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Color-coded superhero teams battling the forces of evil since 1975!note 

Connected by the baton of courage
These warriors continue to fight
Without them, surely peace on Earth would be destroyed
From the past, to the present, and even to the future
Let your souls burn bright, Super Sentai!

Super Sentai is a long-running live-action Japanese Tokusatsu franchise by the Toei Company based around a Five-Man Band of transforming heroes armed with Humongous Mecha, and the Trope Maker of the Sentai trope.note 

Unlike most American shows, each season is treated as its own series, introducing a new team, new costumes, a new setup, and new mecha. Many fans believe that each series is set in its own universe (with the team-ups all taking place in their own side universe), but this has never been officially confirmed, and has been both directly contradicted and supported by recent series. note 

From 1993 to 2009, each Super Sentai series from the previous year has been adapted for American and global audiences outside of East Asia in the form of Power Rangers, using a multi-ethnic cast and splicing in the combat and mecha footage (often with many changes). In The New '10s, Power Rangers continues to be made, though new series no longer adapt the previous year's Super Sentai, thanks to gap years, some individual series being skipped over (and in one case, come back to later), and adaptations running two years instead of one.

To date, the franchise has undergone the following series:


    open/close all folders 

Main series

     1970s 

     1980s 

     1990s 

     2000s 

     2010s 

     2020s 

Other series


The addition of mecha to the series was made with the third installment, Battle Fever J, which was originally intended as an adaptation of Captain America in the spirit of the Japanese live-action version of Spider-Man (which also featured a giant robot). This is often credited for saving the franchise and ensuring its enduring popularity.

Super Sentai is usually contrasted with Kamen Rider, another tokusatsu franchise by the same corporation. The two franchises met (canonically) on-screen for the first time in an episode of Kamen Rider Decade featuring the Shinkenger team, with Decade making a brief cameo in a Shinkenger episode beforehand. Other crossovers between the two franchises have included Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen, Kamen Rider × Super Sentai × Space Sheriff: Super Hero Taisen Z, Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai, Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider #3, and Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Chou Super Hero Taisen. From Ressha Sentai ToQger and Kamen Rider Gaim to Uchu Sentai Kyuranger and Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, the two franchises have also crossed over during the spring season to promote the respective movies (starting with a ToQger/Gaim TV special, regressing to The Cameo in an episode each of Kyuranger and Ex-Aid by the end).

Before Power Rangers, the USA Network had run several episodes of a Gag Dub of Dynaman, dubbing ridiculous dialogue in place of the original. Starting in February 2015, Shout! Factory has been making official English subtitled versions of various Super Sentai installments available in North America. For several years, the shows released were the ones that have been adapted into Power Rangers, but September 2018 saw Jetman released in North America, making it the first Super Sentai series to be available in North America without previous adaptation. After a hiatus, Shout Factory released Fiveman on September 6, 2022, though as of mid-2023 it has not been made available through their streaming service.

On July 22, 2021, to celebrate the franchise's 45th Anniversary, an official "Super Sentai Restaurant" opened in the karaoke bistro chain Pasela's Ikebukuro branch, on the same floor as its contemporary's restaurant "Kamen Rider the Diner".

Also appears in the S.H.Figuarts and Super Robot Chogokin toylines.

     Video Games 


Trope Named


These series provide examples of the following:

