Series / Denji Sentai Megaranger

Denji Sentai Megaranger (Electromagnetic Squadron Megaranger) is the twenty-first installment in the Super Sentai series, running from 1997 to 1998. This was the first Sentai to be given a Sunday morning timeslot, beginning with Episode 8, along with expanding its episodes' runtime back to 30 minutes for the first time since Dynaman. The Title Theme Tune was performed by Naoto Fūga.

Kenta Date is a high-school underachiever who enjoys two things: eating yakiniku and playing the "Megaranger" arcade video game. One day, a couple of recruiters show up. It turns out that the Megaranger game is really a simulation intended to recruit people to become actual Megarangers. Kenta is the first person to be good enough at the game to be recruited. While Dr. Eikichi Kubota tries to talk Kenta into accepting, the Earth is invaded by enforcers of the Wicked Electric Kingdom of Nezirejia, invaders from the Twisted Dimension. Due to the emergency, the Megaranger gear is given to Kenta and four of his classmates who happened to be in the area. And the battle begins...

The heroes and their gear are themed after different pieces of digital technology. Manages to avoid being too Totally Radical given the show was made when computers were first becoming mainstream, but technology still marches on.

The series would be adapted into the sixth season of Power Rangers: Power Rangers in Space, and is the 6th Super Sentai to see a US release in October 2017. It can be streamed for free at Shout! Factory TV.

Not to be confused with Power Rangers Megaforce, the Power Rangers counterparts to Tensou Sentai Goseiger and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.^note The Power Rangers Megaforce have been referred to as "Mega Rangers" on occasion. Also not to be confused with two similarly-named older series Denshi Sentai Denziman or Choudenshi Bioman of 1980s.

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Recurring Super Sentai tropes:

• Alas, Poor Villain: Doctor Hinelar created Shibolena as a Replacement Goldfish for his daughter, Shizuka, to ease the pain of her loss. This is actually subverted in that it was a loss that he himself caused.
  • Even more sad as when Shibolena died, her body exploded right before his eyes. He grieved for the loss of her and Yugande (who was killed shortly before she died), and during the final battle, with him the last villain standing, he called for them to watch him the same way the heroes are more prone to doing when avenging someone who suffered Death by Origin Story.
  • You'll feel bad for all of them (except Guirail) by the end, as Yugande risks using an unstable powerup without being asked to due to his Undying Loyalty toward Hinelar. Shibolena cares for him enough to take a fatal blow to save him. However, he's so enraged at her injury that he attacks the Rangers again though he's no longer in any condition to, and that's what leads to his death. Then we have Shibolena's last words before she dies, saying she wishes she could have stayed by Dr. Hinelar's side forever. Then he has to watch his daughter die again. By the end when Hinelar has lost everyone he cares about and finds his body is twisting upon itself due to his time in the Twisted Dimension, it's no wonder he tries to pull a Taking You with Me. He really has nothing left. And on top of this, It's not (necessarily) like Samejima asked to be warped into an evil madman in the first place. Entering the Twisted Dimension was an ill-advised experiment but nothing evil... at least not in or of itself (after all, it's implied that he may have been a madman of sorts in the first place).
• All Your Powers Combined: The Multi-Attack Rifle. In a subversion, it is formed from all but Kenta's weapon, the Drill Saber. It consists of the Mega Rod, the Mega Tomahawk, the Mega Sling, and the Mega Capture.
  • Canary Nezilar steals all the Megaranger weapons minus the Mega Sling, allowing him to combine the Drill Sniper Custom with the Mega Rod, Mega Tomahawk and Mega Capture. However, he never gets to show what exactly it can do because the Megarangers trick him into thinking he can only make it work with a password.
• Bifurcated Weapon: The Mega Snipers.^note Primarily a gun, but it can either split into two smaller guns or combine with a Megaranger's personal weapon into a "Sniper" gun.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": "M" is for Megaranger.
• By the Power of Grayskull!:
  • "Install! Megaranger!
  • Yuusaku has "Keitaizer! Install!", named from his Transformation Trinket.
• Calling Your Attacks: A Super Sentai tradition.
• Color Character: This Sentai goes back to "[team prefix] [English color]", starting a trend which lasts all the way up to Gokaiger.
• Combining Mecha:
  • Mega Ship + Mega Shuttle = Galaxy Mega
  • Ro Voyager 1 + Shuttle Voyager 2 + Rocket Voyager 3 + Saucer Voyager 4 + Tank Voyager 5 = Mega Voyager
• Cool Bike: Mega Silver's Auto Slider, which can transform into a hoverboard much like the Cyber Sliders rode by the main team.
• Crossover: Megaranger vs. Carranger, where the Megarangers get the exclusive Megatector armors.
• Evil Will Fail: Hinelar successfully used the Nezirangers to kill Javious and take over Nezirejia. Unfortunately for him, it turns out the Nezirejia's home dimension was an extension of Javious, and anyone whose spends a notable amount of time in said dimension will eventually have their bodies collapse on themselves if they spend too much time away from it. It's unknown if it could apply to Nezirejia's native residents (such as Yugande, Shibolena, or Bibidebi), but Hinelar suffers these effects first-hand. Unable to circumvent this terrible side effect, he ultimately ends up choosing to die in his final suicide attack, if only to ensure he kills the Megarangers for ruining everything he attempted to accomplish across the season. But this is only due to the fact that he truly has nothing left, after his conquest to take over Earth not only ended in failure, but cost him both of his most beloved creations (Yugande and Shibolena, who were killed in the penultimate episode). Had they survived, Hinelar may have tried to find a means of stopping the Nezirejia dimension's effect on him. But after their deaths, he ultimately dedicates his last moments to petty revenge, ensuring his death.
