From glasses boys to younger brother characters, anthropomorphic characters to shota ......, "ULTRAMAN" is a remarkable comic that is actually full of male characters.

Motion Comic" is an animated expression that adds color, sound effects, dialogue, and movement to manga drawings. It is a medium that allows a deeper reading of the manga, different from both animation and drama CDs. It is a new genre of content that, despite being a manga, can be expressed in a manner similar to animation, and has quickly gained popularity over the past few years.

ULTRAMAN," the signature manga of "Heroes Monthly," has also been published as a motion comic since 2014.
As the title suggests, "ULTRAMAN" is a modern-day Ultraman based on the special effects work "Ultraman," which began airing in 1966. Although it seems to be a work for men, it was actually created with the eyes of female readers in mind. We interviewed Ms. Ai Kawaguchi of the editorial department of Heroes, the monthly magazine that launched the series, to find out the message behind the work, expectations for female readers, and various other aspects of the work's appeal.

--The manga "ULTRAMAN" is based on the tokusatsu work "Ultraman," but it is a story with a completely different worldview. How did you decide to serialize it?

The magazine is called "Heroes Monthly," so we are always making stories about various heroes, and in Japan, the most famous hero is Ultraman. He is so famous that every Japanese person knows him. And since our company is a group company with Tsuburaya Productions, we decided to create a new Ultraman. Ultraman is different from "Ultraman" for children; it is an Ultraman for adults. We started by suggesting that if Susumu Hayata (Hayata Shin), the first Ultraman, had a son, a history different from that of the current Ultraman brothers might have been born. However, the original story was "Ultraman," and at first I targeted only male readers. But perhaps because of our stoic approach, the number of female fans is gradually increasing.

--Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi are a famous duo who also drew "Tetsu no Line Barrel.

Originally, I had a different project in mind for the two of you. One day I said to them, "We have an Ultraman remake. I asked them in a casual way, "What should we do?" They said, "I don't think it's absolutely impossible to remake Ultraman. The two of them had watched reruns of "Ultraman" as children, and they said, "Ultraman is all too complete in terms of story content and design. How are you going to move that?

- because they knew how great "Ultraman" was, they said it was impossible to make it into a comic book.

But you both love American comics as well as special effects, don't you? When I said, "American comic book heroes fight in life-size suits," and "A life-size hero like in American comics sounds interesting," you responded.

--I had no idea that American comic books were a hint. So that's why the Ultramans in "ULTRAMAN" don't grow to a giant size.

That's right. I think the popularity of the giant Ultraman characters was due to the time period in which they were created. Ultraman was the hero of the high-growth period. But people today are ultra-realists, and the most important thing is to be within a 3-meter radius of themselves. I was relieved when they told me that they wanted to do a completely new interpretation of the hero that would fit such an era, and since they are both popular and talented, I was already relieved.

--Did Tsuburaya Productions accept your idea of creating a new hero with a different image from the original Ultraman?

The artists came up with an illustration of Ultraman standing on top of a building as an image of the world. When Tsuburaya Productions and our editorial department saw it, everyone had no complaints. We decided to go with it. It was such a convincing picture. Tsuburaya Productions said, "We'll leave the content to you," partly because you are such a talented artist.

--Tsuburaya Productions was very generous. Tsuburaya Productions didn't make any requests?

They just asked us not to be too worldly when we touched on Ultraman. The first Ultraman was Ultraman, not a human being. If we wanted him to appear in the film, we were asked not to make him say anything too human-like. But the Ultraman transformed by Shinjiro Hayata, the main character in "ULTRAMAN," is human, so it's okay. So I was allowed to work quite freely.
From the content of the story and the way the characters are used, they know that we are Ultraman-loving writers, so they let us work freely. The setting is completely different from the original.

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