This video represents a formative moment in my childhood. While finding a Godzilla or Gamera movie on the weekend back in the 1970s was always a crapshoot, I could find the original 1966 Ultraman series every day on TV.
I remember being in day care at the home of a lovely lady we called “Wee Wee”. She had a big back yard and a play room full of toys. But every afternoon the TV was on and a half dozen rug rats were singing along with “Ultramaaaaan, herrrre he comes from they skyyyyy!” and jumping around shooting spacium beams from crossed arms. That daily dose of kaiju formed the rich soil from which my love of Japanese pop culture grew.
“Shin Godzilla” is a loving update to the original
Here is a Google translated version of the text accompanying this breathtaking video on YouTube. This uses Google translation, and while I cleaned it up I kept the more amusing word choices.
Since the its debut in 1966 the character “Ultraman” has been broadcast in more than 100 regions overseas and is still very popular. It has not been made into a movie as the 55th anniversary work of “Shin Ultraman”.
Hideaki Anno, a huge fan of the Ultraman series, is writing the script. The director is Shinji Higuchi, who has released many masterpieces with Mr. Anno, including “Neon Genesis Evangelion”.
Under this production team, super-luxurious actors gathered. The main character, [Shinji Kaminaga, the man who becomes Ultraman] is Takumi Saitoh. Masami Nagasawa plays the role of Hiroko Asami, the main character’s partner.
Hidetoshi Nishijima, winner of the 45th Japan Academy Award for Best Leading Actor for the movie “Drive My Car”, plays Kimio Tamura, the group leader of Katokutai, the full-time organization of the Disaster Prevention Agency, to which Kaminaga and Asami belong.
While returning to the origin of the planning and idea of “Ultraman”, an entertaining and exciting entertainment work that depicts the world where “Ultraman” has settled down for the first time, set in contemporary Japan.