More Ultraman goodness is coming to North America thanks to our friends at Mill Creek Entertainment, with two recent announcements: the web series Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga and The Return of Ultraman series.
Return of Ultraman will be released on February 25, 2020 with a suggested retail price tag of 49.89, a steel book option for this series will be available as well. Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga will retail for $19.99 and will also include Ultra Fight Orb as well.
Our friends at MillCreekEnt just announced more Ultraman series Blu-Rays will be coming stateside following the release of Ultra Q, Ultraman, and Ultra Seven in the coming months.
Joining alongside the aforementioned Ultra series we have Blu-Ray sets for Ultraman Geed and Ultraman Orb! Both will be released sometime November 2019 and will contain movies for both series.
In addition, more upcoming releases for 2020 were announced. That roadmap is as follows:
Spring 2020:
Summer 2020:
No further release info was given at the time of this writing, and it is unclear which of the aforementioned series will be receiving Steelbooks if any but we’ll be sure to update you as soon as more info becomes available.
The Ultraman S.H. Figuarts range has enjoyed a wide range of aliens and kaiju from both the original series and Ultraseven, but when the line moved onto Return of Ultraman last year things seemed to be awfully quiet in comparison. However fans of the adventures of Ultraman Jack can now rejoice, as Tamashii Nations reveal S.H. Figuarts Black King.
Appearing in episodes 37 and 38, a pivotal two-part story in the series and widely regarded as one of the best classic Ultra stories, Black King is the kaiju bodyguard of Alien Nackle. The S.H. Figuarts version will be released as a Tamashii web exclusive in July, with a price tag of 7560 yen. Preorders will open on February 16th.
Are you excited for more classic Ultra kaiju releases? Does this mean an S.H. Figuarts Alien Nackle could be on the way? Check out the full range of images and discuss this figure after the jump!
“Reddo Fight!”
In 1972, Tsuburaya Productions commissioned a new spin-off from their popular Ultra Series. Curious, quirky, and quite violent, Redman joined the Nippon TV Ohayo! Kodomo variety show. Serialized in 138 5-minute episodes, Redman faced off against countless Kaiju from across the various Ultra series which had aired by this time. Mercilessly, Redman would dispatch these Kaiju with little to no context outside of what magazine text stories and interviews could provide.
Flash forward to 2018, the superstar creative team of Matt Frank & Goncalo Lopes have resurrected this red warrior for a brand new series of Graphic Novels. The first of which, Redman: The Kaiju Hunter Volume 1, was recently released in July. Taking this obscure but classic character and helping to re-imagine his backstory as so much more than it was previously, Frank & Lopes have crafted a modern classic.
Here at TokuNation we were fortunate enough to be provided a promotional copy of Volume 1 for review. Click “Discuss on the TokuNation Forums” at the bottom of this post and you can read our full review of Redman: The Kaiju Hunter! Let us know what you think of the series if you’ve had a chance to read it as well!
Two Giant Monsters Attack Tokyo!
Bandai Tamashii Nations continue their journey into The Return of Ultraman with the release of S.H. Figuarts Gudon! Appearing in episodes 5 and 6 of the 1971 series, Gudon is a prehistoric kaiju that preyed upon Twin Tail. When a Twin Tail egg was discovered and hatched in modern day, a Gudon also appeared to hunt its eternal rival – prompting a three way battle between the two monsters and Ultraman Jack.
S.H. Figuarts Gudon is a Tamashii web exclusive due for release in December, at the price of 7560 yen. It comes with a single accessory – an alternate damaged head for the soon-to-be-released S.H. Figuarts Twin Tail figure.
Will you be adding this ancient monster to your collection? Check out the images and let us know after the jump!
Rejoice Ultra fans!
Today is a landmark day in tokusatsu history as Tsuburaya Productions Co. Ltd announced their victory in US courts against UM Corporation (aka Chaiyo) for the international rights to the first six instalments in the Ultra Series. That’s right everyone, it’s been a long battle but Ultra Q, Ultraman, Ultra Seven, Return of Ultraman, Ultraman Ace and Ultraman Taro are finally home.
For those unaware the international rights for these six series have been in question for several years, after Chaiyo Productions founder Sompote Saengduenchai claimed that in 1976 Eiji Tsuburaya‘s son Noboru (who died in 1995) had provided him with a contract giving him rights to everything related to Ultraman outside Japanese territories, in exchange for a monetary loan. The legitimacy of the document was extremely questionable, however Japanese and Thai courts accepted this contract as real and binding due to supposed appearance of Noboru Tsuburaya’s hanko (signature stamp) in the document.
Headway was finally made November last year when a Californian jury deemed the document to be a fake and ruled in favour of Tsuburaya, but it isn’t until today that we have confirmation that the company’s long ordeal is finally over.
So what does this mean for the series in question? Will they be joining the rest of the Ultraman backcatalogue on Crunchyroll? New home releases with better quality masters? Who knows, but with Tsuburaya continuously looking to promote Ultraman on a worldwide scale we’ll find out soon enough.