Ultraman Nexus

Ultraman Nexus
Ultraman Nexus is the 17th entry in the Ultraman Series
Series
Episodes
Information
Format/Genre	Tokusatsu Science Fiction
Created by	Tsuburaya Productions
Starring	Takuji Kawakubo Yusuke Kirishima Masato Uchiyama Yasue Sato Tamotsu Ishibashi Kosei Kato Keiko Goto
Original Air Date	October 2, 2004 - June 25, 2005
Opening Theme	1st: Eiyuu 2nd: Aoi Kajitsu
Ending Theme	1st: Itsumo Kokoro ni Taiyou wo 2nd: Tobitatenai Watashi ni Anata ga Tsubasa wo Kureta 3rd: Akaku Atsui Kodou
Number of Episodes	37
Running Time	24 minutes
Original Channel	Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting
Streaming	Vudu Hero
Continuity
Previous	ULTRAMAN
Next	Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial
Production/Release
Previous	Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy
Concurrent	ULTRAMAN
Next	Ultraman Max

Ultraman Nexus ran from October 2nd, 2004, to June 25th, 2005, as the 17th entry in the Ultraman Series, and the third and final product of the Ultra N Project. Although known for featuring a more serious, adult, and atmospheric story than its predecessor, Ultraman Cosmos, it was also intended as a re-imagining or reboot of the original Ultraman.

On April 24, 2017, TOKU announced that the series would be broadcast in the United States on its channel beginning May 9, 2017.

The series can be watched on Vudu.

Production

The final project proposal for Ultraman Nexus was finalized in March 2004.

After the broadcast of Ultraman Cosmos in 2002, Tsuburaya Productions gradually recognized the need to establish a new Ultraman image that would adapt to the 21st century. This new image of Ultraman was referred to internally at Tsuburaya Productions as the "New Standard Hero." This necessity led them to conceptualize an Ultraman that could serve as a "completely new foundational image." The birth of this new series can be traced back to a film project centered around producer Kiyoshi Suzuki.

In the summer of 2001, during the release of Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact, Suzuki, while planning for the 2002 film Ultraman Cosmos 2: The Blue Planet, also considered the possibility of an original work that would be planned solely as a film, without the premise of a TV series. This work was YELLOW EYES, which reimagined "Ultraman" as a genuine science fiction project that emphasizes human psychology. The screenplay for this movie was written by Keiichi Hasegawa, and Kazuya Konaka directed it. The story mainly depicted a young man who gains unimaginable mysterious powers, and in the midst of unreasonable battles, overcomes violent impulses and awakens a sense of justice.

However, due to the impact of the September 11 attacks, directly depicting violence became extremely difficult, and the content needed to be adjusted, shifting the theme slightly in another direction. As a result, while inheriting the concept of Ultraman's rebirth and the biological textures and realistic military settings, a father figure who fights for his children was added, incorporating some familial warmth. This ultimately shaped the project into ULTRAMAN.

At that time, Suzuki aimed to expand the age range of "Ultraman" audiences and increase the thematic diversity of the "Ultraman" series. Additionally, in Tsuburaya Productions' vision for the future, 2006 was clearly defined as the "40th anniversary of Ultraman's birth." To vigorously promote the "Ultraman" character at this milestone, the "Ultra N Project," which interconnected magazine activities, theatrical films, and TV series, began preparations at the end of 2003, becoming an unprecedented large-scale project in Tsuburaya Productions' history. Thus, the TV series planned to premiere in October 2004 became the cornerstone of this project. The series proposal for the TV series Ultraman Nexus was handled by Keiichi Hasegawa. A premiere announcement event was held on September 16, 2004. The TV broadcast channel was changed from Mainichi Broadcasting System, which aired the previous four TV series, to Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting, which is also part of the TBS network. This secured a nationwide broadcast slot in Japan at 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays.

The proposal to base a new TV series on the ULTRAMAN theatrical film and continue its storyline in the series was put forward by Hiroyasu Shibuya. He also designed Ultraman Noa, the hero who serves as the foundation for the overall worldview, and proposed a comprehensive rollout through children's magazines and events. Among these, the ULTRAMAN film was scheduled to be released in theaters in July, with the TV series Ultraman Nexus set to air in October. The production committee and the film distributor, Shochiku, believed that the popularity of the TV series would enhance the film's box office performance. Therefore, they decided to schedule the theatrical release date for ULTRAMAN in December. This decision necessitated adjustments to the structure of the TV series.

