"Kindness, strength and courage have gathered here"
- ―Movie tagline
Ultraman Cosmos 2: The Blue Planet is a sequel movie to Ultraman Cosmos, was released in Japan on August 3, 2002.
One month later, a re-edited version of the film titled Ultraman Cosmos 2: The Blue Planet - Young Musashi Chapter was produced as an alternate version for the film in the wake of Taiyo Sugiura's arrest, replacing most of his on-screen scenes with newly filmed parts.
The movie can be watched on Tubi, Shout, Prime Video, and Vudu.
Production[]
This film serves as a sequel to the conclusion of the TV series Ultraman Cosmos, taking place two years after the series' finale. It also introduces a new hero, Ultraman Justice. Director Tsugumi Kitaura, who had previously served as assistant director for the first film Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact, directed this film as the lead director.[1]
In an interview, Director Kitaura revealed that the concept for this film was initially proposed during the production of the second episode of the TV series, with preparations confirmed in May 2001. His primary focus was on how to create a new image of Ultraman Cosmos while continuing the narrative established by the previous films and the TV series. Ultimately, it was decided to maintain the series' established worldview. Additionally, as the TV series finale left room for open-ended possibilities, they also considered the current status of the main characters.[2]
Screenwriter Hideyuki Kawakami noted that after receiving the project from Kitaura in March 2001, he discussed it with producer Kiyoshi Suzuki and traveled to Saipan for a location scout. Upon returning to Japan, Kawakami completed the initial draft of the script and invited Keiichi Hasegawa to join the project. At that time, Hasegawa had only written two episodes for the TV series but was unexpectedly contacted and invited to contribute to the film. Regarding the introduction of "Ultraman Justice," Kawakami explained that the concept was driven by the idea of adding a strong ally to help face formidable enemies, rather than having one hero fight alone. This cooperative dynamic added intensity and excitement to the story.[3]
At the request of the Marianas Visitors Authority, large portions of the film were shot on Saipan. Since the production overlapped with episodes 35 to 40 of the TV series, actor Taiyo Sugiura remarked that he rarely appeared in the show during this period, mainly participating in transformation scenes and related settings. For the underwater scenes in the first half of the film, the cast and crew obtained relevant certifications and used scuba diving equipment to film in the waters of Saipan, instead of relying on CGI.[2]
Before writing the script, the production team usually conducted a detailed location scouting process, deciding on settings in a methodical manner. However, this time, the approach was quite different. According to Hasegawa, Director Kitaura frequently made spontaneous requests during the scouting, saying, "I want to see this" or "I want to go there," which led to new ideas being added. As a result, nearly all the scenes were finalized only after returning to Japan.[3]
In the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States, heightened military concerns made the U.S. military more sensitive to aircraft flights. The production team had planned several aerial shots but feared they might have to cancel these plans. Fortunately, they were able to collaborate with the Marianas Visitors Authority, whose support allowed them to successfully arrange helicopter shots. Despite some calls to avoid filming abroad, one of the film's central themes was the "courage not to succumb to destruction," which motivated the team to complete the production on schedule without any changes.[2][3][4]
The TV series was originally scheduled to conclude in June 2002, and this film was intended to be released as a sequel afterward. However, due to an additional season being added to the TV series, the film was released before the series had finished airing. Furthermore, the lead actor’s arrest and subsequent controversies impacted the production, but the film was ultimately released as planned.[5]
Young Musashi Chapter[]
As previously mentioned, due to the mistaken arrest of the lead actor, Tsuburaya Productions temporarily created a substitute film. To replace Taiyo Sugiura’s scenes, Konnosuke Tokai, who had portrayed the young Musashi in the previous film, was cast as the lead. The entire movie was restructured from the perspective of Musashi as a child.
Following the resolution of the mistaken arrest incident, the official film was able to be released as planned, temporarily overshadowing the substitute film. Footage from this version was also utilized in flashback sequences during Ultraman Cosmos vs. Ultraman Justice: The Final Battle.
Plot[]
It has been a year since Musashi retired from being a Team EYES member and now he is finally pursuing his dream to become an astronaut. Musashi pilots his TECCH Spinnar KS-1 and went on a journey to Planet Juran. However, much to his horror, the planet appeared to be a reddish and dusty wasteland. Not only that, Parastan, the planet's protector died. Suddenly, a flying monster burst out from the ground and firing a reddish energy ball. As it is about to ram Musashi's TECCH Spinnar KS-1, Ultraman Cosmos appeared and saved him. As they dueled, Musashi found out that the monster is responsible for turning the Planet Juran into a barren wasteland via it's energy beam. Cosmos destroyed the monster, causing a giant explosion and quickly rescuing Musashi from the explosion.
