Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd. (Head office: Shibuya ward, Tokyo. President and CEO: Takayuki Tsukagoshi) will release “ULTRAMAN USA” on Blu-ray format on September 26^th, Wednesday. “ULTRAMAN USA” was jointly produced by Tsuburaya Productions and US company Hanna-Barbera Productions.

“ULTRAMAN USA” was created with the concept of “Americanized Ultraman”, and was broadcasted in the United States in October 1987. In Japan, it was premiered along with other films under the title “Ultraman Festival” in July 1991. The film has been released in VHS format in September 1989 and LD format in July 1991. However, it was never available on DVD. In this Blu-ray release, alongside the Japanese version, the English version – titled “ULTRAMAN: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS” – will also be included for the first time in history. The new Blu-ray disc will revive the picture in high quality after 27 years, by using the high-resolution data scanned from the original 35mm negatives of the film.

– Outline of “ULTRAMAN USA” Blu-ray

Release Date: September 26^th, 2018 (Wed)

Price: 7,800 yen (tax excluded)　 Catalog No.: BCXS-1392

Run Time: 153 minutes (Japanese Ver. 75mins + English Ver. 78mins)

Bonus Footage: 6 minutes

[Japanese]4:3＜1080p High Definition＞／Linear PCM Stereo

[English]4:3＜1080p High Definition＞／Linear PCM Monaural

Special Features: Digital image gallery of the Production Proposal, footage from “ULTRAMAN KIDS” intermission of “Ultraman Festival”

Bonus Content: 8 Page Commentary Book

Manufactured by: Tsuburaya Productions

Distributed by: BANDAI NAMCO Arts Inc.

※Specifications and designs may change without prior notice.

–Story Line

There was an unknown explosion on planet Sorkin, Nebula M78. The living beings inhabited on the planet, named Sorkin Monsters, became gigantic meteorites and scattered across the universe. One of the meteorites broke into the atmosphere of earth, and its fragments crashed all around the United States.

After going through a mysterious accident during their air show, Captain Scott Masterson, Captain Chuck Gavin, and Lieutenant Beth O’Brien — members of the stunt trio “Flying Angles” of the US air force — discovered that they have become the host bodies of the “Ultra Force”, 3 Ultraman who had been chasing the monsters from Nebula M78 to save the earth. Accepting their great mission, the three became Ultraman Scott, Ultraman Chuck, and Ultrawoman Beth and pledged their words to keep peace as the “Ultra Force”, and started their confrontation with the Sorkin Monsters.

–CAST (Voice Cast)

Scott Masterson / Ultraman Scott: Toru Furuya / Michael Lembeck

Chuck Gavin / Ultraman Chuck: Shinji Ogawa / Chad Everett

Beth O’Brien / Ultrawoman Beth: Hiromi Tsuru / Adrienne Barbeau

and others

–STAFF

Production: Noboru Tsuburaya

Executive Producers: Noboru Tsuburaya, William Hanna, Joseph Barbera

Director: Mitsuo Kusakabe

Screenplay: John Eric Seward

Character Design: Kazuo Iimura

Hero Design: Hitoshi Yoshida

Mecha Design: Tomohiko Sato

Monster Design: Keita Amemiya, Hirotsugu Murayama, Chisato Sugiura

Art Director: Akira Furuya

Color Design: Yoshiharu Wakai, Yuko Kobari

Animation Directors: Kazuo Iimura, Osamu Tsuruyama, Masateru Kudo, Nobuyoshi Habara

Storyboard Artists: Seiji Okuda, Makoto Nagao, Mitsuo Kusakabe, Jutaro Ohba

Director of Photography: Toshiaki Morita

Editor: Naoyuki Masaki

Sound Directors: Noriyoshi Matsuura / Gordon Hunt (English Version)

Japanese Version Director: Riku Matsukawa and other

–About the Special Feature: Intermission Short Animation “ULTRAMAN KIDS” of “Ultraman Festival”

In 1989, “ULTRAMAN USA” made its debut in Japanese theaters as the main feature of “Ultraman Festival”, a film program that also included the “Ultraman: Terror on Route 87”, the “Ultraman Ace: Giant-Ant Terrible-Monster VS the Ultraman Brothers”, and “ULTRAMAN KIDS”. “ULTRAMAN KIDS” is a set of short animations, which acted as an introduction of other segments of the program. The new Blu-ray package will contain the “ULTRAMAN KIDS” part only of the “Ultraman Festival”, as one of its special features.

–What is “ULTRAMAN USA”

“ULTRAMAN USA” was created with the concept of “Americanized Ultraman”. “ULTRAMAN USA” drew attention as a new type of hero which went beyond the conventional American comic book heroes. Its features, such as transforming to a gigantic hero and fusing with alien heroes, were never seen in American comic books before.

In Japan, it premiered on April 28th, 1989, as the main segment of “Ultraman Festival”, a film program that also included selected episodes from the live-action series and shot animation “ULTRAMAN KIDS”.

The animation was produced by Japanese animation production companies, Studio SIGN and Ashi Production (now named Production Reed). “ULTRAMAN USA” was heavily inspired by Japanese action portrayal trends that had been carried to extremes by the 1980s’ mainstream robot animations, mixed with human proportions.