Mysterious Countdown Begins on 'Ultraman' Manga Site; Major Announcement to Come When Clock Strikes Zero
An unlabeled countdown page has mysteriously begun at the official "Ultraman" Manga site. Additional details reveal that an important announcement is coming when the clock reaches zero at midnight JST on Nov. 30 (effectively Friday, Dec. 1).
The countdown was launched along with a teaser announcement via the series' Twitter page that a major announcement is about to be made through Shogakukan's "Monthly Hero" magazine.
The manga series created by Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi is a sequel to Tsuburaya Productions' 1966 live-action special effects television series, "Ultraman." It began serialization on the first issue of "Monthly Hero," which came out in December 2011.
Over 2.4 million copies of the series have since been printed in Japan, with an 11th collective volume scheduled for release on Tuesday, Dec. 5. Viz Media has also been publishing the manga series for North American audiences.
The story follows Shin Hayata's teenage son, Shinjiro, to whom he has passed on the "Ultraman Factor" he got from the Giant of Light decades ago. The world has been at peace for many years after Shin, a.k.a. Ultraman, defeated the monstrous Kaiju creatures that threatened to destroy the Earth.
But in the shadows of this peaceful existence lurks a brand new threat that can only be matched with a brand new kind of Ultraman — a role that only Shinjiro may be able to fulfill.
Shimizu and Shimoguchi, who have previously worked together on "Linebarrels of Iron," are also scheduled to appear for an autograph session at the upcoming Tokyo Comic Con 2017, which will be held at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture from Dec. 1 to 3.
Flyers for the convention also tease an important announcement happening on the first day of the event. What new project are the two authors working on and what details will they be revealing about it once the countdown ends?
