Ultraman (manga)

Ultraman

Cover of volume 1
Genre Science fiction, action
Manga
Written by Eiichi Shimizu
Illustrated by Tomohiro Shimoguchi
Published by Shogakukan
English publisher
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Monthly Hero's
Original run October 1, 2011 – present
Volumes 8

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,[1] it is a manga sequel of the 1966 Ultraman television series.[2][3] The series has been collected in 8 volumes.[4][5][6]

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.

Media

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.[7] 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.[8][9][10]

A portal site for Ultraman manga was announced and launched in October 16, 2014.[11] 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.[12] The contest ended and the winning entries were announced in August 3rd, 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.[13]

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 and Volume 5 by Koichi Sakamoto.

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.[14] 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.[15][16]

No.Japanese release dateJapanese ISBNEnglish release dateEnglish ISBN
1 September 8, 2012[7]ISBN 9784864683012August 18, 2015ISBN 978-1421581828
2 March 5, 2013[7]ISBN 9784864683210November 17, 2015ISBN 978-1421581835
3 September 5, 2015[7]ISBN 9784864683418February 16, 2016ISBN 978-1421581842
4 March 5, 2014[7]ISBN 9784864683586May 17, 2016ISBN 978-1421581859
5 November 5, 2014[7]ISBN 9784864683784August 16, 2016ISBN 978-1421581866
5SP November 5, 2014[7]ISBN 978-4864683777-—
This variation is bundled with Ultraman Suit soft vinyl figure.
6 July 4, 2015[7]ISBN 9784864684200-—
7 December 29, 2015[7]ISBN 9784864684224-—
7SP December 29, 2015[7]ISBN 9784864684231-—
This version is bundled with Ultraman Suit ver. 7.2 and is sold at the price of 2800 Yen.
8 July 5, 2016[7]ISBN 9784864683012-—
8SP July 5, 2016[7]ISBN 9784864684668-—
This version is bundled with a DVD special and ULTRASINGLES.[17] The DVD contains:[18]
  • Motion Comic Volume 1: Truth (実態 Jittai)
  • Motion Comic Volume 2: Hokuto (北斗)
  • Music Video: "Ultlove" (ウルトラブ Urutorabu) by Maaya Uchida
  • Music Video: NO ONE KNOWS by Megumi Han

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.[11] Two special Motion Comics were bundled alongside a special release of Volume 8 of Ultraman manga alongside the ULTRASINGLES.[17]

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.[18]

Reception

In June 29 to July 5, 2016, Japanese site Oricon revealed that the Chapter 6 of Ultraman was placed at 33rd place in a ranking with a total of estimated 26,214 sold copies.[19] From July 6 to 12 of that year, Volume 6's selling was boosted to number with an estimated number of 73,673 copies.[20] 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.[21] The ranking unfortunately dropped to 38 in January 4-10 in a total of 68,100 copies.[22] In July 4-10, Volume 8 was ranked 20 with estimated 41,077 sold.[23] During the 2016 annual Comic-Con International, Ultraman is ranked 5th in "Best New Manga for Kids/Teens".[24]

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".[25]

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.[26][27]

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.[28] 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.[29] Another collaboration merchandise was made with Pioneer SE-MX9-K in releasing headphones themed after Shinijiro's Ultraman Suit helmet.[30]

References

  1. ↑ "コミックナタリー - 「鉄のラインバレル」コンビが描く新たなウルトラマン始動". Natalie.mu. 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  2. ↑ "コミックナタリー - ヒーローズのウルトラマン本、夏コミ企業ブースで頒布決定". Natalie.mu. 2011-08-02. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  3. ↑ "コミックナタリー - ヒーローズ創刊、ラインバレルコンビがウルトラマン描く". Natalie.mu. 2011-11-01. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  4. ↑ "コミックナタリー - 「鉄のラインバレル」の清水×下口描く「ULTRAMAN」1巻". Natalie.mu. 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  5. ↑ "コミックナタリー - 清水×下口「ULTRAMAN」3巻発売でTシャツプレゼントも". Natalie.mu. 2013-08-18. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  6. ↑ "コミックナタリー - ウルトラヒーローが書店を行脚！「ULTRAMAN」4巻記念". Natalie.mu. 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "コミックスULTRAMAN公式サイト" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-07-18.
  8. ↑ "ULTRAMAN 第4巻発売記念 特別インタビュー 第１弾 小島 瑠璃子" (in Japanese). heros-ultraman.com. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  9. ↑ "ULTRAMAN 第4巻発売記念 特別インタビュー 第２弾 つるの 剛士" (in Japanese). heros-ultraman.com. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  10. ↑ "ULTRAMAN 第4巻発売記念 特別インタビュー 第3弾 黒部 進" (in Japanese). heros-ultraman.com. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  11. 1 2 "ニュース・イベント 2014" (in Japanese). heros-web.com. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  12. ↑ "ニュース・イベント 2015" (in Japanese). heros-web.com. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  13. ↑ "マンガ『ULTRAMAN』公式怪獣・異星人キャラデザ大募集企画の受賞作品発表！" (in Japanese). m-78.jp. 2015-08-03. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  14. ↑ "Viz Media Welcomes The Creators of New Ultraman Manga Series to 2015 Comic-Con International: San Diego". Anime News Network. 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  15. ↑ "VIZ MEDIA ACQUIRES ULTRAMAN MANGA SERIES". Viz Media. 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  16. ↑ "Viz Media Launches The New Ultraman Manga Series". Anime News Network. 2015-08-12. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  17. 1 2 "DVD付特装版も！『ULTRAMAN』第8巻が本日7月5日(火)にいよいよ発売開始！" (in Japanese). m-78.jp. 2016-07-05. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  18. 1 2 "「ULTRAMAN」モーションコミック観れる新刊、内田真礼演じる佐山レナのCDも" (in Japanese). natalie.mu. 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
  19. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, June 29-July 5". Anime News Network. 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  20. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, July 6-12". Anime News Network. 2015-07-17. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  21. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, December 28-January 3". Anime News Network. 2016-01-07. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  22. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, January 4-10". Anime News Network. 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  23. ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, July 4-10". Anime News Network. 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  24. ↑ "Best and Worst Manga of 2016 Results - Comic-Con International". Anime News Network. 2016-07-26. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  25. ↑ "Ultraman G1 Review". Anime News Network. 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  26. ↑ "マンガ『ULTRAMAN』登場「セブン」実物大ソードの予約開始！最新話を掲載した月刊ヒーローズ2016年6月号が本日発売！" (in Japanese). m-78.jp. 2016-04-30. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  27. ↑ "【エイこれット限定販売】「ULTRAMAN」1/1スペシウムソード【8月発送予定】【代引・コンビニ決済不可】【送料無料】【同梱不可】" (in Japanese). eikoretto.jp. 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  28. ↑ "コミック『ULTRAMAN』登場のウルトラマンスーツがフル可動アクションフィギュア化！「魂ウェブ商店」にて受注受付スタート！" (in Japanese). m-78.jp. 2015-10-23. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  29. ↑ "Gecco製「ULTRAMAN」1/6サイズフィギュアの予約受付開始！清水栄一×下口智裕先生 完全監修！" (in Japanese). m-78.jp. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
  30. ↑ "【DVD付特装版】潘めぐみさんが歌う「北斗」のキャラソン！取材に行ってきました！" (in Japanese). heros-ultraman.com. 2016-06-08. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
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