Japanese version here
◊.
◊. The Light is a bond. Someone will inherit it, and it will shine again.
— Jun Himeya to Kazuki Komon
Ultraman Nexus is the 20th entry in the Ultra Series. It was produced by Tsuburaya Productions and aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System from October 2, 2004 to June 25, 2005 with a total of 37 episodes note . An extra unscreened episode was included in the DVD compilation.
Set in 2009, Ultraman Nexus takes place in an Earth not unlike our own. While humanity blissfully goes about its daily life, a secret war is being fought in the shadows between the Terrestrial Liberation Trust (TLT) and monstrous alien invaders known as the Space Beasts. The main branches of TLT are the Night Raiders, military response teams who are tasked with eliminating Space Beasts, Memory Police, who erase the memories of witnesses and survivors of Space Beasts attacks as part of TLT's cover-up efforts, and White Sweepers, an armed team dressed in Hazmat Suits tasked with the destruction of evidence and recovery of research subjects.
The series focuses on the life of Kazuki Komon, a former rescue worker turned recent inductee into the Night Raiders and his struggle to cope with his new life. Faced with a world where nothing is truly what it seems, he becomes embroiled in a shadowy conspiracy involving giant monsters manipulated by an unknown hand, the hidden agendas within TLT itself, and a mysterious silver giant codenamed "Ultraman". The series, focusing on Kazuki Komon rather than the titular Ultraman Nexus, also abandons the Monster of the Week format and focuses on longer character driven arcs. Nexus is also relatively unique in its concept of the passing of the ability to transform into Ultraman between Dunamists (Humans who can become Ultraman) as well as the use of a Meta Field to draw monsters into pocket dimensions to prevent further destruction.
It is considered a much Darker and Edgier series than its predecessors, similar to what Ultra Q Dark Fantasy was to its original.
Now available to watch via Crunchyroll here in all territories except Asia. It is the sixth Ultra series installment licensed by the company, and the eighth overall to be licensed in the US.
Ultraman Nexus provides examples of the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: Episode EX is this for Shiori Hiraki.
- Action Girl: Nagi Saijyo and Shiori Hiraki. After all, they are part of a Badass Crew.
- Alien Invasion / Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Space Beasts.
- Aliens Are Bastards:
- The Space Beasts, who have arrived on Earth for the purpose of feeding on humans in the name of their leader, The Unknown Hand. Prior to their arrival on Earth, they had attacked the homeworld of the Visitors.
- Averted with The Visitors, who provided help for TLT in their fight against the Space Beasts.
- And the Adventure Continues: Dark Zagi, the Big Bad has been destroyed, but as of the finale set in 2010, Space Beasts are still rampant and it's up to the Night Raiders to take care of them.
- Arch-Nemesis: The Dark Ultras -Dark Faust, Dark Mephisto and Dark Zagi.
- Artificial Human: Anyone created under the Prometheus Project, such as Yuu Kirasawa and Ren Senjyu.
- Back for the Finale: Riko Saida and Jun Himeya.
- Backstory: Ultraman: The Next, set five years prior to the events of the series.
- Badass Crew: Night Raider is presented as a team of highly trained and very competent monster eliminators. As the show progresses however, they begin to lose some steam and their equipment begins to appear ineffective, increasingly having to be bailed out by Ultraman Nexus. After TLT abandons the Masquerade, Night Raider is expanded to become a Badass Army.
- The Beastmaster: The Dark Ultras have been demonstrated to have some control over Space Beasts.
- Being Good Sucks: Nexus perpetually risks his life getting pounded by Space Beasts, but is also hunted as an experimental subject by TLT and is generally a subject of apathy to most of the world.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Anybody hurting his girlfriend Mizuo Nonomiya sends the normally happy-go-lucky Ren Senjyu into Unstoppable Rage. He actually punches a monster to death as Ultraman because of this.
- Big Bad: The Unknown Hand a.k.a. Dark Zagi, is the leader of the Space Beasts.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: A number of the Space Beasts appear to be insect-like, such as Bugbuzun, Bugbuzun Golar, Banpira, and Grantella.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: The Space Beasts and the Unknown Hand are definitely evil and a threat to the Earth, but TLT often resorts to morally questionable actions to make any headway in its crusade against the Space Beasts.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Dark Faust and Dark Mephisto.
- Blessed with Suck: Dunamist Jun Himeya considers his role as Ultraman to be this.
- Blood Knight:
- Deputy Commander Nagi Saijyo considers it her personal mission in life to kill all Space Beasts.
- Former Deputy Commander Shinya Mizorogi was one too during his Night Raider days, which may be why he got along well with Nagi initially.