  • Academic Athlete: A recurring archetype for Sentai Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • The Ace: Big One, DekaMaster, most Sixth Rangers are introduced as this too, and a good deal of Red Rangers also qualify.
  • Action Girl: Most female Rangers are this by default, as part of the job description. However, some of the ladies from earlier seasons have been known to fall into Faux Action Girl territory.
  • An Aesop: Played to varying degrees across series, but a great deal of episodes are designed to deliver a message to the audience. Common ones include Be Yourself, Evil Will Fail, The Golden Rule, Forgiveness, Justice Will Prevail, and The Power of Friendship.
  • Aliens Are Bastards: Aside from the occasional mentor/commander figure, all aliens are apparently out to conquer/destroy/consume Earth.
    • This is a trope that's been averted more and more in recent Sentai shows. The casts of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and Uchu Sentai Kyuranger were all mostly comprised of aliens (though Human Aliens in the former's case) and while there are still shows that feature evil aliens, they're also likely to feature just as many good aliens as well.
  • Alien Invasion: Most series deal with some variant of this.
  • Aliens And Monsters: Basically every antagonist in the series.
  • Aliens Speaking Japanese: Holds true for the overwhelming majority of aliens in this franchise.
  • All Up to You: Most of the single shot episodes involve the character getting focus that day needing to save the rest of the team from the Monster of the Week.
  • An Asskicking Christmas: It's nearly a norm now that there will be a Christmas episode... and monster ass-kicking WILL still occur. With the New Year's episode next week following the norm.
  • Animal Lover: A recurring archetype for Sentai Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • Artifact Title: The Super Sentai arcade game Dice-O, so named because each Ranger's attacks were represented by six-sided dice. When the game was upgraded during Gokaiger's run, the dice were replaced by a roulette wheel.
  • Awesomeness Is Volatile: This is the simplest explanation as to why the rangers' Transformation Sequence and kickass posing triggers spontaneous explosions.
  • Badass Driver: Numerous Rangers qualify, particularly the Turborangers, Carrangers and Go-Ongers.
  • Baku:
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: A recurring archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • Beast Man: Accounts for a great many villains and a bunch of heroes as well. Most notably, Zyuohger has a whole world of them in Zyulandnote .
  • Big Eater: A recurring archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • Big Good:
    • Whenever there's a mass gathering of Super Sentai, it's usually Akaranger who takes the lead.
    • Big One is another common choice and is usually second to Akarenger. in Gaoranger Vs. Super Sentai he plays it 100% straight, acting as leader of the "Dream Sentai" assembled to help the Gaorangers.
    • There's also AkaRed, the Physical God embodiment of all Sentai Reds, who can be seen as this for the franchise as a whole. He had a direct role in Boukenger Vs. Super Sentai and later returned in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger as the past mentor to Captain Marvelous.
  • The Big Guy: A common archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by both Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai and Super Sentai Strongest Battle. Pretty much every team has one.
  • BBC Quarry: In fact, Brazilian fans nicknamed a recurring fight location "Toei Quarry".
  • BFG: The "Team Bazooka", which comes in one of two flavors. Sometimes it's a combination of all the team members' personal weapons, other times it's a standalone weapon. Overall:
    • Eleven shows use a combined cannon: Battle Fever J's Pentaforce; Changeman's Power Bazooka; Flashman's Rolling Vulcan; Zyuranger's Howling Cannon; Megaranger's Multi-Attack Rifle; GoGo-V's Life Bird Breaker Mode; Timeranger's Voltech Bazooka; Hurricaneger's Triple Gadget, Double Gadget and Victory Gadgets; Abaranger's Dino Bomber (and upgrades); Go-Onger's Highway Buster, Junction Rifle and Super Highway Buster; and Goseiger's Gosei Buster.
    • Three use the same principle applied to a bladed or other non-cannon weapon: Denziman's Denzi Boomerang; Gaoranger's Evil-Crushing Hundred-Beast Sword and Kyoryuger's Kentrospiker.
    • Ten use separate bazookas: J.A.K.Q.'s Big Bomber; Maskman's Shot Bomber and its replacement, the Jet Cannon; Turboranger's V Turbo Bazooka; Fiveman's Earth Cannon; Jetman's Fire Bazooka; Dairanger's Chi-Power Bazooka; Dekaranger's D-Bazooka; Gekiranger's GekiBazooka; Shinkenger's Rekka Daizanto Ōzutsu Mode and Mogyuu Bazooka; and Gokaiger's Gokai Galleon Buster.
    • Four use one of each: Liveman's Triple Buster (combined weapon) and Bimotion Buster (cannon); Ohranger's Big Bang Buster (combined weapon) and Olé Bazooka (cannon); Carranger's Giga Formula (combined weapon) and Giga Booster (cannon); and ToQger's Renketsu Bazooka (combined weapon) and Daikaiten Cannon (cannon).
    • The other fifteen use alternate methods of finishing off a monster: Gorenger's Gorenger Storm and Gorenger Hurricane attacks; Sun Vulcan's Vulcan Ball and New Vulcan Ball; Goggle V's Goggle Victory Flash and Golden Spear attacks; Dynaman's Super Dynamite and New Super Dynamite attacks; Bioman's Bio-Electron and Super Electron attacks; Kakuranger's Kakuranger Ball; Gingaman's Kiba Imperial Wrath (team attack with their Mechanical Blade Kiba), Galaxy Beast Attack Bullet (team attack with Beast Attack Rods) and Galaxy War Radiance (team attack with Lights of Ginga) attacks; Magiranger's various attacks; Boukenger's Accel Tecter armor and Dual Crusher gun; Go-Busters's Ichigan Buster Special Buster Mode (combination of sidearms) and Lio Attache (used by one Ranger in the main series, but serving as the team cannon when used by the alternate Dobutsu Sentai versions); Ninninger's Karakuri Hengen (multi-form weapons); Zyuohger's team attacks with their sidearms; Kyuranger's team attacks with their sidearms; Lupinranger and Patranger's team attacks with their sidearms; Ryusoulger's assorted finishing attacks with Ryusouls.
    • Gokaiger Goseiger 199 Heroes introduced the Super Sentai Bazooka, formed from the powers of all 35 (at the time) teams and requiring ten Rangers (two full teams) to wield properly.
  • Big "WHAT?!": There is at least one of these scenes in an episode per series, usually induced by the hero group moving their faces up to the camera (as if they're facing the person in question) and simply yelling "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?"
  • Birthday Episode: Crops up every now and then.
    • Shinkenger #20 is an Ageless Birthday Episode for Kotoha (Shinken Yellow).
    • ToQger #30 is an Ageless Birthday Episode for Mio (ToQ 3gou).
    • Kyuranger #7 has the 300th birthday of the mechanical Balance (Tenbin Gold), which is hampered by a MOTW who steals birthdays.
    • Lupinranger VS Patranger #28 has Umika's 19th (Lupin Yellow).
    • Zenkaiger #39 has Kaito (Zenkaiser) turning 21.
  • Boss Subtitles: A tradition that started with Bioman, ended with Magiranger, and revived with Kyoryuger, in which nearly every villain, whether they be a Monster of the Week or one of the main bad guys, would have their name displayed during their first appearance. The same goes for the heroes' and villains' mechs.
  • Broken Faceplate: In deadly serious battles, the villains will sometimes land a hit that cracks open the rangers' helmets, partially revealing their faces.
  • Brought to You by the Letter "S": The letter V, which not only shows up in the brand logo but in certain series' own logo and names as well. It is widely known in Japan as the V-Sign for "Victory", while also being the roman numeral for "5", referencing how most teams start off as a Five-Man Band.
  • By the Power of Grayskull!: Each Sentai team has its own henshin call.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Every single series. And it's not just the heroes who do it.
  • Came Back Strong: Inverted; resurrected monsters are always weaker than they were originally, go down easier and don't grow giant (Recent series have taken to lampshading this). Combines also with the Inverse Ninja Law; if there are multiple resurrected monsters they usually don't even need a Finishing Move, exploding from just a few regular hits.
    • Also inverted in that monsters usually lose their special powers when they grow, allowing the team to take them down quicker.
  • Camera Abuse: Starting to see use as of the 2000's, enemy explosions generally cause the battlefield "camera" to shake violently, in an attempt to hide the twitches and slight movements by heroes and mecha during finisher poses.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Many of the villains openly proclaim "evil" as their ideology.
  • Cerebus Rollercoaster: Applicable to individual series and the overall franchise - Ohranger to Carranger, Go-onger to Shinkenger, etc. Super Sentai has bounced back and forth on this for decades. The franchise took a big turn for the Darker and Edgier when it grew a massive beard in 1985's Dengeki Sentai Changeman, a status quo that lasted through 1991's Choujin Sentai Jetman. Sentai of this era was at least as dark and edgy as any Kamen Rider series short of the first 13 episodes of the original. Super Sentai then shifted to Lighter and Softer with 1992's Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (which coincided with Noboru Sugimura taking over as head writer) and again with 2001's Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger (Sugimura was long gone by then). While a small handful of individual series since Zyuranger and Gaoranger have been Darker and Edgier than those two, (2000's Mirai Sentai Timeranger, for example) the tone of the 1992-2000 era is lighter on average than the 1985-1991 era, and the average tone of the 2001-present era is lighter still.
  • Combining Mecha: Of course. 40-plus years with 2-3 super robots per season mean everything's been covered. Everything.
    • To expand, the first Sentai, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, and its successor, J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai, never had mechas; both featured team vehicles, but they did not have giant monsters to fight in an equally giant robot. It wasn't until the third Sentai, Battle Fever J, that the series had a mecha (an idea taken from the Japanese tokusatsu Spider-Man), and even that mecha wasn't a combining mecha. It wasn't until Sun Vulcan that they introduced the combining mecha idea. And even then, it was usually two or three machines combining - the eleventh series, Hikari Sentai Maskman, was the first to give each member a personal robot that shared his or her theme. "Great Five" was so named because it was the first robot to actually be made from five components.
    • The most common system is: each of the five Rangers has a mecha component corresponding to whatever the series' general "theme" is. They combine into a humanoid mecha, which handles the fighting for the early parts of the season when the villain decides to Make My Monster Grow. Then Sixth Ranger comes with his Mecha Expansion Pack which doubles the power of the ensemble. However, the variety of components mean there's no combining scheme we haven't seen.
    • Group of vehicles to giant robot? Pick a series, any series, with a vehicle theme, or the Super Sentai that predate the mecha component-per-Ranger rule (the 2-3 components were usually a giant plane-thing and 1-2 giant ground vehicles).
    • Group of humanoid robots to giant robot? This is perhaps the least-seen scheme, but it happens. The Giant Beast Generals were all humanoid and formed the Muteki Daishogun, and the Victory Rescue Vehicles were like Transformers (vehicle-to-humanoid transformation) as well as being able to make VRV Robo. OhBlocker and MagiKing even managed to have completely symmetrical formations rather than the Voltron-style one-on-each-side. You may choose to count the times mechas combine into bigger mechas, but it's rare for it to truly work that way (instead, the two mechas' components can recombine and make a larger formation).
    • Group of animal robots to giant robot? Pick a series, any series, with an animal theme. (Except Sun Vulcan, which just had two relatively generic vehicles that combined rather than having eagle, shark, and panther-themed mecha).
    • Group of vehicles to bigger vehicle? Rare, but a few mechas have a vehicle mode as well as a robot mode. If the components are themselves vehicles, you get five Jet Machines becoming Icarus Haken, five Time Jets becoming the Time Jet Gamma, or Boukenger's Gogo Voyager (whose components only exist in Stock Footage, sadly).
    • Mix and Match? Timeranger again. There's the speedy Mode Blue, the strong Mode Red, and the too-expensive-to-CGI-often Time Jet Gamma, all with the same components. Also, Magiranger has a dragon formation and a mecha formation. The Zyuranger and Dairanger mechas also had a tank mode and a robot mode. Gets a bit ridiculous in Ninninger, where the individual mecha components have no apparent overarching motif (a humanoid karate robot, a dump truck, a European dragon, a train, and a dog are said to represent the "Cool Japan" movement) and the combined mecha has an alternate dragon mode on top of that.
    • Mecha Expansion Pack? More and more recent series have "auxiliary parts" that can replace limbs to add new powers. Every year starting around 2000, the show tends to feature a wide range of individual animals or vehicles who would start doing this with the base combined mecha. At times like this, instead of "GATTAI!" (combination), get used to "BUSOU!" (armament). This began with Gaoranger, whose claim was that there were one hundred potential mechas (only a quarter ended up in the show, but others were designed and planned). Once they acquire enough of these, they usually end up combining together to form a second complete mecha. Sometimes they all pile onto the main mecha at once. Also, some Sixth Ranger mecha do this with the combined robot of the other Rangers.
    • Parodied in Shinkenger when the Origami, in their emblem forms, attempt to "combine" by stacking one on top of the other. The formation isn't very effective.
    • A rarer variant of this occurs when the Red Ranger's mecha component can change into a humanoid robot, which then forms the mecha by "wearing" the rest of the team's components as armor. So far there are only three examples: Gosei Sentai Dairanger's Dairenoh, Tokumei Sentai Go Busters's Go-BusterOh and Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger's KishiRyuuOh.
  • Conflict Ball: In pretty much all the Crossover movies, the two reds will find some reason not to get along.
  • Confusion Fu: A recurring archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • Color-Coded Characters
    • Red is the Hero and leader.
      • One exception for this is Mirai Sentai Timeranger, which had the (female) pink ranger as general leader of the team and the (male) red ranger only acting as field commander during battles.
    • Blue and Green trade off between the comic relief and super serious, though it's usually Blue who is the serious one and Green the goofball.
    • Black is usually the tough guy, possibly the lone wolf. Also applies to yellow if they're male.
    • Yellow, if they're female, are usually masculine.
    • Pink tends to be the feminine one.
    • The Sixth Ranger tends to be the lone wolf, but may be the goofball in some cases. They often come in nonstandard colors; the two most commonly associated with them are Silver and Gold.
  • Crossover: Since Ohranger vs. Kakuranger, Toei has released a crossover movie each year that teams up the previous year's Super Sentai team with their direct successors.
    • Before that, there was a JAKQ vs. Goranger movie, which serves as an epilogue to the J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai TV series.
    • The first episode of Kousoku Sentai Turboranger was preceded by a retrospective of the last ten Super Sentai shows before it. The Turborangers appeared in the special, along with the ten preceding teams from Battle Fever to Liveman (Gorangers and the JAKQ team were not part of the special, as those shows are co-owned by Ishimori Pro and rights issues briefly prevented them from appearing in crossovers).
    • Super Sentai World was a short 3D movie shown at amusement parks focusing mainly on the Kakuranger team, that had them teaming up with the previous four Sentai teams (Fiveman, Jetman, Zyuranger, and Dairanger).
    • The milestone crossovers, Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai (25th anniversary commemorative, which featured a Dream Sentai consisting of Big One, Red Falcon, Mega Pink, Ginga Blue, and Go Yellow, as well as a cameos by all the other Reds up to that point) and Boukenger vs. Super Sentai (which commemorated the 30th anniversary, but was less broad in its coverage than the Gaoranger one, using heroes and villains from the 2000s series, as its Dream Sentai team consisted of Hurricane Blue, Abare Black, Deka Break, Magi Yellow and Magi Shine, and Aka Red).
    • Taken Up To Eleven with the first episode of Gokaiger, wherein all 34 teams fight together. Gokaiger's entire premise is of a crossover nature as well.
    • The crossover between Kyoryuger and Go-Busters also includes the previous dinosaur teams Zyuranger and Abaranger.
    • Then there's the arcade game Dice-O (and its successor, Dice-O Deluxe), in which you can build your own dream team of Sentai heroes and have them fight against other heroes or villains from various Sentai series.
    • Crisis Crossover: Gokaiger Goseiger Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle starts off with all the past Super Sentai teams coming together to fight the Zangyack Empire. From there it mostly becomes your standard Vs. movie between the Gokaigers and Goseigers, up until the Final Battle where the spirits of all the past Super Sentai mecha show up to assist them in battling the Black Cross King and his revived monster army.
    • Zenkaiger's premise is also of a crossover nature, with the world of every previous Super Sentai being trapped by the antagonists. The Rangers in this season are all modeled after previous mecha, and they can use Sentai Gears to obtain powers from previous teams.
  • Crossover Alternate Universe: Zenkaiger, which overrides the Shared Universe concept to give each Sentai their own universe, strongly hints that the world of Gokaiger is this; a recurring depiction of all the Sentai Worlds being sealed into Gears has them being represented by team images, the Gokaigers' showing them standing in front of all their predecessors. Alternatively, the Gokaiger World is the prime universe that Gokaiger, the crossovers between Sentai, and other big crossovers such as Super Sentai Strongest Battle take place in, while the worlds in Zenkaiger are all alternative universes each with only one Sentai team. Helped by the fact that some Sentai shows, such as Denziman and Sun Vulcan'', are clearly established as taking place within the same universe.
  • Crossover Combo Villain
    • Ohranger vs. Kakuranger has Onbu-Gear, a fusion of Onbu-Obake, a Yokai, and Bara Gear, a Baranoia Machine Beast.
    • Timeranger vs. GoGoFive has BoriPierre, a fusion of Boribaru, a Londerz Prisoner, and Spell Master Pierre of the Psyma Demon Clan.
    • The manga Gaoranger vs. Goranger has the Black Cross Org.
    • Magiranger vs. Dekaranger has one based on a technicality: Hades Beastman Demon Apollos / Agent X is also classed as an Alienizer, alien criminals pursued by the Dekarangers.
    • Boukenger vs. Super Sentai has a meta-example'', Time Demon God Chronos is a living Precious but was originally conceived as a Hades Beastman.
    • Go-Onger vs Gekiranger has Nunchuck Banki, a special Barbaric Machine Beast of Gaiark created by the surviving Rinjuken Akugata member Meka, so he is able to use Rinki.
    • Goseiger vs. Shinkenger combines this with Crossover Villain-in-Chief with Buredoran of the Bloodbath, the Ayakashi incarnation of the Goseigers' nemesis.
    • Similar to the Dekaranger example above Gokaiger #5, a Dekaranger tribute, has Buramudo, an Alienizer and Action Commander of the Zangyack Empire.
    • Kyoryuger vs. Go-Busters has Space War God Voldos, born from the combined hatred of Dai-Satan (Zyuranger) and Dezumozorlya (Abaranger).
    • Ninninger vs. Drive has Roidmude 089, who not only derives his human persona from a dead Shocker scientist, but transforms into a Kibaoni Yokai.
    • Ninninger vs. ToQger has Wanyuudou, a Yokai which appears in the form of a Shadow Line Kuliner Robo.
  • Crossover Punchline: Super Hero Time idents of recent years have Rider and Sentai casts meeting and interacting in their respective hang-outs and Hilarity Ensues.
  • Custom Uniform: has varied in use over the years, sometimes crossing over into the realm of Limited Wardrobe, but nowadays, it's par for the course.
    • In terms of the Sentai suits themselves (not counting the girls' miniskirts), this is pretty much the norm for extra warriors. While each member is (or would be, if they were monochromatic) differentiated by their helmets, extra rangers get a few more tweaks on their suits (like the Kiba Ranger in Dairanger, who wears a black vest over his suit while his teammates' vests are white).
  • Dance Battler: The most notable example being the Battle Fever team.
  • Dancing Theme: In recent years, it has become customary to have an ending theme with the Rangers dancing to it. Although the practice isn't exactly new, dating back as far as Megaranger at least and only seeing intermittent use from Dekaranger onward.
  • Damaged Soul: In older shows, when the monster was resurrected as a giant, it would often be a growling, rampaging beast even if it was intelligent and talking before. In Maskman, this even applies to one of the major villains; Anagmas is the villains' Evil Genius for most of the show, but when he gets blown up and revived? Just another snarling beast.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Black is a common color for heroic Rangers.
  • Defeat Equals Explosion: Along with its American counterpart, it is the Trope Codifier. Whenever the team defeats the Monster of the Week, it will collapse to the ground before going up in a ball of fire. In recent years, the monsters tend to say quips relating to their defeat before exploding.
    • Subverted with some series like Kyoryuger, Goseiger and Zyuohger, where the monster apparently explodes...but still leaves an intact corpse behind for the villains to grow.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: Many of the names use both Japanese and English, sometimes meaning the same thing.
    • Ginga Sentai Gingaman from Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman, which translates to "Galaxy Squadron Galaxyman".
    • AkaRed, from GoGo Sentai Boukenger and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, translates to Red Red.
    • Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters has two mechs, called Go-buster Oh and Go-buster King. "Oh" means "king", so they have two mechs named Go-buster King.
      • Additionally, the command to form either of those robots is "Combine Operation! Tokumei Gattai!" Tokumei Gattai translates into "Operation Combine", so they're basically saying "Combine Operation! Operation Combine!"
  • Deus Exit Machina: A lot of times, Sixth Rangers are often away for crucial fights.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: For starters, the first two shows, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger and J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai, are different in many ways to the subsequent shows
    • Goranger and J.A.K.Q., though they did have mecha, did not have giant robots. For a while they were not even considered part of the franchise, although this was mainly due to right disputes between Toei and Goranger/JAKQ creator Shotaro Ishinomori. Also, in Battle Fever J, the third series, the mecha fights were kick-started by the human-sized monster calling his 'little brother' (a giant robotic duplicate) to avenge him as he was dying, (something of the likes wouldn't be seen in the series until more than 30 years later with Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters) and the Battle Fever Robo was not made from separate vehicles, but was a non-transforming robot stored on a non-transforming airbase. Make My Monster Grow and Combining Mecha debuted in the following shows.
    • While the uniforms of Goranger and JAKQ are very different from later uniforms, they still somewhat resemble the traditional concept of a Super Sentai uniform. Battle Fever J on the other hand, featured face-shaped helmets with two-eyed visors and sculpted noses (a style which was only reused for a One-Shot Character in Hikari Sentai Maskman). Miss America wore a blond wig on her helmet and Battle Cossack is notable for being the only main member on a Sentai to wear orange until 35 years later with the arrival of ToQ #6. The goggle-like visors were not introduced until Denshi Sentai Denziman and the scarfs were eliminated after Dai Sentai Goggle Five.
    • J.A.K.Q. vs. Goranger, the very first crossover between two Sentai series, had only the actress for Goranger's Pink reprising her role in the flesh; the four men were left as The Faceless, with half of them being Fake Shemp voices.
    • J.A.K.Q. vs. Goranger also established that various Ishinomori heroes existed in that continuity, including Kikaider, Kamen Rider V3 and Kamen Rider Amazon. This was never mentioned again afterwards - Super Sentai series were treated as separate universes until Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and Kamen Riders and Sentai heroes wouldn't meet until the crossover between Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and Kamen Rider Decade.
    • While Toei has commemorated every "5th" Sentai anniversary since the 10th, they started as something more humble than the grand spectacles expected today, mostly consisting of commemorative logos and print advertisement. Additionally, after they had already run a campaign celebrating the 10th anniversary during Flashman, rights issues blocked Toei from grouping the first two series with the rest of the franchise for a number of years; As a result, they ran a second 10th anniversary campaign two years later, celebrating Liveman as the tenth installment and treating Battle Fever as the first during Turboranger's retrospective special. It wasn't until Ohranger, the franchise's 20th anniversary, that they were able to celebrate Goranger's anniversary once again.
    • Chouriki Sentai Ohranger: Olé vs. Kakuranger, the official first film in the Super Sentai Vs. Series (not counting the earlier J.A.K.Q. vs. Goranger movie), had a slightly different title format than the subsequent Vs. films and the Kakuranger's giant robots are not even present.
    • A minor example is that the first three Sixth Rangers had vests. While the next proper Sixth Ranger wouldn't be seen until Megaranger sans vest, the vest wouldn't reappear until Hurricanger and Abaranger only to vanish again. Gokai Silver sort of had one with his Gold Mode power up.
