We take a comprehensive look at the beginnings of Japan’s landmark superhero, Ultraman!
Whenever the phrase Japanese super-hero is mentioned, Ultraman is usually the first thought that comes to mind.
This kind of topic deserves a coffee table book at the very least to do it justice.
(Are you listening,Insight Editions?)
As a child, his life was changed by seeingKing Kongon the big screen.
Bunya Suzuki, a sports announcer for NHK, would shout Ultra!
each time Endo scored high marks, and thus the word became an ear meme.
Ultra Qturned out to be the most expensive television series ever produced for its time.
Rememberthat giant octopusfromKing Kong vs. Godzilla?
Okay, what about King Kong and Godzilla fromKing Kong vs. Godzilla?
Well, now they go byGoroandGomess, respectively.
Oh, and dont mistakeLitraand the accompanyingLarugeusfor tinyRodans; you might offend someone.
This would later be reimagined asBio Planet Wooin 2006, which had adistinctly Ultraman-ish flavorto it.
Because of this, there is no final concept sketch of it anywhere.
Ultramandebuted on July 17, 1996 to starstruck families across Japan.
This was a creative solution to a budgetary constraint when his original design was deemed too expensive.
In the series finale, Farewell, Ultraman (Ep.
39), an evil alien race known as the Zettons begin their invasion of planet Earth.
ItsZoffy, an Ultra of higher rank and someone you should get used to seeing around.
The English dub, however, portrays these events just a little differently.
To this day,Ultramanis as fun to watch as it is timeless.
Mostly though, each episode establishes the tropes that the rest of the Ultra Series will rely on.
This time around, Toru Narita basedUltrasevens character designon the armor of medieval knights.
This is most apparent when looking at his head and crest.
Other early concept art reveals that Seven could have been less of an alien and more of an astronaut.
He also could have been the first blue colored Ultra, thirty years ahead ofAgulfrom 1998sUltraman Gaia.
Seeing as its the final installment in theUltramanseries from the 1960s,Ultrasevenis quite literally a trip.
Ironically enough, Dans designation is Ultra Six.
The rest of the team gave the unofficial title of Ultra Seven to Ultraseven, his alter ego.
Makes sense, right?
(Does that make it a unieratops?)
This would go on to inspire a trend that Ultramen from the Heisei Era would later adopt.
What am I thinking!?
This is the show that gave usDinosaur Tank, the mobile assault vehicle thats also a dinosaur.
Hence why this episode was banned from Japan forever.
You cant find it anywhere, especially on any home video release.
(Ultrasevens Superior was never seen or heard from again, btw.)
(Believe me, thats saying a whole hell of a lot.
)you could check out all episodes ofUltrasevenstreaming on ShoutFactoryTV.
I highly suggest you do, even if youre on the fence about his character design.
Its a wild ride.
Everyone considers him a hero, including theMonster Attack Team(MAT).
But so does a new mysterious Ultra being who watches him from afar.
MAT is so astonished at his revival, they ask him to join their ranks.
Unlike his predecessors, Go doesnt need a henshin machine to transform into Ultraman.
Rather, this Ultraman calls the shots, deciding when to henshin and when not to.
If youre confused on what to call this Ultraman, dont worry.
Hes going to get his own name sometime in the 80s because of real-life licensing issues.
But well get to that in a bit.
For example, Seven made a glorified cameo in Episode 18: Ultraseven Arrives!
just to give New Ultraman the Ultra Bracelet so he could chop up Bemstar like a wheel of gouda.
Return of Ultramanis perhaps the most straightforward effort from the Showa era.
Yet the show still carries the spirit ofUltramanwith pride, and its not afraid to let it shine.
Yes,Returnis more episodic than its elders, with little to no serialization.
Although theres more action and suspense than ever, the special effects are not what they used to be.
In short:Ultraman Aceis slightly more campy and over-the-top than everything that came before it.
And, oddly enough, its kinda more enjoyable because of that.
The show will later back out of this for you guessed it blatantly sexist reasons.
Ace volunteers to be the catalyst for this, bonding his lifeforce to theirs this time around.
Thus, Hokuto and Minami can henshin into Ace by doing flying somersaults in the air together.
Im sure they rehearsed this for a few hours every night on a very large trampoline in somebodys backyard.
I mean, they just had to.
Its distinctly…ULTRA!
(Get it?)
Episode 10: Decisive Battle!
Ace vs Hideki Goh!
Ace breaks free to save the day.
In Episodes26and27, all five Brothers are turned into jade statues byHipporito.
Immediately after this, Ultraman Ace writes out one of its main characters.
Zoffy Now Arrives) or whenever Ace needed new weapons (Episodes 6 & 35).
Ultraman Tarowas named Taro for two reasons.
One, because it was the most common boys name in Japan at the time.
Guess which Ultra revives the endangered altruistic mortal this time around?
No, not Ultraman Taro.
That would be too easy.
There she has the Brothers combine their Ultra powers and channel them into Kotaro.
Thus Ultraman Taro is born.
Hes here to do whatever all his other sibilings did, but in a slightly alterered costume.
Speaking of costumes, ZATs are ridiculous.
Take the helmets for example.
Are those recycled containers of Cheer?
Im being way too kind here.
Truth is, they ugly.
Uglier thanHedorahs momma ugly.
But soon after that,Alien Emperainvaded their world with his monster troops, starting a war.
