Trivia / Ultraman Mebius

• Acting for Two:
  • Shunji Igarashi also plays the inspiration for Ultraman Mebius' human form, Hiroto Ban, in Episode 22.
  • Keiichi Nanba voices Ultraman Hikari and Kodaigon as well.
• Creator Backlash: Both Susumu Kurobe (Hayata) and Kohji Moritsugu (Dan) admitted that not being able to bring Saburo Shinoda back into his role as Kotaro was a huge disappointment.
• Development Gag:
  • Mebius's design was partially inspired by some unused concept arts for Ultraseven. Mebius Infinity's design also incorporates elements from multiple rejected designs for Ultraman Nexus.
  • Aspects of Hikari's design, particularly his distinctively-shaped ears, were taken from Dark Lucifer, the scrapped final boss of Ultraman Nexus; this makes him the first heroic Ultra designed after an evil Ultra, albeit one that never made it onscreen.
  • Captain Sakomizu's name is derived from the original name given to Shin Hayata in early drafts of Ultraman.
• God Never Said That: A common misconception about the Alien Mefilas in this series is that he's the original one from Ultraman. This actually stems from an April Fools promotion done by Tsuburaya Productions, but is not helped by him having the same voice actor, Ultraman implying that he's clashed with this specific Mefilas in the past and the fact that the original one's fate remains unknown to this day.
• Hey, It's That Sound!: Dinozaur's screech was recycled from Gigan's roar.
• Milestone Celebration: For the 40th anniversary of Ultraman, hence the return to the original Showa universe after 25 years of alternate ones. Not to mention dozens of Mythology Gags, bringing back the original actors of many characters, and a boatload of monsters from earlier series.
• The Other Darrin: After Shunji Igarashi retired from acting in 2013, subsequent appearances of Mebius (games and live action) were either made with Shunji's stock grunts or voiced by Jun Fukuyama (in the Ginga S Movie, a combination of both).
• The Other Marty: As mentioned by Masaki Nishina himself, Ryu was played by a different actor before he joined as a replacement. There were about 2 to 3 months worth of footage of the original actor before he suddenly dropped out.
• Promoted Fanboy: Shunji Igarashi watched Ultraman Tiga in his childhood and was excited to meet Daigo's actor (Hiroshi Nagano) in Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers.
• Prop Recycling:
  • Zetton, Red King, and Gomora's appearances in this series were used with the suits from their reappearances in Ultraman Max.
  • Ultraman Nexus kaiju Pedoleon and Golgolem were transformed into Chronorm and Gromite respectively. Additionally, Gromite's head was created from Grangon's.
  • In a fashion, Dinozaur and Bogal were both adapted from early designs for Orga.
  • Alien Angel Tori was created from Gruanfan's suit.
• Reality Subtext:
  • The focus of producing a Milestone Celebration revisiting the original Showa timeline came about as a result of Tsuburaya Productions' financial woes at the time, with the studio becoming convinced that they would be going bankrupt and shutting down soon. Thus, convinced the Ultra Series' end was nigh, they decided to try and go out with a bang through a massive celebration of Ultraman's 40-year history.
  • Many elements of the Ultraman 80 tribute episode "Teacher's Memories" were derived from the disappointment and regret Tsuburaya Productions and Takeshi Yamato's actor Hasunori Hasegawa had with doing away the show's initial school-focused angle. When Hasegawa was invited to reprise Yamato, series producer Noriaki Yuasa issued him an apology for the decision and ultimately convinced him to return when he revealed that they had also brought back the now-adult actors for Takeshi's students to reprise their characters. Working with the child actors had been Hasegawa's fondest memories from the show, and consequently, the emotions from the reunion seen in the episode were 100% genuine.
• Recycled Set: The tropical island in which Ultraman 80 and Mebius fight Roberuga II in episode 41 seems to be the same one in which Red King, Pigmon, Salamadon and Paragler first appeared back in Ultraman Max.
• Role Reprise: Lots.
  • Susumu Kurobe, Kohji Moritsugu, Jiro Dan, Keiji Takamine, Ryu Manatsu, and Hatsunori Hasegawa replay Shin Hayata, Dan Moroboshi, Hideki Goh, Seiji Hokuto, Gen Ohtori, and Takeshi Yamato again.
  • Seizō Katō returns to voice Alien Mefilas, while Takeshi Aono reprises Alien Zarab in The Movie — both for the first time in forty years.
  • Motomu Kiyokawa returns as the voice of Alien Babalou in Episode 35, as well as Ultraman King in the Ultraman Hikari Saga and Armour of Darkness Gaidens.
  • Mitsuko Hoshi returns as Yuko Minami in "Ace's Wish".
  • Supreme Chairman Takenaka was a role that Kenji Sahara had originally played in Ultraseven.
  • The students of Sakuragaoka Middle School return all grown up in "Teacher's Memories".
• What Could Have Been:
  • Toriyama was going to be an Obstructive Bureaucrat much like Naval Officer Saijo, but was rewritten to be more sympathetic and comedic after Kenichi Ishii was cast to fit the actor's image.
  • Kotaro Higashi was supposed to return in Episodes 29 and 30 (as well as The Movie), but Saburo Shinoda was too busy at the time, hence why Ultraman Taro is the only one of the classic Ultra heroes never seen in his human form in Ultraman Mebius.
  • In episode 16, "A Swordsman from Space", Zamusha's original opponent was going to be Alien Terrorist, but he was ultimately removed due to his controversial name, and his role was given to Alien Magma instead.
  • Another Dinozaur would have been the Monster of the Week for the second episode, but was scrapped and replaced by Gudon.
  • King Kappa was briefly considered as one of the returning monsters in the show, according to scriptwriter Keiichi Hasegawa. Somehow this did not come to pass for reasons unknown.
  • The villainous league of aliens known as "Four Heavenly Kings" was originally envisioned to be made of entirely new characters. There are plans to include two original alien villains, including a lone female alien villainess and an alien who bafflingly speaks with an English accent. The latter two are replaced by Alien Mefilas and Yapool.
  • Teppei, Konomi, George and Marina were originally going to respectively fuse with Ultraman, Ultraseven, Ultraman Jack and Ultraman Ace in the final battle, but it was scrapped in favour of them fusing with Mebius to gain his Phoenix Brave form. Remnants of this idea can be seen in Mythology Gags such as Konomi putting on her glasses like the Ultra Eye, as well as the GUYS members' focus episodes in the final arc having the Ultra Brother they were going to fuse with play an important role.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Yapool's human form is played by Koji Shimizu, who in a borderline Casting Gag plays Kuri the Mad Artist (and the sole human servant of Yapool back then) in Ultraman Ace, 34 years earlier.
  • Asami Fujisawa is played by Kei Ishibashi, who previously played Nurse Mayumi in Ultraman Tiga and Kei Tadano in Ultraman Gaia.
  • Daisuke Gōri first did the voice of Alien Temperor in the movie, then Deathrem in the final arc of Mebius. Its not a huge stretch to identify the similarities of his characters' voices.

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