Considering that ULTRAMAN had characteristics of a reboot of the Ultraman series, the theme of the "Ultra N Project" was set as "Return of the Soul," signifying a return to the original spirit of the series. The Ultraman Nexus project also inherited this essence by adopting a fully serialized format. It introduced successive "Dunamists" who would alternate throughout the TV series. The protagonist is a member of a defense team, but he remains an ordinary person without special abilities until the final episode.

The first promotional poster of Ultraman Nexus.

This innovative setting has brought a clearer expression to the "bond" element that Shibuya has always emphasized. In the proposal, these "bond" are metaphorically likened to a relay race runner, emphasizing the importance of trust. The advantage of setting up "Dunamists" lies in the fact that replacing them allows for a wider range of plot variations, which is a key feature of developing this series. Suzuki and Shibuya's goal is to create an Ultraman that can be enjoyed by people of all ages regardless of the era, rather than just providing different content for adults or simplistic content for children. According to Suzuki's idea, the main target audience of the past "Ultraman series" was elementary to high school students. In order to broaden the target age range, they proposed increasing the difficulty of the content.

The design of Ultraman Nexus in the series was also very innovative. It was almost the first time that the concept of armor was incorporated into Ultraman's body. This design, created by Hiroshi Maruyama, was based on traditional Japanese samurai helmets for the head and Japanese armor for the body. The toy-interactive armor naturally integrated into the lines of the right arm. The uniqueness in character design was also reflected in the Space Beasts. Judging by their shape and mode of existence, Space Beasts were clearly not the familiar monsters but were envisioned based on biological imagery. The term "Space Beast" began to be used during the planning phase of ULTRAMAN. The planning team insisted on this classification to highlight their ferocity and alien nature.

The production of Ultraman Nexus also aimed to improve budget efficiency. Due to the need to make trade-offs to break even, the budget for this project was reduced from the traditional amount exceeding 30 million yen to about 10 million yen. Additionally, the sci-fi setting was utilized to limit the battle zones, allowing for the repeated use of the same stage settings.

Although efforts were made to significantly reduce production costs compared to traditional series in various aspects, such as adopting VARICAM digital cinematography in DVCPRO HD format to replace the long-used film shooting and extensively using computer-generated imagery in the production process, the storyline of this series appeared too realistic and heavy compared to other series. After the broadcast began in October 2004, the popularity of serious tokusatsu works slightly declined due to differences in the time slot. Additionally, the limited initial publicity and the dark, obscure content made it difficult for the audience to resonate with the show. As the viewership ratings declined, related merchandise sales also performed poorly, resulting in sluggish sales in the commercial rankings at the end of 2004.

Due to the low viewership ratings and poor sales, the TBS network decided in April 2006 to replace the Saturday 7:30 a.m. time slot with an information program produced by Mainichi Broadcasting. In December 2004, during the third quarter of the series' filming, Tsuburaya Productions, which intended to create another work following Ultraman Nexus, had to adjust the broadcast time of the new work to the summer of 2005. Consequently, the originally planned 50 episodes were ultimately shortened to 37 episodes. Despite the reduced number of episodes, Shibuya adhered to the belief that "changing course is a betrayal to the audience" and did not alter the initially planned direction. They completed the third quarter and the final episodes.

Ultraman Nexus ended after three seasons in June 2005. Two episodes that had been filmed but not broadcast were released as video media. The movie project ULTRAMAN2: requiem, aimed at expanding the audience age range, was also shelved.

Despite the commercial failure, Ultraman Nexus attracted fans interested in its style. Thus, in the years following its broadcast, the work was repeatedly re-evaluated and recognized, gaining a certain level of appreciation among the audience.

Synopsis

The TLT is a covert international anti-monster unit established secretly to combat Space Beasts, mysterious monsters that are out to attack humans in the year 2009. One of the TLT's new recruits, Kazuki Komon, is attacked by one of them prior to reporting for duty. However, he is saved by a silver giant that he names "Ultraman". What no one knows is that the silver giant is an Ultraman — to be precise, Ultraman Nexus, ready to fight the Space Beasts to save the planet Earth.