Musashi attended his childhood friend's wedding and later witnessed a mermaid. One of his friends, Tutomo, mocks him for believing in a mermaid but Mari objects it, implied that Musashi might be speaking the truth ever since his first encounter with Cosmos. As it starts to rain, Tutomo cowardly hides under the table with Mari mocking him, causing Tutomo to take a nearby soda and spray it on Mari, starting a soda fight with his friend as they are watched again by the mermaid.
The next day, when Musashi and Mari went snorkeling, they discover a portal underwater and at the same time are ambushed by a stingray kaiju. As Musashi about to follow Mari, he is knocked down unconscious. Later, two figures approach to him. One a man and the other a woman/mermaid that he witnessed before. The man decides to eliminate Musashi for interfering with them but the woman objects, only too late as he already fired an energy blast at Musashi. He awakens at the hospital as his friends visits him but Mari was nowhere to be seen. Then, Kido, an original member of SRC and now a captain of Team SEA approaches him as he is glad that he survived. Musashi was taken to their base and revealed that the monster he encountered earlier was Reija, who was detected undersea a year ago.
They were interrupted by a warning where a monster named Scorpiss was entering the Earth's atmosphere. Musashi recognized him earlier for turning Juran into a barren wasteland and killing Parastan. Musashi is joined by Team SEA and they launch their TROY AS and TROY BS. As the monster is rampaging in the city, it begin to destroy a hospital that Musashi's friend resides in. Once they about to be killed, Team SEA fires a missile, bringing it away from the hospital. Reija appears and fights the monster but only to be overpowered by the menace. Musashi exits the TROY BS and brings his friend to safety.
There, he witnesses the mermaid, now having human legs fuses with Reija, turning the monster stronger but still, overpowered by Scorpiss. Musashi takes his Cosmo Stone and transforms into Ultraman Cosmos Skeleton Corona Mode. The phantom-looking Ultra rescues Reija and overpowers Scorpiss while destroying it with the Blazing Waze. However, all he foreseen was a dream and realizes that Cosmos will never return. Scorpiss retreats for a while and the mermaid reveals her name as Shau while telling Musashi that Mari is with her people.
Soon the Team SEA follows Shau and Reija to their hideout where a portal opens, leading to her people's hideout. Once arrived, they were introduced to Alien Gyashi, where their leader, Jin, holds a dislike towards humans for being selfish. Musashi encountered him earlier in a dream where he got destroyed by Jin. Mari appears and leads them to their base where she revealed that Child Baltan from 10 years ago was the one that brought her to this place.
Shau reveals that sometime ago, Sandros and his Scorpiss terrorized their planet and turned it into a wasteland. As the Alien Gyashi migrated, Scorpiss chased them and destroyed them. When Jin's crew are about to be eliminated, a being with a light silhouette destroys them and let the remaining Gyashi fly away safely. The being itself had been acknowledged as a God by their species.
A swarm of Scorpiss arise and begin on their journey to Earth in 7 days. Team SEA discuss this matter with Earth Defense Forces where they agree to have the Alien Gyashi assist them in protecting Earth from Scorpiss. 3 days before the Scorpiss invasion, SRC developed a force field to be used to defend the Earth from the monsters. Musashi receives a call from Mari to go to Space Zone. There he found Mari unconscious and Jin begins to attack Musashi for making Shau trust humanity. However, he stops when he realizes that Musashi didn't attack him and instead of never giving up that convinces him to trust humanity.
Developing a change of heart, Jin uses his power to complete the force field system, causing a giant shield to cover the Earth and protect it from a swarm of Scorpiss. Though proven effective, but a dark vortex empowered some Scorpiss as they were used to perform a kamikaze attack to destroy the shield and ease the invasion. Soon, Team EYES started to help as Musashi, their former team member was also involved in this operation.
After witnessing Shau and Jin's bravery, Musashi finally regains his bravery and calls on Cosmos once again. Cosmos appears in Eclipse Mode where he demolishes the entire Scorpiss before Sandros appeared and overpower him. Another Ultraman much like Cosmos, who is the legendary God/protector of Alien Gyashi came to Earth at the end of the Scorpiss invasion. Attacking the invasion’s forerunner, Sandros, at the moment it attacked Cosmos. The Ultra knocked the monster to the side. As it recovered, he delivered some of his energy to the weakened warrior, allowing them both to take on the vile monster.