- Bloodier and Gorier: There is more on-screen graphic violence here. Comes with being a Darker and Edgier series.
- Body Horror: Nosferu has a tendency to mutate its victims into rat-like spawn.
- Broken Masquerade: As of the final episode, the invasion of the Earth by the Space Beasts is now common knowledge.
- Busman's Holiday: Any time a team member takes time off to visit a friend or loved one, it doesn't end well.
- Cast from Hit Points: The Meta Field is later revealed to be a projection of Ultraman's physical essence.
- Central Theme: The series explores the themes of determination and the meaning of being chosen. The Deunamists have to overcome burdens and challanges in their life as they chosen to held the responsibilities on it. The themes reflect to how the human hosts of Ultraman Nexus (Jun Himeya, Ren Senjyu, and Nagi Saijyo) managed to solve their hardship. Himeya finds the meaning of his destiny as why he is chosen as a Deunamist after he thinks that the power he received is a punishment for him not being able to save Sera. Ren Senjyu managed to overcome his hardship by knowing that despite he has to die with his premature death caused by DNA imbalance, he resolves that he still has to protect his love ones with his remaining lifespan. Nagi who at first only interested in avenging her parents' death towards Space Beasts finally able to overcome her hatred after being saved by Komon from Big Bad.
- Cosmic Horror Story: Dark Zagi was responsible for the destruction of his homeworld and is now on Earth. Along with him are the Space Beasts, terrifying creatures that prey on humans. Some people Go Mad from the Revelation after surviving and/or witnessing Space Beasts attacks.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Ultraman Nexus' first "fight" consists of him transforming, landing with the force of a meteor, and punching a human-sized monster into the ground with his fist.
- Crapsack World: Your seemingly happy and peaceful existence may be rudely interrupted any time, anywhere by a Space Beast coming out to attack and eat you, along with your family and friends if they are nearby. If you are aware of this fact, your memory will be erased and you will be led to believe that you were involved in a more 'realistic' accident (eg. automobile accident, gas explosion etc.) Played With in the epilogue - Although the existence of Space Beasts is now common knowledge, the world has banded together to survive and the Space Beasts are no longer being led by a master manipulator, they are only held in check by Night Raider mass recruitments and non-stop street and air patrols with battles still spilling into populated urban areas. However, Noa has finally regained his full power, and can resume dealing with the Space Beasts as he did in the ancient past.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to other Ultra series in term of tone, given that this series was aimed specifically at teenagers and young adults. This is extremely jarring when compared to its predecessor Ultraman Cosmos, which was aimed at young children. Part of what made this series fit this trope is due to its heavy use of Deconstruction, similar in style to the preceding Ultra Q Dark Fantasy. Basically the Heisei-era equivalent of Ultraman Leo.
- Death Seeker: Most of the Deunamists exhibit this behavior. Jun Himeya considers his ability a punishment for getting an orphan killed during an armed conflict. Ren Senjyu intentionally leaves himself open to attack when fighting because he wants to end his limited lifespan with a bang.
- Deconstruction: Of many Ultra Series tropes. This series tries to be realistic in its portrayal of Ultraman and Space Beast appearing in the world. Such as:
- The Ultraman are not fully trusted by humans and the human hosts of Ultraman Nexus are not exactly stable people themselves. Jun Himeya is a photographer who felt guilty because he couldn't protect a kid he cared about and tried to redeem himself by becoming Ultraman. Ren Senjyu is a death seeker who wants to go out meaningfully because he only has a short life. Nagi is powered by her desire to avenge her parents' death. Being an Ultraman also cause physical issues for them as it is very tiring and unlike previous series, the wounds they received in battle do not heal easily and can cause problems in their next battle.
- The monsters here are actually genuine threats, not only because they cause death and destruction, but also the psychological trauma they cause to those who encountered them. The destruction caused by the monster is treated as a real issue, which is why Ultraman Nexus tends to transport his opponents to the Meta Field before fighting them to avoid destroying places or worse, injuring innocent people caught in the area where the battle takes place. Their existence are also kept secret by TLT as to not cause mass panic, which is why the Memory Police were created to erase the memory of ordinary citizens who either witnessed or were attacked by Space Beasts, as quite a number of these people Go Mad from the Revelation after their encounter with the Space Beasts.
- Decoy Protagonist: Jun Himeya appears in the Cold Open of the first episode. He is the titular Ultraman, but he and Ren Senjyu are actually secondary protagonists who lose that role at the end of their arcs. The series makes use of a Supporting Protagonist, Kazuki Komon, whose interactions with Jun and Ren shape his character into the fifth and final Deunamist.