Characters

Protagonist

• Kazuki Komon

TLT

• Yu Kirasawa
• Yoichiro Matsunaga
• Sara Mizuhara
• Hayato Kaimoto

Night Raiders

• Nagi Saijyo
• Eisuke Wakura
• Shiori Hiraki

Memory Police

• Saya Shuto
• Mizuo Nonomiya

Dunamists

• Jun Himeya
• Ren Senjyu
• Shunichi Maki (Mentioned Only)

Antagonists

• Riko Saida
• Shinya Mizorogi
• Hiroyuki Misawa
• Mitsuhiko Ishibori

Others

• Megumi Sakuta
• Jinzo Negoro
• Sera
• Naoichi Harisu
• Takashi Ojiro
• Riko Yamamura
• Horokusa
• Hazuki Matsunaga
• Hajime Yamaoka

Ultras

• Ultraman Nexus
• Ultraman Noa
• Giants of Darkness
  • Dark Faust
  • Dark Mephisto
  • Dark Mephisto (Zwei)
  • Dark Zagi (Unknown Hand)

Kaiju

• Pedoleon
  • Kureain
  • Guros
  • Furigen
• Beesectar
• Bugbuzun
  • Brood
  • Grooler
• Galberos
• Lafleya
• Nosferu
• Beast Human
• Arakunia
• Froguros
• Golgolem
• Kutuura
• Grantella
• Banpira
• Lizarias
  • Lizarias Grolar
• Mega Flash
• Izmael

Cast

• Kazuki Komon : Takuji Kawakubo
• Jun Himeya : Yusuke Kirishima
• Ren Senjyu : Masato Uchiyama
• Nagi Saijyo : Yasue Sato
• Eisuke Wakura : Tamotsu Ishibashi
• Shiori Hiraki : Keiko Goto
• Mitsuhiko Ishibori : Kosei Kato
• Yu Kirasawa : Nobuhiko Tanaka
• Yoichiro Matsunaga : Masami Horiuchi
• Togo : Kenji Sahara
• Riko Saida : Shion Nakamaru
• Shinya Mizorogi : Mitsutoshi Shundo
• Saya Shuto : Hitomi Hidaka
• Hiroyuki Misawa : Yoshito Takeuchi
• Mizuo Nonomiya : Tomomi Miyashita
• Sera : Mai Tanaka
• Jinzo Negoro : Hiroshi Okochi
• Megumi Sakuta : Tomoko Kawashima
• Naoichi Harisu : Eiichi Kikuchi
• Takashi Ojiro : Kei Suzuki
• Hayato Kaimoto : Hisataka Kitaoka
• Sara Mizuhara : Kyoko Toyama

Voice Actors

• Ultraman Nexus : Yasunori Masutani
• Dark Faust : Tetsu Inada
• TLT Announcer : Kyoko Terase

Suit Actors

• Ultraman Nexus : Daisuke Terai
• Hideyoshi Iwata
• Satoshi Yamamoto
• Tomohiro Nagata
• Kazunori Yokoo
• Nobuhiko Tanabe
• Junya Soma

Staff

• Directors: Kazuya Konaka, Miki Nemoto, Tsugumi Kitaura, Yuichi Abe, Takeshi Yagi, Naoki Ohara
• Series compositor: Keiichi Hasegawa
• Screenwriters: Keiichi Hasegawa, Kenichi Araki, Masanao Akahoshi, Sadayuki Murai, Ai Ota
• Special effects directors: Yuichi Kikuchi, Tsugumi Kitaura, Kazuya Konaka, Takeshi Yagi
• Supervision: Kazuo Tsuburaya
• Production: Hideaki Tsuburaya (up to episode 28)
• Executive production: Masahiro Tsuburaya (up to episode 13), Shinichi Ooka
• Planning: Naotsugu Kato (CBC), Naoyuki Eto, Toichiro Shiraishi
• Producers: Takayuki Okazaki (CBC), Hiroyasu Shibuya (Tsuburaya Productions), Taihei Yamanishi (Dentsu)
• Production producer: Nobuyuki Koyama
• Music: Kenji Kawai
• Music producer: Shizu Tamagawa
• CGI motion director: Ichiro Itano
• Character design: Hiroshi Maruyama, Yasushi Torisawa
• Mechanical & Item Design: PLEX
• Item production: Hilma Model Craft
• Optical animation: Japan Effect Center
• Sound effects: Suwara Production
• Modeling: Kaimei Productions
• Production: Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting, Tsuburaya Productions