  • This also applies to his machinations being ruined by his own creations, namely the Nezirangers, who managed to endure as spirits even after they had been destroyed and their true purpose had been fulfilled. Hinelar had actually succeeded in capturing the Megarangers in data cards, but the Nezirangers, determined to fight them personally, used his machine to recreate their bodies and then force Hinelar to fall back while they released the Megarangers, thus enabling the Megarangers to destroy Hinelar City and his ambitions along with it.
• Finishing Move: The Megarangers have plenty. The Final Shoot, which consists of the Megarangers firing their Mega Snipers combined with their assigned weapons in conjuction at the Nezirejian in question. The Digital Combination, which consists of the Megarangers all assaulting the monster at once with their assigned weapons. Later on, they use a combo attack with the Drill Sniper Custom and the Multi-Attack Rifle.
  • Galaxy Mega has a whole array. The Mega Flying Cutter (the most frequently used), the Mega Side Cutter, the Mega Dash Cutter, the Mega Flash Arrow, the Galaxy Lance, the Electromagnetic Whip, the Booster Rifle... in fact, it has the second highest amount of finishers used by any Humongous Mecha in Super Sentai.
  • Delta Mega is armed with twin Gatling Blasters on each hand, which it uses to barrage its opponents. It's not entirely a finisher move, but it can team up with Galaxy Mega to combine its Gatling Blasters with the Booster Rifle's firepower.
  • Super Galaxy Mega has the Super Galaxy Knuckle, where it fires a twin Rocket Punch through a Nezire Beast's gut.
  • Mega Voyager has the Voyager Spartan, where it fires the Rocket Voyager-3's rocket as a giant missile!
  • Though not necessarily a finisher either, Mega Winger carries the Winger Cannon, which it uses to barrage its opponents with laser fire.
• Home Base: INET base.
• Humongous Mecha: After six straight shows that started with five-piece combinations, the Galaxy Mega was the first main robot since the Five Robo that was combined from less than five mechas. In fact, the Galaxy Mega is the first main robot since the Bio Robo to be formed from only two mechas. This was later remedied with the introduction of the Mega Voyager, in addition to support robots for both.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All episodes use excited episode titles in the form of two sentences, the first being a statement, and the second vaguely describing the episode's highlight/plot.
• In the Name of the Moon: All shout their respective names, followed by them announcing their squadron name.
  Kenta: Mega Red!
  Kouichirou: Mega Black!
  Shun: Mega Blue!
  Chisato: Mega Yellow!
  Miku: Mega Pink!
  Megarangers (in unison): Denji Sentai... Megaranger!
• King Mook: The Monster of the Week in Episode 14 was Boss Kunekune, identical to the other Mooks except for the fact that he is distinctive by his black head and Psychic Powers. His idea of Make My Monster Grow was having his flunkies pile on top of him, forming a giant mass of Kunekune, big enough for the Rangers to call in Galaxy Mega to deal with it.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Kenta is initially the only one with the Battle Riser, which allows, amongst other things, the formation of Super Galaxy Mega. We're also told his computer-symbol allows him to program any skill into himself.
• Make My Monster Grow: Bibidebi's only reason for living. When a monster is beaten, he beams down and bites them with a growth virus.
  Bibidebi: Giganto Virus Injection! (Bite!)
• Mecha Expansion Pack:
  • Galaxy Mega + Delta Mega = Super Galaxy Mega
  • Mega Winger doesn't actually combine with anything, but it can lend its Mega Wing attachment to the Mega Voyager, allowing it to become the Wing Mega Voyager.
• A Mech by Any Other Name: The Voyager Machines, the components of the Mega Voyager.
• Mini Dress Of Power: Part of the Megaranger girls' suits.
• Monster of the Week: The animal-like Nezire Beasts, later upgraded into the more robotic Psycho-Nezilar following Guirail's death.
• Mooks: The Kunekune Soldiers.
• Story Arc: The story has several over the course of the series. These ones stand out the most.
  • Recruitment Arc:^note The introduction to the main cast, the Megarangers' recruitment and life adjustments upon the team's formation. Episodes 1-3
  • Guirail Arc:^note The introduction to Nezirejia's Sixth Ranger, Guirail, as well as the development of Delta Mega. Episodes 19-21
  • Mega Silver Arc:^note The introduction of Yuusaku Hayakawa/Mega Silver, and I.N.E.T.'s complications with him. Episodes 24 and 25
  • Mega Voyager Arc:^note Guirail's downfall, as well as the completion and deployment of the Voyager Machines. Episodes 30-32
  • Mega Winger Arc:^note Mega Silver's official integration into the Megaranger team, and the reveal of his personal mech, Mega Winger. Episodes 35 and 36
  • Neziranger Arc: ^note The Megarangers' fight with the Jaden Sentai Neziranger, as well as Hinelar's plan to destroy Javious. Episodes 38-43
  • Hinelar City Arc:^note The Megarangers' endeavor to destroy Hinelar's ambitious utopia on Earth. Episodes 45-48.
  • Finale Arc:^note Hinelar's final bid for revenge to destroy the Megarangers after the destruction of Hinelar City. Episodes 49-51.
