On Saturday November 15th, Bandai Namco and Tsuburaya Productions brought Ultraman to the United States like never before, with a full-scale stage show at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The first of this two-weekend event was an incredible success with all shows being packed to capacity and many people crowding the floors above the event space to get a grandstand view of all the heroic and kaiju action.
With influencers and creators in attendance, news of the event quickly spread across social media, sparking positive reception and FOMO among many Ultra fans pleading for Tsuburaya to bring the stage show to more locations around the country. Kaiju United was invited to the media hour held before the event on day 1 where we got to speak with Justin Cavender, Senior Marketing Manager at Bandai Namco Toys & Collectibles America, and asked him some questions about Bandai’s involvement in this first-of-its-kind event.
Nick Crispino: Hello Kaiju United, Nick Crispino here and I am here with Justin Cavender of Bandai Namco at Ultraman Live! Justin, talk to me about Bandai’s involvement with this whole event?
Justin Cavander: So Bandai, we’re the master licensee for Tsuburaya with Ultraman. So we have a lot of Ultraman products. In fact, we even have stuff that’s only available in Japan that we brought for this event. But, yeah, we’ve been knee deep in the trenches with planning Ultraman LIVE, bringing a live stage show to the United States. It’s very exciting. We’ve done something like this before at conventions and in front of the store last year. But this is the first time to this scale that we’ve done it here in the States, and we’re very excited about.
[Photo Credit: Nick Crispino]
NC: What’s it been like working with Tsuburaya?
JC: Oh, fantastic! They’re wonderful partners. We love Tsuburaya, in fact, I have a weekly call with them and every time I’m always delighted to have one.
NC: Can you tell me a little bit about Bandai’s role in promoting Ultraman here in the States?
JC: Yeah, that’s part of my job, as being the marketing manager, it’s all about getting people excited for not only just the products, but also just the IP in general, you know? It’s been around since 1960s. So there’s a lot of content and there’s a lot of ways for people to watch that content. So it’s important for us, if we’re going to be selling toys, people need to know what Ultraman is, right? And Ultraman is one of those franchises where maybe you recognize it, but you don’t know what it is. So we do our best to sort of educate folks and get people excited about the IP.
[Photo Credit: Joseph Acosta]
You know, one of the great breakthroughs was Ultraman: Rising that was on Netflix. It’s a great gateway to get people into Ultraman as an animated movie. It’s fun, there’s a lot of family themes to it, and I think it’s very relatable. And just to bring it to Western audiences made that a little bit more special for us. There are many ways to watch Ultraman, like the Ultraman official YouTube channel, and then there’s an English version [ULTRAMAN Official English Channel], so that is a fun way to stream content. Most of us these days have gotten away from physical media, but there’s tons of physical media for Ultraman, and for you streamers out there, YouTube is a very good option.
NC: How do you think this event will appeal to kaiju and tokusatsu fans who know what Ultraman is, but they’re not too familiar and they’re curious.
JC: I think, you know, if we do our job right, and people walk by and see all the craziness that’s happening, the FOMO will set in and they’ll be like, “What’s that going on over there? I want to check it out.” They walk through the exhibit, they see all these amazing displays, all these cool figures, all this cool history on the wall, and then they watch a live show. We’re hoping that they start licking their lips and scratching a lot and hoping to get their more content of Ultraman.
[Photo Credit: Joseph Acosta]
NC: Justin, thank you so much. Good luck with the show. It’s been nice to meet you.
JC: Thank you very much!
Ultraman LIVE has proven to be a huge success so far. Tsuburaya has already given fans in the tri-state area more chances to see the performance, with extra shows being put on on Tuesday Nov. 18th at Japan Society in Manhattan and an extra day at the American Dream Mall on Thursday Nov. 20th, both featuring debut screenings of the English dub of the newest Ultra series, Ultraman Omega. But the excitement isn’t over yet: Ultraman LIVE will return this weekend with two more days packed with shows and meet & greets. With the incredible turnouts so far, Tsuburaya can expect to end this event with a bang, and if the massive amounts of positive fan feedback is any indication, these stage shows are sure to return to the U.S. sooner rather than later.
