A new Ultraman trailer released.
The latest preview for the second season of the popular CG anime introduces the character of Maya, a female Wadoran alien. While the new trailer doesn't state many concrete details about the character, she is shown walking alongside Seiji Hokuto, the series' third Ultraman, and doesn't appear to be an outright villain. It is unknown if she shares any connections or was inspired by past Ultraman characters to carry the name "Maya;" characters with that name previously appeared in Ultraseven, Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Orb, and were all aliens who all went undercover as human women in order to live on Earth.
Ayane Sakura, who anime fans will probably recognize as the voice of the gravity-defying Ochaco Urakawa in My Hero Academia, will portray the new alien character. Sakura is the latest new addition to the cast for Season 2, which will also include veteran voice actors Junichi Sawabe (Fate/stay Night, Jujutsu Kaisen) as Alien Pedanto and Maaya Sakamoto (Vision of Escaflowne,) as Izumi, a reporter who becomes Kotaro's new love interest.
The second season of Ultraman is scheduled to premiere exclusively on Netflix on April 14. The season will be six episodes long. In addition to the new alien characters, the new season will add some new heroes to the lineup in order to recreate the classic Six Ultra Brothers team up that appeared in the classic live-action shows.
The anime is based on a 2011 manga written by Eiichi Shimizu and drawn by Tomohiro Shimoguchi. The series tells the story of Shinjiro Hayata, the son of original Ultraman protagonist Shin Hayata, and serves as a direct sequel to the classic 1966 live-action series. While it continues the story of the original show, it is set in a different continuity that ignores the events of all of the subsequent sequel series and spinoffs in the franchise. The anime adaptation was produced by Ghost in the Shell's Production IG and Sola Digital Arts, a studio specializing in CG animation. Production on the series is lead by directors Kenji Kamiya and Shinji Aramaki, a pair of frequent collaborators who are best known for their work on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and who also recently teamed up to helm the new Blade Runner animated series, Black Lotus, which aired on Adult Swim and Crunchyroll this past fall.
Shimizu and Shimoguchi's original manga is available in English from VIZ Media. The first season of the anime is still available for streaming on Netflix.
Source: YouTube
