Alan Sukando (Due Ottobre in Italy) is a member of Princess Milenjo’s gang, effectively serving as her bodyguard. As with many of the characters in Yattodetaman, he presents an interesting departure from past characters.
While fulfilling the role of a bad muscleman, Sukando is quite different in several ways compared to his other counterparts. He is tall with a huge build, sporting beedy eyes and an overbite with gaps in his teeth. Sukando also doesn’t talk too much and when he does he’ll sometimes pepper English phrases into his dialogue.
Unlike prior Time Bokan musclemen who were cowardly and easily brushed aside he’s actually quite intimidating and tends to be the biggest threat of Milenjo’s gang short of a mecha. It’s usually encounters with him that prompt Wataru to transform into Yattodetaman, whom Sukando can never defeat.
Sukando is also the focus of a reoccurring joke known as “Sukando’s Eccentric Oddball Corner” where Kokematsu demonstrates Sukando’s unorthodox abilities against a mustached man. Such feats, some of which occasionally factors into the plot, include drinking an entire pond to catch fish or making a headband out of his ears.
Wataru Toki (Beppe Domani in Italy) is a cowardly 15-year old boy that transform the courageous and charismatic Yattodetaman.
Just about every aspect of him is a parody of Takeshi Yoroi and his
superhero identity, Hurricane Polymar, another Tatsunoko series that
some of the Time Bokan staff had worked on prior to this show.
Along
with his girlfriend Koyomi, both serve as assistants to would be
detective Kingorou Toyama and live in the apartment building which he
manages. One day they notice a time machine appears in the attic, and
out of it appears Princess Karen, the future descendant of the two
teenagers. Seeking the Jujaku phoenix to become ruler and bring peace
the Nandara Kingdom, Wataru and Koyomi agree to help her travel through
time to find it.
After Wataru gets into a nasty encounter with Milenjo’s gang, a rival group looking for the phoenix, Karen bestows upon him the power to awaken his inner courage, and from then on he can become Yattodetaman to fight off the gang and prevent them from getting the Jujaku first.
Wataru
is normally rather meek, clumsy, and wimpy, constantly upstaged by
others around him. In spite of that, he is determined to prove himself
to everyone and at times tries to act bold to impress everyone. He wears
clothing consisting of overalls and a hat with stylized markings on
them, and their general blue colours contrast that of his girlfriend and
his heroic alter-ego, which are more of a “courageous” red. His
favorite food is noodles, in particular cup noodles, and the occasional
gyudon beef bowl dish.
He’ll
attempt to fight back against Milenjo’s gang with varying degrees of
success, sometimes with a gadget he made himself, but he is always
brushed aside by Kokematsu, Sukando, or his own carelessness. This makes
changing into Yattodetaman necessary to properly deal with them.
As
Yattodetaman, he is bold and confident, and acts without hesitation. He
frequently introduces himself by playing a flute, then proclaiming a
motto along the lines of “Surprise, peach tree, pepper tree! From the
ends of time I’ll get you! At last I came through, I’ve finally came
through, Earth’s Idol Yattodetaman!” Unlike previous Time Bokan
heroes he acts alone without a female companion, although he calls upon
Koyomi to combine his key with her keepsake lock to summon the
Daikyojin.
This
state is often triggered by praying and chanting “courage” three times.
Although it’s implied to be a physical transformation, later episodes
show that Karen calls for a special team from the Nandara Kingdom to aid
him. They engulf Wataru and themselves in a ray where time doesn’t
pass, bonk him with a hammer to put him into a trance, and have him go
through a rapid training exercise and costume switch which occurs the
span of a few seconds outside the ray.
One
of his signature weapons is the Rose Shurikens, which often hit the top
of somebody’s head or through their clothes. His other notable weapon
is the Doremi Sword, which acts more like a combination of a flute and
an extending pole that stamps a Y for Yattodetaman onto his enemies,
though it can slice through objects.
He
appears as in the Banpresto Time Bokan games, as a foe of the Dorombo
gang in the shoot-em-ups and as a NPC computer controlled racer in Bokan
GoGoGo! in opposition against Milenjo’s gang racing for a pair of
magical tulips.
While
Wataru himself isn’t present, Arashi member Kazunari Ninomiya
transforms into Yattodetaman in the animated music video for “Believe”,
complete with Rose Shurikens and Doremi Sword. In this state, Ninomiya
fights a robot mole that wrecked his grandparents’ garden, and later
faces off against the Dorombo gang with the rest of Arashi.
Operation Time Bokan 