Series / Ultraman Mebius

All spoilers for the Land of Light continuity of the Ultra Series up to Ultraman 80 are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

"I'll cheer you on, as we fight across the looming darkness!"

It's been exactly forty years now that the Earth has been under threat from monsters and invaders.
During a time when it seemed that everyone's smiles would be taken away,
they came from the far distant Land of Light:
those dependable heroes called "the Ultra Brothers".
And now Ultra Father has sent one young champion to the Earth.
His name is...

— Opening Narration

Ultraman Mebius is the 17th TV series and 40th anniversary production in the long-running Ultra Series. It ran from April 8, 2006 to March 31, 2007, with a total of 50 episodes. Was preceded by Ultraman Max and succeeded by Ultraseven X. Unlike the other Heisei series before it, Mebius goes back to the main Showa continuity of the franchise.

For the first time in 25 years, an Ultraman is sent to Earth to protect it from aliens and monsters which would start to appear again. The Ultra Father entrusts the Earth to their newest member, Ultraman Mebius. Under the guise of Mirai Hibino, Mebius joins the Earth defense team GUYS in the Japan branch to better fend off threats to its people. What follows is an epic loveletter to the entire Ultra Series and capstone to the original Ultramen.

Has a 3-episode spinoff, Ultraman Mebius Gaiden and a Big Damn Movie, Ultraman Mebius and the Ultra Brothers which serves as an Interquel.

Crunchyroll started streaming Mebius on October 23, 2014, a week after Ultraman Max arrived on the service.

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Ultraman Mebius provides examples of the following tropes:

