Ultraman Nexus (2004)

[D-Man]

I know some people are Ultraman purists, preferring the original series...and I've never really cared about the Ultraman shows in Japan, until I stumbled across this 2004 version, that only lasted about 40 episodes, just because it had the balls to try something different. 

Originally intended to be a prime time series, Nexus was stupidly given a Saturday morning time slot, because when people see Ultraman suits and monster suits now, they assume its for kids.  The plot is actually dark, slow moving, and often very depressing, dealing with death in multiple episodes. 

Ultraman has three hosts through the series, the first being a war journalist haunted by memories a small child he befriended in China, whom he later filmed being killed in battle rather than saving.  The second is a young man with a limited life span, for reasons too elaborate to explain here.

The third is the man you'll see in the video below, a young recruit whom we follow from the beginning, and is actually the main focus of the series rather than Ultraman.  He is a member of an organization trying to keep Ultraman and the monsters a secret from the public while fighting.  Along the way, he deals with the death of his girlfriend, and his female partner who seems to have a grudge against every alien, including Ultraman. 

The clip is from the very final battle, where our protagonist becomes Ultraman for the first time, and uses the two forms the previous hosts were able to acheive, before creating one of his own.  Be sure to see the poignant speech our hero gives at the end, and listen closely to the music too, which I also enjoyed from this series. 

Edit: I can't seem to make this work as an embedded video, so here's the link instead. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3dDS8Wq4U4