Series / Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger

Shugod!!^note Based on Shugo/守護/"Protect", also a pun on Shuugou/集合/"To Assemble/Swarm"

Tikyū: a planet located in the far reaches of the universe.
This world, ruled by six kings, now faces a great peril.
This is the tale of those kings who fight to defend the peace, and of warriors rising up in rebellion.

Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger (roughly translated as "Kingship Squadron King-Ohger") is the 47th entry in the Super Sentai franchise and the fourth series to start in the Reiwa Era, airing alongside Kamen Rider Geats — and later, Kamen Rider Gotchard — in the Super Hero Time block from March 5, 2023 to February 25, 2024, replacing Avataro Sentai Donbrothers. The series' overall themes are arthropods and royalty. The Theme Tune was sung by Takayuki Furukawa.

2,000 years ago on the planet Tikyū^note チキュー, an alternate rendering of chikyū (ちきゅう), the Japanese word for the Earth), the Underground Empire Bug Naraku attempted to conquer the world and wipe out the human race. Opposing this, Tikyū's guardian deity, King-Ohger, chose five warriors to assist it in subduing the Bug Naraku's forces. Upon their defeat, the Bug Naraku swore their return for vengeance 2,000 years later. To that end, King-Ohger was laid to rest, split into its component Shugods that assisted each warrior to become kings who protected Tikyū as the planet was divided into five kingdoms: the land of technology, Nkosopa; the land of beauty and medicine, Ishabana; the land of law and order, Gokkan; the land of agriculture, Tofu, and the leading land of industry, Shugodom. This tale eventually became a legend passed down through the nations over the years.

In the present, as the prophesied day of the Bug Naraku's return approaches, the current kings of the five kingdoms reconvene under the Quintet Alliance to defeat the Bug Naraku once more. However, the current king of Shugodom, Racules Husty, refuses the alliance, instead intending to become the sole ruler and protector of Tikyū For Great Justice, regardless of the lives he has to sacrifice to do so. Seeing this attitude as unbecoming of a king, a young orphan named Gira steals Racules' OhgerCalibur and becomes a chosen warrior in his stead, with the intent of working together with the other kings to see through the Bug Naraku's defeat, while becoming a self-proclaimed benevolent "King of Evil" who will oppose Racules' ideology of "justice".

This is the story of the kings who will defend Tikyū, as well as a Coming of Age Story for one young man who will achieve kingship henceforth. At least at first, until one Cosmic Horror Reveal changes everything...

Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger's tie-in projects include:

• The Secret of King Racules, a three-part web series centering around Racules that first aired on Toei's official YouTube channel on April 23, 2023.
• A TTFC-exclusive defictionalization of the Show Within a Show Moffun to Issho Ni, airing on June 4, 2023.
• Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger: Adventure Heaven, the summer movie double-billed with Kamen Rider Geats: 4 Aces and the Black Fox and was released on July 28, 2023.
• King of Gokkan: Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger^note Gokkan no Rita/"Rita of Gokkan" in Japanese, a webcomic series retelling the events of the first five episodes from Rita/Papillon Ohger's perspective, running for 24 chapters. The comic's first three episodes were released on the TTFC website on November 13, 2023.
• Two crossover films for the "vs" series of Super Sentai movies, the first being Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger vs. Donbrothers, with it's predecessor series, and Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger vs. Kyoryuger, with it's prequel series.
• Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger with Tombo Ohger, a TTFC-exclusive crossover special with Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger to promote its 20th anniversary V-Cinema.

The series is followed by Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger.

Spoilers for the first arc (episodes 1-26) are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Recurring Super Sentai tropes:

• Animal-Themed Superbeing: The whole team is based on various arthropods and invertebrates.
• By the Power of Grayskull!: "Ohgai Busou!"^note 王鎧武装, "King's Armor, Equip!" The phrase used by Reiniol in Adventure Heaven uses the character 骸 ("corpse") in place of 鎧 The OhgerCrown has the additional phrase "Shiso Kōrai!"^note 始祖光来, "Founder's Glory!"
