Jirass

Jirass ジラース (Jirāsu) is a giant aquatic dinosaur kaiju who first appeared in the 1966 television series Ultraman.

Jirass was discovered by Professor Nikaido at the bottom of Loch Ness. Nikaido, being obsessed with dinosaurs, took Jirass back to Japan under the name "Dr. Nakamura" and spent fifteen years raising the creature in Lake Kitayama, to which Jirass then grew to a height of forty-five meters. Jirass was eventually discovered by Ide of the SSSP while the monster was being fed by "Dr. Nakamura."

Name
Jirahs most likely gets his name from the Japanese name of Godzilla, Gojira (ゴジラ), with the "Go (ゴ)" katakana being dropped, an elongation kana added, and "su (ス)" being added at the end, thus, creating "Jirāsu" (ジラース).

Development
During the production of Ultraman, Eiji Tsuburaya initially considered having the titular hero up against an original monster for episode ten, however, due to a minimal budget and a vary tight schedule, Eiji and his company decided to reuse one of the suits from their warehouse. The Gomess suit from Ultra Q was chosen, which in turn was modified from a Godzilla suit, the SanDaikaijuGoji (Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster). However, the head could not be used as it had already been heavily modified to portray Gomess.While Toho was in the middle of filming Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Tsuburaya made a deal with Toho to borrow the head of the company's DaisensoGoji suit (Invasion of Astro-Monster). Toho approved the request and the DaisensoGoji's head was detached and was welded onto the body of the SanDaikaijuGoji suit. Both the head of the DaisensoGoji and the body of the SanDaikaijuGoji were painted greenish gray with yellow stripes along with adding a frill around the suit's neck, which created Jirahs. Because of this, Toho then created a replica of the DaisensoGoji's head and grafted it onto the suit for the rest of the filming of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.

Design
Being modified from two Godzilla suits, Jirahs heavily resembles the King of the Monsters with rigid skin, a rounded face with large eyes, and three rows of maple leaf shaped dorsal plates that start at the head and end at the end of his long tail. The main differences between the two are that Jirahs has a large frill or ruff around his neck and has green with yellow markings.

Origins
Jirahs hatched from an egg found by Professor Nikaido at the bottom of Loch Ness. Nikaido, being obsessed with dinosaurs, took Jirahs back to Japan under the name "Dr. Nakamura" and spent fifteen years raising the creature in Lake Kitayama, to which Jirahs then grew to a height of forty-five meters. Jirahs was eventually discovered by Ide of the SSSP while the kaiju was being fed by "Dr. Nakamura."

The Mysterious Dinosaur Base
One night, While fishing at Lake Kitayama, SSSP member Ide and reporter Kubo discovered Jirahs while the kaiju was being fed by Dr. Nakamura. The two quietly followed after Dr. Nakamura into an underground cavern, however, the doctor soon found that Ide and Kubo were spying on him, to which he then held both of them hostage to ensure his secret's safety. Realizing that Ide had not returned and fearing something had happened to him, Hayata, Arashi and the rest of the SSSP went out to search for their missing comrade. Once the SSSP arrived at Lake Kitayama, Jirahs emerged from the lake and proceeded to attack them. The SSSP tried to fight back, only to be hindered by Dr. Nakamura, who wanted to protect the monster. While standing in the attack team's way, Nakamura revealed his true self to be Professor Nikaido. The professor then ordered Jirahs to destroy the SSSP, however, Jirahs ended up trampling Nikaido to death while cornering the SSSP at the professor's mansion. Hayata saw that his comrades were in trouble, to which he pulled out his Beta Capsule and transformed into Ultraman to battle against the frilled monster. Ultraman was to strong for Jirahs as the Ultra shoved the kaiju back, which provoked Jirahs further. After proving his superior strength against the monster, Ultraman then tore off the frill around Jirahs' neck and taunted him even more by using the frill as if it was a Matador's Muleta. Once Ultraman discarded the frill, he began to physically fight Jirahs, to which the Ultra then struck Jirahs with his Ultra Haze Slash. The strike was fatal, as Jirahs began bleeding from the mouth and collapsed to his death. Ultraman, in an act of sympathy, took the monster's frill and placed it back on Jirahs' neck. After a brief moment of silence, Ultraman flew away.

Redman
To be added

Ultraman Z
Robot-2 Activation PlanA Jirahs medal was created by the Celebro possessed Shinya Kaburagi to transform Telesdon into a more powerful form, Erimaki Telesdon. Once Ultraman Z defeated Erimaki Telesdon, Z and Haruki collected the medal, to which it disappeared.

Ultraman Graffiti
To be added

Ultraman M78 Theater Love & Peace
To be added

Amphibiousness
As a creature from the Loch Ness, Jirahs is capable of living underwater, however, he will surface and come on land if threatened.

Heat-Ray
Jirahs can fire a blue heat-ray from his mouth which is capable of destroying boulders.

Weaknesses
Jirahs proved no match against Ultraman, who overpowered the kaiju with his superior strength and even managed to rip off Jirahs' frill. He was defeated once the Ultra used his Ultra Haze Slash technique, which ultimately killed Jirahs.

Filmography

 * Ultraman (TV 1966)
 * Ultraman Z (TV 2020) [as a monster medal]
 * Sevenger Fight (TV 2021)

Roar
Jirahs' roars are modified from Godzilla's 1960s roars.

Trivia

 * Jirahs was portrayed by suit actor Haruo Nakajima, who was famous for portraying Godzilla in the first twelve Godzilla films.