On July 10th, 2022, which we celebrate here as Ultraman Day, the 10 Days of Ultraman ended with a bang, with Ultraman Connection Live: Ultraman Day! Coming right on the heels of Ultraman Rising: The TokuSHOUTsu Ultraman Day Special, fans took to Ultraman Connection, where the biggest show of the year so far was starting!
Maria Theresa Gow, who played Georgie Leland in Ultraman Gaia, took over hosting duties for the day from Sean Nichols, who was still on his way back from Ultraman’s massive takeover of Anime Expo earlier in the week. Thus, this special show was celebrating multiple milestones at once, including the premiere of the latest entry in the Ultraman Series, Ultraman Decker!
The show began with Maria Theresa welcoming the audience while explaining the history of Ultraman Day, the now-56th anniversary of Ultraman’s first appearance on television. She then introduced the panel for the event: four of the stars of Ultraman Decker! Hiroki Matsumoto (Kanata Asumi/Ultraman Decker), Yuuka Murayama (Ichika Kirino), Nobunaga Daichi (Soma Ryumon), and Sae Miyazawa (Sawa Kaizaki) all greeted fans in a combination of Japanese and English, immediately expressing their appreciation for the global audience that was watching their show on Ultraman Connection and the Ultraman Official YouTube channel.
The first segment of the show was a quiz game for the four panelists, the Ultra Dimension Challenge. The game involved drawing a mystery Ultra or Kaiju figure whose series is celebrating an anniversary and completing a corresponding quiz challenge. This hilarious segment had the actors answering trivia questions, drawing Ultras, miming Kaiju, with each actor trying to collect the most Dimension Card prizes from Ultraman Decker. After a tight race, Hiroki Matsumoto was ultimately crowned the winner with three Dimension Cards.
Next was a segment all about the plot and characters of Ultraman Decker. This involved the panelists reacting to clips from the show involving their characters, reflecting on what Ultraman means to them, and discussing their experience making the show. The four also recounted their reactions to being cast in Ultraman Decker, and their excitement for their new roles. The segment concluded with a trailer for the next episode of Decker, which will be streaming on next week and every week!
Suddenly, the studio was attacked by deadly Kaiju! Luckily, Matsumoto rushed onto stage with his character Kanata’s transformation device, the Ultra D Flasher, and transformed into Ultraman Decker. Almost immediately, the true masterminds of this Kaiju invasion, Absolute Tartarus and Yapool, arrived! (This was the first appearance of Yapool, archnemesis of Ultraman Ace that we can remember in a stage show.) The evil duo intended to travel back in time and prevent Ultraman Tiga from being revived, placing the entire timeline of the Ultraman Universe in jeopardy! Decker battled through wave after wave of monsters and aliens to stop this insidious plot, but he wasn’t alone!
As if drawn by the power of their bonds, heroes from all across the 56-year history of the franchise arrived to help! First, the Ultra Force of 1987’s Ultraman: The Adventure Begins, Chuck, Beth, and Scott arrived, helping Decker fight off Yapool’s initial assault. Ultraman Cosmos and Justice, of 2002’s Ultraman Cosmos 2: The Blue Planet were next to come to Decker’s aid, followed by the heroic Reionics Reimon and his partner Gomora from 2007’s Ultra Galaxy: Mega Monster Battle!
When Cosmos found himself targeted by Tartarus and old enemies Alien Bat and Hyper Zetton, his allies, Ultraman Zero and Ultraman Dyna arrived, and the three Ultras combined their power to create the mighty Ultraman Saga, last seen ten years ago, in the hero’s 2012 eponymous movie, and annihilated Bat and Zetton!
His pawns lost, Yapool attempted to destroy Decker one last time with his own claws, only to be destroyed yet again by his most hated foe, the Ambassador of the Galactic Federation, Ultraman Ace! The gathering of heroes was too much for Tartarus, who declared with some consternation that Ultras will appear in every dimension, before retreating to enact his next plan…
The studio segment concluded with the panelists thanking fans again for their support of Ultraman Decker! However, there was an extra treat for fans: a new announcement from Seismic Toys. Building off of the success of last year’s vinyl Jirahs, a beautiful new Sevenger vinyl was announced as part of the Ultraman Vinyl Odyssey collection! Also revealed to be on the way were Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman’s very first foe, Bemular.
Thus concluded Ultraman Connection Live: Ultraman Day and The 10 Days of Ultraman, but fear not: more Ultraman is on the way. The first episode of Ultraman Decker is available now on UltramanConnection.com and the Ultraman Official YouTube Channel, and new episodes will stream weekly on Ultraman Connection. And of course, for all things Ultraman Day and Ultraman Decker, stay close to Ultraman Connection!
