Ultraman Mebius & the Ultra Brothers is an Ultraman Mebius movie released in theatres in 2006. It is the 10th original film in the Ultraman Series, and like the main Ultraman Mebius series, celebrates the 40th anniversary of the franchise. The movie peaked at 3rd in the Japanese box offices.
Continuity[]
The movie was released in theaters the day episode 24 aired and takes place sometime before it and after episode 15, which introduced the Gun Booster.
Production[]
Like the television series, this film was produced as a commemorative work celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Ultraman series. It notably featured the return of several iconic heroes from the Showa era, including Susumu Kurobe from Ultraman, Kohji Moritsugu from Ultraseven, Jiro Dan from Return of Ultraman, and Keiji Takamine from Ultraman Ace as the main cast.
Initially, the film was planned as an independent story focused solely on the "Ultra Brothers" as protagonists, with the concept of "children living on Earth inheriting the power and mission of the Ultra Brothers." However, the final decision was to tie the film closely with Ultraman Mebius, and it was redefined as a movie adaptation of Ultraman Mebius. At first, the plan was to have a monster army as the antagonists, but this was later changed to feature the "Alien Alliance," comprising villainous aliens from the Showa era.
Due to the cancellation of the planned ULTRAMAN2: requiem, which was to be filmed in Kobe, this film was created to fill that void. It was set as a commemorative piece for the 10th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. With the full cooperation of the Kobe city authorities, filming began on November 24, 2005, and concluded on January 19, 2006.[1]
The shooting of the film actually began before the TV series aired. For the lead actor, Shunji Igarashi, this was his first appearance as Mirai Hibino. The film's production for the GUYS cast took place after filming episode 2 of the TV series.
Additionally, during the Ultraman series' 40th-anniversary celebration event held on December 7, 2005, not only were the actors appearing in this film present, but actors who played significant roles in the Showa series were also invited. Scenes from their past performances in the Showa era were also interspersed within segments of this film.
Plot[]
20 years ago, Ultraman, Ultraseven, Ultraman Jack, and Ultraman Ace fought U-Killersaurus, an extremely powerful monster that Yapool, who had returned, had created and taken the form of. Together, they knock the beast into the sea, but in order to stop him for good, they seal him away, sacrificing their ability to transform. They take up jobs to be in the area of Kobe to live their rest of the lives, as humans.
20 years later, Mirai Hibino travels to Kobe as a investigation. There, he meets Aya Jinguji, an oceanographer who is part of GUYS, and befriends her and meets her brother, Takato Jinguji who says that he hates team GUYS and Ultraman. Aya explains that 3 months ago, him and his pet dog, Art, were attacked by a Kelbim. This event traumatized him, as he felt powerless as Art was injured by the monster and also by the fact that team GUYS or Mebius did not come to save him. Art miraculously survived the incident, but Takato no longer wanted to take care of him.
Mirai and the four other Ultra Brothers in Kobe see an Ultra Sign sent by Zoffy, warning them of a new threat, calling themselves the Alien Union. This group consists of Alien Temperor, Alien Zarab, Alien Guts, and Alien Nackle, who are working together in order to revive Yapool. Alien Temperor appears first, fighting Ultraman Mebius but being defeated fairly easily. Mirai tells Takato that he is friends with Mebius and will tell him to show him a 'V' sign, which excites Takato, as Mirai believes that this could re-ignite his belief in Ultraman.
Aya is then captured by Zarab and tricks Mirai into drinking a weakening substance, that doesn't allow him to transform for some time. Using data collected from their battle, Alien Zarab disguises himself as Mebius. Ultraman Mebius works to destroy him and afterwards faces Takato, but before he can hold up the 'V' sign, Alien Guts appears and traps Mebius in a crystal, effectively defeating him. The sky turns dark and the civilians of Kobe lose hope.
The four Ultra Brothers debate whether they should save him, as it's unlikely they'll be able to do anything in their weakened state anyway. They decide that they are Earth's last hope, and must fight even though all odds are against them. They transform but Alien Guts and Alien Nackle easily fight them, showing how weak they have truly become. With their will to save Ultraman Mebius and Earth, they fire their beams at them and they topple to the ground, defeated. The four of them rescue Mebius and the day appears to be saved, until Alien Nackle and Alien Guts suddenly awaken.
It turns out they weren't yet defeated, and by capturing the four Ultra Brothers, the seal is removed and Yapool begins to awaken. It's now Mebius' turn to save his brothers and he does so by destroying Alien Guts and using the Mebius Punch on Nackle, leaving him lying in a crater. He saves his brothers, but Yapool has now fully awoken.
