Manga / Majestic Prince

Majestic Prince is a sci-fi manga and anime set 20 Minutes in the Future, featuring Humongous Mecha piloted by a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits fighting against a mysterious enemy from outer space.

In the latter half of the 21st century, humans begin to leave Earth and live in space. In order to adapt to the environment in space and deal with the hostile aliens in Jupiter, genetically engineered children called "Princes" are artificially raised and trained to be pilots of armed robots "AHSMB (Advanced High Standard Multipurpose Battle Device). This is a story about one of the teenage "Princes", Hitachi Izuru, who studies in an academic city Grandzehle, and his four companions as they begin their battle against the unknown enemy. That is, of course, provided they can start getting along with each other.

Originally a manga written by Rando Ayamine and illustrated by Hikaru Nijima which was serialized in Monthly Hero's from 2011 to 2019, it was later adapted into a 24-episode season that began airing on the 4th of April 2013. A movie sequel, with the subtitle Kakusei no Idenshi, was released on November 4, 2016, after a rebroadcast that includes a 25th episode focusing on some of the new characters in the movie.

Currently streaming on Crunchyroll and The Anime Network, viewers living in the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand may watch it legally.

A character sheet is in development.

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This series provides examples of:

• 2-D Space: Subverted One of the Wulgaru fleets literally circumvents a majority of the Earth forces defenses by descending right on top of them from above catching them unaware as their sensors didn't even register the Wulgaru until it was too late.
• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: All the mecha are clearly rendered in 3D computer graphics, but the combination of Cel Shading, lighting effects and camera work makes for some impressive choreography during the action sequences.
• Abusive Precursors: According to Teoria, the Wulgaru are an incredibly ancient race who have already entered their decline, and in an attempt to stave off extinctions, they have sent their genes to scatter across the universe and let them evolve, only to later come back and take them back in order to resupply their own dwindling genetics. Humanity is one such experiment.
• Ace Pilot: The reason the students forming Team Rabbits were teamed up in the first place; they were the highest-ranking in their specific specializations. Actually working together however, is what holds them back at first.
• Aliens Are Bastards: The Wulgaru. They regard the entire war as a glorified hunting trip.
• All Men Are Perverts: In episode 5, Team Doberman's leader, Randy, gives Izuru something to watch, and tells him to only watch it with Toshikazu and Ataru. Thinking it's a training video of Team Doberman's previous actions, Izuru decides to have Tamaki and Kei watch it with them. The various shocked looks on their faces (save Tamaki who is just confused) should immediately tell viewers what they're actually watching, and an angry Kei gives Izuru a slap, then drags Tamaki out of there. Ataru runs out on his own, only to come back shortly later and run away again. Izuru and Toshikazu are shown to stay and watch the rest of it with Toshikazu later commenting that the actress looks a lot like Rin.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Earth is constantly forced to abandon outposts and bases they have in space due to the Wulgaru attacks.
• Ambiguous Robots: The JURIA-system, which at first seems to be "merely" an advanced computer to control the ASHMB units, is said to have been made from the same DNA as the pilots, and the level to which it can apparently rewrite the pilot's personality implies a level of sentience far beyond a simple artificial intelligence.
• Animation Bump: The fight sequences in episodes 17 & 18 with Team Rabbits vs Klein is noticeably much more smooth and fluid compared to their battles in earlier episodes.
• Anyone Can Die:
  • Klein and Rada in episode 18. Klein is killed in battle against Team Rabbits, and Rada is killed to maintain Jiart's secret contact with Teoria, under the excuse of plotting a rebellion within the Wulgaru ranks.
  • After playing with death flags for laughs for much of the series, both Randy and Patrick tragically die in episode 19 after relaying information on the location of the Wulgaru gate.
  • Lutiel herself is killed off in episode 22, although it takes quite a bit to take her down, much like Klein.
  • Jiart is finally defeated by Izuru in episode 24, although he just barely survived the fight himself.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Several of the Wulgaru leaders excel in combat, such as Jiart, Lutiel, and Dolgana.
• Awesome, yet Impractical: Team Rabbit's AHSMB suits are extremely advanced and powerful, but quickly wear themselves out and must be repaired after every battle, even if they didn't get hit by enemy fire.
  • Due to the AHSMBs and the JURIA System being built around the pilots' DNA, at times they excel due to faster reaction speed to their pilot's desires, such as pointing out weapons that can be used to help resolve a situation, or negatively, such as freezing up or trying flee when their is doubt about their own survival in certain situations.
• Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: Izuru tells Rin he loves her in episode 23 after she orders him not to take part in the battle since his health isn't in the best condition. Then he mentions every character in the show as well as the pit crews that he also loves them like family, and doesn't want to lose them.
• Balance of Power: While humanity has united in an effort to save Earth from the Wulgaru threat, the prescience and continual success of the ASHMB units is shown to cause a power struggle among the nations of Earth for access to technology that currently belongs solely to Japan.
