Hiro Nakamura

Hiro Nakamura
Portrayed by	Masi Oka, Garrett Masuda (young Hiro)
First appearance	Genesis
In-story stats
Known ability	Space/Time Manipulation
Gender
Age	24
Home	Tokyo, Japan
Residence	Hiro Nakamura's home
Occupation	Office worker
Parent	Kaito Nakamura
Sibling	Kimiko Nakamura (older sister)

Hiro Nakamura is a programmer at Yamagato Industries in Tokyo, Japan and possesses the ability to manipulate space and time.

About

Hiro is a salaried employee, bored with the monotony and conformity of his job. He is also a huge science-fiction nerd, sometimes referring to Star Trek, the X-Men, and Back to the Future. Hiro is a bit of a dreamer and loves the idea of having powers, though he's finding the reality more difficult than expected. Initially very happy-go-lucky, Hiro's adventures have already begun to sober him to a certain extent. While Hiro has a very strong sense of purpose and a good moral compass, he is also a little unworldly and finds himself easily manipulated by his friend Ando, whose motives are frequently more down-to-earth.

Character History

Genesis

In his cubicle, Hiro is able to utilize a recently-discovered power: he makes the second-hand on his clock go back one second. Ecstatic, Hiro runs throughout the office, excitedly yelling "Yatta!" (I did it!) His friend Ando Masahashi is skeptical, joking that Hiro possesses the same skills as Mr. Spock.

Hiro begins to hypothesize that in addition to altering time, he could also teleport. Ando is more concerned with the personal gain that could potentially result from his friend's superpower. However, Hiro is adamant in the belief that a superhero should never use his or her powers in such a way. At a karaoke bar one night, Ando dares Hiro to teleport into the women's bathroom. Hiro agrees and succeeds, but is thrown from the bar.

Ando is unable to comprehend Hiro's enthusiasm over being so different from everyone else. All their lives they had been taught to remain the same. Hiro leaves in frustration. The next day, Hiro sees a vacation ad for New York City on a train. After intense concentration, he manages to teleport himself into Times Square. Awestruck, Hiro lifts his hands up and yells "Yatta! Hello, New York!"

Don't Look Back

In New York, Hiro finds and buys a copy of 9th Wonders!, Issue #14, a comic whose cover prophetically features Hiro standing in Times Square with his hands up, yelling "I did it!", exactly as just happened. He discovers the partially decapitated Isaac Mendez with a gun lying next to him, and witnesses the explosion in New York that Isaac himself had predicted in a painting. Before the explosion hits him, Hiro teleports himself back to the train in Tokyo, back in the "present" time frame.

Graphic Novel:The Crane

Hiro narrowly escapes the explosion, and is shock-relieved to realize he is not dead. Hiro rushes back to his apartment and searches for the copy of Action Comics, Issue #1, that his grandfather gave to him. He tears off the cover and folds it into an origami crane, which he places at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Hiro discards his Yamagato Industries employee badge, and says he won't disservice his grandfather's memory again.

One Giant Leap

Hiro works hard to try to convince Ando of his powers, and of the future. He shows Ando the 9th Wonders! comic, which details nearly every event that is going to happen to them that day. Though Ando remains skeptical, Hiro leads him to a place where a schoolgirl is depicted in the comic to be hit by a bus. Managing to find the girl and freeze time, he hurries through the mess of items the truck collides with (including a table full of vinyl Mazinger Z figures). After Hiro moves the girl's time-frozen body just out of harm's way, time begins to move again. Hiro and Ando then celebrate the achievement, and Hiro convinces Ando to go with him to New York, NY. They fly into the Los Angeles airport and rent a car from Hotspur to drive to Las Vegas, all the while following the comic's storyline, but somewhere after they rent a Nissan Versa, the issue reads, "To be continued..."

Collision

After driving to Las Vegas, Ando convinces Hiro to exploit his power to win money and buy matching suits. Later, they are thrown out of the casino and attacked by some poker players they cheated against. Later, a future version of himself appears to Peter Petrelli on a subway carrying a katana. Speaking in perfect English, Hiro tells Peter he is there to give him a message.

