i find it funny people say nexus is dark and gritty considering every big bad guy was defeated by the power of love, people tend to ignore that very important part
I find it funny that you think that themes of love and light doesn't mean the show had it dark moments, you remember Faust moments? you remember the monster that eats gasoline and kidnap people to eat? it's indeed darker than other ultras.
I liked how otherworldly it felt. Which is part of why I like Nexus. Like other ultras he's heroic and a beacon of light and hope. But he's also mysterious. Incomprehensible in an almost eldritch fashion. He or perhaps I should say, it, rarely ever speaks. Fills Jun with cryptic dreams of ruins and monsters. And even when it explains the purpose of choosing Jun right at the end, it has no voice. Instead, communicating to Jun through his memories of Sara. As if talking and using words were alien to it. You can sorta get why the Raiders were initially so wary. Even Jun as the host was confused as hell, half the time.
I liked how otherworldly it felt. Which is part of why I like Nexus. Like other ultras he's heroic and a beacon of light and hope. But he's also mysterious. Incomprehensible in an almost eldritch fashion. He or perhaps I should say, it, rarely ever speaks. Fills Jun with cryptic dreams of ruins and monsters. And even when it explains the purpose of choosing Jun right at the end, it has no voice. Instead, communicating to Jun through his memories of Sara. As if talking and using words were alien to it. You can sorta get why the Raiders were initially so wary. Even Jun as the host was confused as hell, half the time.
To me, Nexus has it's flaws.. but overall it was great. What made Nexus work is that it DOESN'T go dark for the sake of it. No, it balances the dark and light tones pretty well. And it made the optimistic tone work. I personally wish Ishibori was more or less a secondary-deuteragonist so that his reveal as the final villain would be quite the twist. And we were robbed of Nagi's Junis form (I will never not be salty about it).
Ultraman Nexus to me is the epitome of making a tokusatsu show but for adults. The story is just very engaging and the show explores characters with a genuine drive enough that the show doesn't feel very distracted from exploring its more darker adult themes. Tbh it's a good show for teenagers such as myself before, made me appreciate linear story shows more if they are given the time to have developed stories.
In my country Indonesia, Ultraman Nexus is very popular and having big fans due to he is in fact actually the strongest Ultraman; Ultraman Noa. He has nickname by Indonesian Ultra Fans, "Dewa Turu" or "Sleepy God" in English due to he always hibernating or sleeping, never intervere everyone's problem, and doesn't really care. Except if the enemy is Dark Zagi; he will wake up from his sleeps/slumber and go after him. Few Indonesian Ultra fans had motto for Ultraman Noa: "No Zagi, no party". It means if his enemies is Zagi he will intervere whoever his enemies are beside Zagi. And if the enemies not Zagi, he will not intervere and choose to hibernatie or sleeping.
I got PTSD flashbacks when THAT keychain charm from Nexus showed up in an early trailer for SSSS.Gridman. Also, there's an interview with Hasegawa (the show's writer) where he does sorta explain stuff that got cut. Like who the hand that rescues Komon was.
Nexus was my first full Ultra show. I had watched a couple episodes of the 66 series and bounced off it a little, and then had watched The Next (not knowing its connection to Nexus) when trying to take the plunge into the franchise. But Nexus was what made me a fan for real, albiet with some need to adjust my tonal expectations afterwards. For what it's worth, I wasn't really bothered by the truncated pace of the finale arcs, I think I kinda liked how all the pieces just start rapidly tumbling into place after the slower pace of buildup. The production values, performances, music, and style more than made up for any writing deficiencies. Also, yes, Eiyuu is an absolute treasure of an opening, partially because it has less of a cheery superhero jingle vibe than most Ultra openings and just sounds like a regular anime-style J-rock opening. I watched the show on Crunchyroll, which did not subtitle the lyrics in the OP...and then when they replay Eiyuu over the finale episode's end credits, they DID subtitle them, and I got to see how well the lyrics reflected the story I'd been watching. Accidental poetry right there.
It's worth noting that this show in particular is probably why Shin Ultraman was so much more traditional to its source material and less deconstructive than Shin Godzilla. Anno's Evangelion is in its own way a deconstruction of Ultraman without the brand name (can't take credit for this analysis, but it's a giant of light landing on Earth and being vivisected and cloned, and the clones are manipulated by the show's shady attack team to fight monsters that are actually trying to rescue the light giant). But even besides that, The Next and Nexus had already done "Ultraman but where the human forces are shady and the protagonist doubts themselves". It made sense to try an approach that was still more adult and complex, but kept the fully optimistic tone.
Nexus is my favorite Ultraman show, I think it's great, for basically all the same reasons you said in your review. It's such a nice change of pace from the rest of the franchise, especially after Cosmos. It definitely drops the ball for the conclusion but I think that the rest of the show is so well built up and well done that even though I'm dissapointed it couldn't end on it's own terms, I still think it does a sufficient job. You didn't bring them up but I think the end songs of Nexus are also really good.
Spoilers: Hm, while it's never outright explained, I thought the reason that TLT selected Komon was that since the Illustrator and Visitors were clairvoyant and basically running the operations of TLT that they would know that the resurrection of Dark Zagi was a serious threat and that Nexus' true form of Noa would be needed to defeat him, and that they picked Komon because someone of upstanding character who also faced past trauma like the other deunamists was needed to improve their lives and serve as the ultimate host for accomplishing this
It really is such a shame that nexus skipped like an entire arc or two. I would have loved to see Nagi as a deunamist with her own Junis form and maybe Komon as Noa for a bit. I also maybe would have liked Noas travels through the multiverse prior to the series to be elaborated on, as the stuff we see today alludes to it but it's all really confusing.
Can I just say, thank you so much for continuing to order the ultra retrospective playlist in show release order!! A lot of RUclipsrs would be too lazy to do that, so it just shows how passionate you are about these videos!!!
