Trivia / Ultraman Z

• Acting for Two: In the English dub, Patrick Seitz voices both Beliarok and Ultraman Belial.
• Actor-Inspired Element: Juggler's transformation into Zeppandon in Episode 5 had him address all three kaijus with the -san honorific in the script. However, Takaya Aoyagi felt it would be strange for Juggler to refer to Maga-Orochi, a monster he had a hand in hatching back in Ultraman Orb, with an honorific, and as such the honorific for Maga-Orochi was dropped in the final version.
• All-Star Cast: The English Dub cast boasts various talents in Matt Shipman (Ultraman Z), Zeno Robinson (Haruki), Mallorie Rodak (Yoko), Macy Anne Johnson (Yuka), Mick Lauer (Hebikura), Sean Schemmel (Ultraman Zero), Patrick Seitz (Ultraman Belial and Beliarok) and Christopher Sabat (as the Narrator).
• Ascended Meme: Show in episode 13, when Kanegon sees Beta Smash during the clipshow, he freaks out and says ‘It’s that scary Red guy!’ Beta smash has already been compared to Redman before, and this solidified it with a friendly nod to Redman’s reputation on the internet as the heartless Kaiju killer. Taken further in Sevenger Fight episode 7 appropiately called "Return of the Red Guy" in which Beta Smash becomes a full-blown stand-in for Red Man complete with brutalizing Kaiju by throwing them off cliffs and impaling them.
• Creator Cameo: The late Kota Fukihara had a voice role as one of the members of Monster Research Centers in episode 1 who scolded Kaburagi for accidentally tripping one of the drums for Genegarg's remains. He makes his physical role as a researcher in episode 8.
• Creator's Favorite: Bako's actor, Jun Hashizume is very fond of Sevenger and owns a lot of the SAA unit's merchandise, even posting photos on his Twitter account.
• Demand Overload: Just a week after the first episode of Ultraman Z, Sevenger sofubis were sold out in Japan toy stores.
• Died During Production: Ultraman Z was penned down entirely by both Kiyotaka Taguchi (director) and Kota Fukihara (writer) after rewriting their own drafts for the entire series when Tsuburaya's original draft was quickly declined. Fukihara died in May 2020 from brain hemorrhage, a month just before the premier of the first episode of the series, but he managed to get all 25 episodes finished written in time.
• Doing It for the Art: Ultraman Z as a whole is entirely pitched under this trope when Kiyotaka Taguchi and the late Kota Fukihara took the risk of writing the entire series composition from the ground up, rejecting the original plan that Tsuburaya initially had for the series.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Tasuku Hatanaka, the voice of Ultraman Z, sings the second ending theme, "Promise for the Future".
• In Memoriam: As he passed away a month before the series premier, Kota Fukihara was credited for his involvement in the series as a whole and was given a tribute at the end of the final episode.
• Promoted Fanboy: Matt Shipman is a known tokusatsu fan, and voicing a tokusatsu hero is a dream come true for him.
• Prop Recycling:
  • Genegarg was modified from Magata no Orochi.
  • The Z Lance Arrow is a modified Orb Slugger Lance.
  • Grigio Raiden is a repainted Grigio King with a new core part attached to the cannon.
  • Metsuboros reuses Galactron MK2's mask and Gillvalis' forearms.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • The scene in episode 12 where Kuriyama was scolding Haruki, everyone except Hebikura can be seen maintaining their distances, implying this was shot sometime after the filming restrictions from COVID-19 took place. A similar case happened in episode 13, where Haruki made a social distancing joke.
  • The reason Baraba was used instead of other, less obscure Terrible-monsters is because nearly all of their suits are too deteriorated for filming; the only suit still in good condition is Aribunta, who appeared last year in Ultraman Taiga.
• The Red Stapler: Due to Toyota LQ appearing as STORAGE's Cool Car STEGG, this increases the demand of a toy car of said model from Takara Tomy, Bandai's rival.
• Role Reprise:
  • Mamoru Miyano returns to voice Zero and Tatsuomi Hamada returns to portray Riku Asakura.
  • Episode 5 reveals that Takoya Aoyagi is also reprising his previous role, Jugglus Juggler, instead of portraying a new character.
  • Keiji Takamine reprises his role as Ultraman Ace, returning to voice the Ultraman.
• Throw It In!: Alien Barossa's Pokémon Speak was decided on after Kota Fukihara overheard fellow writer Takao Nakano note that tokusatsu villains like Doruge or Emperor Bamba who speak this way don't appear anymore.
• Wag the Director: In Taguchi’s outline for the series Z was supposed to kill Guesra and Takkong after Ultroid Zero was downed in episode 23. But episode director Koichi Sakamoto noted that Haruki and Z killing two monsters that could be calmed down was out of character for that point in the series, and changed the script so that they simply departed. Taguchi was impressed with Sakamoto’s attention to a detail he’d missed.
• What Could Have Been:
  • A promo that was uploaded to Youtube to build up hype for the show translated Haruki's Catchphrase as "Yep!" instead of "Kay!" for whatever reason.
  • Z's Beta Smash transformation had it's mask originally colorless. It was series director Kiyotaka Tiguchi that came up with the idea with the face also being painted red.
  • Tsuburaya Productions initially had an entirely different plan for Ultraman Z than what we were shown on the final product. It was rejected by Kiyotaka Taguchi for the above reasons.
  • According to Taguchi, had Takaya Aoyagi refused to return as Juggler, then he would have scrap the character's involvement in the series altogether.
  • The suit for Ultroid Zero was initially meant to resemble Z, but since the titular character's popularity was yet to be determined, he was changed to Ultraman Zero. Additionally there were plans to modify the suit for Darklops Zero into this, but the production crew took a step further by creating the suit from the ground up.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Takaya Aoyagi, the actor for Jugglus Juggler, appears in this series as STORAGE's captain Shota Hebikura. Subverted when Hebikura is revealed to actually be Juggler, making this a case of Role Reprise instead.
  • The unnamed pilot for King Joe STORAGE Custom in episode 22 is played by Hideyoshi Iwata, who previously played Alien Shadow Zena and is the suit actor for most main Ultras, including Z.
  • A few members of the English dub cast had roles in Okratron 5000's dub of Shin Ultraman:
    • Matt Shipman, the voice of Ultraman Z, played Kagami.
    • Jim Foronda, the voice of Ultraman Taro, played a government official.
    • Charles Campbell, the voice of Ultraman Ace, played Taishi Okuma.

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