• Beam Spam: Both the Wulgaru and GDF utilize this during battle.
• Big Brother Mentor: Randy, the leader of Team Doberman, seems to be taking this role to Izuru.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Team Rabbits manages to do this in the very first episode, when they fight long enough to force the Wulgaru fleet to withdraw from Undina, which the humans were attempting to abandon.
  • In Episode 4, Team Dobermann saves Team Rabbits from the Wulgaru when the battle was turning sour.
  • In Episode 5, Tamaki pulls one off for Rabbits during the operation.
  • In Episode 15, Izuru manages pulls one off in just his Core unit and minimum armaments leading the team into saving a surrounded Ange and drive the enemy commander off.
  • In Episode 19, they do one for Team Doberman. However, its bittersweet as Patrick and Randy both ended up dying, and Rakesh barely managed to escape with the data regarding where the Wulgaru warpgate is located.
  • In episode 23, Doberman 2 saves the day, along with the Bela-russian and Chinese fleets. The two fleets at first seemed to be retreating, but they return a short while later with reinforcements and massed produced AHSMB units that the GDF gave them plans for in an earlier episode. They also state that falling back was a strategy they were using to lure some of the Wulgaru closer so they could then destroy them more easily.
• BFG: Ataru's unit, the Gold-4, particularly in episodes 17 & 18. And in episode 22, he gets control of the Goldinion's front section, which essentially gives him a spaceship sized gun to snipe with.
• Blessed with Suck: While the heroes have been genetically modified to have highly developed senses and special abilities and are the perfect pilots for the JURIA-system equipped AHSMB's, it is revealed that these abilities are slowly taking a toll on their bodies.
  • Additionally, their super reflexes and traits come at the cost of social skills.
  • Extremely high harmonics between the pilots and the AHSM Bs have the draw back of potentially overriding the pilot's personality.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: A definite possibility with the Wulgaru. Their society can best be described as that of a group of high-tech barbarians who go on epic hunting sprees in order to fulfill "prophecies" from their "gods". They seemed to have no concept of right and wrong (or, if they do, it's completely different from that of humans), and believe in following their instincts no matter what the consequences.
  • Teoria in episode 10 reveals that the Wulgaru are an Endangered Species, and they seeded various planets with the intention of letting them develop for some time, only to then harvest them later. However, her mother hated doing that, so had her go help the humans out and fight off against the Wulgaru.
• Blush Sticker: Irie sports this a lot.
• Breather Episode: Episode 6, which focuses on Team Rabbits early graduation.
  • Episode 10 has a lot of exposition in it, both for Team Rabbits and for the Wulgaru.
  • Episode 12 gives Team Rabbits a day off, and they spend it doing various things such as shopping or doing PR stunts to boost morale.
  • Episode 20 follows up from an intense fight between Team Rabbits and Klein in episodes 17 & 18, as well as Patrick and Randy's sacrifice during their final mission in episode 19.
• Bridge Bunnies: Inverted. The main bridge crew are a pair of very handsome men, much to Tamaki's delight.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As appropriate for a group named Team Rabbits, each and every one is an Ace Pilot to some degree, but have all the quirks and dysfunctions you'd expect of a squad of teenagers.
• Butt-Monkey: Team Rabbits as a whole. Izuru is a constant victim of snarkers, Toshikazu for his constant stomach aches under pressure, and both Tamaki and Ataru for their failed romantic exploits. Kei is probably only one in the group this trope doesn't apply to being the Only Sane Man in the group. Unfortunately that doesn't say much if you’re part of a group nicknamed Team Fails.
• The Cameo: One of the students in Episode 17 is the manga version of Izuru.
  • One chapter of the manga has the press conference from Episode 2 of the anime, complete with faceless versions of the anime Team Rabbits members.
• Casanova Wannabe: Yeaaah, Ataru's...! Failed yet again to score a date with one of the pretty ladies.
• Cassandra Truth: In episode 20, Captain Amane has to convince all of Earth's leaders to unite for a final assault on the Wulgaru gate in an attempt to stop their attacks. Teoria also talks to them through a video communication at first, but they are understandably skeptical of her claims. Until she drops right in front of them in a Wulgaru unit to convince them.
• Char Clone: Inverted. Prince Jiart's color scheme is white, but he's the Char to Izuru's Amuro (whose mecha has red highlights).
• Child Soldiers: Team Rabbits and all of their classmates; they were literally created to be soldiers.
  • Dioluna, the new Wulgaru Commander in the movie, counts as well.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Randy, the leader of Team Dobermann.
• Cliffhanger:
  • Used in episode 17, after Gold-4's orbital beam attack fails to destroy Klein, and the latter is staring at them once the dust clears.
  • Utilized again at the end of episode 23. The human's second attempt with their Wave-Motion Gun fails, and the weapon itself is destroyed by Dolgana. Teoria also makes her appearance on the battlefield, and although she doesn't take part in the combat, she seems to hold enough sway still to order some of the Wulgaru to retreat. Jiart attempts to reach her while Izuru attempts to stop him.
