A new teaser-trailer for Shin Ultraman, the classic tokusatsu hero’s upcoming cinematic outing, has given fans their first look at the film’s villains, revealing updated looks for some of the franchise’s classic rubber monsters.
Helmed by Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno and the second of his three cinematic reimaginings of classic tokusatsu franchises following Shin Godzilla and preceding his planned Shin Kamen Rider, Shin Ultraman will serve as a film adaptation of the original 1966 Ultraman series, wherein the eponymous alien hero from the Land of Light finds himself fusing with a human – Shin Hayata in the original, Shinji Kaminaga in the upcoming movie – to fight back any and all intergalactic and kaiju threats to Earth.
Though brief at only thirty-seconds long, the teaser trailer provides a bevy of new details about the film, ranging from the first proper look at Anno’s take on Ultraman’s signature Spacium Beam attack:
To the first proper reveal of the esteemed creator’s take on the classic Zarab species, whose goal in the original series was to sow chaos amongst the world governments and lead them to destroy themselves:
And, in a subtle moment that will certainly go unnoticed by non-Japanese speakers, a man can be seen issuing a business card whose text bears the name of the one of Ultraman’s most iconic adversarial species, Mefilas:
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Further, the trailer provides new shots of the both Neronga, a monster sealed beneath the Earth by an ancient samurai before reawakening due to the construction of an electric power plant woke it up:
And Gabora, a flower-maned kaiju who in his original appearance rampaged across Japan in search of uranium to feed on:
Notably, both of these classic foes were previously revealed in the film’s previous December 13th, 2021 teaser, with the former rampaging through a rural Japanese town:
And the latter scaling a mountain before letting out an Earth-shaking roar:
The trailer ultimately concludes with the film’s rendition of Ultraman’s classic debut sequence, seen after the aforementioned Shinji triggers his version of the Beta Capsule transformation trigger:
Alongside a script and creative production by Anno, Shin Ultraman will feature direction from Shinji Higuchi and Katsuro Onoue, both of whom previously worked together in related roles on the live-action Attack on Titan films and Shin Godzilla, as well as music from legendary Neon Genesis Evangelion series composer Shiro Sagisu.
The film will star Takumi Saito (live-action Ace Attorney) as Shinji and Masami Nagasawa (Kingdom) as the former’s Science Patrol partner, Hiroko Asami.
Produced in collaboration between Tsuburaya Productions and Toho Co. Ltd., Shin Ultraman is currently set to premiere in Japanese theaters on May 13th, 2022.
As of writing, no release dates outside of its native country have been announced.
What do you make of this latest teaser for Anno’s vision of Ultraman? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!