• Super Mode: This series features three of them, with two of these being more the Deadly Upgrade trope, as they can potentially kill the user:
  • Miku gets one for Episode 17, aptly named Super Miku, after being hit by a strengthening serum meant for Toad Nezire and his brethren. This gives her the ability to use all of her teammates' weaponry to maximum effectiveness, while enhancing her IQ to 800 points and turn her normally ditzy personality into a more calm and collected one. However, she had to turn back to normal, as these effects would ultimately kill her.
  • Yugande gets one in the finale, called Burning Yugande, in which he literally Turns Red. This upgrade increases his power, but uses it up more almost immediately, causing him enough strain to potentially kill him. And sadly, it does end up getting him Killed Off for Real.
  • The entire Megaranger team gets the Megatector armor in Megaranger vs Carranger.
• Supervillain Lair: The Death Neziro, a gigantic, satellite-shaped station in the middle of the Nezirejia dimension, which is half-solid, half Tron Lines. When Javious is destroyed, the Death Neziro ends up in the real world and becomes fully solid. Hinelar modifies it for the finale to transform into his personal Humongous Mecha, Grand Neziros.
• Super Wrist-Gadget: The Battle Riser, which is assigned only to Kenta. It allows him to charge his fist up with powerful energy before executing a variety of incredibly powerful melee strikes. It also allows him to call Delta Mega. While Kenta is usually the only one who uses it, Miku gets an opportunity to try it out in Episode 29 against Pig Nezire. Canary Nezilar gets ahold of the device as well in Episode 37, to pull off a cartoonish Canary Chop and Canary Punch.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Used from time to time.
• Title Scream: Done by the Transformation Trinket, of all things.
• Transformation Name Announcement:
  • "Electronic Combination! Complete! Galaxy Mega!"
  • "Super Electronic Combination! Complete! Super Galaxy Mega!"
  • "Galactic Combination! Complete! Mega Voyager!
  • "Electric Shock Transformation! Mega Winger!"
• Transformation Trinket: A trope applying to all Super Sentai, but notable here in that Yuusaku's Transformation Trinket is the very first use of a cell phone as such in Super Sentai, which has since become ubiquitous to the point of absurdity. Justified here given that the show's entire theme is digital technology; later Sentai completely lack any justification for their nature or magic based heroes using phones in defiance of their themes without even a Hand Wave.
• Transforming Mecha:
  • Delta Mega, which has a shuttle mode.
  • Mega Winger, Mega Silver's mecha, has three modes (fighter, tank and jet).
• Two Girls to a Team: The seventh Yellow and Pink duo and the third one in a row. This was the last Sentai team with two female rangers at the same time for the next six years before Dekaranger brought it back.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: As is the norm for Super Sentai, we generally have Nezirejia sending out a MOTW with an Evil Plan Once an Episode, with our heroes then arriving on the scene to stop them.

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Tropes specific to Denji Sentai Megaranger:

• And Then What?: Averted. The Nezirangers are aware they’ll be scrapped once Hinelar doesn’t need them anymore. Part of the reason they fail to kill the Megarangers is due to wanting to live.
• Arm Cannon: Delta Mega has gatling guns on each arm.
• Avenging The Villains: Hizumina's motivation in the VS Movie.
• Badass Bookworm: Yuusaku. Designs mecha by day, beats down mooks barehanded and untransformed... er... also by day. It helps that he works out.
• Breather Episode:
  • Episode 29 features the infamous Diet Crepe song and the stupid looking Pig Nezire. It takes place just before Guirail's final battles and consequent destruction.
  • Episode 37 features the comical Canary Nezilar stealing Chisato's voice, causing her to sound like an old man. This episode is featured before the appearance of the Nezirangers, and with it the start of Dr. Hinelar's endgame.
• Catchphrase: "Game Over!", and variations such as "It's Game Over for you!", said before destroying the Monster of the Week with Galaxy Mega or Super Galaxy Mega. This was dropped when they switched to using Mega Voyager.
• Child Soldiers: How Professor Kubota views the Megarangers, since he never meant to recruit high school students in the first place (the Nezirejia's invasion left him with no choice). In some episodes, he blames himself for the situations they get into.
• Cool Old Guy: Professor Kubota, the mentor of the team, is this. His trust in the Megaranger team is unwavering, despite them being high school students he never meant to recruit in the first place, and he is certainly not afraid to enter the battlefield himself should the need arise.
• Cool Starship: The Megaship and Delta Mega.
• Cool Sword:
  • Mega Red's Drill Saber is a sword with a drill on the end. It is the weapon he uses to kill Yugande and Hizumina... and the weapon he accidentally kills Shibolena with.
  • The Galaxy Mega's Mega Saber. In a sense. The Galaxy Mega has the second-highest number of sword finishers in Sentai history, losing only to the semi-sentient Bio Robo.
  • Yugande's Dark Crisis also qualifies. It is a large curved sword with the ability to perform element-based attacks by pressing certain buttons on its hilt.
