Ando Masahashi

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Ando Masahashi

James Kyson Lee as Ando Masahashi
First appearance "Genesis"
Portrayed by James Kyson Lee
Information

Ando Masahashi is a character on the NBC drama Heroes, played by James Kyson Lee. He is a friend and co-worker of Hiro Nakamura, and accompanies him to the United States.

Contents

[edit] Character overview

[edit] Genesis

Ando is initially skeptical of his friend's powers, and, after Hiro teleports into a women's restroom in "Genesis", tells him to stop trying to be special. In the next episode, "Don't Look Back", when Hiro calls from New York City five weeks in the future, Hiro calls Ando at work but instead is told by Ando that Hiro has been missing for five weeks. In "One Giant Leap" Ando comes to accept Hiro's powers after seeing a comic book Hiro brought from the future and Hiro stopping time to save a schoolgirl from a traffic accident. He agrees to accompany Hiro on his travels to the United States to "fulfill their destiny." Although initially reluctant to start out on what he thinks of as a suicide mission, he eventually develops a strong loyalty to Hiro, and takes to the mission in earnest.

The pair run into trouble in Las Vegas in "Collision" when he convinces Hiro to use his powers to cheat at gambling, and the two are later beaten up by their victims. After an argument, Ando leaves Hiro to visit Niki Sanders, whom he has watched strip online back in Japan. When he realizes that he and Niki didn't have a real relationship, he returns to accompany Hiro on his hero's journey. The two separate again in "Seven Minutes to Midnight", when Hiro fails to return from the past, where he has gone to save Charlie Andrews, a waitress killed at a diner they visited on the way to New York. Ando is still waiting for Hiro to return in "Homecoming" when Peter Petrelli arrives to complete his own personal mission to save Claire Bennet from Sylar. Ando admits to Peter that he cannot do much without Hiro. When Hiro returns to present-day Midland in "Fallout", Ando accompanies him to meet Isaac Mendez.

Two weeks later, in "Godsend", Hiro and Ando arrive in New York, where they go to the Museum of Natural History and examine a katana once owned by Takezo Kensei. Hiro believes the sword will help him control his powers and steals the one on the display. However, this one turns out to be a replica made by Mr. Linderman. Back at Isaac's loft, they meet Simone Deveaux, an art dealer who sells many of Isaac's paintings to Linderman. Simone recommends Hiro travel back to Las Vegas and meet Linderman.

In "Run!", Ando and Hiro meet Hope, who convinces them to retrieve a bag from the hotel room of her violent lover. With Ando's urging, the pair breaks into the room by impersonating room service. When Hiro recommends they leave, Ando locks him out of the room and continues searching for the bag. He then accompanies Hope, without Hiro, out of the hotel, and it is revealed that the bag really contained gambling chips belonging to Steve Gustavson. In "Unexpected", Ando is shot in the arm in a shootout between Hope and Steve Gustavson. After this, Hiro tells Ando to go back to Japan.

Later, in "Parasite", it is revealed that Ando followed Hiro instead of going back to Japan. Ando impersonates one of Linderman's guards and helps Hiro obtain the sword, though other guards are alerted by the theft. To escape, Hiro teleports with Ando to post-apocalyptic New York City. Ando and Hiro go to Isaac Mendez's apartment, where they encounter Future Hiro.

In "The Hard Part", Ando tells Hiro that he needs to kill Sylar to stop the bomb. When Hiro has doubts about killing Sylar, Ando reveals that Sylar kills him (Ando) in the future timeline and that he needs Hiro to save his life. Ando then shows Hiro his death in a 9th Wonders! comic book. After Hiro unsuccessfully attempts to kill Sylar, he and Ando teleport to safety, where they discover that the sword has been broken. Attempting to have the sword repaired, Ando and Hiro encounter Hiro's father. Ando cautions Hiro that his father will attempt to interfere with their mission; when Hiro goes to speak with him alone, Ando, fearing that his friend has lost faith, goes to seek out and kill Sylar himself.

In "How to Stop an Exploding Man", Ando goes to Isaac's loft and finds Sylar. However, Sylar overpowers him and throws him against the wall and pins him there. Ando drops his 9th Wonders! comic book, which Sylar reads and laughs at the picture of Hiro stabbing him. Sylar starts to cut Ando's neck when Hiro arrives by teleportation into the loft. Hiro distracts Sylar and teleports to Ando then travels back to the offices of Yamagato industries back in Tokyo, where their journey started. Hiro gives Ando the Helix sword, promising to return, before he finally teleports to Kirby Plaza to kill Sylar with Ando's sword.

[edit] "Heroism is Found in the Heart"

In the graphic novel "Heroism is Found in the Heart" it reveals what happened to Ando after he was teleported back to Japan.

After being teleported back to Yamagato Industries, Ando meets with Kaito Nakamura, who reassigns Ando to Hiro's former position. Ando finds himself working on the same floor as Kimiko Nakamura. Despite another employee's discouragement, Ando pursues Kimiko's heart. He stays at work until after 9:00 pm waiting for Kimiko, then asks to walk her home. However, when they leave the building, they are confronted by a menacing group of bikers. Ando, recognizing Fumio Fukazawa and his biker gang, wonders why they are in front of Yamagato. Ando learns that Fukazawa is pursuing Kimiko, and he begins to understand Fumio's desires. When the gang give chase through the streets of Tokyo, Ando slips in a fountain, inadvertently causing a distraction. He gets on a bike Kimiko has secured, plans to heroically give Kimiko a helmet, but accidentally drops the gear into the road, momentarily thwarting the bikers. Later, when he and Kimiko are trapped, Ando promises to protect Kimiko with his life. He bravely faces the gang. When they run away, Ando kisses Kimiko, both unaware that it was really Kaito who scared the pursuers away.

[edit] Generations

Ando returns to New York and waits for Hiro to return, along with Kaito. Kaito receives a death threat, and tells Ando to get his sword for protection. However, just as Ando returns with the sword, a man appears and knocks Kaito off the roof. Ando runs to the edge of the building and looks down in horror at his friend's father's battered body. He later talks to the police about what happened, where he is reunited with the now detective Matt Parkman. Parkman asks Ando what the helix sign is about, seen on the found picture of Kaito with the same signal on it. Ando explains it means "Godsend great talent", a Japanese sign and mark of Takezo Kensei, a great Japanese hero. Matt tells Ando he needs to talk to Hiro, to which Ando replies, "So do I," as he does not know where (or when) Hiro is, or if he is alive. It is unknown whether he remembers the dark future's version Matt Parkman as the man who tortured and killed his friend, both present and future, respectively. Ando then receives letters from Hiro within Takezo Kensei's sword in Kindred. Thanks to the help of a specialist he manages to read them bit by bits. However since it ends before Hiro's return, Ando worries about what could have happened to his friend.

In "Out of Time", Ando and Hiro are finally reunited with each other in the present once Hiro leaves 1671. As a souvenir, he brings him back the charred helmet of Takezo Kensei. However, he's the bearer of bad news when he tells Hiro his father was murdered during his absence. He then attends Kaito's funerals, giving Hiro support when he finds himself unable to eulogize his father.

[edit] Alternate future

In "Five Years Gone", Ando discovers from the future Peter Petrelli that he was killed in the explosion. Peter speculates that it was Ando's death that changed Future Hiro from the optimistic, sanguine person Ando knows, into the focused warrior he has become.

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