It’s like going back to the Saturday mornings of our youth! The English-dubbed version of Ultraman Z will stream on the Official Ultraman channel on YouTube every Saturday morning at 10 AM EST, starting this week on April 8th!
To celebrate the series, Ultraman Connection reached out to the cast and crew of the dub, with a few key questions. This week, we’ll show the first part of the fantastic answers we got!
Zeno Robinson, Playing Haruki Natsukawa (Twitter: @childishgamzeno)
What do you have to say about your role?
Haruki is very polite, kind, energetic and empathetic and I love those traits about him. He does whatever he can to help others, and even empathizes with his enemies. He has a really good heart and I relate to him in all of those ways. So it’s been really easy for me to connect to Haruki as a person. Kohshu Hirano is such a fun actor to watch and I love his energy.
I’ve been having a lot of fun with the fight sequences and figuring out how to play the comedic bits! Ultraman Z is voiced by my good friend Matt Shipman, so it’s been a dream getting to be his partner in the show and listening to his incredible work! I’m looking forward to seeing how the plot gets deeper over the course of the season.
What is your favorite episode or scene of the series?
So far my favorite episode is “His Majesty’s Metal”, the one where they crossover with Riku, AKA Ultraman Geed! It was really cool seeing a lot of the elements of the growing plot come together, like Juggler’s giant form and Ultraman Zero and Riku and Haruki fighting together! I love stuff like that!
What’s your favorite memory of Saturday Morning TV?
I would love waking up in the mornings and first thing, making myself a bowl of my favorite cereal. I would flip between channels to catch my favorite cartoons and shows, like Yu-Gi-Oh, Megaman NT Warrior, Shaman King, Static Shock, and Power Rangers!
This show really reminds me of those days, especially when I used to watch Power Rangers (which I know is also tokusatsu), and then try to imitate the action moves they would do, haha! It’s fun, energetic, larger than life and epic!
Any other thoughts?
As a big fan of both Tokusatsu and Saturday Morning Cartoons, and as someone who grew up with them, I’ve been having a blast working on the dub of Ultraman Z!! I’m having a lot of fun playing Haruki, and I’m a big Ultraman fan, so I’m gonna keep doing my best to bring the best work to the show!
Matt Shipman, Playing Ultraman Z and Adaptive Writing (Twitter/Tiktok: @MattShipmanVO)
What do you have to say about your role?
I love Z, he’s so multi-faceted! He’s heroic and passionate, but he can also be awkward and eager to please. He’s a reliable superhero, but he’s also relatable and wet behind the ears, despite being thousands of years old, haha. I am a huge tokusatsu fan, and have been my whole life. Playing Z is quite literally a dream come true. And to get to do it alongside my buddy Zeno as my partner Haruki? Even better!
What is your favorite episode or scene of the series?
I’m also on the script adaptation team for Ultraman Z, so I watched the whole show before working on any of it, and it’s hard to pick a favorite episode, but here’s a quick story. I believe all the ultra’s signature sounds are kept from the original version, but early on we weren’t sure if Beta Smash’s more intelligible vocalizations counted, so we recorded them for safety.
There’s a line right after the form’s debut in episode 3: “Ultraman Z... Beta Smash!” and a battle effort immediately following it, as Z does a dropkick. That dropkick was in slow motion, and after I performed a long, held-out kiai, a wave of emotion washed over me. It felt like I had come full circle from punching and kicking the air on my front porch as a kid after watching an episode of Power Rangers. Nowhere but tokusatsu do you get those long battle cries over slow-mo footage.
That’s when it really hit me what we were working on, and even though I don’t believe that recording is in the final version, I’ll always remember episode 3 for that.
What’s your favorite memory of Saturday Morning TV?
As a kid, I’d be the one to wake up my friends at the sleepover so we could watch our favorite shows on Saturday mornings. Then when I visited Japan in 2019, I made sure to wake up to watch the Super Hero Time block. Can’t wait to wake up and watch Ultraman Z now!
Any other thoughts?
This show is a lot of fun, and our team is really pouring our blood sweat and tears into the English version. I hope you check it out whether you’re an Ultra-newcomer or an Ultra-veteran!
Mick Lauer, Playing Shota Hebikura/Jugglus Juggler (Twitter: @RicepirateMick)
What do you have to say about your role?
Juggler has been one of the funnest roles I’ve ever had the honor and pleasure to voice. Between his down-to-business captain persona and his ultra-cool-dude darker side, recording sessions have been as unpredictable for me as I’m sure they will be for audiences watching it.
What is your favorite episode or scene of the series?
There are so many favorite moments… but if I had to choose one, it’s when Juggler goes undercover to collect info from the lab. That and Juggler’s laugh…and his face. Juggler makes so many funny faces.