• Cool Teacher: Ken Ooiwa. While he first appears to be a slacker, who rather stays in bed than teach his students, he certainly cares for them and gives good advice about how to face life's problems. What really cements him as cool, is his attitude when faced by a Monster of the Week. Said monster, Mole Nezire, wanted to have a precious meteorite Ooiwa had in his possession that could potentially destroy an entire city, resulting in Ooiwa eating it to prevent said thing from happening. He is also one of the few teachers voluntarily staying at school after many other teachers left due to Nezirejia's more aggressive attacks. His reasoning was that there should always be someone looking out for the students still wanting to stay. After the Nezirejia managed to turn almost the whole school against the Megarangers by revealing their identities, Ooiwa is the only teacher maintaining his trust in the team and even managed to rally his class to cheer for the Megaranger.
• Compressed Hair: Many of Shibolena's disguises feature her with long hair. Justified that it's more like a transformation than disguise.
• Creepy Centipedes: Centipede Nezire is not only creepy, but is a rather formidable foe as well, due to his ability to summon illusions of fallen Nezire Beasts. He is also able to grow by himself without Bibidebi's help.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Pig Nezire from Episode 29. He's goofy as all heck, but he still dominates the Rangers in every straight fight, even whacking Galaxy Mega upside its head with just a frying pan.
• Crying Wolf: Shinya, a boy who Miku befriends in Episode 14, is apparently notorious for telling lies, such as saying he knows Mega Pink of the Megarangers when he doesn't. When he sees bunches of Kunekune Soldiers taking up residence at the apartment building he lives in, no one believes him until Miku asks him about it. After they take down Boss Kunekune, Miku even morphs into Mega Pink to convince Shinya's sorry friends that he is friends with her.
• Dancing Theme: The second ending theme, "Bomb Dancing Megaranger."^note "Bomb" here may be a mistranslation or a pun on the fact that it should be Bon dance (bon-odori).
• Darker and Edgier: Especially in comparison to its predecessor, Carranger. In one episode, the Megarangers befriend Komutan, a baby Nezirejian who is actually rather kind compared to the others they've seen. And then they watch him get killed in front of them by his elder brother, Anglerfish Nezire. Don't worry, they avenge him. Not to mention all of Guirail's plan involve despicable tactics such as human shields and mass poisonings. Then towards the end, Nezirejia exposes the Megarangers' identities, which leads to their school and the entire town turning on them.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Kenta sings some of the opening theme to himself while playing the Megaranger arcade game in Episode 8. He hums it again again while riding his bike in Episode 24.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • The first couple episodes have the Megarangers bringing the Kunekune Soldiers and Nezire Beasts they fight into some weird virtual reality alternate dimension when they defeat them. This is never explained.
  • The first few transformation sequences show kids reacting to the Megaranger characters vanishing from their arcade game. It wouldn't be until a few episodes in that the more familiar "MEGA[color] READY" sequence would be used.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The last arc, in general. The Nezirejia managed to expose the Megarangers' identity to the school, and this in turn causes everyone to drive the Megarangers away from their school, even if they're model students like Kouichirou or not-so-insufferable geniuses like Shun, and everyone lost their will to fight on. But the Nezirejia still continued their assault to humanity, so the Megarangers pick up their resolve to fight on, save mankind and in the same process, restore their reputation that they're not bad students, but fighting to save their asses. It works, and they're welcomed back, and able to graduate.
• Easy Amnesia: Happens to Shun in Episode 30.
• Egg McGuffin: Komutan in Episode 23, due to the fact that Anglerfish Nezire needs him to gain more power.
• Eldritch Abomination: Javious. We don't find out his true nature until after he's Killed Off for Real, but it's a doozy. After his death, the Death Neziro shakes a lot, and suddenly it's in real space instead of that swirly zone, and it's no longer half Tron Lines. Shibolena asks what happened to the Twisted Dimension, and Dr. Hinelar tells her that it's gone. Javious himself was the whole dimension, a being so powerful and alien as to be a world unto himself. And now that he has been destroyed, the villains are now in the real world.
• Elemental Powers: The Neziranger's true forms each have one.
  • Nezi Red/Nezi Phantom has Playing with Fire.
  • Nezi Black/Nezi Vulgar has Dishing Out Dirt.
  • Nezi Blue/Nezi Bizarre is An Ice Person.
  • Nezi Yellow/Nezi Sophia ^note sort of has Blow You Away.
  • Nezi Pink/Nezi Jealous has Green Thumb.
• Elite Mook: Boss Kunekune, the Monster of the Week in Episode 14.
• Enemy Civil War: Guirail and Yugande clash over Guirail's underhanded tactics vs. Yugande's more honorable methods. It hits the fan when Guirail gets Yugande severely injured by using him as a Human Shield against the Super Galaxy Mega's finisher. Hinelar then decides to end it by offering Guirail a power-up in the form of a Nezire Source Capsule, promising Guirail that he will become incredibly powerful. But it turns out it's really a Psycho Serum that turns Guirail into a mindless One-Winged Angel. As a result, Guirail wreaks a lot of havoc and trashes the Super Galaxy Mega, but his reign of terror eventually comes to an end: he is soon the first to be killed by the Megarangers' Mid-Season Upgrade mecha, Mega Voyager. All of this happened because at least Hinelar had formed a strong bond/companionship with his creations (Shibolena and Yugande) and would take care of them greatly. Guirail does not, so he learns the hard way what happens when some 'newcomer' not made by him tried to double-cross his 'family'.
• Entitled Bastard: The entire town not only turns on the Megarangers when their identities are exposed, but even demand that they still protect them while doing so.
• Evil Is Petty: After the Megarangers destroyed Hinelar City, Hinelar focused the remaining episodes on getting revenge on them.
