The common connection for many universes in movies and TV is corporate. So, what joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, well, Marvel. Of course, there are exceptions. The latest of which is the newly announced Shin Japan Heroes Universe.
This upcoming collab will bring Godzilla, Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and robot anime Evangelion together. This means the project will bring together properties from Toei, Toho, Tsuburaya Productions, and Hideaki Anno’s Studio Khara. A main graphic and a logo have been released, but besides that, details about the project are scant. According to Tsuburaya Productions, more info will be released this year. We’ll have to wait a little longer to see what form exactly this collaboration will take.
It is a fascinating joining of forces, but one that makes sense, even though Toho and Toei were traditionally rivals in the world of Japanese cinema (Toho’s main rival was actually Daiei), with Toho known for Godzilla, Toei famous for Kamen Rider, and Tsuburaya Productions responsible for Ultraman.
Hideaki Anno and his Studio Khara have made this possible. Back in 2016, the Evangelion creator wrote and co-directed Shin Godzilla, which was a new take on the legendary kaiju franchise (shin means “new” in Japanese). Anno also wrote Shin Ultraman, which will be out this May in Japan, and is writing and directing the upcoming Shin Kamen Rider. The trailers for both yet-unreleased films share a sensibility with Shin Godzilla, so an official cinematic universe seems inevitable. The addition of Evangelion is a plus from Anno’s involvement—a big one, at that.
[Eds. note: An earlier version of this story stated that Tsuburaya Productions did the special effects for Kamen Rider. We regret the error and the story has been updated.]