• Combat Breakdown: Episode 18's battle with Klein. By the end of the fight every one of Team Rabbits' mechs have been rendered inoperational.
• Composite Character: Team Forn's AHSMBs take the basic design of Ange's Black 6 and combine it with the special functions of the machines used by the other non-Izuru members.
• Cool Ship: The ship that Team Rabbits launches from, Godinion. Their small carriers could also count, as they detach from the bigger ship, and each one houses one of the mechs Team Rabbits uses.
• Covert Pervert: Guess who has to admire Ataru's lecherous remark about wanting to have their instructor's already-sucked-on (actual) lollipop? Leaves Izuru wide open for snide snark attacks by the rest of his team.
  • Izuru later accidentally puts on a "Adult" video he thought was training for the team... after realizing the mistake he does not try to stop it and seems to spend the rest of the night watching it with Toshikazu.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: On the battlefield, Team Rabbits can be a force to be reckoned with. In daily life, not so much.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • The Wulgaru are usually on the giving end of these, unless Team Rabbits is around.
  • In episode 13, Ange, a new pilot arrives with a new mech. Izuru is reluctantly asked into a mock battle to test the new mech, and is absolutely stomped by it, losing in a very short amount of time. Later in the episode, Ange single-handedly holds off the entire Wulgaru strike force solo, while Team Rabbits had problems attacking due to the sulfur gas on the moon.
• Day in the Life: Episode 12, follows the main characters around as they do various things on their day off.
• Defensive Feint Trap: During the final battle, several nations of Earth's forces seem to have withdrawn or retreated without orders. Amane is left with limited options due to her diminishing forces, but a short while later, said forces return to the battle, either with reinforcements, or because they were utilizing this trope, luring the Wulgaru forces away to a more favorable position for the humans to attack them from. The timely arrival of said forces give the humans enough of an edge to push their final assault.
• Deadpan Snarker: Every single one of Izuru's teammates snarks at him repeatedly, usually over his very shining aspirations, to which he'll respond with a graceful sigh.
• Death from Above: Suruga uses a BFG in episodes 17 and 18 during Klein's attempted invasion of Earth in an attempt to steal DNA from the school Team Rabbits graduated from. Despite its awesome power, it still takes two hits from it, along with Izuru and Toshikazu stabbing Klein's unit repeatedly, and Tamaki crashing parts of her unit onto him to finally kill him.
• Designer Babies: All members of Team Rabbits.
• The Ditz: Irie
• Drives Like Crazy: Peko in episode 12 when she takes manual control of the car she's riding in with Tamaki and Kei.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Ange, a pilot who joins Team Rabbits in episode 13, is seen very briefly in episode 5, watching Team Doberman and Team Rabbits having a practice match. Ange also makes a brief comment about appearing soon shortly after the match ends. Ange is also seen watching Team Rabbits during the graduation ceremony demonstration in episode 6.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Earth's forces along with Team Rabbits are pushed to the brink to achieve their success in stopping the Wulgaru invasion. While the main characters survive, the humans sacrificed quite a few people to win.
• Epic Fail: In their second mission, a heavily pulicized PR stunt to replace some satellites that were lost in an earlier battle, the team gets ambushed by the Wulgaru. Their ASHMB's special equipment was still undergoing maintenance, leaving them with only light armaments against the enemy's Ace Pilot, forcing the maintaince team to cut corners to get Toshikazu's Blue-2 at least combat ready. The epic fail comes in when Toshizaku, already paralyzed with fear from the ambush, ends up dodging the extra gear launched to him instead of combining it, the footage of which ends up becoming a viral sensation.
• Emotions Versus Stoicism: Amusingly, Team Rabbits teeters more towards the Stoicism side of the can-do attitude found in most teams involved in mecha, reacting to having to aid in the evacuation efforts of the army and civilians hounded by the Wulgaru with dumbfounded and deprecating remarks...even Mr. "Leader" sighs after being chosen as such, though mostly because he expects the reaction and complaints of his team.
• Establishing Character Moment: Team Doberman has one in episode 5, shortly after they deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle to Team Rabbits during a training session. Randy in particular seems to emanate confidence and coolness, and asks Rin about something he says has been bugging him for a while. He then asks for her personal address, and Team Rabbits finds out they're no different from Doberman.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Izuru accidentally does this in episode 15, saying some cool stuff to Toshikazu and Suruga, who both end up blushing.
• Expy: Several. Prince Jiart of the Wulgaru looks like a white haired Rau le Creuset, while Teoria looks and speaks like Lacus Clyne. Hisashi Hirai does have a history of designing visually-similar character across a few series.
  • To be fair, Jiart is more like Griffith from Berserk, and it's not just the hair...
• Exposition Party: Episode 10 is essentially this, where Team Rabbits is filled in on what the Wulgaru are up to and why they're attacking Earth.
• Face Fault: Team Rabbits does this in episode 5 after Randy's "question" to Rin and trying to make a pass at her.