    • When Ressha Sentai ToQger first appeared in Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger vs. Go-Busters, they had a few differences in their roll call- specifically, their final pose used in the show is instead a build up to a more traditional "Super Sentai" Stance. Also, behind them in the scene their team name is transliterated as "Tokkyuger".
    • The franchise's US DVD releases from Shout! Factory suffered from this, due to them not knowing either how to properly market it or design the DVD sets for it. Initially, Kyoryu Senytai Zyuranger had "Super Sentai" plastered in front of it on online marketplaces while the DVDs would just say "Zyuranger", the subtitles would translate the name completely, and the subtitles themselves were a disgusting yellow rather than white like they would be from Kakuranger on (this one goes for Dairanger as well), which made them feel unofficial. Later sets would rectify these by having the official transliterated names on the covers and menus and would leave them untranslated (aside from Gingaman's name being translated in the opening title sequence and not in the episodes proper) and would have the subs be in white. The odd translation error and whatnot occasionally slips through, but the sets are much better off now.
  • The Empire: While it's fairly common for the bad guy side to have "empire" or some variation thereof in their name, the ones who fit it the best would be the Zangyack Empire from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, a vast interstellar empire spanning over most of the known universe, with Earth as one of the few planets that have yet to fall to them.
    • The Tube Empire in Hikari Sentai Maskman are unique in being a (comparatively) more realistic empire, being comprised of multiple tribes united under a single royal family.
    • While they don't have "empire" in their title, the Space Shogunate Jark Matter from Uchu Sentai Kyuranger fit the mold also. Like Zangyack, they're a space-faring empire with a good chunk of the universe under their belt. In fact, unlike Zangyack they actually succeeded in conquering Earth (though to be fair, Kyuranger Earth didn't have 30+ Sentai teams guarding it like main Sentai Earth does).
  • Evil Will Fail: A trend that originated in JAKQ but was codified in Denziman is that the villain groups tend to tear themselves apart as much as the heroes defeat them, if not moreso. The reasons vary; sometimes it's a simple case of The Starscream, sometimes it's a full-on case of Enemy Civil War, sometimes one of the villains is hiding an Awful Truth from the rest that inevitably gets exposed, sometimes the Big Bad is just a Bad Boss, and sometimes it's simply that none of the villains like each other and will regularly indulge in backstabbing.
  • Evolving Credits: Usually happens when a new Big Bad takes control of the villains, a new member joins the team or when they get a new Mecha and/or Mecha combination.
  • Fake Crossover: Most Super Hero Time idents have the contemporary Riders and Sentai posing side-by-side, while recent years have the casts interacting in their resepective hide-outs, giving the impression that they are all good friends. Of course, this has no canonical bearing on their proper crossovers, if they have them.
  • Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Originally unintentional, as each series was placed in its sole continuity (barring Denziman and Sun Vulcan) and crossovers having debatable canonicity. Then comes Gokaiger, which stablishes all 34 previous shows do take place in the same universe, and the appearance of the Gokaigers in Zyuohger further confirms the series that followed still are in the same continuity. This means that in the Super Sentai universe, concepts such as aura, angels, demons, yokai, magic, time traveling and chi co-exist, aliens attempt to invade or destroy Earth every year or so, the extinction of dinosaurs has had multiple retellings that don't try to tie to one another, multiple dimensions themed around a single concept are present, imagination can affect reality, multiple artifacts such as the Precious and the Lupin Collection exist alongside one another, and this all happens in the same world.
    • Some individual shows are able to qualify on their own. Hurricaneger for instance had ninjas, aliens, Lost Technology, magic and mysticism all in one package.
    • Averted with Kyuranger, as it's confirmed it takes place in an alternate universe during a crossover episode where they travel to the main universe and meet the Dekarangers and the second Gavan. This remains consistent as of Strongest Battle, where Stinger makes it clear his and the universe the rest of the Sentai teams live are still different.
    • As of Zenkaiger, the franchise has ditched the aspect of a single shared universe to instead depict every Super Sentai series as its own world, which remains the case in Donbrothers and King-Ohger. Of course, this does nothing to address series with crossovers with long-lasting and therefore undoubtedly canon effectsnote ; and Ten Gokaiger later makes it seem like all shows since Zyuohger also take place in the same world. Whether this is a Voodoo Shark or not is up to the viewer to decide.
  • Five-Man Band: Although the dynamic varies from series to series, Super Sentai tends to follow a specific formula:
    • Red Rangers are almost always The Leader. Even when not the official team leader, Red Rangers are always The Hero.
    • Blue Rangers are The Lancer, but can also include any type of 'Lone Wolf' (Gekiranger) or those with authority issues (GoGoV), or simply just the Foil to The Hero. Black and Green are the second most likely to play this role.
    • Green or Black are The Smart Guy. This is the second most common role for Blue Rangers.
    • Yellow Rangers are The Big Guy. Black and Green Rangers are the second most likely to play this role.
    • Pink or White Rangers are usually the token female, or the Girly Girl half of the Tomboy and Girly Girl. The more developed examples may serve as The Heart of their respective teams (Gokaiger). Yellow Rangers are the second most likely, if the Pink fills a different role in the Band.
  • Flat Character: In the eighties shows, there was a trend of the villains having a minion such as Okalampa, Gash, Gyodai or Kuragen whose sole purpose was to enlarge the monster. They would show up when the monster was defeated, enlarge it, say a catchphrase and leave. And that was all there was to them. note . While post-eighties shows also sometimes have dedicated monster-growers like Luckyuro, Kyuuemon, Insarn or Acha and Kocha, they do get to have some personality besides that.
  • Fleeting Demographic Rule: There are some original themes here and there, but sometimes the creative team rehashes past themes. So far, there have been a few Sentai themes that have been used more than once, like mythical creatures (Changeman, Dairanger, and Magiranger), martial arts (Maskman, Dairanger, and Gekiranger), cars (Turboranger, Carranger and Go-Onger), dinosaurs (Zyuranger, Abaranger, Kyoryuger and Ryusoulger), ninjas (Kakuranger, Hurricaneger, and Ninninger), and magic (Magiranger and Kiramager).
    • One theme that's often explored, to varying degrees, are Animal Motifs: starting with Sun Vulcan, we've had Liveman, Jetman (which used a bird subset), Gingaman, Gaoranger, Hurricaneger (mainly in the team's mechas and uniform designs), Gekiranger (to a lesser degree, as the series explores mostly Kenpo), Go-Onger (half of it anyway, as the Engines are basically vehicles that look like animals), Goseiger (also mainly in the team's mechas and Ranger helmets), Go-Busters (if only because of the Buddyroids) and Zyuohger.
  • Flight: A power most notably employed by Jetman.
  • Freeze-Frame Introduction: A freeze-frame intro shows up whenever a new suit is introduced, whether it's a new character or an existing one getting an upgrade. Gotta show off all the pretties (so the audience knows to buy the action figure) before the new character kicks some ass!
  • Gendered Outfit: Mainly in the form of miniskirts for female rangers. Exceptions are Bioman, Changeman, and Flashman, where rather than a skirt, the females' uniforms were differentiated by swimsuit-like lines along the hip joints; Goranger, Dynaman, Fiveman and Dekaranger, whose suits lacked gender differentiation; and Miss America in Battle Fever J, who wears a Leotard of Power.
    • Usually, the female rangers were portrayed by male suit actors while morphed. The skirts are used to discretely hide the area most likely to give this away. Modern Sentais have pretty much phased this practice out.
    • Special mention to ToQger, whose gimmick for the season allowed rangers to swap their colors among each other, requiring all suits to have complimentary skirts to achieve.
    • Gokaigers' season gimmick of becoming previous Sentai frequently saw whole cloth new suits being made as the corresponding Ranger for that team was a different gender than the Gokaiger member of that color. Frequent offenders were Blue and Yellow, who would often have male variants made for teams with female blue rangers and female variants for teams with male yellows. Additionally, on a few times the team would make an "All color" change where the previous rangers were all of a same color rather than a same team. On one occasion this required whole cloth creations of new costumes for members of the opposite gender as "All Red" had one female Red Ranger prior to the series in canon, while "All Green" needed two female variants as the first female green ranger wouldn't debut until sometime after the series concluded. Bizarrely, a three person "All White" didn't require this as it was done by one male (as Big One) and two females (as Female White Rangers), but a female variant of Big One was still made because a later episode would have him used as Yellow's ranger for a team JAKQ morph, since that team lacked a yellow ranger. Initially, an episode focusing on the Pink Ranger in the arc where many of the "All Colors" debuted enshewed the all Pink to favor rangers with a motif of close family or friends, highlighting that season's Pink Ranger's role as the team's mediator whose diplomatic skills were seen as more valuable than her lackluster fighting prowess. (It also saved on having to create four male variant Pink Rangers for a one-off moment; an All Pink was done in a movie, but was CGIed. A female variant of Flashman was used by the Pink Ranger a second time in the series to justify its late season creation cost for the "all green" episode, but the production crew couldn't do that for pink.)
  • Gold-Colored Superiority: Gold Rangers serve as the Sixth Ranger in several seasons.
  • The Good Guys Always Win: There may be some downs at times in each series, but the heroes do always finally defeat the villains in the end.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Some series have some characters that are good, but are also jerks. Turned up to eleven in Gokaiger, where 60% of the team (50% with the Sixth Ranger) has a dickish demeanor.
  • Great White Feline:
  • Headbutting Pachy: Justified the pachycephalosaurus are Mecha:
    • Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger: Has Bachycelo, a Bakuryu those thick skull can then be weaponized as a Power Fist for the giant mechas.
    • Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger: Zigzagged, one of the Zyudenryu, Bunpachy, can headbutt enemies like a stereotypical pachycephalosaurus, but its main power is swinging its mace on its tail. Curiously, the mace is attached to its head before activation. Its Ranger partner has also used a headbutt technique on occasion.
    • Averted in Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger as the resident pachy mecha, Pachygaroo, is half Boxing Kangaroo. Even as a Mecha Expansion Pack, while it becomes a pair of boxing gloves, its head is a part of the arm instead of a fist, meaning the pachy dome is never used to attack.
  • The Gunslinger: A recurring archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • The Heart: A recurring archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • Henshin Hero: They mostly don't use the word itself, instead opting to use phrases that include the(english) word "change". However, the Ohrangers and Magirangers say it, and the Shinkengers have it written on their Shodophones. The Ninningers use "Shuriken Henge! (Shuriken Transform!)" as their call (except for Starninger, who says "Shuriken Change!").
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: Every other Sentai carry swords as sidearms. There's also the Master Swordsman archetype.
  • Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: appropriately, overlapped with Highly-Visible Ninja in Kakuranger, Hurricanger, and Ninninger.
  • Hot-Blooded: The number one defining trait of a Red Ranger, though there are aversions, like Ryu Tendou and Takeru Shiba.
  • Humongous Mecha: Introduced in Battle Fever J - and, conversely, introducing the "Super" to Sentai.
  • Identical Grandson
    • The finale of Dairanger, whose epilogue is placed 50 years into the future, has the Five-Man Band succeeded by their identical grandchildren.
    • Kyoryuger: 100 Years After has a new yeam of Kyoryugers consisting of the great-grandchildren of the six Kyoryugers with the exception of Nossan, whose counterpart Nobuta-san is the grandson of his niece Rika.
  • Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Enemy blasts almost never seem to actually hit the rangers, simply blowing up the ground around them. It does still seem to hurt them, however.
  • In the Name of the Moon: Most teams will have each member say a phrase and/or their Ranger designation while getting into their Ass Kicking Pose, followed by the group coming together to do a team phrase and "Super Sentai" Stance. (No, bad guys never interrupt this by shooting at them). And sometimes they also do this during the fight.
    • Vs. movies typically a combined roll call with both starring teams in succession. There is no consistency as to which team comes first.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: In many seasons, the red hero often develops a personal rivalry with the villain faction's strongest general, the two of them clashing numerous times throughout the season, usually with The Dragon having the advantage and constantly overpowering Sentai Red, until their final confrontation when the red hero has grown strong enough to surpass his foe and finally defeat him.
  • Kids Love Dinosaurs: Being a Merchandise-Driven franchise, one of Super Sentai's go-to themes is dinosaurs. (For the record, some others are animals, cars, and ninjas.) Notably, when there was a sales slump and they had to start moving merch fast, they used dinosaurs to do it. Twice.note 
  • The Lancer: A common archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle. Typically they act as the Leader/Hero's foil in addition to being second-in-command of the team.
  • Land, Sea, Sky: A popular theme for Power Trios, namely Sun Vulcan, Liveman and Hurricaneger. The heroes of Goseiger are divided into the Landick, Seaick and Skick tribes, with Gosei Knight wielding the powers of all three.
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority: Not to the extent of Power Rangers, but the Reds definitely have the advantage, usually getting extra weapons and vehicles. Taken to the extreme with Abaranger's AbareMax, in which AbaRed takes some of the power from his partners, AbareBlue and AbareYellow, to gain a Super Mode.
  • The Leader: The vast majority of Sentai have a designated leader who is most often the Red.
  • Leader Forms the Head: Varies depending on the show.
  • Legacy Character
    • The Ki Ranger identity was transferred from Daita Ōiwa to Daigorō Kumano in Goranger. However, Daigorō was only added so that the actor playing Daita the character could participate in a play he was asked to do. Daigorō's spot on the team only lasted ten episodes before he was Killed Off for Real, allowing Daita to return.
    • In Battle Fever J, two of its members were replaced. The actor who played Gensaku Shiraishi, the original Battle Cossack, wanted to leave the series to spent more time with his new wife, so his character was killed off and replaced by Gensaku's friend Makoto Jin. A few episodes earlier, Diana Martin, the original Miss America, was injured in combat and was replaced by Maria Nagisa.
    • In Sun Vulcan, the actor who played Ryūsuke Ōwashi, the original Vul Eagle, could only do the first 25 episodes of the series due to a previous contract he had on another project which conflicted with his work on Sun Vulcan. His character was sent away to the US to work for NASA and replaced by Takayuki Hiba.
    • In Bioman, Mika Koizumi, the original Yellow Four, was killed off ten episodes into the series after the actress playing her abruptly left the series, necessitating the need of her replacement, Jun Yabuki.
    • A more traditional example occurs in the finale of Dairanger: 50 years after the defeat of Gohma, the grandchildren of the original Dairangers inherit their powers when Gohma returns.
    • The main characters of Kakuranger are implied to have inherited their powers from their ancestors as well.
    • Like its Power Rangers counterpart, Hyūga inherited the identity of the Black Knight in Gingaman once BullBlack was killed off. Unlike the above examples, BullBlack's death was actually a planned event in the story.
    • Shinkenger are another team that inherited their powers from their ancestors (which was then pretty much copied whole into the above-mentioned Power Rangers Samurai). Specifically, the current Five-Man Band is the eighteenth generation of Shinkenger, with the Sixth Ranger being a totally new element. The first generation is glimpsed in flashbacks, with their Red appearing as a spirit in The Movie, while the seventeenth generation are the parents of the current Shinkengers, with only Yellow's predecessor not appearing substantially. Things become shaken up when it is revealed that Shinken Red, Takeru Shiba is a decoy for the true head of the Shiba House, Kaoru Shiba, daughter of the last Shinken Red. When Kaoru adopts Takeru as her son, he officially becomes the ninteenth Shinken Red.
    • Played with in Ninninger, where the Five-Man Band are all grandchildren of Yoshitaka Igasaki, the Last Ninja. He was not a Ninninger himself, and the five Ninningers compete along with the unrelated Sixth Ranger to inherit the title of Last Ninja, which Yoshitaka himself inherited from his father. This trope is inverted in the endgame when Yoshitaka finally transforms into a version of AkaNinger along with his son, the father of the current AkaNinger who was passed over. Played straight in Zyuohger vs. Ninninger, which has Takaharu's Kid from the Future becoming the fourth incarnation of AkaNinger.
    • Zyuohger reveals Cetus (Zyuoh Whale), the very first Zyuohger who fought in ancient times. By inheriting his power, Yamato, already Zyuoh Eagle/Gorilla, becomes the second Zyuoh Whale, which functions as a Super Mode for him.
  • Legion of Doom:
  • Let's You and Him Fight: Almost every series from about 2000 and on must have its yearly teamup movie with the previous group of Rangers start with the two groups mistakenly battling it out before getting into the meat of the plot.
  • Lighter and Softer: When compared to its sister show Kamen Rider. But not as light and soft as Power Rangers... sometimesnote .
    • Darker and Edgier: A few of the shows do feature a somewhat heavier tone than most, however, most notably Jetman, which was at least as dark as the original Kamen Rider towards the end.
    • Ohranger was also supposed to go the Darker and Edgier route until real-world disasters (including the sarin gas attack) forced the studio to quickly change it.
    • In general, Super Sentai employs the usage of keeping killed characters dead a lot more often, compared to how reviving deceased characters is a common plot point in Kamen Rider, even if their series is finished.
      • Part of the lighter tone recent Sentai has had in general is due to its being in a Sunday morning time slot (geared towards kids) since 1997, as opposed to a Wednesday evening time slot (more family-oriented).
  • Long-Runners: 2021 marked 45 years of Super Sentai, sharing its most recent reunion with its its companion franchise, Kamen Rider (which reached 50 years in 2021) in Super Hero Senki. Unlike Kamen Rider, there has been a new Sentai series almost every year since the beginning, with the exception of 1978 (Spider-Man took its timeslot during that year).
  • Make My Monster Grow:
  • Making a Splash: Numerous Rangers, usually the Blues, wield the power of water.
  • Massive Multiplayer Crossover:
    • The Super Hero Taisen movie series sees Super Sentai crossing over with their sister show Kamen Rider, as well as the Space Sheriffs in one film. Similarly, the Space Squad film series is a crossover between the space-related Super Sentai and Metal Hero shows.
    • The crossover film between Kyoryuger and Go-Busters has them joining up with all the past dino-themed Sentai teams.
  • Master Archer: A recurring archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • Master Swordsman: A common archetype for Sentai heroes, acknowledged in Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai. Honorable mention goes to Joe Gibken (Gokai Blue), who once wielded five swords at once.
  • Meaningful Name/Punny Name/Theme Naming: PLENTY, if you're really knowledgeable in Japanese and each specific theme.
  • Merchandise-Driven: Like Kamen Rider, individual shows are made to be broadcast across a year, financially divided into quarters of about 12 episodes, each accompanied by a new wave of toys.
  • Media Watchdog: Around 1983/84 Super Sentai series received serious retools in how the action scenes played out due to being specifically targeted by Moral Guardians for violent content due to being directly targeted at children.
    • And again in the early 90s, after all the adult and graphic content present in Jetman.
  • Mini Dress Of Power: Every female ranger since Maskman (plus the girls in JAKQ and Denjiman before it; Fiveman and Dekaranger being the only exceptions after), over their regular bodysuit/leggings, which allows one to tell which (usually yellow) rangers were gender-swapped when the series was converted to Power Rangers. Even when they did not have them, sometimes the suits had designs reminiscent of swimsuits (as seen in Bioman and Changeman).
  • Mood Whiplash: Aside from Wham Episodes interspersing with Bizarro Episodes depending on the series, there's also the fact that the ending theme is quite upbeat pretty much most of the time, creating the effect when an episode ends in a dramatic note.
    • Worse when watching online or on DVD - the original TV broadcast would have commercials between the final scene and the end credits.
  • Mook Mobile: Has its own page.
  • More Dakka: If a series introduces a second mecha, it typically runs on this. Larger combinations of two or more mecha also tend to add lots and lots of firepower to the original.
  • Multinational Team: Battle Fever J has Rangers themed after different countries. The heroes in King-Ohger also represent different countries, though in this case they are fictional countries on another planet.
  • The Multiverse: Due to this franchise's love of Alternate Universes, the Super Sentai multiverse has become pretty crowded over the years.
  • Mythical Motifs: Used by the Rangers of Changeman, Dairanger and Magiranger.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Villains tend to have names that translate into this, as well as the team mecha.
  • Near-Villain Victory: The last few episodes of any given series will see the Big Bad on the cusp of absolute victory before their inevitable defeat.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: One thing about Sentai is that it likes to stack motifs on top of each other. Special mention goes to the Gokaigers, who are pirates capable of transforming into past Sentai teams, which lets them be Pirates + Whatever Ranger Key they're using (yes this includes Ninjas.
    • Sargain in Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger may be the closest to a literal example of this in the franchise. He's a ninja, miniature alien in a kabuki mecha (making him a robot), a pirate of sorts since the Jakanja plunder worlds and his body gets brought back in the finale to fight against Hurricanegers, technically making him a zombie.
  • No Ontological Inertia: Several cases of whatever damage the villains have caused being completely undone after their defeat. More specifically, afflictions to civilians seemingly disappear after the MotW is brought down the first time, even if it's Not Quite Dead AND still able to return as a giant.
  • Obvious Stunt Double: This is why the majority of female rangers have skirts on their outfits, to hide the fact that most of the in-costume work is done by stuntmen (although JAE has been employing stuntwomen for female rangers in recent series; fully suited villainesses are still played by male stuntmen, though).
    • Older Than They Think: While it was the norm for the first few decades to use male stuntmen, women weren't completely absent from suit work. Both Miss Americas were doubled first by Lisa Komaki (MomoRanger), then by Eiko Onodora (although her stuntman husband Tsutomu Kitagawa stood in for more dangerous stunts).
  • Oh, and X Dies: In the early series, episode titles made it no secret on the rare occasions where a Ranger was killed.
    • Goranger #67 is entitled "Crimson Special Attack!! Ki Ranger Dies at Sunset" and features the death of Daigorou Kumano, the substitute Kiranger.
    • A downplayed example for Battle Fever J #24, "Tears! Diane Falls", where Diane Martin is injured with the exposure of her secret identity forcing her to step down as Miss America. Then played straight in #33, "Cossack Dies in Love", in which Kensaku Shiraishi (Battle Cossack I) is killed.
    • Another kind of downplaying with Bioman #10, the episode where Mika Koizumi (Yellow Four I) is killed is simply entitled "Goodbye Yellow".
    • Zyuranger #42, "Burai Dies", sees the death of Dragon Ranger, who had been established as having been living on borrowed time.
    • Subverted in Go-Busters #22, "Farewell, Blue Buster", which has Ryuji Iwasaki facing a death scare. Had it been 30 years ago there might have been cause for worry, but since its 2012 he of course makes it out of the episode just fine.
    • ToQger #10 is entitled "Tokatti Dies at Sunset" as homage and a subversion to the Goranger example above. Basically, a typewriter monster that has everything he types out come true writes that Tokatti (ToQ #2) will die and indeed he does, only to immediately revive as Tokatti had punched it into the typewriter earlier.
