Shingo (真吾, Shingo?, My Humility) is an electricity-powered wild-boy who becomes a ninja working for the Mendō Clan as Shūtarō Mendō's personal guard.
Biography[]
Little is known of Shingo's early life. When he was a small child, he came to visit the Mendō Estate with his grandfather Saizō one day - it's unknown if Shingo was merely in his grandfather's care for the day, or if his parents had passed away and left him to the care of his grandfather. In those days, Saizo was part of a project to grow bio-electricity-producing plants on the Mendō estate, but on the day of Shingo's visit, there was a terrible accident, and he became separated from Saizo and was presumed dead.
In reality, Shingo was fine, but had become lost in the extensive and hostile jungle of mutated plants. Unwittingly abandoned by all human company, Shingo was forced to fend for himself. For ten-odd years, he brought himself up in the electric jungle, acquiring the ability to absorb electrical energy through years of living on and amongst the electrified vegetation, with his only companions being the mutant animals that came to settle in the jungle and an old television set. Shingo came to anthropomorphize this television set, believing it to be not only his only human company, but also his grandfather, presumably guided by dim memories of his real grandfather.
After growing into a teenager, one fateful day, a romantic drama on Shingo's television set inspired him to go out into the world in search of a girlfriend. As luck would have it, he stumbled across Lum, who was waiting for Ataru Moroboshi to show up and go on a date with her like he'd promised. Shingo tried to re-enact what he had seen on his television set, oblivious to Lum's angrily zapping him with her lightning in response, but was overjoyed when she seemingly changed her mind - in reality, she was hoping to use Shingo to make Ataru jealous. He took her to his home in the electric jungle, and fought off attempted rescue efforts by Ataru. Although Lum came clear about not wanting to marry him and her having used him to make Ataru jealous, Shingo refused to let her go, triggering a final battle between himself and Ataru that ended with the destruction of his television grandfather. As Ataru and his allies had deduced Shingo's origins, they led him out of the jungle and back to his real grandfather, Saizō.
The reunion was not as heartfelt as it could have been.
After some unknown period of time being trained and educated by his grandfather, Shingo was formally employed as the new ninja bodyguard for Shūtarō Mendō, who was less than impressed given Shingo's lack of deference to his employer. For his first task, Shingo was sent to investigate the doings of Shūtarō's sister, Ryōko Mendō, despite Shingo having never met Ryōko before and not knowing the first thing about her. When he did meet Ryōko, Shingo fell head over heels in love with her, triggering a fight with both Ryōko's over-protective brother Shūtarō and the ever-jealous lech Ataru Moroboshi. Ryōko permitted the whole affair, finding it hilarious fun, but eventually grew bored of it and "broke up" with Shingo.
Instructed by his grandfather Saizo to send Shūtarō a New Year's message, Shingo inadvertently sent his "master" into a fit of paranoid rage by styling his letter after one he'd seen in an old gangster movie.
On a later mission, Shūtarō sent Shingo to retrieve some notebooks he had left at Tomobiki High School one evening. On his way there, Shingo encountered and accidentally provoked a fight with Ryūnosuke Fujinami. Shingo won the battle, in part by shocking Ryūnosuke when he touched her breast. However, due to a bad historical romance that Shingo had been watching earlier, Shingo became convinced that he had to marry the girl he had fought - even though he had no idea who she was or even what she looked like, due to how dark it had been. His grandfather Saizō encouraged these delusions, giving him a hairpin and claiming that if Shingo could put it in his mystery girl's hair, then they would be married. The next morning, Shingo arrived at Class 2-4, trying to find his mystery girl and creeping out the girls to the point that they asked Ryūnosuke for protection. In the fight, Shingo realized that she was the girl he was looking for, just before he was knocked unconscious. When he came to, Shingo tried to court Ryūnosuke, who wanted nothing to do with him. A vicious fight ensued, with Shingo finally getting the upper hand by pinning Ryūnosuke to a tree. Confused by why she was rejecting him, he deliberately squeezed her breast in hopes that this would make her agree to marry him, like in the movie. Instead, it filled Ryūnosuke with a surge of rage that boosted her strength to the point she was able to break free and bludgeon him unconscious. After the fight, a bandage-wrapped Shingo vowed to "make amends" by taking her as his wife.
