Written by Eiichi Shimizu Published by Shogakukan Demographic Seinen | Illustrated by Tomohiro Shimoguchi English publisher Viz Media Magazine Monthly Hero's | |
 | ||
Genres Science Fiction, Action fiction, Superhero fiction Publishers Viz Media (NA), Shogakukan Similar Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Ashita no Joe, Star of the Giants, Mazinger Z, Anpanman | ||
Ultract sh figuarts ultraman manga special version figure review
Ultraman (stylized as ULTRAMAN) is a manga written by Eiichi Shimizu and drawn by Tomohiro Shimoguchi of Linebarrels of Iron fame. Published in Monthly Hero's since the magazine's inaugural issue, it is a manga sequel of the 1966 Ultraman television series. The series has been collected in 8 volumes.
Contents
Story
Several years have passed since the events of Ultraman, with the legendary "Giant of Light" (光の巨人, Hikari no Kyojin) now a memory, as it is believed he returned home after fighting the many giant aliens that invaded the Earth. Shin Hayata's son Shinjiro seems to possess a strange ability, and it is this ability, along with his father's revelation that he was Ultraman, that leads Shinjiro to battle the new aliens invading the Earth as the new Ultraman.
Manga
The series began serialisation in Monthly Hero's magazine on November 1, 2011, which is coincidentally the date of said magazine's first release. The first collected tankōbon volume was published on September 8, 2012. In 2014, support videos were streamed at the official YouTube site of Monthly Hero's, featuring Ruriko Kojima, Takeshi Tsuruno (actor of Shin Asuka from Ultraman Dyna) and Susumu Kurobe (actor of Shin Hayata from Ultraman). The three were even interviewed, as well as reviewing chapter 4 of the manga themselves.
A portal site for Ultraman manga was announced and launched in October 16, 2014. In May 1st, 2015, an alien character design contest was announced for contestants to draw their respective aliens. Winning entries get their characters to appear in volume 7 of Ultraman. The contest ended and the winning entries were announced in August 3, 2015. The winning entries are the grand prize Alien Nephentes (ネペンテス星人, Nepentesu Seijin, by Keisuke Watanabe), Ace Kiler Award (エースキラー賞, Ēsu Kirā-shō) goes to Alien Woovelve (ウヴェルヴ星人, Uveruvu Seijin, by Hiroyasu Okanaga) and Alien Megoma (メゴマ星人, Megoma Seijin, by Kirimoro). These aliens made their appearances in Volume 7 as members of mercenary group Ace Killer Squad.
Several tankōbon volumes are also provided with interesting features such as soft vinyl figures of Shinjiro's Ultraman Suit in Volume 5, Moroboshi's Ultraman Suit Ver. 7.2 in Volume 7, a special edition Volume 8 bundled with DVD and as well as commentaries such as in Volume 1 by AKB48 member Sayaka Akimoto, Volume 4 by Hideo Kojima, Volume 5 by Koichi Sakamoto and Volume 9 by Hideo Ishiguro (Ultraman Orb).
In June 23, 2015, Viz Media welcomed creators of the Ultraman manga series, Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi at the 2015 Comic-Con International: San Diego. The series is licensed for English language release in North America by Viz Media, who published the first volume on August 18, 2015, having received the rights earlier in February 18, 2015.
Motion Comic
To celebrate the fourth volume of Ultraman, Monthly Hero's announced the launch of Motion Comic (モーションコミック, Mōshon Komikku) in March 2014, which features the manga itself being partially animated with colors and voice actors. The first release was all six chapters from Volume 1 of the manga, with Ryōhei Kimura was the first cast to be announced and voicing the main character Shinjiro Hayata. Soon, more casts were added as well while the Motion Comic in progress. Two special Motion Comics were bundled alongside a special release of Volume 8 of Ultraman manga alongside the ULTRASINGLES.
Discography
A single titled as ULTRASINGLES was released alongside the special release of Volume 8. The single contains three songs by Maaya Uchida, all of them were sung by her character, Rena Sayama, in the Motion Comic, with the lyrics provided by Eiichi Shimizu. The third single, "Ultlove", was first released in the official YouTube site of Monthly Hero's in late December 2015.
Reception
In June 29 to July 5, 2016, Japanese site Oricon revealed that the Chapter 6 of Ultraman was placed at 33rd in a ranking with a total of estimated 26,214 sold copies. From July 6 to 12 of that year, Volume 6's selling was boosted to number with an estimated number of 73,673 copies. In December 28, 2015 to January 3, 2016, the Volume 7 of Ultraman was placed 20th rank with an estimated total of 43,969 copies. The ranking unfortunately dropped to 38 in January 4–10 in a total of 68,100 copies. In July 4–10, Volume 8 was ranked 20 with estimated 41,077 sold. During the 2016 annual Comic-Con International, Ultraman is ranked 5th in "Best New Manga for Kids/Teens". In early 2017, Volume 9 was ranked 24th with a total of 59,898 copies.
Rebecca Silverman of the Anime News Network reviews chapter 1 of the manga and praises Shinjiro for his plot involvements in the storyline, although highlighting that "the timeskip is a bit abrupt, as is Bemular's introduction".
Merchandise
In April 30, 2016, a 1:1 scale FRP version of Dan Moroboshi/Ultraman Suit Ver 7.2's Spacium Sword was announced to be released at August 2016 and pre-orders were made available at 55,000 Yen (59,400 Yen if tax included) in Eikoh.
In October 2015, an articulated action figure of Shinjiro Hayata in his Ultraman Suit, which was made by a collaboration between Ultra Act (Tsuburaya's own figure company) and S.H.Figuarts. The figure is sold under the price of 6,840 Yen and pre-orders were made from October 23, 2015 while shipping started in May 2016. In 2016, Gecco Corp. produced a 1/6 scale diorama of Shinjiro Hayata in his Ultraman Suit, which has a removable head to either switch between Shinjiro or Ultraman Suit helmet. Another collaboration merchandise was made with Pioneer SE-MX9-K in releasing headphones themed after Shinijiro's Ultraman Suit helmet.