• Fairytale Wedding Dress: In Episode 16, Miku bought one when everyone thought they were going to die, thanks to Poison Moth Nezire's toxic dust. After the plot was resolved, it was discovered by Chisato, who teases her on whom Miku planned to wear it for.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: There are several, usually involving impalement from Galaxy Mega. Special mention goes to Mole Nezire, who is impaled by the Galaxy Mega's Mega Saber via the Electromagnetic Whip to be stuck by the saber, then lifted into the air, still impaled on the blade and screaming as he starts to combust. Geez.
  • Javious' death is pretty unnerving. When it reaches the point that too much of his energy has been drained by the Nezirangers, his CGI eyeball gets way too close to the screen (all the while screaming Hinelar's name) before he explodes into tiny pieces.
• Fragile Speedster: Chisato, which she inherits from the Mega Yellow gear.
• Giant Mook: King Kunekune, which is Boss Kunekune surrounded by a "body" of Kunekunes.
• Girlish Pigtails: Miku. Surprisingly, she lost it when she reappears in Gaorangers vs. Super Sentai. Her short hairdo shows that She's All Grown Up.
• Gratuitous English: The opening (and the transformation sequence) gives us this garbled mess:
  Tighten up reality gangster
  Stigma through idiot hearing
  Keep frustration clear
  Patience open ahead
  Getting away with it lead
  Some distant memory drove
  Get the message
  Indiscipline all remains
  Wish double editorials cover
  Under stress new canoe
  Primal tribal
  Thrak shifting sands (Usually obscured by the main text of "MEGA[insert color here] READY").^note Several of these lines were grafted from song titles from the debut album of British dance band Electronic (Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr(!)).
  • Those are kept in Power Rangers in Space, with the only change in the sequence is by covering "MEGA[insert color here] READY" with "MORPHING COMPLETE".
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: The only Super Sentai series with Two Girls to a Team that plays the trope straight: Mega Yellow owns the Mega Sling, a laser slingshot. And Mega Pink owns the Mega Capture, a satellite dish-like gun. Meanwhile, the boys have a drill sword (the Drill Saber), a rod (the Mega Rod) and a tomahawk (the Mega Tomahawk).
• High School: All the Megarangers — except Yuusaku — are high-school students.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Dr. Hinelar's creations, the Nezirangers, who paved the way for his ambitious utopia, Hinelar City, ended up being the cause of his ambition being undone.
• Home Base: Subverted - Nezirejia forces destroy INET's Earth Base very early on, so for most of the show, Megaranger's 120-man strong support team is based aboard the Mega Ship. They're in there during battles as well.
• Hypocritical Humor: With a Freudian Slip to match. The beginning of Episode 29 has Miku chowing down, and her club partners find her speedily devouring her lunch. The exchange below follows.
  Kenta: Miku, did you just get fatter?
  (Beat...)
  Miku: Fat?
  Shun: Kenta, you shouldn't bemean a woman's heart with words like that!
  Miku (quietly): Shun... did I get fatter?
  Shun: Yep — I mean, just a little!
  (Miku, disheartened, groans.)
• Idiot Hero: Megaranger began this trope in Sentai (in a non-parodic way) with Kenta. It's now used at least every other series, but Kenta is one of the only ones to actually justify his seeming idiotic nature with Obfuscating Stupidity.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Galaxy Mega occasionally doles this out to several Nezire Beasts via a normal stab with the Mega Saber, or by a charged-up finisher.
  • Super Galaxy Mega's Super Galaxy Knuckle is a Rocket Punch version of this.
  • Mad Guirail does this to Galaxy Mega with a huge shard of metal while the Megarangers are tracking down the Voyager Machines. After Guirail is destroyed, they have to repair Galaxy Mega... and then Burning Yugande impales it again. They repair it in time for the Ginga/Mega team-up.
• Ironic Echo: Guirail constantly claims that "to defeat the Megarangers, we must do whatever it takes." This is exactly what Hinelar and Shibolena said after the Super Serum Hinelar gave to Guirail is taking effect, and turning him into a mindless berserker at cost of power. Shibolena brutally reminds him of this before leaving him to slowly lose his mind to the super serum.
• Jack of All Stats: Kenta and Miku have the most versatile power sets of the five (later 6), and both of them can use the Battle Riser. Kenta was even told by Dr. Kubota early on that his role was to be the most balanced out in abilities.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: Subverted. The Megaranger arcade games were developed to find combatants worthy of the warrior program that Dr. Eikichi Kubota is developing. When they meet Kenta, the highest ranked player, Dr. Kubota is incredibly excited to meet Kenta in-person. However, Dr. Kubota comes to realize that for the mids 90's, a person extremely talented at an arcade game is so because that's all he does. And Kenta seems lazy, ditzy, and is easily won over by free food. Kenta is a good person at heart and he makes a great Megaranger, but Dr. Kubota's expectations are off based on what he knows from Kenta's data only.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Only for North American viewers who had already seen Power Rangers in Space (and by extension, the finale of Power Rangers Turbo). NASADA in this series is the traditional Sentai base^note As opposed to the Power Rangers version, which is an actual Expy of NASA., which is destroyed by the Nezirejia in the first episode, forcing everyone to take the Mega Shuttle to the Mega Ship, which becomes the show's base from that point onward.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Mega Voyager was this for the heroes. Yugande's repaired form, and the switch from normal Nezire Beasts to the more cyborg-like Psycho-Nezilar for Monsters Of The Week was this for the villains.
