The official website for the 3D CG
anime
of
Eiichi Shimizu
and
Tomohiro Shimoguchi
's
Ultraman
manga announced on Tuesday that
Tomoaki Maeno
has joined the cast of the anime's second
season
as K?tar? Higashi/Ultraman Taro (seen right), replacing
Tatsuhisa Suzuki
in the role.
The Chinese smartphone game
Alchemy Stars
announced on Thursday that it replaced Suzuki with
Shintar? Asanuma
as the Japanese voice of the character Regal.
The Ultraman
anime staff had
announced
Suzuki in the role in summer last year, but Suzuki recently took a
hiatus
from "all entertainment industry activities" in August, and
offered
to step down from the role. Suzuki
performed
the opening theme
songs
for the first season as a member of the musical unit
OLDCODEX
.
OLDCODEX
and Suzuki's agency made the announcement shortly after singer
LiSA
, Suzuki's wife, also announced a hiatus "from some of her activities" due to mental and physical fatigue.
Suzuki and
LiSA
announced
their marriage in January 2020. The
Weekly Bunshun
magazine reported on July 30 on an alleged extramarital affair between Suzuki and a female work associate.
The anime will
premiere
in spring 2022 on
Netflix
worldwide.
Netflix
describes the anime's story:
Several years have passed since the events of
Ultraman
, with the legendary "Giant of Light" (光の巨人 Hikari no Kyojin) now a memory, as it is believed he returned home after fighting the many giant aliens that invaded the Earth. Shin Hayata's son Shinjiro seems to possess a strange ability, and it is this ability, along with his father's revelation that he was Ultraman, that leads Shinjiro to battle the new aliens invading the Earth as the new Ultraman.
The first anime season
premiered
globally on
Netflix
in April 2019 and has 13 episodes. The series then premiered on television in Japan in April 2020.
Kenji Kamiyama
(
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
,
Eden of the East
,
Napping Princess
) and
Shinji Aramaki
(
Appleseed
,
Harlock: Space Pirate
,
Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars
) directed the first anime season.
Production I.G
(
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
,
Eden of the East
,
Napping Princess
) and
Sola Digital Arts
(
Appleseed Alpha
,
Starship Troopers: Invasion
,
Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars
) produced the anime in 3D CG.
Nobuko Toda
and
Kazuma Jinnouchi
composed the music.
Kamiyama and Aramaki and
Production I.G
and
Sola Digital Arts
are returning from the first season for the second one.
Sources:
Ultraman
anime's
website
via
The Tokusatsu Network
, Alchemy Stars Japanese Twitter
account
and English Twitter
account
via
Yaraon!