While defending their world from the space kaiju, he met Ultra Mother after being injured.
They formed a union and set up the Ultra Guard together.
This time, the five elders inhabit the bodies of five ZAT members who are assumed to be dead.
(They also start wearing these weird leather outfits.)
(Its surprisingly more emotional than it sounds.)
Tsuburaya createdLeoin hopes to win back the adult audience who was disgusted byTaros childish tone.
The Ultra series suffered the lowest ratings it had ever gotten.
I cant imagine how 8 year-old Japanese kids must have felt.
Ultraseven loses the fight, gets his leg broken in the process.
Because of Dans injury, he can no longer transform into Ultraseven.
As a mentor, Dan is hard on Gen, and I meanhard.
What happens when Gen fails?
What happens when Gen succeeds?
Yeah, not much love, is there?
It would make one hell of a Geico ad.
I get why Dan is being such a hard-ass.
But why wasnt he this way with the other Ultramen before Leo?
Why didnt he soar down and give Taro a whoopin when he messed up?
Is he still pissed that he disobeyed his orders?
Did Ultra Mom ground him or something?
(Hold on, am I actually over-thinking a tokusatsu program right now?
What am I doing with my life?)
Tsuruk leaps out and slices the mans fucking torso off in front of his children!
Then he runs off.
A sadistically lingering shot in which the boy stares at his fathers mutilated corpse in shock.
Yeah, this aintAstroboy.
This isUltraman Leo, bitch.
Not even the main characters.
If this sounds too disturbing for you,Leos probably not going to be high on your watch list.
Its hands down the grittiest, most extreme incarnation of Ultraman, perhaps out of any era.
Gone is the surreal, artsy window dressings that used to be the franchises bread and butter.
In its place is the gritty nihilism of 1970s exploitation cinema.
If I were to sum up this season in one word, it would be overkill.
You heard it here first, ladies: Leos a freak.
Most of these a new way to tie together standalone monster-of-the-week plots together in a neat thematic package.
For example, the first time this happened was during Episodes 17-21, collectively referred to as Behold!
This featured stories about vampire ladies, fish men, andsexist werewolves that turn into giant pinwheels.
So what does this series contribute to the Ultra cannon?
In fact, he has his own younger brother,Astra, who also hails from Nebula L77.
Leo was surprised when Astra showed up inEpisode 22The Leo Brothers Vs.
The Monster Brothers since he was under the impression his sibling had died when Magma destroyed their homeworld.
Hes relieved, especially after he sees that his petRonsurvived too.
They even had a team attack called the Ultra Double Finisher that worked wonders on overgrown rubber demons.
Leoalso introduces us toUltraman King, the oldest and most powerful Ultra in the entire Showa universe.
He is so legendary, in fact, that tales of his greatness are told in Leos neighboring galaxy.
He makes his first appearance inEpisode 26Ultraman King Vs.
But then Ultraman King flies down and reveals that this mad thieving Astra is really Alien Babalou in disguise.
The real Astra is frozen within a block of ice somewhere in space.
After everything wrong is made right, the Leo Brothers are officially adopted into the Ultra family.
Ultra group hug, everyone!
Terror of the Saucer Races sees major (and majorly weird) shake-ups in the Ultraverse.
A new villian is introduced,Black Directiveaka Commander Black.
Hes all about shiny glass balls and being a creeper.
Main characters are killed off, including Dan!
Its there for a reason.
When it comes down to it, theres a lot to admire aboutUltraman Leo.
Its an ambitious television series for 1974, mostly well-executed and impactful.
But its a hard watch.
Its like if aGrave of the Fireflieshad a drawn out animated series adaptation.
Ultraman Leo would, I guess, and hed be proud to do it.
Thats what makes him a hero.
(Not to be confused with Planet UB40, the home galaxy of red, red wine.)
There, he is part of theGreat Eightand is known as being its strongest member.
Move along, people.
EnterUltraman 80, a series that more or less captured the charm of the original 1966 version.
Not much happened in it).
She would assist 80 during his tougher battles during the latter half of the season.
In 1983, another screenplay was developed for a US feature film, this time by authorDon Glut.
It was calledUltraman: Hero from the Stars.
Apparently, this script had Superman references up the ying-yang to make it more appealing to a Western audience.
I wonder why it didnt get made.
Ultraman Zoffy: Ultra Warriors Vs.
In his own movie too!
Too bad its a clip show thats one big previously on… bit to showcase monster battles.
Fans were pissed by the rename, but now its gospel.
With the help of his family, Taro transforms into Super Ultra to put an end to the madness.
The Adventure Beginssticks to the classic formula that any self-respecting Ultra series should.
Theyre a team of pilots who kill at air stunt shows.
Their mentor: an old dude who runs a golf course and is secretly an agent of intergalactic peace.
They have three robot assistants of various cuteness to help them out.
Together, the Ultra Force all reside in their secret lair in Mount fucking Rushmore.
You cant get any more American than that, folks.
The voice cast forUltraman USA(as it was affectionately re-titled in Japan) was actually pretty decent.
Thats quite an impressive talent roster for a one-shot animated movie that immediately tripped and fell into obscurity.
The Adventure Beginsisnt bad at all.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of Ultramans complete history later this month.
Until then, follow Stephen Harber on Instagram and Twitter @onlywriterever.
And put some pants on for Christs sake.
