Wait what?! Bet no one expected this, right? After all, this film came out 8 years ago...
So why did we do this? Well, it's Ultraman's 50th anniversary year this year. (Yes, Ultraman's older than Super Sentai and Kamen Rider.) Additionally, it's Ultraman Tiga's 20th anniversary year. This movie is really an Ultraman Tiga movie, hence we thought it appropriate to do this.
Special thanks to DaVinci030 who did a good amount of the technical heavy-lifting (typesetting, encoding), and even for sourcing out a work raw for us to work on it!
DV030 edit: Enjoy the MV that includes the instrumental audio track (for those who wanted to sing).
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On to the actual film. This film was really nostalgic for me. The very first Ultraman I watched was Tiga, so seeing Nagano Hiroshi transform into Tiga again made me tear a little. That was easily my favorite scene in the entire movie - Daigo realizing who he was, and subsequently transforming into Tiga.
The message of this movie was pretty clear - never give up on your dreams, even when things seem bad. As a show targeted at kids, I think they conveyed it simply, but at the same time, there was an amount of emotional depth that was in the film as well. I think this is what current Ultraman series lack.
I also liked how they inserted scenes from the Ultraman Mebius movie into this movie as well. If you haven't watched that, we have it subbed too! Go watch it already!
It was also rather amazing to see so many of the old Ultraman cast members back! We had obvious ones, such as the love interests of the main characters (Rena, Ryo, Akko, Akiko, Aki, Anne, Yuuko etc.), but did you spot all the cameos?
Cameos:
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- SpoilerShowMegu (as Gou/Ultraman Jack's daughter), portrayed by Matsushita Megumi, is the biological daughter of Sakakibara Rumi (Aki, Gou's love interest).
- SpoilerShowFujimiya and his family that we see at the ending scene (congratulating Gamu) is his actual family!
- SpoilerShowNihei Masanari (the funny shop owner at the start of the movie) was in various Ultraman productions.
- SpoilerShowNagasawa Nao (Daigo's mum/HurricaneBlue) was in Ultraman Max.
- SpoilerShowDaigo's boss at his workplace is Ootaki Akitoshi. He portrayed Munakata seiichi, one of the crew members, in Ultraman Tiga.
- SpoilerShowKagemaru Shigeki, Rena's boss at the radio station, was another crew member in Ultraman Tiga (Shinjou Tetsuo).
- SpoilerShowIshibashi Kei, the interviewer, was the main nurse we saw on Ultraman Tiga and Dyna (and other Ultra productions as well). Sci-fi author Manjoume Jun, played by Sahara Kenji, was in Ultra Q and made cameos in subsequent productions.
- SpoilerShowAzami Youko, the TV presenter, was on UltraSeven X.
- SpoilerShowSaijou Yasuhiko, the old man who nearly got crushed by the debris, was in Ultra Q and appeared in various other Ultraman productions.
- SpoilerShowThe three people that were cheering when Tiga first appeared - Onodera Jou, Kase Takao, and Kameyama Shinobu - were crew members in Dyna.
- SpoilerShowAsuka's baseball manager, played by Kinomoto Ryou, was the captain of the defense team in Dyna.
- SpoilerShowTamio Kawachi, the UN Chief, played the founder of the defense team in Tiga.
- SpoilerShowThe narrator of the movie, Kazami Shingo, narrated some of the previous Ultraman series and films as well.
- SpoilerShowThe mayor of Yokohama was the actual mayor of Yokohama at that time!
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There are probably more that I missed.
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Oh yeah, and before anyone asks: No, we don't know if we'll do more Ultraman stuff in the future. The main series are definitely out, as it seems that Crunchyroll has the licenses for those. A pity, considering Ultraman X was pretty fun. If we have enough time/interest (on our end), we might consider doing more unlicensed Ultraman stuff. But as you can see on our 'active' forum listings, we have so many projects. So no guarantees on any future stuff.
