1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Ancient Inspection presents Going Ultra. This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:18,000 Join me as I talk about Ultraman Academy, which is this new book series that I found out about today on July 10, 2024, which is Ultraman Day. 3 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:23,000 This news was shared by Jeff Gomez and it's from LicensingMagazine.com. 4 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:27,000 I'm going to read the article verbatim as I copy it over, and here we go. 5 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:31,000 So, the new Ultraman Ultra Academy. 6 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:35,000 I don't know how to text this way, you don't want to hear that. 7 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:39,000 Off the heels of a successful Netflix debut of Ultraman Rising, 8 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:47,000 Tsuburaya Fields Media and Pictures Entertainment and Sky Turtle Nova has announced Ultraman Ultra Academy, 9 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,000 the first American book series based on the Ultraman franchise, 10 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:57,000 set to hit retail wherever books are sold beginning spring 2025. 11 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:07,000 Fans can get an early preview of the series at T-Fest in Chicago during the Ultraman in America panel on Friday, July 12 at 10 a.m. Central Time. 12 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:15,000 There are even more exciting Ultraman stories on the horizon with the announcement of Ultraman Ultra Academy, a six-book series of middle-grade novels. 13 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:27,000 Sky Turtle Nova featuring a team of six young students learning the lessons of courage, hope, kindness, and creativity demonstrated within the Ultraman universe. 14 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,000 As the first American book series based on the Ultraman franchise, 15 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:40,000 the novels follow the students as they study Kaiju and try to help the special science search party SSSP and Ultraman find weaknesses in the beasts. 16 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:51,000 The young team will draw inspiration from the earthly problems that are giving rise to the monsters and from Ultraman himself as he attempts to restore balance to the world. 17 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:58,000 The Ultraman universe first debuted in 1966 in the television series Ultra Q, and over the last 58 plus years, you know this stuff already probably, 18 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:03,000 the Ultraman franchise has spawned a record number of television series, films, video games, and more. 19 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:12,000 The presence of Ultraman at GFest 2024 comes at a time of major growth and increased brand awareness of the Ultraman franchise sparked by the recent hit maker Ultraman Rising, 20 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:16,000 which landed on Netflix in June and has become a fan favorite and critical darling. 21 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:24,000 So this fan has Ultraman Rising as a favorite and I'm very positive towards it critically. 22 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:29,000 Yes, I have very positive critiques of it because it's a really good movie, really great story, and it's fantastic. 23 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:36,000 This article is a little strange. I don't know if it was auto-translated, if there was some sort of error when I, 24 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,000 I don't think there was some sort of error when I copied this. Sky Turtle Nova thing really throws me for a loop. 25 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:48,000 There's tags information here, and yeah, Sky Turtle Nova, Super Redfields Media, and Pictures and Entertainment. 26 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:58,000 I think I heard of Pictures and Entertainment before in, associated with Netflix, Ultraman Rising specifically, but I don't know for sure. 27 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:03,000 I can't remember. I'm not going to look into it. My thing that I'm most excited about and the thing that I want to talk about right now 28 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,000 is that I'm so excited for there to be these Ultraman books, especially because they're middle grade. 29 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:15,000 There was the Pat Caddington Ultraman novelization of the original series that I didn't end up reading, that I was going to, I didn't. 30 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:21,000 There's a couple reasons for that. One of them is that, well, you know, it doesn't matter why I didn't read that. 31 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,000 The thing is I could have and you still can, and I still can before these books come out, 32 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:29,000 and maybe the fact that these books are coming out gives me an extra incentive to that way I can say, 33 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:36,000 this is what this adult Ultraman book was like, and this is what this adult, this kids Ultraman series was like. 34 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:42,000 Ultraman, of course, on TV being a show for kids anyway, right? So what's wrong with that? 35 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:51,000 But I think there's a lot, there's a lot to be hopeful for, especially if, and the article is unclear about this, 36 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:58,000 if this is in association with Ultraman Rising, I think it'll be excellent. I think it'll be really, really good. 37 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:05,000 I think for potential spoilers for the future, potential future sequels, they shouldn't use this. 38 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:13,000 You don't want to make a prequel when you, you don't want to make a prequel to something when you're trying not to spoil stuff that's coming in the future. 39 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:18,000 That doesn't make sense. It'd be very complicated. It could be, also lead to weak storytelling where they're holding back on, 40 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:25,000 on reviewing things because they want to save them for the movie. So I hope that that isn't a problem. 41 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:31,000 But I hope that it's done with the spirit of Ultraman Rising because Ultraman Rising is an excellent movie. 42 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:38,000 I think Shannon Tindall is the writer. I don't know. But anyway, excellent work on Ultraman Rising. 43 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:43,000 But to make it clear, I was saying the writer of the film Ultraman Rising, not the writer of the book series. 44 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:52,000 We don't know who that's going to be unless Blue Sky Nova is the author. And I don't know who that is because I'm just not familiar enough with their work. 45 00:04:52,000 --> 00:05:01,000 But yeah, I mean, I'm hoping this is going to be excellent. I'm really interested in it because I've been thinking I want to make an Ultraman a writer in a Super Sentai book series. 