  • Only One Name: Generally used to mark characters who are outsiders to modern day Japan, like the Zyurangers, Kakurangers, Gingamen, Timerangers (except, obviously, for Tatsuya and Naoto), Goseigers, Zyuohgers (again, with the exceptions of Yamato and Misao), Kyurangers (also, except for Kotaro and Tsurugi; Naga Ray and Shou Ronpo might be exceptions to the rule) and Ryusoulgers. Exceptions to this rule include the Maskmen, the Dairangers (who use titles rather than surnames, e.g. Tenkaseinote  Ryo) and the Toqgers (whose case can be chalked up to their Laser-Guided Amnesia; their full names - except for Akira's, who was always known - eventually get revealed toward the end of the series as they recover their memories).
  • Orcus on His Throne: In almost every show, the Big Bad will almost never take any action personally and will delegate fighting the heroes to his minions until near the end of the series, even when it is obvious that the Big Bad could easily defeat the heroes if they bothered to try. Sometimes there is a justification for them not bothering to fight but not always.
  • Original Generation: Milestone Celebration character AkaRed, who is the embodiment of all Sentai Reds yet doesn't belong to a single series.
  • Passing the Torch: A symbolic version. Starting with Dekaranger, the closing credits of each series finale ends with a short vignette of the current Red Ranger shaking hands with the Red Ranger of the next series.
  • Pink Heroine: Pink is a very common color for Sentai and the overwhelming majority of them are girlsnote .
  • Pink Means Feminine
    • The series often has a girl in the group wearing pink. Nowadays in teams without a Pink Ranger, it's often the Yellow Ranger instead. For bonus points, when the girl is the White Ranger, she tends to have pink accents in the uniform (examples being Jetman and Gaoranger, while Kakuranger is an aversion; notably, Changeman and Ninninger have both a Pink Ranger and a female White Ranger, and the latter's uniforms do have details in pink).
    • While the franchise had both male and female White Rangers, only females tend to actually have the word "White" in their codenames. All the male White Rangers have fancier codenames such as Abare Killer, Deka Break and Geki Chopper. The only exception so far is the 40th installment's Zyuoh Tiger.
  • Planet of Hats
    • Go-Onger has a multiverse of 11 Braneworlds which are named in Gratuitous English by the "[X] World" format. By hat, the worlds are Human (formerly Dino World), Machine, Junk, Samurai, Sound, Stormy, Magic, Christmas, Prism, Grass and Gunman.
    • As well having giving each Sentai their own world, Zenkaiger's multiverse has numerous parallel worlds named in the "[Japanese word]topia". Most notably is Kikainote topia, home to both heroes and villains, it also shares a Hat with Go-Onger's Machine World, though the two are presumably not the same place. Other "topias" have been sealed within gears by the villains, who apply their Hats to their monsters, though this means that the worlds are freed when their monster is destroyed. Gominote topia is another world which shares a Hat with Go-Onger.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: A recurring archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • Power Creep, Power Seep: This applies every time a new team teams up with an old team, since the old team at this point has already unlocked its full potential, so logically they should be more powerful and skilled than the new ones that are usually in the middle of the season, but for the convenience of the script, both teams are shown as being at the same power level.
  • Precursor Heroes: Several teams (Dairanger, Kakuranger, Gingaman, Gaoranger, Gekiranger) are successors to previous non-Ranger groups of heroes. Shinkenger is a rare instance of the previous generations also wearing the spandex, followed by Ryusoulger.
  • The Present Day: The vast majority of Super Sentai series take place in the year they air. A notable exception is Ohranger (1995), which takes place in 1999, then has its post-series crossover with Carranger which explicitly concludes in January 1997.
  • Primary-Color Champion: Red and Blue Rangers are constants, and all but a very small handful have a Yellow. This is especially obvious whenever they use the Three Plus Two format.
  • Product-Promotion Parade: Given that it's a show that's Merchandise-Driven, there will often be scenes that exist to show how each of the team's devices (and thus their corresponding toys) work. One of the most standout examples of this would have to be in the Sun Vulcan movie, where the villains plot out their Evil Plan using Sun Vulcan toys. Starting with the 2010s series, there have been videos posted online in which the characters explicitly walk the viewers through the steps of their transformations.
  • Promotion to Opening Titles: The position of Sixth Ranger itself. Tsukumaro Oogami (GaoSilver) is, funnily enough, the sixth official Sixth Ranger (as recognised in Gokaiger) but the first to join the opening titles.
  • Ragtag Band of Misfits: Some Sentai fit this trope more than others, most notably Jetman, Gokaiger, Kyuranger, Team Oddball from Super Sentai Strongest Battle, Donbrothers, and King Ohger.
  • Ranger: Many Super Sentai heroes aren't technically this by name, but they're all generally this in description. Vul Panther from Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan happened to be a ranger in the military sense before he even got his powers!
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: The higher you get up the villains' chain of command, the more powerful they generally are. The leader of the Sentai also tends to be the strongest fighter.
  • Real Men Wear Pink:
    • Played straight, believe it or not... of the thirteen colors that have been used (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink, Black, White, Silver, Gold, Orange, Violet, Gray and Brown) as of Ryusoulger, only gray and brown have yet to be used by both genders. Specifically:
      • Red: mainly male, but also used by Hime ShinkenRed.
      • Blue: mainly male, but also used by at least six women.
      • Yellow: Almost evenly split between male and female.
      • Green: mainly male, but also used by Green Water Lotus of the villainous Flowery Ninja Kunoichi, Mele, Midoninger, Chameleon Green and Kiramai Green.
      • Pink: Almost all female, outside of the Gokaigers' Gokai Changes (such as in Gokaiger VS Gavan, which has a scene in which all six members change into pink warriors - complete with no Mini Dress Of Power for the boys) or the ToQgers' line changes. For a while, the only true exception was the original HououRanger, who served in the original (and all-male) Dairangers six thousand years before the events of the series. It took until Donbrothers for a male pink warrior to be part of the main cast from the very start.
      • Black - mainly male, but also used by J5 of the Neo Jetman.
      • White - Almost evenly split between male and female.
      • Silver - mainly male, but also used by DekaBright and Go-On Silver.
      • Gold - mainly male, but also used by DekaGold.
      • Orange - mainly male, but also used by Orange Lily of the Flowery Ninja Kunoichi and DekaSwan, who has no official color but is commonly associated with orange.
      • Violet - mainly male, but also used by Purple Orchid of the Flowery Ninja Kunoichi and KyoryuViolet II.
      • Gray - exclusively male (only used in Kyoryuger).
      • Brown - exclusively male (used as a gag in Shinkenger, only used properly in Ryusoulger)
  • Recurring Element: In most seasons' final episode, when the team morphs for the last time, they'll give their roll call without their helmets (and in the most extreme examples, they'll perform the roll call without any Ranger gear at all).
  • Red Is Heroic: All seasons have a Red Ranger, who is almost always the leader. Even when he isn't (as in Kakuranger and Timeranger), the POV is mostly centered on Red rather than the leader.
  • The Remnant: Remnants of the evil factions tend to crop up to justify post-series crossovers.
    • J.A.K.Q. vs. Goranger has Zolder mooks, remnants of Goranger's Black Cross Army, as part of Crime's army.
    • In Ohranger vs. Kakuranger, Onbu-Obake is a survivor of the Youkai Army, whose members were mostly all sealed at the end of Kakuranger.
    • Carranger vs. Ohranger has Bara Mobile, the last surviving warrior of the Baranoia Empire.
    • The finale of Gokaiger establishes that, a month following the death of Zangyack Emperor Akudos Gill at the hands of the Gokaigers, The Empire has fractured into smaller factions. Super Hero Taisen's Dai-Zangyack is a fleet consisting of resurrected Zangyack members plus other Sentai antagonists. Go-Busters vs. Gokaiger later deals with a Zangyack faction led by Bacchus Gill, the nephew of the late emperor.
    • Hero Mama League establishes that 13 years following the conclusion of Magiranger, despite Sphinx's efforts to reform the Infershia Empire, the Magirangers still have to deal with remnants of the evil Infershia regime.
  • Returning Big Bad: The Big Bad of the 35th anniversary film, Gokaiger Goseiger Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle, is the reincarnated form of the original Sentai Big Bad, the Black Cross Fuhrer from Himitsu Sentai Gorenger.
  • Rookie Red Ranger: While the trope namer is Power Rangers, it actually debuted in Dairanger first and was later used in such series as Megaranger, Gingaman, Timeranger, Gaoranger, and Gekiranger. Its Power Rangers debut came in Lost Galaxy.
  • Scarf Of Ass Kicking: All of the series from Battle Fever J and Goggle V. Akibaranger uses them probably as a Mythology Gag.
  • Scavengers Are Scum: Many series feature one or more Monsters of the Week that are based on animals that scavenge (such as vultures, hyenas, crows, rats, jackals, skunks, weasels, and cockroaches), while the heroes almost never have scavenger-themed mecha. A rare exception is the Crow Headder from Goseiger. Supplementary material reveals that the hundred Power Animals of Gaoranger include a few scavengers, but they never appear onscreen.
  • Science Hero: A recurring archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • Sentai: The Trope Codifier in modern history.
  • Shape Dies, Shifter Survives: A trope shared with sister franchise Kamen Rider. Normally, a Sentai who takes overwhelming damage will detransform. However, there will sometimes be climactic fights where a character manages to stay in their transformed form through Heroic Willpower, instead suffering helmet damage which exposes part of their face. Alternatively, if a Ranger is in their Super Mode or transformed into another Ranger like the Gokaigers can do, sufficient damage can knock them down to their base form.
  • Shared Universe: Depending on the Writer, all the Sentai shows in fact take place within the same world, barring ones like Kyuranger which are clearly stated to take place in an alternate universe.
    • This concept actually dates as far back as the crossover movie JAKQ vs. Gorenger, which not only confirmed that JAKQ and Gorenger take place within the same continuity, it also showed they share a world with Kamen Rider and Kikaider as well.
    • Sun Vulcan is shown to take place in the same universe as its predecessor Denziman, featuring the return of Queen Hedrian as well as several other plot elements from Denziman.
    • Starting with Ohranger, it became an annual occurrence for the Sentai team of the year to have a film where they meet their predecessors. While some of these have too many Continuity Snarls to take place in the same universe (including the aforementioned Ohranger-Kakuranger crossover) others like Shinkenger vs Go-onger, Goseiger vs Shinkenger and Kyoryuger vs Go-Busters all fit quite neatly into the timelines of their respective series, and several even tie up loose plot threads from each of them.
    • Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger establishes that the previous 34 Sentai all take place with the same universe. Later crossovers like Super Sentai Strongest Battle and Kaizoku Sentai Ten Gokaiger imply that most of the succeeding Sentai series share a universe with Gokaiger as well. Gokaiger also shares a continuity with Metal Heroes according to the film Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger Vs Space Sheriff Gavan The Movie.
    • Tokumei Sentai Go Busters was initially implied to take place within its own alternate timeline, but this was altered to allow it to cross over with Gavan and do a promo for Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie.
    • Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger seemingly contradicts the notion that Sentai is a shared universe, given how it features all the past Sentai teams each having their own parallel world. Although Gokaiger still takes place in a universe with other Sentai teams, and shows like Sun Vulcan have confirmed links to other Sentai seasons, so it's likely the worlds featured in Zenkaiger are just alternate universes that have only one Sentai team.
  • Showy Invincible Hero: This varies from era to era, but especially in recent years, it's common to see the team getting through entire battles without even getting a single scratch until around episode 3. The Sixth Ranger tends to be this in his intro episode as well.
