#choichiro hikari

[chacerider]

Oh hey, @ultra-zine's digital PDFs are now up for general sale! Please observe an example of some of my art which you can find inside/upon it, and consider buying a copy - all proceeds go to charity! ✨

(Honestly, there is so much more and so much better art in there, everyone truly killed it this year and it was such an honor and a blast to be a part of Shuwatch once again!)

[ask-cloverfield]

[lowder-the-koopa]

"There is darkness because there is light. There is light because there is darkness."―Father of Ultra to Alien Empera, "Words from the Heart -Final Trilogy III-"

"I have many names, on many different planets. For example... Ultraman King. That is what the humans call me."―Ultraman King to Ultraman Hikari, Ultraman Mebius Gaiden: Hikari Saga

"Hikari, I believe now you understand why you have to keep our secret to the end?" "Yes: we should not depend upon others, but to trust ourselves, out potential power." "Correct, this is the very power to keep peace."―Joneus and Hikari regards to why they keep their secret till the very end, To The Ultra Star! Conclusion: Towards Peace and Victory

"We'll save it [the world] or die trying. It's why we were given a second chance."―Chuck Gavin, Ultraman: The Adventure Begins

"Terrific, tell him the Ultra Force says 'Hi'."―Scott Masterson, Ultraman: The Adventure Begins

"Oh well, boys will be boys, right Chuck?"―Beth O'Brian, Ultraman: The Adventure Begins

Here is part 2 to all of the Showa Ultras. I'm probably gonna do the Heisei Ultras after doing the first 2 parts of the Lowder-verse

[macmanx]

The Terrestrial Defense Force forms a Science Guard Party in order to investigate the cause of mysterious phenomena that continue to happen around the world. Choichiro Hikari, chosen for the Science Guard, is on his way back from Space Station EGG 3 when he encounters a mysterious red light. Inside the light he merges with a superman who calls himself "Ultraman" but Hikari tells himself that the experience is just a dream, and continues towards Earth.

[starry-beetle]

I can finally post my piece for the @ultra-zine vol 2!!! We raised over 1kUSD for charity, and everyone's art was amazing! The mods did so much work for so long, thank you for having me!!! AMIA IS BIG HERE BECAUSE I WANTED HER TO BE 😤

you can still buy a digital copy here on gumroad! https://ultrazine.gumroad.com/#tmhhU

[brokehorrorfan]

The Ultraman will be released on DVD on September 14 via Mill Creek Entertainment. It’s the eighth installment in Tsuburaya Productions’ long-running Ultra franchise.

The animated series aired in Japan for 50 episodes from 1979 to 1980. Kei Tomiyama, Masatô Ibu, Sumi Shimamoto, and Eiji Kanie star. Nippon Sunrise (Mobile Suit Gundam) handled the animation.

Due to the way the series was produced and archived, it is only available in standard definition. No special features are included.

Strange glowing letters of an unknown language appear in the skies. Choichiro Hikari of the Science Guard Agency meets Ultraman Joneus and agrees to join forces to save Earth from the great danger ahead.

Pre-order The Ultraman from Amazon.

[ljaesch]

Mill Creek Entertainment to Release The Ultraman Anime in September 2021

Mill Creek Entertainment to Release The Ultraman Anime in September 2021

Mill Creek Entertainment has announced that it will release the 1979 The Ultraman anime series on DVD on September 14, 2021, alongside a release of the 1980 Ultraman 80 live-action series on DVD. The story of the series is described as: In the 21st century, various mysterious events occur on Earth, causing monsters to appear all of a sudden. EGG3 officer Choichiro Hikari was scouted to join the…

[himitsusentaiblog]

Tokusatsu Series with Anime Adaptations (Part 1)

There has been a trend recently of turning anime into live action films.  The most prominent of these is most likely the American Ghost in the Shell film though in Japan, the trend has been going on for quite some time. There have been adaptations of Space Battleship Yamato, Yatterman, Ruroni Kenshin and Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman plus there are upcoming versions of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and Fullmetal Alchemist. 

However, this adaptation idea goes both ways and sometimes, there are anime adaptation of live-action properties. Some of these stick very close to the original version while others veer of wildly from their tokusatsu originals.  Here are just a few of them.  This is by no means a comprehensive list, just a taste of what is out there.

Giant Robo

Giant Robo is based on a manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama and originally appeared in live-action form in 1967, produced by Toei.  It followed the adventures of the titular robot and his controller, a young boy named Daisaku Kusama as they help the secret organization Unicorn battle the interstellar terrorist organization Big Fire. The live action version was adapted for English and released as Johnny Socko and his Flying Robot. 

In the early 1990s, it was decided that an anime adaption entitled Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still would not only be about the titular mechanoid but incorporate aspects of all of mangaka Yokoyama’s works.  This time Daisaku and Robo work with the Experts of Justice, a group of super powered heroes fighting once again against the evil of Big Fire and their inner circle of powered agents, the Magnificent Ten.