Music

Opening Themes

• Eiyuu
  • Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement: Akihito Tokunaga
  • Artist: doa
  • Episodes: 1-25, 37

• Aoi Kajitsu
  • Lyrics: Daiki Yoshimoto
  • Composition & Arrangement: Akihito Tokunaga
  • Artist: doa
  • Episodes: 26-36

Ending Themes

• Itsumo Kokoro ni Taiyou wo
  • Lyrics & Composition: Yuka Saegusa
  • Arrangement: Masazumi Ozawa
  • Artist: U-ka Saegusa IN db
  • Episodes: 1-13

• Tobitatenai Watashi ni Anata ga Tsubasa wo Kureta
  • Lyrics: Yuka Saegusa
  • Composition: Aika Ohno
  • Arrangement: Masazumi Ozawa
  • Artist: U-ka Saegusa IN db
  • Episodes: 14-25

• Akaku Atsui Kodou
  • Lyrics: Rina Aiuchi
  • Composition: Masaaki Watanuki
  • Arrangement: Masazumi Ozawa
  • Artist: Rina Aiuchi
  • Episodes: 26-36

Home Media

Ultraman Nexus released across 10 DVD volumes in 2005. On February 22, 2008, Climax Stories: Ultraman Nexus released, featuring the series compiled into a hour-long film with narration by Takuji Kawakubo. A complete DVD box set was released on August 24, 2012. Box sets of Ultraman Max and Ultraman Mebius released around the same time, with all three having covers illustrated by Masayuki Gotoh.

Volume 1 (episodes 1-4)

Volume 2 (episodes 5-8)

Volume 3 (episodes 9-12)

Volume 4 (episodes 13-16)

Volume 5 (episodes 17-20)

Volume 6 (episodes 21-24)

Volume 7 (episodes 25-28)

Volume 8 (episodes 29-31, director's cut of 29)

Volume 9 (episodes 31-33, EX)

Volume 10 (episodes 34-37)

Climax Stories: Ultraman Nexus

TV COMPLETE DVD-BOX (episodes 1-37, director's cut of 29, EX)

Mill Creek's DVD box set (episodes 1-37, ULTRAMAN)

Spin-offs

• Manga: A manga adaptation created by Takashi Shiina was serialized in Televi-Kun from December 2004 to August 2005. A tankōbon was released on May 18, 2015.
• Video Game: A video game based on the series was released by Bandai on May 26, 2005 for the PlayStation 2.

Gallery

Images

After wrapping up the production, the crew gathered for a group photo

Trivia

• At one point in development, Ultraman Nexus was meant to be a series called Ultraman Cross and was conceived as a foil to its predecessor, Ultraman Cosmos.
  • As production on the movie that eventually became The Next involved more of the crew from the new show, the decision was made to merge the show into the movie's continuity, and it was renamed Nexus.
• This is the last series to use Ending Credits. The following shows until Ultra Galaxy removed Ending Credits.
• This the first and only Ultraman Series where the Ultraman's host was not the main character.
  • It is also the first show with multiple hosts for a single Ultraman.
• According to Hiroyasu Shibuya, the series' style was influenced by the contemporary trend of Japanese horror films. Considering Tsuburaya Productions had been exploring the mysterious genre since Ultra Q, and noting the rise of Japanese animation and horror films in the early 21st century, Tsuburaya strongly felt that the next step should be in tokusatsu. Therefore, they aimed to incorporate action elements from anime and mysterious aspects of Japanese horror into tokusatsu, creating a work that could not only compete in the Japanese market but also shine on the global stage.
  • The series was the first in the franchise to be produced in a serialized drama format. According to Shibuya, this shift presented significant challenges once filming commenced, as it differed from the traditional episodic format where character emotions reset at the end of each episode. In this new format, the production team invested substantial time in discussions to closely align with the characters' emotional journeys and carefully portray their development over time.

External Links

• Official website (CBC)
• Ultraman Nexus at TBS's website (web archive)
• Official Ultra N Project website (web archive)
• Ultraman Nexus at Tsuburaya Productions' official website