• Mighty Glacier: Kouichirou, inherited from the Mega Black avatar.
• Mr. Fanservice: Yuusaku can qualify as one, given he's tall, tanned, and well-built.
• Ms. Fanservice: Chisato and Miku are quite attractive in their own rights, as both get thigh focus, panty shots, and swimsuit scenes each. Miku is more the small, slender girly-girl type. Chisato, however, is more mature in form, and is described as buxom by Miku. And when we see her wear a bathing suit in Episode 17, Chisato does have noticeable cleavage. But Shibolena especially qualifies with her skimpy outfit and short skirt. Yuusaku even agrees that she's quite stunning for a Nezirejian. But she is a gynoid.
• Mythology Gag: The Digitank serves as one to the only tank in Sentai prior to it (not counting mecha components), the Jack Tank from J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai; just like the Digitank, it emerged from a flying vessel, was equipped with a large yellow claw (though the Jack Tank's claw had much more of a usable range to it) and a spinning cannon on top.
• Official Couple: Not exactly, but the couples of Shun/Miku and Kouichirou/Chisato are both heavily implied. Surprisingly, even Shibolena and Yugande qualify as this, even though they both die in the penultimate episode. This doesn't stop the Ship Tease though.
• Older Sidekick: Mega Silver may be the Sixth Ranger, but Yuusaku Hayakawa (age 25) is this to the Rangers, who are just finishing high school.
• Our Demons Are Different: Bibidebi. His name even come from the word devil ("debi" in japanese). Dr. Hinelar's appearance (specifically, his "horns") also seems to be inspired by one as well.
• Palette Swap: Perhaps an unintentional genius moment, but like in older video games, the Megarangers' suits are near identical save for color and a slight difference in visor shape.
  • Hizumina is one to Shibolena as well.
• Parental Abandonment: Implied. Dr. Hinelar is the father of Shizuka (Shibolena's avatar), but her mother never appears.
• Pac Man Fever: Inverted; the Megaranger game at the beginning of the show had photo-realistic graphics (at least for the characters; there's not much in the way of backgrounds) due to it being actors in suits.
• Product Placement:
  • In the first episode, if you look hard enough when Kenta is playing the Megaranger arcade, you'll see there's an X-Men vs. Street Fighter machine behind him.
  • In Episode 14, when Kenta is scolding the little children at the arcade, you can blatantly see a Virtua Cop 2 machine in clear sight.
• Production Foreshadowing: The Megatector armor the Megarangers gain in the Megaranger vs. Carranger crossover is very similar to the armor provided by the Lights of Ginga in Gingaman, aired the year after; they even both have a finisher involving the five Rangers merging into an energy fireball and slamming through a target.
• Public Domain Soundtrack:
  • Gustav Holst's "Mars, Bringer of War" is played in episode 19 during Gurail's debut and Yugande's last stand in episode 50.
  • The Nejiranger's beatdown of the Megarangers in Episode 38 and Mega Voyager being overpowered by Grand Nejiros is accompanied by Mozart's "Requiem - Dies Irae."
  • Mozart's "Lacrimosa" plays during Shibolena's death in Episode 50.
• The Psycho Rangers: The US adaptation of the Nezirangers is the Trope Namer.
• Recap Episode: Episode 44.
• Replacement Goldfish:
  • Shibolena is actually a robot modeled after Dr. Hinelar's dead daughter, Shizuka.
  • Hizumina is a replacement for Shibolena.
• Rocket Punch: Super Galaxy Mega's finishing blow, the Super Galaxy Knuckle. It launches its forearms as rockets, which then blaze into Nezire Beasts and impale them through, before returning to the mecha itself.
• Recycled with a Gimmick: Kousoku Sentai Turboranger with digitial technology replacing automobiles as the theme.
• A Rotten Time to Revert: Because the suit's a prototype, Mega Silver's transformation doesn't last for very long, running the risk of changing back to human form in the middle of a fight. The villains try to take advantage of this by timing how long the transformation lasts, then having a monster attach a bomb to Silver just before time runs out.
• Secret Identity: As they're just highschoolers, the Megarangers keep their identities as secret as possible, rarely even transforming in front of a Monster of the Week. Dr. Kubota advises against them using their Digitizers in public to avoid detection from anyone, even the Nezirejia. This is a point hammered home by the Nezirangers, who start attacking users of a popular wireless net access device, just because it made the same sound as their Digitizer. The Nezirangers had memorized the sound in order to locate the real Megarangers, and as a result, they end assaulting random civilians.
  • Yuusaku, on the other hand, has no such reservations, and frequently doesn't bother. Probably because he has no life outside working for INET, so there are no consequences for him that the enemy knows he is Mega Silver.
  • Near the end of the series, Dr. Hinelar does find out who the Rangers are, and sends his last Psycho-Nezilar, Hell Nezilar, to attack them at school. This leads to them being ostracized and having to live in an old warehouse.
• Sinister Stingrays: Stingray Nezire is the first Monster of the Week.
• Ship Tease:
  • Kouichirou and Chisato get an insane amount of this in Episode 7, from Chisato roping him into acting like her boyfriend, to Kouichirou even getting a glimpse up her skirt at one point. The tease continues throughout the show.
  • Miku has a big crush on Shun, but it's rather one-sided as he usually never notices her affections for him.