• Combining Mecha:
  • God Kuwagata + God Tombo + God Kamakiri + God Papillon + God Hachi + two God Tentou + two God Kumo + God Ant = King-Ohger^note The very first main mecha combo in Sentai history formed from 10 pieces.
  • King-Ohger + God Kabuto + God Scorpion + God Hopper = Legend King-Ohger
  • Legend King-Ohger + God Tarantula = Extreme King-Ohger
  • Extreme King Ohger + God Caucasus Kabuto + the five Guardian Shugods = God King-Ohger
  • Gabutyra + God Tombo + God Kamakiri + God Papillon + God Hachi = King Kyoryujin
  • Ohkuwagata Ohger has his own mecha, King-Ohger Zero, which is a recolor of King-Ohger.
    • God Kuwagata ZERO + God Tombo ZERO + God Kamakiri ZERO + God Papillon ZERO + God Hachi ZERO + two God Tentou ZERO + two God Kumo ZERO + God Ant ZERO = King-Ohger ZERO.
    • God Kuwagata Zero + God Tombo + God Kamakiri + God Papillon + God Hachi + two God Tentou + two God Kumo + God Ant = King-Ohger (God Kuwagata ZERO ver.)
• Dancing Theme: Downplayed. There is an official dance for the opening theme song "Zenryoku King". However, unlike the previous two seasons, this isn't utilized in the main Title Sequence. #21 introduces a special promotional opening that features the entire cast (including Racules and the Bug Naraku) performing the dance.
• Five-Man Band: Five people (four monarchs and an orphan revealed to be a prince) come together and transform into the Ohsama Sentai to battle the Bug Naraku Empire.
• In the Name of the Moon: Unlike in previous seasons, the Sentai declare their civilian names rather than their Ranger ones.
  Kuwagata Ohger: The king of evil! Gira!
  Tombo Ohger: The wise king! Yanma Gast!
  Kamakiri Ohger: The brilliant queen! Hymeno Ran!
  Papillon Ohger: The immovable sovereign! Rita Kaniska!
  Hachi Ohger: The lordly king of bounty! Kaguragi Dybowski!
  Spider Kumonos: The king of the in-between! Jeramie Brasieri!
  • #31 gives us one from Jeramie's mother Nephila:
    "The unsevered thread! Nephila Idmonaarok Ne!"
• Make My Monster Grow: The Bug Naraku Kaijim and Sanagim can ingest an unspecified substance that turns out to be Shugod Souls to grow giant.
• Mecha Expansion Pack: There are more auxiliary Shugods that can transform into weapons for King-Ohger:
  • God Kabuto can transform into a bazooka.
  • God Scorpion transforms into a clawed gauntlet that doubles as a grappling claw.
  • God Hopper transforms into additional chest armor and extra blades for King-Ohger's legs.
  • Guardian Snail Gatling can transform into a Gatling cannon.
  • Guardian Rolling Hammer (a pillbug) can transform into a morningstar.
  • Guardian Cicada can transform into a twin-bladed gauntlet.
  • Guardian Pede can transform into a chainsaw blade.
  • God Tarantula can transform into Shoulder Cannons, and extra arms.
  • Guardian Hercules can transform into a battle-axe.
• Monster of the Week:
  • The Kaijim, Bug Naraku commanders deployed each week.
  • Subverted with the Galactinsects, who only have the five Jesters who take turns attempting schemes and function more as The Psycho Rangers.
• Narrator: The Cold Open of every episode has a storyteller (later revealed to be Jeramie) recapping the events of the previous episode from #2 onwards.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: In addition to the protective amber that forms around each Ranger, the corresponding Shugod launches an energy construct of itself that strikes down enemies that get too close. The Rangers themselves are also capable of moving normally during the Transformation Sequence.
• Transformation Sequence: It seems that they took the way Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters did with the transformation taking place in real time with no stock footage included. Later on, Episode 18 introduces the stock footage transformation and power-up form, but like Go-Busters, they weren’t used as often.
• Transformation Trinket:
  • The main five use the OhgerCalibur, which also doubles as their primary weapon.
  • Ohkuwagata Ohger and Reiniol use the OhgerCalibur ZERO.
  • Spider Kumonos uses the Kumonoslayer with the Change Kumonos Key.
  • Both Kuwagata Ohger and Ohkuwagata Ohger use the OhgerCrownLance to assume their powered-up forms.
  • King Kyoryu Red uses the King Gaburicalibur, a recolor of the Gaburicalibur.

Here written are the Tropes, or so I heard...:

• Aerith and Bob: We have names like Gira, Racules, Douga, and Morphonia alongside contemporary names such as Rita and Sebastian.
• Animal Theme Naming: Most characters have insect-related names. Humans tend to be named after insects related to their kingdom's Shugod, while Kaijim are generally named after the insect they're based on.
• Apocalypse How:
  • A good part of the series' backstory revolves around the catastrophe known as the "Fury of the Gods". 17 years ago, many Semishugods descended upon Tikyū and wrecked havoc on most of the kingdoms. While officially it is known as a natural disaster, it was confirmed in #16 that it was caused by a single person, but their identity was kept hidden by Gokkan's former chief justice Karras for unknown reasons. Rita notes in #14 that many lives were lost during this incident, including Hymeno's parents, which led to the current monarchs having to forcibly take the throne when no one else could. #30 reveals that the culprit was Grodie Leucodium, a powerful necromancer who is the fifth Jester of the Galactinsects, having caused the Fury of the Gods to put Tikyū's people in their place after Corsus's attempted defiance.
  • #47 sees Grodie cause another Fury of the Gods with the goal of demolishing Tikyū after being granted life through Jeramie's crystal. However, thanks to the monarchs' quick thinking and an exhaustive evacuation plan that was created in the instance that the catastrophe were to ever happen again, the causality rate was at an astounding zero by the time Grodie is defeated, with the most damage being to property and crops.
• Arc Words:
  • For the first five episodes: "Rainbow Jururira". This proves to be the key regarding Gira's identity. It also the reason why he lost his memories in the first place and how he ended up as an orphan.
  • "Fury of the Gods" takes center stage in #7 onward, describing an apocalyptic event 15 years prior to the series that led to the current monarchs ascending to their rule.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • In #21, Douga reads off the lists of demands to Gira from the other rulers. Yanma wants control of all the Shugods, Himeno wants to force Shugodom's citizens to wear clothes of Ishibana, Kaguragi wants Shugodom's land for agriculture, and Rita wants advance airings of "Together With Moffun" episodes even though that show is made in Ishibana.
  • In #28, the ending screen reveals the crimes of the monarchs (sans Gira and Jeramie) that landed them in prison during the Time Skip: Yanma created a supercomputer that monopolized Tikyū's electricity, Hymeno set off a 1000 megaton firework that caused mass damage, Kaguragi created an unethical subterranean tiller system called "The Ant-Eater", and Rita... simply wanted a break due to Sanity Slippage.
• Artifact Title: Initially, the title of the show isn't named for the team but rather their mecha. However, despite this, the mecha is Out of Focus during the second half of the show, coming back into full focus during the final arc.
• Artificial Script: Letters, numerals, etc. on Tikyū are written in a unique script called "Tikyū language".
• Back from the Brink: When the King-Ohgers arrive on Earth, Japan has been taken over by the new Deboth Army with the exception of a small resistance group led by the Kyoryugers. The arrival of the monarchs allows them to assist their fellow Sentai team in fighting back and even defeating the Deboth Army for good once more.
• Bilingual Bonus: The theme of Gokkan, “Ignorancia juris nocet” translates from Latin as "Ignorance of the Law is Harmful".
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • While there have been a handful of Violet Rangers (and other related warriors) before in Sixth Ranger^note Geki Violet, Kyoryu Violet, Ryu Commander and The Rival^note Wolzard, Gaisoulg, Stacaesar, Don Murasame roles, this is the first time that a purple Ranger was part of the core team. Papillon Ohger also wears a paler, more lavender shade closer to the Pink Rangers that Papillon Ohger is replacing than the bright violet shade that the prior Rangers wore.
