Ultraman on way out?
 

My first Toku show was Ultraman as a kid in the mid to late 70s. I knew that it looked like the Godzilla movies that played on Sunday mornings and nstantly grabbed my imagination. I loved it. I followed every series that came here Seven on TNT wnd Tiga on Fox. And then I went looking for Japanese episodes, subbed or otherwise, I've been known to watch and consume whole seasons in raw Japanese. That's how I watched Nexus the first time, which incidently is still my favorite modern Ultra serie. But, now the seasons are shrinking, the show s are not being exported to the west, despite a huge uprise in Kaiju interest since Pacific Rim, and n unbelievable uprise in Super Heroes.

The Crunchy Roll Simulcast is great.

But, there isn't even a dedicated section for Ultraman on this forum, despite him being arguably the FIRST Tokusatsu hero.

Is X the begining of the end? After the 50th Anniversary are we going to say goodbye to the Big U.

Will Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad and poorly dubbed half of Tiga the last we in the West might ever see?

I'm worried.

Ok first of all Ultraman has never been a yearly series like say sentai. There might be some spurts where there might be 3 or 4 shows in a row then there be nothing for a while. Second, tokusatsu, not really all that big over here in the states. Most of the american public, no matter the series, just look at the sets and rubber monsters and go "Oh it's just Power Rangers", so Ultraman not having his own forum section is not that surprising. And honestly, Ultraman, despite being one of the first, Is not really all that popular compared to sentai and kamen Rider, especially over here. And considering Tysubura's financial condition last I heard, these shorter series do sort of work in their favor n a way.They can keep the Ultra brand fresh and in the minds of the general public, plus theydon't have to commit to a 39-50 plus episode series. Not counting the two co-productions, one with Australia with Ultraman Toward the future aka Ultraman Great and with a Us company Ultramab the Ultimate Hero/ Ultraman Powered, both lasted 13 episodes for various reasons.

What I'm trying to say is Ultraman is going to be fine, he's a national Icon over there. He's not going to go away forever, they may let it rest for a while but he will be back.

Ultraman will persist. It's the original tokusatsu series and has a huge legacy. The problem is that its parent company, Tsubaraya, has been involved in a huge legal battle with Taiwanese company Chaiyo over the rights to the first six series for the last couple decades. The back-and-forth fight has put a big drain on Tsubaraya's finances and they don't really have the budget to go toe-to-toe with the Toie shows anymore.

Most Toku shows don't really get exported to the west, so it's not really too surprising that Ultraman is less popular here. Sentai is popular due to its association with Power Rangers, and Kamen Rider is generally popular in many markets where Toku has a presence. Like scikaiju said, Ultraman also isn't a yearly series, so that alone contributes to its lesser presence.

But don't fear, I'm sure it still does rather well in Japan, and in fact might be due for a resurgence. I was in Tokyo, and the major toy stores all had a dedicated section to Ultraman X. There was considerable promotion, it's not something tucked away and known only to fans. In fact, the Toys R Us I went to had a more prominent shelf presence for X than Kamen Rider Drive (but that may be because X is still new and Drive is finishing up).

Just a minor correction, Chaiyo is a Thai company.

I couldn't remember if it was Taiwan or Thailand and I was in a hurry so I just guessed.

Gekko Kamen (Moonlight Mask), Golden Bat and Super Giant (Starman) predate Ultraman as early Tokusatsu heroes. Anyways, I don't think Ultraman is going to die out soon. If Ultraman X does well then maybe we will get a second season or another new original Ultraman show.

Funny enough that Ultraman is unpopular with the Western toku fandom, but Ultraman gets a lot of attention on places like Toho Kingdom and Monster Zero. Kamen Rider is hardly talked about on Toho Kingdom and Monster Zero. I think people love giant monsters in general love Ultraman, but don't care for Sentai and Kamen Rider. People like Kamen Rider and Sentai, don't seem to care for Ultraman.

Thanks for the great responses, everyone. The situation doesn't seem as dire anymore.

I used to think Ultraman was actually on the way to dying out, but I think it was just because I wasn't a huge Ultra fan when they stopped doing yearly series ala rider/sentai.

When I found out about stuff like Ultra Galaxy and all these films I see it as them streamlining their content into more higher quality outings. Though I will say that Ginga was quite frankly the cheapest piece of shit I have ever seen from a major toku company, that was the only time I thought (after learning more about ultraman) that the series was in dire straits, thankfully the quality picked up in the next season (or so I've heard no subs meant no watching for me) and the fact that it's now being picked up by Crunchyroll I think means that Ultraman may be starting to have a healthy recovery.

True, I am a devoted Ultraman, Godzilla, Gamera, and Pacific Rim fan. I don't really feel the need to get into Kamen Rider or Super Sentai (although I do want to see the many showa series' of both.) I don't post a lot of stuff on this site, as 98% of the topics don't interest me.

It is true for alot of people. I´m mainly a Rider/Sentai kinda guy but I enjoy Kaiju stuff as well. With Ultraman I always and to a certain extend still have a problem getting into because of the fights. Having Ultraman be fast and agile fighting a godzilla style monster that is moving rather slow really doesnt excite me the way it does in other tokus.