Space Channel 5/Characters

Space Channel 5 has a wide variety of characters, each with their own past that effects their future.

Be warned, there will be spoilers for the game's events!

Voice Actors: Apollo Smile (English), "Herself" (Japanese)
Ulala is the main protagonist of the Space Channel 5 series. She is Space Channel 5's star reporter and a huge hit with the galaxy audience. She is also an excellent dancer and one of gaming's most recognizable female characters.

At the age of 12, Ulala was the sole survivor of a spaceship accident. She was rescued from the brink of the galaxy by a Space Channel 5 reporter, and the rescue inspired Ulala to become a reporter for the station that saved her life. The reporter that saved Ulala soon left Channel 5 however, and she never got to thank him for saving her. Eight years later, Ulala soon got to work with the station. However, it wasn't until another two years that she got her big break as a space reporter, during the Morolian Invasion in the first Space Channel 5.

Ulala is often portrayed as confident; often heading into danger without showing the slight trace of fear. In Part 2 however, Ulala seems to have taken a less confident stance against the Rhythm Rogues. She often exclaims shock at some of the drama in the game, such as when people are taken hostage. In the original, she stated these developments calmly and professionally. However, Ulala still retains plenty of her confidence from the prequel.

Ulala is confident and ready to meet any challenge, but also uniquely human, excitable and dramatic, and never without the help of friends and fans alike as a result.

Tropes:

 * Bare Your Midriff: In both games in fact.
 * Batman Can Breathe in Space: In Part 1 during report 4, Ulala can breathe in space without the use of a helmet.
 * Big No: Ulala does this
 * Calling Your Attacks
 * Catch Phrase: "Stay Tuned!"
 * Dance Battler
 * Girlish Pigtails
 * Going for The Big Scoop: She's also got the fate of the world/galaxy on her hands.
 * Gondor Calls for Aid: When the going gets rough, Ulala's friends and fans are there to help her.
 * Heart Is an Awesome Power
 * Hot Scoop
 * Impossible Hourglass Figure: In a game that revolves around rhythm and dancing, focus on this is a given.
 * Large Ham: Seeing as it's a cheesy game, this is a given.
 * Magic Dance
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Musical Assassin
 * My Suit Is Also Super: The Super Ulala Suit.
 * Panty Shot
 * Parental Abandonment
 * Rose Haired Girl
 * Say My Name
 * Theme Music Power Up
 * Too Quirky to Lose: Holy hell is she ever.
 * Unexplained Recovery:

Voice Actors: Jeff Kramer/Tom Clarke Hill (English), Show Hayami (Japanese)
Calling himself "The Voice of Truth", Jaguar is a mysterious man who abandoned mainstream reporting so he could reveal secrets to the galaxy instead of just struggling with ratings. He's the captain of the Space Pirate Broadcasting Station, and commands the Rougeship-A-Go-Go. When the Morolians invade, he clashes with Ulala a few times as he believes she's interfering with the investigation, but they later team up to fight the aliens. It's later revealed that

In the second game, he is captured in the prologue, so his whereabouts are unknown.

Tropes:

 * Anti Hero: A type II. He only treats Ulala as an adversary because he wants to report the truth.
 * Batman Can Breathe in Space: A weird case. When Ulala fights him in the asteroid belt during level 3, he's wearing a helmet. When he fights alongside Ulala and Pudding during level 4, he isn't.
 * Dark Skinned Blond
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Ulala out-dances and out-shoots him, but he comes back to help her take on Morolian Monroe and they become allies.
 * Distressed Dude
 * Hey Its That Voice: Hey, it's Aizen!
 * He Knows Too Much: The prologue of the second game shows us that Jaguar's habit of conducting undercover investigations came to bite him in the ass.
 * Interface Spoiler: His familiar battle pose makes figuring out  identity easy from the start. If that's not enough,   repeats the moves Jaguar used against Ulala when they face off.
 * Large Ham: "My name is..." "~JAGUARRR~!"
 * Mysterious Protector: He was one to, but it's not made clear until the end of the first game.
 * Older Than They Look: While Jaguar doesn't look much older than Ulala, he's actually 35.
 * Something About a Rose: He doesn't carry one in-game, but examining his profile in Part 2 unlocks a rose accessory for Ulala, and the item description implies it was a gift.
 * Older Than They Look: While Jaguar doesn't look much older than Ulala, he's actually 35.
 * Something About a Rose: He doesn't carry one in-game, but examining his profile in Part 2 unlocks a rose accessory for Ulala, and the item description implies it was a gift.

