2022 2.jpeg (203 KB)")
![[14]](/wiki/File:Superguts_2022_3.jpeg "Superguts 2022 3.jpeg (64 KB)")
Trivia[]
- Takeshi Tsuruno is a fan of Ultraman 80, having watched the series in his childhood and once claiming that 80 would appear in Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers before Hiroshi Nagano, Daigo Madoka's actor and Ultraman Tiga's voice actor at the time, corrected him.
- The original concept behind Shin Asuka was to have him as a baseball player, but this was less focused due to Takeshi having intermediate experience as a baseball player.
- The reason why his name "Tsuruno" was made into Hiragana was that he has difficulty writing Kanji. His real name is sometimes written as "Tsuruno". His uncle is an illustrator named Hisao Tsuruno. He professed to be a Christian with Antonio's baptismal name.
- The reason why Takeshi entered the entertainment industry was that he enjoys television and loves being conspicuous. Takeshi was a big fan of Chiemi Hori and the Onyanko Club. One of his classmates was on television once as a child, which inspired Takeshi.
- When Takeshi auditioned for Dyna, director Kazuya Konaka felt a strong impact from the goodness and brightness of Takeshi.
- Takeshi is a toy collector in his real life and had mentioned being a fan of Saint Seiya and the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam anime. He also kept the toys but unfortunately, some of them broke after he lent it to his eldest son for him to play with. In spite of that, he had also planned for buying replacements for the aforementioned sets.
- Given that filming props are expected to deteriorate from aging, Tsuruno mentioned that he rented a warehouse where he stores the props and memorabilia used during the filming for Ultraman Dyna to preserve them carefully, having expected to reprise his role in the future.[15]
- He offered himself to voice the grunts for Ultraman Dyna,[16] with Yuji Machi, who did the grunts for Ultraman Tiga, mentoring him for the role.[17]
- Tsuruno was the singer for the opening theme of Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger.
- In 2022, Tsuruno appeared in a promotional video for Ultraman Dyna celebrating the series' release on TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION.[18]
External Links[]
- Web archive of Takeshi Tsuruno Yaplog blog
- Takeshi Tsuruno's current LINE blog
- Takeshi Tsuruno's HTML business card
References[]
- ↑ https://m-78.jp/news/post-6326
- ↑ https://twitter.com/takeshi_tsuruno/status/1298859340233809920
- ↑ https://spice.eplus.jp/articles/300890
- ↑ https://animageplus.jp/articles/detail/43019
- ↑ http://report.cinematopics.com/archives/27821
- ↑ https://www.cinematoday.jp/page/A0008337
- ↑ https://m-78.jp/news/post-6241
- ↑ https://twitter.com/joe_onodera/status/1049346573073702912
- ↑ https://twitter.com/sonohara_staff/status/1097842061699497986
- ↑ https://mantan-web.jp/article/20220802dog00m200068000c.html
- ↑ https://m-78.jp/news/post-6438
- ↑ https://x.com/takeshi_tsuruno/status/1554453153248313344
- ↑ https://x.com/takeshi_tsuruno/status/1554453181945769984
- ↑ https://animageplus.jp/articles/detail/46472
- ↑ https://twitter.com/takeshi_tsuruno/status/1503015967030669314
- ↑ https://twitter.com/anego0621/status/1506807021856694273
- ↑ https://twitter.com/takeshi_tsuruno/status/1506799599696355336
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYQ6jcik4yI