Hiros

Hiro and Ando are dumped out of a van in the desert outside Las Vegas, near the "Fly By Night" diner. As they enter, they argue, and Ando leaves . Just then, Hiro witnesses Nathan Petrelli landing just outside the diner. When Nathan comes in, Hiro talks to him, explaining in broken English that he saw him fly and that he is also special, able to bend space and time. He tells Nathan about the explosion, but Nathan seems to write him off as crazy. When Nathan asks if Hiro knows the result of the election, Hiro tells him he won "in a mudslide". Hiro then begs a ride back into town from Nathan. Decked out with a Vote Petrelli badge, he makes his way back to his rental car, only to discover that he can neither drive it nor read the manual. Eventually, Ando shows up and they resume their journey together. With Ando's help Hiro places a call to Isaac Mendez to warn him about the future. Peter Petrelli picks up the phone and tells Hiro that he has a message for him.

Better Halves

Hiro is told that a future version of himself says he must help "save the cheerleader" and to meet Peter Petrelli in New York City. As they leave they are intercepted by the high roller who compels them to help him cheat in a private poker game. When Ando sees a gun, he pulls Hiro into the bathroom moments before a ruckus breaks out and everyone is killed. Hiro is unable to stop time quickly enough to save them. Having essentially hidden in the bathroom, he begins to doubt whether he's the hero he thought he was.

Nothing to Hide

When DL is dragging a woman out of her car, the car explodes and Hiro stops time to drag them out of the way "Why couldn't I have super-strength too?" he says.

As they're waiting for the police to arrive, Micah asks how he got an issue of 9th Wonders! that hasn't come out yet. Hiro tells him he went into the future.

Seven Minutes to Midnight

Continuing their journey to meet Peter Petrelli in New York City, Ando and Hiro stop for breakfast at the Burnt Toast Diner in Midland, TX. They meet a waitress, Charlie, who speaks excellent Japanese considering she's learned it from a phrase book and in only a week.

Hiro is immediately charmed by Charlie and spends a great deal of time with her, coaching her on her Japanese. She confesses that for the last few months, she's been able to remember and fully understand everything she reads, which is how she picked up Japanese so quickly and how she can speak better than would be expected from a phrase book. Hiro tells her he also has a "skill", but when she presses him about it, he tells her it's to teach anyone Japanese.

While Hiro is in the bathroom, Charlie's body is discovered with her head sliced open. Sheriff Davidson questions Hiro and Ando and tells them to stick around so he can get a statement from them. Hiro feels that he should have done something to stop Charlie's murder. Ando tries to persuade him that it's too risky to attempt to go back in time to save her, and that they should just continue their mission, but Hiro disappears into the past anyway.

Homecoming

Hiro's friend Ando Masahashi and Peter Petrelli anticipate his return to help save the cheerleader, but he never appears. Peter decides to go without Hiro while Ando patiently waits in the Burnt Toast Diner. He notices that Charlie's birthday picture has Hiro in it. Wondering when the picture was taken, he asks the manager about his friends identity. Manager says the picture is about six months old from Charlie's Birthday, and that it is in fact, Hiro. She says Charlie and he were friends up until a couple of weeks ago. Hiro appears briefly near the end of the episode at the pictured birthday party in the Burnt Toast Diner. He is excited to see Charlie but soon remembers what needs to be done - to somehow save Charlie from losing her top.

Six Months Ago

Hiro arrives at the Burnt Toast Diner six months in the past, though he thinks it's only one day prior. After telling Charlie that he is there to save her life, she invites him to her birthday celebration. Hiro tries in vain to explain to Charlie that he teleported from the future and tells her not to go to work tomorrow. He realizes that he teleported back too far, and is afraid to teleport again for fear of missing his mark. Hiro calls his work looking for Ando, but instead is answered by the oblivious Hiro native to that time.

Hiro tells Charlie that she has a special power, despite Charlie's doubts. Hiro attempts to prove his power to Charlie: in no time, he gives her a bouquet of flowers, completes her order, and finally tells her that tomorrow "the swallow will slay the dragon." The next day, Hiro shows Charlie a Japanese newspaper proclaiming that the baseball team, the Swallows, slew the Dragons. He suddenly transforms the room to be filled with folded paper cranes, a Japanese tradition that earns one wish. Hiro then offers Charlie a plane ticket to Japan along with him. The two grow closer, and eventually attempt to kiss. Suddenly, Hiro is teleported back to the present on a rooftop in Tokyo; he is unable to teleport back. He physically travels back to Texas to meet up with Ando where he realizes he wasn't able to save Charlie. Despondently, he proclaims that he can't change the past.

Fallout

Hiro and Ando arrive at Union Wells High School the day after Homecoming. Hiro is despondent, claiming that, as they have failed to save the cheerleader, they have no chance to save the world, but Ando argues that maybe the message was a list, and not an "if-then" statement. After deciding to continue on with their mission anyway, they receive a call from Isaac Mendez, who has just escaped from the secret facility within Primatech Paper Co..

After meeting Isaac at the bus terminal, they take him to the Burnt Toast Diner and trade information: Hiro tells Isaac about the future explosion and finding Isaac dead in his apartment, and Isaac tells them about Sylar's capture and the painting he made of an exploding man.

Later on, Hiro encourages Isaac to try painting without heroin again in a motel room. Isaac succeeds, and paints a picture of Hiro, wielding a sword, facing off against an enormous dinosaur. Hiro worries that if he travels back in time to prehistory, he'll step on a bug and change the present ... and then decides that he really needs to find the sword.

Godsend

After the tragedy with Charlie, Hiro has found his powers diminishing. However, he and Ando have finally arrived in New York and are searching for the sword in the Museum of Natural History, which they finally find at the display of Takezo Kensei. Hiro insists that possessing the sword will help him regain his powers, so he makes an effort to steal it. He tries to stop time twice, failing the first time, and the second, merely succeeding in slowing it down. He decides that is sufficient and uses the advantage to take the sword out of the museum before restoring time to normal and being caught. However, upon taking it out of the sheath, he discovers that he does not have an actual sword, but a replica that was donated by the Linderman group. Dejected, he takes the replica back to the museum.

Hiro then goes to Isaac's studio to tell him that the sword was merely a replica, but the mention of Linderman's name catches Nathan's attention, who is already there. Hiro is elated to see the "Flying Man" again, and discusses with him the pending explosion and how to use their powers to prevent it.

Realizing that Hiro is the person Isaac has drawn in the 9th Wonders! comic series, Simone is now convinced that Isaac can paint the future and agrees to make arrangements for Hiro to speak to Mr. Linderman.

The Fix

While Ando argues with a parking attendant about the fee, Hiro stares at a punch clock and tries to use his power to manipulate the clock but is unsuccessful. Hiro reiterates his claim that he needs to find the sword in order to restore his powers, and wonders if it's his destiny to kill the exploding man with the sword.

As they walk to their car they notice a strange man with a gun standing by it. The man draws his gun and Hiro and Ando run. They try to get help from a van that drives up, but another strange man gets out of the van. After they evade the men for some time, Ando is captured and Hiro turns himself in, hoping but failing to secure Ando's release.

In the van, Hiro talks to the man watching them, telling him that he's on a very important mission, but the man says he knows all about Hiro's "mission". Speaking Japanese, he says Hiro doesn't have power, but that his employer does. He offers Hiro and Ando plane tickets back to Japan, but they refuse. When the van stops, the man opens the van door and Hiro finds that the boss is his father.

Distractions

At the Port Washington Harbor, Hiro argues with his father about his mission, and claims that if he can find the sword, he can prove that his powers are real. Kaito insists that Hiro's destiny is back in Japan. Hiro believes his assignment as a regular office worker in a cubicle at Yamagato Industries proves that his father didn't respect him. He does not want to succeed his father as the president of the company.

Suddenly, Hiro tells Kaito that he will accept the Executive Vice-President position, and immediately begins issuing orders for the consolidation of all management to Tokyo. When Kimiko protests, Hiro rebuffs by claiming rights by virtue of his new title. Kimiko yells and references her own experience. Hiro smiles and states that this proves that she should be the one to succeed Kaito instead of Hiro. Hiro awkwardly embraces his father and accepts ribbing from his older sister.

Run!

