#shota hebikura

[monvment]

the z in ultraman z stands for friendZone

[harveybwabbit92]

{Shota passes by R/n on his way to work he freezes when he notices something off about her face...Without a second thought he shifted into Jugglus and caught up to her and is royally pissed off by what he sees.]

Jugglus, holding R/n’s chin to make her look at him: *growling* Who did this to you?

R/n, with a black-eye: No one, I accidentally ran into the door...*Jugglus looks skeptical* Look, I’m not covering for anyone. I legit ran into a door.

Jugglus:..

Jugglus: Does it hurt?

R/n: A little bit but I’m okay!

[The next day, R/n is walking around her jobs hallways, while looking down at her tablet. She knows there’s a double door coming up and turns to the side to push it open with her shoulder like always...but to her surprise her shoulder hits open air! R/n nearly stumbles and does a few bunny hops before regaining her balance.]

R/n, looks around bewildered:....What the hell?

[Pan out shot of the empty hallway where every single door has been removed.]

R/n, as her voice echoes: Where the frak are all the doors????

[ultraincorrectultramaquotes]

Hebikura: I bring a sort of "all these laws are made up" vibe to STORAGE that GAF really doesn't like.

[writingpaperghost]

It's Plotting

Hebikura had hoped that he would be able to avoid furry menaces here, but that turns out not to be the case.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28600734

Today had been normal, at least as normal of a day as STORAGE ever had. There had, thankfully, been no monsters today - at least not yet. So Hebikura sat at his desk, doing his work as he did, without much concern.

“Aww... Isn’t he cute?” At least until he heard Yuka squealing about something. He sighed, knowing her, it was probably something that should very much not be in STORAGE’s base. He hears her walk over, so he looks up, ready to say something to her.

Instead of Yuka, he was greeted with a face full of fur and it was vibrating. “Don’t you agree, Captain?” Correction, it was purring.

There was a cat in his face.

To his credit, Hebikura only jerked back slightly. Really, though, wouldn’t you too if there was suddenly a noodle of fluff in your face. Especially, when it was a cat. A wretched, hell spawned, diabolical -

“Uh... Captain?” This time, it was Haruki who spoke, snapping Hebikura back from his thoughts. Right, right, STORAGE. He shouldn’t get distracted like that, not with that beast around. Especially not with it so close to him.

“Yuka,” Hebikura began, already praising himself for his calm sounding tone, “Why do you have a cat?” Okay, so a little bit of irritation snuck in that second part, but he was still doing pretty good.

“I found him,” Yuka responded, shifting her hold on the furry beast so that it was now cradled in her arms. “He’s so adorable!” She began to pet it and the monster had the audacity to start purring.

Hebikura held in a groan. He wanted nothing more than to get that thing as far away from him as possible. “Yuka, you can’t have a cat in the base.”

Yuka pouted in response, though Hebikura chose to ignore her, returning to his work. Hopefully, that would encourage her to get that hell spawn out of here, or at the very least out of his face.

“Mreow?”

It was still in his face.

“Yuka,” He began again, this time much more irritation, “Please take the cat out of here.”

“Aww... Alright.” He honestly expected her to put up more of a fight, not that he was complaining.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of his torment. Yoko peered over at him, “What’s that face about, Captain?” She questioned, “Don’t you like cats?”

Deep breaths, Hebikura, deep breaths. With what he hoped appeared as mostly calm, or at least pleasant, smile, he responded, “Cats are...” How should he word it. The usual way he would, a rather strong worded way, might be a bit much for his team. “Well cats and I do not get along.”

“Mrow?” As though to laugh in his face, the cat was back, somehow. It stood on his desk, looking up at him with barely concealed malice. In response to the sudden appearance of the furry monster, Hebikura couldn’t help but launch himself and his chair backwards.

“Oh! Captain, sorry!” Yuka yelped, rushing over, “He got out of my arms!”

