Shinji Kaminaga

is the protagonist of Shin Ultraman, an executive strategy officer who worked for the National Police Agency Security Bureau before he was designated to the SSSP (S-Class Species Suppression Protocol). For the remainder of the film, he is impersonated by Ultraman/Lipiah after being killed during the giant's first arrival on Earth.
==History==
===Shin Ultraman===
Once a policeman working in the Public Security Division, Kaminaga was assigned to the SSSP at some time. While they were sortied against Neronga, Kaminaga spotted a child that had not yet evacuated, risking his own life to run out and protect the child. Suddenly, an unknown silver giant landed from space, and the resulting impact sent rocks flying and hit Kaminaga on the head, killing him instantly. The giant easily killed Neronga and disappeared into the air. 
Curious over Kaminaga's decision to use his own life to protect another, the alien decided to take Kaminaga’s form, memories, and identity to pose as him in order to better understand humans while leaving the real Kaminaga's body preserved where he had died in the forest, despite knowing that fusing with a human was forbidden under the Code of the Planet of Light. Posing as Kaminaga, he went to work in the SSSP, but his personality had slightly changed and spent his time reading various books to learn more about humans. Hiroko Asami, a new recruit to the SSSP sent by the Public Security Intelligence Agency, was assigned as his partner but they did not get along well initially. The silver giant is tentatively named "Ultraman" for use by the humans.
Not long after, Gabora, another Kaiju similar to both Neronga and Pagos, emerged and headed towards a nuclear waste management facility to devour the nuclear waste there. The SSSP order American forces to bomb Gabora to bring it out of the ground, but their attempts were futile. With Gabora getting ever closer to its target, the SSSP seemed to be out of luck and were tempted to simply destroy Gabora when it appeared, despite the nuclear contamination it would have caused. Hearing of their plight, Kaminaga went out into the forest to transform into Ultraman, who now had red patterns all over his body as a result of the sharing his life force with Kaminaga. Unknown to him, Kaminaga's transformation was caught by cameras stationed there. Ultraman fought against Gabora just outside of the facility, avoiding its drill attacks and using his body as a shield from its uranium beam, negating all the radiation that would have been emitted. The SSSP noticed that Ultraman's red lines started to turn green as a result of loss of energy. When Gabora was open for an attack, Ultraman punched it in the face and instantly knocked it out, instead of using his Spacium Beam to destroy it before carrying the Kaiju's corpse away.
Soon, the next threat in the form of Zarab arrived on the planet and first appeared in the SSSP's headquarters, knocking out the power with "accidental" electromagnetic interference upon landing. He had entered political deals with the government of Japan, offering to lend them his abilities and advanced technology which would undoubtedly give them the upper hand while causing panic in other countries, as it was his true and hidden objective to cause humans to eventually destroy themselves through international conflict. Kaminaga met up with Kagami, a former colleague of his at the Public Security Division, who had uncovered Zarab's plans to cause international conflict. Just as his partner left, Zarab appeared in Kaminaga's car and threatened him. Kaminaga attempted to reason with Zarab, who simply stated that he was doing his job as an extermination marker had already been placed on the Earth, and that humans were inferior beings who deserved to be eradicated anyway. 
Unable to kill his target because of the merger with Ultraman, Zarab stunned Kaminaga and carried him away using invisibility, but not before Kaminaga had showed a signal to his partner and left behind drops of ink. He had also placed his Beta Capsule into Asami's bag as a sign of trust knowing that something bad might happen to him. She then managed to find Kaminaga with the help of that former colleague, tracking him down to an abandoned building and freeing him from his chains just as Zarab impersonated Ultraman and was attacking the city. Their reunion was cut short when the imitation Ultraman grabbed Asami from inside the building, forcing Kaminaga to transform and fight his impostor. After securing Asami's safety, Ultraman shot the imitation into a building where his disguise faded away, revealing Zarab's true nature to the world. After a short grounded battle and an aerial chase, Ultraman cut Zarab in half using his Ultra Slash.
The next extraterrestrial, Mefilas, made his presence known by enlarging and controlling Hiroko Asami using a device of his own, the Beta Box, a less advanced version of the Beta Capsule the Ultraman uses to transform. Mefilas chose to make deals with the governments of the world, providing them with Beta Boxes to weaponize humans that would become immune to virtually all forms of damage just like Ultraman was, under the pretense of defensive measures against Kaiju and malicious aliens like Zarab; the price of it was that Mefilas essentially now owned the planet. Mefilas then met up with Kaminaga at a park, knowing that he was Ultraman, to divulge the truth of his plans to make use of the Earth's seven billion humans as weapons via the Beta Box: first he would awaken the leftover biological weapons (Kaiju) on the planet and pass it off as acts of nature caused by reckless human development. 
