Toho Toho is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group... character
Jet Jaguar
Species	Robot Robot A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...  Humanoid
Form(s)	Humanoid Form Giant Form
Height	Humanoid form 1.8 meters Giant form 50 meters
Weight	Humanoid form 150 kilograms Giant form 25,000 tons
Major enemies	Megalon Gigan Gigan is a kaiju from the Godzilla series, introduced in the 1972 film Godzilla vs. Gigan. Gigan is a cybernetic monster sporting a buzzsaw weapon in its frontal abdominal region and large metallic hooks for hands. Gigan is considered Godzilla's most brutal and violent opponent, alongside Destroyah,...
Allies	Godzilla Godzilla is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
First appearance	Godzilla vs. Megalon Godzilla vs. Megalon is a 1973 Japanese science fiction kaiju film directed and co-written by Jun Fukuda with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. It was the thirteenth film in the Godzilla franchise...
Created by	Jun Fukuda Jun Fukuda , was a Japanese director. He was born in Manchuria. He has directed dozens of films, perhaps best known for his contributions to the Godzilla film series in the 1970s...
Portrayed by	Tsugutoshi Komada

is a fictional character who appears in the Godzilla film Godzilla vs. Megalon

Godzilla vs. Megalon

is a 1973 Japanese science fiction kaiju film directed and co-written by Jun Fukuda with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. It was the thirteenth film in the Godzilla franchise...

(1973).

History

In Godzilla vs. Megalon

Godzilla vs. Megalon

is a 1973 Japanese science fiction kaiju film directed and co-written by Jun Fukuda with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. It was the thirteenth film in the Godzilla franchise...

, Jet Jaguar is a robot created by the protagonist, Goro Ibuki. He is initially depicted as a mindless automaton, and is controlled by the evil Seatopians for most of the film. He later gains sentience and helps Godzilla

Godzilla

is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...

 fight both the evil Gigan

Gigan

is a kaiju from the Godzilla series, introduced in the 1972 film Godzilla vs. Gigan. Gigan is a cybernetic monster sporting a buzzsaw weapon in its frontal abdominal region and large metallic hooks for hands. Gigan is considered Godzilla's most brutal and violent opponent, alongside Destroyah,...

 and Megalon, although for a short moment. He is depicted as a heroic character with the abilities to communicate with kaiju

Kaiju

is a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....

 (Japanese word for "strange beast"), fly, alter his own size, and use floodlights in his eyes.

He was even given a brief theme song at the end of the film, performed by Masato Shimon

Masato Shimon

is a retired Japanese vocalist from Meguro, Tokyo. He is most known for his contributions to the theme songs of various anime and tokusatsu series. In his career, he has sung under the names and . "Masato Shimon" is also his recording name, as he was born with the name...

. A longer version of the song was featured on a record released in conjunction with the film's original release.

Origins

Jet Jaguar was the result of a contest Toho

Toho

is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...

 had in mid-to-late 1972 for fans to come up with a new hero for them to use (to capitalize on the many tokusatsu

Tokusatsu

is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....

 and anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 superhero

Superhero

A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

 and super robot

Super Robot

is a term used in manga and anime to describe a giant robot or mecha, with an arsenal of fantastic super-powered weapons, extreme resistance to damage unless the plot calls for it, sometimes transformable or combined from two or more robots and/or vehicles usually piloted by young, daring heroes,...

 shows that were all the rage at the time). The winner of the contest submitted the drawing of a robot called Red Arone. The robot resembled Ultraman

Ultraman

is Japanese television series that first aired in 1966. Ultraman, the first and best-known of the "Ultra-Crusaders," made his debut in the tokusatsu SF/kaiju/superhero TV series, , a follow-up to the television series Ultra Q...

, Spectreman

Spectreman

is the name and title superhero of a tokusatsu sci-fi TV series. Produced by P Productions and created by producer Souji Ushio, this series aired on Fuji TV from January 2, 1971 to March 25, 1972 with a total of 63 episodes , not counting the pre-series pilot episode...

, and Mazinger Z

Mazinger Z

, known briefly as Tranzor Z in United States, is a Super Robot manga and anime series created by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. In...

 (all of which were very popular at the time). The robot was renamed Jet Jaguar and was set to star in a film vehicle for him, titled Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon, which pitted him against Megalon (a previously unused Godzilla

Godzilla

is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...

 villain). However, Toho figured Jet Jaguar would not be able to carry the film on his own, in screen appearance or marketing value, so during pre-production, even after doing some tests and storyboards, the project was shut down for several weeks, until screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa

Shinichi Sekizawa

was a Japanese screenwriter. His very first screenplay was for the Shintoho Studios film Fearful Attack of the Flying Saucers, which is now considered to be lost. He went on to script several films by Ishirō Honda, including several classic Godzilla films...

 was called in to rewrite the script to add Godzilla and Gigan

Gigan

is a kaiju from the Godzilla series, introduced in the 1972 film Godzilla vs. Gigan. Gigan is a cybernetic monster sporting a buzzsaw weapon in its frontal abdominal region and large metallic hooks for hands. Gigan is considered Godzilla's most brutal and violent opponent, alongside Destroyah,...

 to have more marquee value. The resulting film, Godzilla vs. Megalon

Godzilla vs. Megalon

is a 1973 Japanese science fiction kaiju film directed and co-written by Jun Fukuda with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. It was the thirteenth film in the Godzilla franchise...

, paired Godzilla with Jet Jaguar against both Megalon and Gigan.

Other appearances

Jet Jaguar appears in the video games Godzilla Trading Battle

Godzilla Trading Battle

Godzilla Trading Battle is a PlayStation video game released only in Japan in 1998 by Toho Co., Ltd. It featured almost every Toho kaiju up to that point as well as six new monsters created for the game....

(1998), Godzilla: Save the Earth

Godzilla: Save the Earth

Godzilla: Save the Earth is a fighting game released on November 2, 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox game consoles based on characters and situations from the Godzilla film series. The game is itself the sequel to the 2002 game Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee which was released for the...

(2004), Godzilla: Unleashed

Godzilla: Unleashed

Godzilla: Unleashed, abbreviated as G3 or GU, is a 3D fighting video game based on the Godzilla film franchise for the Wii and PlayStation 2, developed by Pipeworks and published by Atari. The PS2 version was released on November 20 and the Wii version on December 5, 2007 in North America and both...

(2007), and Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash (2007).