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Amazon Streams Ultraman Orb Spinoff in December
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Amazon Japan revealed on Tuesday that it will stream a spinoff of the Ultraman Orb television series in late December through its Amazon Prime instant video service. The announcement does not reveal whether the spinoff will also be a series, or a special.
The main Ultraman Orb television series itself will premiere on TV Tokyo on July 9 at 9:00 a.m.
Hideo Ishiguro (live-action Gokusen's Kengo Honjo) is playing the main character Gai Kurenai (seen below). Gai uses a round transformation item to borrow the powers of previous Ultraman characters and transform into a new form.
Kiyotaka Taguchi, who directed last year's Ultraman X series, will once again direct Ultraman Orb. The director stated that the series will have "themes of traveling the noble path and returning to one's roots, while still being a funny and interesting Ultraman series."
The long-running Ultraman series is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Last year's Ultraman X debuted in July and ended in December. Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd. then streamed an Ultra Series teaser video in January as part of a project that marks the 50th anniversary of the Ultra Series. The Ultra Series began on January 2, 1966 with Ultra Q. The teaser ended with the words "What's Next…?"
Fields Corporation, the parent company of Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd., had revealed in a financial presentation in February that a new Ultraman series would premiere in July. The report noted that the Ultraman X series has received approximately 400 million views for its overseas simulcast. The Ultraman X television series debuted in Japan last July, and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired.
The Gekijō-ban Ultraman X Kita Zo! Warera no Ultraman (Ultraman X the Movie: He Came! Our Ultraman) film premiered in Japan on March 12.