Eye twitching, Hebikura glared at the monster before him. Though it looked unassuming, he knew of all the dangers it could pose. Yuka, on the other hand, was clearly fooled by it’s “cute” façade. Perhaps even Yoko and Haruki, too, were fooled by the way it curled up and made it’s dreadful sounds. This was a foe that he would have to face alone, clearly, but he had plenty of experience with that. The hellspawn on his desk brought a paw up to it’s mouth, licking at the fur.

It began to vibrate - “purr” - clearly preparing for an attack. Hebikura stood, hands on his desk, ready to stop the monster from even trying to attack. His mind was speeding through the possible ways to halt the monster when-

“Hebi?” Wonderful, more to worry about. Bako came in, most likely looking to talk to Hebikura about something. Bako stopped, raising an eyebrow and looking at him. “Hebi, why are you glaring daggers at a cat?” The aforementioned hellbeast hops off Hebikura’s desk, landing on the ground with little fanfare.

Hebikura pursed his lips, “It’s a monstrous beast,” He said, “It’s plotting.”

Yuka looks at him, confused, while off to the side he can see Haruki look at him concerned. Bako sighed, looking at the cat - now on the floor - and then at Hebikura, “Hebi, we’ve talked about this,” He sounded concerned, though it didn’t seem to be for the cat on the ground. As far as Hebikura was concerned, that worry should be pointed towards what the cat might do. Bako continued, “Cats are not monsters. The worst they will do is scratch you and even then, they’ll only do it if they’re playing or feel threatened.”

With a quick glare at the cat, Hebikura looked over at Bako and responded, “It should feel threatened,” The cat jumped onto Yoko’s lap, curling into a ball. “I’m on to it’s plans, Bako.”

Leaning over to Bako, in a worried voice, Yuka whispered, “Is Captain okay?”

Bako responds in a slightly louder voice, most likely with the hope that Haruki and Yoko could hear, “Hebi doesn’t really... like cats, if you can’t tell.”

Yoko glanced over at Hebikura, “That’s... one way to put it.”

The cat got up, stretched, and hopped back over towards Hebikura. It hissed at him, prompting him to glare even harder, if that were even possible. They sort of stayed like that, for a bit, before Yuka finally walked over to the cat. In an awkward manner, she picked up the cat, ignoring its attempts to claw at Hebikura.

“I’ll just be... taking him out, now,” She said slowly, though she practically sprinted out of the room with the cat in her arms. Hebikura sat back down at his desk, letting out a breath that no one was aware he was holding.

“Well,” Haruki said, “I guess since that’s over...”

Bako sighed, “Alright Hebi, you’ve had your fun.”

“I was making sure that hellspawn didn’t try anything.”

[i-am-randomtrash00]

He's just sitting there...

Jugglus Juggler in the back seat

[chernobog13]

The staff at STORAGE clowning around.

[tsunflowers]

I just read in wiki that the reason Jugglus took the name Hebikura Shota cause he took advantage of taking the place of a guy who was a test pilot that died in accident in testing some prototype. So there is actually a real Hebikura out there who is like dead but everyone thinks it is Jugglus cause he made a excuse that he is Hebikura and the reason his face is different is because he had to do surgery due to accident. Which people just totally believed Jugglus lies

that's the official lore and I think it's so funny. sucks for everyone else that their coworker got replaced by jugglus juggler and they don't know but it was hilarious of juggler to do that

[macmanx]

Shota and Haruki spar

[kentaromulti]

Battle Spirits Ultraman Cards

[kenro199x]

ULTRAMAN Z Episode 25 "Warriors Shining Beyond."

[chacerider]

just hanging out with my best friend the war criminal, dont @ me

[ultraheadcanons]

Captain Hebikura is constantly teasing Haruki about his “secret” identity. Haruki, a man known more for his enthusiasm than his wisdom, never quite realises that the captain knows everything. It generally goes a bit like this:

Haruki: Please, please, please let me drive King Joe this time! I promise I won’t let you down! Oh, please!

