Ultraman will debut a new trading card game in November at the Anime Festival Asia convention in Singapore before the TCG’s distribution in Japan, North America, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia in 2024.
Tsuburaya Productions made the reveal via the Ultraman Card Game‘s official website. The TCG officially arrives at the anime convention in Singapore, which will run from Nov. 24-26, 2023, at the Suntec City venue, before international distribution begins in the summer of next year.
Tsuburaya Productions’ description of the Ultraman trading card game reads, “Ultraman Card Game is a trading card game that combines the worldbuilding of the Ultraman series with gameplay and collectability that can be enjoyed by both children and adults. The cards are designed with high-quality artwork to express the appealing elements of Ultraman’s appearance, power-ups, special moves, and type system.”
Eiji Tsuburaya created the original Ultraman. The Japanese science fiction media franchise, which began with Ultra Q and 1996’s Ultraman television series, eventually gained global fame and became a pop culture phenomenon. The franchise has since expanded into numerous television shows, films, comic books and other media publications, becoming one of the most prominent productions in the Japanese kaiju and tokusatsu superhero genres, effectively pioneering the Kyodai hero subgenre. The Ultraman series centers on a fictional alien race of superheroes who often combat kaiju or other aliens.
Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi wrote and illustrated an Ultraman manga, which began serialization in the first-ever issue of Monthly Hero’s magazine, published in November 2011. The Ultraman manga, a sequel to the 1966 television series, was transferred to the Comiplex website when Monthly Hero’s ceased publication in October 2020. The first collected standalone volume was published in September 2012, and the Ultraman series has been collected in 19 such volumes thus far. Production I.G and Sola Digital Arts co-produced an anime adaptation of the Ultraman manga, which Netflix released released in April 2019. The anime ran for three seasons.
In 2020, Marvel Comics began publishing a new Ultraman comic book limited series titled The Rise of Ultraman, penned by Kyle Higgins and Matt Groom with art by Francesco Manna. The trio of creators returned for a second series titled The Trials of Ultraman, which premiered in March 2021. A third series, The Mystery of Ultraseven, arrived in 2022, with Davide Tinto, David Lopez and Gurihiru replacing Manna on art duty.
Ultraman Card Game will debut in November 2023.
Source: Ultraman Card Game official website