As they did so, Sandros began to unleash its black cloud, blocking out the sun. In complete darkness the pair of heroes was attacked mercilessly by its energized blades. The foolish monster, however, eventually made a mistake. Charging up its fire ball exposed itself in the darkness, allowing both Cosmos and Justice to quickly fire off their Cosmium and Victorium Beams, annihilating the fiend and saving the Earth yet again. Cosmos separated from Musashi again as the Ultras leave and Jin is revealed to have survived from the Scorpiss attack thanks to Reija and that their experiment finally reached it's success.
Sometime later, Cosmos repairs the damage done by Scorpiss as he and the Alien Gyashi spaceship fly towards the sunset, ending the movie.
Appearances[]
Ultras[]
- Ultraman Cosmos
- Luna Mode
- Eclipse Mode
- Space Corona Mode
- Skeleton Corona Mode
- Ultraman Justice
- Standard Mode
Kaiju[]
Cast[]
- Musashi Haruno : Taiyo Sugiura
- Musashi (young): Kounosuke Tokai (Only for Young Musashi Chapter)
- Mari Kawase : Miho Nishimura
- Mari (young): Ayumi Uno (Only for Young Musashi Chapter)
- Alien Gyashi Jin : Masatoshi Matsuo
- Alien Gyashi Shau : Mai Saito
- Kido : Shingo Kazami
- Hyuga : Risa Saito
- Kanou : Nobuyuki Kase
- Makabe : Koji Nakamura
- Tsutomu Sasaki : Yasufumi Hayashi
- Shoji : Ryo Nitta
- Rita: Rowena Ogo
- Boys and Girls of Blue Area :
- Sanae Natsukawa
- Tomo Miura
- Yoshinobu Noda
- Taku Toyama
- Yuki Oruyi
- Naoki Tanoue
- Junya Yamamoto
- Yūsuke Takada
- Boy from Kitakyushu : Kanj Kubo
- Reporter: Aya Sugimoto
- Harumitsu Hiura : Daisuke Shima
- Shinobu Mizuki : Kaori Sakagami
- Keisuke Fubuki : Hidekazu Ichinose
- Koji Doigaki : Koichi Sudo
- Ayano Morimoto : Mayuka Suzuki
- Kinozaki : Ryo Kinomoto
- Akagi : Mio Takaki
- Hijikata : Akitoshi Otaki
- Inugai : Kyusaku Shimada
- Yujiro Haruno : Hidekazu Akai
- Michiko Haruno : Hitomi Takahashi (Only for Young Musashi Chapter)
Voice Actors[]
- Ultraman Cosmos : Tetsu Inada
- Ultraman Justice : Osamu Ryutani
- Shirubyi : Rina Mogami
- Sandros : Daisuke Gori
- Female Operator : Yuka Koyama
- Narration :
- Koji Ishizaka
- Kiyoshi Kobayashi (Special News)
Suit Actors[]
- Ultraman Cosmos (Space Corona Mode, Luna Mode, Eclipse Mode): Keiji Hasegawa
- Ultraman Justice, Ultraman Cosmos (Skeleton Corona Mode): Hidenori Ogino
- Scorpiss:
- Satoshi Yamamoto
- Shinya Iwasaki
- Sandros: Nobuhiko Tanabe
- Reija: Yosuke Saito
Staff[]
- Director and special effects director: Tsugumi Kitaura
- Screenwriters: Keiichi Hasegawa, Hideyuki Kawakami
- Head executive producer: Kazuo Tsuburaya
- Executive producers: Junichi Sakamoto, Satoshi Higashi, Ryohei Kakuta, Morihiro Kodama, Hiromi Kadokawa, Kyojiro Amano, Tsunekichi Kawai, Junichi Hamada
- Planning: Kazuho Mitsuta, Hideshi Miyajima, Atsushi Takeuchi, Kazumi Kawashiro, Tokuhiko Tani, Shiro Umemoto, Yoichi Takada, Masahiko Shiotani, Masanobu Takeda
- Supervisor: Koichi Takano
- Chief producer: Kiyoshi Suzuki
- Producers: Takeshi Yoshida, Akihiro Sato, Satoshi Kono, Yasuhiro Mase, Yoshihiko Marutani, Yoshimasa Mizuo, Michihiko Uzawa, Koichi Komatsuzaki
- Music Producer: Shizuka Tamagawa
- Music: Tatsumi Yano
- Cinematographer: Shinichi Ooka
- Art: Tetsuzo Osawa
- Lighting: Kazuo Takano
- Sound recording: Tomoharu Urata
- Practical effects: Izumi Negishi
- Assistant director: Tomoki Sano
- Action choreographer: Kunihide Kuruma
- Editor: Akira Matsuki
- Script supervisor: Kaoru Yamauchi
- Production manager: Hiroshi Ishiya
- Production cooperation producers: Hiroyasu Shibuya, Nobuyuki Koyama
- Planning cooperation: Naoyuki Eto, Takayoshi Kobayashi
- Backgrounds: Nisaburo Shimakura