• Fanservice: Episode 12 has two examples. First, Kei and Tamaki are put in various outfits, and secondly, the main character's mechs are all shown launching from their respective carriers in sequence, something that hasn't been seen in its entirety up till this point.
• Final Battle: Begins in episode 22, with Earth's remaining forces unexpectedly running into the Wulgaru fleet while attempting a last ditch effort to destroy the warpgate the latter was using to invade the solar system with.
• Friendly Sniper: Ataru generally provides long-range support from the Gold-4, and keeps his cheery demeanor the entire time.
• Fragile Speedster: The Rose-3 is the fastest and most agile of all the JURIA-equipped AHSMB units...but can't take a hit if its shields fail.
• General Failure: Captain Komine, who assumed he had found an Wulgaru supply route and sent Team Rabbits to destroy it. It turned out, it was a group of heavily-armed recon units. Worse yet, he seems to have a Never My Fault attitude about it.
  • In episode 7 Komine steals Lt. Amane's battle plans and passes it off as his own only to even wreck those when the sudden appearance of the enemy causes him to launch the attack fleet before Lt. Amane believed they were prepared for to counter.
• Glass Cannon: Ataru's Gold-4 is deadly while sniping and bombing from afar, but do not expect much from it at close quarters.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Handicapped Badass Simon Gato.
• Gratuitous English: Often used by the Godinion crew when they're departing for a mission.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Head mechanic Reiko.
• He Knows Too Much: In episode 18, Jiart is discussing something with Rumes regarding secretly attempting to contact Teoria through Daneel. However, Rada was listening in to the conversation, and is quickly found out by Jiart when the latter throws a dagger at the former's hiding spot. He begins to run away in panic, and Rumes makes up the excuse to Garukie that Rada is a traitor and approached him and Jiart with the intention of rebellion. Garukie allows Jiart to take care of the problem, and he kills off Rada before the latter can escape through a warp gate or spill what he overheard to anyone else.
• Heroic Spirit: When all is said and done, Izuru aspires to be The Hero after all (to the disbelieving quips of his team), which comes in handy when it comes to fighting off the enemy they're outnumbered by like, 1:300. Team Rabbits follows, of course.
• Hero of Another Story: Team Doberman. They're a lot like Team Rabbits in some ways, such as goofing around when not in battle, and are rather competent pilots despite not having ASHMB units like the latter team.
• Hope Spot: Episode 8 it looks like the Earth forces are holding the enemy back and their Wave-Motion Gun platform is finally charged enough to fire and destroy the enemy base they came for. A shame that Wulgaru didn't really care and another fleet of ships descends on them and destroys the Wave-Motion Gun before preparing to overwhelm the remaining fleet.
  • Another one occurs at the end of episode 17, After Ataru fires a high powered orbital blast at Klein while the latter is attempting to invade Team Rabbit's old school. Unfortunately for them, the shot doesn't destroy him. In episode 18, Ataru mentions having missed the target.
  • And in episode 19, after embarking on a near suicidal reconnaissance mission, it looks like Patrick is going to make it safety until his suit is suddenly destroyed from behind.
  • Episode 22 The entire episode had Team Rabbits, minus Izuru, battling through fleets of enemies to get to and place a target on the gate they use to entire the Solar System and key to Earth winning/surviving the war. After managing to make it all the way to the gate itself, the Earth forces fire their Wave-Motion Gun only to see it dissipate into nothing because the Wulgaru had installed Deflector Shields that Teoria hadn't known about and leaving the 3 members of Team Rabbits that lead the charge surrounded.
  • Episode 23: Team Rabbits has just destroyed the control system for the barrier, and the Straggle Laser hits the portal dead-center....right before Dolgana destroys it, leaving the gate largely undamaged.
• Human Alien: The Ulgars. Izuru gets to be the first person ever to witness it, and he's suitably unnerved.
• Humans Are Special:
  • In episode 10, after one of the Wulgaru mentions cracking Earth's communications, he says they call themselves "Earthlings". Prince Jiart then says that they should also refer to them as that, rather than lamata, which is what they called every other species they harvested before. His reasoning is that humanity is proving to have superior genes and they should relish the hunt as they slaughter Earthlings.
  • In episode 21, Rumes and Dolgana discuss how humans are unlike the last species they hunted and wiped out, which were only interested in saving themselves. Dolgana mentions that humans often suppress their self-preservation instinct in order to try and protect others, such as what Team Rabbits has done repeatedly by this point.
• Humongous Mecha: While not astronomically large, they are a few stories tall.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Asagi and Anna whenever they're together.