46 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:09,000 And I have lots of ideas for how to do that. And I kind of wanted to do the John Doe thing and do this year. 47 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:18,000 I want to do a trilogy of books and it's going to be in the same universe for this ultra, this writer and the Sentai who are legally distinct from them, but definitely inspired by them. 48 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:30,000 We'll take on this challenge and then next year it'll be this challenge. So it'll be what did I say earlier? Stop signs, then baby shark, then whatever, weed whackers. 49 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,000 That's really stupid. 50 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:43,000 What I mean to say is if you wanted to have there be Ultraman where he's dealing, if you wanted to, I want to have like a coordinated theme tying together these three. 51 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:51,000 Tokusatsu inspired, Henshin hero inspired stories that I was planning on writing. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought, well, I don't know. 52 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:58,000 When I was a kid growing up watching Fire Rangers, I watched, you know, NPR at three seasons and there were cast changes and whatever. 53 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:08,000 As you carry through, it was the same core cast that went on these different adventures. Then they became Zio. 54 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:18,000 They went all the way to In Space and it was a subtle change over. But like up to In Space feels like, I think it's six or seven seasons and it feels like one complete arc, one complete story. 55 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:25,000 With all these characters, it's like the Zordon arc or whatever. The Zordon era of Power Rangers and that it switches and things start to get changed every year. 56 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:30,000 And then every year after that, they definitely switch cast. And I was thinking it would almost be cool. 57 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:41,000 And I like books that have like a long running series. It would almost be cooler if instead of changing every single year, I went ahead and had a longer story. 58 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:50,000 And I had this idea of doing something with my Ultraman like character who's legally distinct from yet inspired by Ultraman. 59 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:59,000 I was thinking I want to have him start off in the past and then go throughout time and then end up here in the future and have something cool happen. 60 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:07,000 And then when I saw Ultraman rising, I thought, huh, well some of the ideas I was thinking about having an old Ultra dude and then these new heroes and having them interact in a certain way. 61 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:13,000 Like a little bit of that's been done with this movie. But what I want to do is distinct from it. Very distinct. 62 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:19,000 Well, I would say just it's clearly distinct and it's not inspired by it. It's not a copy of it. So I don't think that'll be an issue. 63 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:27,000 Anyway, I'm just excited because if this isn't the zeitgeist, if that stuff's out there, I just finished a book today. 64 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:33,000 I just finished a book that writing a book and I'm going to get it through proofreading and editing and all that stuff. 65 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:42,000 And I want to get it out before the end of 2024 for sure. And it's got Tokusatsu inspired elements in it. 66 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:52,000 Plus Tokusatsu. There's a pair book, a book that goes with it as part of an overall series that does get into much more Tokusatsu inspired stuff. 67 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:57,000 And it's got a kid transforming with a monster basically into a fighter. 68 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:06,000 And I believe the climax is they end up kicking a villain out of this world and into his own world where he came from. 69 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:12,000 So there's also some Digimon there. But I think Digimon is very inspired by Ultraman and other Tokusatsu stuff. 70 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,000 And that's kind of what I did too with this other book series. 71 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:24,000 But yeah, I would love to take this one book that I have launched this year, finish the second book within a month or so, get that one going, 72 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:30,000 and then set those aside and start working on my Tokusatsu stuff. 73 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:38,000 I actually have a High Fantasy book series idea too that I might need to work on first. 74 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:47,000 But if the Tokusatsu book thing is in the zeitgeist, I might be able to do my High Fantasy, do a single book for that, 75 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,000 and then jump back in and do my Tokusatsu inspired, my Henshin Hero inspired stuff. 76 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,000 And I just think that'd be great because I have a big idea for it. 77 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,000 And I was thinking too, originally just the trilogy of books. 78 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:02,000 And then the more I thought about this idea, I thought, well this Ultraman, this giant hero idea that I have, 79 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,000 that's two, three, four, five books alone. 80 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:12,000 And I could make it an eight or ten book series or whatever and have it go through the history of this world that has these Tokusatsu hero elements in it. 81 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,000 And I could really make something interesting. 82 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,000 And I think this Ultraman book series is going to be interesting. 83 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:20,000 I think I'm definitely going to buy this. I think I'm going to be reading it to my kids. 84 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,000 I told my son about it and he got excited, so that's pretty cool. 85 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:27,000 And yeah, so I'm looking forward to this Ultraman book series. I hope it's great. 86 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:31,000 And I hope it's as good and done with the same type of spirit as Ultraman Risen. 87 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,000 Ganbare! 88 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,000 I hope you enjoyed that. Subscribe to keep up with me. 89 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,000 Like and share to help me reach more people like you. 90 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,000 And go to MJMunoz.com to find your next favorite thing. 91 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,000 And don't forget to let your voice be heard. 92 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:48,000 Stories are always better when you're part of the conversation. 93 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,000 Until next time, be well. 94 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,000 This is MJ signing out. 95 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,000 This has been a Story Over Everything production.