Another great Ultra retrospective video! I've commented on most if not all of these, because I almost always have something to say about each show, as somebody who has been experiencing the franchise for the first time since a few years ago. I have little to add, since I agree with your points, so instead I'd like to share a moment from the show I still think about a lot. Keep in mind, my memories of Nexus aren't particularly fresh. I watched it (and The Next) just shy of a year ago, and I have watched MANY more Ultra shows since then, and am watching one as I write this. So, I don't remember what episode this is from, or who even says this, but it's a moment that I found compelling that I still think about very often. It's a scene where a character is looking out a window at some birds, and laments about the nature of birds. Birds are free flying animals who have little in life to tie them down. They have few responsibilities, and have the means to go wherever they want or need to. The character then compares this to our lives, and how he wishes he could reject his human dilemmas and fly away like a bird. That scene still sticks with me to this day, something about it just really struck a chord with me. It's not the most compelling moment of the show by a long shot, but the idea of it spoke to me in a way many other things do not. I believe it's better to take life by the horns and solve your problems rather than surround yourself with denial, but part of me has always resonated with that thought, of being able to reject one's worldly problems and soar to parts unknown. That's pretty much it. I don't mean to be so "philosophical" in a RUclips comment section of all places, and maybe this tangent only comes off as pretentious, but I just wanted to share how a moment from this show still resonates in my mind to this day. I've watched a lot of Ultraman shows in a short amount of time, to the point that I end up only being able to recall the most important aspects of the show while the nuance of it is forgotten, but that one specific moment from that one specific Ultraman show really spoke to me. Anyways, as I usually say, I'm looking forward to... The Next.. Ultraman video. That pun was terrible, I'm sorry.
Best Ultraman series, best overall series I've watched in my life... Suspense, romance, impeccable soundtrack, sequential chapters, twists... Impossible to watch only one chapter at a time It didn't have the success it deserved because it was dark, with a certain violence and it was transmitted wrongly to the wrong people, very adult Ultraman series are not successful (and consequently do not sell toys) I haven't found any series to match yet.
Let's gooo. This is my favorite ultra show. It's honestly very anime like, with story arcs, an ongoing plot, darker tone, and more developed characters. It's such a shame that they had to rush the ending. The potential was there for a very good final arc. I honestly wish they would return to this sort of a series again. I don't think it would bomb right now, as it did 20 years ago. Both word of mouth/internet, and adults who appreciate such shows, could make it have decent viewership.
Nexus is one of my earliest exposures to tokusatsu as a child. Specifically, I just stumbled upon a local Tagalog dub of the show which showed the Nosferu arc of the show. It was pretty messed up in hindsight for a then six year old kid to just witness what was basically a demonized mother and father trying to feed their daughter to a massive space monster but I enjoyed the show for what it was then and I still enjoy it now.
Nexus was a mind blower of a series when I first watched it. The tones and directions it took was mind blowing for an ultraman series. Probably helped that I watched Kamen Rider Kabuto around the same time as well. Will always look back at Nexus with fond memories!
Despite the cut to Nagi's arc, the final episode shows us Nagi's end as predicted. Nagi was always a tough and serious person, that way of being was born from her childhood trauma, when she saw a human/monster/beast (Zagi) kill her mother, Zagi left her alive to "use her when the light comes" (betting that at some point Noa noticed her to be a deunamist, which happens in the end). At that moment little Nagi only felt fear and pain, what is known as "darkness", her mind could not live without negative thoughts; Despite that, she somehow manages to get ahead and when she grows up she joins the Night Raiders, this because her developed a desire to destroy the space beasts that appeared on Earth, because they reminded her of the being she hated the most for marking his life in the worst way (Zagi), she also developed a way to "control her emotions" which was to hide in hatred, because according to her "it gave her strength", we know this because it was what she told Komon, that the feeling hate towards something would give you the strength to face whatever it is, which the series shows that, while true, it is not good to let hate drive your actions, because you only end up hurting others and eventually yourself. Nagi lived a life full of hate and pain, which she used to direct those feelings to what was most like Zagi, she was always alone and had no one to help her feel something different, the only one she had by her side was Mizorogi, precisely the person she saw fall into darkness and later saw that person she valued die in a "more human" way, destroying her even more. That is why at the end of everything, when Zagi manages to make the light focus on Nagi, after using Izmael to force the light to separate itself from Ren, the end was written; Whatever happened in the Nagi arc that never came out, Zagi would eventually manage to get Nagi to Lethe; When Zagi reveals to Nagi that he is responsible for her life being a continuous suffering, Nagi explodes emotionally and does not think about the situation she is in, she does not care that Lethe is in that room, she just wants to kill the being that she hates the most in the world, by emphasizing all her hatred or pain at that moment, when the light transforms it undergoes an alteration, releasing negative energy that Lethe recognizes and begins to absorb (this can be seen in her transformation, seeing how she uses the evoltruster as Mizorogi used the Darkevolver and not like Jun or Ren would). The same with Komon, when he sees how Nagi is absorbed by Lethe's void, he decides to enter the void to save her; Upon entering, we see Nagi "asleep", she is not trying to get out of that darkness, she is just waiting for the inevitable end, she knows that she let the Light be absorbed along with her forces, she knows that she can't do anything, she is alone... .like that hellish night when her life became hate, fear and pain. Then she hears a voice in the distance, Komon, that subordinate who was not capable of fighting the beasts in the same way as her, the weakest person she knew, was in the middle of that void, trying to save her, then she hears replying "DON'T GIVE UP", she was not alone. Nagi wakes up and tries to grab Komon's hand in the middle of the void, when he succeeds, the Light (Noa) transfers to Komon, not only because of the situation where they are, where Nagi does not have the strength to fight, but because, in that moment, Komon is the only person who can save the world from the hell it is suffering. In the end Komon manages to make the light shine in such a way that he can use Noa's full power, defeating Zagi easily, managing to save and protect all the people, as he always wanted, since that day when a person saved him as a child. The story of Ultraman Nexus suffered a lot from the cut and the low rating, and although it is a shame that we have not been able to see more of the giant or the confrontation against this "Dark Lucifer", Keiichi Hasegawa and the entire Nexus production team, did their best to preserve, not only the myth of fiction, but something more important, its final message, "Don't give up." Nexus tells us that, in effect, life will not always be easy, it will not always be happy, there will be moments that will destroy you and hurt too much, but at the end of the day, "You are still alive" and you can choose, you can choose to continue "fighting" and stand up once again for the ones you care about and for what you want, you can "Not give up" because you "are not alone" (I love Nexus)
Great review. The kaiju designs and the aesthetic in general look fantastic in this entry. That's a shame that the story was so good yet still got rushed and "unfinished". Seems to be the fate of many great stories that try a ambitious new direction
This was my first Ultraman show back when it was airing! Something I've always found really interesting about the truncation of the final arc is that it wasn't initially confirmed by Tsuburaya and there were genuine debates on various forums about whether or not the rumors were true, which I think speaks to the genuine strengths of the finale even if I definitely would have preferred the true final arc to play out as intended.
