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Conceived by Tsuburaya Productions - the production company founded by Eiji Tsuburaya, the master of special effects on Toho’s Godzilla film series - the original ULTRAMAN (Urutoraman) first broadcast from July 17th 1966 until April 9th 1967 on TBS. Throughout 39 exciting episodes, audiences nationwide watched the superhero Ultraman defend the Earth from a plethora of giant monsters. ULTRAMAN proved so successful that after 45 years and over 30 spin-offs and feature films, Ultraman is continuing to thrive, ingraining itself in Japanese popular culture shoulder-to-shoulder with Godzilla and other famous icons. In March 2011, immediately following the earthquake disaster, Tsuburaya Productions established the Ultraman Foundation. Through the support of Tsuburaya`s creative staff and their extensive back-catalog of famous heroes, the charity is helping to raise money for children directly affected by the events of March 11th, and spreading a message of hope to children throughout Japan in the midst of the Fukushima nuclear crisis. Among the many events and materials created for the Ultraman Foundation was a new illustrated book entitled ULTRAMAN BEGINS 2011: THE START OF A NEW BATTLE (Ultraman Begins 2011 Aratana Tatakai-no Hajimari.) Distributed exclusively at the Comiket80 comic book fair in Tokyo this August, with all proceeds going to the Ultraman Foundation, the book was created by Hero`s Ltd., a new joint venture created by Tsuburaya`s parent company Fields Corporation and the famous publisher Shogakukan.

Takeshi Yagi, a former director and producer on the Ultraman TV series, was one of the people Hero`s Ltd personally requested to write ULTRAMAN BEGINS 2011. "I empathized with the fact that this was a charity project for the earthquake disaster, plus I found the concept of the book itself very interesting," Mr. Yagi tells Gaijin Channel.com. "I just told them, "Of course!" I had decided immediately that I was going to be involved in this." Mr. Yagi joined Tsuburaya Productions in the early 1990s after graduating from Waseda University, making his directorial debut in 1996 with the direct-to-video series MOON SPIRAL (Muun Supairaru). He directed his first Ultraman episode in 1999 for the series ULTRAMAN GAIA (Urutoraman Gaia), continuing to direct for subsequent series before being promoted to showrunner and executive producer for 2005`s hit series ULTRAMAN MAX (Urutoraman Makkusu) and 2007`s late night mini-series ULTRASEVEN X (Urutorasebun Ekkusu). His first feature film and final production for Tsuburaya, GREAT DECISIVE BATTLE! THE SUPER 8 ULTRA BROTHERS (Daikessen! Chou Urutora 8 Kyoudai), was released to theaters nationwide in Japan on September 13th 2008, and is to-date the most successful Ultraman feature in the franchise`s 45 year history, taking over 800 million yen at the box office.

For Mr. Yagi, ULTRAMAN BEGINS 2011 was his first venture back into the world of Ultraman since his movie was released three years ago, and the return was most natural. "I wasn`t really aware that I had "returned" [in that sense], it was just so much fun to be able to write an original story for Ultraman, which I love so much." In a country that now seems to yearn for a superhero, Gaijin Channel.com asked Mr. Yagi what he believes Ultraman means to the Japanese people today. "Although the concepts and themes of Ultraman have become more complex and varied over its 45 year history," Mr. Yagi explains, "the essential attribute of Ultraman is "Tariki-Hongan" ("relying on others"), which has always been a constant. So for the Japanese people after the earthquake disaster, who now have increasing need to rely upon each other, Ultraman is possibly the ideal being." "This superhero came from the stars with the spirit of self-sacrifice to help humanity, but it doesn`t stop at this level. I think the real story is that humanity has been entrusted [by Ultraman] and must now seize their own future. This is certainly true of ULTRAMAN, ULTRA SEVEN (Urutorasebun, 1967) and the series I created, ULTRAMAN MAX." "Human beings are not superheroes, so they have no choice but to seize the future through their own power. I believe science will be what leads humanity into the future, which is why I think Ultraman should appeal to Japan following the earthquake disaster. So I`ve now written the story "Beyond The Sky" (Sora-no Mukou) [for ULTRAMAN BEGINS 2011]."

The history of the world presented in ULTRAMAN BEGINS 2011 is identical to that of our own, except it was visited by Ultraman 50 years ago as monsters suddenly appeared. The new story explores the potential changes such events could have made to our world. "This is the story of how the humans of this parallel world have grown due to their encounter with Ultraman," Mr. Yagi explains to us. "It`s the future we might have had. In this world, as a result of their battles with alien beings, all cross-national hostilities have ceased to be. There is a deeper awareness of nature and the Earth, the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power has also been abolished, and now human beings, using only natural energies, are no longer living with wealth as their priority. And humanity, through their own intelligence, have a heightened scientific understanding, and are venturing off into space. This is all sci-fi, but Ultraman is just that - sci-fi, fiction, movies." Mr. Yagi concludes, "What Ultraman must show Japan following the earthquake disaster, and through this one possible future, is how the Japanese people (and all of humanity) grow due to their encounter with Ultraman. I believe this is where the potential to discover our own future is born."

To find out more about the Ultraman Foundation and their work to aid children affected by the March 11th disaster, please click on the banner below to visit their official English homepage: