Hiroto Ban (バン・ヒロト Ban Hiroto) was a member of the Spacecraft Arandas along with his father Tetsuro Ban, Mirai Hibino's exact look-alike. He is the person Ultraman Mebius based his human form's (Mirai) apperance on.
History
He was born on Mars and had never been to Earth. One day his father asked him to join him on a mission to Earth, an offer which he accepted. He was bringing his mother's ashes home to Earth. Along the way, the ship encountered distress. Hiroto sacrificed himself to save the ship and the rest of the crew. When Ultraman Mebius was first coming to the Earth, Mebius tried to rescue him but failed as the Ultra zone closed on him before he could rescue Hiroto. He entered the Ultra Zone where he was killed before he could reach Earth. After saving his father, Mebius used the form of him as his human guise to honor Hiroto's heroism. A few days later he appeared at the Ban residence and showed his body to the father of Hiroto Ban, saying he wanted to honor his bravery but captain Tetsuro simply told him to leave, for his appearance grieved the widower. When Sakomizu came and picked him up, the captain gave Mebius his blessing to use his son's form, the phrase he used was what Mebius used to name himself. The captain also gives Mebius his full name as Mirai Hibino (日々の未来, Hibi no Mirai). His wish was for Mirai to live his future life in happiness with his friends as Hiroto once wished before he died in space. "Mirai Hibino" iliterally means future days as Tetsuro wished for Mirai's future days to be happy in his son's place.
Trivia
- Hiroto Ban was portrayed by Shunji Igarashi - the actor who also played Mirai Hibino and also was the voice actor for Ultraman Mebius at that time.
- This was the other role which Shunji Igarashi played aside from Mirai Hibino.
- Hiroto's original fate was to have been rescued by Mother of Ultra from the Ultra Zone.