I wished you went into more detail about the kaiju, my favorite by far being Banpira. Also, there is a lot of unused monster designs. One of those was brought back in Mebius as Gromite, and then there is also this cool looking unused cockroach monster
What got me into the show was the Ultraman suit. The first, with it's all silver, gray, and black color scheme, with that bit of red was a great design.
While I am excited to watch this show and I’m very happy to own the series on DVD, I find myself more excited for the shows after such as Max and Mebius
I think there was more precedent in the Kamen Rider franchise for things to get a little spooky. Toei primed everyone with a straight up direct to video body horror movie (Kamen Rider Shin), so Kuuga's more desaturated, darker take where dozens of people die off and on screen would comparably seem less violent. Ultraman didn't have something like that.
@@ZaGorudan I was thinking of something like that. Kamen rider usually can get dark and horrifying (see the first series) so I think it's earned it. Ultraman hadn't
Nexus is a failed Ultra Projects. But in the end without Nexus, Tsuburaya would never try to do something extreme yet cool like Blazar, Shin Ultraman, Ultraseven 55th Anniversary Special and many others. Ultraman Nexus still remain as one of my fav Ultra Series because of unique designs, a memorable story arc, banger soundtracks and it gave me some motivation to not giving up
Tbh, nexus is a good show for me. Especially with its theme. Tiga is perfect at showing that we, human is not the only living thing and we should be considerate. It also show how everything we did have it consequences. Like that bird episode, I dont remember the name. Not zelda, the one live in cloud. Dyna hold the "Achieve your dream" theme really well. At some point, they point out you need to do thing the right way to get what you want. Both are perfect for their theme. Nexus can be perfect if not for the half-baked series. They got hit by both lawsuit and people. Sound like actual ultraman plot
Good video and good comment on the show and yes the ending is pretty much rushed for many reason. But i looked at what it will look like in many review and the interview/ script reading of the original director. In the orgiginal script, Nagi will be supposed to have her own form of Nexus, yellow-orange like. And Dark Zagi was never supposed to be the final villain it was a ennemy named Dark Lucifer. For what we known about Noa, that he is born from a supernova, Lucifer is supposed to be born from the same one, when turned into a black hole. And the final battle wil be more a psychological one with the Komon fighting litterally the devil himself. The choreographie of the final fight will be the one we see in the (Very non-canon^^) fight of Dark Zagi versus Ginga When Nagi have Nexus, she wil try to fight a new ennemy, Zagi but cannot, is just too strong and in way to flee from him, Probably using is dimension thing, will go back in time. In the past she will save the young Komon from drowning (wich is funny because to one more cynical character of the serie is the one givin the more hopeful one a reason to believe) and when Nagi wil go back in the present, she will give to Komon Nexus and he will turn to into Noa.
For a good while, Nexus was my favorite Ultraman design and it was before I was actually familiar with Ultraman(that is, the past 4 months). It was back in the mid-2000s and Nexus was on a local Anime cable channel, dubbed in the local language, where I only caught glimpses of it. It aired alongside Cosmos and Mebius, whiched I actually saw more of. On the subject of Nexus still being the same, unambiguously heroic character like every other Ultra in a darker and somewhat morally ambiguous setting; it's like dropping one of the classic, 70s Mecha Anime protagonists(like Koji Kabuto of Mazinger Z or Ryoma Nagare of Getter Robo) into the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion. NERV and the Night Raiders actually seem very similar.
Interestingly, in Ultra Galaxy Fight: Destined Crossroads, they assumed/mentioned that Noa (as Nexus) was fighting both the absolutian and ultraman ribut based on protective instinct, like an auto defense system.
According to the original plans, (I have terrible memory), the Night Raiders were all supposed to become Nexus at one point (I forget if Ishibori was included, I think so?), switching between them and emphasizing the theme of the “passing of the torch”, and the person who saved Komon as a kid was future Nagi under her tenure as Nexus. Idk if Ren was always planned, but if he wasn’t, then I could see him as the writing teams’ last ditch effort to appeal to kids again with the change in theme and tone.
Ren and the shift in tone to something lighter was always planned. I think it fits what the show was going for, you gotta have some darker storylines early on for the more optimistic and bombastic stuff later on to feel earned, and I think it does. It's the abrupt conclusion that was not planned.
Nagi saving young Komon was a idea they have cuz in that moment they were planing to do "time travel/loop story" stuff, but when the show was cut, they decided to change the story and forgot that plot, thats why canonically the person who saved komon when he was a child is just an unknown person; Komon thinks that the misterious guy was an alien or something like that cuz he doesnt was able to actually seen something properly
Nexus is a perfect show for adults...if only the show didn't get butchered by low ratings. Also the drastic change from kids friendly tone to dark adult tone was really a stupid move.
It is. I definitely remembered watching Nexus as a kid and gotten really confused on where's the ultraman and why so many people talking so much on the screen, fact my parents never explain why and subtly making sure I never got the idea to stick around until much later made me realize that they're making sure the theme didn't entered my head until I was old enough to understand it😅 Yeah Nexus' story is one heck of a restless show that only gets better the more it deals with heavy themes with hopes still latched on to it. But definitely not the studios best ideas to jump from kid friendly to this 😅
Great Video! The ending of Nexus is obviously its worst element. I think if the show had another 12-15 episodes everything would’ve landed much better. Even so, I think this is my favorite ultraman show, warts and all. Oh and Nexus Junis is just the coolest ultra design!
If you followed Komon, you will know why he became the God Ultraman Noa Plus we had a head canon that That guy played by Takuji Kawakubo in Ultraman X is a reincarnated Komon brought by Noa
I like to think one day tsuburaya will make a nexus continuation but definitely not now maybe for the shows 30th anniversary since tsuburaya barely did anything for nexus 20th anniversary
This show is by far the best story in the entirety of ultraman, if only tsuburaya didn’t quickly rushed the show’s ending for max. Ep 1 - 25 was great.
I don't mean to be "that person", but Ultraman Nexus aired in 2004. As Ultraman Cosmos finished it's run in 2003. Also, speaking of Ultraman Gaia, will you ever review that series?
Cautious optimism. I didn't want to make a statement about it in this video because it isn't out yet. I would instantly be dating the vid with a statement like "Blazar is giving me Nexus vibes" if that turned out to not be the case when it came out.
I recommend do a retrospective fir Ultraman Mebius one of the most favorite and lovable Ultraman which was suppose to be part of the ultra brothers till zero stole its spot rightt
Well if nexus released today, or to western audiences just like the ultraman manga. It would be a classic. Compared to many new Heisei (those with long complicated transformations that using toy with older ultras powers, also with too many transformations that most of them goofy. All bcs to sell the toys to kids) this show more closer to early heisei ultra. Its one of my favorite ultras but yes rushed at the end bcs its not suitable for kids and toys not selling well. I just hope there's a future darker ultra made spesifically for adult tokusatsu fans and tell bigger stories.
They could have made Ultrawoman Nexus a thing....But no! Also, thank you for helping me identify a piece of music used for a Tokusatsu fan video made years ago and I din't know what the source was (the first opening theme to Nexus).
Nexus is a good show to watch No more to say, it just a good show to watch Dear the most sane nexus fans It could not be denied that ultraman nexus series is flawed. People who refuse to believe as such is only clouding their judgment. Perfect version of nexus did not exist. And using that to judge everything is unfair. Ultraman series that surpass ultra n project exist. And the chance it will exist again will always exist. Stop using you imagination to convince yourself ultra n project is perfect. You just filling the gap with imagination. It's not real. Move on.
I think what disappoints me the most about Ultraman Nexus is not the show itself, but rather how network executives gimped this show right from the get-go by putting it in such unprofitable timeslots. All because the network THOUGHT adults wouldn't watch Ultraman.
Does anyone realize Nexus is so similar to Evagelion ? Komon = Shinji, Nagi = Misato, Himeya = Asuka, Ren = Ren , TLT = NERV ,TLT Diretor = NERV Commander (shinji's father
Who is Ren in Genesis Evangelion? If you referring to Rei then no they're both isn't similar in character, and im wondering why you see himeya is similar as asuka
So this is like evangelion. Except it bombed, and somehow eva became the most populous thing ever despite also airing in a poor timeslot. Considering how much eva took from ultraman, its interesting
Project N was a failure because of a wrong timeslot and why it came into a wrong timing well it was replaced with a anime Gundam seed destiny that caused tsuburaya to just air it in the wrong timeslot
I know I'm late but this need to be corrected. kid Komon did not save by future time travel Komon, he was saved by future Nagi when she was deunamist she was supposed to have an arc that explore her time as Nexus but y'know... We didn't get that
As I've said, this might be the biggest mixed bag, aside from maybe Max and Gaia. It's got some of the best and worst of the entire Ultraman Franchise.
Check out the Ultra Retrospective playlist for more videos like this one.
ruclips.net/p/PLiLVzRuysz88wWUAy5XObQ0iQaEHLVGCw
Any plans for a daina and gaia retrospective?
i find it funny people say nexus is dark and gritty considering every big bad guy was defeated by the power of love, people tend to ignore that very important part
Because the show is for teenager and adult. It aired on the early time while it suppose to be aired in the afternoon
quite dark anyways considering that the love in this story takes a very dark turn that only teenagers and adults would understand
Then theres ace
the reveal with faust is actually devastating 😭
I find it funny that you think that themes of love and light doesn't mean the show had it dark moments, you remember Faust moments? you remember the monster that eats gasoline and kidnap people to eat? it's indeed darker than other ultras.
I liked how otherworldly it felt. Which is part of why I like Nexus.
Like other ultras he's heroic and a beacon of light and hope.
But he's also mysterious. Incomprehensible in an almost eldritch fashion.
He or perhaps I should say, it, rarely ever speaks. Fills Jun with cryptic dreams of ruins and monsters.
And even when it explains the purpose of choosing Jun right at the end, it has no voice. Instead, communicating to Jun through his memories of Sara. As if talking and using words were alien to it.
You can sorta get why the Raiders were initially so wary. Even Jun as the host was confused as hell, half the time.
The OST of Ultraman Nexus always made me feel a certain way, it felt Divine in a way and sometimes super bad ass.
I wish Kawai could do scores like this still. 90% of his post-Gundam 00 scores all sound like retreads of stuff he did for 00.
I liked how otherworldly it felt. Which is part of why I like Nexus.
Like other ultras he's heroic and a beacon of light and hope.
But he's also mysterious. Incomprehensible in an almost eldritch fashion.
He or perhaps I should say, it, rarely ever speaks. Fills Jun with cryptic dreams of ruins and monsters.
And even when it explains the purpose of choosing Jun right at the end, it has no voice. Instead, communicating to Jun through his memories of Sara. As if talking and using words were alien to it.
You can sorta get why the Raiders were initially so wary. Even Jun as the host was confused as hell, half the time.
@@ZeroBusterXXkawai back then cooked I mean fate stay night ost was fantastic
Funfact: Kenji Kawai also scoring music of Ultraman Zero Revenge of Belial and Ultraman Geed.
To me, Nexus has it's flaws.. but overall it was great.
What made Nexus work is that it DOESN'T go dark for the sake of it. No, it balances the dark and light tones pretty well. And it made the optimistic tone work.
I personally wish Ishibori was more or less a secondary-deuteragonist so that his reveal as the final villain would be quite the twist.
And we were robbed of Nagi's Junis form (I will never not be salty about it).
Ultraman video jumpscare. A suprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Ultraman Nexus to me is the epitome of making a tokusatsu show but for adults. The story is just very engaging and the show explores characters with a genuine drive enough that the show doesn't feel very distracted from exploring its more darker adult themes. Tbh it's a good show for teenagers such as myself before, made me appreciate linear story shows more if they are given the time to have developed stories.
Kamen Rider Amazons take note
@@yiwoon_cr8s Amazons sucks. Nexus, while being dark, atleast has a hopeful message. Amazons is just edgy for the sake of it.