• Action Bomb: Ultraman Taro's "Ultra Dynamite" attack, which Mebius bases his own "Mebium Dynamite" attack on. (Taro's lifespan shortens a bit when he uses it — it's not clear if Mebius' does as well.)
• Anti-Hero: Hunter Knight Tsurugi/Ultraman Hikari. Character development following Bogal's death help him grow out of this.
• Arc Villain: Bogal in the first half of the show. The Four Heavenly Kings took over her spot once she's gone.
• As Long as There Is Evil: Yapool returns from two deaths (one in Ultraman Taro and another in Ultraman Mebius and the Ultra Brothers) thanks to the existence of negative emotions and hatred, which empowers him.
• Assimilation Backfire: Alien Serpent possessed and assimilated Hinode Sayuri to use her in his kind's bid to take over the Earth. Thanks to her desire to protect her kids, she manages to hang onto her consciousness, overpower him, and take over him. Then used his hijacked body to beat the hell out of the rest of the invasion force.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Ultraman Leo. Doesn't use projectile attacks much. Doesn't need them.
• Big Bad: There are several villains that fill the role of Big Bad for a time. The first ten episodes dealt with Bogal. After her defeat, Yapool takes her place, until he's revealed to be only one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Once they're all defeated, we get the overall Ultra Big Bad: Alien Empera/Empera Seijin.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Insectus are a pair of huge beetle-like monstrosities with a carapace that resembles the armor of a samurai. They have small, red eyes and large mouthpieces that make them look like they have a sinister grin. There's Daigarugu as well. He's basically a bipedal rhinoceros beetle that has Destoroyah's face. And we couldn't forget Chronorm, a time-travelling alien nudibranch that feeds on the memories of his victims.
• Big Damn Heroes: The Ultra Brothers each get an episode that builds up to them doing this.
• Big Fancy House: Teppei's rich family has one.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Maru has a habit of speaking directly to the camera, which often gets lampshaded.
  Maru: (Turning to the camera) "Is [Misaki] meeting the chief inspector after this?"
  Misaki: "What was that?"
  Maru: "It's nothing. Please proceed."
• Butt-Monkey: Adjutant Toriyama. Maru is also one to a lesser extent.
• The Bus Came Back: The show's main trait is pulling this on an entire universe, bringing back the main M78 Universe for a new installment for the first time in 25 years. Dozens of monsters and aliens as well as Ultras from the Showa era make a grand return in this show. And this also extends to certain minor and secondary characters. Yamato's entire class from Ultraman 80 pops up here, having grown up since we last saw them.
• Chekhov's Boomerang / Continuity Nod: Mebius is revived in one episode when Konomi deploys the Magnerium Medicalizer, the same weapon the Ultra Garrison used to revive Ultra Seven when he was crucified.
• Combining Mecha: The Gun-Phoenix
• Cool Ship: Quite a few of the Super Prototypes GUYS has fall in this category.
• Continuity Cavalcade: This being the 40th Anniversary of the Ultra Series and the first show since 1981's Ultraman 80 to be set in the classic universe, there's bound to be tons of these...
  • In general, GUYS HQ is full of references to Showa-era Ultraman, from kaiju toys to photos of the previous attack teams' jets.
  • The Five Ultra Pledges from the final episode of Return of Ultraman are re-recited in numerous episodes. It's also implied Captain Serizawa, who taught them to Ryu, learned them as a childhood friend of Jiro Sakata, who recited them originally.
  • Konomi encourages Miclas into fighting by recreating Dan Moroboshi's transformation sequence, complete with a "Dyuwah!".
  • Whenever a kaiju from an ealier installment returns, GUYS will refer to the documents of past Attack Teams (Document MAT, SSP, ZAT, etc) for details involving the returning monster.
  • GUYS play a key role in defeating Salamandras by reenacting Formation Yamato. For bonus points, one of UGM's Wandaba themes plays during the mission.
  • Once again, a Gudon and a Twin-Tail are shown to be sworn enemies. The show even references the monsters to be recorded from Document MAT.
  • Kodaigon from Return of Ultraman is reborn from cells of Alien Grotes, harvested from the very same lake where the alien and kaiju were defeated 35 year prior...
  • The Science Patrol VTOL and Ultra Hawks No. 1 and 3 appear during an air show in episode 24.
  • Maquette Ultraman Mebius' defeat at the hands of Maquette Zetton mirrors the original Zetton defeating Ultraman in Ultraman's final episode.
  • Remember Alien Mates from Return of Ultraman, unfairly killed by humans? His son is back and is seeking vengeance...
  • When Nova reappears, his existence is categorized as Out-of-Document; makes sense, since in Ultraman Leo Nova debuts after MAC has been wiped out.
  • Speaking of which, one of the new kaiju, Roberuga, was birthed from fragments of the destroyed Black Star in the final episode of Ultraman Leo.
  • Episode 34 pays homage to the early, Training from Hell episodes of Ultraman Leo, except with Leo now in the mentor position and Mebius as his mentee. To reinforce his swapped role, Gen asks Mirai "What are those tears? Do you think you can save the Earth with those tears?" - the very same question Dan asked him 32 years ago.
  • After challenging Mirai to train himself towards defeating Alien Reflect, Gen gifts him with the judo gi he wore during his own training back in 1974.
  • To comfort Mirai over Kako's apparent betrayal of his trust, Sakomizu quotes Ultraman Ace's final words to TAC before leaving Earth.
  • Before Kako shuts them down and convince them to use their powers for good, the Alien Psychokinos discuss escalating the war between Planets Mystera and Atelier, or causing an avalanche on Varduck. Notably, the latter retcons the planet's apparent destruction in its only prior appearance.
  • In general, every appearance by a previous Ultraman is cued by a snippet of their opening theme song.
