Tiger Mask

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Tiger Mask
タイガーマスク
Genre Sports
Manga
Author Ikki Kajiwara (story)
Naoki Tsuji (art)
Publisher Flag of Japan Kodansha
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Bokura Magazine
Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Original run 1968 – 1971
Volumes 14
TV anime
Director Takeshi Tamiya
Studio Toei Animation
Network Yomiuri TV
Original run October 2, 1969 – September 30, 1971
Episodes 105
Animated film
Director Takeshi Tamiya
Studio Toei Animation
Released 1970

Tiger Mask (タイガーマスク?) began as a Japanese manga in 1968 and was later adapted into a successful anime series in 1969. In real life, the name has been used by a succession of Japanese professional wrestling characters as a gimmick. The Tiger Mask persona is instantly recognizable by its trademark mask, designed to look like a tiger's head, as well as the combination of high flying attacks and martial arts in the ring.

Contents

[edit] Story

In the manga and anime, Tiger Mask (whose real name was Naoto Date) was a feared heel wrestler in America who was extremely vicious in the ring. However, he became a face after returning to Japan when a young boy said that he wanted to be a villain like Tiger Mask when he grew up. The boy resided in an orphanage, the same one that Tiger Mask grew up in during his childhood. Feeling that he did not want the boy to idolize a villain, Tiger was inspired to be a heroic wrestler.

The main antagonist in the manga and anime was Tiger's Cave, a mysterious organization that trained young people to be villainous heel wrestlers on the condition that they gave half of their earnings to the organization. Tiger Mask was once a member of Tiger's Cave under the name "Yellow Devil", but no longer wanted anything to do with them, instead donating his money to the orphanage. This infuriated the leader of the organization and he sent numerous assassins, including other professional wrestlers, to punish him.

[edit] Concept

The manga was originally created for the Bokura and Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 1968 by Ikki Kajiwara and Naoki Tsuji. The manga would be reprinted by Kodansha comics, and made available in Hong Kong. Further versions include Sankei Comics and the Kodansha KC Special. The anime would be televised nationally in Japan, while 2 movies would be constructed from reusing footages of the series.[1] Most of the environment and characters were fictional, but real-life pro wrestlers like Antonio Inoki, Giant Baba, Michiaki Yoshimura, Kintaro Ohki, Seiji Sakaguchi were included in the manga and anime as well.

[edit] Staff

Director: Takeshi Tamiya

Additional Directors: Kimio Yabuki, Tomoharu Katsumata, Fusahito Nagaki, Hiroshi Shidara, Yoshio Kuroda, Yasuo Yamaguchi

Screenwriter: Masaki Tsuji, Tadashi Kondo, Tomohiro Ando

Design: Naoki Tsuiji

Animator: Keijiro Kimura, Koichi Murata

Music: Shunsuke Kikuchi

[edit] Characters

 Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] Tiger Mask and His Comrades

Naoto Date (伊達直人, Date Naoto?)/Tiger Mask (タイガーマスク?)
Kentaro Takaoka (高岡拳太郎, Takaoka Kentarou?)/Yellow Devil (イエロー・デビル?)
Daigo Daimon (大門大吾, Daimon Daigo?)/Mister Fudo (ミスター不動?)
Toranosuke Arashi (嵐虎之介, Arashi Toranosuke?)
The Great Zebra (ザ・グレイト・ゼブラ?)

[edit] Chibikko House

Mr. Wakatsuki (若月先生, Wakatsuki-sensei?)
Ruriko Wakatsuki (若月ルリ子, Wakatsuki Ruriko?)
Kenta (健太?)
Yoshibou (ヨシ坊?)
Chappy (チャッピー?)
Gaboten (ガボテン?)
Mikuro (ミクロ?)
Yoko Takaoka (高岡洋子, Taka?)

[edit] Tiger's Cave

Mister X (ミスターＸ?)
Boss (ボス?)
Big Tiger (ビッグ・タイガー?)
Black Tiger (ブラック・タイガー?)
King Tiger (キング・タイガー?)
Miracle 3 (ミラクル３?)
See Boss
Tiger The Great (タイガー・ザ・グレイト?)
See Boss

[edit] Japanese Pro Wrestling Promotion

Giant Baba
See The Great Zebra
Antonio Inoki
Kintaro Ohki/Kim Ill (キム・イル?)

[edit] Other

Jack Brisco (ジャック・ブリスコ?)
Mister Kamikaze (ミスター・カミカゼ?)
Black V (ブラックＶ?)
Announcer (アナウンサー?)

[edit] DVD

The series has since been released on DVD format in Japan and Italy.

[edit] Adaptations

The movies were titled as such in English when exported outside Japan. They are by no means actual translations.

Japanese Name English Name Release Date Type
タイガーマスク Tiger Mask: War against the League of Masked Wrestlers 1970 movie
タイガーマスク　ふく面リーグ戦 Tiger Mask: Black Demon July 19, 1970 movie

[edit] Video games

While the Tiger Mask character has shown up in quite a number of wrestling video games such as Fire Prowrestling D, Toukon Retsuden 3, and Virtual Pro Wrestling 64, the video games are not directly based on the story of the manga or anime.