  • Also regarding team colors, the series breaks from the trend of Gold and Silver Sixth Rangers that's been in place for the last 15 years (with a few exceptions^note Kyuranger had the colors on its main team instead and the Sixths were Violet, Sky Blue, and Red, while ToQger lacked metallic colors completely and had an Orange Sixth). Spider Kumonos is a White Ranger instead, the first White Sixth since Geki Chopper in Juken Sentai Gekiranger. (Though there is still a Silver Ranger in Ohkuwagata Ohger.)
  • This is also the first time that Sentai has had an insect/bug theme, which is usually a favorite of sister show Kamen Rider instead. The most that Sentai has had before was Japanese Beetle Brothers duos in Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger and Tokumei Sentai Go Busters, and a scorpion in Uchu Sentai Kyuranger.
  • The main five notably have different transformation poses from each other, standing in stark contrast to the unified transformation poses prior Sentai teams have had (outside of Sixth Rangers and extra rangers).
  • The MOTWs immediately go through the Make My Monster Grow routine before being sent out, rather than getting defeated by the rangers first at least at first. #7 finally shows their Make My Monster Grow routine.
  • "Zenryoku King", the show's Opening Theme, is the first opening song in the Super Sentai franchise that doesn't name drop its associated show in the lyrics (or at the very least a title scream). The opening sequence is also the first to use a 21:9 Aspect Ratio Switch.
  • The heroes are the first Sentai not to have a dedicated shorthand name, being known as the Ohsama Sentai, Kings/Monarchs or the Five-Kingdom Alliance. King-Ohger is instead the standard Humongous Mecha. As of #19, however, the team now goes by Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger, with Rita citing said Humongous Mecha as the inspiration.
  • Unlike previous series, King-Ohger is set entirely in a fantasy world rather than modern-day Earth. While previous Sentai series have had alternate worlds as a plot point, they still normally end up taking place partially or entirely on Earth. This gets Double Subverted in #31, which sees the team get sent to present-day Earth by the new Big Bad, just in time for a crossover we weren't expecting, but they return to Tikyū as soon as the crossover is done.
  • King-Ohger is the first Sentai show to have a mid-season Time Skip delineating the two halves of the show. Most Sentai shows either take place over a continuous period of time from start to finish, or reserve their Time Skips for the epilogue as in the case of Jetman or Zenkaiger.
  • The Galactinsect Empire don't use the Monster of the Week schemes most Sentai villains do. Instead, they have the Jesters, who alternate as they try different plans each time. This hasn't been seen in the franchise since Choudenshi Bioman, 39 years ago.
  • An extremely rare case of a Sentai that tells a continuous, serialized story, instead of the episodic style that's common to most of the series.
  • King-Ohger is the first Sentai whose main backstory is implicitly linked to the lore of another season, namely Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger.^note The majority of Sentai crossovers are loose and keep their stories relegated to specific episodes or designated crossover movies. Even the crossover-fueled Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger has its own story, with the crossover aspects limited to The Cameo.
  • While there are many Super Sentai episodes that don't feature a battle with the Humongous Mecha, these are usually one-offs or spread out throughout the series. King-Ohger has done this regularly, with several mecha-less episodes airing consecutively and the mecha only showing up on rare occasions. This hasn't been done since the franchise was personally overseen by Shotaro Ishinomori himself.
  • This is the first time a series has two crossover movies instead of one.
• Canon Welding: Episode #32 drops the bombshell that the people of Tikyu are descended from humans that left the Earth to settle after an unknown conflict. Given the crossover with Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, this places the events of King-Ohger within that season's 'Verse.
• Central Theme: The show tackles and explores the I Did What I Had to Do trope by showing multiple rulers in various situations that force them to make hard decisions, even if it means personally dealing with the consequences and others judging them for it:
  • Gira deals with this first hand in #25, where he has to recruit people close to him a potential suicide mission that could lead to the end of the world if they do not succeed, with time quickly running it. He literally had to have his OhgerCalibur taken with force by Douga and directly confronted on his hesitation because he just sitting on the throne and hugging the sword due to not wanting to endanger a single person, even though the situation was a dire as it could get.
