"What the heck is going on?"
"Ah, bad guys!"
In Daniel's room, the two kids were yelling in shock at the scene on the screen.
In the second episode that had just aired, the monster from the first episode—well, it should be called the Alien Beast Pedoleon—had merged into a larger form and attacked a factory. It captured workers and held them hostage, even mimicking the Night Raiders' tactics.
When the Night Raiders received orders to prioritize eliminating the threat, the man who transformed into Nexus Ultraman appeared, rescuing the hostages and engaging the creature. But just as the battle began, something shocking happened—Ultraman was attacked by humans! This unexpected twist made the two kids scream in disbelief.
If the attack had come from a monster, they wouldn't have been surprised. After all, Ultraman fights monsters, and monsters fight back—that's normal, right?
But this time, the attack came from humans!
Isn't Ultraman supposed to be a hero who protects people? Why would they attack him?
The kids weren't the only ones surprised; Daniel was shocked too. Initially, he felt as outraged as the kids, but as a critic and reviewer, he quickly started considering another possibility.
Maybe it was because of the unknown?
To humans, the unknown is the most terrifying thing.
The fans and viewers know that Ultraman is a hero, but do the people in this story know that?
Obviously not. They hadn't received the message like in the plot of Tiga, where the heroes knew that the giant was there to save the Earth. All they saw was a strange giant with a steel helmet appearing before them.
Human beings are naturally suspicious; they love exploring the unknown but are also afraid of it.
Thinking this way, Daniel began to understand why the attack happened.
But still…
Daniel couldn't help but dislike that woman in the Night Raiders.
Yes, Ultraman Nexus was an unknown entity, and it's understandable to be afraid of or reject him. But he had just saved a group of civilians, clearly showing goodwill—so why attack him? Was she just picking on someone who's being nice?
What's worse is that none of the other team members attacked—only she did. She must really be something else.
Setting that aside, Daniel began reflecting on the story so far.
First of all, it was indeed different from Ultraman Tiga.
Looking back at the tokusatsu series he had watched, humans generally stood no chance against monsters. Usually, the main characters had to rely on the hero to defeat the monster. The only thing the humans could do was fill some screen time before the hero showed up, to emphasize how powerful the monster was.
In Ultraman Tiga, while the main team had more firepower than most tokusatsu series, and even managed to defeat some enemies, they still mostly relied on Ultraman.
But in "Nexus," even without Ultraman, humanity has a complete and feasible plan to deal with the emergency situations caused by monsters.
To handle monster attacks, countries had even formed a multinational secret organization called TLT.
They could detect the presence of monsters using high-tech equipment, quickly deploy fighter jets to the scene, and use various advanced weapons to fight the monsters.
To prevent panic among the public, they always dealt with monsters before the general populace even noticed them.
For those unlucky enough to get caught up in the action, they had a special Memory Police to erase their memories related to the monsters.
In this way, the main characters in "Nexus" are portrayed differently from those in Tiga, especially in terms of their capabilities.
Moreover, the overall tone of the story was darker. It depicted horrifying scenes like monsters eating people and grotesque soft-bodied creatures—things usually not shown in typical tokusatsu shows but were presented in vivid detail here.
No wonder this series was said to be different from Tiga!
Daniel nodded to himself, feeling more excited for the upcoming episodes.
He was especially curious about how Nexus Ultraman would respond to being attacked by humans. Would he stop fighting the monster and leave? Or would he retaliate against the humans? Or would he continue fighting the monster?
And what would happen between the Night Raiders and Ultraman? Would they become enemies?
As Daniel pondered these questions, he felt a tug on his shirt, making him look down.
"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing it was one of the kids, the ones he found so annoying.
"We... we want to go to bed," one of the kids whispered, leaving Daniel confused.
"Then go to bed. You know where the room is, right?"
"No, it's just..." the other child hesitated, glancing around before whispering, "We're scared!"
Seeing their frightened expressions, Daniel finally understood.
Wow, were they really that scared by the monster?
Daniel himself didn't feel too bothered...
But thinking about it, it's not surprising. The courage of children can't be compared to that of adults.
It's like with Conan, the black shadow figure from the show was a nightmare for many when they were young. Kids would fear that a shadowy figure might suddenly appear behind them or at their door.
But when you watch it as an adult, that fear is gone.
"Alright." Daniel sighed, patting his legs as he stood up. "I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."
After all, these were his relatives' kids. If they complained when they got back home, it wouldn't be good.
This series didn't just catch Daniel's interest; it sparked a lot of discussion online too.
After all, this was the second Ultraman series following Tiga!
Given how much of a sensation Tiga caused, this new series naturally attracted a huge audience.
"By the way, why does it feel like there are two main characters? One is Komon, and the other is the guy who turns into Ultraman."
"I felt that was strange too. But combining it with what the official account posted—'Light is a bond, and someone will inherit it and make it shine again'—I think I understand part of the plot. The man who transforms into Nexus looks really worn out; he might be done for soon. Maybe it's because of that woman's attack, and then Komon will inherit the power of Ultraman."
"Wow, I didn't think of that. That makes a lot of sense!"
"But that woman is really annoying! Whether Nexus is an enemy or not, he still saved civilians. She's the epitome of ungratefulness!"
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