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The head director will be Kiyotaka Taguchi, who was previously the head director for Ultraman X and Ultraman Orb.
The show's opening theme is being sung by Masaaki Endoh, who toku fans may recognize as the singer of the Abaranger opening theme, as well as being a part of JAM Project who produce most of the songs for the Garo franchise. The show's end theme will be performed by Nami Tamaki, who sang the opening theme for Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.
Z is the pupil of Ultraman Zero (since it was his 10th anniversary last year), who ends up merging with a human called Haruki Natsukawa, a hot-blooded karate master who is a member of the Earth defense force STORAGE.
Haruki will transform into Z using the Ultra Z Riser, which uses both cards AND medals. As you can hopefully see above, the right-hand blue "wing" is initially on the left on top of the other wing. You first insert a card in the center to tell the device which character is transforming. Then you load three medals into that wing, press a button to start the scanner, then rotate the wing over to the right and it will scan the medals as they pass over the central card area. The combination of medals used determines which form the Ultraman becomes.
Ultraman Z's three initial forms are (from left to right in the image above):
Ultraman Z Alpha Edge. This uses the medals for Ultra Seven, Ultraman Leo, and Ultraman Zero. This represents a certain lineage within the Ultra series, as Ultra Seven was the mentor of Leo, who in turn trained Zero, who is now the mentor for Z.
Ultraman Z Beta Smash. Formed from the medals for the original Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, and Ultraman Taro. Representing another lineage, as these are all Ultra Brothers, and also specialized in fighting techniques derived from pro-wrestling. Yes, he does look a bit like Redman for some reason.
Ultraman Z Gamma Future. Formed from the medals for Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna, and Ultraman Gaia. The first three Heisei Ultra shows to be produced in Japan. This form has "mysterious powers," versatile beam attacks and fights "trickily".
Finally, they have confirmed that Riku/Ultrman Geed will be returning in this series. Riku will not be using his Geed Riser, but will instead begin using a Z Riser along with the medals for Ginga, X, and Orb. This will grant him a new form called Ultraman Geed Galaxy Rising. And yes, I guess he's there to justify having cards as well as medals.