  • Kenta gets a fair share of teases with both Chisato and Miku. In the latter case, the tease is almost equal to Chisato and Kouichirou, since Kenta and Miku are both Jack of All Stats, lazy students who are Obfuscating Stupidity, and are usually agreeing to one another's (usually mischievous) plans. The former, despite not being as prominent as the Kenta/Miku tease, is pretty crazy if you've watched Power Rangers in Space, knowing that Andros and Ashley, the Red and Yellow Space Rangers (and Kenta and Chisato's PR counterparts), hook up themselves.
  • On the villain side, we have Bibidebi (perhaps one-sided) with Shibolena. Like with Shun and Miku, Shibolena doesn't seem to notice the little guy's affections, but she is the nicest to him out of everyone on the Death Neziro. Compare to Yugande and Guirail, who both slap him around, and Hinelar manhandling the little dude in Episode 3 to preform the experiment that would give Bibidebi his Make My Monster Grow ability.
• Shirtless Scene:
  • The last scene of Episode 25 has Yuusaku on the beach like this as he looks to celebrate with the core Megarangers after having destroyed the Moray Nezires.
  • Episode 27's last scene has Kenta, Kouichirou, and Shun enjoying the beach like this as they teach Daichi, a young boy who was once afraid of the water, how to swim.
• Sky Surfing: The Megarangers ride around on hoverboards called the Cyber Sliders. Mega Silver has a modified version, the Auto Slider, that also transforms into a Cool Bike.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • To Denshi Sentai Denziman. The series' share, among other things, the light-up foreheads of the ranger's helms and the hideous, twisted, asymmetrical look of the monsters.
  • The fact that the heroes are high school students brings it closer to Kousoku Sentai Turboranger.
  • The main hero of the story was recruited by being good at a video game was the driving plot of The Last Starfighter.
• Something about a Rose: Rose Nezire, as her name implies, was based on a rose. Her power is linked to a Nezirejian wine that can turn people who drink it into plant people. Turning Chisato's best friend into a plant person and laughing about it in her face was not a good idea, as Shibolena found out first hand.
• Start of Darkness: One would think that Dr. Samejima / Dr. Hinelar had this when he went to the Nezire dimension. However, it's implied that it may have started long before that; possibly even before he sacrificed his own daughter for the sake of his experiment.
• Super Prototype: The Mega Silver suit, customized and fitted for actual battle, and noticeably more powerful than the Mega Ranger suits. Naturally, it has a 2.5 minute time limit. Becomes more of an Ace Custom later on, after Yuusaku removes the time limit, accompanied by a drop in power.
• Taken for Granite: Anglerfish Nezire^note Ankou Nejire had this power.
• Taking the Bullet:
  • Mega Black takes one for Mega Red in Episode 8, shielding him from a blast from Yugande. The blast shatters his visor, and it causes him to un-morph back into Kouichirou. He's left in bed afterwards, but comes back later to help his friends when Yugande grows giant.
  • Mega Red ends up being saved again, this time Mega Blue protecting him from a dual sword strike from Giga Guirail. He ends up with a head injury as well, but it's much more serious, as Shun forgets everything about who he is. He ultimately remembers who he is when Mega Red decides to re-pay him, shielding him from Giga Guirail in the same fashion.
  • A villanous example occurs in Episode 50. After Yugande's power is reduced and he is about to be killed by Mega Red's Drill Saber, Shibolena runs in to take the damage instead, at the cost of her being mortally wounded. It's a Senseless Sacrifice, however. Yugande is so enraged at what has happened to Shibolena that he blindly attacks Mega Red, despite no longer being in any condition to fight. As a result, Yugande is finally destroyed for good by Mega Red, rendering Shibolena's attempt to save him pointless. To rub salt into the open wound, Shibolena retreats back to the Death Neziro, only to die soon after. Right in front of her father.
• Tank Goodness: The Digitank, the first Sentai tank (that isn't just a form or component of a mecha) since the Jack Tank in J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The Nezirangers do not get along, even though it's in their best interest to do so.
• Tempting Fate: Chisato does this sometimes... with hilarious results.
  • Episode 17. Miku is hyped for the field trip at the others' expense. She ends up getting Chisato wet and causing everyone to miss lunch... then Chisato that there's no way things could possibly get worse, even if the Nezirejia showed up. Cue their Digitizers ringing.
  • Episode 37. Chisato is very sure that no such things as being hospitalized or being caught by a fever will stop her from entering the class singing contest this year. Guess what happens. A Psycho-Nezilar swapped her voice with a boorish man's voice and this effect stays until night, so she skips the contest again. She still gets to sing for her classmates though.
• Theme Naming:
  • The surnames of the five main Megarangers (Date, Endou, Namiki, Jougasaki and Imamura) form the word "DENJI".
  • Keeping with their "twisted" theme, everyone in Nezirejia (including the Nezirejia dimension itself) is named after either the Japanese word for "to twist" or a synonym.
• Tie-In Novel: Megaranger: A Million's Worth of Quotes^note Megaranger Hyaku Man-bai no Meigonshuu, written by Tomonori Amano.