  • Kaguragi is a man completely defined by his willingness to do whatever it takes to protect his nation and people, no matter what he has to do, repeatedly using the phrase "dirty my hands" one way or another to express his dedication to this mindset. All this stems from the fact that when his predecessor needed him to kill her for the sake of upholding a lie to protect Tofu, he couldn't go through with it, forcing her to burn herself to death, resulting in him being very traumatized.
  • Rita's position as Chief Justice requires them to personally sentence and rule over an entire people of criminals from all over Tikyū, making them greatly unpopular and even resented in their own kingdom even though the story makes it clear how important their role is in maintaining law and order in the world at large. This was a lesson their mentor and predecessor, Karras, imparted to them since they were a child.
  • Speaking of whom, due to the fact that the "Fury of the Gods" event was such a devastating catastrophe that Karras felt that it was necessary to break Gokkan's code of neutrality in order to personally imprison and watch over the perpetrator so something like that never happens again.
  • #29 sees Jeramie willingly pull a Zero-Approval Gambit in order to prevent the other monarchs from Taking the Heat for the diplomatic tensions occurring all around the kingdoms due to Hillbill's compulsion, effectively tanking humans and Bug Naraku relations once again.
  • In #35, Yanma makes the decision to destroy Nkosopa's main computer, effectively leading his country into complete disarray rather than let Shiokara die.
  • Iroki, the previous ruler of Tofu, was overthrown due to hoarding all of the nation's food supply during the Fury of the Gods. It is revealed in #37 that she did this due to Tofu's crops being poisoned by Grodie, hiding this fact from the rest of the world to protect her country's reputation, even if it meant she herself had to die and be remembered as a tyrant.
  • As it turns out, Racles himself played the role of a tyrant who wanted to take over the world in order to create the moment where he had the power to permanently strike down the seemingly untouchable Dagded, even if it means being remembered as the most evil king in history.
  • Causus specifically states that it is the king's duty to kill his emotions in order to protect the future of his people, encouraging this mindset to Racles while insisting that he use Gira as a tool to take down Dagded.
• Char Clone: Both Racules Husty/Ohkuwagata Ohger and Jeramie Brasieri/Spider Kumonos are rare takes of the trope in a Sentai series:
  • Racules has his own Ace Custom of the heroes' Transformation Trinket known as the OhgerCalibur ZERO, he's the brother of the main protagonist who also happens to be his greatest obstacle to his goals. Personality-wise, Racules is a far cry from the trope namer, much less the Char's Counterattack iteration of Char but leaning more towards that of Gihren Zabi.
  • Jeramie is a literal take of the Char Clone archetype as he is introduced as a mysterious masked man who narrates the events of the story before revealing himself as a Wild Card playing both the heroes and villains like chess pieces. And oh, his Cool Mask even transformed into the Kumonos Slayer.
• Color Wash: The series makes use of this to differentiate between the six kingdoms, usually corresponding with their monarchs' colors. Additionally, scenes that take place during sunset or sunrise get a significant orange hue to them.
• Common Tongue: While it's hinted that each kingdom has its own historical language (such as Ishabana having their own sayings), all of Tikyū communicates using an unnamed language that is written in a unique Artificial Script but is verbally spoken as Japanese. #32 also reveals that this language isn't under Translation Convention as well, as the monarchs were able to easily communicate with the Kyoryugers of Earth through their usual spoken language. Given The Reveal that Tikyū's people were descended from Earth's people, it makes sense as to why they can easily communicate with each other.
• Continuity Creep: The series is far more serialized than its predecessors, as each episode manages to follow the next in some capacity. The episodes are also grouped into interconnected arcs that tie together with the overall Myth Arc.
• Cosmic Horror Reveal: The first 26 episodes of King-Ohger centers itself on the fairly grounded conflict between the monarchs and Bug Naraku, emphasizing the sociopolitical aspect than anything fantastical. #27 drastically recontextualizes said conflict with the Galactinsects' debut, revealing that the entire conflict was mechanized by Dadged for his own amusement. Then he reveals that he's done this to thousands of other planets before Tikyū as a way to "clean up" his "bedroom", which is revealed to be the entire universe.
