One of the highlights of a highlight-filled weekend at TsubuCon 2023 was the New Generation Live: The Stars special stage show. One of the hottest tickets on an already absurdly popular convention, fans got a chance to meet their heroes live — both in giant form, and as the performers that have made the New Generation of the Ultraman Series possible! Ultraman Connection was there, and have the scoop on what happened for all the fans that couldn’t make it to this one-day-only event!
The show started — well, it started before it started, actually, as the hostess for the event greeted fans young and old alongside her friend Pigmon from Kaiju Step Wandabada, a popular animated children’s show based on fan-favorite Ultraman Kaiju. By interacting with Pigmon, fans were able to learn how to “Ultra Charge,” sending their hopes and goodwill towards the heroes on stage, by helping to pep up Pigmon!
After that fun pre-show segment, the Live began in earnest, as the audience was greeted by an unexpected host — Ediom, the extraterrestrial artificial intelligence that had once posed a challenge to the Land of Light by stealing the history of the Ultras in New Generation STARS. Since that conflict, however, Ediom has changed his ways, and instead chose to bring a set of new stories to the audience, sharing history instead of taking it away.
The first of these new stories was one of Ultraman Geed, taking place well after he defeated his father, Ultraman Belial, once and for all. Fans were reintroduced to AIB agent Zena and his new partner Phillip, as they pursued a member of a Magma syndicate smuggling a Devil Splinter, the remaining chunks of the power and DNA of the villainous Ultraman Belial. Ultraman Geed, Belial’s clone and son, quickly got involved to prevent the legacy of his father being used for evil.
Geed pursued the Magma, only to discover the leader of the syndicate using Belial’s power to create a Giga Battle Nizer and become a Reionics, granting him power over Kaiju! Geed would have been overwhelmed if not for the sudden and timely aid of Ultraman Z, here to help his senior — for all you fans keeping track, this does set this story after the events of Ultraman Z and continues the Devil Splinter story that was shown throughout that series.
Though Geed and Z could defeat the Magma Reionics’s Kaiju again and again, the power of Rayblood surging through him ensured that the villain could resurrect his pawns again and again, slowly but surely wearing the two down — that is, until his own scavenged power became too much for him! Shrieking with pain, the Magma leader expired as his body mutated into a revenant of Belial Atrocious, only half-aware and groaning with pain. Geed, recognizing his father’s pitiful state, transformed into his Ultimate Final form and solemnly defeated the undead half-incarnation of his father, ridding the universe of one more Devil Splinter.
In the next story, Ediom took the audience to a story featuring Ultraman Zero — albeit, one that started without our main character! Instead, Ultraseven, Zero’s father, pursued an Alien Pitt criminal and her flunkies, only to be joined during the climax by not only Zero, but Ultraman Cosmos and Ultraman Dyna as well! Zero, Dyna, and Cosmos combined to become the unstoppable Ultraman Saga, and put a quick end to the battle — but the Pitt escaped, to report to her master… Alien Bat.
Bat commanded the Pitt to get close to Zero and take the Ultimate Bracelet, the key to his transformation into Saga, and Pitt agreed — only to notice the show’s hostess eavesdropping through a bit of fourth-wall breaking! Seeing her chance, the Pitt possessed the hostess, and used her to get close to Zero as he looked for his alien quarry and steal the bracelet! Taunting Zero, Bat then revealed that he had captured Dyna and Cosmos within a pair of Kaiju, making it utterly impossible for Zero to form Saga again!
However, with some aid from his father, Zero proved that the lessons he carried from his two friends stayed with him, transforming into his StrongCorona and LunaMiracle forms to defeat the Kaiju holding Dyna and Cosmos hostage. With his back against the wall, Bat unleashed his final Kaiju, the titanic Five King! However, there were now four Ultras battling together, and even Five King’s power could not hold for long. Five King was defeated, Zero recovered his bracelet, and the Ultras saved the universe from another threat — together, as always.
For the final vignette story, Ediom brought us to a world many international fans of the Ultraman Series have only gotten rare glimpses at — that of Ultraman Taiga! In it, post-series, the audience was reintroduced to Hiroyuki Kido, the human fourth member of the Tri-Squad, continuing his duties as a member of EGIS (Enterprise of Guard and Investigation Services). A routine mission for Hiroyuki went very wrong, however, when the suspicious people he was tailing turned out to be aliens! And not just aliens, but cultists, of Ultraman Tregear, the twisted Ultra who died by Hiroyuki’s hands as part of the New Generation Heroes, and his personal nemesis.
The cultists had a truly monstrous plan, fitting of their master — using Hiroyuki, they intended to resurrect Tregear around his hated enemy’s body, using him as a host! Worst of all, they succeeded, infusing Hiroyuki with the miasma of the interdimensional demon Grimdo and using the Tregear Eye to transform him! Once resurrected, Tregear responded to his supplicants fittingly — by murdering them, driving his hand through their hearts, and resurrecting them as tortured zombies. As he did so, he mocked Hiroyuki, still aware and trapped within him, intending to break his will by forcing him to watch as his own body was used to kill and destroy, before getting expelled from Tregear to be put down himself…
However, the bonds of the Tri-Squad remained long after Hiroyuki and the Ultras separated, and Ultraman Fuma, Titas, and Ultraman Taiga arrived to rescue their “buddy”! The Taiga Spark, the symbol of the Tri-Squad, was returned to Hiroyuki, and he bonded and transformed through each of his three friends before all four merged to form Taiga Tri-Strium! Still cursing Hiroyuki as he and his undead minions were returned to the earth, Tregear finally expired, leaving the Tri-Squad alone together. Having not been able to speak since their last separation, Taiga and Hiroyuki were fittingly bashful around each other, but as they separated again, Hiroyuki continued to hold onto the Taiga Spark — to his connection to his friends.
For the final segment, the fans were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime occasion — as Kaiju and aliens took the stage to take over TsubuCon, light after light arrived to save the convention! When we say everyone, we at Ultraman Connection mean everyone from the New Generation Heroes was here.
Takuya Negishi, AKA Hikaru Raido/Ultraman Ginga, Kiyotaka Uji, AKA Sho/Ultraman Victory, Kensuke Takahashi, AKA Daichi Oozora/Ultraman X, Tatsuomi Hamada, AKA Riku Asakura/Ultraman Geed, Yuta Ozawa, AKA Leito Igaguri/Ultraman Zero, Yuya Hirata, AKA Katsumi Minato/Ultraman Rosso, Ryosuke Koike, AKA Isami Minato/Ultraman Blu, Arisa Sonohara, AKA Asahi Minato/Ultrawoman Grigio, Yuki Inoue, AKA Hiroyuki Kudo/Ultraman Taiga and the Tri-Squad, Raiga Terasaka, AKA Kengo Manaka/Ultraman Trigger, Hiroki Matsumoto, AKA Kanata Asumi/Ultraman Decker, and even Tomoya Warabino, AKA Gento Hiruma/Ultraman Blazar arrived, joined by Ultraman Orb and Ultraman Z, and — well, when you have that many heroes, can any villain really compete?
Once the forces of evil had been soundly defeated, the scene turned genial, as each actor greeted fans and gave personal thank-yous for supporting them across the years. With that, there was nothing that could top such an occasion, so the curtains closed, and the audience could breathe, and finally use more than the edge of their seat.
New Generation Live: The Stars Edition was an unbelievable event, even among Japan’s many fantastic Ultraman live shows, but it was not the only part of TsubuCon. Check out the rest of our TsubuCon coverage to find out more about the Ultraman event of the year!
