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“Ultraman Saga” is an Ultraman film that I definitely recommend, with a few surprises for Ultra fans of all ages!
TITLE: Ultraman Saga
FILM RELEASE: 2012
DURATION: 89 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Tsuburaya Productions
Directed by Oka Hideki
Screenplay by Hasegawa Keiichi
Produced by Akimoto Kazutaka, Kitaura Tsugumi, Oshita Satoshi, Shibazaki Makoto, Shigematsu Tetsuya, Tachihara Koji, Terada Atsushi, Yoshikawa Masayuki
Supervising Producer: Okuma Nobuyuki, Koyama Nobuyuki
Executive Producer: Yamamoto Hidetoshi
Music by Hara Fumio
Cinematography by Takahashi So
Production Design by Kiba Taro
Set Decoration by Yamashita Nobuhiro
Starring:
Daigo as Nozomu Taiga/Ultraman Zero
Tsuruno Takeshi as Asuka Shina/Ultraman Dyna
Sugiura Taiyo as Haruno Musashi/Ultraman Cosmos
Akimoto Sayaka as Anna
Umeda Ayaka as Misato
Miyazawa Sae as Sawa
Masuda Yuka as Nonko
Sato Sumire as Lisa
Kobayashi Kana as Maomi
Shimada Haruka as Hina
Takamura Ryoma as Takeru
Hayata Shin as Kurobe Susumu
Moroboshi Dan as Moritsuku Kohji
Go Hideki as Dan Jiro
Hokuto Seiji as Takamine Keiji
Otori Gen as Manatsu Ryu
Fukawa Toshikazu as Kohda Toshiyuki
Saito Risa as Yumimura Ryo
Kinomoto Ryo as Hibiki Gosuke
Ikeda Sayaka as Saya
Ohashi Ritsu as Ritsu
Watanabe Sorami as Miko
Ueno Karen as Ren
Ando Kengo as Ken
Satomura Hiromu as Hiro
MNori Kurea as Ku
Miyano Mamoru as the voice of Ultraman Zero
Sato Yuki as the voice of Ultraman Cosmos
Higashiokokubaru Hideo as the voice of Alien Bat
Taking place 15 years after Shin Asuka (Ultraman Dyna) disappeared through a black hole at the series’s ending, Earth has since then set up a space station on Mars in Asuka’s honor and memory. The space station is then attacked by a few Granspheres, only for the invaders to quickly be fended off by a young defense team pilot named Taiga. Shortly after recklessly pursuing the Granspheres, Taiga is trapped (along with a few other Granspheres) inside of a Fortress-like Ship of an invading alien force, that quickly disappears.
For today’s film review, I revisit “Ultraman Saga”, an entertaining tokusatsu film from 2012 from Tsuburaya Productions.
The film was released to celebrate the Ultra Series franchise’s 45th anniversary and is a sequel to the film “Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial”.
The film was to be released in December 2011 but due to the tsunami/earthquake of March 2011, production was halted but produced later as part of the reconstruction effort in Japan (which was definitely needed to boost the spirits).
And today, I will be reviewing this Ultraman film as its celebrating its 10th year anniversary.
On the entertainment side of things, this was Tsuburaya Productions second major time of working with an idol company.
Back in 1995, the company worked with Johnny’s Jimusho and were able to feature popular V6 member Nagano Hiroshi for the series “Ultraman Tiga”, the return of Ultraman on television since 1980’s “Ultraman 80”.
For 2012, the company worked with AKB48, who were the biggest idol group dominating the charts since 2009 but instead of showcasing their “Kami7”, their most popular members (who would probably too expensive to cast in this film), they would feature their “Undergirls”, members who were not part of the top 16, but giving these up-and-coming idols their time to shine.
So, leading the group were the AKB48 subunit DiVA (who also sings the ending theme Lost the Way”) featuring Akimoto Sayaka, Miyazawa Sae, Imeda Ayaka and Masuda Yuka. And also featuring members Sato Sumire, Kobayashi Kana and Shimada Haruka.
AKB48 would release a music video featuring talent from the “Kamen Rider Den-O” and “Kamen Rider Kiva” series and also “Ultraman Tiga” Kaiju, Golza in their music video “Gingham Check”.
The film would also feature singer/actor DAIGO and also feature the return of two characters from the past, Tsuruno Takeshi reprising his role as Shin Asuka (Ultraman Dyna, 1997-1998) [NOTE: Please watch “Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy” before watching this film] and actor Sugiura Taiyo, reprising his role as Musashi Haruno (Ultraman Cosmos, 2001-2002).
So, for “Ultraman Saga”, the film features three Ultraman in action: Ultraman Zero, Ultraman Dyna and Ultraman Cosmos.
But you will see appearances by the Ultraman Brothers (this is the name of legendary Ultras that have protected the planet Earth and are members of the Inter Galactice Defense Force) and their original actors such as Kurobe Susumu reprising his role as Hataya Shin/Ultraman, Moritsugu Koji as Moroboshi Dan/Ultraseven, Dan Jiro as Go Hideki/Ultraman Jack, Takamine Keiji as Hokuto Seiji/Ultraman Ace and Otori Gen as Manatsu Ryu/Ultraman Leo.
As well, as a few faces from past series.
