Evangelion Creator Shares New Look at Shin Ultraman Design

Much like the successful revitalization of another tokusatsu juggernaut with Godzilla, Tsuburaya Productions will soon be giving Ultraman its own “Shin” rebooted take with Shin Ultraman. And like Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman will be handled by the same creative team as Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno and director Shinji Higuchi have been confirmed to be behind the newest take on the famous Tokusatsu hero. Yet another quality like that previous release, this new Ultraman is going to look much different than we’re used to.

Following the first look at the new design for Shin Ultraman during Tsuburaya Convention 2019, Studio Khara’s official Twitter account shared a much closer look at the new design with Anno’s first sketch of the new character that he drafted back in 2018.

Hideaki Anno began drafting the film’s script in 2018, and the Twitter account revealed this first sketch from back then as well. Bin Furuya, the original suit actor for Ultraman in the 1960s, was scanned and used as a base for the new design — and fans can see remnants of Furuya’s fingers and toes. This first sketch is not too different from the first official look revealed a few months back, so it’s safe to say things have been moving along at a steady pace from way back then.

Studio Khara previously announced that the Shin Ultraman reboot film is currently on track for a release some time in 2021, with TOHO distributing the film in Japan upon release. There are currently very few details as to the film’s plot, however. Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno is currently attached to write the script, and the first draft was completed in 2019. Anno will be putting his full attention into the new Ultraman film after the release of the fourth Evangelion film, Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0, which will be launching in Japan on June 27th.

Shin Ultraman‘s cast currently includes Takumi Saitoh (as the main character transforming into Ultraman), Masami Nagasawa (as the main character’s partner), Hidetoshi Nishijima, Koji Yamamoto, Tetsushi Tanaka, Daiki Arioka, Akari Hayami, Ryo Iwamatsu, Toshihiro Wada, Toru Matsuoka, Kyusaku Shimada, Keishi Nagatsuka, and Hajime Yamazaki in roles currently unconfirmed as of this writing.