Keiichi
Leader of the "Sea Ranger." The Sea Rangers are a group of the island's young people which came up with these mascot superhero characters after trying to think of a way to better promote Izena in a way that would be entertaining and memorable for everyone involved. The characters are all named after marine life found near Izena. Fish for them at many of the island's annual events!

Keiichi is a planner, scenario writer, director, and performance instructor for the Sea Rangers. A longtime fan of action star Jackie Chan, Keiichi is a master of the back handspring, back flip, and other such acrobatics. He has always been fond of choreographing and performing his own stunts. Although he left Izena to go to high school and worked in Naha (a capital city of Okinawa) for a while after graduation, he always felt that as the eldest son it would be his duty to come back to the island someday. He formed the Sea Rangers in 2004 shortly after returning to the island and being asked by a former schoolmate to help create a character show. Developing characters for the skits often requires him to do research about marine life (including some dangerous ones), which he says is fun because he gets to learn things he didn't know before. He hopes that by passing on this new knowledge to local children as well as to outside visitors, he and the other Sea Rangers can get them to become more aware of the value of nature.
 
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I became a Sea Ranger in the summer, two years ago. There was a big festival on the island for which it was decided to have a show featuring superheroes, and my senpai two years older than me asked me to create original characters for it. I happened to have experience in superhero character shows, so I decided to give it a shot.

The greatest thing about being a sea ranger is being liked not only by little kids, but having an appeal to older men and women as well. We've created stories in which coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish are the bad guys. We incorporate our knowledge of the sea into our shows.

There are lots of things I want to try, and my dream is to make a Sea Ranger movie. Also, another thing I want to do on the island is to help children dream. Just like I've been able to be a Sea Ranger, this is an island where we have a lot of different opportunities. I want to let children know that anything is possible, and to provide them with an environment in which they can grow.

Q. How many Sea Rangers are there in total?
About ten. The heroes are all named after fish that live in the ocean around the island. There's Red Miibai. Miibai is a type of fish in the local Izena dialect. Then there's Black Mozuku Seaweed. Green Aasaa (Aasaa is a kind of seawead). Then there's White Coral. (Others: (Laughing) "White coral are dead.") There's also Pink Hoomii. Hoomii are shells that cling to the rocks. Yellow Abasaa. Abasaa are balloonfish. And then there's a group of bad guys, the crown-of-thorns starfish, of which there are four, including myself. And, uh, two of them took the day off because they've got stomachaches. Ouch (laughing). In addition, a couple of people work on sound effects.
Q. We hear you like Jackie Chan. What do you like about him?
It all started when I saw an acrobatic movie when I was six or seven. He was doing back handsprings and I was just in awe of all the action. I first became enamored of Jackie Chan, then got into kung fu action, and then became interested in the content of the movies Chan makes.
Q. Can you do any of Jackie Chan's acrobatic moves?
Well, just a little bit.
Q. You seem to be doing a lot of acrobatic action moves, but have you ever hurt yourself and wanted to quit?
I do get injured a lot. I actually have a sprained ankle right now. And I have a lot of bruises around my elbows, too (laughing).