- Deity of Mortal Creation: Dark Zagi was an artificial Guardian God based off Ultraman Noa, the God of their Universe by the Visitors, to protect them from the threat of the malevolent Space Beasts. Unfortunately, Dark Zagi went mad from discovering their origins and went on to become a galactic threat by taking over the Space Beasts as their God and leader and oppose Noa to become the only Deity around.
- Demonic Possession: With villain names like Dark Faust and Dark Mephisto, people getting possessed and controlled by malevolent beings is a recurring issue.
- Destroy the Evidence: TLT has the White Sweeper division, which destroys the Space Beasts' remains after battle to keep the existence of Space Beasts a secret. They also recover materials that could be used for research.
- Devil in Disguise: The Unknown Hand / Dark Zagi disguises himself as one of the human characters until his body is fully restored in the final episode,where Mitsuhiko Ishibori is revealed to be him.
- Director's Cut: Episode 29, which was released on DVD.
- Divine Assistance: Ultraman Noa, the true form of Nexus, ends up assisting humanity against the continued threat of the Space Beasts after Dark Zagi's defeat. Similarly to how he did with the Visitors long ago.
- Don't Go in the Woods: Many Space Beasts prey on humans in wooded areas.
- Dynamic Entry: Nexus' first appearance has him saving Komon from a monster by simply showing up and punching said human sized monster into the ground.
- Eaten Alive: The humans who die to the Space Beasts this way in this series are the lucky ones. If they aren't eaten outright, then the Space Beast is just going to do something worse to them in the process of eating them.
- Eldritch Abomination: Kutuura, lord of the Land of Death.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The explosion shown every time before the opening credits. It is a supernova, which took place upon the destruction of the Visitors' homeworld.
- Eldritch Location: The Meta Field, the subspace used by Ultraman to fight Space Beasts.
- Energy Weapon: Most of the Night Raider aircraft use beam weapons extensively.
- Evil Counterpart
- The Dark Ultramen towards the Deunamists.
- Dark Zagi's backstory actually makes him a literal example. He is an attempt to replicate Noa that went rogue.
- Evil Plan: The Unknown Hand has been playing things from behind the scenes with the possession of Mitsuhiko Ishibori, the murder of Nagi Saijyo's parents, turning Shinya Mizorogi into Dark Mephisto, animation of Riko Saida as Dark Faust and using Space Beasts to eliminate Deunamists Jun Himeya and Ren Senjyu, all to gurantee that Nagi will inherit the Light and taint it with hatred.
- Evolution Powerup: Nexus evolves with each new host, gaining a new form. Actually, he was originally The Next before evolving into Nexus. In the Final Battle, his newest host causes him to evolve into Ultraman Noa. Played With, however, as Noa isn't a new form, but rather Nexus' true form once he regains his full power.
- Fatal Family Photo: In episode 13, a family of four asks Komon to help take a family photo of them at the zoo. They are brutally attacked by Nosferu at the end of the episode.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: When there are Space Beasts out for human flesh week after week, this is the result.
- For Science!: TLT's justification for experimenting on any Deunamist they capture.
- Fun with Acronyms: TLT (Terrestrial Liberation Trust), whicj is pronounced "tilt" (tiruto).
- Gambit Pileup: As an organization, TLT appears to have wheels within wheels within wheels.
- Game-Breaking Injury: Many times a Deunamist jumps into the fray plagued by lingering injuries from previous fights. These battles rarely end well. Jun is nearly killed at the end of his arc as a result, while Ren is hospitalized until the end of the series.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Nagi slaps Komon in episode 13 to snap him out of his grief for Riko's death.
- Gratuitous English: Many of the Night Raiders commands. Watch some of the Night Raiders saying "Set into Strike Chester!."
- Greek Mythology: The Illustrator briefly mentions about Lethe and Prometheus.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: The Visitors cloned Ultraman Noa so that they could have someone to protect them from the Space Beasts. They ended up creating Dark Zagi and destroying their homeworld.
- Henshin Hero: Double subverted in that the Deunamists have no special powers in human form but have access to a cool energy pistol. However, they develop a few unique abilities over time: Maki was able to punch a steel door across a room, Himeya could leap six feet in the air, and so on...
- Heroic BSoD: Komon goes through one as a result as a result of Riko's death in episode 12. It is only in episode 16 when he gets back to his normal self.
- Hope Bringer: Himeya becomes one for Komon.