He then used the next-generation biological weapons (Neronga and Gabora) to lure out Ultraman, hoping that he would fuse with a human so that it could prove that the Beta System is compatible with humans. Then he used Zarab's appearance to instill fear of extraterrestrial threats on humans. Finally, he used his demonstration of the Beta System on Asami to make humans feel both intellectually and physically impotent, ensuring their subordination to extraterrestrials. It seemed that Mefilas' plan was perfect and unstoppable, Ultraman could do nothing to incriminate him because according to space laws, conflict with another civilization was limited to the use of only living creatures and the Code of the Planet of Light prevented Ultraman from interfering with the deals of humans, which Mefilas had already sealed via contract with the government. Ultraman disagreed, saying that the Code does not apply to the human he had bonded with, and would use Kaminaga's will to stop Mefilas even by force.
Having heard all of that, Kaminaga returned to the SSSP where he told them the truth. They planned to steal the Beta Box before Mefilas can complete the handover to the government, but were unable to physically get to it due to it being heavily guarded and kept within a location only Mefilas knows and can access. To circumvent this, Kaminaga resorted to using the leftover "scent" of the Planck Brane where the Beta System stored the physical form of objects to trace back the Beta Box that Mefilas used, memorizing it using the leftover "scent" on Asami. Just as the handover was about to commence, Ultraman's hand came through the Planck Brane and grabbed the Beta Box, throwing it into a helicopter that the SSSP prepared. Mefilas used the device to enlarge himself remotely, preparing to fight against Ultraman. Due to the burden of fusing with Kaminaga and the enlargement via the Beta System, Ultraman's reserves of Spacium 133 were depleting quickly, and almost lost in a beam clash against Mefilas. Their fight came to an abrupt end when Mefilas noticed someone watching in the distance, saying that the planet is already doomed before he disappeared.
Ultraman, using Kaminaga's visage, went back to the forest where Kaminaga's corpse was preserved and reflected on his actions. It was there that he encountered the next observer of the Earth sent from the Planet of Light, Zōffy, who had come to replace Lipiah for his violations of the Code of the planet. Zōffy voiced his disapproval and concerns for the path the humanity was now taking, saying that the entire Multiverse now knows of the humans' compatibility with the Beta System and their potential to be weaponized, while also stating that humans may one day take a similar path of evolution to the beings of the Planet of Light themselves and become a threat as a result. Zōffy stated that exterminating one of the 18 billion life forms recorded by the Planet of Light would not mean anything in the wider scope of things, and then unleashed the Ultimate Celestial Suppression Weapon, Zetton to wipe out the whole solar system, activating its autonomous program to begin charging up a one-trillion degree fireball. However, Ultraman did not want to listen to Zōffy, fusing fully with the body of Kaminaga as he prepared to take on Zetton.
Kaminaga returned to the SSSP to inform them of what Zetton's appearance would entail, making Akihisa Taki despair as humans could do nothing against such a threat. Government members then came to retrieve Kaminaga, as Japan and the UN had signed a treaty over control of Ultraman. Kaminaga refused to go with them, but then they threatened to use the SSSP members' lives as a bargaining chip, which greatly angered Ultraman who in turn stated that if they had resorted to such means, he would wipe out humanity himself before Zetton did, making the officials leave as they did not want to engage in a zero-sum game. Still believing in humanity, Kaminaga then left the data of the Beta System, translated into English, on a USB device and left it to Taki before he transformed into Ultraman and fought Zetton in space, knowing that he would most likely lose anyway. Ultraman was shot down by Zetton and as he fell into the sea, Zōffy told him to stand down and simply await destruction. Kaminaga was then put out of action while he was hospitalized unconscious.
Getting over his despair, Taki managed to gather the greatest minds in the world to come up with a solution to defeating Zetton using the Beta System's data that he left behind. Kaminaga woke up just in time after humanity had managed to come up with a plan, which involved using the Beta Capsule twice to open a sixth-dimensional hole where Ultraman can throw Zetton into, but the whole thing had to be executed within just one millisecond. Kaminaga transformed into Ultraman and did as he was told, ramming into Zetton's fireball. Unfortunately, Ultraman was caught in the blast and fell into a wormhole along with the destroyed Zetton.