• Idiot Ball: Captain Komine, who in episode 7 reveals the entire GDF battle plan to the press before its taken place, and passes it off as his own, despite Lt. Amane trying to tell him some flaws in the plan. When the Wulgaru attack early, he also orders the GDF to Attack! Attack! Attack!, even though they're not ready yet.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Team Rabbits does this for Izuru in episode 24, especially Kei, when his AHSMB unit starts trying to take over his body to make him continue fighting Jiart even though he's reaching his breaking point by that time. Kei with kindness, the rest of the team follow up with a stream of insults that help break him out of it when that wasn't working fast enough.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Klein in episode 18, in an attempt by Team Rabbits to pin him down long enough so that Gold-4 could fire another shot at him. It works the second time around, and Klein is killed in the resulting blast.
• Ineffectual Loner: Toshikazu charges ahead and...! Gets shot down during the practice mission, unsurprisingly to anyone on his team or out of it.
• Inseries Nickname:
  • Among their fellow students, Team Rabbits is nicknamed "The Fail Five" due to their early inability to work together as a team. When footage of their heroics spreads to boost morale, the media begins calling them the Majestic Princes.
  • In episode 8, an officer makes a comment about "The Comedic Three" when Team Doberman arrives to assist them, while playfully arguing with each other over the radio.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Toshikazu's unit, Blue-1. Prince Jiart uses two of them.
• Killer Rabbit: Team Rabbits.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Apparently happens to all students before they enter the academy.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Toshikazu and Izuru are guilty as charged, if the practice mission (for the former) and the evacuation (for the latter) are anything to go by. This is also Ange's usual modus-operandi after snapping, much to the others' chagrin, but with better results sometimes.
  • Irie does this in episode 8, when Izuru had trouble thinking of what she can do to help the situation.
  • Ange makes use of this as well, often charging headfirst into battle.
• Lightning Bruiser: Blue-1 and Red-5. Red-5, being the Leader unit, is slightly stronger, and can issue commands to the other units. Also virtually any Wulgaru Ace Custom, which are not only capable of dodging just about anything thrown at them, but shrugging off whatever actually lands.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Izuru and Asagi both share Commander Simon's DNA, essentially making them brothers as well as Commander Simon's sons. Izuru also has Teoria's DNA, making her his mother.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Irie's unit, the Rose-3, has this as a main weapon. Some of Earth's ships utilize this as well.
• A Mech by Any Other Name: The AHSMB units, although they will only activate when the pilot with the DNA programmed into them is piloting them. Which shocks quite a few people in episode 20 after Asagi is able to activate Red-5, Izuru's unit.
• Mission Control: Kei's unit, the Purple-2, acts as this in the battlefield, and can issue commands to the other ASHMB units.
• Mistaken for Gay: Izuru mistakes Asagi as this when he tries to tell Izuru that they are actually half brothers. To be fair to Izuru though, Asagi decided to tell him right after he asked if Asagi liked Kei, which of course he denied.
  • Tamaki believed Patrick was gay and didn't realize he liked her until after he died.
• More Dakka: The GDF tends to utilize this on their capital ships. Ange also prefers to fighting using this method, firing massive amounts of shots at the Wulgaru.
• No-Sell:
  • Gold-4 fires a massive shot from a BFG in episode 17 against Klein while he's momentarily stunned after Red-5 forces him to crash on Earth. After the dust settles however, they're all shocked to find out that the massive blast didn't destroy the Wulgaru.
  • Happens again in episode 22, when the humans fire a massive blast from their Wave-Motion Gun, only to have it dissipate completely when hitting the Wulgaru's warpgate due to a shield they installed between the time Teoria left them till now. To make matters worse, three of Team Rabbits are now surrounded deep in the enemy lines shortly afterwards.
• Not Enough to Bury: A given due to the nature of space battles. Shown in the funerals for Randy and Patrick, all that was in their coffins were pictures, some personal effects and clothes.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Team Doberman in episode 5 looks extremely disciplined compared to Team Rabbits during a training exercise, as well as when they rescued the latter in the previous episode. However, during a briefing, Doberman's leader immediately asks for the teacher's address and phone number, and they start playfully bickering with each other, which puts Team Rabbits at some ease when they realize the other team isn't too far off from where they stand.
• Not Worth Killing: In a huge display of Genre Blindness, Prince Jiart of the Wulgaru refuses to finish off Izuru, Ataru and Toshikazu, citing that prey that is easily slain doesn't amuse him. Episode 10 reveals more details on that, since the Wulgaru are harvesting genes they seeded on various planets throughout the galaxy, and he doesn't like hunting prey that doesn't put up much of a fight.
• Oh, Crap!: Quite a few characters have this look on their face in episode 17 after discovering the shot from Gold-4 didn't destroy Klein.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Usually played when the POV switches over to the Wulgaru.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: A lot of people won't let Toshikazu forget him dodging his battle armor.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Prince Jiart treats Izuru like this, since he proved himself to be a Worthy Opponent during their fight in episode 8.
• Only Sane Man: Kei, Lt. Amane and Rin.
• Oral Fixation: Rin has the habit of sticking a lollipop in her mouth from time to time.
• Point Defenseless: Shown in the beginning of episode 1. Living up to its name, the defenses put up an impressive display of firepower; unfortunately it doesn't do much against the Wulagru.