• Company Cross References: The shot of Mebius entering the GUYS computer to fight Maquette Zetton recreates the manner through which Gridman enters the virtual world.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Alien Empera vs. pretty much everyone and anyone. He oneshots or curbstomps everyone. It takes Mebius' final form with the help of Ultraman Hikari to finally bring him down.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: All METEOR technology made available to GUYS is treated like this as it is reverse-engineered alien technology. To safeguard against its use, it can only be activated for one minute.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Mirai Hibino
• Darker and Edgier: Downplayed. The show has a decidedly more lighthearted feel than Ultraman Nexus and contains its fair share of comedic moments, but is not as overly zany and clownish as Ultraman Max. Mebius's fights against the monsters and aliens are more serious and action-packed, the original GUYS team except for Ryu and Serizawa perishes right in the first episode during Dinozaur's attack, Mephilas brainwashes the entire world's population to view Mebius/Mirai as a villain in order to torture him psychologically, and there is of course the looming threat of the sinister Alien Empera and his army of Imperizers lurking in the background.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: Justified: Mebius doesn't cause Dinozaur to explode when he kills him, and the head of GUYS complains in the next episode that he is tired of cleaning up the corpse. Notably, Mebius blows monsters up after that.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In "A Cry from Space", the ghostly bodies of Zetton, Red King and Gomora can be seen floating in the Monster Graveyard. Mebius confronts Zetton in the following episode (though not the real deal but rather a digital recreation), and does battle against Red King and Gomora later in the series (though after both were absorbed by Yapool's Choju, Gadiba).
• Elite Mooks: Imperizers. Made of Iron Determinators with a Healing Factor to make Wolverine blush — recovering even when being blasted apart into chunks. To stop one of the dang things, they have to blow it into very TINY bits, or it will just recover. Even when they are mass produced, it takes the crew's most powerful attacks and no-nonsense tactics to take them down. Every time they show up is a guaranteed "Oh, Crap!" moment.
• Explosive Punch: Ultra's Lightning Counter, a supercharged punch which results in an explosion capable of taking out the Monster of the Week.
• Failure Hero: GUYS subverts the usual human defense team and the whole series makes it a plot point that the Ultras are protecting humanity until they can fight together as equals.
• Fallen Hero: The Maquette Zetton in episode 27. He was originally created as a new capsule monster to protect Earth in the future, but unfortunately, the creature's case fell on the floor and was damaged, causing it to go rogue when GUYS tries to test its combat abilities in their main computer.
• Food Chain of Evil: Bogal. For the first 10 episodes, she calls other monsters to Earth to devour them and grow in the process. Lesser Bogals continue her work for the next 12 episodes, though they're too small to consume any of the monsters that appear.
• Fun with Acronyms: GUYS (Guards for UtilityY Situation) and METEOR (Much Extreme Technology of Extraterrestrial ORigin)
• Four Is Death: The Four Heavenly Kings, Alien Empera's most powerful and deadly agents, who serve as the heralds of his arrival in the final arc.
• Genius Bruiser: As revealed in Hikari Saga, Ultraman Hikari was a scientist in the Land of Light before his failure to protect Arb drove him mad with revenge.
• Grand Finale: As a whole, Mebius was the final Ultra Series to be produced by Tsuburaya Productions before it was purchased by Bandai, ending over 40 years of independent series production. As such, it wraps up a lot of the unfinished Showa plotlines directly and indirectly.
• Harmless Electrocution: When George tries to pick up Lim Eleking who responds rather negatively.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Mebius gets the coolest powers of all from his close friendship with the rest of GUYS.
• Hour of Power: Besides the Ultras, there's also the METEOR technology that GUYS uses, which is limited to just one minute of use before it deactivates.
• Human Aliens: Mirai reveals in episode 30 that Ultramen once looked like humans, but they gained their current appearances thousands of years ago in a planetary accident. They decided to put their powers to good use and saw much in common with humans, hence the reason why ultramen consider it their duty to protect them.
• Idiot Hero: Mirai is in the Naive version of this trope.
• I Have Many Names: Ultraman King says this of himself in one of the "Hikari Side Story" episodes. King's just the name he uses on Earth and that the Ultras in general use for him.
• Imported Alien Phlebotinum: METEOR is this, being reverse-engineered from wrecked alien ships.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: One sees an Alien Babalou take on the form of Mebius's ally Ultraman Hikari clad in the Aarb Gear when attacking Earth, to make the people of Earth lose faith in Ultramen. However, Mirai immediately figures out that it's not really Hikari because Babalou's disguise included the Knight Brace, which Hikari had previously given to Mebius before he left Earth.
• Incendiary Exponent: Mebius' Burning Brave form, and the fiery wings of GUYS Japan.
• Kaiju: It's Ultraman! They have three types, though. Regular Monsters, Aliens and "Terrible Beasts/Choju" (Yapool's creations).
• Mama Bear: Hinode Sayuri, a woman assimilated by Alien Serpent, manages to hold onto her consciousness and take over the alien instead to protect her children. She then proceeds to use her hijacked body to beat the hell out of most of the others.
• Mayfly–December Friendship: In episode 2 of the Trisquad Voice Drama series, you hear about how Mebius struggled with the reality that he would outlive all of his human friends and how he came to terms with it.
• Meaningful Name: Mirai means 'future' in Japanese.
• Mythology Gag: In one flashback scene, Toriyama is seen playing with an Ultraman Nexus finger puppet.
• Oh, Crap!: Lots of times. Yapool, Mefilas, Imperizers and Alien Empera all elicit this response at least once. Emperor takes the cake, as the merest act of landing on earth elicits this (and a whole bunch of explosions).
• The Man Behind the Man: Alien Empera is implied to have used most of the events in the series to his advantage to ensure his arrival.