  • Sixth Ranger: Along with Power Rangers, Trope Namer. A once-a-year tradition that began with Zyuranger, although J.A.K.Q. and Liveman both featured additional members introduced mid-series, while Bioman and Maskman experimented with the idea of a sixth member in the form of a One-Shot Character. Some of the more recent shows that begin with just three members on the team (such as Hurricaneger and Gekiranger) have more than one additional warrior in order to round out a team of five. At some points it gets crazy; Hurricaneger ends up getting a sixth member anyway, the fifth member of Abaranger is counted as a sixth due to showing up at the usual time for a sixth to appear and joining really late, and Go-Onger has two official sixth rangers and, as of now, is unique in that regard, as other teams with more rangers choose one to be the sixth and make the others extra rangers, most notably Dekaranger, Magiranger, and Kyoryuger. More recently, the Reunion Show direct-to-video specials have introduced new rangers (usually essentially recolors of one of the main ones).
  • The Smart Guy: A common archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by both Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai and Super Sentai Strongest Battle. Every team has one.
  • The Smurfette Principle / Two Girls to a Team: Almost all of the early shows up to Kagaku Sentai Dynaman only had one female ranger per team. Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan didn't even have a female member at all, just a supporting character who assisted the team from the sidelines. Choudenshi Bioman in 1984 started the tradition of having two full-time female rangers at the same time, going back and forth between periods where the franchise would return to having just one female per team (1988-1989, 1992-1994, 1998-2003) and then going back to having two again (1990-1991, 1995-1997). Almost all the teams since 2004 have featured two full-time female rangers with the exception of Gekirangernote  and Go-Busters, while the second girl in Go-onger and Kyoryuger both ended up being latecomers to the roster.
    • The villains also tend to follow this rule. Interestingly, if there's two female members of the Sentai team, there's likely to only be one female member of the villain side and vice versa.
    • There are exactly three aversions to both of these tropes in the franchise. Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger featured four female Sentai rangers in total with DekaYellow, DekaPink, DekaSwan and DekaBright, although the latter two only made brief appearances and never appeared at the same time. Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger started with only one female member, but gained a second one when Yayoi Ulshade became KyoryuViolet and a third one towards the end when Yuko Fukui became the next DekaCyan. And Shuriken Sentai Ninninger featured a third female Ninninger, Luka Kokonoe / MidoNinger, joining the team in The Movie.
    • During its early seasons, Power Rangers would gender flip the yellow rangers when adapting Sentai shows with just one girl in order to have two girls for each each season, resulting in five male yellow heroes from Super Sentai being changed into female characters for Power Rangers.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: For the most part, Sentai adheres to the formula of first having the teams fight several Monster of the Week, then have a battle against one of the villain generals halfway through, then fight all of the other villain generals in order from weakest to strongest, and finally at the end face the Evil Overlord at the top.
  • Space Police: There was Signalman from Carranger and years later we had a Space Police Sentai in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger. And then the Gokaigers teamed up with a Space Sheriff who kicked off a whole other Toku legacy.
  • Spoiler Title: In older series, many episodes where a character dies are simply titled "X Dies!"
  • The Stoic: A recurring archetype for Rangers, acknowledged by Super Sentai Strongest Battle.
  • Strictly Formula: Not just individual episodes, but the series themselves.
    • Around episode 10, there will be an unbeatable Monster of the Week necessitating a new Humongous Mecha combination.
    • The Sixth Ranger appears around Episode 17note .
    • Roughly Episode 20 will involve the villains having another extra strong Monster of the Week, which will require the heroes to get another Humongous Mecha in order to defeat it.
    • The vicinity of Episode 30 will get the villains the ability to create stronger Monsters of the Week. Some seasons simply have them get stronger, while others will introduce a brand new type of monster that either replaces the previous kind or only shows up for specific episodes.
    • Anywhere from Episode 42-47, the villains get their own Humongous Mecha that's every bit as strong as the heroes'. In some cases, this is the last battle.
    • In the final 3 episodes the team's base (if they have one) will be destroyed (though their tech crew and mentor will be able to escape in time) and they will lose the ability to transform until the very final battle.
    • Also the team almost always use the same equipment year after year with different names and slightly different looks and design. (All members carry a sidearm that can transform into a melee weapon. All members have personal weapons, Red almost always has a sword, and the others vary but usually at least one member has a stronger ranged weapon and another has a spear and one member will have a very weird weapons like a flute or fan or something. The team always has a big cannon to finish off the monster off on the ground. The trademark Humongous Mecha always has a sword to finish off monsters, but Mid Season upgrades and combinations of the two will focus on firepower instead.
      • A few series have deviated from this. Most recently:
      • Magiranger had staffs that transformed for the male members into personal weapons,
      • Gekiranger had two personal weapons for each of the core 3 members.
      • Gokaiger had the rangers have identical swords and guns.
      • Go-busters did the same as Gokaiger for the core 3.
      • Likewise, Lupinranger VS Patranger has both teams with the same gun, the VS Changer, which is also their transformation device (Though how they use it varies). Each team then has their own sidearms: The Lupinrangers have a sword that has a grabber claw on the reverse end, while the Patarangers have a combination megaphone and police baton. X, being a Sixth Ranger to both teams, has totally unique equipment.
    • Also, fights follow similar formulae year after year. Monster attacks civilians. Team has initial face-off against the monster, in which it uses its gimmick against the team, which disables all members except the character getting focus that week, and they need to retreat. Focus character researches weakness/gets confidence back/does some other Character Development thing. Round two, focus character beats up the monster and frees the other members. The use the team attack to knock the monster out. Make My Monster Grow. Mecha battle. Scene with group at the end.
    • Certain plots will happen once per series
      • A character dresses as a bride, almost gets married, or two characters go undercover as a couple getting married. Commonly due to a Monster of the Week attacking brides.
      • Two of the members will be forced into one body and unable to transform.
      • The villains will create duplicates of the heroes and fool civilians.
      • The heroes will be Brought Down to Normal and have to fight without transforming until they can regain their transformation ability somehow (tends to happen near the end).
      • One of the heroes will become a Fake Defector, usually to save one of the others.
      • The two female heroes will get into a Cat Fight with each other, about factors unrelated to saving the world.
      • The Lancer will try saving the day on his own and have to learn the meaning of teamwork.
      • A Monster of the Week will pose as a human and fool one of the heroes into falling in love with them. The monster may or may not become the mask.
      • One hero (usually but not always male, but almost never the Red) will encounter and fall in love with a mysterious person, who by the end of the episode turns out not to be human and either leaves the show or dies. If it's the latter, cue a cry of This Is Unforgivable! at whatever bad guy killed her (or him, if the episode's hero is female) followed by a cathartic Curbstomp Battle. Sometimes overlaps with the above plot, sometimes not. Usually written by Naruhisa Arakawa, who has written episodes of nearly every Super Sentai since 1991 and likes to write this plot into nearly every series he writes for.
      • The heroes may find and befriend a Monster of the Week who doesn't want to harm anybody. They are usually forced to destroy the monster at the end of the episode. It also usually ends up being a Tear Jerker for the heroes and the viewers. However, it may also be a Crowning Episode of Funny and, in this case, the monster will end the episode alive.
      • The heroes fight off Mooks unmorphed while dressed up as medieval samurai. Or cowboys. For the latter's case, this always happen: Most rangers are owning the mooks, but the token cool guy will nearly blast themselves by accident for comic relief. The women of the group will knock down the Mooks using a cute wink (This trend started in Denshi Sentai Denziman, especially the 'wink knockdown'. The comic relief by the cool guy started out by Dai Sentai Goggle Five, and it keeps getting better and better, especially in Dengeki Sentai Changeman. You'll more often see this in earlier Sentai, though, the last time used being in Timeranger vs GoGoV).
      • One Monster of the Week will have an ability to brainwash one of the heroes and make them attack the team. The usual victim is those saddled with the color Blue.
      • A Beach Episode (not counting episodes where the battle just happens to take place on a shoreline).
      • The characters prepare for some sort of festival or event (usually New Year, Tanabata or a summer festival), requiring them to dress in gorgeous traditional clothing
      • The characters are forced to go to Kyoto and/or go back in time to Edo-era Kyoto, complete with gratuitous Scenery Porn. This one has a funny subversion in Dekaranger, where the characters voluntarily pretend they are in Edo-era Kyoto to calm an alien (not an Alienizer) who had a brief freak-out with modern-day Kyoto.
      • The Christmas episodes mentioned in An Asskicking Christmas don't need to happen (Shinkenger didn't necessarily have one - the plot is occupied by the final battle against Akumaro instead - but it was shown that they celebrate Christmas there), but the New Year episodes do (New Year's Day in Japan has a higher cultural significance than Christmas).
      • One of the rangers meets up with an old scientist friend who has made a deal with the villains or has otherwise lost their way while trying to advance their research. Through The Power of Friendship, the focus ranger helps their friend see the error of their ways (often by reminding them of why they pursued a career in science in the first place) and inspires them to redeem themselves.
      • A monster who turns people into inanimate objects, usually dolls.
      • A body swap episode, often complete with a Man, I Feel Like a Woman moment.
      • An Amusement Park episode.
      • An episode in which a parent or grandparent visits and tries to set up an arranged marriage with one of the rangers. Usually, but not always, it will be one of the girls, and in that case the male rangers inevitably pose as suitors to sabotage the interview.
      • An episode with a Monster of the Week who challenges a Ranger to honorable combat, and always ends up cheating.
      • An episode where a Ranger must help a wimpy/bratty/spoiled/bullied child to become strong. Endemic in the older shows, and still shows up at least twice a season in the newer.
      • A monster who traps people in a dimensional labyrinth.
      • The Sixth Ranger is introduced, only to either leave the team at the end of the episode or have his powers confiscated by the Red or the mentor. In the next episode, the Sixth resolves his differences with the rest of the team and joins permanently.
      • Following the introduction of the Sixth Ranger will be a series of episodes focusing on them along with the various members of the core team in turn.
      • One of the villains will take a special interest in the powers of a certain monster. They'll often save the monster from being destroyed by the rangers, and then use its abilities in a much deadlier way than before.
      • An episode where one of the female rangers foils the monster by donning a succession of different disguises, many of which conveniently include short skirts..
      • An episode in which a ranger has to get a job, and then uses the skills and strengths the job teaches them to defeat the monster.
      • There will be a Recap Episode explaining everything that has happened so far. This will be late in the series, and often a New Year's Day themed episode at the same time.
      • An episode where the monster incapacitates the male rangers, leaving it up to Pink and Yellow to save the day.
      • A shapeshifting monster that leads to a game of Spot the Imposter.
      • A monster with the ability to revive previously defeated monsters.
      • A gluttonous monster with a bottomless stomach out to consume the world's food supplies. It will usually swallow up a weapon, morpher, or even one or more of the heroes themselves, leaving the team at a disadvantage until they can get it back. A variation on this plot is for the monster to simply eat everything in sight and convert it into power.
      • An episode in which two rangers having a quarrel must put it aside and save the rest of the team.