• Too Long; Didn't Dub: The "twisted" bit, actually. Fansubbers usually leave the term "nezire"/"nejire" alone, but it does come from a word meaning twisted, and it's used a lot with no explanation in the dialogue because the target audience tends to know their own word for 'twisted.' When you know this, a lot of things suddenly make tons more sense. The villains come from the Twisted (Nezirejia) Dimension. That's why objects spontaneously become warped when a portal opens. That's why Dr. Samejima went nuts and returned as Dr. Hinelar: his mind became warped. It's also why in the final episodes, his body begins to temporarily distort and then return. And eventually it gets so bad, he can't take any more, By the final episode, his distorting body, combined with critical damage done to the Grand Neziros, gets him to the point that he self-destructs the Grand Neziros to take the Rangers with him: his body was beginning to twist upon itself from being in the Twisted Dimension. He spent the last couple of episodes knowing he'd soon be dead or worse. It's also why the monsters are hideous even by monster standards and always have a spiral pattern somewhere: what else do you expect from Twisted (Nezire) Beasts? It's also why the villains' names are mainly puns on different words for twisted (including Hizumina from the Mega/Ginga teamup: even if she's from a different series she's Dr. Hinelar's creation; Hizumu means distort.) However, since they are creations of a former human rather than true natives of the Twisted Dimension, the expected spiral pattern is absent from Shibolena and Hizumina; they look human and their outfits better resemble the 'digital' look of the other human creations such as the Megaranger tech.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Kenta loves yakiniku.
• Troll: Mega Silver is constantly "forgetting" to tell the other Megarangers, or the other I.N.E.T. members important information. He also constantly says things only to take them back later, or say he's only kidding.
• Tron Lines:
  • The Death Neziro is halfway this when in the Nezirejia dimension. When Javious is killed and the Nezirejia dimension expires with it, the Death Neziro loses these lines and appears fully solid.
  • Yugande is this by default, given he is based off of a wire-frame model.
  • One Monster of the Week, Buffalo Nezire, has these for horns.
• Ungrateful Bastards: Pretty much the entire town after Nezirejia exposes the Megarangers' identities. Not only are they kicked out of school, but one woman has the gall to cry for them to save her during an attack, only to snap at them afterwards for involving civilians in a fight they didn't even instigate.
• The Unchosen One: The core Megarangers except Kenta. While Kenta was explicitly invited by INET for their Megaranger programme due to his high score and aptitude from the simulation game, the other four were just ordinary high school students who were infiltrating INET just out of curiosity. When the Nezirejia pulled a surprise attack earlier than expected, Dr. Kubota realises he was out of time and had to recruit Kenta and the others (who were caught trespassing) to become the Megarangers.
• Villain Song: Shibolena has "The Blue Devil's Smile", and Bibidebi has "Bibi! Bibidebi da Debi".
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Nezi Blue is particularly fixated on attacking his counterpart. When five Mega Blues and one Nezi Silver show up, he attacks his own teammates to get at them. By the time he transforms into Nezi Bizarre, he's completely lost it.
  • Hinelar undergoes one in the finale, as his body is twisting upon itself, ranting about how it's everyone else's fault for what happened and how he'll use his science to rule the world, not to mention deluding himself into thinking he's immortal.
• Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: This is a given, since Kenta, Kouichirou, Shun, Chisato and Miku are all high school students.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Yuusaku can only stay as Mega Silver for 2.5 minutes at a time at first, but he later fixes it, at the cost of reducing Mega Silver's overall strength.
• Wham Episode:
  • The very first episode, where NASADA, the traditional Sentai base of this series is destroyed by the Nezirejia, forcing the crew (including Dr. Kubota, and the just-recruited Megarangers) to take the Mega Shuttle to the Mega Ship, which becomes the show's base from that point on.^note Although it was meant to be an unexpected plot twist, North American viewers knew this would happen already, thanks to both the finale of Power Rangers Turbo, and the beginning of Power Rangers in Space, which it leads into.
  • The last episode reveals that the whole thing got started when Dr. Samejima sacrificed his own daughter for the sake of his experiment, leading to his Start of Darkness, which in turn leads to the beginning of the show's plot.
• The Worf Barrage: When fighting Mad Guirail, the Super Galaxy Mega is given a new uber attack. If anything, it only pisses him off more.^note Said attack is called the Big Bang Attack.
• The Worm That Walks: The bad guy for Episode 14 is the Boss Kunekune. Instead of actually becoming giant, a swarm of regular Kunekune Soldiers basically latch onto him.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl:
  • Averted first in Episode 50, when Mega Red accidentally kills Shibolena. And then it's averted again in Seijuu Sentai Gingaman vs. Megaranger, where he intentionally kills Hizumina.
  • This is also averted in the case of female Nezire Beasts, such as Rose Nezire; she ends up impaled and killed by the Galaxy Mega's Mega Saber.
• Xanatos Gambit: Dr. Hinelar pulls off one of these late in the series, when he decides that he wants to be the actual leader of Nezirejia, not just the de facto one. Thus, he creates the Nezirangers, secretly using Javious' life force as their power source. He knows full well the Megarangers will eventually kill the Nezirangers, so he made sure that when the Nezirangers die, the backlash kills Javious too. Actually, both of the above happens. When the three remaining Nezirangers unleash an extremely powerful attack against the Megaranger's mecha, Javious, unable to take the strain, is destroyed. The energy surge caused by Javious' death leaves the Nezirangers stunned, allowing the Megarangers to use the Mega Voyager's Voyager Spartan - lent extra power from Mega Winger and Super Galaxy Mega, plus energy stolen from the Neziranger's last attack - to destroy them. Hinelar succeeds, becoming the new Big Bad. It costs him his Psycho Rangers, but it's a successful plan in the end... or is it?

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