Ultraman Agul V.1

Ultraman Agul is sometimes a rival, sometimes an adversary, but eventually a teammate, of Ultraman Gaia. Dark and menacing in contrast to the red-and-silver Gaia, Agul originally showed an interest in defeating monsters that threaten the Earth, without any consideration for human lives that he may endanger in the process.

Agul's human form is Fujimiya Hiroya, a boy-genius formerly with the Alchemy Stars. Fujimiya created the giant computer known as "Crisis," able to predict future catastrophes. Its first prediction, however, showed the total destruction of the Earth. When queried further, the computer had one response: AGUL. At that moment, Fujimiya yelled in pain. In a vision, he sees a destroyed world, with a blue-and-silver giant towering over it. Through Crisis, Fujimiya discovers the cause of Earth's destruction: mankind.

Fujimiya breaks away from the Alchemy Stars, obsessed with discovering more about this being that continues to contact him, although each contact brings great pain. He builds a giant water tank, the basis of an experiment to contact "the Earth" to find out what to do. At one point, as Fujimiya stands on a catwalk above the tank, Agul contacts him again. This time, Fujimiya sees the surroundings: complete destruction, the remains of a civilization similar to Earth's! In shock, Fujimiya tries to shut down the experiment, but is convinced by his friend Kyouko to keep going. Returning to the tank, Fujimiya witnesses a great light forming at the bottom of the underwater tunnel. The light erupts from the tank, and flows into Fujimiya.

After this, Fujimiya shuns all human contact, although he still has feelings for Kyouko, and develops feelings for a female reporter; however, when she doubts Agul's benefit, Fujimiya shows resentment. Fujimiya becomes a mysterious figure that appears and disappears seemingly at will, while Agul is perceived first as another force for good, then as a potential menace. Agul at times will help Gaia, but on several occasions they have come into conflict; the second time, Agul tries to destroy the XIG Air Base, but is stopped by Gaia.

At one point, Agul is severely injured, and we find that Fujimiya, too, is gravely wounded in the same place (his side). He returns to the facility where he first joined with Agul, and reentered the tank. Apparently this not only revived Fujimiya, but it also increased Agul's power, for a later fight with the same monster, which takes on the form of a fake Agul results in Agul quickly overpowering his evil twin.

Several incidents change Fujimiya. He finds himself saving a young girl from being crushed by falling debris when a monster destroys a nearby skyscraper. This puzzles Fujimiya, that he should care so much about a human. Yet, his bitterness increases when his beloved Kyouko is killed by a monster ... even though she tries to control the monster herself in an attempt to stop XIG (presumably she believes in Fujimiya's visions, and wishes to destroy mankind to save the Earth). In a fit of rage, Fujimiya, as Agul, begins to drive his force-filled right fist into the Earth. Apparently it is a summons to various beasts that he has fought before, and to others he knows still exist. Unbeknownst to him, it also summons a giant serpent-like beast, the Zoalim, which resembles the great serpent Gaia was fighting when Gamu first discovered him. By this time, though, Fujimiya is drained nearly to death, thanks to the nightly infusion of energy, plus a knock-down drag-out battle with Gaia. He and Gamu help evacuate a hospital, where Fujimiya sees a young boy's crayon drawing of Gaia and Agul joining hands to save the world.

Zoalim begins to enter our world through a giant vortex in the sky, created by the combination of Agul's and Gaia's energies during their battle. Gamu prepares to change to Gaia to battle the monster. Fujimiya tries to talk him out of it, but Gamu realizes that he cannot; he also makes Fujimiya realize that it was through his actions that the Earth -- not just the humans, but the entire planet -- is threatened with destruction by his own actions. This makes Fujimiya realize that he no longer deserves to be an Ultraman, and surrenders the blue Agul-force within his Agulator to Gamu, who takes it inside the Esplender along with the red Gaia-force. Fujimiya walks away, apparently consumed by a fireball shot to Earth by Zoalim.

For the effects on Gamu and Gaia of the exchange of Agul's energy, see the entry on Ultraman Gaia.

In episode 36, we see that Fujimiya indeed did not die. He still tries to fight what he perceives as "the good fight" against humanity and the Root Destruction. He no longer has the power of Ultraman, though, to help him. Realizing he was powerless to stop the Root Destruction, he sank into depression; finally, he stumbled into the ocean, only to be rescued by the nearby Gamu. Later, after he regained his health, Fujimiya witnessed a giant robot capturing Gamu as he tried to transform into Gaia. Fujimiya still believed humanity would be responsible for the great calamity predicted by Crisis, but he also knew Gamu/Gaia was the Earth's last hope. Fujimiya called out to the Earth ... and it responded, freezing time, as it did when Gamu called out to Gaia. Then a great wave crashed over Fujimiya. The waters began to glow blue, and parted to reveal a revived Ultraman Agul V2! His power restored, Agul used his "laser sword" to free Gamu from the robot's clutches, and destroyed the robot.

Hiroya Fujimiya