"Ultraman Series" 50th Year Anniversary Broadcast(「ウルトラマンシリーズ」放送開始50年記念, "Urutoraman Shirīzu" Hōsō Kaishi Gojū-nen Kinen), shortened as Ultra 50 is a project launched by Tsuburaya Productions in celebration to the 50th anniversary of the Ultraman Series' broadcast. The project was held in 2016.
Tsuburaya Productions announced the Ultra 50th project and launched a dedicated website alongside its promotional video on YouTube, which unfortunately was region locked.[1]
In Twitter, the hashtag Ultra 50th was made to pinpoint tweets regarding the series' anniversary by Twitter users.
January 27th
The Ultraman exhibition would be held in the Broadcast Library from February 19th to April 3rd.
February[]
Peko-chan cosplaying as Ultraman.
February 17th
Milky, a famous milk ball candy under Fujiya Co. celebrates its 65th anniversary. Said company collaborates with Tsuburaya Production's Ultraman Series in lieu to their coincidental milestone celebration. Milky (by extent Fujiya Co.)'s iconic character, Peko-chan can be seen cosplaying as Ultraman, performing the famous Spacium Beam stance alongside the original character. Aside from Ultraman, other characters also joined the collaboration such as Mother of Ultra, Alien Baltan and Gomora. It is noteworthy that this is not the first time Tsuburaya collaborates with Fujiya Co.. Back in the 1990's, Fujiya Co. release a chocolate confection based on Ultraman, packed with said titular character with ten Ultra Kaiju cards.[2]
February 26th
Go Beyond the Ultra.(ウルトラを超えろ。, Urutora o Koero.) is a special message sent by Shinichi Ooka, Tsuburaya Productions' current president. Said message as well had been given a dedicated website with Zetton's roar on the background. This message as well in tribute to Tetsuo Kinjo (born July 5th, 1938), one of the writers of Ultraman whom died in February 26th at the age of 37 years old.[3]
NOTE: The translations below are majorly from rough translations by Google Translate. Feel free to improvise the translation.
50 years ago, Ultraman was born by the hands of great talents,
beyond Japan, its a hero that spreaded beyond the world,
yet still loved by people.
Tsuburaya for now, still burn up the spirits of the Ultraman,
in the next 50 years, in order to produce a work that can entrust the future of the former,
the project to look for new talent, will begin from July 2016.
We are looking for great people that exceeded the potential of the Ultraman.
Waiting for a powerful talent like Zetton.
Today, we also celebrate the death of Tetsuo Kinjo since 40 years prior,
with great respect for all of those who supported the Ultraman series.
February 26, 2016
Tsuburaya Production Inc.
President Shinichi Ooka
February 28th
Bandai Premium and Bandai Fashion Net launches the Ultra Kaiju Silver Ring product. The first wave features the head of Alien Baltan, made from Silver 925 and sold at the price of 48,000 Japanese Yen.[4][5]
March[]
Promotional schedule change poster.
March 1st
New Ultraman Retsuden change its time slot airing from Tuesday 6:00 pm to Saturday 9:00 am.
Ultraman Theme Song Complete Works 1966-2016
March 2nd
Ultraman is getting a most impressive CD box set for its 50th anniversary Nippon Columbia. The five-disc set has over six hours of music with a total of 99 themes from the tokusatsu TV show and films. Ultraman X, Ultraman Ginga, Ultraman Retsuden, Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman Cosmos and more are included. The set costs 6,480 yen (US$57.50) and is currently available.[6][7]
March 3rd
Tsuburaya Prod. collaborated with clothing brand GU to release several shirts with the caricatures of the Ultraman Series characters drawn by artists.[8]
Ultraman Live Peace For the Earth festival is announced and will be held in August 6 and 27 at the Kanagawa Prefecture hall. Tickets were sold earlier to members of Tsuburaya Fan Club.[9]
Suehiro Maruo
Gen Miyamura
SSSP by Yutaka Nakae
GROOVISIONS
Enlightenment
March 4th
In March 12 and 13, Yokohama Doll Museum would display the Marusan company's action figure of the Ultraman line. Said figures as well are also at the same age as the Ultraman Series, 50 years old.
S.H. Figuarts line of Ultraman Series had been announced and is slated for release in July 2016. The products are below:[10]
Ultraman
Ultraman 50th Anniversary Edition
Alien Baltan
Option Act Building
Option Act Building Damage ver.
March 16th
The Ultraman Series receives its own version of Ukiyo-e sculpture art.[11]
Garamones, a band which consist of its members themed after Ultra Kaiju made their CD Debut.[12]
March 22nd
An art gallery which involves the Ultraman Series would be held at April 13 in Shinjuku Takashiyama.[13][14]
March 24th
Weekly news magazine Sunday Mainichi would release a bumper with Ultraman being portrayed at the front cover of the magazine's April 10th issue.[15]
March 25th
A mural of the Ultraman Series would be held in April 11 at Osaka, drawn by artist Yuji Kaida.[16]
