Yutaro Asahina

Yutaro Asahina
Data
Type	Ally
Gender	Male
Age	42 years old
Affiliation	ZAT
First Appearance	Ultraman Taro episode 1 "Mother of Ultra Is Like the Sun"
Latest Appearance	Ultraman Taro episode 53 "Farewell, Taro! The Mother of Ultra!"
Portrayed by	Akira Nagoya

Yutaro Asahina is the ZAT captain from Ultraman Taro. When carrying out tasks, he often commands with a lighthearted and humorous attitude, such as deciding which team member to send on patrol based on what he ate the night before. In addition, he also has a unique insight and once saw through the trap of Alien Katan.

History

Ultraman Taro

Asahina witnessed Kotaro's courage and actions, so he invited Kotaro to join ZAT. Also, since he was a close friend of Captain Shiratori, he let Kotaro stay at Shiratori's house. ^{Mother of Ultra Is Like the Sun}

Due to the multitude of tasks, since episode 9, he has rarely appeared in ZAT's base, and his command is handed over to the deputy captain.

In the series finale, he joins the other ZAT members to bid farewell to Kotaro. ^{Farewell, Taro! The Mother of Ultra!}

Gallery

Ultraman Taro

Miscellaneous

Trivia

• Like Saburo Shinoda, Akira Nagoya was cast as Asahina at the request of producer Yoji Hashimoto. Due to Nagoya's busy schedule, the role of vice-captain Shuuhei Aragaki was created to cover Asahina's absence.
  • At the beginning of the series, Nagoya agreed to participate on the condition that he would appear whenever possible, but not in every episode. He appeared in a total of 12 episodes: 1–8, 10, 35, 51, and 53. Starting with episode 51, he also served as the series narrator.
• According to a 2001 interview with Nagoya in the book "Taro Taro Taro Ultraman Taro":
  • Nagoya admitted that he doesn't clearly remember why he joined the series. He only remembers producer Yoji Hashimoto asking, "Would you take this role, Mr. Nagoya?" At the time, Nagoya saw it as just another hit show in the transformation-hero genre, similar to Kamen Rider, and he thought that children would enjoy his appearance.
  • Having previously worked on Horror Theater Unbalance with producer Ken Kumagai, Nagoya assumed that connection might have led to his casting, though he couldn't remember the details.
  • Filming was simple for him because his character, Asahina, had few action scenes and limited screen time. He once left the Chitose Funabashi set while still in costume because changing was troublesome. He felt a bit awkward but amused by the situation.
  • Though initially uninterested in Ultraman, Nagoya began watching his scenes after joining. His son excitedly called out “Daddy!” while watching him on TV, and their home soon filled with Ultraman toys.