• Pyrrhic Victory:
  • This is probably the reason why the Wulgaru left the battle at the end of the first episode when Team Rabbits is sent out for the first time. While they likely could have overwhelmed the heroes with their sheer numbers at the time, it probably would have cost a lot of their troops, since Team Rabbits was fighting rather fiercely and doing rather well despite their inexperience. At that point they were also at a numerical disadvantage against the humans, and losing too many of their soldiers to capture a remote outpost of little significance wasn't worth the effort.
  • Initially, Earth's forces are numerically superior to the Wulgaru. Unfortunately, they aren't very effective against the aliens, so in pitched battles they often suffer high casualties even when they win. In episode 18, Amane flat out tells Simon that they may need to mass produce the ASHMB units due to their high losses and lowering public morale in the ongoing war. In the same episode, Rin also chews them out for nearly destroying the school in the process of trying to defend it, as well as severely damaging their units. However, she is given a Pet the Dog moment and congratulates them for ultimately stopping the Wulgaru strike force.
• Ragtag Band of Misfits: No better way to describe Team Rabbits, or as those in their academy snark, Fail Five. With a realistic teenaged egotism surrounding each member, and the majority unable to answer when asked about their dream—either bouncing off another teammate's answer or answering superfluously, when push comes to shove, regardless, they follow their leader through thick and thin.
• Ramming Always Works: Amane talks about doing this twice in episode 23 with her flagship. At first she's asked not to by Asagi, as Team Rabbits attempts a plan to ram the warpgate with the front of the Godinion, followed shortly by another blast from Star Rose's Wave-Motion Gun. When that fails, she considers it again, but is stopped this time by Commander Simon, who says he's going to ram the gate with Star Rose itself.
  • Episode 24 reveals that it does in fact work, and the Wulgaru's gate is sealed after Star Rose is rammed into it. Teoria, Daneel, and even Commander Simon who was personally piloting the starbase managed to survive, although the former comments that she had a tough time convincing him to leave.
• Real Robot Genre: Aside from the Super Prototype AHSMB units Team Rabbits uses, Earth's regular forces consists of these mechs. Like the trope suggests, they are just part of the military, and are easily destroyed by the Wulgaru.
  • Even the ASHMB units fall into this, requiring a squad of engineers each, near constant repairs, reloads for their weapons, and still not being a match for the Wulgaru's Ace Customs. The only real Super Robot traits the AHSMB units have is their ability to synchronize based on their pilot's harmonic level. Even then, the insane maneuverability of the frame combined with the JURIA-System means that one can easily over-stress the frame if not careful, with the best-case scenario often leaving the unit performing below par, while the worst-case can mean that the reactor core goes critical.
• Red Shirt Army: Much of the human forces fall into this trope, since they are usually easily destroyed by the Wulgaru despite usually having numerical superiority.
• The Remnant: The remaining Wulgaru forces on the wrong side of the gate in The Movie. They launch a last-ditch attack on earth to grab the DNA stores used to create AHSMB-compatible pilots.
• Retirony: Episode 19 Played straight and subverted for Team Doberman, Patrick asks the others what they want to do after the war and promises to confess to Tamaki after the next mission. His teammate Rakesh shows off a holographic image of his yet discussed fiance. In the end although Rakesh tries to sacrifice himself for Patrick, Patrick still winds up dead along with Randy leaving Rakesh the Sole Survivor of his team at the end of the episode.
• The Reveal: A couple of examples:
  • Humans are descended from the Wulgaru, who seeded various parts of space with the intention of letting them evolve for a while, then harvesting their genes to prolong their own dying species.
  • Asagi finding out that Izuru is genetically his brother, and that his father was Commander Simon. He also learns that Izuru also shares Teoria's DNA, making him half-alien.
  • In episode 21, after Commander Simon is given authority to command the final assault against the Wulgaru warp gate, he reveals that Star Rose is actually The Battlestar, and is large enough to hold all of Earth's remaining forces inside of it.
• Running Gag: Toshikazu's room is the point of gathering for various events later in the series, or just when Team Rabbits wants to hang out together. He always asks why his room is the one used for everything.
• Scooby Stack: Team Rabbits does it in episode 5 after overhearing some students discussing how awful they were in their latest match.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
  • Izuru refuses a retreat order from his superiors in order to save a group of civilians from the Wulgaru. And manages to pull it off, when the Wulgaru retreat from the area.
  • He defies orders again in episode 23 when he is ordered by Rin not to fight because of a health condition that could kill him if he puts too much stress on his body again. He argues that he wants to protect his friends and family, particularly as Jiart was attacking and preventing the rest of Team Rabbits from escaping. And he also has a lot of manga to draw, so he won't die. Probably.
• Sentai: Follows this trope to a T by having a color-coded main team, as well as patterning many of the characters after traditional Sentai positions.
  • Izuru acts as the Red of the group, being The Leader and The Hero. He's also the only one to unlock his Super Mode during the series, which is another classic Red Ranger trope. Ironically enough his voice actor actually played a blue ranger in a Sentai series.
