Hiro Nakamura

Character overview

Hiro Nakamura is an office worker, specifically a level 3 programmer at Yamagato Industries, living in Tokyo, Japan who one day discovers he has the power to manipulate time and space (The Crane). An otaku, Hiro is an avid fan of superheroes and science fiction. Naïve and over-eager, Hiro is the one character that aspires to the pure heroism of comic book crime fighters, shouldering the responsibility to use his powers for good. His best friend is the skeptical Ando Masahashi. At the start, Hiro is only able to speak Japanese, relying on Ando as his translator, but as the series progresses, his English slowly develops. Hiro also turns out to be his own childhood hero, the "real" Takezo Kensei. 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.


Character history

Thirteen years before the start of the series, Hiro's father, Kaito Nakamura, puts Claire into the hands of Mr. Bennet. In the background, a ten-year-old Hiro plays his Game Boy, not paying attention to them.


Genesis

At the start of the series, Hiro's power is developed enough for him to turn the second-hand of his clock back one second. It is later discovered that this same power made a train fourteen seconds late. Ecstatic at these accomplishments, Hiro confides in his friend, Ando, who is extremely skeptical of Hiro's new abilities. At Ando's suggestion, Hiro teleports himself into the women's bathroom of a local club, though Ando is not looking at the time. Seeing Hiro dragged out of the bathroom, Ando states that this only proves that he is a pervert, and a crestfallen Hiro walks away as Ando yells sarcastically that he is a "Super Hiro!" As Hiro returns home on the train, he sees a vacation ad for New York City. At this point Hiro's power inadvertently activates, teleporting him to Times Square.


Mission

After going to the future, Hiro decides that he must save the world by preventing the explosion. Hiro then persuades Ando that his powers are genuine by saving a young girl from an oncoming car (as predicted by the comic book from the future).

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 thrown out of the casino and then beaten up by a player they had cheated.

After an argument, Hiro and Ando go their own separate ways. 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 briefly talks with the man, and Nathan decides to give Hiro a ride back to the casino, where he and Ando are reunited.

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.


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," Sylar watches them talk. Charlie is later found murdered in the diner's storeroom with her brain removed, just as Hiro had found Isaac's body in New York. 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. Though he considers another time-travel attempt, the possibility of being eaten by a dinosaur dissuades him. Hiro tries to warn Charlie and protect her from the "very bad man", but ends up forming a close relationship with her after his attempts to convince her fail. 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 (not least because Hiro now appears in a photograph on the Diner's wall taken with Charlie six months previously) and was successful, but Hiro explains that he failed and made his way back through public transportation. After this incident, Hiro's powers appear to weaken.


The Quest for the Blade Of Takezo Kensei

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 — save the cheerleader and then save the world — 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 the artist's 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."

Two weeks later, at the beginning of "Godsend", Hiro and Ando go to the Museum of Natural History looking for the sword that Hiro saw in Isaac's painting. They find it in a glass case on the back of an ancient warrior, Takezo Kensei. 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 Kensei and how the sword was believed to have benefited him. 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, mimicking the picture Isaac 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 of Isaac's paintings.


Return to Vegas

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 first class 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, Hiro's sister, 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.

In "Run!", Hiro and Ando are again sidetracked by a weeping Las Vegas showgirl named Hope. Hiro and Ando get separated while trying to retrieve a bag for Hope. Hiro is locked in a closet by Hope, then later freed by a Gaming Commission agent, who is looking for her. After watching Ando get shot during a firefight between the agent and Hope in "Unexpected", Hiro feels his mission is too dangerous to bring Ando any further. Hiro defeats Hope by unexpectedly using his powers to reverse the bullet in time one second sending it back into the gun, disarming Hope. She and the agent are arrested but since Hiro had his eyes closed he doesn't realize he used his powers which haven't been working lately. He leaves the Versa with Ando and boards a bus alone (greeted by comic icon Stan Lee playing the bus driver).

In "Parasite", Hiro tries to enter Linderman's casino, but becomes aware that he has been red flagged and is not to enter the casino. As Nathan Petrelli enters the casino to meet with Linderman, he uses his influence to help Hiro get inside. Hiro delivers the painting to Mr. Linderman's vault, where the vault curator accepts it. While the curator is in another room, Hiro locates the sword and steals it, with the help of Ando, disguised as a security guard. Hiro teleports them both out of the building to escape the other security guards, but they find themselves on top of the Deveaux building, in a post-apocalyptic New York five years after the explosion.