So, in essence, you are getting a lot with “Ultraman Saga”!
The film is set in an alternate Earth where Tokyo has been ravaged by kaiju. Most human inhabitants are gone and a group of young women who are part of the Earth Defense Force (EDF) Team U is trying to protect the world.
The group is led by Anna (portrayed by Akimoto Sayaka), who has her team going out to get supplies from nearby stores.
But while trying to get supplies, a huge kaiju, Earthtron emerges and while Anna is able to rescue her teammates, she is pinned in rubble and is unable to escape. That is until a huge Ultraman, Ultraman Dyna arrives to take on and defeat the kaiju.
We then see Ultraman Zero in an alternate universe (not long after the events in “Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial” receiving a distress call while he is fighting Legionoids. And thus he answers the call.
Meanwhile, at the City of “Light”, the classic Ultraman discuss the monsters being stolen from the monster graveyard and p[roblems happening in other dimensions.
In the Earth that Ultraman Dyna is from, a few from the team “Super GUTS” such as Kodha Toshiyuki (portrayed by Fukawa Toshikazu) and Saito Risa (portrayed by Yumimura Ryo) are watching their new Inspector General/head of TPC, Hibiki Gosuke (portrayed by Kinomoto Ryo) give a speech about the 15th anniversary when Asuka Shin/Ultraman Dyna sacrificed his life.
Sitting next to them is a loud bu skilled new member of GUTS, Nozomu Taiga (portrayed by Daigo).
The city is under attack by aliens and they are getting decimated. Meanwhile, we see Nozomu piloting the Alpha and going out to fight the aliens and being caught in a field and then suddenly disappearing.
Back on the alternate Earth, we see Ultraman Zero wondering why all humans have disappeared. Then out of nowhere, this structure appears out of nowhere and the aliens going after Ultraman Zero. Meanwhile, still caught in a beam is Nozomu Taiga observing Ultraman Zero fighting the aliens.
They see a young boy with a bike and a big piece of an alien UFO about to hit him. Taiga takes the Alpha and speeds towards the object to save the boy, in essence, sacrificing his life.
But instead of dying, Ultraman Zero was able to save Taiga by taking control of him and for him to become the human host and one being the same. Unfortunately, Taiga takes this badly as he does not want to do anything that is Ultraman related.
And another kaijyu, Gubira comes to attack.
Ultraman Zero tells Taiga to put on his mask and become Ultraman but Taiga shuns Zero’s request and while Taiga tries to run from it, they are rescued by Ultraman Cosmos, known for his compassion towards all living things and instead of killing Gubira, he comforts it.
As Taiga Nozomu and Musashi Haruno (Ultraman Cosmos) meet, they meet Team U of the Earth Defense Force and see a lot of young children that the team is trying to protect.
We learn that Shin Asuka (Ultraman Dyna) was once there to protect the team and the children but has disappeared and that they may be the last of the living humans on Earth because of Alien Bat.
And as Alien Bat sends more kaiju to destroy all humans, Ultraman Cosmos is going to need some help. But will Taiga let his emotions that he has against Ultraman go, so he can become Ultraman Zero and fight?
For the most part, “Ultraman Saga” is an entertaining film and there was no doubt that Tsuburaya Productions was going big, by working with what was known back then as AKP Productions (responsible for AKB48) who were hugely popular the time, the popular singer/actor DAIGO but also bringing back original faces from past Ultraman series.
While you may occasionally see the classic heroes reprise their roles, fans get to see classic Ultraman heroes and the actors who played them, Ultraman Cosmos (Sugiura Taiyo, who would eventually marry Morning Musume idol Nozomi Tsuji and both remain popular as mother/father YouTubers) and of course, the return of a few faces from “Ultraman Dyna”.
It is very rare to see Tsuburaya Productions go outside of their boundaries to work with popular major talent, let alone with the dominating entertainment force at the time, AKB48. And if anything, during that time, AKB48 was trying to build the careers outside of idol music for their talent, so the collaboration was no doubt positive.
So for me, I enjoyed it as not just as someone who covers Japanese entertainment but someone who also enjoys Tokusatsu series, especially the Ultra Series.
It was a film that would no doubt attract the older and the younger generation fans of Ultraman considering the film features characters from different decades of Ultraman Showa and Heisei era series “Ultraman”, “Ultraseven” from the ’60s, “The Return of Ultraman”, “Ultraman Ace” “Ultraman Taro” and Ultraman Leo” of the ’70s, “Ultraman Dyna” of the late ’90s, Ultraman Cosmos of the early 2000s and Ultraman Zero of the late 2010s.
And you also get to see one of the most powerful Ultra’s ever, with the introduction of Ultraman Saga.
I really enjoyed this Ultraman film especially to see Tsuburaya Productions step outside of its box and try something different and new back in 2012.
Upon its release in Japan, it was one of the few Ultraman films that were released in theaters in both 2D and 3D
As mentioned, I do recommend people to catch the “Ultraman Zero” two-part direct-to-video series such as “Ultraman Zero Gaiden: Killer the Beatstar” and the Ultraman Zero films that precede this. The film can be found bundled together on Blu-ray, so definitely look for that!
“Ultraman Saga” is an Ultraman film that I definitely recommend, with a few surprises for Ultra fans of all ages!
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