- Hour of Power: A series hallmark. Subverted in that the human body was never designed for the level of abuse dished out during fights and the animating Deunamist often collapses long before Ultraman Nexus's timer starts blinking.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The title of an episode often refers to something that will make play a role in that particular episode. As the events in the series are viewed through the eyes of Komon, the title is something that he will encounter or associate with in that episode.
- Ignorance Is Bliss: How the Memory Police operates. After erasing the memories of survivors of Space Beast attacks, they lie to them about what really happened.Shutou Saya: In this world, there's a happiness in not knowing.
- Imported Alien Phlebotinum: The Visitors are the reason TLT is equipped with such high-tech equipment.
- Invisibility Cloak: The Night Raider vehicles are all fitted with this to keep the Muggles from becoming aware of the secret war between humanity and the Space Beasts.
- It Was a Gift: Riko gives Komon a good luck charm, Good-luck-kuri-kun in episode 2. Komon subsequently keeps it by his side, as a reminder of his loved one. When he broke it during an encounter with an illusion of Riko in episode 16, he takes it as a sign that Riko is dead and he has to move on.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Ren Senjyu attempts to mindwipe Nonomiya Mizuo with her own memory eraser just before he goes off to make his Heroic Sacrifice.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: TLT's willingness to happily experiment on any Deunamist they can get their hands on seems to be shades of this.
- Keystone Army: Subverted. Dark Zagi created a lot of Space Beasts. They're still attacking humanity even after Noa kills Zagi because it's not like killing him was going to make them all go away. This works positively however, as it also means that without Zagi to direct their attacks the Space Beasts are little more than just that: Beasts. Without Zagi's agents to sabotage TLT, they can now fight the Space Beasts on relatively even footing.
- Kid Amid the Chaos: In episode 7, a girl and her dog are trapped at a factory as a result of Bugbazon's attack. Her mother is unable to reach her due to the police blockade, and undoubtedly fears for her daughter's safety.
- Kill It with Fire: When confronted with the difficulty of hitting Space Beast Bugbuzun's fast moving tentacles, Nagi Saijyo decides that napalm shots are her best option.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: TLT's Memory Police unit invokes this trope by systematically hunts down anyone exposed to Space Beasts and erases their memories of the encounter.
- Last Episode, New Character: Ultraman Noa, the true form of Ultraman Nexus.
- Light Is Good: Pun aside, all Dunamists are firmly on the side of good.
- Lovecraft Lite: The story ends on a hopeful note, humanity still fights on against the space beasts, Zagi is dead, and Noa remains on the planet to aid humanity as needed. What's more, unlike most Cosmic Horror Story settings, Noa, the closest thing the setting has to god, is fully benevolent and on humanity's side.
- Macross Missile Massacre: If an Energy Weapon doesn't do the job, the Night Raiders will usually resort to this.
- The Masquerade: TLT goes to great lengths to conceal the fact that Space Beasts have invaded the Earth.
- Master of Delusion: Subverted. the Night Raiders pretty soon become aware of Ultraman's identity.
- Meaningful Name:
- Nexus means a connection or network of connections between a number of people, things or ideas.
- The job of the Night Raiders is to eliminate Space Beasts before the public become aware of their existence.
- The BFG on the Strike Chester combat aircraft used to atomize monsters is called the "Vanisher".
- Megaton Punch: Ultraman Noa literally punches Dark Zagi into orbit.
- Memory-Wiping Crew: The Memory Police.
- The Men in Black: All members of the Memory Police are fittingly dressed in black.
- Military Mash Up Machine: The rather outlandish looking Alpha, Beta and Gamma Chester combat machines are designed to merge into a single heavily armed combat gunship or a ground based assault vehicle.
- Mind Rape: Shinya Mizorogi enjoys doing this to his victims.
- Mix-and-Match Critter: The final Space Beast, Ezmael, is a fusion of most of the previous ones.
- Mole in Charge: What better way for the Unknown Hand / Dark Zagi to play his mind games than to serve as the Night Raider Analyzer Tactician Mitsuhiko Ishibori.
- Monster of the Week: Subverted. Ultraman often is forced to deal with entire infestations of similar monsters over entire plot arcs.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Goregolem has FAR more teeth than even a carnivore should have.
- Muggles: Most regular humans who are not Deunamists or part of TLT, with a tendency to become Victim of the Week.
- Next Sunday A.D.: A show that first aired in 2004, taking place in 2009.
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: The young girl that was the Victim of the Week in episode 14 had been drawing out the horrifying things that happened to her when she reappeared in episode 29.
- Oh, Crap!: Despite having only one set expression, the Ultras in this series are quite good at pulling this off. Dark Zagi gets a really nice one before being vaporized by Ultraman Noa.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. There are two characters named Riko in the show.