Voice Actors: Sumalee Montano/Larissa Murray (English), Kae Iida (Japanese)
Pudding is the reporter for Space Channel 42. Formerly a teen singing sensation, she's not at all happy when Ulala starts muscling in on her spotlight and has to be dispatched with a dance-off.

When the Morolians invade in the first game, she's beaten to the scoop by Ulala and becomes her ally after being rescued from a tight spot. Later, when the Rhythm Rouges try taking over, she returns, now with skills on the electric guitar.

Tropes:

 * Alpha Bitch: She had two nose jobs before she was out of high school and treats Ulala with nothing but disdain.
 * Bare Your Midriff: In the second game.
 * Catch Phrase: "It's me, Pudding!" (Or "Pudding desu!" in Japanese.)
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Ulala wipes the floor with her pretty early in each game, but she's always there to back her up in the climax.
 * Distressed Damsel: In the first game, she rushes ahead of Ulala to investigate the Morolians' secret hideout and promptly gets hit with a dancing beam.
 * Early Bird Cameo: Makes a split-second appearance in the beginning of some levels.
 * Fire Forged Friends
 * Hot Scoop
 * Idol Singer: Before her career went south and she was reduced to doing the news on Channel 42. Her pink-haired Mooks are all that remain of her fanbase.
 * The Power of Rock: She does more guitar-playing than dancing in Part 2. Apparently she fired Rocka Billy.
 * The Rival: Although at first, Ulala has no clue who she is and later treats her as more of a nuisance.
 * Stocking Filler
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Zettai Ryouiki: In the first game

Voice Actors: Toni Barry (English), Yoshiko Sakakibara (Japanese)
The chief of the Sexy Space Police, Eastern Venus sector. Making her debut in Part 2, Pine was tasked with rescuing President Peace from the Rhythm Rogues, but failed to keep Ulala off the scene. Later, she manages to find Purge's hideout and sends out a distress signal to get backup.

Tropes:

 * Action Girl
 * A Father to His Men: Her backup singers think of her as a Cool Big Sis.
 * Backup Twin: Her identical sister, Texas, takes her place in Extra Mode.
 * Cool Starship: Pine has a gigantic ship called The Playgirl.
 * Defeat Means Friendship
 * Distress Call: "This is Pine. I need your help; please respond!"
 * Expository Theme Tune: "People call me Pine~" "PINE!"
 * Fair Cop
 * Inspector Javert: At first, she's willing to resort to bombs, lasers, and drums to stop Ulala from getting in the way of the law.
 * No Export for You: Pine's cell phone game was only available in Japan.
 * Space Police
 * The Power of Rock: With drums.

Voice Actors: David Nowlin/Kerry Shale (English), Takashi Thomas Yuda (Japanese)
Ulala's director, who is determined to save their failing report show. He won't hesitate to berate Ulala for her mistakes, but she can quickly earn his enthusiasm by performing well. For unknown reasons, he never sets foot off his Astrobeat Ship; apparently, only Noize has ever seen him in person.

He serves a relatively minor role outside of narration. At the end of the first game, he's used as a human(?) shield by Giant Evila. In the sequel, while helping Ulala battle Purge,

Tropes

 * Big Damn Heroes: He reappears just in time to wake Ulala from her Hopeless Boss Fight with Purge, and then helps her form a Combined Energy Attack with the crowd.
 * Disney Death: "Come on, did you really think they’d let people die in a game like this?"
 * Heroic Sacrifice
 * Hidden Heart of Gold: Fuse has a low tolerance for failure, but he's still willing
 * Mission Control
 * Motor Mouth: For a rather memetic second in the first game, when Pudding tries to hijack the show. "ISTHATANOTHERREPORTER?!"
 * Taking the Bullet
 * The Faceless: Always heard yet never seen, although that hasn't stopped fans from drawing what they think he looks like.
 * The Other Darrin: For the English dub only.
 * Unexplained Recovery
 * The Voice
 * Wave Motion Gun: Fuse's ship can fire a huge blast of dance energy if there's enough power, and if the player can hit those last three chus.

Voice Actors: Alan Marriot (English), Ken Okazaki (Japanese)
Ulala's dependable co-worker in Space Channel 5 Part 2. He works directly under Fuse and it is speculated, although not confirmed, that he is the only person to have seen the mysterious director.

