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It has now been established that the upcoming ‘Shin’ Tokusatsu movies directed or produced by Hideaki Anno will now be a part of the same project, called the Shin Japan Heroes Universe (SJHU).
A new website has been launched for the project, alongside a logo by Hiroshi DeBuchi and key visual art illustrated by Masahiro Maeda.
The movies that are a part of this series include Shin Godzilla (2017), Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021), which is known as Shin Evangelion in Japan, and the upcoming Shin Ultraman (2022), and Shin Kamen Rider (2023).
“Toho, Color, Tsuburaya Production, and Toei have launched this project. The dream collaboration of four of Japan’s most famous “heroes” has been realized, transcending the boundaries of different companies through the participation of Hideaki Anno and the title of ‘Shin'”
These movies all take a darker reimagining to these classic tokusatsu franchises.
It is currently unknown if these films will all take place in the same Shin Japan Heroes Universe with characters crossing over with one another, or if this will be a more thematic collaboration with similar narrative ideas running throughout each movie. The most notable theme in each film seems to be recreating these decades-old heroes in modern times, dealing with modern issues.
An example of this was how Shin Godzilla was essentially a retelling of the original Godzilla as a never-before-seen entity attacking Tokyo. The difference is that instead of being an allegory for the World War II nuclear bombings on Japan like the original 1954 Godzilla, Shin features heavy parallels to the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear disaster.
Shin Ultraman likewise is described as attempting to recapture the feeling of Ultraman’s first appearance in Japan but in the setting of the 2020s.
Shin Godzilla and Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time are available on DVD, Blue-Ray, and over streaming platforms. Shin Ultraman will be released on the 13th of May 2022 in Japan and Shin Kamen Rider in 2023.