  • Toshikazu is the Blue of the team and as such carries many of the traditional Blue tropes, such as being the coolheaded counterpart to Izuru's rashness. Much later, his voice actor would actually play a Red Ranger that isn't a leader.
  • Tamaki is the Pink and thus gets the position of The Heart of the team.
  • Kei is associated with the rather rare (in Sentai, at least) color of purple, but she does fit well with being an experienced member (like most Purples were in Sentai). She also fits the role of the more serious female on the team that compliments the usually bubbly Pink.
  • Ataru stands as the Yellow of the team, which is known to be somewhat of a dorkish position in some Sentai shows (and in his voice actor's Sentai debut, he was a dorky Sixth Ranger!) and as such fits Ataru's position of The Smart Guy very well.
  • Ange is the Sixth Ranger of the team, so Ange naturally gets the usual Sixth tropes: being very powerful but also of unclear morals (or in Ange's case, mental stability).
• Serial Romeo: Irie's basic schtick in life, and a shtick in life she basically fails at, to her deep and affecting woes.
• Sequential Artist: Izuru's got the manga aspiration passions, with a sketchbook filled with drawings like Power Rangers protecting innocent princessy civilians with the theme of, in his own words, "Love and Justice." Cue Toshizaku's sigh.
• Shoot the Medic First: While Kei isn't a healer per se, she gets targeted first by the Wulgaru strike force in episode 13. Her teammates have trouble helping her due to the sulfur gas present on the moon they're fighting on, until Ange snaps and takes the aliens on single-handedly.
• Shout-Out:
  • Izuru's callsign is Red-5, the same callsign used by Luke Skywalker.
  • The restaurant in episode 16 is named Red Comet. A reference to Char Aznable's nickname.
  • In episode 3 of the dub, Reika says "I can't change the laws of physics!"
  • The show is often considered 'If Super Sentai has a Real Robot Genre spin-off', while lacking the usual Monster of the Week formula and "Super Sentai" Stance, it should be noted that the robots are Color-Coded for Your Convenience and has a naming scheme that looks like a variation from Choudenshi Bioman ("Color"-"Number", except the combination is scrambled), and two of the characters (Izuru and Suruga) are voiced by two people who are more known as Sentai actors for the time (another would follow later)
• Space Station: Star Rose, where much of the series takes place outside of combat, and where Team Rabbits lives after graduating. Episode 21 reveals that it is actually The Battle Star, and is large enough to house all of Earth's remaining forces and spaceships while heading for the Wulgaru warp gate.
• Suicide Mission: Team Doberman's search for the Wulgaru gate on experimental craft in episode 19.
• Super Prototype:
  • The ASHMB mechs. They are leaps and bounds above combat ability compared to anything else Earth's forces have, and are the only units capable of standing toe to toe with the Wulgaru.
  • In episode 13, a new ASHMB arrives to reinforce Team Rabbits. Its so advanced compared to the first generation that Team Rabbits uses that it doesn't need a maintenance team the same way the other mechs do. Its combat ability also seems to be above even the ones Team Rabbits uses, and in a mock battle during episode 13, easily wins against Izuru's mech.
  • Team Rabbit's ASHMB units are an improved design based on the data collected by Doberman Team's Rhinos.
  • The ASHMB themselves are based on White 0, a prototype unit theoretically capable of fulfilling all combat roles, but in practice so complicated that no one ever managed to pilot it successfully. At the climax of the The Movie Asagi is able to put it to some use with extensive technical assistance from Kei.
• Super Mode: Both Izuru's Red 5 and Jiart's personal unit display one in the final episode. The Movie also gives one to Asagi's Blue 1.
• Super Robot: The ASHMB units are essentially this. They're so advanced that they're the only units capable of standing against the Wulgaru's forces. The reason for that is because Teoria defected from the Wulgaru and shared their technology with Earth, believing that what the Wulgaru are doing in harvesting different species is bad.
• Taking the Bullet: Izuru does this for Kei in episode 4, blocking some Wulgaru shots intended for her. While he protects her, his ASHMB is severely damaged and unable to move. Fortunately for all of them, Commander Simon anticipated something going wrong, so he has Team Doberman pull a Big Damn Heroes moment and rescues them all.
• Tomato in the Mirror: One for humanity as a whole, as they're actually genetic descendants of the Wulgaru, meaning they basically share the same DNA. The MJP pilots themselves are actually engineered from a mix of regular human and pure Wulgaru DNA.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Kei and Irie.
• To Serve Man: While it's not outright stated that the Wulgaru plan to eat humans, they do mention "harvesting" them, which would make it fit this trope, since they need humanity's genes for their own survival and consider fighting the humans to be "hunting".
• True Companions: Episode 7 has shades of this. Izuru's pit crew tries to help make him feel like he's a family member. And when each of Team Rabbits gets their own room aboard the ship, they all end up spending time together in the same room, even after they switch to someone else's room.
