Another year has come and gone, and all of us at Ultraman Connection find ourselves reminiscing and looking forward to what is coming in 2026. Here are some of our holiday wishes to all of you in this, the final days of 2025.
Evangelia Artemis, Writer
This has been such a special year for Ultraman in the west! Between all the nominations for Ultraman Rising, the release of Ultraman Omega, and Ultraman literally coming to America for the Ultraman Live show on the East Coast, there’s been so much love lately. My wish for this holiday season is for long-time fans and new gens alike to keep engaging and enjoying Ultraman proudly. There is nothing more magical than seeing everyone come together to enjoy a good story and I can only hope for more opportunities to do so.
Jeff Gomez, Producer
This year, so many of my dreams for Ultraman have come true! In the months after Starlight Runner joined forces with Danny Simon and his team to work with Tsuburaya Productions, we put two important items on our Ultraman wish list. The first was that we all wanted to see a trading card game featuring all the Ultra Heroes and Kaiju come to the west. And second, we wanted Americans to experience the Ultraman live battle stage experience. Under the guidance of David Kornblum and the team at Tsuburaya Fields Media & Pictures Entertainment, we got both in 2025!
True highlights of the year for me included working with some of the top comics artists in the country to create original images for the Ultraman Card Game, including some all-time personal favorites like Art Adams, Colleen Doran, Bob Eggleton, Doug Wheatley, and Sean Chen. There was Kaiju Brooklyn, where all of Starlight Runner joined forces with John Bellotti and our New York fan base for enormous fun. Then there was G-Fest, where I got to meet and interview onstage the revered original Ultraman suit actor Bin Furuya and Akiko Fuji herself, Hiroko Sakurai. (Promoting the first Ultra Academy hardcover and watching Ultraman wallop Jirass in person were added bonuses.) On the comics front, we got to see Ultraman Taro take down Galactus with one shot in Ultraman X Avengers (er, he got up again pretty quick), and Spider-Man ride the Interdimensional Train to visit the Giant of Light in Ultraman: Along Came a Spider-Man.
Finally, and most astonishing, was Ultraman Live! Exactly 50 years ago, as a little kid I got to watch tokusatsu superheroes come from Tokyo to the Honolulu International Center to put on a thrilling battle stage show. My mind was completely blown. In that moment, I promised myself that one day in some small way I would be involved in doing this again and making these events popular in the United States. This past November thousands of people got to see Ultraman Live, teaming Ultraman, Ultraman Zero, and Ultraman Omega against Ultraman Belial and his cadre of monsters. It was a smash, heralding the arrival of the Ultra Series across an array of streaming and VOD channels. Special thanks for all of this to DK, Lora, Makiko, JD, TJ, Danny, Carrie, and the team at TFM, to my Starlight Runner team Mark, Chrysoula, EJ, and Evangelia, and especially to you the fans. I think about you every single day because I know what it’s like to be you. Together let us fill the world with courage, hope, kindness, and imagination…
EJ Couloucoundis, Editor-in-Chief
Every day for seven years now, I have walked in the footsteps of giants. Not just the Giant of Light, of course, though of course he’s the reason we’re all here. I’m talking about the incredible writers and producers I get to work with through Ultraman Connection, the tireless ambassadors at Tsuburaya Fields Media, and the people who make it all happen at Tsuburaya Productions.
In a truly strange year full of changes and growth, I feel like I finally got to get just a bit closer to the Land of Light that all of us are traveling towards in a few ways.
The first one, of course, is the incredible first year of the Ultraman Card Game. I’ve always been a big TCG guy, and getting to mix my hobbies, my passions, and my work has been at times surprising, at times stressful, and always gratifying. To my friends at Silk who I got to play with almost every week for a year, I miss you and hope I’ll sit across from you soon. To every player I’ve met out there, I thank you sincerely for giving our game a chance, and I hope you get a chance to beat me black and blue and earn your own Zetton too.
The second was Ultraman Live. What can I even SAY about that show? It was bigger than life, bigger than I could have dreamed. More than seeing Omega, Zero, and Ultraman battle Belial, what blew me away were the little moments — Zero walking alongside a young girl as they walked the halls of American Dream (Leito would have been proud, buddy), Dada quite literally lounging with fans who came from Kaiju Brooklyn, and mystified looks on children’s faces from all around as they discovered their new favorite hero.
As the calendar changes to January 2026, the Ultraman Series turns 60 years old. Almost twice as long as I have been alive, Ultraman has been protecting the world. And I get to be part of it every day. The tagline for the celebration is “With U”, and I am inclined to agree. I’m on this journey with you. With Ultraman. And I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Ultraman Connection will resume posts in 2026.
