| “ | Why Gai?! What is it with you?! Can't you just let me win just once?! | „ |
| ~ Juggler shouting in mad fury after Maga-Orochi's defeat. |
Jugglus Juggler (ジャグラスジャグラー Jagurasu Jagurā) is a major character in Ultra Series. He was featured as the former villain of Ultraman Orb and protagonist-turned major antagonist in its prequel Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga, but became a supporting protagonist as well as anti-hero in his subsequent appearances, most notably in Ultraman Orb The Movie: Lend Me The Power of Bonds!, Ultraman Geed The Movie: Connect The Wishes!, and Ultraman Z.
He is a warrior hailed from a race of human-like alien (a race plausibly different to that of his rival Gai Kurenai) hailed from the planet O-50 who possessed the ability to assume the demonic form clad in copper armor. He uses the Dark Ring and the Kaiju Cards to try to awaken all the King Demon Beasts from their slumber and collect their respective cards as well as aimed to outperform his rival and former bitter enemy Gai Kurenai aka. Ultraman Orb.
Gai and Juggler's rivalry was stemmed from the day the light of O-50 chose Gai and transformed him into Ultraman Orb, from which Juggler's bitterness eventually got the better of him and he descended into evil. As such, Juggler's initial plans to revive the Demon King Beasts stems from his deep-rooted disapproval of what happened back on his homeworld. But following the realization that he never fell into the darkness farther than he believed, Juggler decided to continue his quest to outperform his rival where this time, with less heinous methods.
In Ultraman Z, he returns under the alias Shota Hebikura, the captain of STORAGE.
History[]
Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga[]
In the prequel to Ultraman Orb, it is revealed that Juggler and Gai Kurenai were both originally native to the Planet O-50 were they constantly competed to see who would be worthy of wielding the planet's light and transforming into a hero. Since it was proven in many ocasions that Juggler was seemingly the strongest of the duo, Gai believed Jugglus would be a good choice for the light. The day they both reached the top of Warrior's Summit, Juggler placed his hands on the ring of light but was rejected by the light. However, when Gai places his hands, he is granted the Orb Calibur and the hability to become Ultraman Orb. Gai and Juggler then used the Orb Calibur to get off O-50 and went to Planet Rurin, which was under attack by an insectoid kaiju known as Bezelb. Gai and Juggler met a child whose parents were killed by the beast's Kugutsu venom. Gai let Jugglus take care of the child while he himself assumed his Orb form and confronted Bezelb directly, but Orb was still inexperienced as a fighter and was beaten the first time. Later on, Gai, Juggler and the child escaped from Bezelb and found more people on the planet, but Bezelb returned. This time, Gai took Juggler's advice early on and killed the Bezelb with his Origium Ray. Juggler and Gai then left the planet after an encounter with a Kugutsu-infected Bemstar. When they were flying through space, they saw the Bemstar again, trying to absorb a ship piloted by Micott and Rica into its stomach. Defeating the monster, the group join forces to go to Planet Zain, where the Bezelb nest was.
Upon arriving at Psychi's base, Juggler held off several Bezelbs so the guardswomen can rescue their captain Shinra and in turn, saved by the captain from Kugutsu infection with a seed from Planet Kanon's Tree of Life. Gai then joined late with his senior Asuka afterwards, but their journey back to Planet Kanon was delayed due to Psychi sabotaging their spacecraft.
Juggler soon join forces with Kanon defense alongside Orb, Dyna and Cosmos against the Bezelb invasion. During the battle, Juggler provided Orb with the seed of the Tree of Life to save the War God. Unfortunately, as he did, Micott was unceremoniously killed by a Bezelb, traumatizing him enough to awaken his copper armor-clad Majin form. Disillusioned by the very circumstances that awakened this dark power, he destroyed the Tree of Life both to save Amate and out of belief that the tree is a devil. As a result, he was branded as a threat by Planet Kamon and his afromentioned action deemed questionable by his Ultra allies, prompting him to abandon Gai and denounced his support for him.
Despite the fallout between him and Gai, and his newfound goal to surpass Ultra Warriors, he still fight against Bezelb army and saved Gai on multiple occasions. Throughout that time, he found consolation from Fujimiya aka. Ultraman Agul just as Gai being consoled by Gamu aka. Ultraman Gaia. After Psyqueen, the true mastermind of Bezelb Arky invasion, was defeated, Juggler quietly left the scene, and was last seen in Gai's vision on the Warrior's Peak of O-50.
Between Ultaman Orb: The Origin Saga and Ultraman Orb[]
After the events of O-50, Jugglus Juggler flew across the galaxy in search of a greater power, leading him to believe that darkness was more powerful than light. The two would occassionally cross-path with each other which resulted in heated confrontations. Whereas Gai went on his next quest as Ultraman Orb; to gather four elemental powers for Orbcalibur, Juggler honed his skills through participating in various wars and battles across the galaxy, and became a mercenary. At one point, he ended up imprisoned at Prison Planet 484, but managed to escape with aid of Biranki.
Following their escape, the two stole the Super Polymerized Gold Capsule to create the Balloonga Bomb, a Doomsday weapon that can create a black hole that will destroy an entire galaxy. Juggler and Biranki then waited for Gai who went on his way to stop him. As Biranki kept his rival busy, Juggler activated the bomb only for Gai's companion, a young former thief named Shorty, gave his life to defuse the bomb. He and Biranki eventually captured again after the former severely beated by Gai where this time, the two are imprisoned within separated cells to prevent them from joining forces.
