TSUBURAYA CONVENTION 2021 SPECIAL PROGRAM

TSUBURAYA CONVENTION 2021 SPECIAL PROGRAM
Information
Type	Conference
Location	Online
Duration	December 13, 2021
Organized by	Tsuburaya Productions
Event Series
Previous	TSUBURAYA CONVENTION 2019
Next	TSUBURAYA CONVENTION 2023

TSUBURAYA CONVENTION 2021 SPECIAL PROGRAM, often shortened to TSUBUCON 2021 , is a conference event that was held on December 13, 2021 at 17:30 JST, arranged in place of a full TSUBURAYA CONVENTION after its cancelation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While members of the press attended in-person, the conference was livestreamed to fans on Ultraman Connection and TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION for free, and a digest video of it was uploaded on YouTube with English subtitles on December 17. Analogous to TSUBURAYA CONVENTION 2019's opening ceremony, it featured announcements and new information on Tsuburaya Productions' upcoming projects from 2022 onwards.

Event

Following a montage of Tsuburaya's various works, as well as Ultraman, Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Trigger appearing onstage, the conference began with Tsuburaya Productions' representative director and CEO, Takayuki Tsukagoshi, explaining the circumstances behind the event and what it would entail. He also introduced a new 15-second intro showing the Ultraman logo, to be played at the beginning of their films and promotional videos.

A video message from John Aoshima and Shannon Tindle, the directors of an upcoming Ultraman film to be released on Netflix, was then played. The film had been previously announced on May 14, 2021.

After explaining the "New Generation Ultraman" series with a montage video, Tsukagoshi introduced a new spin-off of Ultraman Geed, a comic called Another Gene illustrated by artist duo Gurihiru and to be exclusively released on TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION. An interview with Gurihiru was announced to release on the same platform on December 17. More details on the comic were eventually announced on March 11, 2022.

Next, Tsukagoshi talked about TSUBURAYA IMAGINEERING, a project based around creating immersive experiences with cutting-edge technology. A trailer for INTO THE STORY: Ultraman Trigger -The Ultra-Ancient Treasure-, an interactive livestream event under this new project, was shown, having previously been announced on November 25, 2021. Although this was the first unveiling of TSUBURAYA IMAGINEERING, the name was trademarked in 2018, and projects prior to INTO THE STORY such as Kaiju Haven are considered parts of it.

Lastly, Tsukagoshi introduced the "Hero Project" with a video of people from around the world describing what the word "hero" means to them.

The next part of the event had Sean Nichols and Maki Sawano serving as hosts. They announced Ultraman Trigger: Episode Z with a new trailer, before introducing three cast members from the film as guests, Raiga Terasaka, Kohshu Hirano and Yuichi Nakamura. Sean asked the trio various questions, such as their thoughts on being cast in the film, their characters, and the fact that "Believer", a song sung by Terasaka released on the single for "Asu Miru Mono-tachi", would be movie's theme song. Sawano also explained that the film would be released on TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION and in theaters on March 18, 2022. Hirano and Terasaka then performed their transformation poses, and were joined by Ultraman Z and Ultraman Trigger onstage, in addition to Evil Trigger. The segment concluded with the cast members giving a message to fans looking forward to the movie.

The next portion focused on the then-upcoming second season of the ULTRAMAN anime, which was first announced in June. Ryohei Kimura, the series' leading voice actor, came onstage to speak about the new season, unveiling a new key visual and introducing a new antagonist, Alien Pedant, voiced by Junichi Suwabe. Video messages from the series' two directors, Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki, were also shown, where they described their excitement for the story. Further information was to be revealed at another event on April 10, 2022. Lastly, the ULTRAMAN iterations of Ultraman and Ultraseven came onstage, and they were joined by the debut of a new live-action Ultraman Ace Suit. Kimura joined them in posing for photos, then gave a final message for the fans of the anime.

The following part was about a new Gridman film, tenatively titled GRIDMAN×DYNAZENON. After a teaser trailer and visual was unveiled, its director, Akira Amemiya, spoke about the film, mentioning that the same staff from the series had returned for the movie, and that he was pleased that his work on Gridman had continued past the first series. Live-action suits of Gridman and Dynazenon also appeared onstage. The film was eventually titled GRIDMAN UNIVERSE in August 2022.

Koichi Noguchi and Masahiro Onda, producers at Toei Animation and Tsuburaya Productions respectively, then came onstage to discuss the KAIJU DECODE project. Noguchi wore a VR headset as they spoke about KAIJU DECODE VR animation, and it was announced that the 8 minute KAIJU DECODE short film, which had been shown internationally at film festivals and won awards, was releasing on TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION shortly after the convention's end. Although they mentioned planning for the project's next phase, no further news on KAIJU DECODE has been announced since, other than more showings in 2022.

The final part of the ceremony centered on Shin Ultraman. A new trailer was shown, revealing the release date to be May 13, 2022. The film's director, Shinji Higuchi, and leading actor, Takumi Saitoh, talked about the movie, namely the new trailer and a visual for the movie. The name of the film's protagonist, Shinji Kaminaga, was also revealed for the first time. Additionally, Bin Furuya, the suit actor for Ultraman in the original 1966 series joined them onstage. After the guests gave their final messages, the conference concluded with TSUBURAYA CONVENTION 2023's announcement.

Guests

• Takayuki Tsukagoshi (representative director and CEO of Tsuburaya Productions)
• Sean Nichols (host)
• Maki Sawano (co-host)
• Raiga Terasaka (Kengo Manaka in Ultraman Trigger: Episode Z)
• Kohshu Hirano (Haruki Natsukawa in Ultraman Trigger: Episode Z)
• Yuichi Nakamura (Ryuichi Tokioka in Ultraman Trigger: Episode Z)
• Ryohei Kimura (Shinjiro Hayata in ULTRAMAN)
• Akira Amemiya (director of GRIDMAN×DYNAZENON)
• Koichi Noguchi (producer at Toei Animation)
• Masahiro Onda (producer at Tsuburaya Productions)
• Shinji Higuchi (director of Shin Ultraman)
• Takumi Saitoh (Shinji Kaminaga in Shin Ultraman)
• Bin Furuya (Ultraman's suit actor)

Gallery

Images

Videos

【開催決定!】「TSUBURAYA CONVENTION 2021 SPECIAL PROGRAM」12-13(月)オンライン生配信・無料公開!!

Trailer

ウルトラマン、ティガ、トリガー、夢のコラボで決めポーズ！「TSUBURAYA CONVENTION 2021 SPECIAL PROGRAM」

Introduction featuring Ultraman, Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Trigger

「TSUBURAYA CONVENTION 2021 SPECIAL PROGRAM」12-13にオンラインで開催された円谷プロラインナップ発表会のアーカイブ配信!【ダイジェスト版】

Full digest video

CGアニメ長編映画『Ultraman (原題)』円谷プロダクションとNetflixが共同製作！監督- シャノン・ティンドル、共同監督- ジョン・アオシマからのメッセージを公開《ダイジェスト版》

Digest video of John Aoshima and Shannon Tindle's video message

Trivia

• On the same day as the digest video's release, the official Ultraman YouTube channel reached 2 million subscribers.
• The New Generation Ultraman video was created and narrated by Yuichiro Yokoyama.