After 40 years Dan Moroboshi returns to Island airwaves when the first episode of ULTRAMAN LEO (1974) premieres on Hawaii’s KIKU-20 as part of their Japanese programming New Year’s Specials. In 1975, ULTRA SEVEN (1967), starring Koji Moritsugu as Dan Moroboshi, premiered on Honolulu’s KHON-2 — both the character and actor later returned for a main supporting role in ULTRAMAN LEO. With the news of KIKU airing the first episode of ULTRAMAN LEO as part of their New Years Specials of Japanese programming, forwarded to me via scholar Marc Miyake, I quickly posted the news on Facebook. Within a short time, I was contacted by the folks at Honolulu’s KIKU-20 (the same station that caused the Kikaida Craze in the 1970s) and am happy to report that they confirmed that all 51 episodes of Tsuburaya Productions’ ULTRAMAN LEO will be broadcast starting this Friday night (January 3, 2014) from 6:30-7:00 pm HST with English Subtitles! The second episode follows on Friday, January 10 at 6:30-7:00 pm HST. I’m awaiting further confirmation as to when the rest of the episodes will be scheduled for broadcast — stay tuned!

While there’s not much on their website, yet, here’s KIKU’s page: http://kikutv.com/specials-and-upcoming-shows/

– August Ragone