Saturday, April 13, 2013

Toku News of the Week (4/13/13)

ULTRAMAN GINGA IS COMING

The big news coming out of the toku world this week is, naturally, the brand new Ultraman series set to air starting on July 10th. New Ultraman Retsuden will be taking over the timeslot previously held by Tsuburaya's anthology series Ultraman Retsuden, but this new show will feature 100% new content featuring a brand new Ultraman: Ultraman Ginga.

Ultraman poses with the new hero Ginga at a press conference held April 12th
(Images courtesy of Henshin Justice)

The new series, however, has a peculiar airing schedule. The first six episodes will air from July to August, then the series will take a brief hiatus (a special will air sometime in September), and the final five episodes will air from November to December. A finale to the program will then air the following spring, possibly in March.

The synopsis of the series as well as the principal cast and staff have also been announced. The show will presumably take place in the original timeline, since the story involves ALL of the Ultramen (and several monsters) having been turned into dolls and scattered across the galaxy, with Ginga having to use his powers to free them. The series' protagonist is Hikaru Raidou (played by Takuya Negishi), a 17-year old high school student, which makes him the youngest hero in an Ultraman ever. He will be joined by his classmates and friends, as well as a mysterious transfer student and Hikaru's rival.

The show celebrates Tsuburaya Productions' 50th anniversary, and the airdate of the first episode is non-coincidentally the very same date episode 1 of the original Ultraman aired back in 1966.



[Courtesy of Henshin Justice and JEFusion]

KAMEN RIDER VETERANS GALORE RETURN FOR KAMEN RIDER BATTRIDE WAR FOR THE PS3

This week also saw several beloved actors from the Heisei Kamen Rider series announced to reprise their respective roles for the upcoming and highly anticipated PS3 action game Kamen Rider: Battride War. This week mostly focused on fan-favorite actors from Kamen Rider OOO returning, including Hiroaki Iwanaga voicing Date Akira/Kamen Rider Birth, Yuu Kamio as Doctor Maki/Dinosaur Greeed, and Ryousuke Miura as Ankh.

The game, which goes on sale May 23rd, is expected to announce more returning talent in the next few weeks. These three actors (re)join the presence of:

Takayuki Tsubaki - Kamen Rider Blade/Kazuma Kenzaki
Kousei Amano - Kamen Rider Garren/Sakuya Tachibana
Ryoji Morimoto - Joker Undead (it has not been officially announced if he'll voice Kamen Rider Chalice)
Masahiro Inoue - Kamen Rider Decade/Tsukasa Kadoya
Kimito Totani - Kamen Rider Diend/Daiki Kaito
Kazuhisa Kawahara - Super Apollo Geist

[Courtesy of JEFusion]

TOEI TO PRODUCE KIKAIDA REVIVAL PROJECT

Following in the footsteps of last year's Gavan revival with the two movies Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger Vs. Uchu Keiji Gavan: The Movie and Uchu Keiji Gavan: The Movie, it seems that Toei is moving forward with plans to bring one of their most popular characters of the '70s back. According to viewers who caught an early screening of Kamen Rider x Super Sentai x Uchu Keiji: Super Hero War Z, a post-credits surprise announced that Toei was preparing a "Kikaida revival project" with more details to be announced soon. Considering the nature of the announcement, it's not very likely that this will be a simple "re-design" like what has been seen recently with Kyodain and Daitetsujin 17 in Kamen Rider Fourze The Movie: Everyone, It's Space Time!, or Akumaizer 3, Poitrine and Inazuman in Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider: Wizard & Fourze - Movie War Ultimatum. Still, stay tuned for details as they come in!

[Courtesy of Henshin Justice]

1 comment:

  1. I think I'm going to read the news here instead, I prefer the way you pick your words. xD

    ReplyDelete