The Dark Future

In ".07%", Hiro decides to learn as much as he can about the future to know what went wrong with his attempts to stop the bomb. He and Ando enter Isaac's apartment, but find it netted with newspaper articles suspended on strings, each article relating to the explosion and even the heroes themselves. Just then, Hiro and Ando hear a sound, and Hiro takes out his sword to confront whoever it is, but is shocked when he comes face to face with his future self.

In "Five Years Gone", Hiro learns from his future self that the bomb still went off. The younger Hiro in turn reveals to his future self that their present day Claire was rescued and Sylar got caught, but Sylar himself wasn't killed yet. This gives Future Hiro hope, but before they can do anything about it, Matt Parkman and his Homeland Security team break into Isaac's loft and begin a raid. Ando and Future Hiro manage to escape but present day Hiro is apprehended by Matt and the Haitian. Hiro is brutally interrogated by Matt, who doesn't believe he is telling the truth about time travelling. Mohinder Suresh is called in to investigate Isaac's loft, where he is convinced about Hiro's story but fails to convince the President, Nathan Petrelli (who is in fact Sylar in disguise). The President orders Mohinder to kill present day Hiro, but Mohinder finds he can't bring himself to do it. In the meantime, Ando and Future Hiro enlist the aid of future Peter Petrelli and they break into the building Present Hiro is captured in. They defeat all the guards and with the aid of Mohinder manage to rescue Hiro. Unfortunately, before Hiro and Ando manage to travel back to their time, Future Hiro is shot by Matt Parkman, who is in turn stopped by Peter, who uses telekinesis to close the door on Parkman. Hiro is shocked to see his future self die, but when Ando confides he believes in Hiro now and shows him a copy of the 9th Wonders comic book in which Hiro stabs Sylar with his sword, Hiro gets his confidence back and travels back to the time from which they came.


Stopping Sylar

In "The Hard Part", upon their return to the present timeline, Hiro proudly vows to New York City that he'll do his best to save it. However, he does realize it will be the hard part of his destiny. Hiro and Ando return to Isaac's loft, hoping to fill in the gaps of the futuristic comic book. However, they arrive to find that Isaac has been killed by Sylar. When Hiro and Ando hear Sylar in the bathroom, they hide behind a painting. Sylar hears their heartbeats and uncovers their hiding spot. However, Hiro teleports Ando and himself to safety before they are found.

Hiro and Ando continue to follow Sylar and watch him meet with his mother, attempting to reconcile with her. After Sylar's mother is accidentally stabbed, Hiro stops time and approaches Sylar, sword drawn. However, as he swings, time resumes and Sylar grabs Hiro's sword. Sylar begins to freeze the sword, and - as Hiro teleports to safety with Ando - it breaks in two.

In "How to Stop an Exploding Man", after Ando looks in the Yellow Pages for someone who can repair the sword, he finds an ad bearing the helix symbol seen throughout the series.

Upon arriving, they encounter Hiro's father Kaito, who tells Hiro that he is worthy of the family destiny. He also trains Hiro to fight and kill with a sword. When Hiro is done training, he and Kaito discover that Ando, thinking that Kaito had convinced Hiro to return to Japan, bought a sword and has left to confront Sylar alone. Hiro teleports to Isaac's loft to find Ando about to be killed by Sylar, but manages to teleport them both out of danger and back to Japan. Hiro returns with Ando's sword, leaving the Kensei sword with Ando, telling Ando that it is "so you know I'll be back." Upon returning he stabs Sylar. Sylar uses the last of his strength to send Hiro flying toward a building, forcing Hiro to teleport to save himself. In doing so, however, he sends himself three centuries into the past to Kyoto, Japan, circa 1671. Upon collecting himself, he finds himself caught in the middle of a battle between a small group of samurai about to attack a figure on the horizon, who appears to be Kensei, the original owner of Hiro's blade. Before the battle begins, however, an eclipse shadows the scene.