Appearance[]
Shingo has brown hair in the episode he first appears in, but in the OVA he has blue hair. He has a summer tan and a six pack.
- Regular Outfit
In this outfit, Shingo is shirtless and wears only yellow and black tiger-stripe underwear and a brown headband. However in the OVA, his headband is red and his underwear is changed to green and black tiger-stripe. In the manga, he also has an anklet.
- Ninja Outfit
Shingo wears the generic ninja outfit, minus the mask. However, instead of it being white or black, it is blue.
Personality[]
Shingo is fundamentally a friendly enough person, and is capable of being remarkably patient and sacrificing for somebody he cares about. A would-be romantic at heart, his upbringing has sadly left him with some major personality faults that alienate would-be girlfriends.
Shingo is enormously naive, due to having been brought up on old Japanese television broadcasts as his only human contact during his formative years. Whilst he becomes slightly less clueless after being reintroduced to his real grandfather, Saizō, he still has a bad tendency to mistake movies and television shows for real life and base his behavior off of things he sees in them, such as when he decides that touching Ryūnosuke Fujinami on the breast means they "have" to get married.
Shingo is determined at best, and stubborn at worst, showing his worst behavior when it comes to romance; Shingo doesn't know how to take "no" for an answer, and once he decides he likes a girl, it takes a tremendous effort (and considerable violence) to force him to give up on her.
Lastly, due to his isolated upbringing, Shingo has no real sense of deference; although he doesn't hate his assigned master, Shūtarō Mendō, he also doesn't really respect him, and nor does he have any personal interest in the tasks he assigns Shingo. This infuriates Shūtarō; that his supposed "ninja bodyguard" would rather laze around watching television than work for him is bad enough, but Shingo will openly mock or even fight with Shūtarō.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Electrical Immunity: Due to his childhood in the Electric Jungle, Shingo has become immune to electricity of even the most intense voltage.
- Electric-Powered Physique: Shingo possesses superhuman levels of strength, speed and stamina, fueled by his ability to absorb electricity. If Shingo is drained of his electrical energies, he becomes weak and listless, and he can likewise supercharge his physical attributes by absorbing higher levels of electricity.
- Jungle Runner: Shingo's life in the Electric Jungle has made him incredibly fast and agile. He has no fear of heights, and is capable of moving at high speeds on narrow supports, climbing rapidly, and leaping tremendous distances.
- Master of the Electric Jungle: Due to having spent his entire life in the Electric Jungle, Shingo knows its terrain in and out, and is able to manipulate its environmental features and its interlocking bio-electric power grid to his advantage by creating traps and improvised weaponry.
- Ninjitsu Training: After reuniting with his grandfather Saizō, Shingo receives the family training in ninjitsu. Combined with his wilderness-trained mobility skills and electricity-powered physique, Shingo is highly stealthy and mobile.
- Throwing Weapon Proficiency: Hunting for food and Saizō's training has made Shingo highly adept with throwing weapons.
Appellations[]
| Name | What They Call Shingo | What Shingo Calls Them |
|---|---|---|
| Ataru Moroboshi | unknown | unknown |
| Shūtarō Mendō | Shingo | Master or Waka |
| Lum | Darling (temporarily) | Wife |
| Ryōko Mendō | Shingo-Sama | Ryōko-Dono (Master Ryōko) |
| Saizo | Shingo | Grandfather |
Trivia[]
- He and Kurama share the similar trait of trying to find a companion after meeting one of the two main characters.
- His seiyu voices Kosaku Hatanaka of One Pound Gospel and Shikon no Tama in Inuyasha, another series by Rumiko Takahashi.
Gallery[]
Media Appearances[]
Manga
- Chapters 301-304 (300-303 in wideban)
- Chapters 309-310
- Chapter 313
- Chapters 323-324
Anime
- 1981
- Episode 192
- Urusei Yatsura: The Final Chapter
- The Electric Household Guard (OVA)
- Terror of the Girly-eyes Measles (OVA)
- Urusei Yatsura: Always My Darling
- 2022