Minus Energy

Minus Energy (マイナスエネルギー, Mainasu Enerugī) is a form of dark energy that exists throughout the multiverse. This energy can be created from negative emotions like hate, greed, and jealousy. While the threat of Minus Energy is usually negligible when the universe is at peace, sudden increases in Minus Energy as a result of negative experiences and concentrations of negative emotions can result in the creation of Minus Energy Monsters, a unique class of Kaiju whose existence is intertwined with that of the energy itself.

History

Ultraman 80

Minus Energy was said to be the main reason behind the existence of monster attacks. Ultraman 80 arrived on Earth to study and curb the rising monster attacks by guiding the young generations to the right path. He did this by assuming the human form of Takeshi Yamato and attending the Sakuragaoka Middle School as its first year teacher. True to Yamato's claim, a new resurgence of monster attacks occured, starting from the appearance of Crescent, who Yamato claimed to have been manifested from the surplus Minus Energy building up from the long period of peace since the last monster attack in 1975. Since then, several more monster attacks started to occur, some of which strangely related to his students. Yamato/80 fought against them, as well as solving the issues of each student in their daily lives. Eventually, Yamato had to resign as a teacher at one point to fully commit to his work as a UGM officer, especially when the monster attacks started to become frequent even if Minus Energy rarely involved.

Heisei Ultraseven

Banderas, the star of a distant solar system, formulated a plan where he would travel to Earth to use the Minus Energy from mankind to extend its life. Banderas used his matter manipulating powers to create gold and take advantage of humanity's innate greed to obtain Minus Energy from the people of Miyanishi Village, at the same time enslaving them as his mind-controlled subordinates if required.

When the Ultra Guard came to investigate, Banderas revealed himself and proposed the idea of absorbing mankind's Minus Energy. In return for promising to grant peace and prosperity to Earth, Banderas claimed that extending its own life would save the lives of the inhabitants of its own solar system. TDF's top brass, especially Shigeru Furuhashi, opposed the idea and ordered Ultra Guard to foil Banderas' scheme, especially when Seven exposed that Banderas's own solar system was no longer inhabited. ^{Betrayal Sun}

While not exactly identified as Minus Energy, hatred and fear became an element during the emergence of Neo Pandon. The control system used by Suwa to control Neo Pandon harnessed the user's hate and fear to make the monster fight and empower its attacka. Meanwhile peaceful intentions such as Mitsuko's would turned the monster docile. ^Innocent

Ultraman Dyna

To empower Menorfa, Alien Naltis required Minus Energy from humans as her race was devoid of conflict. Among her targets were the Roller Kids, a group of delinquents which Sonoka Hibiki (daughter of Super GUTS captain Gousuke Hibiki) was a part of. The delinquents were drained of their Minus Energy became obedient students in return, but Hibiki himself attest that one's negativity is part of one's self. When Naltis and Menorfa are killed by Ultraman Dyna, the Roller Kids returned to their normal selves. ^{Star of Peace}

Ultraman Mebius

Early in the episode, it is mentioned by Teppei that Minus Energy was a scientifically recognized phenomenon, by Earth science, but very little was understood about the energy. Around the same time, the Sakuragaoka Middle School was scheduled to be demolished due to dropping number of new students. The building itself wished for Yamato to see his students one last time, and thus generated Minus Energy to create Hoe once more. The monster managed to overpower Mebius until 80 arrived, at which point Hoe allowed itself to be purified by the Buckle Beam and disappear. ^{Teacher's Memories}

Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial

Minus Energy was discovered to be the fuel used to empower a trio of Darklops units during their attack on the Land of Light. As an expert in this energy substance, 80's knowledge led to the discovery that the robots came from an alternate universe (the Another Space) and thus set Ultraman Zero on his journey to another universe. Said journey lead to his encounter with the Belial Galactic Empire. ^{Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial}

Ultraman Saga

While not directly mentioned in the film itself, in episode 35 of Ultraman Retsuden, which served as a prologue, Zoffy revealed that he had sensed the Minus Energy of a Zetton coming from another dimension (the Future Earth), reporting it to Zero. The implication being that the Alien Bat of Future Earth's constant experimentation with his Hyper Zetton, imprisoning the humanity of that universe as a power source, gave off a Minus Energy reaction, strong enough to be detected across the multiverse. ^{Ultraman Saga}

Ultraman Ginga

After the events of Dark Spark War rendering him weakened, Dark Lugiel used Kyoko Shirai as a cover and had his minions distribute the Dark Dummy Spark among the former students of Furuhoshi Elementary School. ^{Your Future} The constant using of Spark Dolls to Dark Live and the violent acts performed through them allowed Lugiel to feed on the Minus Energy of these humans, gradually restoring him to full strength. ^{The Closed World}

Ultra Fight Victory

Yapool himself is revealed to feed on minus and thus preferred a universe filled with it, explaining his natural emnity with the Ultras. After being defeated by Ultraman Gingavictory, he allowed his Minus Energy to reach the space distortion on Planet Gua allowing Juda to be resurrected as Juda Spectre. ^{Ultra Fight Victory}

