What's this, an advertising spoof of the Ultraman Series? How very Nice… note
Ultraman Nice is a 20-episode infomercial series produced by Tsuburaya in 1999, as part of the Ultra Series.
In yet another Alternate Universe separate from the main series, the Ultramen are nothing more than characters of a television show. But unbeknownst to the humans, an Ultra does exist, one named "Ultraman Nice" who assumes the role of a family man named Ginga Yumeboshi. When the ruthless Alien Zagon invades the earth with his trio of monsters, Ginga will snack on a chocolate bean produced by his Transformation Trinket, the Nice Dreamer, and transform into Ultraman Nice to battle the monsters.
The commercials later receives a spin-off called Ultra-E.G., with Nice returning.
Ultraman Nice contains examples of:
- Ascended Fanboy: Ultraman Nice is stated by Tsuburaya to be a fanboy of Ultraman Tiga, right before he obtains Ultramen powers as an adult.
- Affectionate Parody: A low-budget spoof of the Ultra Series, made by Tsuburaya themselves.
- Attack Reflector: Tabu Zagon can reflect Nice's Very Nice Ray using its ears.
- Badass Family: In this series the entire defense force is made up of members of the same family.
- Big Bad: Alien Zagon serves as the main baddie for the infomercials, sending his monsters Momo, Blublu and Tabu to invade the earth.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: The trio of bumbling alien monsters, in order: Tabu, Blublu and Momo.
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": Nice's body pattern and flight pose evokes the letter N.
- Chroma Key: To add to the Stylistic Suck, the series does not use the usual miniature buildings; instead, the buildings in this series are simply stock images superimposed onto the fight scenes, which means Nice and his opponents cause zero damage to the city when fighting.
- Cool Shades: Not shown in the commercials itself, but one of Nice's alternate identities as Dr. E.G. sports sunglasses.
- Critical Annoyance: Ultraman Nice can only retain his gigantic form... for ''one minute'"! Justified because his show is a commercial, and the monsters he faced on a regular basis are mostly quite silly anyways.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Averted; Alien Zagon and his monster lackeys fade away with a dissolve effect when defeated, likely because the budget is too low for explosives to be used.
- Expy: Appearance-wise, Blublu is a skinnier low-budget incarnation of Golza from Ultraman Tiga, with the same sort of powers, while Alien Zagon resembles Giranbo from the same series, complete with Doppelgänger Spin attacks.
- The Heavy: Tabu Zagon is the largest and strongest of the trio of monsters, and gets to fight Ultraman Nice more than either Momo or Blublu.
- Henshin Hero: In his human form as Ginga Yumeboshi, who transforms into Ultraman Nice to battle Alien Zagon and his minions.
- Joke Character: Ultraman Nice to the entirety of the Ultra-warriors, as if the name isn't a dead giveaway.
- Kaiju: The Zagon aliens had three of them: Tabu, Momo and Blublu Zagon.
- Lighter and Softer: Possibly the lightest from the 90s. Yes, even compared to the already-ridiculous Ultraman Zearth movies.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Ultraman Nice is the first Ultra to have an asymmetrical design. In addition, until Ultraman Decker was created, he was the only heroic Ultra whose Colour timer is located on his left chest.
- Oddball in the Series: An installment of the Ultra Series which is entirely played for laughs, with zero threatening elements whatsoever. Also, Nice's host, Ginga Yumeboshi, has his own family, pre-dating Reito Igaguri/ Ultraman Zero in Ultraman Geed by nearly two decades, although since this show is a series of advertisement it's not canon.
- Parody Names: Uh, Ultraman Nice, everyone? Complete with his Signature Finishing Move being labelled "Very Nice Ray".
- Phantom-Zone Picture: One of Momo Zagon's abilities: the monster can create a space fold that allows it to hide within pictures. Those pictures appears hand-drawn instead of photographs.
- Pokémon Speak: Instead of the standard grunts other Ultras have, Nice utters "Na!" when in battle. Alien Zagon also says his own name.
- Power-Up Food: Ginga transforms himself into Ultraman Nice by eating chocolate candy in his wristwatch. There's no indication on what would happen if the watch ever runs out of chocolate, but since it's an alien artifact from the Ultramen universe, it probably refills itself on a regular basis.
- Product as Superhero: Nice was created to promote Bandai's Ultraman merchandise, making him an odd example where he's a superhero created to advertise another superhero.
- Repetitive Name: Momo and Blublu Zagon. Tabu is the Odd Name Out.
- Self-Parody: Of the Ultra Series, made by Tsuburaya.
- Stylistic Suck: Due to being a commercial, the monster costume, special effects and fight scenes are ridiculously laughable, but it adds to the series' charm.
