Eizō Yamagiwa
In this TV series of the hit 1973 film, Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes shake Japan. Firestorms burn beautiful Japanese cities to the ground. A weather survey group discovers that the Japanese Archipelago is moving towards the Japanese Trench, which if left to continue on its collision course, would bring the whole island of Japan under the sea!
Ultraman Leo is an Ultra foreign to the Land of Light, instead hailing from the fallen Planet L77 of the Leo constellation, where he and his brother Astra were royalty. After his planet was destroyed by Alien Magma and his twin Giras kaiju, Leo traveled to Earth, intending to make it a second home. While there, he blended into human society as Gen Ohtori, and became a gym instructor at a fitness club for children. But, when the Alien Magma that destroyed L77 came to conquer Earth, he was forced to take action. Leo met Ultraseven during his initial fight against Alien Magma, and became the first Ultra Crusader of Earth to not hail from the Land of Light. Unlike most of the previous Ultras to visit Earth, Leo's fighting style specializes in martial arts giving him far greater physical abilities than any other known Ultras. Despite his foreign origins, he, along with Astra, were readily accepted into the pantheon of the Ultra Brothers. During his tenure on Earth, Leo and Seven became very close, and it was for this reason that Seven would eventually entrust the training of his son Ultraman Zero to Leo and Astra.
Kotaro Higashi trained to be a boxer, but after an icident with Astromons, he was killed. However, his body was brought to Nebula M-78 where Mother of Ultra saved his life by joining him with Ultraman Taro. Taro had spent many years training, honing his skills based on those of the other Ultra Brothers to become strong. The two returned to earth as a new kaiju era was beginning.
Yapool, an ancient interdimensional creature from ancient times with similarities to Satan and Legion, sought after the planet of Earth and tried to conquer it with a campaign that involved his experiments known as Choju. The first super weapon sent to Earth, Verokron, ravaged a city and took on TAC, a special forces unit created by the Self Defense Force to defend the Earth from Kaiju. Two of Verokron's unfortunate victims were Seiji Hokuto and Yuko Minami. Before they were dead long the first five Ultra Brothers, Ultraman, Zoffy, Ultraseven, Ultraman Jack, and Ultraman Ace, decided to revive the duo for trying to help young children get away from the Choju and to fight off Yapool's forces. Ace decided to be the one to go as he had both of them be his host. Yapool has used not only Choju, but also recruited other aliens, humans that sold their souls to him for Choju possession, and even himself to assassinate Ace and TAC only to be brought down in absolute defeat. After the destruction of one of Yapool's oldest Choju, Lunaticks, Minami revealed she was one of the last natives from the moon and gave her Ultra Rings to Hokuto as she had to leave, but she would return every once in a long while. Ever since Hokuto has been Ace's host and their efforts were just the same. Yapool became desperate by combining the bodies of a selected few to create Jumbo King only for him to fail and have Ace fly off to his home world of the Land of Light in M78. Ever since Ace has showed up to help later Ultras in their times of need.
This series is a follow up to the original Ultraman and Ultra Seven. The first episode begins with a fight between two giant monsters named Takkong and Zazahn, in Tokyo. Amid the monster destruction, young race car driver Hideki Goh is killed while trying to rescue a little boy and a dog from the falling rubble. His valiant sacrifice is noted by everyone, even his friends and the new defense force MAT, but an unseen being also takes notice. Looking over Hideki is "New Ultraman", also known as "Ultraman Jack", who is so touched by the race car driver's heroism, that he decides to combine his life force with that of Hideki, thus bringing him back to life (just like the original Ultraman did with Shin Hayata), much to everyone's astonishment. MAT then asks Hideki to join the team, which he does, especially since in this frightening new "Age of Monsters" Earth will need a savior. In times of crisis, Hideki Go will raise his right arm and, by force of will, transform into Ultraman Jack to fight monsters.
A leading postwar Japanese film critic and theorist who co-founded the seminal film magazine Eiga Hihyo (Film Criticism) in 1957, Eizo Yamagiwa made his directorial debut with this independent feature—long thought lost until a negative was recently discovered—about a group of idle bourgeois students known as the “Roppongi Tribe” (Roppongi zoku). Depicting the resignation and nihilism of the postwar generation in the years following the Anpo Treaty conflicts through a coming-of-age narrative, Yamagiwa offers sharp criticism of the prevalent characterizations of Japan's new youth offered by Nikkatsu's taiyozoku (“Sun Tribe”) films and the New Wave at large.
