The Ultraman

The Ultraman
Cover artwork for the 2011 Japanese DVD release featuring Ultraman Joeneus.
ザ☆ウルトラマン (Za Urutoraman)
Genre	Superhero, science fiction
Anime television series
Directed by	Hisayuki Toriumi, Takeyuki Kanda
Written by	Keiichi Abe, Sōji Yoshikawa, Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, Bunzo Wakatsuki, Yoshihisa Araki, Keisuke Fujikawa, Yasushi Hirano, Kiyoshi Miyata
Studio	Nippon Sunrise
Original network	TBS
Original run	April 4, 1979 – March 26, 1980
Episodes	50

The Ultraman (ザ☆ウルトラマン, Za Urutoraman^?) is a Japanese animated television series co-produced by Tsuburaya Production and Tokyo Broadcasting System. The series aired on TBS Television affiliates on the Wednesday 7:00 PM time slot from April 4, 1979 to March 26, 1980, lasting a total of 50 episodes. It was the eighth installment in the Ultra Series and aired four years after the end of Ultraman Leo. The show was the first animated incarnation of Tsuburaya's iconic superhero Ultraman, as well as one of the earliest works of anime studio Nippon Sunrise (now known simply as Sunrise), who also worked on their now-iconic mecha series Mobile Suit Gundam during the same year.

The Ultraman featured in this series is named Ultraman Joneus (ウルトラマンジョーニアス, Urutoraman Jōniasu^?, alternately spelled Ultraman Jonias), who is also called Ultraman Joe (ウルトラマンJ, Urutoraman Jō^?) for short, and he hails from the Planet U40 (as opposed to the Land of Light in Nebula M78, where Ultra-beings usually came from).