It’s a great anime, directed with style and substance by Yasuhiro Imagawa (who would later direct Mobile Fighter G Gundam) and has some very memorable characters (especially Experts of Justice agent Ginrei), a fantastic retro-futuristic settings as well as dynamic and exciting action sequences.  I highly recommend it to anyone, even those utterly unfamiliar with the live action version.

Android Kikaider

Jinzo Ninger Kikaider (人造人間キカイダー) was a tokusatsu series created by Shotaro Ishinomori that started in 1972. It was accompanied by a manga from the legendary author being publish concurrently with the TV version in the pages of Weekly Shonen Sunday. The series follows the adventures of Jiro, an android created by the kind Dr, Konmyoji who opposes the evil organization DARK and its Master, Professor Gill.  Gill sends out evil androids each week with plans to conquer Japan and capture or kill Jiro. When things get tough, Jiro can transform into his stronger form, the android hero Kikaider!

In 2000, an anime version of the series, much more faithful to the manga than the live-action version was released. It was entirely Android Kikaider: The Animation and was followed by a 4 episode sequel entitled Android Kikaider 01: The Animation which was an anime version of the sequel to the tokusatsu series of the same name. This version was dubbed into English and aired on Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim programming block. 

Of special note was a one shot OVA unreleased in the US entitled The boy with the Guitar: Kikaider vs Inazuman which created and anime crossover between Ishinomori’s live-action heroes Kikaider and Inazuman.

Ultraman

This one might be cheating a little but there is no way I could mention anime adaptations of Tokusatsu shows without talking about the anime versions of Tsuburaya’s classic Ultraman series. The thing is, the various anime versions are not straight adaptations but sequels, series that happen in the same universe or comedic spin-offs of the original.

For example, 1979′s The Ultraman (ザ☆ウルトラマン) is actually the 8th entry in the Ultraman franchise, following 1974′s Ultraman Leo. As such, it is set in the same universe as the other Ultra series but introduces a brand new hero, Ultraman Joneus (or Ultraman Jonias) who is also referred to as Ultraman Joe. Like Leo before him, Joneus does not hail from the Land of Light in Nebula M78 but from another planet, U40. He works in his human form of Choichiro Hikari with the Scientific Defense Guard to protect Earth from aliens and monsters.  The series was co-produced by Tsuburays Productions and the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). It was animated not by Tsuburaya themselves but by Nippon Sunrise, who would find fame as the animators of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise that started the same year.

It was released on video in the US as Ultraman II: The Further Adventures of Ultraman which included only a dub of the first four episodes.  The name were altered for the Americanized version and episodes 3 and 4 were swapped in order.

In 1987 there was another animated Ultraman, this time a co-production between Tsuburaya Productions and American animated studio Hanna-Barbera entitles Ultraman: The Adventure Begins or, in Japan, Ultraman USA.

This series followed the adventures of three American stunt pilots who crash after a sudden, mysterious flash of light but emerge from the wreckage unscathed. They are later told they have become merged with a trio of heroes from the planet Altara in Nebula M78 and tasked with captured monsters who escaped from an offworld prison planet. The three, headquartered out of Mount Rushmore, call themselves collectively the Ultra Force and are made up of:

Ultraman Scott (Scott Masterson) Ultraman Chuck (Chuck Gavin) Ultrawoman Beth (Beth O'Brien)

Though the series was co-produced in the USA, these Ultra Heroes are an official part of the series’ canon, appearing in Live Action form twice; once in the Shinseiki Ultraman Densetsu featurette and most recently in 2009′s  Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend The Movie.

The film was released in the US by Ultra Action Video and L.A. Hero but has since gone out of print and is no longer available.  It has also never been re-released on any modern video format and so lingers in the realm of VHS only lost releases.

There have been other animated Ultraman productions and spin-offs including the cat version Ultranyan:

As well as last year’s super deformed series focusing on girls who have inherited the souls of past Ultra Monsters: Kaiju Girls:

This is only the first part of what may end up being a lengthy series about anime adaptations of tokusatsu.  Thank you to @tokugami for the idea!

[yuican48]

Ultra Hero Fact File 12: Ultraman Joneus In U40 space, Science Guard Member Hikari Choichiro found himself mysteriously bonded with a life form from another world. Using the Beam Flasher, Hikari took the form of the being, called Ultraman by the people of earth, and was able to grow to giant size to defend earth from Kaiju attacks. After several months of battles, Hikari found himself on a strange world, surrounded by apparent humans dressed in Greek stylings and surrounded by buildings that seemed the same. He learnt then that he was on the Planet U40, and Ultraman was but one of many people with the ability to take that form, a 28,000 year old warrior named Joneus. They continued to fight together, defeating enemies using the Planium Ray or the Astro Beam, among others. After their final battle with the Heller Army, Joneus separated from Hikari and the two met face to face for the first time, before Joneus returned home to U40 with his sister. At some point Joneus was in the M78 universe, and assisted the 8 Ultra Brothers, the Mother and Father of Ultra and Ultraman King in fighting Kaiju.

[ask-cloverfield]

I am exercising so much self-control right now

[ask-cloverfield]