Ultraman the Next

Ultraman the Next (ウルトラマン・ザ・ネクスト, Urutoraman za Nekusuto), or simply called 'Ultraman' in his world, is the devolved form of Ultraman Noa that he reverted into while he was chasing Beast the One upon entering Earth's atmosphere. In this form many of his powers were locked which he later regained as time passed. The Next was also made as a remake of the original Ultraman, as a result he also known simply as Ultraman in his universe, with Next being his code name from the military.

Becoming the Next
Arriving on Earth and merging its life with F-15 pilot Shunichi Maki, the being slowly grew within him. After the Japanese self-defense force lost the One, they brought the man under custody, believing he could be the one to lure the beast back. The plan worked, but The One had increased in power and size right before their eyes! However, trapped in a cell beneath the floor, Maki began change. Blowing the door off and emerging, the human was swatted like an insect and sent flying into the wall where his change began to go full force.

Facing the One
Maki transformed into the Next, a humanoid warrior from the stars. The two titans battle raged within the warehouse, but when the creature threatened Sara’s life, Next dove in front of the tail, taking several whips before forcing the creature into retreat where it broke through the wall and vanished into the wilderness.

When Sara and Maki met up with the creature, it lashed out again after tricking Sara. The fight between the two was once again raging, but when it became evident that he could not defeat the hero, the beast absorbed a swarm of rats and grew into an even bigger form! Once the monster escaped, it began to attack the city. By the time Next came out of the hole, buildings were burning and falling. One building was about to fall on a young girl and her mother.

Advent to Junis Mode
Rushing toward the falling building that was going to crush the young girl and her mother, Next evolved into his next form. The super being propped himself under the structure and held it up long enough for the pair to escape, but The One saw this and attacked. The battle for the city, and possibly the world, started yet again. When the creature began unleashing balls of energy from its jaws, the Next took to the skies.

After absorbing a flock of crows, The One followed vigorously. The two warriors began to dog fight, dodging and attacking one another until the monster used its tail to hold the giant still and pull him in. It began to bash the hero and feed on his energy until the air force arrived, attacking the monster and allowing Ultraman to escape and hit the fiend with two energy cutters, severing its wings and sending the beast falling to the ground.

Once landed, the red and silver giant had little trouble, using his most powerful attack, the Elbow Ray Storm, the space beast was vaporized. After this Ultraman honored Shunichi's request to fly with his son and revived his life force. However as a result Ultraman was forced to go to sleep to regain his energy back.

Ultraman Nexus- Later Years
Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman Noa

Many years after the Next finished his battle with the One, Ultraman awoke from his slumber bearing his fully developed form, Nexus. In this form he merged with other humans, and recovering some of his powers. After he merged with Kazuki Komon, he obtained all of his powers, and became his Ultraman Noa, his true form, and defeated his sworn enemy, Dark Zagi, and then stayed on earth to defeat the remain Space Beast, with Kazuki Komon as his host.

Ultraman Zero The Movie: The Revenge of Belial
Ultraman Noa, who appears in this film is the same one who was once the Next. Noa gives the shield of Baraghi, a gathering of spiritual light from all the combatants fighting Belial and his army, to Zero, granting him Ultimate Mode.

Ultraman Ginga
During the Dark Spark War, the Next is one of the Ultras seen fighting the deluge of monsters. He too was transformed into a Spark Doll by the Darkness Spark. Unlike his prior appearance, he was fighting in Anphans mode as a giant like the other Ultras.

Profile and Features

 * Age: Over 350,000 years or older

Body Features

 * Eyes: The Next appeared to have no difficulty fighting the One in a dimly lit environment.
 * Energy Core: The Next's equivalent to a Color Timer, unlike the normal one it is located with in the body not outside. It goes of when the Deunamast is reaching their physical limits. Unlike A normal color timer, it does not change color but flashes yellow and makes a noise similar to a heartbeat
 * Stratos Edge Blades: The blades on the Next's arms, with concentration they can charge energy either for the Elbow Cutter or Light Blade attack (Particle Feather). In Junis mode their are enhanced and fully developed allowing for the use of the Elbow Ray Storm. They are the precursors of Nexus' Armed Nexus.
 * Ultra Armor: Unlike most Ultra's the Next's ultra armor does not cover his entire body leaving his sinew like flesh exposed. In Junis mode where the armor was fully developed, while not immune to the momentum, took the One's fireballs with out visible damage, whereas entire buildings where being destroyed by them.

Forms and techniques
{{#tag:tabber| Anphans=

Anphans

{{Nihongo|Anphans|アンファンス, Anfansu}}, The Next's first mode, it has all the basic powers attributed with Ultramen. It was the result of Maki's and Ultraman's incomplete merger and Maki's unpreparedness. Afterwards it served as the Next's default mode as Maki fought in it against the One's third form, unlike other Ultra hosts Maki fought in Ultra form but did not have Ultraman's knowledge to guide him meaning he had to discover all of his abilities as he went along. This form is said to be incomplete, implying that unlike normal ultra forms, this one only exists simply as a result of Maki and the Next's unfinished merger. The Next's abilities in this form can be seen as underdeveloped.
 * Height: 10 m - 40 m
 * Weight: 2.5 tons - 26,000 tons

Standard Techniques

 * Stratos Edge: The blades on Next's arm, they can be charged with energy through concentration to perform the Phase feather or be used as cutting blades. Their name is often mistaken for the name of the Next's Specium Ray like attack.
 * Elbow Cutter: Like their name subtly implies, the Stratos Edge are blades, with concentration they can be charged with the same energy used for the phase feather and used to slice through things. The energy can be fired as an arc shaped burst of energy fired using the blades on his arms.

