Shout! Factory Obtains Ultraman Streaming Rights
 

Ultraman will be added to TokuSHOUTsu this November!

https://variety.com/2020/digital/asi...ek-1234702280/

Oh heck yeah, that's great! Kamen Rider's awesome and all but it's hardly all of Toku; great to see a bit more diversity and from a different company at that :D

This is great! Now we won’t be subjected to endless replays of Ultraman Leo on Tokushoutsu! I swear to god, that’s always what’s playing whenever I switch that station on, and it’s Not Very Good.

Hooray! Next is Metal Heroes right? Right??

I miss Metal Heroes.

Nice. Glad to see Ultraman getting more exposure.

I'm glad this is a deal with Mill Creek and not a change in licensing. I like Shout Factory, but I'm still annoyed that they're not doing physical releases of Kamen Rider and Kuuga.

Really excited to see Nexus among all the titles listed.

Nexus is actually the show I planned to have be my first proper Ultraman show, so this is great news for me!

It's a little hypocritical of me to say this, since that was my first show, but I still think Nexus is a really weird entry point to Ultraman. It's a good show, but it's also really different from the rest of the franchise in terms of tone. It's like getting into Kamen Rider via Amazons or Sentai via Akibaranger. Not bad, but a real outlier.

That's actually exactly why I chose it, haha. From what I've been told, Netflix Ultraman is "different in a bad way" whereas Nexus is "different in a good way" so I think it'll be interesting for me to compare the two. Especially since I didn't care for Netlfix Ultraman at all.

As fun and unexpected this news is, it does beg a significant question: what about the digital redemption code for Movie-Spree? I've got some of the disks and used the Movie-Spree redemption to keep from abusing the disks! Does this deal scrub that or leave it be? A drawback to the Pluto channel will be ads, which don't exist when you have already bought and redeemed something.

The article implies that the Mill Creek VODs will remain intact.

I don't have anything particularly meaningful to add, but this is definitely something worth expressing some generic appreciation for. More ways to officially watch tokusatsu is always good news!

Is there any reason to assume that the deal affects future disk releases and their potential redemption codes?

It'll be great to have Ultra on the same app as Kamen Rider and Sentai. I've been meaning to check out more Ultraman (already watching Z on youtube).

I don't know.

So aside from the Rider stuff on there and the Ultra stuff coming, is there anything else on Tokushoutsu? Did they put any of their Sentai subs on there for instance?

Yes. Current viewing list on channel: Ultraman Leo, Kamen Rider (1971), Kamen Rider Kuuga, Jetman-Hurricanger, and talk show "Let's Talk Toku". Odds are good to Heisei Generations Forever as well.

Aaah, so they DID put their Sentai stuff on there! I was thinking it'd be odd if they didn't considering it's right there. With the Ultra stuff coming this is gonna be a super rich library...

At this rate Shout might become the definitive source of subbed toku!

Well... that depends on how big their library gets; in particular there's only two Riders so far. And unless they get into simulcasting, fansubbing is gonna remain big for new Sentai and Rider episodes.

I’d actually like to see Spider-Man added

Conflicts with Disney+! If Disney thinks for two seconds that uploading the Japanese Spider-Man would attract subscribers, they would put it there. With the rumor that the Toei Spider will appear in the next Spider-Verse, the possibility of Disney uploading that series is neither high nor low. Casual viewers may not know the character and giving them a means to look at him and Leopardon is advantageous from a marketing standpoint.

They've gone ahead and announced their first batch coming on November 1st -- Ultra Q, Ultraman (1966), Ultraseven, Ultraman Orb and Ultraman Geed. This also included Orb and Geed's movies. A bit lopsided towards two particular eras, but still a great starting lineup that I believe mirrors which series Mill Creek put out first.

Side note: this article has perhaps the worst way of describing Geed to any newcomer that I can think of.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...09/unknown.png

https://nerdist.com/article/ultraman...gn=social+flow

That's great, more shows that Europe will never see. Stupid US exclusivity.

Yeah, I'm excited to see this; but not so excited that I won't be able to join in :/

Interesting to see a pretty big amount of X footage in that considering X isn't part of their initial lineup.

Also, uh, kind of sad to see the answer to "why we love it" being... stuff getting destroyed and cameos.

Hey so people that have this, how are the movies for X and Orb organised? Are they just their own separate thing, or are they in the X and Orb series listings somehow?

The movies are off under their own listings. And, uh, I'm assuming you meant Geed and Orb here, by the way.

Absolutely did! Just had X on the mind, as one always should

Three more series have been added -- Return of Ultraman, Ultraman Orb Origin Saga, and Ultra Orb Fight!

https://twitter.com/tokushoutsu/stat...24756954972161

Good! Haven't finished Seven yet, so I'm not ready for Return/Jack, but Orb Origin is surprisingly deep.

Ultra Fight Orb is just blatantly fun for fun's sake. Reibatos recently had a cameo in The Absolute Conspiracy!