      • The villains use a Monster of the Week that can easily analyze, copy, and neutralize all of the Rangers powers, weapons, and/or mecha. Conveniently, this is usually when a new ranger appears or they get a new weapon or mecha. If not, then the Rangers resort to tricking the monster by using each others' weapons.
      • One of the mecha (often one of the most powerful ones) being considered somehow wild, and needing to be tamed by the Red or the team as a whole before it can be used. The villains will attempt to either destroy it or attempt to take control of it, often using an animal tamer themed Monster of the Week.
      • A movie or special in which the members of the team are thrown into various alternate-universe scenarios, usually based on movie genres.
      • If the team doesn't have an explicitly-defined leader among the core members, there will be an episode in which they wonder if they need one and who it should be. Usually, after giving some amount of consideration to giving the role to Red as is typical, they end up deciding they don't need a leader after all.
      • One last wacky, light-hearted episode before the final arc. It will often be a Christmas Episode.
      • One of the rangers has a date or some other important social event just as a monster attacks. Often, the other rangers will try to defeat the monster themselves, but it will be one that they can't beat without the missing ranger's skill/power/weapon.
      • A situation forces some main characters to be Disguised in Drag (usually at least one male character), sometimes leading to Attractive Bent-Gender/Wholesome Crossdresser moments.
    • As for the series themselves, starting with Hurricaneger a 5 year pattern seems to have developed:
      • Year 1: Experimentation (Hurricaneger, Gekiranger, Go-Busters, Kyuranger, Donbrothers). Attempts to play with and deconstruct the Super Sentai formulae are tried and tested, like rival teams or Darker and Edgier takes. Also, it follows the Three Plus Two team scheme (though Kyuranger has broken this) and always introduces new colors to the core team.
      • Year 2: Wacky Stuff (Abaranger, Go-Onger, Kyoryuger, Lupinranger VS Patranger, King-Ohger). A still-moderate "return to form" that plays up all of Sentai's classic corniness by adding even more corniness on top of it, such as a Big "WHAT?!" scene. Included are cartoony elements like the Roger Rabbit Effect or CGI used for Toon Physics. Lupinranger VS Patranger, while still retaining some of these tropes, subverted this trend over time with its dark tone and environment while King-Ohger tended to retain a more serious tone even as it returned to more conventional series dynamics.
      • Year 3: Action (Dekaranger, Shinkenger, ToQger, Ryusoulger, Boonboomger). Now fully back in track with the Strictly Formula for the next three years, it instead puts focus on a "cool" motif that's associated with battle by default, which reflects in the improved combat choreography that gives this series an intense action feel. ToQger seems to have broken this however. Though, if one were to count ToQger's Powers as Programs as being associated with action, it could be counted under this.
      • Year 4: Fantasy (Magiranger, Goseiger, Ninninger, Kiramager). Where the previous series put focus in action, this one puts focus in mystical powers and abilities. Expect Elemental Powers and less Testosterone Poisoning than usual. Seasons in this pattern usually tend to be Lighter and Softer, involve demons at some point in their story, have one villain that was previously on the heroic side before their betrayal, and have some form of magic utilized.
      • Year 5: Anniversary (Boukenger, Gokaiger, Zyuohger, Zenkaiger). The apparently mandatory Homage series that Toei seems to have decided to hold on every fifth year, it features collection elements and Mythology Gags by the bushel, subtlety may vary.
    • Although not an anniversary series in the traditional sense, Kyoryuger contains a lot of Mythology Gags in the show that it teeters on borderline. Similarly, Kyuranger has so far been heavier in the number of Mythology Gags than it's predecessor, Zyuohger.
    • Gaoranger was a precursor to this type of series; however, its more blatant Mythology Gags were cut during production and ended up as All There in the Manual elements.
    • Of course, with a Long Runner such as this series, expect Subversions to occur from time to time.
  • Standard Evil Organization Squad: Every show features a lineup of distinct and colorful villains existing opposte from the Sentai team.
  • Stock Sound Effects: Super Sentai is known to reuse some of the same sound effects in multiple series.
    • In particular, the same electricity-crackling sound effect that precedes a monster explosion has been used in pretty much every series since the early 2000s.
    • There is also a high pitched jump sound effect used in many of the 80's and 90's series. Especially in Liveman.
    • It was also relatively common in the 80s and 90s series to hear the TARDIS dematerialization noise in at least one episode, as the BBC had shared their sound library with Toei.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: The first explosion in Super Sentai history occurs two seconds into the opening of Goranger. Between the colored post-transformation explosions behind the heroes and the huge detonations of defeated monsters, it's a long-held tradition.
  • Strong as They Need to Be: Combines with Rule of Drama to spell the downfall of some villains. A Monster of the Week can suck up attack after attack and not explode until the Finishing Move hits it...but there are more than a few cases of major villains being destroyed with a single non-powered strike if it's dramatic enough.
    • Can apply to rangers as well, such as Magis from Goseiger who dies from one monster attack and a fall (you know the thing that happens to rangers all the time when they get thrown out of their mechs) or the previous generation of Shinkengers who actually get killed by mooks.
  • Super Cop: A recurring archetype for Rangers. Most notably, Dekaranger and Patranger are whole teams of them.
  • Superheroes in Space: The Kyurangers in Orion and the Gokaigers aboard the Gokai Galleon.
  • Super Robot Genre: Inspired by Spider-Man (Japan) and started with Battle Fever J, Super Sentai would carry on the tradition of each team of rangers piloting Combining Mecha against giant monsters every time they are destroyed in their smaller forms and regrown to giant sizes.
  • Super-Speed: A power employed by numerous Sentai heroes, applied to the car-themed teams by nature.
  • Swiss-Army Weapon: Most team's sidearms can transform from a gun into a sword. It's also notably the preferred weapon for most Sixth Rangers.
  • Talking and Transformation Is A Free Action: Every so often played with, but most of the time when a Sentai team transforms and gives its roll call, the Monster of the Week patiently waits until they finish before sending in the Mooks.
  • Tie-In Novel: A rarity for the franchise. Flashman, Jetman, Megaranger, Hurricaneger, and Shinkenger each have one.
  • Three Plus Two: Several Sentai teams have started out with just three members, only to gain two more and become a full-fledged Five-Man Band.
  • Title Scream:
    • A tradition that began with Goggle-V, although they don't scream the full title until Bioman. From then on, prior to Tokumei Sentai Go Busters. Kakuranger, on the other hand, possessed a variation of this, with something we could call Title Sing (as it is the first line of the opening theme).
    • Go-Busters changed it's OP mid-series and no longer averts this trope.
  • Together We Are X: Roll calls always take this format, with each Ranger introducing him/herself (either just saying their codename or giving a little speech about themselves) before all the members say the team name together. In fact, the call of the original Himitsu Sentai Gorenger team ends with "The five of us are... Goranger!"
  • Tragic Monster: In the "sympathetic monster" stock episode, the monster will occasionally get a happy ending...but most other times, the villains will force it to rampage against its' will, forcing the rangers to destroy it.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: It's a good rule of thumb to stop watching the previews once you get to around the last ten episodes if you want to be surprised, especially in the older series. Dairanger is especially bad in this regard since the openings spoil things as well!
  • Transformation Sequence: Originally, the Gorangers transformed in the blink of an eye. Over the years, Transformation Sequences would become more and more flashy, with most Sentai having a distinct sequence repeated as Stock Footage. For Sentai of recent the past few decades, expect to see a specially filmed sequence for The Movie, while "Versus" crossovers alternate between Stock Footage a specially shot blend of the multiple teams. Of course, the tradition is adapted by Power Rangers too.
  • Transformation Trinket: Known throughout the series as Changers, these vary from wrist-mounted ones in early Sentai to handheld ones resembling cell phones in the early 2000s. When the trending flip-phones/clamshell phones were phased out in the 2010s, the designs became even more liberal due to limited workability around the brick-like smartphonenote , resulting in more recent designs flip-flopping between wrist-mounted ones again or being impossibly cool weapons, more commonly Cool Guns.
  • Translation Matchmaking: Ever since Abaranger, Super Sentai is dubbed in South Korea under the title of Power Rangers (with the exception of Shinkenger, as Korea still hasn't gotten over their cultural aversion of samurai; they aired Gaoranger in its place). Funnily enough, Abaranger and Dekaranger had the same titles as their respective American counterparts.
  • Traveling at the Speed of Plot: Regardless of where they are, it seems the team can always call for their mecha and have it arrive within seconds.
  • True Companions: Every Sentai is this. During the VS crossovers, the starring two teams will become this.
  • Unflinching Walk: A Sentai-only variant of this trope occurs when a new giant robot is introduced, and performs the Unflinching Walk INTO ENEMY FIRE.
  • Versus Title: The "Vs. Series" features two teams together in a crossover. However, it's rare for the "vs." to actually mean that the teams end up fighting each other; more often they become allies immediately.
    • The franchise's use of this is Parodied in Akibaranger - after the team's show is taken over by Ultraman pastiche Hikonin Kyoujin Prism Ace, they convince the studio executives to produce an "Akibaranger vs Prism Ace" team-up movie so they can have one last hurrah. However, as soon as the movie starts they form their team bazooka and shoot Prism Ace in the face, mocking him for not knowing what "versus" means.
    • And then there's the multi-franchise Super Hero Taisen series, which like with Kamen Rider's Movie Wars starts its titles with a form of "[X] X [Y]": the first and fifth were "Kamen Rider X Super Sentai", the second was "Kamen Rider X Super Sentai X Space Sheriff", and the third is "Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider" (referring to the two subdivisions of the Kamen Rider franchise). In these cases, though, the various sides do fight each other.
    • It finally appears in a series itself with Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, which features two heroic teams competing with one another. Played with in that "VS" is used in contexts besides just meaning "versus"; the teams' shared tech is called the "VS System" (pronounced Vee-Ess, with VS Changers, VS Vehicles, etc.) and each team wears one of the letters as their logo (the Lupinrangers wear a V insignia while the Patrangers have the S). Noel Takao, inventor of the VS System and a member of both teams, refers to the Lupinrangers and Patrangers collectively as the "VS Sentai". It isn't made clear if VS stands for anything in-universe; the closest it gets is that later in the series the Lupinrangers receive a Victory Striker mecha while the Patrangers' counterpart is a Siren Striker.
  • Villains Act, Heroes React: A tokusatsu staple. Generally, the villains send forth the MOTW with an Evil Plan Once an Episode, with our heroes then arriving on the scene to stop them.
  • Villain Decay: Averted for the most part. A lot of times, the villains will get more dangerous as they come closer to completing their Evil Plan towards the end of the series.
  • Villain Team-Up: Tends to happen in crossovers. Usually it will be the villains from the previous show teaming up with the ones from the current one.
  • Was Once a Man: A few series, like Dairanger and Gekiranger, have the monsters be former humans who can take on monster form as a martial arts technique. Unsurprisingly, this does not carry over to Power Rangers.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: No matter how relatively harmless the Monster of the Week is, don't expect any non-lethal options to be brought up.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: They actually do this a lot. Granted, not every season does this, but many series have at least one character doing this for some reason. Special mention goes to Tetsu, Ryunosuke, and Hant.
  • Wire Fu: Used in a lot of the 80s series.
  • World of Badass: Almost every hero and villain are badasses to some extent. Some series, such as Maskman and Kyoryuger, take this Up To Eleven.

Top

VulEagle's sword.

Takayuki Hiba's Vulcan Stick turns into a katana.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (2 votes)

Example of:

Main / KatanasAreJustBetter

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