Ultraman Orb

A psychic girl named Haruka Kirishima had the ability to see the future, but her inability to prevent bad futures from happening caused her to fall into fatalistic despair. This created an enormous amount of Minus Energy over time and eventually leading to the creation of Hoe, as Gai Kurenai pointed out. But once Haruka was able to warn Ultraman Orb allowing him to win and escape her prediction of his defeated, she regained her optimism and confidence in the future. ^{A Future Shrouded in Fog}

Ultra Galaxy Fight: New Generation Heroes

Planet Tenebris (惑星テンネブリス, Wakusei Tenneburisu), where the League of Darkness set up their base of operations, was said to contain a high concentration of Minus Energy. ^{Ultra Galaxy Fight: New Generation Heroes}

Powers

• Monster Creation: Large amounts of Minus Energy are able to create monsters. Sometimes the created monster would use a physical medium as a vessel, as seen with Guwaganda and Delusion Ultraseven, which were respectively created from a stag beetle carcass and an Ultraseven action figure.
  • Monster Attraction: Other than creating monsters, it can also summon space monsters to Earth, with Gikogilar as an example. Those who were summoned to Earth were also designated as Minus Energy Monsters.
• Empowerment: Minus Energy is able to empower other beings, like Kaiju, Majin and some aliens.
• Corruption: Minus Energy itself can act as a corrupting agent. A small space creature named Jacky was turned hostile as a result of exposure to Minus Energy on Earth and in turn mutated an elephant into Zuruzla after being swallowed by accident.

Derivatives and other similar cases

While not explicitly stated to be Minus Energy, there are other cases in Ultraman Series where the concept of negativity is used in the involvement of an Ultra Kaiju.

Grudges of past Ultra Kaiju

• The Despotic Monster Tyrant was born from the grudges of seven monsters who the Ultra Brothers had fought against, prior to Ultraman Taro's arrival on Earth.
  • EX Tyrant's skeletal form, EX Tyrant (Deathborn), is also a result of tapping into the full potential of its grudges to the extreme, now allowing it to use attacks related to monster grudges.
• In the Ultra Super Fight episode "Nightmare!? Duel of Man and Seven?", the Delusion Ultraseven who Ultraman fights described himself as being formed from the hatred of monsters and aliens previously defeated by the Ultras, with Minus Energy not being mentioned, though this may be an oversight. This instance is an unusual case; Delusion Ultraseven's debut in 80 firmly establishes him to be an entity created by the Minus Energy of a human, implying that this Delusion Ultraseven is an entirely separate individual to the original.
• Phantom-Ultraman Agul was created by Queen Mezard as her reinforcement in fighting against Ultraman Gaia. Despite being claimed by the Queen as the manifestation of the deceased Earth monsters that GUARD had killed through their underground missiles, nothing had ever really confirmed this statement to be true, as the Mezards (and by extension, Radical Destruction Bringer) had a history of inducing psychological attack to their victims, particularly to Fujimiya in misleading him into antagonizing mankind.
• In a similar case to Tyrant is Ultra Dark-Killer, who was initially defeated by the six Ultra Brothers. Dark-Killer returned again through his long standing grudge against the Ultra Brothers, having resurrected Dark Lugiel and Etelgar as well to assist him in his fight against the New Generation Heroes. When he was defeated by Ginga Strium, the latter noted that Dark-Killer will never return to life ever again, presumably disabling him of his self resurrection ability.
• According to Alien Bat Gurashie, the Tector Gear Hatred that he crafted and forced onto Ultraman Zero was created from the grudge filled spirits of the deceased monsters in the Monster Graveyard.

Ultraman Cosmos

As the series Ultraman Cosmos focus on the concept of promoting peace between humans and monsters, it also explores the concept of negativity to a smaller extent.

• The show's main antagonist, Chaos Header, is able to possess monsters and turn them into Chaos Monsters in return, causing the victims to go berserk. Having encountered Akane Tachibana and seeing her resentment for her friends manifested into Chaos Jirak, Chaos Header started to experiment with human emotion, one such example had them kidnapping Ryoichi Kano. The first Materialized Chaos Header, Iblis, was born from the emotion of hate but when Ryoichi reunited with his son, his familial love stunned the monster long enough for Cosmos to defeat it for good. Eventually in the final arc of the series, their resentment for Cosmos reached its boiling point that collective manifested together into Chaos Darkness. It took the effort of Miracluna Mode and the efforts of Lidorias, Mogrudon and Bolgils to purify Chaos Darkness turning it into Chaos Header 0 as a result.
• Geshot the Bronze Demon was an item from outer space which had the ability absorb stress, but by gradually build up of the energy within itself, caused it to enlarge and become a rampaging monster. During its reawakening in the present day, it also displayed the ability to induce stresses into its targets and was later defeated by Ultraman Cosmos after exhausting the bronze giant of its stress energy.
• Renki was an onryo samurai that came to exist after the souls of star-crossed lovers failed to pass on to the afterlife, their grievances over their misfortune manifested into this monster.
• Angrilla was a monster born from Alien Migelon Reda, whose grief over the loss of his girlfriend Reka caused him to manifest the monster on his own while he intruded on Team EYES' headquarters in Treasure Base. Reka's spirit was able to convince Reda into giving up on his revenge, causing Angrilla to stop and for Cosmos to use Full Moon Rect to eliminate the monster.