Shota: I don’t know, Haruki... You’ve only got a few weeks’ experience as a giant hero, haven’t you?

Haruki: You mean...?

Ultraman Z, inside Haruki: Oh, no, we’ve been rumbled.

Haruki: ...I need to spend more time in the simulator! Days more! Osu! Let’s do this! Yoko, hurry up and get out of there... please, if it’s not too much trouble, Senpai.

Shota, sighing fondly: Love that boy.

[harveybwabbit92]

Shota, talking to R/n about a trip he's planned for them: I hope you don't have anything important going on tomorrow, because once we’re done with what I’ve got planned, neither of us will be able to walk right.

[There's clattering noise R/n looks down to see a soda can rolling around on the ground; then sees who dropped it? It was Haruki who was staring at her and his captain mortified! It takes a few moments for R/n to realize what Shota had just said sounded like and desperately tries to clear up the misunderstanding to her friend.]

R/n, flustered: Hi-Hiking! Hiking, he was talking about taking me hiking this afternoon. No-not...That!

Haruki, reluctantly: o-Oh...Okay.

Shota, joking around: Actually, "That" was the last thing on my mind but now that you've brought it up.~

R/n, even more flustered: s-Shota!

Haruki: Annd I'm leaving now!

[ultraincorrectultramaquotes]

Yuka: I re-initialized the entire command structure, retaining all programmed abilities but deleting the supplementary preference architecture. Hebikura: She turned it off and back on again.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

After playing the legendary Jugglus Juggler, Takaya Aoyagi is returning to the Ultra Series as Shota Hebikura, the captain of STORAGE, in Ultraman Z. I’m sure his new character will be quite different, but there’s a sly callback in his name. “Hebi” is Japanese for “snake”, and Juggler’s katana is called the Serpent-Hearted Blade. Also, Riku met Juggler in the Ultraman Geed movie, so he might be a bit confused.

[wits-writing]

Ultraman Z Ep 5: “First Juggling” (TV Review)

(Original Air Date: July 18, 2020, Director: Takanori Tsujimoto, Writer: Takao Nakano)

A chilling threat arises from Earth’s ancient past this week on Ultraman Z. As Haruki and Yoko are sent out to deal with it, we get a special look at the personal life of STORAGE Chief Shota Hebikura. Those elements plus the debut of a new weapon for Zett make this the most densely plotted and exciting episodes so far.

[Full Review Under the Cut]

The main threat of the episode comes from the freezing power of Peguila as the flying creature lands in the city. Why it’s arisen from the permafrost in Alaska after 30,000 years and targeted this city is connected to two things in the episode’s story; first is Hebikura speculating that climate change has made it easier for the beast to escape its ice prison and secondly is a legend connecting the monster to an stone spear recently recovered from the same area being studied at the local university. Yoko’s sent out in Windom with Haruki on the ground to handle evacuation.

We get a more detailed look at Windom’s launch procedures than last time, where the focus was more on what the robot’s like in action and seeing it fly out of STORAGE is a solid effects sequence. There are some of the more unique destruction shots in the series so far as we see Peguila marching through the city. Most impressive among them being a POV shot from inside a car that gets flipped over by the monster’s footsteps shaking the ground beneath it before cutting to an exterior shot of the vehicle getting stomped by Peguila. This part of the episode is also a solid highlight on Yoko as she’s determined to not eject from Windom until she’s certain as many people have gotten to safety as possible, even as Peguila’s freezing breath damages Windom to the point of nearly freezing to death herself. Listening to her determination and pride in her job over the comms, Haruki gets ready to join the fight as Ultraman Z before the Z Riser is stolen from his by a mystery figure, the returning Jugglus Juggler.

