As Toku’s Popularity Grows, Tsuburaya Pro Expands Simulcast And Simuldub Options For Upcoming ‘Ultraman Omega’
In service of both the studio’s goal of expanding their market reach and responding to the rising popularity of the tokusatsu genre, Tsuburaya Productions has announced that not only will their upcoming Ultraman Omega be receiving even more simulcast and simuldub options than its predecessors, but it will also be the first ever Ultra series to provide the latter offering to the South Korean market.
Set to serve as the 37th mainline entry in the long-running Japanese sci-fi franchise (and the seventh in the country’s ‘Reiwa Era’), Ultraman Omega will see the titular protagonist making an emergency landing on Earth, in doing so losing his memories and rendering him slightly lost among his new surroundings.
However, in true Ultra fashion, his amnesiac status does little to erase his inherent sense of justice, and as such the hero quickly finds himself standing in defense of the planet against a wave of invading kaiju.
“On an Earth where neither heroes nor kaiju exist, an alien suddenly falls from the sky,” reads the series’ official synopsis. “This Ultra’s symbol is the red space boomerang he holds, the Omega Slugger, and his name means ‘ultimate.’ ‘Omega’ is an alien who has lost his memories. Taking human form and adopting the name ‘Sorato’, he becomes interested in the life forms called “Earthlings” that he is encountering for the first time and attempts to understand them.”
“When a giant life form appears, amnesiac Sorato recalls a word—’kaiju’. As these kaiju continue to appear before him, a sense of duty awakens in Sorato’s subconscious. He transforms into ‘Ultraman Omega’ and an intense, fast-paced fight unfolds.
“The Earthlings, in turn, are grappling with encountering these gigantic life forms and the alien that fights with a red slugger for the first time, watching from various places and trying to understand what they are. Before long, Sorato and an ordinary young man—an alien and an Earthling, become friends. This ambitious work poses a question through these friends’ resonating hearts; ‘Why does Ultraman protect the Earth?'”
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And for my fellow tokusatsu lore nerds, Tsuburarya Pro also offered some insight into Omega’s combat prowess.
“The protagonist, Sorato Okida transforms into a Giant of Light that wields a red space boomerang, the Omega Slugger,” explained the studio in Omega’s official profile. “Having lost his memories and fallen to Earth, his origins and his past are a mystery. When Sorato wills it, the Omega Slugger appears in his hand, then by loading the sparkling pendant he wears around his neck, the Omega Meteo, its wings open and he is enveloped in dazzling lights, transforming into a Giant of Light.”
“Once transformed, he uses the red Omega Slugger on his head as a weapon and slick, exhilarating fights unfold,” they add. “Whenever he faces someone, whether in the form of Sorato or Omega, the first thing he does is look them in the eye with his palm outstretched towards them. This fleeting gesture is his characteristic Omega Scope pose.”
While the series’ full cast and crew has yet to be confirmed, Tsuburaya Pro has announced that fledgling actor Shori Kondo will portray Omega/Sorato, while longtime franchise director Masayohshi Takesue, who fans may know for his work helming Ultraman R/B and Ultraman Decker, will provide his skills from behind the camera.
Meanwhile, Ultraman Geed lead writer Toshizo Nemoto and Ultraman: New Generation Stars scribe Junichiro Ashiki will handle the series’ script duties.
In addition to the base fact that the announcement of a new Ultra series is itself always a cause célèbre, Ultraman Omega will be particularly notable, as mentioned above, for its role in expanding Tsuburaya Pro’s worldwide distribution plans.
Previously, Ultraman Arc was simuldubbed in English, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, and Thai, with subtitled simulcasts being provided for these languages as well as Filipino, Korean, Malay, Latin Spanish, and Brazilian Portugese.
However, with Omega, the franchise will also begin offering its first ever Korean simuldub, with additional simulcast releases being produced in German, French, and Spanish (Castilian).
At current,the Ultraman Omega simulcast is currently set to make landfall on TV Tokyo, the Korean Anibox platform, and the Ultraman Official YouTube channel on July 5th 9:00 a.m. JST (July 6th 5:00 PM PST).
While it’s presently presumed that the English language dub and subs will be broadcast exclusively on YouTube, Tsuburaya Pro has yet to offer concrete details regarding the actual airing of these specific versions.
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