What’s your favorite memory of Saturday Morning TV?
As a child of the 80’s, Saturday morning cartoons were what we looked forward to all week: Transformers, The Real Ghostbusters, Gummi Bears, Tail Spin, Thundercats — the list is endless and so are the memories. And honestly, a huge reason (if not the main one) why I became a voice actor.
Any other comments?
I hope audiences enjoy watching the show as much as I loved recording it. There’s just so much wonderfully campy fun, perfectly wrapped in that old-school Saturday morning vibe.
Mallorie Rodak, Playing Yoko Nakashima (Twitter: @mall0rie)
What do you have to say about your role?
Yoko Nakashima is such a dynamic character and it’s been a joy to help bring her to life for English audiences. She’s such a strong lead and I admire her tenacious spirit.
What is your favorite episode or scene of the series?
My favorite part about working on Ultraman Z has been meeting the kaiju monsters each episode. My favorite kaiju so far have been Neronga, Red King, Peguila, and Gomora. I even got a Neronga figure who watches over me in my home recording booth.
Any other thoughts?
A big thank you to the Ultraman fans for your warm welcome into the community! I can’t wait for you all to hear this incredible English cast. I’m so grateful to be a part of this series.
Macy Anne Johnson, Playing Yuka Ohta (Twitter: @macyyyanne)
What do you have to say about your role?
When I got the audition for Yuka, I knew I needed to go all out! She is such a zany character and I’ve had a ball matching actor Kuroki Hikari’s amazing energy. Yuka is not only hilarious, but intelligent! Playing both sides of this character has been an exciting challenge.
What is your favorite episode or scene of the series?
The most fun I’ve had recording was in episode eight when Yuka and Yoko take on the aliens! Any time Yuka geeks out over aliens is my favorite.
What’s your favorite memory of Saturday Morning TV?
I always watched TV on Saturday mornings with my little brother growing up! Pokémon and SpongeBob were our favorites. My parents would sometimes get donuts to eat while we watched! Blueberry cake ones are the best.
Any other thoughts?
Thanks a million to the awesome dub cast and crew! A special thank you to the Japanese cast and crew for creating such a fun show to work on! I feel so lucky to be a part of this show, especially as this incredible character.
Kevin K. Gomez, Playing Riku Asakura/Ultraman Geed (Twitter: @kevinkgomez)
What do you have to say about your role?
I really like Riku! He's a kind guy just trying to do what's right, despite his circumstances, and I found him to be genuinely admirable. Plus, he has a really neat jacket.
Working on Ultraman Z and playing Riku has been an absolute joy. I've been a huge fan of tokusatsu shows for nearly my whole life, mostly familiar with Power Rangers and Sentai, but I did catch Shin Ultraman when it was in theaters here and really enjoyed it. It was a great crash course of the world of Ultraman, and I didn't think I'd be working on an Ultraman show not long after that!
To be able to do classic toku attack call outs, power up yells, and to transform?! It's been a blast.
What is your favorite episode or scene of the series?
In terms of favorite scenes, Episode 7 comes to mind, that scene with the three Ultras fighting together was ultra hype, especially with that great sunset backdrop and the amazing stunt work and visual effects, just really beautiful stuff.
That or doing the transformation sequence (which I probably rehearsed to myself like a hundred times before recording). I think we got it in one take, but I would've willingly spent a whole hour just doing that haha.
What’s your favorite memory of Saturday Morning TV?
I feel like my Saturday morning TV mainstays were anything that popped up on the old Kids WB or Fox Kids. Pokémon, Power Rangers, Digimon, Jackie Chan Adventures, Static Shock, Xiaolin Showdown, all the fun stuff.
I loved getting up early in the morning and catching up on those. I actually remember, at some point as a kid, I was taking Tae Kwon Do classes for a good while and got pretty far in the belt rankings...but they were on Saturdays! At some point, I was missing those lazy mornings with the TV, so eventually I quit that to get it back haha. I wonder if they'd let me pick up where I left off…
And I don't remember if it aired on Saturday mornings, but I do remember watching the old Ultraman Tiga dub back in the day. (Editor’s Note: It did!) Kind of a neat full circle moment to now be working on the dub of Z!
Any other thoughts?
I hope you all enjoy the show, and to those who have seen it before, I hope you're able to enjoy it in a new way! As a fan of toku, it's been surreal to be able to work on a project like this, and I did my best to put all my heart into those toku attacks and shouts. I'm new to the world of Ultraman, so I'll be checking this out along with everyone else!
Next week, we’ll be taking a look at the rest of the cast and crew for Ultraman Z’s English-language dub. Be sure to come back and check it out! And make sure you don’t miss the premiere of the Ultraman Z English dub this Saturday, April 8th, at 10 AM EST!
