Eiga Reviews (the ’90s): Ultraman Zearth (1996)

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For those outside of Japan may find the films just to cheesy or corny, but if you are open to Japanese manzai and can enjoy the humor of Ishibashi and and Kinashi, you may find “Ultraman Zearth” much better than expected.

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TITLE: Ultraman Zearth

FILM RELEASE: 1996

DURATION: 51 minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: Japanese Stereo, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Tsuburaya Productions

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Directed by Nakajima Shinya

Written by Nagasaka Shukei

Produced by  Tsuburaya Kazuo, Inagaki Hiroshi, Yoshiyuki Isomura, Goto Hiroshi

Supervising Producer: Takano Koichi

Executive Producer: Yamamoto Hidetoshi

Music by James Shimoji

Art Design: Matsubara Hiroshi

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Starring:

 Sekiguchi Masaharu as Asahi Katsuto

Ishibashi Takaaki as Ohkohchi Shinpei

Kinashi Noritake as Konakai Butsukichi

Takaoka Yuka as Hoshimi Tohru

Okubo Hiromoto as Takemura Ganta

Fukushima Mariko as Midori

Moritsugu Koji as Satsuma Ban

Miyakawa Ichirota as Kazu Manabu

Kaga Takeshi as Ogami Akuma/Alien Benzene

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All over the world gold mysteriously vanishes without a trace. MYDO (the Mysterious Yonder Defense Organization) is called in to investigate. The MYDO team, with their secret base disguised as an ordinary gasoline station, and their super aircraft, the Skyfish, set out to discover who is stealing the Earth’s gold.

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For today’s film review, I revisit “Ultraman Zearth”, an action comedy Ultraman film from 1996.

So, a little context of this film before my review.  For one, the film was released as part of the Ultraman Series 30th anniversary, as part of the Ultraman Wonderful World project.

The film was the first domestically produced Ultraman work since “Ultraman 80” (1980) and directing the film was Nakajima Shinya, best known at the time for his Suntory “Ice Gin” commercials.

The other thing to know is that the film featured the comedy duo Tunnels (Ishibashi Takaaki and Kinashi Noritake), Japan’s most popular comedians and they also had the long running variety show (“Tunnels no Minna no Okage desu”) and were also popular singers.

And on their variety show, the two were known to do parody skits involving Ishibashi as the hero and Kinashi as a Kaiju.  Such as their popular Devil Takaman, a parody of “Devilman” and other Tokusatsu parodies:

So, what if Tunnels continued this for a parody Ultraman film? Originally, Kinashi Noritake would be the protagonist, while Ishibashi Takaaki would be the evil character. But instead, comedy duo said their manager, Sekiguchi Masaharu should play the main character role.

But in order to pull this off, the film had to be shot with a low budget and to make that happen, they chose to shoot in 35mm film to reduce the budget. While most of the Ultraman and fighter aircraft scenes would be done in CG technology of the mid-90s. In addition, it was chosen to shoot the scenes in a non-urban area because of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake that rocked the Kansai region in July 1995.

The film would star Takaoka Yuka, Okubo Hiromoto, Iwata Takemura and the voices of Fukushima Mariko and would star Takeshi Kaga as the antagonist, Ogami Akuma (Alien Benzene).

To also promote the film, the comedy duo would feature Ultraman Zearth on Tunnels’ variety show and even brought the Ultra Brothers to make a guest appearance.

The popularity of the first film would ensure a sequel and at one point, a third film was planned but production was focused on the “Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light” film.

Now, while this was a considered a parody film, Ultraman Zearth would appear most recently in the new 2022 series “Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Destined Crossroad”.

The film would begin with an introduction to apprentice employee of a gas station, Asahi Katsuto.  Asahi is a germaphobe to the nth degree and often has trouble when a wealthy man, Ogami Akuma (portrayed by Kaga Takeshi) often comes to the gas station and disgraces him by putting mud all over the money or even to the point of rubbing it all over Asahi’s hands or face.

But because of his phobia and cleanliness, he is often teased by his co-workers Ohkohchi Shinpei (portrayed by Ishibashi Takaaki), Konakai Butsukichi (portrayed by Kinashi Noritake), Takemura Ganta (portrayed by Okubo Hiromoto) but the one that treats him nicely is his co-worker, Hoshimi Tohru (portrayed by Takaoka Yuka).

But what Asahi does not know is that his co-workers are part of Mydo, a division of the International Defense Force.

Ohkouchi is the Captain of Team Mydo and holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics, Vice-Captain Konakai is often joking around but is serious during missions, communications officer Hoshimi and computer analyst Takemura.

And the team is hired to find out why there is gold being stolen at various locations.

And while his co-workers go on missions, Asahi is often staying and cleaning the gas station and keeping his secret that he is Ultraman Zearth.

And while Asahi is often training as Ultraman, even that is difficult because he is a germaphobe and can’t stand it when he’s practicing and touches dirty things.

With the threat of a space alien and a Kaiju, can Asahi transform to Ultraman Zearth and protect people or will he let his phobia control him?

For the most part, “Ultraman Zearth” was hilarious and because I have grew up watching Tunnels and their variety show, originally I saw this film as an extension of “”Tunnels no Minna no Okage desu” because the whole concept of an Ultraman being a germaphobe and the way Tunnels reacts to things, it’s just so hilarious and fun.

And that craziness has continued on with Ultraman Zearth even today, when he fights and tickles people.  Zearth is so unlike other Ultraman characters, that I found it to be a breath of fresh air and downright absurd (in a good way).

But I really did enjoy this film for its crazy humor and if you are familiar with Tunnels and their tokusatsu skits on television, you will enjoy “Ultraman Zearth”.

Of course, for those outside of Japan may find the films just to cheesy or corny, but if you are open to Japanese manzai and can enjoy the humor of Ishibashi and and Kinashi, you may find “Ultraman Zearth” much better than expected.

For those who are wondering about the two films for “Ultraman Zearth”, you can purchase it as a DVD bundle or individually via streaming outlets.

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Click here to purchase this DVD on Amazon