In Las Vegas, Hiro and Ando return to the Montecito Casino and sneak in through the kitchen. Ando tries to convince Hiro not to bother with taking the sword, but Hiro tells him he won't give up. Hiro tells him that a hero must have hope. Ando tells Hiro that he can figure out how to get into Mr. Linderman's office and that he'll look for hope. Just then, they run into a sobbing showgirl--who introduces herself as "Hope". She tells them she's left her abusive boyfriend, but left her bag in his room. Ando volunteers to retrieve it. When Hiro attempts to dissuade him, Hope overhears them mention Linderman and volunteers to introduce them to him if they get the bag.

Hiro and Ando sneak into the boyfriend's hotel room by hiding Hiro under a room service cart. When the man heads back to the shower, Hiro lets Ando into the room, and they begin to search. Hiro continues to try to persuade Ando to leave; when he finds a gun in an armoire, he insists, and Ando, pretending to leave with him, locks Hiro out of the room.

Hiro returns to the dressing room to find Hope. He overhears her on the phone telling a man that she conned two "Chinese guys" into getting the bag for her. When he confronts her, she punches him, knocking him out, and stuffs him in a closet. After repeated attempts to batter down the door, it's opened--by the man Hope claimed was her abusive ex-boyfriend. He introduces himself as S.R. Gustavson, and says he's with the Nevada Gaming Commission.

Graphic Novel:Road Kill

Sylar watches Charlie greet Hiro and Ando at the Burnt Toast Diner.

Unexpected

Steve Gustavson pulls Hiro out of the closet at gunpoint. Hiro tells Gustavson to take him with him so he can save Ando since Hiro is responsible for him. Hiro believes that a partner doesn't get in the way -- a partner helps keep one honest. Hiro and Gustavson arrive at a parking lot in Primm, NV. When a shootout erupts, Hiro and Ando seek shelter in the luggage compartment of a bus. When Hope shoots her gun at Hiro, he begins concentrating. Hiro manages to stop time and then reverse it, causing the bullet to fly back into the chamber. However, Hiro's eyes are closed, and he is oblivious to his renewed power.

Hiro and Ando talk as Steve and Hope are taken into custody. Hiro tells Ando to drive the car back to the rental agency and to go home.

The 10-year-old Hiro.

Hiro tells him that he made a mistake bringing him along. He tells Ando that too many people have died already and that he doesn't know what he would do if he lost him, too. A bus pulls up and Hiro goes to board. The bus driver asks him if he's by himself and Hiro tells him, "Yes."

Company Man

14 years ago, on the rooftop of the Deveaux Building, young Hiro plays a Game Boy while his father and Mr. Bennet discuss the future of baby Claire.

Parasite

Hiro attempts to enter the Corinthian Casino, but is denied entry after he is told that he has been flagged as a cheater, and is removed from the casino by security. As Hiro waits outside the casino, Nathan approaches. Hiro ecstatically greets him, but Nathan tells him to keep his voice down, and they head to another area to discuss privately. Nathan asks about Ando, though Hiro sadly states that he sent Ando home. The two discuss the subject of caring for other people, and how they can get hurt. Nathan also admits that he thought Hiro was "nuts", while Hiro confesses that he thought Nathan was "mean". Nathan then aids Hiro in his quest for the sword by taking him past security, much to Francis's annoyance.

Hiro then makes his way into Linderman's archives. He gives Isaac's ripped painting to the curator, and asks for a receipt. Momentarily alone, Hiro searches for the sword. Hiro tries to retrieve it, but the curator comes back and calls security. Ando, wearing a security guard's uniform, comes to Hiro's rescue. They block the room temporarily. Hiro then retrieves the sword, and with newfound confidence in his powers, manages to teleport to Charles Deveaux's rooftop with Ando. They witness a future New York City being rebuilt during the aftermath of a catastrophe.

Powers

Hiro discovers he has the ability to actually affect the space/time continuum, stopping or slowing time with sheer power of will. The first noted occurrence is when Hiro supposedly made a subway train late using this power. This is especially notable because a Japanese train being late at all is an extremely unlikely event. Later, he theorizes that he may soon be able to teleport by bending the space part of the continuum. Although this isn't seen, he does seem to teleport from the seating area of a Karaoke bar to a ladies' bathroom on a dare (said in jest) by Ando. When he believes he needs to go to New York, he concentrates intensely, teleporting himself to Times Square. However, at the same time he unintentionally moves five weeks into the future. Later, when an explosion threatens his life, he is able to teleport back to Japan, landing at the exact time and place of his original departure.