However, Juggler managed to escape his captors. Following Gai back to their home planet O-50, he saw how the Light of Orb granted his rival Orb Ring, which granted him the the access for combined powers of other Ultra Warriors. Slamming his fists into the ground, the area around him was covered by a shadow from a ring of light, at which Orb Ring's dark counterpart, Dark Ring, appears before Juggler. Finally gaining an artifact of power of his own, Juggler set out for Earth to chase his rival.
Learning about Gai's current mission, which was to prevent the awakening of original King Demon Beast Maga-Orochi, Juggler made it his mission to revive the dark extraterrestrial being starting from releasing its six extensions that imprisoned by Ultra Warriors. Seizing control over Magacism Cult (a cult that praises King Demon Beast of Darkness Magatanothor), he posed as a mummy hlike leader under the alias Nuru Ra Hotep. Acquiring the card of Dodongo, a kaiju that Orb just've defeated by having Dark Ring extracted what had left of its essence from its corpse, Juggler utilized the card to release Magatanothor from its seal. After Orb defeated Magatanothor and acquired Ultra Fusion Card of Ultraman Tiga, he collected the King Demon Beast's card while undisguising himself and left for the next King Demon Beast, Maga-Zetton.
During his search for Maga-Zetton, Juggler saw Gai forming a close bond with a human girl named Natasha Romanová from within the shadows. After collecting the cards of Kingsaurus II, C.O.V. and Pris-Ma from their defeats at the hands of Orb, Juggler awakened Maga-Zetton through his Dark Ring. Watching the battle between Orb and Maga-Zetton, in an unexpected act of kindness (something which Juggler himself failed to comprehend due to him repressed the remainder of goodness in his heart for so long), he rushed in to save Natasha with his Majin Form, but the two severely injured by Maga-Zetton's destructive blast that also injured Orb. As Orb atomized Maga-Zetton in his grief which resulted his Orbcalibur disappears on his hands and causing what later known as Great Explosion of Rusakla, Juggler revived Natasha far from the blast's ground zero, but immediately left out of confusion over what he had done.
In the 1950s, Juggler met Biranki again, whom has escaped from her own prison and chased him to Earth as well as calling down Hungler to seek out and battle Gai. However, Biranki eventually defeated and saved by Juggler. Not wanting her companion, Juggler knocked Biranki out by giving her a drugged coffee and sent her away to a distant planet with a note telling her to not follow him.
Personality[]
Juggler usually presented himself with proud and confident behavior to the point of tad unpleasant. As shown in The Origin Saga, he was originally much nicer and while dismayed by the fact that the light of Orb chose his best friend and rival Gai over him, Juggler reassured the latter that he indeed worthy and will support him the best he could. Unfortunately, after a tragedy which awakened his dark powers, whatever resentments that born from said rejection eventually consumed him and turned him into bitter, selfish, and calculating man who delved into the darkness so he can overcome Gai's light. His time in the darkness after the conflict against Psyqueen also resulted him developing mental instability in form of odd behaviors including reminding others of their mortality and occasional bout of insanity.
Despite how far he had delved into the darkness, the good in Juggler revealed to be persist, a fact that he realized through saving Natasha from an impending doom back at Rusalka long ago and later, did a same thing to her descendant Naomi from a crashed VTOL when he hold the latter as a hostage. He soon fell into depression after this discovery, unable to fathom the fact that he shared Gai's desire to help others which he perceived as a weakness. Nevertheless, he found a new resolve thanks to Naomi's persuasion which led to his and Gai's eventual teamwork against Maga-Orochi that he ironically unleashed to the world. Although still motivated by self-interest, his change of heart after said fight is evident through his actions in sealing away Dark Ring and aiding Gai in his fights against threats, but made it clear only he who allowed to defeat his rival nonetheless.
In Ultraman Z, as Shota Hebikura, he presents himself as a rather level-headed and stoic man at times, always unfazed and does not flinch by kaiju attacks on a regular basis, and is experienced in hand-to-hand combat. Once his identity is revealed in episode 5, Juggler revealed to retain his usually hedonistic and psychotic trait he had in Orb, with his personal agenda in the series being currently kept in the dark from everyone, with the only exception being Riku. Although his main goal later revealed to seize STORAGE's strongest robot to prove those who wronged him after the incident on Planet Kanon that their justice is not as absolute as they assumed to be, Juggler does show genuine concern towards his fellow STORAGE teammates as shown when he orders its members to evacuate the area where Gillvalis is making its entry in the middle of a battle simulation and later, assisting them in stopping Celebro's destructive plans before parting ways.
Trivia[]
- Some aspects of Juggler's character (rivalry and feud against his rival and friend Gai Kurenai which stemmed from being rejected by an artifact of great power, coupled with the fact that he eventually redeemed himself by aiding his rival and protagonists destroying a great threat he ironically released to the world and possessing dark counterparters of protagonist's powerful artifacts) are alluded in Croix Meridies from Little Witch Academia.
- In the first four episodes of Ultraman Z, Shota Hebikura was initially thought to be a character separate from Juggler, despite the fact that Hebikura is showing mannerisms similar to Juggler's (such as his messy and unkempt hairstyle, grabbing Haruki on his rear-end just like how Juggler did to Leito Igaguri during Geed's team-up film with Orb, etc.). Ultimately, this foreshadows the fact that Hebikura is indeed Juggler the whole time in episode 5.
- Juggler's role as the STORAGE Captain is synonymous with Dan Moroboshi, AKA Ultraseven, during his time as captain of MAC in Ultraman Leo. Coincidentally, his rival, Gai, draws many parallels to Seven in regards to being galactic wanderers. Additionally, as revealed in the finale of Ultraman Z, Juggler lost his ability to grow to gigantic size further parallels Dan Moroboshi being unable to transform into Seven in Leo.
External Links[]
- Jugglus Juggler on the Villains Wiki