1966’s ULTRAMAN Spawned Many Sequels that American Viewers Never Knew About

The original Ultraman. Photo courtesy of Tsuburaya Productions. © TSUBURAYA PRODUCTIONS

In 1966 the Japanese tokusatsu series ULTRAMAN premiered in Japan and soon afterward was broadcasted on television in the USA. It was so popular in the United States that it ran even into the 1980s. Yet, it may come as a surprise to the general American audience that ULTRAMAN has multiple sequels and spin-offs that continue even today. In the show, the Science Patrol tries to protect the earth from alien monsters. One of them, Hayata, can secretly transform into a huge alien Ultraman to help the Patrol in the most difficult situations. The first show in the Ultra series was ULTRA Q, which premiered in January 1966, and was dubbed in English but never reached the United States because it was black and white and the US stations chose the colored ULTRAMAN instead. Even though both were popular in Japan, ULTRAMAN was the one that inspired many sequels. Despite ULTRAMAN being popular in the United States, the distributors did not try to import the sequels too. The next series to be shown in the mainland US would be be 1990`s ULTRAMAN: TOWARDS THE FUTURE. It was a Japanese- Australian co-production and was aired in the United States in 1992 but only had 13 episodes. A lot of the shows eventually made it to the US, mostly with subtitles. Fans can now get some shows from the Ultra series on Amazon. Mill Creek Entertainment has released ULTRA Q, ULTRAMAN, and several other series on Blu-ray. Ultraman’s Likeable Character Could be a Big Hit in Gaming Industry Ultraman could be an amazing character for a video game or iGaming platforms. Ultraman is a very popular hero. What is a better test for the popularity of any character than time? Ultraman has been around since the 1960s, every generation since then has its own Ultraman. The character is not just beloved by multiple generations, but it is also universally popular. Even though the birthplace of Ultraman is Japan, the character was very popular in the United States throughout the 60s and 70s and is gaining popularity again. Ultraman is also unique in that the world of Ultraman is a different universe in itself. The online casino industry is rapidly growing around the world. Implementing movies or book characters always grows the interest in iGaming space. Best online casino platforms always pay big attention to adapting the latest heroes and characters into iGaming. It’s a double win because they add new characters into the gaming world while interest in iGaming is growing. Ultraman would be a great addition as iGaming has already seen massive growth in gamers after adapting the Dark Knight, Superman, X-Men, etc. Ultraman has a different fanbase and it’s huge. Especially when Ultraman is a very much likable character that could be a big bonus for online casinos.

ULTRAMAN ORB: THE MOVIE ULTRAMAN ORB: THE MOVIE – LET ME BORROW THE POWER OF BONDS! was released in 2017 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ultraseven. The movie is the adaptation of the 2016 ULTRAMAN ORB TV show. Hideo Ishiguro performed the part of Gai Kurenai. K?ichi Yamadera and members of the Japanese comedic trio Jungle Pocket did voiceover work for the movie. Ultraman Zero, Ginga, Victory, and X were voiced by the actors whose voices were originally used for these characters. The movie`s final theme "Two as One" was performed by Da-ice and was included in their album Next Phase. Taiki Kudo and Sota Hanamura, two from the five members of the group, became guest voice actors of the movie. The SSP, Something Search People, tries to find and somehow prove the existence of Kaiju. Naomi Yumeno, performed by Miyabi Matsuura, is the head of the SSP. The cameraperson of the group is Jetta Hayami, performed by Naota Takahashi, and the technical support and the scientist of the group is Shin Matsudo, performed by Hiroaki Nerio. Shin creates technology that the SSP uses to track down kaiju. During this adventure, they meet Gai Kurenai who can transform into Ultraman Orb with the help of the Orb Ring. The antagonist Juggler, performed by Takaya Aoyagi, also uses an Orb Ring. But with it, he raises kaiju and tries to create chaos and destruction on the earth. Gai’s leather jacket was available for purchase as a souvenir from the movie. The director of the movie, Kiyotaka Taguchi, revealed plans for 10 chapters of spin-offs and series of ULTRAMAN ORB.