- Opposites Attract: Ren Senjyu and Nonomiya Mizuo.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The password to access information on Group P.P. (Prometheus Project) is pyr.
- People Puppets: Dark Mephisto uses Riko Saida as this. She eventually breaks free of this and dies protecting Komon from Nosferu.
- Phantom Zone:
- Ultraman uses his Meta Field to contain monsters whenever possible, preventing them from endangering civilians.
- Also, Goregolem can walk through one of these, allowing him to cross distances unmolested.
- Precious Photo:
- Komon carries a picture of his girlfriend Riko.
- Himeya glances at photos of Sera in his home from time to time.
- Prequel: Ultraman: The Next was released a few months after Ultraman Nexus started airing.
- Product Placement: The Panasonic Toughbooks used by the Night Raiders.
- Redemption Equals Death: Riko Saida as Dark Faust, Shinya Mizorogi as Dark Mephisto.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Dark Mephisto Zwei and Dark Zagi.
- Refuge in Audacity: As noted by Negoro in episode 21, TLT's solution to media reports on strange sighting is to flood the media with similar over the top reports.
- Regular Caller: As part of the Combat Information Center(CIC), the Illustrator is able to detect when Space Beasts appear and call the Night Raiders to take immediate action.
- Retool: Episode 26 onwards features a new Deunamist in the form of Ren Senjyu after Himeya's disappearance, new theme songs and some comical moments.
- Reverse Cerebus Syndrome: Downplayed. The series maintains a serious atmosphere throughout its run, but after episode 26, where Ren Senjyu appears, the show starts to have obvious, but subdued, moments of humor.
- Room Full of Crazy: In episode 11, when Komon's enters his girlfriend Riko Saida's room, he finds hideous drawings of Nosferu strewn everywhere. It was probably an illusion created by Mizorogi to break Komon.
- Short-Distance Phone Call: Komon does this to Riko at the zoo to surprise her in episode 2.
- Sinister Surveillance: This is how the Illustrator knows what is going on from his Hacker Cave.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: Standard procedure during TLT physical examinations.
- Supporting Protagonist: The series focuses on the life of Kaizuki Komon, despite the fact that he does not transform into the eponymous hero. However, he does become Ultraman in the series' finale, thus ditching this role.
- Survivor Guilt: Himeya has this regards to Sera, after seeing her get killed right before his eyes. Komon develops this after Riko's death, but he gets better.
- These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: TLT's justifications of keeping the existence of Space Beasts and everything else associated with it a secret from humans.
- To Be Continued: Every episode other than the finale ends with this, written in all lowercase letters English.
- Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Most Space Beast incidents take place in Japan.
- Too Dumb to Live: A human photographer, Horokusa, in Golgolem's arc tries to take up close photos of the monster even after it's noticed him. In his obsessive desire to capture images of the beast to make a name for himself as a photographer he very predictably gets Eaten Alive.
- To Serve Man: Almost all of the Space Beasts eat humans and only humans.
- Transformation Is a Free Action: Subverted in that the monsters will often take pot shots at the Chester combat vehicles as they adopt close formation during their merger sequence.
- Transformation Trinket: The Deunamists' Evolthruster and Dark Mephisto's Dark Evolver.
- Undercover as Lovers: Nonomiya Mizuo of the Memory Police is ordered to do this to keep tabs on Ren Senjyu. She ends up actually falling for him.
- Underwater Base: TLT's main base, Fortress Freedom is located under a dam.
- Unfriendly Fire: Nagi Saijyo resorts to this during her first encounter with Ultraman.
- Vagueness Is Coming: The Illustrator knows more about the Deunamists and Space Beasts than he lets on.
- War Is Hell: As a photographer, Jun Himeya goes to see the war zone for himself. He returns a self-loathing wreck.
- We Have Forgotten the Phlebotinum: Night Raider is prevented from using the Ultimate Vanisher, a beam cannon packing the same firepower as Ultraman's Over Ray Storm, due to a traitor purging the frequency modulation data from TLT's database.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: In order to maintain the status quo, TLT turns to alien science and mindwipes the entire world due to the 2004 incident. The Masquerade is later completely scrapped in the final episode, with the Space Beasts taking to attacking in broad daylight.
- Worf Had the Flu: It turns out that every fight Nexus was in until the Final Battle is this: Noa is his true form, that of a benevolent god. But he was severely weakened sealing a dimensional rift, forcing him to use weaker forms and slowly regain his strength. Once he regains his full power, Noa annihilates Zagi with ease.
Nexus, It's the bond of the spirits passed on and on.
