Shin Ultraman revealed a new look at its cast and its titular hero.
Studio Khara, the production company that is best known for creating the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, has released new posters for its upcoming live-action tokusatsu (masked hero) reboot, Shin Ultraman. The posters offer a better look at the movie's Ultraman costume, which is very faithful modernization of the Giant of Light's look from the original 1966 series. The images also show off the movie's cast, which includes Takumi Saitoh, who previously starred in the live-action adaptations of 20th Century Boys and Space Battleship Yamato, and actor and model Masaki Nagasawa, who kaiju fans may remember from her appearance in 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars.
The new movie is the second Khara project to carry the "Shin" designation, the first of which was 2017's critically acclaimed Shin Godzilla, which similarly rebooted and reimagined Toho's iconic King of the Monsters. Shin Godzilla was written and co-directed by Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno, who is returning to write and produce Shin Ultraman. The new take on the classic hero is being helmed by frequent Anno collaborator Shinji Higuchi, who also worked on the Evangelion series and previously directed the live-action adaptations of Attack on Titan.
Shin Ultraman is scheduled to premiere in Japanese theaters on May 13. Details about the film's release outside of Japan have yet to be announced.
The new season of the animated Ultraman series has been confirmed for a Western release, however, and is scheduled to premiere on Netflix on April 14. The second season of Production IG and Sola Digital Arts' acclaimed CG animated series will introduce several new Ultramen to the show's continuity, recreating the Six Ultra Brothers team-up from the classic live-action shows. The anime is based on a manga by written by Eiichi Shimizu and drawn by Tomohiro Shimoguchi, which began publication in 2011 and is still on-going. The series serves as a sequel to the original 1966 tokusatsu series but ignores the events of all of its subsequent sequels, and instead concentrates on Shinjiro Hayata, the son of original Ultraman protagonist Shin Hayata.
Hideaki Anno, meanwhile, is currently busy directing the third "Shin" movie, Shin Kamen Rider. The reboot of Toei's beloved drop-kicking and motorcycle riding hero is scheduled to premiere in Japan in 2023. A crossover promotion between the three "Shin" movies and Anno's own Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, entitled the "Shin Japan Heroes Universe," was revealed last February. The crossover project will produce special events and merchandise based around the four iconic franchises that Anno and Khara have worked on.
Source: Shin Ultraman Official Website
