Hiro Nakamura

Template:Heroes character box Hiro Nakamura is a character on the NBC drama Heroes who possesses the ability to teleport and manipulate the space-time continuum. He is portrayed by actor Masi Oka.

Character overview

Hiro Nakamura is an office worker living in Tokyo, Japan who one day discovers he has the power to manipulate time and space. An otaku, Hiro is an avid fan of superheroes and science fiction. Naïve and over-eager, Hiro is both the series' comic relief and the one character that aspires to the pure heroism of comic book crime fighters. His best (and apparently only) friend is the somewhat less geeky but equally hapless Ando Masahashi.

Character history

Tests

In the pilot episode, Hiro's power is developed sufficiently enough for him to turn the second-hand of his clock back one second. Ando thought he was crazy. Hiro later realizes this same power made a train in Tokyo fourteen seconds late. Ecstatic at these accomplishments, Hiro confides in Ando, who is still skeptical about Hiro's new abilities. Then, at Ando's suggestion, Hiro teleports himself into the womens' bathroom of a local club. Ando states that all it proves is that he is a pervert, and a crestfallen Hiro walks away as Ando yells sarcastically that he is a "Super Hiro!" As Hiro is returning home, unconsoled, he happens to see a vacation ad for New York City in the train. In an attempt to push the limits of his powers, Hiro concentrates and actually teleports himself to Times Square.

File:Heroes s01e02.jpg

Hiro Nakamura when he teleported to Times Square in "Don't Look Back."

At first extremely happy, Hiro is later shocked to discover a comic book called 9th Wonders! in a nearby newsstand that shows himself standing in Times Square with his hands up and yelling, "I did it!," which happened just moments earlier. Purchasing the comic book (paid in Japanese Yen), Hiro discovers that his early conversations with Ando are there reproduced with eerie accuracy. The comic's back cover has the name and address of the artist and writer, precognitive Isaac Mendez.

Hiro visits Isaac's loft, discovering the artist's dead body, partly decapitated with the brain removed. Hiro is arrested by the police and during the interrogation discovers he has actually traveled not only through space, but through time as well. It was October 2 when he left Tokyo, and it's now November 8. Just as Hiro discovers this, he witnesses a cataclysmic explosion. Before the blast can hit him, Hiro teleports himself back to Tokyo two days after he had originally left, still holding the comic he had picked up in the future.

Mission

Hiro tries to call the present-day Isaac Mendez several times but is unable to communicate because of his poor English. Hiro then tries to convince his friend Ando about what happened. Using the future comic book, Hiro manages to stop time to save a little girl who was about to be run over by a truck, an event which the comic depicted. Now convinced, Ando agrees to accompany Hiro to New York City in his "heroic journey" to save the world.

They take a plane to Los Angeles but go the rest of the way by car, because that is what the comic book says they do. Hiro and Ando then have several misadventures in Las Vegas, starting when Ando decides to hit the casinos. Ando convinces Hiro to use his powers to cheat, stopping time to give Ando winning hands in poker games. The two make a lot of money but are later beaten up by a player they cheated.

Peter's message

Their attempts to call Isaac Mendez are finally successful, as Peter Petrelli answers the phone, relaying a message from Hiro's future self, and tells them to come to New York City. However, the pair are detained further when the same player they cheated earlier forces them to play a poker game to make money to repay what they gained before. Ando and Hiro manage to escape shortly before the other players are slaughtered by Jessica Sanders. Hiro is crestfallen that he is unable to prevent their deaths but is comforted by Ando, who claims Hiro is still beginning his journey to become a true hero.

Hiro exercises his power as a hero again when he and Ando run across D.L. Hawkins and his son, Micah, at the scene of burning car wreck with a passenger trapped inside. As D.L. frees the passenger, the vehicle explodes and Hiro freezes time to save them. Hiro complains about not having super strength when he is forced to drag the pair away from the explosion. After he unfreezes time, he shows the future edition of 9th Wonders! to Micah and speaks to him in English about his space-time manipulation powers.

Hiro ends up in a diner near Las Vegas where he sees Nathan Petrelli literally fall from the sky like a meteorite. After Nathan enters the diner, Hiro briefs talks with the man, and Nathan decides to give Hiro a ride back to the casino.

Charlie

Continuing their journey to New York, Hiro and Ando stop at a diner in Texas and meet a waitress named Charlie, who recently developed powers of her own. As Hiro talks to Charlie, who finds him to be "sweet," the man in the baseball cap is watching them talk. Charlie is later found murdered in the diner's storeroom with her brain removed in the same manner Hiro found Isaac in the future. Not wanting to fail to save someone like he did in Las Vegas, Hiro goes back in time in an attempt to prevent her murder, promising Ando that he'll return in five seconds.

Hiro's attempt to teleport to the day before Charlie's death goes awry, landing six months in the past on the day of Charlie's birthday. There, he tries to warn Charlie and protect her from the "very bad man," but ends up forming a close relationship with her once he realizes just how far back he's traveled. Eventually, he asks her to come with him to Japan. As the date of their departure gets closer, Charlie reveals that she has a blood clot in her brain and will die no matter what. She says she was going to give up before Hiro came and that she has fallen in love with him. Just as they are about to kiss, Hiro inadvertently teleports to Japan some time after he and Ando had left for the United States. Unable to return via his own powers, he is forced to make his way back to the diner through normal means. Ando, happy to see Hiro again, assumes Hiro used his powers and was successful, but Hiro corrects him. A sad, defeated Hiro says he failed and took public transportation back to the diner.

Back to the mission at hand

In "Fallout," Hiro and Ando find their way to Claire's high school, but arrive after Sylar's attack and believe her to have already been killed. Ando tries to be optimistic about the situation, claiming that "save the cheerleader, save the world," is just a progression of events and not a conditional statement. Hiro doesn't accept the claim, believing that he would have meant it as a conditional statement. While thinking about their next move, Hiro is called by Isaac Mendez, who arranges a meeting with them in Texas. Once they meet, Hiro shows Isaac the future 9th Wonders! comic, much to his surprise, then asks him to paint the future. At first, Isaac isn't convinced he can do so without drugs, but once he realizes that some of his rough sketches depict Hiro traveling back to save Charlie, he tries again. Hiro recommends that Isaac concentrate, using the same face he makes when activating his own powers, and Isaac manages to activate his power successfully. Isaac's painting depicts Hiro brandishing a sword while encountering a carnivorous theropod dinosaur, seemingly confirming Hiro's earlier fears. Hiro remarks, "I really need to find that sword."

Stolen

Two weeks later in the beginning of "Godsend," Hiro and Ando go to the Museum of Natural History looking for the sword that Hiro saw in Issac's painting. They find it in a glass case on the back of an ancient warrior, Takezo Kensai. On the hilt of the sword is the symbol that appears in various points throughout the series. Hiro recalls a story his father told him of Kensai and how the sword was believed to have benefited him. Then, he decides to steal the sword, believing it will help him control his powers. While doing so, he brandishes it against a model dinosaur in the museum, mimicing the picture Issac had drawn earlier. However, the museum's version of the sword is only a wooden replica made by the Linderman Group. He returns to Isaac's loft, where he meets Simone Deveaux. Hiro also happily re-encounters Nathan (whom he addresses as "flying man"). After introductions and brief discussions, Simone recommends Hiro go back to Las Vegas with the dinosaur painting and see Mr. Linderman, an avid collector.

In "The Fix," Hiro and Ando are chased by unknown men. Eventually, they are captured by the men, and Hiro is told that the men work for someone "truly powerful." Hiro and Ando are then told to stop their quest. Hiro declines, even after being offered plane tickets back to Japan. The men state their boss won't be happy and bring the two to him. Hiro then realizes the men work for his father, Kaito.

In "Distractions", Hiro's father tries to convince him to go back to Tokyo, admitting that it was a bad idea to start him off at the bottom and offering him a job as Executive Vice President of the company. After Hiro's initial refusal, his father rips up Isaac's painting. Kimiko admits to him that, though his father is too proud to admit it, the company has gone through hard times. Ando reminds him that his powers are declining and it might not be a bad idea. Hiro eventually convinces his father that his sister is a better candidate to take over the company. Mr. Nakamura then lets Hiro continue with the mission.

Future Hiro

File:Heroes s01 e04.jpg

The future Hiro.

Another Hiro Nakamura, this one claiming to be from the future, first appears in "Collision." When he appears to Peter Petrelli in a subway, he freezes time in order to speak with Peter privately. He urges Peter to "save the cheerleader, save the world" and "to be the one we need," but doesn't elaborate for fear of causing a rift in the space-time continuum.

The future Hiro appears to be much more fit, confident, and experienced than his present self. He sports a soulpatch and ponytail, no longer wears glasses, wears a black overcoat, carries a sword strapped to his back (the one present Hiro is currently looking for), and fluently speaks idiomatically-correct English.

Powers, abilities and equipment

Hiro discovers in "Genesis" that his power is related to the control of the space-time continuum, giving him the power to manipulate time relative to himself, travel through time, or teleport to any location at will. The first noted occurrence is when Hiro inadvertently made a subway train late using this power. In "One Giant Leap," he also froze time relative to himself. He could not hold time in this state for very long, but has since duplicated the feat repeatedly. He also freezes time long enough in "Six Months Ago" to fold 1000 origami cranes, which must have taken him many hours.