[edit] Sequels

A continuation of the series was followed by Tiger Mask II in 1981.

[edit] Professional Wrestling

[edit] Main Tiger Mask character

The anime ended in 1971, but continued to be so popular that the bookers in the New Japan Pro Wrestling promotion licensed the character and created a real-life Tiger Mask in 1981, originally portrayed by Satoru Sayama. Sayama played the role until 1983, when he left New Japan due to his hatred for the backstage politics of pro wrestling in general, and eventually became one of the first mixed martial artists in the world. As Tiger Mask, Sayama feuded with Kuniaki Kobayashi, Canada's Bret Hart, and Englishmen Dynamite Kid, the original Black Tiger (see below), Chris Adams, and Steve Wright, as well as Mexico's Fishman.

In 1984, the rights to the Tiger Mask gimmick were bought by All Japan Pro Wrestling and given to Mitsuharu Misawa. Misawa also feuded with Dynamite Kid and Kuniaki Kobayashi, as well as Chavo Guerrero, Sr. and Atsushi Onita; he then moved up to the heavyweight division (the only Tiger Mask to do so while using the persona) to feud, albeit unsuccessfully, with Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu. In 1990, after Tenryu left All Japan, Misawa gave up the mask in the middle of a match to wrestle as himself.

New Japan's Koji Kanemoto became the third Tiger Mask in the early 1990s, but was unsuccessful due to the dominance of Jushin Liger. Kanemoto was never able to win a title as Tiger Mask, and eventually lost the mask in a mask-vs-mask match against Liger in 1994.

Since 1995, the name Tiger Mask has been held by Yoshihiro Yamazaki, who was trained directly (and is officially endorsed) by Sayama. Tiger Mask IV, originally based at Michinoku Pro Wrestling, entered New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2001; since then, he has been one of the top candidates (alongside Minoru Tanaka) to replace the now-aging Liger as the top star of New Japan's junior heavyweight division, though Kanemoto is now considered to have surpassed all three to take the Jr. Heavyweight Ace role. Yamazaki's role as Tiger Mask is the most notable, as his style is very similar to Sayama's Tiger Mask days.

Some pundits credit All Japan Pro Wrestling mid-carder Samson Kutsuwada (who died in 2004) as the first true Tiger Mask, as he used the gimmick in South Korea in the mid-1970s, but since he was a heel and never used the persona in Japan, Sayama always gets the "Original" billing.

Generation Name
Tiger Mask I Satoru Sayama
Tiger Mask II Mitsuharu Misawa
Tiger Mask III Koji Kanemoto
Tiger Mask IV Yoshihiro Yamazaki

[edit] Related characters

The evil twin character Black Tiger (using a black costume with yellow stripes) was created by NJPW to oppose the man who portrayed Tiger Mask at the time, although he did not have to have the existing Tiger Mask as his exclusive antagonist. Black Tiger has always been portrayed by foreign wrestlers: Mark Rocco (British), Eddie Guerrero (Mexican-American), Silver King (Mexican) and Rocky Romero (Cuban-American). As Black Tiger, Rocco also feuded with The Cobra (George Takano), and Guerrero also feuded with Jushin Liger and Wild Pegasus.

When Tiger Mask IV was in the Japanese independents, he was briefly opposed by The Masked Tiger, a character portrayed by Battlarts wrestler Takeshi Ono.

Recently Último Dragon, as a temporary break between gigs in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), adopted the name and character Second Tiger, modeled after the original, Satoru Sayama, who was his childhood idol.

Sayama himself used the Super Tiger (in the original UWF) and uses the Tiger King and Original Tiger Mask characters in special appearances since 1996, as a means to differentiate himself as being the original.

Sayama also gave brief authorization for a female version of the character, called Tiger Dream, to be played by female wrestler Candy Okutsu in the mid-1990s. He and Tiger Mask IV also provided her with training. However, Okutsu being injury-prone and having to take several sabbaticals from the ring, the character was easily forgotten by the fans and eventually abandoned.

Osaka Pro has a wrestler named Tigers Mask who wears a mask similar to Tiger Mask and is portrayed as a fan of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team.

[edit] Pop culture

Although the manga and anime ended in the early 1970s, Tiger Mask remains a popular character in Japan.

  • The Tekken series of video games have characters named King and Armor King who are modelled after the Tiger Mask and Black Tiger from the anime. This is evident by the fact that they are all masked professional wrestlers (though King and Armor king wear jaguar masks), and both King and Tiger Mask used to be orphans and were played by more than one person. In Tekken 5, you can purchase an alternate mask for King that appears to be a replica of the one worn by Tiger Mask.
  • In the Sailor Moon Musicals series a wrestler appears in the Ai no Sanctuary musical by the name of Sensational Jaguar Mask. This is thought to be an homage to Tiger Mask.
  • In the anime OVA Battle Royale High School, the main character is seen wearing a Jaguar mask (as in King from Tekken) when fighting the high school karate club.

[edit] Championships and Accomplishments

[edit] References

  1. ^ Clements, Jonathan. McCarthy Helen. [2006] (2006). The Anime Encyclopedia: Revised & Expanded Edition. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-10-5

[edit] External links