@@yiwoon_cr8s and then we got Black Sun which did what Amazons tried to do but didn't screw it up
plot twist: Willie Mingus is the human form of Dark Lucifer.
In my country Indonesia, Ultraman Nexus is very popular and having big fans due to he is in fact actually the strongest Ultraman; Ultraman Noa.
He has nickname by Indonesian Ultra Fans, "Dewa Turu" or "Sleepy God" in English due to he always hibernating or sleeping, never intervere everyone's problem, and doesn't really care. Except if the enemy is Dark Zagi; he will wake up from his sleeps/slumber and go after him.
Few Indonesian Ultra fans had motto for Ultraman Noa: "No Zagi, no party".
It means if his enemies is Zagi he will intervere whoever his enemies are beside Zagi. And if the enemies not Zagi, he will not intervere and choose to hibernatie or sleeping.
I got PTSD flashbacks when THAT keychain charm from Nexus showed up in an early trailer for SSSS.Gridman. Also, there's an interview with Hasegawa (the show's writer) where he does sorta explain stuff that got cut. Like who the hand that rescues Komon was.
It wasn't Jun, was it?
@@mb2001 That'd be the first guess. But it was supposed to be Nagi during some time travel arc they never got around to.
@@ZeroBusterXX Ohhhhhh... Huh.
@@ZeroBusterXX Damn, Future Nagi has a really manly voice😅
Nexus was my first full Ultra show. I had watched a couple episodes of the 66 series and bounced off it a little, and then had watched The Next (not knowing its connection to Nexus) when trying to take the plunge into the franchise. But Nexus was what made me a fan for real, albiet with some need to adjust my tonal expectations afterwards. For what it's worth, I wasn't really bothered by the truncated pace of the finale arcs, I think I kinda liked how all the pieces just start rapidly tumbling into place after the slower pace of buildup. The production values, performances, music, and style more than made up for any writing deficiencies.
Also, yes, Eiyuu is an absolute treasure of an opening, partially because it has less of a cheery superhero jingle vibe than most Ultra openings and just sounds like a regular anime-style J-rock opening. I watched the show on Crunchyroll, which did not subtitle the lyrics in the OP...and then when they replay Eiyuu over the finale episode's end credits, they DID subtitle them, and I got to see how well the lyrics reflected the story I'd been watching. Accidental poetry right there.
Nexus is a series that sadly ahead of its time. If it were to air todays, people will love it.
It's worth noting that this show in particular is probably why Shin Ultraman was so much more traditional to its source material and less deconstructive than Shin Godzilla. Anno's Evangelion is in its own way a deconstruction of Ultraman without the brand name (can't take credit for this analysis, but it's a giant of light landing on Earth and being vivisected and cloned, and the clones are manipulated by the show's shady attack team to fight monsters that are actually trying to rescue the light giant). But even besides that, The Next and Nexus had already done "Ultraman but where the human forces are shady and the protagonist doubts themselves". It made sense to try an approach that was still more adult and complex, but kept the fully optimistic tone.
Shin ultraman is anno's and higuchi's fanfictions. Its like their love letters to the ultra series (and jissoji).
Nexus is my favorite Ultraman show, I think it's great, for basically all the same reasons you said in your review. It's such a nice change of pace from the rest of the franchise, especially after Cosmos. It definitely drops the ball for the conclusion but I think that the rest of the show is so well built up and well done that even though I'm dissapointed it couldn't end on it's own terms, I still think it does a sufficient job.
You didn't bring them up but I think the end songs of Nexus are also really good.
Spoilers:
Hm, while it's never outright explained, I thought the reason that TLT selected Komon was that since the Illustrator and Visitors were clairvoyant and basically running the operations of TLT that they would know that the resurrection of Dark Zagi was a serious threat and that Nexus' true form of Noa would be needed to defeat him, and that they picked Komon because someone of upstanding character who also faced past trauma like the other deunamists was needed to improve their lives and serve as the ultimate host for accomplishing this
So basically, the visitors is the good guys Aizen?
It really is such a shame that nexus skipped like an entire arc or two. I would have loved to see Nagi as a deunamist with her own Junis form and maybe Komon as Noa for a bit. I also maybe would have liked Noas travels through the multiverse prior to the series to be elaborated on, as the stuff we see today alludes to it but it's all really confusing.
Sing it with me now: 🎵Otoko nara, dareka no tame tsuyoku nare...🎵
Just woken up and now watching a ultra retrospective while eating fried noodles, life is good
Can I just say, thank you so much for continuing to order the ultra retrospective playlist in show release order!! A lot of RUclipsrs would be too lazy to do that, so it just shows how passionate you are about these videos!!!
👍👍
Another great Ultra retrospective video! I've commented on most if not all of these, because I almost always have something to say about each show, as somebody who has been experiencing the franchise for the first time since a few years ago. I have little to add, since I agree with your points, so instead I'd like to share a moment from the show I still think about a lot. Keep in mind, my memories of Nexus aren't particularly fresh. I watched it (and The Next) just shy of a year ago, and I have watched MANY more Ultra shows since then, and am watching one as I write this. So, I don't remember what episode this is from, or who even says this, but it's a moment that I found compelling that I still think about very often.
It's a scene where a character is looking out a window at some birds, and laments about the nature of birds. Birds are free flying animals who have little in life to tie them down. They have few responsibilities, and have the means to go wherever they want or need to. The character then compares this to our lives, and how he wishes he could reject his human dilemmas and fly away like a bird. That scene still sticks with me to this day, something about it just really struck a chord with me. It's not the most compelling moment of the show by a long shot, but the idea of it spoke to me in a way many other things do not. I believe it's better to take life by the horns and solve your problems rather than surround yourself with denial, but part of me has always resonated with that thought, of being able to reject one's worldly problems and soar to parts unknown.
That's pretty much it. I don't mean to be so "philosophical" in a RUclips comment section of all places, and maybe this tangent only comes off as pretentious, but I just wanted to share how a moment from this show still resonates in my mind to this day. I've watched a lot of Ultraman shows in a short amount of time, to the point that I end up only being able to recall the most important aspects of the show while the nuance of it is forgotten, but that one specific moment from that one specific Ultraman show really spoke to me. Anyways, as I usually say, I'm looking forward to... The Next.. Ultraman video.
That pun was terrible, I'm sorry.
I really enjoyed Nexus. It was really a good show despite the ending.
Best Ultraman series, best overall series I've watched in my life...
Suspense, romance, impeccable soundtrack, sequential chapters, twists...
Impossible to watch only one chapter at a time
It didn't have the success it deserved because it was dark, with a certain violence and it was transmitted wrongly to the wrong people, very adult Ultraman series are not successful (and consequently do not sell toys)
I haven't found any series to match yet.
Let's gooo. This is my favorite ultra show. It's honestly very anime like, with story arcs, an ongoing plot, darker tone, and more developed characters. It's such a shame that they had to rush the ending. The potential was there for a very good final arc.
I honestly wish they would return to this sort of a series again. I don't think it would bomb right now, as it did 20 years ago. Both word of mouth/internet, and adults who appreciate such shows, could make it have decent viewership.
This shows does give you hope when your life is falling down
Someone praise max and nexus at the same time, THANK YOUUUUU
Nexus is one of my earliest exposures to tokusatsu as a child. Specifically, I just stumbled upon a local Tagalog dub of the show which showed the Nosferu arc of the show. It was pretty messed up in hindsight for a then six year old kid to just witness what was basically a demonized mother and father trying to feed their daughter to a massive space monster but I enjoyed the show for what it was then and I still enjoy it now.
Nexus was a mind blower of a series when I first watched it. The tones and directions it took was mind blowing for an ultraman series. Probably helped that I watched Kamen Rider Kabuto around the same time as well. Will always look back at Nexus with fond memories!
Despite the cut to Nagi's arc, the final episode shows us Nagi's end as predicted.
Nagi was always a tough and serious person, that way of being was born from her childhood trauma, when she saw a human/monster/beast (Zagi) kill her mother, Zagi left her alive to "use her when the light comes" (betting that at some point Noa noticed her to be a deunamist, which happens in the end).
At that moment little Nagi only felt fear and pain, what is known as "darkness", her mind could not live without negative thoughts; Despite that, she somehow manages to get ahead and when she grows up she joins the Night Raiders, this because her developed a desire to destroy the space beasts that appeared on Earth, because they reminded her of the being she hated the most for marking his life in the worst way (Zagi), she also developed a way to "control her emotions" which was to hide in hatred, because according to her "it gave her strength", we know this because it was what she told Komon, that the feeling hate towards something would give you the strength to face whatever it is, which the series shows that, while true, it is not good to let hate drive your actions, because you only end up hurting others and eventually yourself.
Nagi lived a life full of hate and pain, which she used to direct those feelings to what was most like Zagi, she was always alone and had no one to help her feel something different, the only one she had by her side was Mizorogi, precisely the person she saw fall into darkness and later saw that person she valued die in a "more human" way, destroying her even more. That is why at the end of everything, when Zagi manages to make the light focus on Nagi, after using Izmael to force the light to separate itself from Ren, the end was written; Whatever happened in the Nagi arc that never came out, Zagi would eventually manage to get Nagi to Lethe; When Zagi reveals to Nagi that he is responsible for her life being a continuous suffering, Nagi explodes emotionally and does not think about the situation she is in, she does not care that Lethe is in that room, she just wants to kill the being that she hates the most in the world, by emphasizing all her hatred or pain at that moment, when the light transforms it undergoes an alteration, releasing negative energy that Lethe recognizes and begins to absorb (this can be seen in her transformation, seeing how she uses the evoltruster as Mizorogi used the Darkevolver and not like Jun or Ren would).
The same with Komon, when he sees how Nagi is absorbed by Lethe's void, he decides to enter the void to save her; Upon entering, we see Nagi "asleep", she is not trying to get out of that darkness, she is just waiting for the inevitable end, she knows that she let the Light be absorbed along with her forces, she knows that she can't do anything, she is alone... .like that hellish night when her life became hate, fear and pain. Then she hears a voice in the distance, Komon, that subordinate who was not capable of fighting the beasts in the same way as her, the weakest person she knew, was in the middle of that void, trying to save her, then she hears replying "DON'T GIVE UP", she was not alone. Nagi wakes up and tries to grab Komon's hand in the middle of the void, when he succeeds, the Light (Noa) transfers to Komon, not only because of the situation where they are, where Nagi does not have the strength to fight, but because, in that moment, Komon is the only person who can save the world from the hell it is suffering.
In the end Komon manages to make the light shine in such a way that he can use Noa's full power, defeating Zagi easily, managing to save and protect all the people, as he always wanted, since that day when a person saved him as a child.
The story of Ultraman Nexus suffered a lot from the cut and the low rating, and although it is a shame that we have not been able to see more of the giant or the confrontation against this "Dark Lucifer", Keiichi Hasegawa and the entire Nexus production team, did their best to preserve, not only the myth of fiction, but something more important, its final message, "Don't give up." Nexus tells us that, in effect, life will not always be easy, it will not always be happy, there will be moments that will destroy you and hurt too much, but at the end of the day, "You are still alive" and you can choose, you can choose to continue "fighting" and stand up once again for the ones you care about and for what you want, you can "Not give up" because you "are not alone" (I love Nexus)
I cannot express how badly I want a Converge Motion Ultraman wave of Nexus and all of its forms and dark ultramen.
Of all the Ultraman shows, this one was the most horrific one 🕐🕜😛🍿 Great job 👍👌💯♥️
Nothing can beat the music and sound effects in Nexus man.
Loved the bass. Everything felt deep and rumbling. The night raider rifles in particular. Sounded like they could absolutely shred monsters.
Watching this makes me more hype for Blazar
Great review. The kaiju designs and the aesthetic in general look fantastic in this entry. That's a shame that the story was so good yet still got rushed and "unfinished". Seems to be the fate of many great stories that try a ambitious new direction
Yeah, I feel like Nexus's Space Beasts are really iconic. I practically have them all remembered
For some reason Nexus' head always have me the feeling of long hair. Fits for the early 00s edge I suppose.
Excellent retrospective. Nexus is my favorite ultra series, hope you can make a retrospective for ultraman 80
This was my first Ultraman show back when it was airing! Something I've always found really interesting about the truncation of the final arc is that it wasn't initially confirmed by Tsuburaya and there were genuine debates on various forums about whether or not the rumors were true, which I think speaks to the genuine strengths of the finale even if I definitely would have preferred the true final arc to play out as intended.
THE GOAT, ITS THE GOAAAAAAT
I wished you went into more detail about the kaiju, my favorite by far being Banpira. Also, there is a lot of unused monster designs. One of those was brought back in Mebius as Gromite, and then there is also this cool looking unused cockroach monster
As a Nexus fan since a kid, I like this video
Happy 20 anniversary nexus🎉💪🏻
Ren's theme was so good it has 3 version but my favorite was "a love story"
What got me into the show was the Ultraman suit. The first, with it's all silver, gray, and black color scheme, with that bit of red was a great design.
6:34
"...Vice Captain Naggy.."
Well, she does nag a lot. Unintentional word play is unintentional and hillarious. 😅
Ultraman Nexus game for PS2 is unique and fun to play.
While I am excited to watch this show and I’m very happy to own the series on DVD, I find myself more excited for the shows after such as Max and Mebius
11:59 that line goes really hard
I find it odd what happened to Nexus considering how dark and creepy Kuuga could get.
I think there was more precedent in the Kamen Rider franchise for things to get a little spooky. Toei primed everyone with a straight up direct to video body horror movie (Kamen Rider Shin), so Kuuga's more desaturated, darker take where dozens of people die off and on screen would comparably seem less violent. Ultraman didn't have something like that.
@@ZaGorudan I was thinking of something like that. Kamen rider usually can get dark and horrifying (see the first series) so I think it's earned it. Ultraman hadn't
Nexus is a failed Ultra Projects. But in the end without Nexus, Tsuburaya would never try to do something extreme yet cool like Blazar, Shin Ultraman, Ultraseven 55th Anniversary Special and many others. Ultraman Nexus still remain as one of my fav Ultra Series because of unique designs, a memorable story arc, banger soundtracks and it gave me some motivation to not giving up
Tbh, nexus is a good show for me. Especially with its theme. Tiga is perfect at showing that we, human is not the only living thing and we should be considerate. It also show how everything we did have it consequences. Like that bird episode, I dont remember the name. Not zelda, the one live in cloud. Dyna hold the "Achieve your dream" theme really well. At some point, they point out you need to do thing the right way to get what you want. Both are perfect for their theme.
Nexus can be perfect if not for the half-baked series. They got hit by both lawsuit and people. Sound like actual ultraman plot
Blazar seems to take some inspiration from nexus
Nexus appears in the destined crossroads
Good video and good comment on the show and yes the ending is pretty much rushed for many reason. But i looked at what it will look like in many review and the interview/ script reading of the original director.
In the orgiginal script, Nagi will be supposed to have her own form of Nexus, yellow-orange like. And Dark Zagi was never supposed to be the final villain it was a ennemy named Dark Lucifer. For what we known about Noa, that he is born from a supernova, Lucifer is supposed to be born from the same one, when turned into a black hole. And the final battle wil be more a psychological one with the Komon fighting litterally the devil himself. The choreographie of the final fight will be the one we see in the (Very non-canon^^) fight of Dark Zagi versus Ginga
When Nagi have Nexus, she wil try to fight a new ennemy, Zagi but cannot, is just too strong and in way to flee from him, Probably using is dimension thing, will go back in time. In the past she will save the young Komon from drowning (wich is funny because to one more cynical character of the serie is the one givin the more hopeful one a reason to believe) and when Nagi wil go back in the present, she will give to Komon Nexus and he will turn to into Noa.
For a good while, Nexus was my favorite Ultraman design and it was before I was actually familiar with Ultraman(that is, the past 4 months).
It was back in the mid-2000s and Nexus was on a local Anime cable channel, dubbed in the local language, where I only caught glimpses of it. It aired alongside Cosmos and Mebius, whiched I actually saw more of.
On the subject of Nexus still being the same, unambiguously heroic character like every other Ultra in a darker and somewhat morally ambiguous setting; it's like dropping one of the classic, 70s Mecha Anime protagonists(like Koji Kabuto of Mazinger Z or Ryoma Nagare of Getter Robo) into the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
NERV and the Night Raiders actually seem very similar.
Nagi is a mad dog and I love her for it. It really sucks we didn't see her brutalize a beast or two as Ultraman.
I like how the secret final boss kaiju enemy looks like a neon colored version of Lord Zedd
Interestingly, in Ultra Galaxy Fight: Destined Crossroads, they assumed/mentioned that Noa (as Nexus) was fighting both the absolutian and ultraman ribut based on protective instinct, like an auto defense system.
According to the original plans, (I have terrible memory), the Night Raiders were all supposed to become Nexus at one point (I forget if Ishibori was included, I think so?), switching between them and emphasizing the theme of the “passing of the torch”, and the person who saved Komon as a kid was future Nagi under her tenure as Nexus. Idk if Ren was always planned, but if he wasn’t, then I could see him as the writing teams’ last ditch effort to appeal to kids again with the change in theme and tone.
Ren and the shift in tone to something lighter was always planned. I think it fits what the show was going for, you gotta have some darker storylines early on for the more optimistic and bombastic stuff later on to feel earned, and I think it does. It's the abrupt conclusion that was not planned.
Nagi saving young Komon was a idea they have cuz in that moment they were planing to do "time travel/loop story" stuff, but when the show was cut, they decided to change the story and forgot that plot, thats why canonically the person who saved komon when he was a child is just an unknown person; Komon thinks that the misterious guy was an alien or something like that cuz he doesnt was able to actually seen something properly
Nexus also has one the most unique atmosphere compare to the other toku shows.The soundtracks also help a lot
i like the look of this version, cool helmet
Nexus is a perfect show for adults...if only the show didn't get butchered by low ratings.
Also the drastic change from kids friendly tone to dark adult tone was really a stupid move.
It is. I definitely remembered watching Nexus as a kid and gotten really confused on where's the ultraman and why so many people talking so much on the screen, fact my parents never explain why and subtly making sure I never got the idea to stick around until much later made me realize that they're making sure the theme didn't entered my head until I was old enough to understand it😅
Yeah Nexus' story is one heck of a restless show that only gets better the more it deals with heavy themes with hopes still latched on to it. But definitely not the studios best ideas to jump from kid friendly to this 😅
Are you considering doing a Mebius retrospective in the future?
Everything is on the table.
Everything.
@@ZaGorudan Thanks for providing these vids my guy
15:31 shinjoh????
Great Video! The ending of Nexus is obviously its worst element. I think if the show had another 12-15 episodes everything would’ve landed much better. Even so, I think this is my favorite ultraman show, warts and all. Oh and Nexus Junis is just the coolest ultra design!
If you followed Komon, you will know why he became the God Ultraman Noa
Plus we had a head canon that That guy played by Takuji Kawakubo in Ultraman X is a reincarnated Komon brought by Noa
Ultraman Nexus was a great show.
I like to think one day tsuburaya will make a nexus continuation but definitely not now maybe for the shows 30th anniversary since tsuburaya barely did anything for nexus 20th anniversary
He is my favourite ultraman
This show is by far the best story in the entirety of ultraman, if only tsuburaya didn’t quickly rushed the show’s ending for max. Ep 1 - 25 was great.
I don't mean to be "that person", but Ultraman Nexus aired in 2004. As Ultraman Cosmos finished it's run in 2003. Also, speaking of Ultraman Gaia, will you ever review that series?
Don't worry, I noticed too. I caught that mistake pretty early but I still did nothing about it lol.
They should have added 4 episodes for cosmos for 69 episodes
I hope Nexus can get at least an anime version so we can see the series true vision realized.
Thoughts on the upcoming Ultraman Blazar?
Cautious optimism. I didn't want to make a statement about it in this video because it isn't out yet. I would instantly be dating the vid with a statement like "Blazar is giving me Nexus vibes" if that turned out to not be the case when it came out.
It turned out not to be the case. At least it was a good show on its own.
I recommend do a retrospective fir Ultraman Mebius one of the most favorite and lovable Ultraman which was suppose to be part of the ultra brothers till zero stole its spot rightt
well... nexus does has new form form for ultraman x but was scrapped because budget reasons
we couldv'e gotten junis xio but tsupro dun haf enuf extra budget💀
Well if nexus released today, or to western audiences just like the ultraman manga. It would be a classic. Compared to many new Heisei (those with long complicated transformations that using toy with older ultras powers, also with too many transformations that most of them goofy. All bcs to sell the toys to kids) this show more closer to early heisei ultra. Its one of my favorite ultras but yes rushed at the end bcs its not suitable for kids and toys not selling well. I just hope there's a future darker ultra made spesifically for adult tokusatsu fans and tell bigger stories.
They could have made Ultrawoman Nexus a thing....But no! Also, thank you for helping me identify a piece of music used for a Tokusatsu fan video made years ago and I din't know what the source was (the first opening theme to Nexus).
You forgot to mention ultraman nexus also appeared in the show ultra galaxy fight the destined crossroad even ultraman noa appeared in that show
Ultraman Nexus show is an equivalent of being born at the wrong time
Kinda wish Gundam Seed Destiny didn't exist so Nexus could've gotten the late night time slot it was intended for
I think a lot of people wish Seed didn't exist. Can't speak for myself but that seems to be a divisive one.
i did like ultraman nexus is veary pretty good as ultraman tiga as well
Nexus is a fun series, though Nagi got needlessly hateful at times
Women☕
Nexus is the Gundam X of Ultraman
they made this because the kids watching cosmos turned into teens over its runtime.
Nexus is a good show to watch
No more to say, it just a good show to watch
Dear the most sane nexus fans
It could not be denied that ultraman nexus series is flawed.
People who refuse to believe as such is only clouding their judgment.
Perfect version of nexus did not exist. And using that to judge everything is unfair.
Ultraman series that surpass ultra n project exist.
And the chance it will exist again will always exist.
Stop using you imagination to convince yourself ultra n project is perfect. You just filling the gap with imagination. It's not real.
Move on.
I won't deny that Nexus has it's flaws (it REALLY needed more episodes in the Ren arc).
Can you tell me other ultraman series that surpass nexus?
@@Apeace_ Tiga, Max, Mebius, X, Orb, Geed , Z and now currently airing Blazar
Is Ultraman The Next a canon or non-canon prequel?
It's a canon prequel, but it's not required viewing. If anything it's not clear for a while how it fits into the story.
willie mingus
Hmm i wonder would this heisei era ultramans be more successful had it been released a decade ltr in 2010
Great series but the drawback its kinda short well its pretty make sense because most of the idea got scrap
Nexus using domain expansion in my head canon
So what I'm getting is that in a nutshell, this series was pretty much Evangelion but Ultraman?
I think what disappoints me the most about Ultraman Nexus is not the show itself, but rather how network executives gimped this show right from the get-go by putting it in such unprofitable timeslots. All because the network THOUGHT adults wouldn't watch Ultraman.
Gundam Seed Destiny didn't help either...
Does anyone realize Nexus is so similar to Evagelion ? Komon = Shinji, Nagi = Misato, Himeya = Asuka, Ren = Ren , TLT = NERV ,TLT Diretor = NERV Commander (shinji's father
Who is Ren in Genesis Evangelion? If you referring to Rei then no they're both isn't similar in character, and im wondering why you see himeya is similar as asuka
@@BokunokanoneP Asuka, Himeya: Troubled past based on talents.
Rei, Ten: humanmade
@@NolanSzeto i see that make sense
So this is like evangelion. Except it bombed, and somehow eva became the most populous thing ever despite also airing in a poor timeslot. Considering how much eva took from ultraman, its interesting
Project N was a failure because of a wrong timeslot and why it came into a wrong timing well it was replaced with a anime Gundam seed destiny that caused tsuburaya to just air it in the wrong timeslot
Nexus is Evangelion: Kumon = Shinji Nagi=Misato, TLT commander=NERV commander, Himeya=Asuka, Ren=Rei
"Get in the Chester, Komon! "
Wait komon got saved by grown up komon he traveled back in time using the light and gave his past kids self a message don't give up
I know I'm late but this need to be corrected. kid Komon did not save by future time travel Komon, he was saved by future Nagi when she was deunamist she was supposed to have an arc that explore her time as Nexus but y'know... We didn't get that
Blazar suffer the same fate as nexus sadly
As I've said, this might be the biggest mixed bag, aside from maybe Max and Gaia. It's got some of the best and worst of the entire Ultraman Franchise.
what's the worst aspects im curious
Traget audience - 👦
Actual audience - 👴
nexus