Although stressful events and active use have helped Hiro to develop his abilities, he still lacks full control. For example, when he attempted to teleport to New York, he ended up inadvertently traveling five weeks into the future as well. Although he was able to travel back to the same time and place from which he left, he was only able to do so when his life was in danger from a nuclear explosion. Later, when he attempted to save Charlie's life by traveling to the day before her death, Hiro accidentally ended up six months in the past. He also inadvertently teleported to Japan from Texas just as he and Charlie were about to kiss and then could not teleport back, no matter how hard he tried. Afterwards, Hiro's powers began slowly decreasing, for unknown reasons, to the point that even excessive concentration would produce no results. Two weeks later, in "Godsend," Hiro has seemingly reverted to the level of control and power he had in Genesis. It takes two tries just for him to slow time down, rather than bring it to a full stop. By "The Fix", it seems he has lost control of his power completely, having failed to even move time back by one second.

Time alterations

Hiro's trips have given Hiro his own unique timeline, which is reflected in some of Isaac Mendez's paintings of Hiro. Along with the existence of an alternate future version of himself, Hiro has come across or induced a few time paradoxes or alterations in the series.

• In "One Giant Leap," Hiro travels with Ando to the United States even though Ando was still in Japan when he had previously traveled to New York City five weeks into the future. When directly questioned about this by Ando, Hiro says they are changing history.
• Between the episodes "Seven Minutes to Midnight" and "Six Months Ago," Hiro traveled six months into the past in Texas.
  • There, he changed history again by forming a close relationship with Charlie in the past. This change was most noted by a picture which had originally shown only Charlie at her birthday party now showing both her and Hiro.
  • At one point, Hiro accidentally gives himself a phone call from Texas to Japan, while trying to contact Ando, though he immediately hangs up after he realizes it was the Hiro in Japan who had answered.
  • In "Seven Minutes to Midnight," Charlie said that someone had given her a Japanese phrasebook on her birthday. In "Six Months Ago," it is Hiro who gives her the phrasebook.

The samurai sword

Hiro's samurai sword first appears in "Collision," strapped to Future Hiro's back. The sword later appears in one of Isaac's paintings depicting Hiro confronting a dinosaur. The sword has the appearance of a traditional katana with a black hilt and black sheath. The most notable feature is a golden emblem of the symbol attached to the hilt.

In "Godsend," Hiro and Ando find the sword in a New York Museum, which also has information on the sword's origins. According to an ancient Japanese scroll, the sword belonged to an ancient samurai warrior called Takezo Kensei. According to the scroll, the warrior possessed strange powers but had no control over them. One day he discovered the sword frozen in ice and, after claiming the sword, suddenly discovered that he had mastery over his abilities. With this control and wielding the katana, the warrior became a powerful leader and hero. Hiro believes that the sword somehow helped focus the samurai's powers, and with it in his possession he may be able to finally master his own abilities. However, after stealing the sword from the museum, Hiro discovered that the sword was actually a replica only used for display. The real katana is in the hands of Mr. Linderman. Template:Spoilerend

Name

According to the online comic on NBC.com, Hiro is named after Hiroshima, so that his family will always remember the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tim Kring has been quoted as saying, "It's no coincidence we named him Hiro… he truly is on a hero's quest." To this end, his name is often used as a pun. His co-worker Ando once called him "Super-Hiro" in jest, which is actually a homonym to the Japanese word for superhero: スーパーヒーロー (sūpāhīrō), and the fifth episode's title is "Hiros."

Interests

• Hiro's Blog, maintained by NBC and written from Hiro's point of view, is updated after each new episode is aired, usually about the events of the episode. Appropriately enough, after the airing of "Seven Minutes to Midnight," all of the entries and archives were removed, as though Hiro was never there to write them, and after "Homecoming," there was a post about Hiro meeting Charlie and a comment about the missing entries due to a "server glitch." Following Hiro's return to present in "Six Months Ago," all previous entries were restored.
• Hiro is a big fan of the Japanese anime and manga Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. In his blog, he states that he wants to "be like Jojo and Vaan and go on adventures." (Vaan being the protagonist of Final Fantasy XII, a video game which Hiro makes repeated references to being in the process of playing through.) One of Hiro's powers includes time manipulation, a gift shared with Jojo characters Jotaro Kujo and Dio Brando.
• According to his blog, his favorite video games are Chrono Trigger (which dealt with time travel) and the Final Fantasy role-playing game series (particularly the sixth installment). He is also a fan of Future Trunks, a time traveler from the manga and anime Dragon Ball Z (the future version of Hiro shown in "Collision" and "Hiros" bears some resemblance to Future Trunks with his serious attitude and the sword strapped to his back).
• In "Don't Look Back," Hiro's wallet was shown to contain a membership card for the Merry Marvel Marching Society, a Marvel Comics fan club which has not distributed membership cards since the 1970s.

External links

• Hiro's Blog