I’ve been talking around the foreshadowing and fan speculation about Chief Hebikura since I started writing these reviews. Getting to discuss the actual reveal feels like a welcome exhale now that we know for sure that Takaya Aoyagi is reprising the role of Jugglus Juggler from Ultraman Orb. The official reveal and seeing Aoyagi fully back in Juggler-mode was the most excited this already thrilling episode got me. For those less familiar with the Ultra franchise, Juggler was the main villain in Orb but has since been something of a wild card in terms of what his motives are at any given time throughout cameos and guest spots. His personality can best be described as “I think I will cause problems on purpose”, his monster form is like if Square Enix redesigned Mac Tonight, and he’s a favorite character among many in the Ultra-fandom, myself included.

Why Juggler’s gone undercover in a position of authority for an organization like STORAGE is currently unknown, but his actions in this episode appear to stem from simple boredom, as hinted in the cliffhanger of the previous episode. He leaves STORAGE HQ while Yoko and Haruki are dealing with the current threat of Peguila and we don’t see him again in human form until the actual reveal of him changing back from his monster form. Plenty of credit is deserved for Aoyagi as an actor, as he does play the two sides in great contrast with different body language and styles of line reads when he’s “Hebikura” versus when he’s on his own as Juggler. While my excitement for this reveal comes from my knowledge of past Ultra shows, I am curious how this reveal reads to anyone less familiar with the franchise. I could see the base level of “the main character’s boss was actually a monster-man the whole time” still being an effective reveal, but not getting that same excitement from it without that background knowledge.

Juggler’s boredom may have been what drove him to steal the Z Riser for his own end, but the meat of the story in this episode is what that drives Haruki to do so he can help against Peguila without the power of Zett. Remembering Yoko’s words about doing their jobs at any cost, Haruki rushes back to HQ to commandeer Sevenger to save Yoko and continue the fight against that “dirty penguin” (his words.) While he manages to save Yoko by thawing out Windom with Sevenger’s jets and gets a few good hits in against Peguila, the monster is still enough of a threat to damage Haruki’s robot. Once the two pilots are back on the ground, Haruki gets a last minute save from Juggler, giving him back the Z Riser.

After a brief reunion scene where Zett tells Haruki he “sensed darkness” while they were separated, the episode climaxes in two different and equally stunning fight sequences. The fight between Ultraman Z and Peguila is mostly an aerial battle through the snowstorm the monster creates, composited to look like a continuous shot, and features a nice shot of the “camera” frosting over as the monster’s artic blast hits it. This fight gets resolved in one shot once the stone spear glows to life and Zett senses the power of a past Ultraman within it, remarking that he knows how to use a weapon like this. Before the fight ends there’s a great humorous bit where Peguila visibly freaks out at seeing the weapon that sealed it away again.

While that may have been where the other episodes so far would have ended, here we go on to see the results of Juggler’s machinations. Earlier in the episode he’s seen conducting a ritual calling upon the powers of darkness to make a dark duplicate of the Z Riser along with three Monster Medals of his own. Once he sees that the fight against Peguila has concluded, he pulls out the Riser to test his own powers against those of Zett. We get to see his own transformation sequence, styled after that of Ultraman Orb, in a purple version of the Z-Riser pocket dimension. He takes on the form of the fusion monster Zeppandon and is clearly using this fight as an opportunity to size up the abilities of the young Ultra. He teleports around and taunts at the heroic giant. Zett, even with the new power of the spear, initially gets overpowered but Haruki recalls Yoko’s words about pride in their jobs fighting monsters and that encourages Zett enough to earn them a second wind. The final act of the fight is marked by one of my favorite tropes in anything, the show’s opening theme song kicking in, as they strike a final blow against Juggler’s giant monster form.

This episode, even apart from the glee I got from the official reveal of Juggler, is easily the most exciting so far. Ultraman Z’s episodes have all been pretty action oriented in their own way, but the displays of determination from Yoko and Haruki make this a highlight of how both characters operate under fire (or ice in this case.) Tying what was already a solid setup into this episode’s main advancement of the overall arc for the series has me more than ready to see what comes next, especially as this episode ends on Juggler clearly being pleased with the outcome of his fight with Zett and the preview for next time showing the return of my favorite hero in this entire franchise, Ultraman Geed.

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