Review by C.J. Bunce
Your understanding of the long history of giant monsters or kaiju–like American-created King Kong from RKO in 1933 and Godzilla from Toho in Japan from 1954 (who would licence Kong for crossovers)–isn’t complete without mentioning Ultraman. Long before Pacific Rim and The Transformers, there was the Giant Man from Godzilla co-creator Eiji Tsuburaya: Ultraman. We reviewed the big-budget, two-hour Western entry into the franchise on Netflix here at borg. Director Shannon Tindle’s Ultraman: Rising is an exciting step into a franchise built over 60 years, filled with sci-fi giant characters kids of all ages will love, courtesy of, in part, Industrial Light & Magic of Star Wars and Jurassic Park fame. You can dig into the making of the film in the behind-the-scenes book, The Art and Making of Ultraman: Rising, available for pre-order now here at Amazon, including all the designing behind a twenty-ton baby kaiju.
When you think of long-running pop culture franchises, you probably think of one or all of James Bond, Doctor Who, Planet of the Apes, Godzilla, and Star Trek. In Japan you might include Ultraman, the alien from another world (Nebula M78) who finds himself chasing an escaped monster called Bemular across the cosmos. That was nearly 60 years ago, but since then the studios behind Ultraman have brought a whopping 43 movies to the big screen featuring their hero. U.S. audiences are more familiar with the live-action series from the 1960s, and last year we reviewed a new book from the franchise set in the 21st century: Ultraman: The Official Novel of the Series (reviewed here).
The challenge for franchises like this is always the same: How do you make characters and situations appeal to 21st century audiences? Part of it is updating the technology, which includes everything from the Internet to modern scientific principles, considering the source material dates back to 1966. The plot for the 2024 movie updates the character himself: When baseball superstar Ken Sato returns home to Japan to pick up the mantle of Earth-defending superhero Ultraman, he quickly finds more than he bargained for as he’s forced to raise the offspring of his greatest foe. The movie is from director Shannon Tindle (Kubo and the Two Strings) and co-director John Aoshima (Gravity Falls), and based on characters by Eiji Tsuburaya. Voice actors include Hawaii Five-O’s Christopher Sean as Ultraman, Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles, Gung Ho, Mulan), and Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Man in the High Castle, and Star Trek Picard’s Tamlyn Tomita.
The behind-the-scenes book begins with a history of the character to get newcomers up to speed, including several pages of vintage black and white and color photographs. Readers will learn how Netflix and Tsuburaya’s idea for an Ultraman film merged with Tindle’s idea for a family-centered movie with a kaiju baby called Made in Japan.
Style guide excerpts, digital concert artwork, script excerpts, storyboard panels–all come together to tell the story of the making of this great animated film.
One of the best images? A perfectly rendered X-ray view of Gigantron. It’s stunning. As human characters go, they are usually boring in animated shows, but here Ben Sato is interesting to watch as he journeys through his mundane life, even as a celebrity Los Angeles Dodger, and as he becomes a giant-sized superhero. This movie should be on everyone’s list of great baseball movies. When Ben hits strikes that ball with the bat it’s right up there with Robert Redford’s key hit in The Natural. This book describes how those baseball scenes were developed.
Unlike many a book about an animated movie’s production, The Art and Making of Ultraman: Rising doesn’t leave out the sound: with interviews of the voice actors and sound effects/editing teams, as well as the musicians creating the score.
Ultraman: Rising is streaming now on Netflix. Highly recommended if you love Ultraman or animation, The Art and Making of Ultraman: Rising, is available for pre-order now here at Amazon.