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 would have otherwise taken much of Hiro's time.

Although stressful events and active use have helped Hiro to develop his abilities, Hiro has had trouble with the more complicated teleportation and time travel abilities. 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.

After obtaining the sword, Hiro exhibits the ability to teleport other people along with himself, which he uses to rescue himself and Ando from an impending attack by casino guards in "Parasite", though this too resulted in an inadvertent trip five years into the future, after the explosion had occurred. The episode "Five Years Gone" marks his first successful use of teleportation and time travel. By "The Hard Part", Hiro has seemingly mastered teleportation, as he uses it twice without traveling any discernible distance through time.

After the incident with Charlie, 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". He seeks out Takezo Kensei's sword in the hope that it will focus his failing powers. While searching, 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. However, in "Unexpected", Hiro reflexively regains his power momentarily when a would-be murderer fires a pistol at him, and indeed develops a new aspect to his power; not only does he freeze time around himself as usual, but he simultaneously reverses the flow of time local to the bullet fired at him at point blank range, effectively forcing it back into the barrel. Having his eyes closed, though, meant that he didn't know that he had his power back, attributing his survival to the gun misfiring. This new aspect of his power may have been previously used when he traveled back in time to save Charlie, seeing as Ando's memories were not affected by the change in the timeline.


The Blade of Takezo Kensei

Hiro's katana 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 named 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 sword, 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 was in the hands of Mr. Linderman.

In "Parasite", Hiro tries to sneak into Linderman's hotel but is stopped by security, until he meets Nathan Petrelli. Nathan tells the guards Hiro is there to deliver a package to Linderman and they let him pass. Hiro gives the vault curator the ripped painting of Hiro and the dinosaur. When the curator leaves the room temporarily, Hiro finds the sword in the computer system. As he is about to take it, the curator returns and calls all the guards in the hotel to come help. Ando, dressed as a guard, responds first and knocks out the curator. He tells Hiro he had been following him for some time. They take the sword and Hiro teleports himself and Ando to escape the rest of the hotel's security. In "Five Years Gone", Hiro travels to the future where his sword is confiscated by Parkman. When Future Hiro is killed, Mohinder takes the sword from his dead body and hands it to the remaining Hiro.

In "The Hard Part" the blade of Hiro's sword is broken by Sylar with his freezing ability. The damaged sword doesn't seem to affect his power, as he teleports away with Ando moments later, still holding both pieces of the sword. In "Landslide", Hiro's father explains that he had known of Hiro's powers from the beginning and that the sword was not the source of his increased powers; rather, it was the journey that restored them.

In "How to Stop an Exploding Man", Hiro saves Ando from Sylar and takes him back to Japan. Though Ando wants to return to New York with Hiro, Hiro tells Ando the next part of his journey must be traveled alone, to protect him. Hiro thanks his friend for teaching him the true meaning of bravery; Ando reminds Hiro of how his whole life he's obsessed over and talked about the heroes he wished he was, but that now one day people will tell the story of Hiro, and assures his friend that he "looks badass." When Hiro goes to leave to fight Sylar, he leaves Ando with the sword, saying that he does not need it, and that this way Ando knows he'll come back. He then takes the nagamaki Ando had bought and teleports to Kirby Plaza. When Peter and Sylar face off Hiro stabs Sylar in the chest and is thrown towards a building by Sylar. Before impact Hiro teleports to 1671 Japan, right at the beginning of an ancient battle. It is then seen that the leader of one side is the samurai Takezo Kensei, wielding Hiro's katana as the original owner.

In the episode "Four Months Later...", Hiro learns that Kensei did not discover the sword encased in ice, as the legend told. Instead, the sword was created by a swordsmith in the town of Otsu, and given to Kensei by the man's daughter in order to protect the town from bandits. When Kensei failed to keep his side of the bargain, the swordsmith's daughter took back the sword. In the episode "Kindred", Hiro leaves messages for Ando in the hilt of the sword, which Ando (in possession of the sword in present day Japan) receives hundreds of years later.

In an interview with writers Joe Pokaski and Aron Coliete it is revealed "the Kensei legend is, 'Absolute fiction inspired by the vague recollections of various swordsman legends (Including Mr. Musashi)' by our own Michael Green."