Noize is a whiz-kid when it comes to inventing. He helps out on repairs to the broadcasting shuttle and creates new types of microphones for Ulala to use in her reports. The Channel 5 technical development chief headhunted and found him due to his skills in technology. In his free time, Noize likes to mix music.

He helps out Ulala a lot during the events of Part 2,

Tropes

 * Gadgeteer Genius: Noize is supposedly only 15 years old, but he does quite a few amazing things.
 * It Runs On Nonsensoleum: The Astrobeat Jr can run on nothing but pure Dance and Jiggy power.
 * Large Ham

Voice Actors: Gary Martinez (English), Kenji Utsumi (Japanese)
The CEO of Space Channel 5 and  Cornered by low ratings, he sent Ulala out to make her debut by reporting on the alien dance craze, not realizing   At the end of the game, he is defeated by Ulala and sent flying off in the remnants of his Giant Mecha.

In Part 2, he's been replaced by Space Micheal, but appears in Extra Mode as a backup dancer. Not all fans were happy.

Tropes

 * A Twinkle in The Sky: "I'll be BAAAAAAACK...!" *ping*
 * Bald of Evil
 * Big Bad
 * Card Carrying Villain: "What good is television if you can't
 * Cool Shades: Kamina shades, actually.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: He stops Ulala from dodging Giant Evila's attacks by shutting off the background music.
 * Disney Acid Sequence: The Blank Dimension is one of the trippiest places in the series. It even returns in Part 2 as the area in which the 100 stage battle is located in.
 * Embarrassing Rescue: Although he makes a pretty good cheerleader.
 * Evil Cannot Comprehend Good
 * Evil Laugh
 * Faux Affably Evil: Until you make him mad. Then he starts yelling and unleashing the giant mechas.
 * Foe Yay: Remember Blank's line about how he was always watching over Ulala? Well that line's similar to the line on the wallpaper: "I always want you watching over me."
 * Genre Blind: His entire plan relied on Ulala Going for The Big Scoop. Did he think she'd just call it a day before figuring out why the aliens were invading? Especially glaring because he'd already driven Jaguar to do the same thing, leading to them teaming up.
 * Hey Its That Voice: Well whaddaya know, It's Colonel Volgin!
 * Its All About Me: Blank wants the most popular broadcasting station in the universe - no exceptions.
 * Karma Houdini: Despite all he did, the worst that he got was being dismissed from his position as CEO.
 * Kick the Morolian
 * Large Ham: "Isn't that what TELEVISION IS FOR?! RATIIIIIINGS!"
 * The Man Behind the Man:
 * Mecha Mooks: On his last leg, Blank resorts to compromised security bots, Evila, and finally a Giant Mecha to deal with Ulala's gang.
 * No Song for The Wicked
 * Real Men Wear Pink: Pink sunglasses, that is.
 * Rush Boss: Don't get cocky just because his battle is a short one, he'll make the battle harder if you mess up.
 * Slouch of Villainy: Blank doesn't even leave his Cool Chair in the profile section!
 * Spanner in The Works: Ulala does her job a little too well for him.
 * Stalker With a Crush: He designed his "lovely creation" Evila to look like Ulala - and while he does admit to having kept tabs on Ulala, he had no clue about her dancing abilities. I wonder what he was really focusing on?
 * The So Called Coward: For the first part report 4, all he does is teleports away from Ulala and her gang. Heck, Extra Report 4 has him panicking and running from her! Then the final boss rolls around, and he stops playing around and starts making your life hell with Giant Evila.
 * Unexplained Recovery: He returns in Part 2, only to be a hostage for Purge. Playing for 10 hours unlocks him as a playable character.
 * Villainous Breakdown: By the end of the game, he can only incoherently scream about his ratings.
 * What Could Have Been: Information from UGA's official site and an unused animation reveal that he was going to return in Part 2 with an army of Evila robots, but they scrapped it in favour of introducing a new villain into the series.
 * What Could Have Been: Information from UGA's official site and an unused animation reveal that he was going to return in Part 2 with an army of Evila robots, but they scrapped it in favour of introducing a new villain into the series.

Voice Actors: Unknown
A robotic clone of Ulala designed by Blank. Dubbed the "Ultimate Reporter", she was intended to be Channel 5's ticket to universe-wide superstardom. However, she's unable to stop Ulala from dancing her way through the broadcasting station and reaching Blank.

