Among the 12 new shows that Amazon Japan announced today, there are two that will make a lot of geeks of a certain age extremely happy. According to The Hollywood Reporter, newly produced live-action reboots of the tokusatsu superhero programs Kamen Rider and Ultraman will soon be available to anyone with an Amazon Prime account.
“We’re excited to add a great lineup of original Japanese programming to supplement the English-language series we’ve already created in the U.S.,” Amazon Studios head Roy Price says in a statement. “When we introduced Prime Video in Japan last year, we said we would be bringing 20 original series, and we’re thrilled to introduce the first 12 of those.” Also included in the new planned slate of shows are the historical time-travel drama Magi, and two animated manga adaptations: a “teenage rom-com” called Baby Steps and a sci-fi series called Businessmen Vs. Aliens.
Ultraman, about a policeman with the ability to turn into a giant-monster-fighting robot, originally aired from 1966 to 1967. Kamen Rider, about a kidnapping victim turned into a mutant cyborg, ran from 1971 to 1973. Both shows, though, built cult fan bases in the United States due to ubiquitous after-school syndication throughout much of the ’70s and ’80s.