• The Juggernaut: Alien Empera, capable of kicking Hikari's, Zamusha's, GUYS' and Mebius' asses without any difficulty all while shrugging off everything thrown at him. Father of Ultra just barely beat him with the help of a special sword of light and his defeat in the finale takes a god-like fusion Ultra (Mebius Phoenix Brave), one of the strongest Ultras (Zoffy) and a concentrated burst of light mixed up with the powers of the aforementioned Ultras courtesy of GUYS to finally put him down and it's only because of his pre-existing light scars being opened that he dies at all.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Happens often when Mebius gains his second wind ina disadvantageous fight or an Ultra Brother fights alongside the young Ultra against enemies
• The Power of Friendship: A recurrent motif. Mebius gains more power from his friends than anything else. His most powerful form, Phoenix Brave, is only achieved by fusing with his friends from GUYS and Ultraman Hikari.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Lampshaded. Mirai brings them together because he saw them act bravely beforehand. How else can you get a Motorcycle ace, a Soccer Star, a Preschool Teacher and a Medical Student all on your team? Justified, however, as they all also have skills that are legitimately useful for fighting kaiju, and had already passed the basic flight tests.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Father of Ultra comes to Earth to help Mebius after he's turned to a gold statue by Jashrin. Jashrin doesn't fair well. At all. The only reason Mebius was the one to finish the fight was because the Father wanted him to. Also, you know how powerful Alien Empera is? The Father fought him to a draw in ancient times. By himself.
• Reunion Show:
  • Mostly the movie, but also the last major story arc (starting near the midpoint of the series) so that for the final 4 episodes before the finale, the heroes teamed up with the previous Ultramen (and their actors). In particular, the actors of both Seiji Hokuto and Yuko Minami reunite as do their characters since Yuko's departure in Ultraman Ace.
  • And a literal version in the episode of the final arc that showcases Ultraman 80 as the cast of children are reunited for the first time since the end of the series to give closure to the unfinished plotline of 80's/Yamato's identity reveal and his role as the children's teacher.
• Sacrificial Lion:
  • The first GUYS team is killed off in the first episode, save for Ryu Aihara. The GUYS team for the rest of the series is formed in the next episode.
  • Later, during the Grand Finale, Ryu and Mirai bite the bullet fighting Empera, luckily they get better. Zamsha also dies shielding GUYS from Empera's attack, but doesn't gets better himself.
• Secret-Keeper: Around the halfway point, Mirai reveals his true identity to GUYS and they agree to keep it a secret from the public.
• Shrine to the Fallen: Between the events of Ultraman Leo and this show, Gen Ootori built a shrine on Kuroshio island in memory of those killed by the Giras Brothers during his first mission.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Used straight and subverted whenever the Elite Mook Imperizers show up, often they come after a weaker enemy, and tend to require a veteran Ultra to be defeated, with their opponents afterwards being usually much weaker.
• Spell My Name With An S: Kelbeam or Cherubim? Bogar or Bogal? The list goes on and on with the monsters names. So far it seems to have settled on Kelbeam and Bogarl, respectively
• Super Prototype:
  • Any GUYS machine equipped with METEOR technology.
  • The first Imperizer had regenerating ability and could reform its arm as a large blade. But since mass production was required to make more Imperizers, this is ditched later on, however the new models keep the teleportation ability, their sheer numbers making up for the loss of regeneration.
• Super-Senses: Marina has extremely good hearing and George's eyesight is unparalleled which makes them even more suited to become the new team of GUYS.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Mebius kills Dinozaur but doesn't completely destroy him. The head of GUYS complains next episode that he's tied up handling cleaning up the corpse. Mebius is present for this and notably blows up kaiju from then on.
• Take Up My Sword: Before Hikari was Put on a Bus, he gave his Knight Brace to Mebius, allowing Mebius to enter Brave Mode. In battle against Emperor, Ryu became Hikari's host after Serizawa passed away.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Averted in episode 22 when a Lesser Bogal attacks Mirai as he Transforms.
• Transformation Trinket: Mebius' Mebium Brace and Hikari's Knight Brace.
• True Companions: The second GUYS crew grow to become this as the series progresses. In another example, humanity is extremely important to the Ultramen as a whole who consider all of the people of Earth part of their True Companions.
• Unseen Evil: Alien Empera acts as this for most of the series, only being spoken of by his minions and spoken of with a sense of dread and fear. However, he does show up in the final arc personally to destroy Earth and Mebius himself.
• Wham Episode:
  • Episode 29. Mebius is called back home by the Father of Ultra, but he refuses. Then, one of Emperor's minions, the gigantic, virtually immortal war machine Imperizer arrives on Earth and Mebius can't defeat it alone. Taro's arrival evens the odds just barely. Finally to top it off, Mirai is forced to reveal to Ryu that he is Ultraman Mebius!
  • Episode 36. Most of the episode is fairly light-hearted, dealing primarily with GUYS having to put up with a mischievous Psychokino alien and her drill-nosed monster minion Angross. However at the end of the episode, an important development is made. The Psychokino reveals that a space-time emitter is what's summoning monsters to Earth even after the defeat of the Bogals and someone placed it there to destroy Mebius.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Given to Mebius by Ryu in the very first episode because the Ultra's scuffle with Dinozaur caused lots of colateral damage to the city.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: George's fear of the ocean. Marina also develops a fear of Bemstar after he almost ate her and doesn't want GUYS to create a maquette version of him to assist them.
• You Have Failed Me: Lampshaded by the target. Poor Mephilas....
  Mephilas: Emperor! Have I become a useless piece in this game? Alas! (explodes)

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