When Part 2 rolls around, she's been reprogrammed and mass-produced as a security bot for the broadcasting station.

Tropes

 * Conservation of Ninjitsu: Subverted at first. Blank was Dangerously Genre Savvy enough to make just one clone of Ulala and supply her with backup dancers, making Evila a more dangerous foe than the Morolian hordes. Ulala's still able to outdance her. Played straight when she turns good, and four of them only play second-fiddle to Ulala.
 * Defeat Equals Friendship: She and all the other bosses go dancing off with Ulala in the end.
 * Evil Diva
 * Evil Knockoff
 * Fem Bot
 * Glass Cannon: That doesn't mean that she can't be hard though.
 * Kill and Replace: Designed by Blank to do this to Ulala.
 * Machine Monotone
 * Robot Me
 * Panty Shot: The entire fight is spent giving her the perfect camera angle to this. Not to mention her split "down" and kick "right" moves.

Voice Actors: Eric Myers (English), Akira Ishida (Japanese)
The big daddy-o Ulala faces in Part 2; leader of the Rhythm Rogues, Purge deploys his robots to abduct people from all over the galaxy with the intent of harnessing their groove energy. Doing so will allow him to complete his superweapon, the Ballistic Groove Gun, and hypnotize the entire universe into dancing with him.

His backstory is a little more complicated. When he was very young (as in 9 years old), he was successful in the field of wave mechanics. The social status and economic power was sufficient enough for him to live on his own.

Eventually, he started to believe that “This galaxy is at the mercy of petty worries”, “People are unhappy and stupid in the galaxy”, and “I’ll lead you to paradise at the hands of my good karma.” With that belief, he decided to make all the galaxies dance.

Unfortunately for Ulala, Purge is much more serious than her previous enemies: wreaking havoc with his dancing robots, kidnapping the President, and even  While he can also harness mysterious dance powers, his inability to understand love or friendship proves to be his undoing, and Ulala uses the power of the people he abducted to defeat him.

Did we mention that he's the best dancer in the universe? Needless to say, Ulala's got her work cut out for her.