Sensing Ultraman's will to live, Zōffy was able to find him in a strange dimension. Having been touched by the courage, intellect and determination of humans, Zōffy decided that they will be spared, but Ultraman would have to return to the Planet of Light to answer for his violations of the Code, despite Ultraman's wish to remain on the planet to protect humans form further alien invasions. He instead offered to give his life to Kaminaga so that at least he may live, which Zōffy complied to. Using his own Beta Capsule, Zōffy separated Ultraman's body from Kaminaga and gave the human Ultraman's life essence. The movie ends with Kaminaga's eyes opening once more. 
==Transformation==
Upon the Beta Capsule's activation, "Kaminaga" is grabbed by Ultraman's translucent red fist, and rises from human size to his true height as a flash of red light accompanies the transformation.
ShinUltramanTransformationM87.gif|Transformation
==Powers and Weapons==
*Beta Capsule: The device which allows "Kaminaga" to transform into Ultraman. In truth, it is part of the Beta System, a technology that allows its user to change size into a giant.
ShinUltramanBetaCapsule.png
==Merchandise==
:Main article: Ultraman (Shin Ultraman)/Merchandise
===DYNAACTION===
*Ultraman (2021) 
** Release Date: September 18, 2021
**Price: 22,000 yen
**JAN/ISBN: 4573102614421
** Materials: PVC, ABS, POM, Die-Cast
**Accessories: 4 pairs of hands, Shinji Kaminaga figurine, display stand
:DYNAACTION Ultraman comes with a same-scale figurine of Shinji Kaminaga/Lipiah's disguise as Shinji, whose name is not revealed at the time.
DYNACTION-Shin-Ultraman-packaging.jpg
===Nuigurumi===
*Ultraman & SSSP (Big Nuigurimi, 2022)
**Release Date: May 13, 2022
**Materials: Fabric, cotton
:Released as part of the Nuigurimi line of plushes by FuRyu, this Big Nuigurumi of Shinji is an animified plush doll that stands 25cm tall.
:Hhe is released as part of the Shin Ultraman-themed wave along with Hiroko Asami and Ultraman/Lipiah.
==Gallery==
===Screencaps===
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Shin-Ultraman-Shinji-Lipiah-reading.png|Kaminaga reading La Pensée sauvage.
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Shin Ultraman Trailer 3 - Alien Zarab.png|Kaminaga meeting Zarab
Shin-Ultraman-Shinji-points-his-gun.png|Kaminaga pointing his gun to Zarab after his disagreement with the alien.
Shin Zarab 005.jpeg
Hiroko Asami 24.png
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Shinji Kaminaga Movie 024.png|Real Kaminaga's corpse
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Shin-Ultraman-Shinji-leaves-his-USB.png|Kaminaga after leaving his USB to the SSSP.
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===Promotional, Official Photos===
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Hiroko Asami Official Photos 010.jpeg
ShinjiKaminagaBetaCapsule.jpg|In T-minus 08.869.69 seconds left, Kaminaga transforms into Ultraman for one last time.
Shinji_Kaminaga_3.jpg|Kaminaga's business card
Kaminaga desk.jpeg|Kaminaga's desk
Behind the scenes of Kaminaga.jpeg
Shinji Kaminaga 2024.png|Kaminaga attends Osaka Comic Con 2024https://hochi.news/articles/20240504-OHT1T51231.html?page=1
==Trivia==
*According to his dog tag, his birthday is on the 17th of July, 1986. That date would have been the 20th anniversary of the airing of the first episode of Ultraman. His blood type is A.
*On his office desk, in an effort to prevent any overlap with Hiroko's belongings, he deliberately arranged mini models of wave blocks neatly. 
*The name "Shinji" appears to have been inspired by Shinji Yamashiro, a character from Moyoco Anno's manga series Hataraki Man.
*In the character development of Kaminaga, Hideaki Anno, in interviews, contrasts him with the protagonist of the original Ultraman series, Shin Hayata. As Hayata is defined as "the person who becomes Ultraman," most plotlines revolve around this theme, resulting in relatively fewer descriptions of his character. However, striving for balance, Anno, based on the basic traits of Japanese popular heroes, portrays Kaminaga as a character existing within the "interstices". From the early stages of the project, Kaminaga's character was crafted based on his actor, Takumi Saitoh.
*Before the battle against Zetton, there was a scene captured showing a brief kiss between Kaminaga and Hiroko. However, this scene was later removed during the editing phase. This decision was made with the consideration that the two characters did not have extensive romantic portrayals.Shin Ultraman Design Works pg 75
==References==
Category:Shin Ultraman
Category:Shin Ultraman Characters
Category:Human Forms
Category:SSSP Members
Category:Revived Characters
Category:Male Characters
Category:Protagonists