- Underwater director of photography: Ryuichi Ichino
- CG production and Supervisor: Kenji Watanabe
- Visual effects coordinator: Koichi Sugisawa
- Sound design: Katsumi Ito
- Sound effects: Yasuyuki Konno
- Character designers: Chisato Sugiura, Yasushi Torisawa
- Image boards: Kenji Hashizume
- Title: Yukio Kumagai
- Title logo design: Kazuyuki Nakata
- Casting: Minoru Ando
- Assistant producer: Tokiaki Yamada
- Location cooperation: Saipan Island, Rota Island, Mariana Visitors Authority, Kitakyushu City, Kitakyushu Film Commission
- Ultraman Cosmos 2 Movie Production Committee (Tsuburaya Productions, Bandai, Bandai Visual, TBS, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Kodansha, Shogakukan, Seika, Shochiku)
Soundtrack[]
Soundtrack cover
The original soundtrack, based on the movie was available. The soundtrack featured scores by Tatsumi Yano and Llekazan (New Century Ultraman Legend soundtrack).
All titles are in Japanese, translation needed
Disc 1[]
- 震撼する宇宙
- ウルトラマンコスモス~君にできるなにか (主題歌フルサイズ) (Project DMM) (Something that can be Ultraman Cosmos - Kimi (theme song full size) (Project DMM)
- はるかな青き海に
- 宇宙怪獣襲来す
- 戦場の出会い
- 新世界への導き
- . 光り輝く神
- 地球人として
- 全地球防衛指令
- 戦渦の北九州
- . 天空への叫び
- エクリプス降臨
- 伝説の巨人・ジャスティス
- 旅立ちの時
Disc 2[]
- 新世紀劇場版ウルトラマン伝説~including「空想少年」(フルサイズ) (New Century Theatre Ultraman Legend ~ including "fancy boy" (full size)
- 新世紀劇場版ウルトラマン伝説ウルトラマン・エクササイズ(ラップ: Project DMM) (New Century Theatre Ultraman Legend Ultraman exercise (wrap: Project DMM)
- 新世紀劇場版ウルトラマン伝説~including「空想少年」(オフヴォーカル・ヴァージョン) (New Century Theatre Ultraman Legend ~ including "fancy boy" (off vocal version)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This film was the last movie to feature the first recording version of Ultraman Cosmos ~Something You Can Do~(~Kimi Ni Dekiru Nani Ka~) since The First Contact.
- This film also marks the first appearance of the new Ultra: Ultraman Justice, and Cosmos' new forms: Space Corona Mode, and Phantom Corona Mode.
- Some of the cast are former GUTS members and Super GUTS members, Captain Seiichi Munakata as the General of Team SEA, Captain Megumi Iruma was his assistants of Team SEA. Captain General Hibiki also appeared in the movie where his role was as the General of Team SEA army. Ryo Yumimura appeared as member of Team SEA, which they first appeared on Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact.
- Team EYES also returned in the movie, they appeared with the TECCH Jet and Tech Thunder TECCH.
- The sound for Ultraman Cosmos's Color Timer is that of Ultraman Dyna's instead of the regular sound.
- This movie was later referenced in New Ultraman Retsuden episodes 65-68.
- In the initial draft of the script submitted by Kawakami, all events in the film were set to take place on Saipan. However, it was later decided to include scenes filmed in Kitakyushu as well, so Hasegawa was tasked with adding the relevant Kitakyushu scenes. According to both Kawakami and Hasegawa, producer Kiyoshi Suzuki imposed numerous conditions at the time and suddenly insisted that "the film must be shot in Kitakyushu," which left them somewhat bewildered.[3]
Continuity Notes[]
Original film[]
- Parastan reappears in this movie since the 2-parter "The Battle with the TECCH Booster".
- Musashi's father; Yujiro, reappears in this film since his appearance in The First Contact.
Young Musashi Chapter[]
- Given that this was an alternate version of the film, it might have implied that the film took place between The First Contact and the TV series.
- Shau visits the past to let Musashi acknowledge/witness his future, a few days after The Blue Planet.
References[]