Tropes

 * Adult Child: Not played for laughs. In fact, his childish personality tends to get rather... disturbing later on.
 * A Twinkle in The Sky
 * Beware the Silly Ones: Purge is an extra-campy Teen Genius in a world already full of weird people. He wears a giant labcoat, funny goggles, and won't stop giggling. None of this stops him from  or
 * Big Bad
 * Bi the Way: Purge tends to flirt with Ulala a few times, and Word of God confirms that he has a crush on Shadow at times.
 * Bodyguarding a Badass: Purge may hide behind his robots for most of the game, but once Ulala destroys them and leaves him on his own? He reveals that he's tougher than he looks, even with a purple disco suit on.
 * Boss Subtitles: Super Duper Suit: Purge the Great
 * Brought to You By The Letter S: Puts giant, stylized Ps on pretty much everything he builds.
 * Camp Straight: Purge loves to pelvic-thrust and looks fabulous in purple. None of this stops him from hitting on Ulala a few times.
 * The Coats Are Off
 * Curtains Match the Window: Purge has got his working for him. While it looks as though his hair is white, it's actually a very light shade of purple.
 * Cute and Psycho: Only enhanced in the English version, where he goes from being a snobby Insufferable Genius to laughing like The Joker whenever a "game" is involved.
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: Ulala can't put a scratch on Purge's President-fueled King suit. Instead of never using it again, he upgrades it so that it can absorb her power as well.
 * Dark Messiah: The Japanese version doesn't even try to soften the fact that he's insane with delusions in his profile.
 * Dissonant Serenity
 * Duel Boss: Only Ulala can face off against Dancing Purge.
 * Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: It's only for a split second, and you may miss it on your first playthrough, but he gets these during the final 3 chus.
 * Evilly Affable
 * Evil Albino
 * Evil Genius
 * Evil Laugh
 * Fashion Victim Villain: Sleeveless. Purple. Disco suit. Although he purposely designed it that way to throw off attackers.
 * Fate Worse Than Death / And I Must Scream: Purge is trapped in a Giant P. Kinda ironic, seeing as it's similar to how he trapped President Peace.
 * Foe Yay: With Ulala. Needless to say, his fangirls don't care for Jaguar.
 * Foil: To Ulala.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Purge built his first robot at the age of nine.
 * Giggling Villain
 * Goggles Do Nothing: Fans speculate Purge wears them to compensate for his eyesight, but he's able to aim at Ulala perfectly even after ditching them.
 * He Knows Too Much: "You saw it..."
 * Hey Its That Voice: Hi, Kaworu!
 * Hoist By His Own Petard: Twice. First, the huge crowd he assembles to power his laser ends up giving Ulala a boost through The Power of Friendship. They then deflect his final attack, and turn his own laser back on him.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight: His "Purge the King" suit.
 * Insufferable Genius: His theme song is even called Genius Purge. "I amaze myself!"
 * Intelligence Equals Isolation: In this case, being alone for 9 years and having delusions that you're the reborn messiah and believing that you have to dance in order to make the galaxy happy.
 * Its All About Me
 * Kaleidoscope Eyes: In official art they're always purple. However his eyes can be purple, pink, tan and sometimes purple AND pink.
 * Lack of Empathy
 * Large Ham: Amongst a whole universe of them.
 * Letting the Air Out of The Band: When Ulala is challenged by Purge the Great, there's dramatic music playing while she dodges his attacks. However, near the end of the fight the music is slowly turning into white noise, and eventually stops altogether.
 * Loners Are Freaks: Purge knows nothing about friendship, love, or empathy; with the exception of Shadow, his entire dance troupe is composed of robots.
 * Lyrical Dissonance: Purge's theme is happy sounding, but it's in Japanese Only. When you do find out what the lyrics are to his song... Let's just say you won't be able to listen to it the same way again.
 * The Mad Hatter
 * Mecha Mooks: Purge churns 'em out in a variety of flavors.
 * Mission From God: His excuse for forcing the entire universe to dance in unison.
 * The Music Meister
 * Never the Selves Shall Meet: An interesting case. Purge never meets his Clone/Son known simply as Purge Jr. But if you play as Purge and take on Jr, everyone in the galaxy calls him Ulala, and he sounds like her.
 * Nobody Can Die... Except for Purge in the Cell Phone game.
 * Not Good With People: But then again, living alone with robots for 9 years does that to a person.
 * Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Ulala is 22, but Purge is only 18.
 * One Winged Angel: Purge the Great. It takes a lot of energy to make this form, and even then it hurts him a lot.
 * Psycho Electro
 * Psychopathic Manchild: Purge's idea of a "game" is first using President Peace as a human shield, and later
 * Pragmatic Villainy: When things no longer work in Purge's advantage, he's more than happy to violently blow them up.
 * Sinister Silhouettes
 * Sleeves Are for Wimps
 * So Long Suckers: "I had a relatively good time..."
 * Stalker With a Crush: Comes off as one in the prologue - it turns out the montage of Ulala's last adventure (complete with upskirt view) is a video he's been studying in his hideout.
 * Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: After Ulala breaks him down in Dance Dimension X and he reveals that he has no heart and does not understand love, Purge snaps. He decides that if he can't lead everyone to paradise, he's going to destroy them all, including himself. Thankfully, Ulala stops him... In the good ending.
 * Time Master: The Japanese version explains that he has the ability to bend spacetime. With that info in mind, it becomes obvious that Purge bent spacetime in order to speed up the Ballistic Groove Gun's charging.
 * Troperiffic: Just look at his section. It's more than all of the characters sections on this page combined.
 * Unexplained Recovery: Purge survives and gets his own cellphone game that explains what happens to him next called Purge's Punishment Show... In Japan only.
 * Vile Villain Saccharine Show: A mentally ill/disabled boy who's lived alone for 9 years and has decided to "lead everyone to paradise" by making them dance until they die, eventually breaking down and  Remember when it was aliens forcing people to dance? Me neither.
 * Villainous Breakdown: When Purge realizes he can't control the masses, he instead elects to vaporize them with a satellite laser, not caring if he dies in the attempt.
 * Villain Song: Genius Purge!
 * White Haired Pretty Boy
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: He's already an extremely powerful genius who can bend spacetime, but UGA explains that Purge takes the dance energy that his robots collect into himself, unnaturally powering up. As you progress to new reports, Purge's plans become more and more dangerous, and he goes from being a goofy rogue to having a massive ego trip and eventually  He seems to have calmed down and gone back to his goofy rogue personality by the drama event on the Moji Moji remix CD...Or at least, he's gone into hiding.
 * You Can't Thwart Stage One: You can't stop Purge from abducting half the galaxy, kidnapping the president, or assembling his Ballistic Groove Gun.