Although being able to teleport and time travel great lengths at once, Hiro apparently has little control over how much time elapses when he teleports. This shows that, without further honing of his powers, he may not be able to teleport great distances without also traveling in time. He has also frozen time relative to himself. He was able to keep time frozen long enough to fold one thousand paper cranes. (Six Months Ago)

Hiro successfully teleports to New York.

Although no source has been cited for Hiro's powers beyond Heroes's general theme of evolution, in a free web comic released by NBC, Hiro's grandfather was hinted to have been directly affected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima. Believing that he has done "a great disservice" to him, Hiro makes an origami crane out of the cover page for Action Comics #1, the comic book which introduced Superman.

Hiro's rules of time travel haven't yet been explicitly defined. Whether he changes time just by traveling, or whether it's more of a ripple effect is not known.

It should be noted that it appears Hiro's time-traveling powers may not supersede the principles of the self-consistency theory. This essentially states that a time traveler cannot alter history in such a way that he would cause a paradox to occur; rather, the events would self-correct. However, it seems Hiro's powers are controlled by "fate", as not only were his powers disabled at one point, but he traveled in both time and space against his will. This appears to be contradictory to Future Hiro's statement that he risked creating a "rift", as well as his existence being proof that he is trying to prevent the catastrophe.

Notes

• Hiro is named after Hiroshima, so that his family will always remember the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (The Crane). 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 similar to the Japanese word for superhero: スーパーヒーロー (sūpāhīrō), and the fifth episode is entitled Hiros.
• Hiro's wallet contains a membership card for the Merry Marvel Marching Society, a Marvel Comics fan club which has not distributed membership cards since the 1970s. (Don't Look Back)
• Hiro is on the list.
• When explaining to Ando where he got the idea of time not being an straight line, Hiro mistakenly cites X-Men, Issue #143 as the issue where Kitty Pryde travels back in time from a dark future. In fact, it happened in Uncanny X-Men, Issue #141, in the famous "Days of Future Past" storyline. However, Issue #143 does focus on Kitty Pryde's evolution as a super-hero. (Genesis)
• 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". One of his powers includes time manipulation, a gift shared with Jojo characters Jotaro Kujo and Dio Brando.
• His favorite video games are Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy (games that dealt with the manipulation of time) according to his blog.
• As confessed in his blog, Hiro is also a fan of Mirai Trunks, a time traveler from the manga and anime Dragon Ball Z. When "Future Hiro" visits Peter, it is a very similar encounter to the first encounter of Future Trunks with Son Goku, including Hiro's sword. (Hiros)

Trivia

• Hiro is a programmer with a level 3 security clearance. His ID number is 651283461132, and he is referred to as "a lowly office drone". (The Crane)
• Hiro's blog refers to Charlie saying, "Charlie wasn't my Marle, she was my Gwen Stacy." Marle refers to the character from a video game called Chrono Trigger, which follows a group of adventurers who are accidentally propelled through time. Gwen Stacy is the first true love of Spider-Man; she was killed by the Green Goblin, and was pivotal (and controversial) to the Spider-Man stories.
• The senior vice president of the design division at Nissan Motor Co. is named Shiro Nakamura. Nissan is a prominent sponsor of Heroes.
• To date, Hiro is one of two characters that have appeared in all episodes of Heroes. However, in Company Man, he was played by Garrett Masuda. Masi Oka did not appear.
• Hiro's given name in kanji is probably , coming from the kanji for Hiroshima, File:Hiroshima.GIF. His family name in kanji is probably the common form of Nakamura, .

See Also

• For other uses of Hiro, see Hiro (disambig).
• For articles related to Hiro, see Related Articles:Hiro.
• For information about Hiro's weblog, see Hiro's blog.

Fan Theories

Please refer to Theory:Hiro Nakamura for fan-created theories and other speculation.