He re-appears as U-Killersaurus Neo, a much larger and stronger version of his original form. He destroys Alien Nackle, claiming that he was just a pawn, hypnotized to revive him. With all the Ultras weak from previous battles, it seems they have no chance, until Ultraman Taro and Zoffy appear, sending their powers to the five other Ultra Brothers, so that they can all fight with their full strength. All 7 Ultra Brothers battle the creature, but before Mebius can fire his beam, he notices that Aya is trapped inside the crystal on his head as a hostage. He tells the other Ultra Brothers to stop, so in response they all fuse together into Mebius and he becomes Ultraman Mebius Infinity.
With his new power, Ultraman Mebius destroys Yapool and saves Aya and finally holds up the 'V' sign to Takato, who once again believes in Ultraman.
Appearances[]
Ultras[]
- Ultraman Mebius
- Normal
- Mebius Infinity
- Ultraman
- Ultraseven
- Ultraman Jack
- Ultraman Ace
- Ultraman Taro
- Zoffy
Kaiju[]
- U-Killersaurus
- Normal
- U-Killersaurus Neo
- Yapool
- Alien Temperor
- Alien Zarab
- Alien Guts
- Alien Nackle
- Kelbim
- Neronga (Stock Footage Flashback)
- Red King II (Stock Footage Flashback)
- Pigmon (Stock Footage Flashback)
- King Joe (Stock Footage Flashback)
- Black King (Stock Footage Flashback)
- Alien Metron, Jr. (Stock Footage Flashback)
- Doragory (Stock Footage Flashback)
- Red Jack (Stock Footage Flashback)
Cast[]
- Mirai Hibino : Shunji Igarashi
- Shin Hayata : Susumu Kurobe
- Dan Moroboshi : Kohji Moritsugu
- Hideki Go : Jiro Dan
- Seiji Hokuto : Keiji Takamine
- Aya Jinguji : Aiko Ito
- Takato Jinguji : Ouga Tanaka
- Ryu Aihara : Masaki Nishina
- Marina Kazama : Ai Saikawa
- George Ikaruga : Daisuke Watanabe
- Konomi Amagai : Misato Hirata
- Teppei Kuze : Kenta Uchino
- Shingo Sakomizu : Minoru Tanaka
Guest Actors[]
- Kobe Mayor Matsunaga : Masami Horiuchi
- Assistant Official Kohda : Toshikazu Fukawa
- Mayor's Secretary Midorikawa : Mariya Yamada
- Masayoshi Hirokawa : Shingo Kazami
- Citizens :
- Kiyoshi Hikawa
- America Zarigani (Tetsuya Yanagihara and Yoshiyuki Hirai )
- Crowd, Worker : Kazuya Konaka (uncredited)
- Site Supervisor : Kiyoshi Suzuki (uncredited)
Voice Actors[]
- Zoffy : Hideyuki Tanaka
- Ultraman Taro : Hiroya Ishimaru
- Yapool : Tessho Genda
- Alien Zarab : Takeshi Aono
- Alien Guts : Piston Nishizawa
- Alien Nackle : Ryusei Nakao
- Alien Temperor : Daisuke Gori
Suit Actors[]
- Ultraman Mebius : Keiji Hasegawa
- Original Ultraman : Junya Soma
- Ultraseven : Katsuhiko Watanabe
- Returning Ultraman : Akashi Kajimoto
- Ultraman Ace : Keizo Yabe
- Ultraman Taro : Shun Kobayashi
- Ultraman Zoffy : Daisuke Fukuda
- Aliens and Kaiju :
- Tomohiro Nagata
- Hiroaki Nakamura
- Hiroshi Suenaga
- Makoto Ito
- Imit-Ultraman Mebius : Hidenori Ogino
Music[]
- Insert Theme
- believe〜Akiramenai De〜
- Artist: KIYOSHI
- Ending Theme
- Mirai
- Lyrics: MIKURO
- Composition: Kazuya
- Arrangement: Seiichi Kyoda
- Artist: KIYOSHI
Home Media[]
- Ultraman Mebius & the Ultra Brothers was released on January 26, 2007, in normal and Memorial Box editions by Bandai Visual.
- In November 23, 2023, the film is released in High Definition (albeit similar to the upscaled quality used in older films such as Ultraman Zearth) for the American market exclusive "Ultraseven 55th Anniversary Anthology" BD-and-DVD set by Mil Creek.
Streaming[]
For International streaming, the series can be watched on Tubi, Shout, and Vudu. To date, the movie has yet to be released on Amazon Prime Video in Japan.
In 2024, it was announced that the film would be exclusively streamed on TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION starting September 1.[2]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This film utilizes the original 16:9 version of the Mebius transformation rise scene.
- During the ending credits, footage of an Ultraman Series 40th anniversary party is shown. The event was attended by some of the film's cast members, in addition to Hiroko Sakurai, Yuriko Hishimi, Shunsuke Ikeda, Mitsuko Hoshi, and many Ultras in formal attire.
- The movie is streamed at Tsuburaya's official YouTube channel on September 16, 2021, as part of the series' 15th anniversary.
References[]