• Couch Gag: After Jeramie's official introduction, the opening onwards feature him either in a thinking pose and expression, or looking to the camera with a surprised expression, depending on whether the episode has a dramatic or comedic tone.
• Crapsaccharine World: The kingdoms of Tikyu are a Gang of Hats with specific specialties and comically-clashing ideologies whose constant scheming, kooky rulers and ham galore are all Played for Laughs. The colorful fiefdoms' appeal is undercut by one of the most brutal Super Sentai settings in awhile: Death and destruction are alluded to rather casually, politics and race-relations are both explicit themes of the show and are shown to have real consequences, the heroes' victories end up bittersweet at least a third of the time thanks to more-competent villains this time around and the medieval squabbling soon elevates into an invasion by extradimensional Eldritch Abominations on their latest of proven successful genocide campaigns. The goofy antics and The Power of Friendship belies a dangerous world of tangible consequence and complicated politics.
• Darker and Edgier: In comparison to the Denser and Wackier nature of Zenkaiger and Donbrothers, King-Ohger has quite a few elements that clearly steer towards a darker direction, such as its politically-charged conflict, abundance of morally gray characters, actively threatening villains, and more overt brutality. While the humor is still present, it often leans towards Bathos than Sentai's typical Surreal Humor. Even the endgame is darker than usual, as the heroes deliberately charge into a Suicide Mission at first against Dagded with the goal of hopefully saving the lives of their people than try to secure a victory.
• Death Is Cheap: On Tikyū, spirits of the dead simply move on to The Underworld known as Hākabāka, where they continue with their lives. Not only is this realm accessible for the living through certain means, in the planet's Darkest Hour, Devonica is able to open the gates to allow the dead to assist the living in the war for survival, including taking up arms to fight as if they are still part of the living, and only disappearing again once the gates shut their doors.
• Debut Queue: The first five episodes has Gira and his growing party travel through the five kingdoms, learning of what each kingdom defines as a "king" while earning the favor of each king he meets.
• Department of Redundancy Department: The "ohger" in the series' title is homonymous to ohja (王者), which can be translated as "king" or "monarch". As such, another (loose) translation of the title could be "Monarchy Squadron King Monarch".
• Deus Exit Machina: The Greater Shugods are absolute powerhouses individually and when combined with King-Ohger. One episode after forming and obtaining Legend King-Ohger, Jeramie steals all of their Souls right after Dethnaarok tries to do so, denying the Ohsama Sentai their power for a time before he became an official ally to them.
• Doomed Hometown: The Galactinsects invaded Earth previously, with their methods causing a Civil War to the point that much of humanity fled Earth to colonize Tikyū.
• Dreadful Dragonfly: Tombo Ohger is based on a dragonfly, in a Super Sentai first, but is one of the heroes.
• Driving Question: Several drive the show's plot forward. To wit:
  • The first five episodes revolve around why Gira, a seemingly ordinary orphan of common lineage, was able to activate King-Ohger.
  • From #11-onwards, the question shifts to the question of Jeramie's identity, as well as why humanity and the Bug Naraku ended up going to war with each other.
  • An overarching question revolves around who caused the Fury of the Gods and why would they do it.
• Dutch Angle: The series loves making usage of this during transformation sequences, action scenes, or dramatic scenes, usually to emphasize the drama or coolness.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After months of trying to get one over the seemingly indestructible Dadged, the Ohsama Sentai - with the help of their people and the sacrifice of the Shugods' physical bodies - manage to finally kill him in one decisive strike, extinguishing his reign of terror over the universe for good. Afterwards, Tikyū manages to attain true peace for the first time in centuries, with all of the countries fully cooperating with each other, even if the monarchs are as bickering as ever.
• Early-Bird Cameo: King-Ohger showed up in the 45th episode of Donbrothers. More impressively, there wasn't even a promo video for its own series by that point. The penultimate episode of Donbrothers also makes an indirect reference, as the series themes its Monsters of the Week after previous Sentai teams and that episode's monster is based on the future team of King-Ohger.