• Two Girls to a Team: Again, Kei and Irie.
• Unusual Euphemism: Ataru hits on women...by comparing them to various firearms. In loving detail.
• Visible Sigh: If nothing else, Team Rabbits receives an A++ for Team Effort In Sighing (...at each others' Fail Five antics).
• Wave-Motion Gun: The laser weapon station used in episodes 7 and 8.
  • A smaller one, modified by Reika to be used on the ASHMB units, is utilized in episode 17 against Klein. Despite its massive blast, it doesn't destroy him.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Episode 16 shows that the various Earth factions, while largely working together, are still secretly trying to gain the upper hand against the other nations once the Wulgaru are defeated. Amane has to convince them to keep working together in episode 20 when she begins planning a final assault on the gate the Wulgaru are using to invade Earth with.
  • Crops up again in episode 22, when Amane is notified that some fleets seem to be deliberately lagging behind, likely to conserve their strength while other nations suffer casualties. So she leads the charge, with the intention of defeating the Wulgaru, and shaming them into not having contributed anything should Earth win this fight. It seems to work, as she's informed moments later that the stragglers are now catching up to the main assault fleet.
• We Do the Impossible: Team Rabbits was assigned several missions, some of which were almost guaranteed to fail, such as causing an overwhelming force of Wulgaru to withdraw from a defenseless space colony, and destroying a heavily guarded Wulgaru supply base, and somehow managed to do it. While they didn't always succeed, such as with the satellite mission in episode 2, they've certainly seen their share of battle and live to tell about it.
• We Have Reserves: Lord Rada, an Wulgaru officer, seems to have this mentality.
  • As does Captain Komine, who doesn't care about Team Rabbits' lives and is more than willing to send them to fight a losing battle simply because he's too much of a Jerkass to admit he messed up.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: Hilariously, in episode 15, the other characters are disturbed by not only how cool Izuru is acting while hospitalized, but that his manga is actually good. The shock of passing out from eating one of Kei's desserts brings him back to normal.
• Wham Episode: Episode 8, when Prince Jiart is attacking Izuru, he manages to penetrate Izuru's mecha, and part of the cockpit is exposed. Surprisingly, Prince Jiart halts the attack and displays his own cockpit to Izuru, and decides to let Izuru go. Izuru, meanwhile, is shocked that a Wulgaru looks like a human, and even spoke, and notices that he strongly resembles the girl he saw in episode 3. Earlier in the episode, Team Rabbits was discussing if the Wulgaru were Human Aliens or Starfish Aliens.
  • Episode 10 reveals Teoria, the silver-haired girl seen in the opening and running away from Izuru a couple of times. She explains why the Wulgaru are attacking Earth, since humans are just one of many "seeds" the Wulgaru planted a long time ago, and came to harvest them. However, her mother didn't like the plan, so she made Teoria escape and bring technology to Earth to help them fight against the Wulgaru. The Wulgaru also discuss superior genes, as seen by Team Rabbits putting up a fierce fight during previous episodes.
  • In episode 15, Commander Simon reveals to Rin that the AHSMB units share the same DNA as their pilots. As such, while it enhances their combat abilities, in a worst case scenario, it could end up overwriting the pilot's personality. The other characters notice Izuru is acting a bit too cool ever since his previous battle. This causes conflicts with his AHSMB's "personality" while fighting Jiart in the final battle.
  • Episode 19 has Randy and Patrick dying in battle.
  • Episode 20 has Teoria publicly revealing her existence to the GDF, the reveal that Izuru was engineered from Teoria's DNA, and Izuru and Asagi both sharing Commander Simon's DNA, which basically makes them brothers.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: In episode 11, Team Rabbits infiltrates a crashed Wulgaru ship on Mars, escorting Daneel through it to obtain any intel they can before the ship collapses. They find some meager resistance from a few of the Wulgaru units, but they are very easy to pick off or are already dead, and Izuru hesitates to shoot one after seeing Prince Jiart pop out of one during their battle in episode 8. Daneel explains to them that the lower class Wulgaru soldiers don't have a free will, and simply follow orders until they die. When Izuru says that's terrible, Daneel makes an analogy about a broken machine that can't be fixed being thrown away, and how the higher class Wulgaru view the lower class as such.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Izuru in his attempts to become a hero.
• World of Buxom: And how! We have Irie, Reika, Teoria isn't so bad, and Suzukaze as well!
  • Then there's Lutiel and, eventually, Patricia.
• Worthy Opponent: The Wulgaru Prince Jiart that Izuru fights in episode 8 lets him go rather than finishes him off after the latter's cockpit is broken into from a powerful strike. Both were kind of shocked when they saw each other for the first time.
• Wrench Wench: Reika.
• You Are in Command Now: Toshikazu briefly in episode 8 when Izuru is ordered to intercept an enemy mecha. He does surprisingly well at it, giving out fairly competent orders despite the hesitation he has shown in all other activities since the start of the series.