Ultraman Leo


Ultraman Leo is a Japanese tokusatsu television show and the sixth Ultraman show in the Ultra Series. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions, Ultraman Leo was aired between April 12, 1974, and March 28, 1975, with a total of 51 episodes. Tatsumi Nikamoto was the in-suit actor of the main character, Ultraman Leo.

Plot

Ultraman Leo comes from Nebula L77, and takes the human form of Gen Ootori. Ultraseven appears to fight a new foe, Alien Magma and his two "pets", the Red and Black Giras. Ultimately, Ultraseven is greatly overpowered and his leg is graphically broken by Black Giras. Ultraman Leo drives off the foes, but Ultraseven is confined to his human form because of his injuries and due to the Ultra Eye being damaged when he attempted to transform. Dan then maintains his role as Captain of MAC. Gen is a gymnastics teacher on the side and joins MAC to defend the Earth. Gen and Dan regularly train together, allowing Ultraman Leo to learn many moves in human form. In episode 34, Dan asks Ultraman Jack to take the Ultra Eye back to M78 to be restored while he heals on Earth. However, in episode 40 MAC is destroyed by Silver Bloome, a saucer monster that belongs to Commander Black. During the attack Dan asks Leo to keep defending the Earth and disappears in the conflagration. It is later shown that he was taken back to M78 to be fully healed and restored as Ultraseven. Gen is now unemployed and spends most of his time training the kids to defend themselves as well as defending the Earth as Ultraman Leo. Commander Black and Alien Bunyo capture Gen when he cannot transform completely. Gen as Leo is then dismembered, only to be brought back to life by Ultraman King. Leo would then face Commander Black's final monster, Black End, with the kids he trained, the latter of whom kill Black, and hand the sphere used to control Black End to Leo. Finishing his mission, Gen removes his Leo Ring and sets off to tour Earth, his "second home".

Episodes

Cast

  • Gen Ootori: Ryu Manatsu.
  • Shōji Ōmura: Yū Fujiki
  • Momoko Yamaguchi: Kaori Okano
  • Tooru Umeda: Tsunehiro Arai.
  • Kaoru Umeda: Miina Tominaga
  • Takeshi Nomura: Yukio Itō
  • Izumi Miyama: Fujiko Nara
  • Ayumi Miyama: Kaoru Sugita
  • Akio Kuroda: Kenzō Kuroda
  • Ichirō Aoshima: Yūichi Yanagisawa
  • Kiyohiko Akashi: Kenji Ōshima
  • Atsushi Hirayama: Nobuo Hirasawa
  • Haruko Momoi: Kyōko Aratama
  • Junko Shirakawa: Mieko Mita
  • Daisuke Satō: Shigeo Tezuka
  • Jun Shirato: Masaharu Matsusaka
  • Ippei Kajita: Takashi Asakura
  • Haruko Matsuki: Tomoko Ai
  • Miyako Ōtsuki: Midori Ōhara
  • Commander Tatakura: Takashi Kanda
  • Commander Black: Takeshi Ōbayashi
  • Sakiko Miyama: Masumi Harukawa
  • Dan Moroboshi: Kohji Moritsugu
  • Narrator: Tetsurō Sagawa

    Voice actors

  • Astra, Imit-Astra: Junji Maruyama
  • Ultraman King, Alien Babarue: Motomu Kiyokawa, Hiroshi Masuoka
  • Zoffy: Satohiro Sakai
  • Original Ultraman: Shinya Nazuka
  • Returned Ultraman: Takashi Takeuchi
  • Ultraman Ace: Shingo Toyokawa
  • Ultraseven: Kenji Nakagawa

    Guest actors

  • Ultraman Jack #Hideki Go: Jirō Dan

    Songs

;Opening themes
  • "Ultraman Leo"
  • *Lyrics: Yū Aku
  • *Composition & Arrangement: Makoto Kawaguchi
  • *Artist: Ryu Manatsu, Mizuumi Boys and Girls Choir
  • *Episodes: 1-13
  • "Tatakae! Ultraman Leo"
  • *Lyrics: Yu Aku
  • *Composition & Arrangement: Makoto Kawaguchi
  • *Artist: Yuki Hide, Mizuumi Boys and Girls Choir
  • *Episodes: 14-51
;Insert themes
  • "MAC no March"
  • *Lyrics: Yū Aku
  • *Composition & Arrangement: Makoto Kawaguchi
  • *Artist: Ryu Manatsu, Mizuumi Boys and Girl Choir
  • *Episodes: 4
  • "Hoshizora no Ballad"
  • *Lyrics: Yū Aku
  • *Composition & Arrangement: Makoto Kawaguchi
  • *Artist: Ryu Manatsu
  • *Episodes: 1, 10, 51

    Other appearances

Besides the Shōwa period, Ultraman Leo's popularity and fighting ability enabled him to make guest appearances in the following Ultra Series after the end of the original TV series.
  • Princess Comet: Guest appearances in episode 63.
  • Ultraman: Great Monster Decisive Battle, Ultraman Story, Ultraman Zoffy: Ultra Warriors vs. the Giant Monster Army, Ultraman vs. Kamen Rider: All these movies used Leo's stock footage in the original series.
  • Ultraman Mebius: Appeared in episode 1, 34, and 50. Ultraman Leo returns in Ultraman Mebius episode 34, "A Man Without a Home to help", in his human form Gen Ohtori. He trained and helped Mebius to defeat Alien Reflect.
  • Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy, Ultra Galaxy Legend Side Story: Ultraman Zero vs. Darklops Zero, Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial and Ultraman Saga: See here
  • Ultraman Ginga, Ultraman Ginga S The Movie and Ultra Fight Victory: See here
  • Ultraman X: See here
  • Ultraman Geed: here

    International broadcast

In Thailand, Ultraman Leo first aired in 1995 on IBC7.

Home media

Japan

In December 2018, Tsuburaya Productions and Bandai Namco Entertainment released the series on Blu-ray.

North America

In November 2014, the series, along with Ultraman Max and Ultraman Mebius, began streaming on Crunchyroll. In December 2017, the series was released on the streaming service Toku. In April 2018, Shout! Factory hosted a marathon event of the series on their streaming service Shout! Factory TV.
In July 2020, Shout! Factory announced to have struck a multi-year deal with Alliance Entertainment and Mill Creek, with the blessings of Tsuburaya and Indigo, that granted them the exclusive SVOD and AVOD digital rights to the Ultra series and films acquired by Mill Creek the previous year. Ultraman Leo, amongst other titles, will stream in the United States and Canada through Shout! Factory TV and Tokushoutsu.
It was released on Blu-ray in the United States on May 25, 2021 by Mill Creek.