• Earth All Along: Inverted: despite implications it might be an alternate Earth, Tikyū is eventually revealed to be an alien planet colonized by refugees from Earth.
• Ensemble Cast: The series almost evenly divides its focus between the main characters, granting each of Character Focus episodes that often revolve around their development and/or backstory. While Gira is the main protagonist of the story, he tends to be Out of Focus when an episode is focused on one of the other members.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: The Kings' Shugod mecha are visibly asymmetrical in design in a way that suggests they're worn and battle-damaged, with God Kuwagata having the most noticeable examples. The Ohsama Sentai themselves also have insignias on the right side of the chest and capes hanging off of their left shoulders.
• Fictional Earth: Tikyū, the world the series takes place in, appears to be an alternate Earth◊. It's eventually revealed to be on an alien planet colonized by humans who fled Earth in the distant past.
• First-Episode Twist: Racules is initially presented as a benevolent king, if not slightly standoffish and rather stern towards his kingdom and fellow rulers. Halfway through the first episode, he drops the mask altogether when Gira confronts him, revealing himself to be a ruthless Evil Overlord planning to use the war with the Bug Naraku as a way to Take Over the World by letting the other kingdoms exhaust themselves. Gira responds by stealing the OhgerCalibur in the name of protecting their people, becoming a fugitive in the process.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The shots where each Ranger shows extended limbs during the opening are actually their Hyouga Issen forms.
  • During the insurrection of Shugodom by the Bug Naraku. Boshimar and Kamejim are never seen at the same time. It's our first concrete indication that they're one and the same.
  • In #8, Hymeno notes Racules missed all of Gira’s vital points during the duel. Come #41, it’s revealed he’s been Good All Along and truly cares for his little brother.
  • The shots of God Kuwagata's cockpit show that its Shugod Soul slot is empty. #22 confirms that God Kuwagata does lack a Shugod Soul, with its whereabouts unknown as of that episode.
  • In #20, Kamejim states that it makes sense to deceive friends in order to also deceive enemies. Later that episode, he's outed as the member of a third party, revealed later to be the Galactinsects.
  • #32 has Gira as the only King-Ohger able to transform without his Shugod present and God Kuwagata's spirit appears from his stomach to power the King Gaburicalibur. #43 reveals that the Rainbow Jururira he ate as a child had been made using God Kuwagata's Shugod Soul, basically transferring it to his body.
• Friendly Neighborhood Spider: In addition to the two God Kumo that form part of the titular main mecha, we also get the aptly-named Spider Kumonos, the team's Sixth Ranger.
• Genre Mashup: King-Ohger presents itself as a Heroic Fantasy tokusatsu series while combining elements of political thriller, Conspiracy Thriller, Dramedy, Low Fantasy, Science Fiction, and even Courtroom Drama. The second arc of the series mixes Lovecraft Lite with the introduction of the Galactinsects while amping up the sci-fi elements.
• Geodesic Cast: By the time Gira takes the throne of Shugodom in #23, the core cast can be described as a monarch for each kingdom and their most loyal lieutenant. This also includes Jeramie with his "retainer" Gerojim, as well as Dethnaarok with Kamejim.
• The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: Much like the previous series, King-Ohger plays with the conventional binary morality of Sentai by adding a third side. The Kings use their powers to protect their people (the Good), with Jeramie intially being a neutral character before his Character Development ensues, Racles and Dethnaarok VIII hide their true motives behind villainous facades while causing harm in the process (the Bad), and the Galactinsects manipulate all of Tikyū for their enjoyment, deeply apathetic to the harm they cause in the process (the Evil).
• Happy Ending Override: For Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger. Kyoryuger ended on a positive note that saw the defeat of the Deboth Army. Episode #32 and #33 reveal that Dagded and the Galactinsects invaded Earth some time after and their methods caused a Civil War that necessitated an evacuation of Earth, setting the stage for the colonization of Tikyu and for the war with the Boggnarok Dagded and Kamejim goaded both species into.
• Human Aliens: Jeramie realizes in #32 that the people of Tikyū are descended from Earth humans, after investigating a mural Ian was researching.
