This score is seriously deep-cut stuff.
And no wonder—this is an entirely new Ultraman built on the roots laid down by director Anno, an Ultraman otaku himself.
The music itself is handled by Shiro Sagisu, continuing on from Evangelion, but most of the tracks included are pieces from Ultra Q or Ultraman.
What's more, the names of kaiju that don't even appear in this film come spilling out one after another, which is irresistible for fans.
Red King, Baltan, Kemular's theme... K-Kemular?!
Let me give a quick refresher on Shin Ultraman. Shin Ultraman is a reboot film of Ultraman released in 2022, directed by Shinji Higuchi, with planning and screenplay by director Anno. It carries the subtitle 'A Fantasy Special Effects Film,' and the Color Timer—the source of Ultraman's life—doesn't exist.
The story is set in a Japan where giant unidentified creatures called 'S-Class Species (kaiju)' have appeared and caused damage. The Japanese government established the Disaster Prevention Agency's S-Class Species Special Countermeasures Office (abbreviated as the SSSP) to deal with them. Amid this, when the kaiju Neronga appears, a mysterious giant flies in from beyond the atmosphere, repels it, and departs. Meanwhile, as the giant descended, Shinji Kaminaga of the SSSP, who was protecting a child who'd failed to escape in time, shielded the child from the impact and died. The giant, an alien from the Land of Light, takes an interest in humanity upon seeing Kaminaga's self-sacrifice, merges with him, and comes to be called Ultraman.
If anything, the appearance rate of aliens is higher than that of kaiju, with the likes of Alien Zarab and Alien Mefilas showing up.
And an Ultraman ally named Zoffy appears as well. Zoffy refers to Zofy, who—back when Ultraman was airing in real time—was introduced via a misprint as a crested alien who brought along Zetton. In the original Ultraman, he comes to rescue Ultraman after Ultraman is defeated by Zetton, but in Shin Ultraman, he actually deems Earthlings dangerous and brings Zetton along himself. Ultraman, once defeated, gathers the collective wisdom of humanity and challenges Zetton again, but... oops, did I spoil too much?
As I mentioned at the start, the score uses a great many melodies from Ultraman and Ultra Q.
The composer for Ultra Q and Ultraman was Kunio Miyauchi, and quite a few of his pieces are used in this work too.
For instance, track 16, 'The Mummy's Cry / Sortie (M4T2),' is probably referring to the kaiju known as Dodongo. You might mistake it for Jamila, who is weak to water, but it's Dodongo. Jamila's theme is 'My Home Is Earth / The Invisible Enemy (L10).' The subtitle 'My Home Is Earth' is famous.
So, I agonized over which to play, but since everyone surely loves Jamila more, let me deliver 'My Home Is Earth / The Invisible Enemy (L10).'
And the other composer is the aforementioned Shiro Sagisu. Famous for music like Evangelion, he participates in this work too.
They're all masterpieces, but this time let me have you listen to something like track 29, 'L'invasion du silence: quatuor (The Silent Invasion: Quartet).'
Well then, let's part ways with the Shin Ultraman trailer.
Quoted from the official site https://x.com/shin_ultraman