Physical Techniques

 * Punches: The Next fights with the skills of a boxer, using conventional shots, hooks and uppercuts.
 * Kicks: Although normal kicks, The Next's kicks are relatively beyond human abilities. One such blow sent The One flying across the room.
 * Headlock: The Next posses a powerful headlock, which with his strength is near impossible to get out of. When he does this he usually follows up with several knee strikes to the opponent's head.

Other Techniques

 * Flash Travel: Next can traverse vast distances as a ball of light.
 * Acceleration: Next can move quickly as a glowing blur of light.
 * Assimilation: Next can fuse with a human host, reviving them if they are dead and granting them abilities such as increased strength, durability and well as ESP.
 * Size Change: Next can grow in size, at the same time moving at super speed
 * Mode Change: Next can change into Junis Mode while at the same time moving at super speed and changing his size

Junis=

Junis Junis (ジュネッス, Junessu), The Next's evolved form, offers greater strength and speed to that of Anphans mode. The Next retains all the powers of his previous form but they are now more powerful versions of his prior form's. His Stratos Edge blades have evolved to become more powerful. It is the precursor of the Armed Nexus later seen in Nexus. This form is first used in the last battle against The One when he grew to his second last form and rampaged in the city. Maki transformed while increasing his size and using acceleration to save a little girl and her mother from a falling building. It is in this form that Maki and Ultraman complete their assimilation with each other only to separate shortly after the battle was won.
 * Height: 40 m
 * Weight: 26,000 tons

Ray Techniques

 * Lambda Thrasher: Next can now fire the predecessor of the Phase Feather attack in the form of much larger arcs using both hands or by charging up both arms for twin attacks..
 * Elbow-Ray-Storm: Also known as the Final Light or Stratus Edge by fans, it is the Next's Specium Ray like beam, vaporized the space beast called The One. Its name comes from how it is performed, by Next bringing together his Stratos Edge Blades located by his elbows, then pulling them apart when fully charged and then placing them in the classic cross position. Unlike normal Ultra Beams, the particles do not flow evenly, instead in an oscillating fashion. It has the feature of causing the target to break down at the molecular level into glowing blue particles, a trait inherited by the later 'Ray-Storms' used by Nexus.

Other Techniques

 * Ultra Powers: Junis mode is the true form of The Next, since Anphans mode was his underdeveloped form, Junis mode boasts greater strength, speed and durability as well as more developed attacks (Stratos Edge blades). All of the Techniques from his previous form of accessible in this form but would be more powerful given his evolved state.
 * Flight: Like any Ultra the Next can fly under his own power, but Maki only discovered this in Junis mode.

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Transformation
Unlike most Ultras and his succeeding form, The Next doesn't use any manner of device to transform. Maki transformed by pure will although the first time may have been due to the blow he received and the light was trying to save his life. Afterwards he transformed by his own volition. The process begins with his eyes glowing red and the Next's energy lines appearing all over his body as it glows, the light turns blue and he transforms. The blue also appears when he changes back.

Trivia

 * Eiji Tsubarya's original intention for Ultraman's appearance was used for The Next. It was where the red parts of Ultraman were to represent organic tissue while the silver parts where space metal.
 * When Next was still in the production stage it was being produced under the name Project Yellow Eyes, which may or may not have been done in the spirit of Ultraseven which started out under the name Ultra Eyes.
 * The Next's Anphans form was deliberately designed to appear 'incomplete' or underdeveloped which runs in the name anphans which ultimately means childhood. It is also because of Maki's and the Next unfinished Merger.
 * This may mean that Anphans mode is not a true alternate form or default mode but the result of the Next's weakened state.
 * Next's two forms are another reference to Utraman, Anphans had a rough rocky texture to simulate the texture of the face on earlier Ultraman costumes used during the first series and Junis is smooth to imitate the suits used later in the series.
 * Another Allusion to the Original Ultraman is Next's beam, called the Elbow Ray Storm, it is fired in the classic position and may be a form of the Specium ray given the Next is a re-imagining of Ultraman.
 * Of all the Ultras, The Next has the most confusion surrounding the name of his beam. It is often called the Final Light, or the Stratos Edge Beam, erroneously mistaking the name of his elbow blades for the ray.
 * Next is the first Ultra to have a rise scene after his transformation. It appeared during a mental conversation between Maki and Ultraman, during which they finished their merger. The rise scene showed to signify this and their renewed strength.
 * Unlike his succeeding forms, Next experienced the three minute rule, but for a different reason than expected. Because his merger with Maki Shunichi was incomplete, he could be active only for a short time before the two were onset by great pain and fatigue. When the two completely merged this limit disappeared.
 * Unlike most ultra hosts, save a few, Maki was in control of both forms, because of their incomplete merger, the minds of Maki and Ultraman only met in short dream like intervals. Until the end when the two fully merged, Maki had discovered all of his abilities by accident. His situation is thus different from all the following Deunamists and all other Ultra hosts.
 * Of his three forms Noa's voice is only heard by Shunichi during their final dream state.
 * The Next is not the only Ultra whose Rise Scene involved their alternate form. Ultraman Agul and Gaia had similar Rise Scenes, but their forms were upgraded and Gaia's third scene was because he immediately went into Supreme Version.
 * The Next is the second Ultra to have black and grey on his Ultra Armor. The first was Tiga Dark.

Also See

 * ULTRAMAN
 * Ultraman Nexus
 * Ultraman Noa