From December 1st (Fri) to December 3rd (Sun), Tokyo Comic Con 2017 was held at one of Japan’s biggest convention centers, “Makuhari Messe”. At the convention, Tsuburaya Productions displayed an exhibiting booth and announced two very exciting news.

What is Tokyo Comic Con?
Comic Con is a pop culture event that started in the United States and is short for “Comic Convention”. Comic Con has grown so big that Hollywood films make announcements of new movies at one of the biggest comic cons “San Diego Comic Con” every year. “Tokyo Comic Con” was held for the second time following last year, upgrading the event period from 2 days to 3 days, and the number of attendees increased greatly from 32,010 to 42,793.

Announcement 1: Animation of Comic “ULTRAMAN”
On December 1st, the first day of Tokyo Comic Con, a full 3DCG animation of the famous comic “ULTRAMAN” was announced at the special stage. It is scheduled to be released in 2019. The animation will be created by Production IG and SOLA DIGITAL ARTS. The directors are Kenji Kamiyama (“Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” series, “Eden of the East” series, “Napping Princess”), and Shinji Aramaki (“APPLESEED” series, “Starship Troopers Red Planet”).
The original story is from the ongoing comic “ULTRAMAN” from MONTHLY HERO’S Magazine. The main hero, Shinjiro Hayata, the son of the first Ultraman Shin Hayata, wears the Ultraman suit and fights the villains as the life-size hero. A total of 11 volumes have been released and over 2.6 million copies have been sold.
On the event stage, in addition to the directors Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki, the original comic authors of Eiichi Shimizu (story) and Tomohiro Shimoguchi (illustration) appeared as surprise guests and expressed their enthusiasm and expectation for the creation of the animation.

Announcement 2: New TV series of GRIDMAN “SSSS.GRIDMAN”
On the second day of Comic Con, a special effects drama series from 1993, “GRIDMAN” was announced to be animated. This innovative series battled in the “Computer World”, as if it was anticipating the coming of the IT era in the time before Personal Computer and the Internet were available to everyone, will revive as a completely new TV animation as “SSSS.GRIDMAN” in autumn, 2018.
The director is Akira Amemiya (“Ninja Slayer From Animation”, “Japan Anima(tor)’s Exhibition”, “GRIDMAN Boys Invent Great Hero”) and the animation will be made by TRIGGER who created “KILL la Kill” and “Little Witch Academia”. Contents and casts will be updated on the official website soon.

”Tsuburaya Productions and HERO’S” Booth
At the Comic Con, “Tsuburaya Productions and HERO’S” booth exhibited figures from the realistic taste comics “ULTRAMAN”, and King Gridman from “GRIDMAN”. The booth was filled with excitement as on the first day of the Comic Con, Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi held an autograph session for the first time in Japan, and Kohji Moritsugu, who acted as Dan Moroboshi in “Ultraseven” appeared as the special guest on the second day.

＜Comic “ULTRAMAN” Trailer＞

▼Comic “ULTRAMAN” animation official website
http://anime.heros-ultraman.com/

＜SSSS.GRIDMAN Trailer＞
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGw4SmxkryU

▼SSSS.GRIDMAN animation official website (Japanese)
http://gridman.net/

▼Tokyo Comic Con Official Website
http://tokyocomiccon.jp/index.html