Yapool's Grudge

Yapool is an entity known to feed on minus energy from but is able to generate his, particularly his grudge against Ultras. He claimed to Sakuya, that as long as his hatred towards Ultra Warriors in general remained, then he would simply resurrect himself. This has become prevalent in multiple media of Ultraman Series, as despite his constant defeat by the Ultras of that series, he is able to return and resume his endless crusade against the Ultras. Despite this, it is made clear in Mebius, that Yapool's resistence to a permanent end is because he is in fact a hive mind, connecting the Terrible-Monsters and Yapool Men. What is clear is that Yapool draws strength from Minus Energy, which was the reason he wanted to resurrect Juda and likely why he worked for Empera. It is also likely why despises the Ultra Warriors, as their efforts actively hamper the spread of Minus Energy through out the universe.

During Ultraman Z's time on Earth, Yapool's grudge was able to recreate Baraba and act through it. Baraba acted accordingly to Yapool's blind hatred for Ultraman Ace and was capable of speech. ^{The Last Hero}

Non-canon media

In a particular stage show on 2020, Yapool claimed that all of his Terrible Monsters and other creations share his grudge, which allowed him to perceive their fights against the New Generation Heroes over the years. This allows him to create an upgraded variant of Victory Killer, called Ultimate Killer, who has all the memories of past New Generation Heroes' powers in addition to its preexisting abilities. ^{6 Ultra Brothers THE LIVE -Featuring Zoffy-}

When reviewing Yapool's exploits and fights via Ediom, Yuka Ohta acknowledges the dangerous potential that the Extradimensional Being poses and notes that due to his immortality, it means that the Ultras might possibly be locked in an unending fight with him for a very long time. ^{Ultraman New Generation Stars}

Unsorted

• Harmonigan was a sentient harmonica that grew to a gigantic size as a result of a grudge it had over not being played. Using its newfound power, it fought Fireman until the hero was able to play it, causing it to let go of its grudge and return to normal.
• The Red Sphere was a sentient wish-granting object, which could also manifest monsters. When used by Kashimada and his group of bullies. The Red Sphere amplified his resentment for being ridiculed as an Ultraman Series fan and manifested King of Mons, causing the Sphere to change into a spiked ball-like form. When Yu Hirama held the Red Sphere, its influence also amplified his resentment, allowing the monster to spawn Basiliss and Sculla. ^{Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna, & Ultraman Gaia: The Decisive Battle in Hyperspace}
• From the Ultra N Project, the Space Beasts were space monsters that feed on fear. Their empowerment by fear, allowed the Beast Factor to propogate and multiply if left unchecked.
• A machine created by the Visitors, Lethe functioned by absorbing the memories of Space Beast attacks to help the TLT in hiding their presence from the general population. Nagi Saijyo, a Night Raider officer with a massive grudge against the Beasts, received the status of Dunamist from Ren, but this allowed Dark Zagi to resurrect via Lethe. The machine reacted to her negative emotions tied to space beasts, and through that fear and hatred Zagi was able to absorb Nexus' light and turn it into darkness to reform his body. ^{Bond - Nexus -}
• Ultraman Belial's Belial Virus ability had the ability to corrupt individuals into dark versions of themselves. One particular victim, Mirror Knight, displayed signs of depression as he tried to fight it off and secluded himself on the Two-Dimensional People's home world until Zero cleansed him of the Belial Virus.
• The Eteldummies were created by Etelgar using the power of Etel Image to probe the fears of his target and bring them to life. The size of an Eteldummy was dependant on the amount of fear he was able to extract.
• Greeza's Dark Thunder Energy functioned similar to minus energy, turning the monsters it hit into stronger, beserk versions of themselves. In the case of already evil beings like Mold and Gina, it gave them further power without the drawback of losing their sense of selves.
• The Dark Ring was the antithesis to the Orb Ring. A sentient device, it allowed its user to materialize Kaiju Cards to summon their respective Ultra Kaiju. The ring was stated to go to those who had the darkest heart in the universe
• Renki (Gurenki) was born in a similar way as his Ultraman Cosmos counterpart. While sealed in a stone slab and granting women wishes to find their significant others, Naomi's jealousy for her friend allowed Renki to be unsealed. The ghostly samurai was stopped in his reign of terror when Naomi acknowledged her error, as well as reminding Renki of how despite his misfortunes, he was able to grant others happiness.
• The monsters in SSSS.GRIDMAN, created used the Kaiju Seeds, are stated to absorb the negative emotions of people around them to grow, or in the case of Akane Shinjo who designed her own monsters, her personal grievances.

See Also

• Minus Energy Kaiju

References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Q0z0V8VnI