• Japanese Beetle Brothers: Played with. Kuwagata Ohger is themed after a stag beetle, with his mecha being designed to match. A Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle is also the basis for God Kabuto, one of the auxiliary mecha. While the mecha do duel in Kabuto's debut episode, there's otherwise no equivalence between them. Instead, Kuwagata Ohger's main rivalry is with another Kuwagata: Racules as Ohkuwagata Ohger; not only does he share the same motif as Gira, but the two are also revealed to be brothers.
• Lemony Narrator: Jeramie Brasieri, who does a Bait-and-Switch by revealing that the Coming of Age aspect of the story being about a youth becoming king is actually about himself, rather than Gira.
• Magitek: Tikyū's technology is hinted to run through this; #1 mentions Yanma having developed a system to harness the petrified God Kuwagata as a clean energy source and him later on attempting to forcefully awaken God Kuwagata through hacking into it.
• Medieval Stasis: Subverted. While most of Tikyū outwardly appear to be the quintessential High Fantasy world, they all utilize advanced communication and projection technology that is implied to be powered by Magitek. Nkosopa is the outright exception to this as it's designed to be the technological center of Tikyū.
• Motion-Capture Mecha: The Shugod cockpits are set up like this, though unlike elsewhere in the franchise where the Rangers just stand and move on a bare platform, the Ohsama Sentai are hooked up to giant motion capture rigs. It's a good deal more realistic than usual, and there's a reason for this — Toei partnered with an actual mo-cap exoskeleton company, Skeletonics, for the show.
• Multicultural Alien Planet: Tikyū, which is comprised of five different nations that each have their own culture.
• Multinational Team: The Kings are the rulers of the different nations of their world, with the different national cultures played up.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Legend King-Ohger is very reminiscent of Daizyujin, being the combined form of multiple mecha that are revered as five kingdoms' patron deities but is revealed to need to be combined with other deities to become complete. The Three Guardian Deities and God Tarantula take after Dragon Caesar and King Brachion as deities without a patron kingdom.
  • Gira utilizing a sword meant for Racules to become a Red Ranger is a similar situation to Ryoma and Hyuga. Both pairs also happen to be brothers.
  • Jeramie recruiting Gerojim, a Kaijim that was seemingly killed fighting the Shugods, bares similarities to Mikoto forcing Yatsudenwani into servitude after faking the Trinoid's death with KillerOh.
  • Kamejim acting as The Dragon to the evil faction, and later being revealed to belong to an even older evil faction of his own, brings to mind Buredoran from Tensou Sentai Goseiger. Bonus points for doing the same as Boshimar before that.
• No Clear Leader: After the Five-Kingdom Alliance (later Six-Kingdom Alliance) officially forms the Ohsama Sentai, they propose on at least two occasions to select a leader from between themselves. However, between the significant egos each of the monarchs possess as well as their respective domains being very distinct from each other, they can never quite achieve a consensus on who leads the team. Near the end of the series, they ultimately decide on working together as an alliance of equals rather than having a clear individual leader. (Super Sentai tradition would indicate Gira, the Red Ranger of the team, would be best suited for the job, however given how the other monarchs feel free to push him around it would be a moot point.)
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. While you may be inclined to believe that both the heroes and the robot are called “King-Ohger”, the latter is actually the subject of the Protagonist Title, with the former being the “Ohsama Sentai” in all official materials.
• Only One Name: Most of the civilian characters outside of Ishabana lack surnames.
• Poor Communication Kills: Jeramie's obsession with subtext and artistry puts him into hot water with the team and Bug Naraku multiple times, as his refusal to say the truth outright leads to an outstanding amount of misunderstandings. It takes getting massive "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Rita in #14 for him to realize his mistakes.
• Product Placement:
  • Among the many technological advancements in Nkosopa is recognizable brand name products, like Yanma's Akaracing gaming chair. Try not to think too hard about where they came from...
  • In #38, Dagded is said to be a fan of The Rampage From Exile Tribe, as them as demonstrated by a poster of the group.
• Rapid-Fire Interrupting: Diamond Danjim in #19 can't get his name out because people keep interrupting or just won't listen.
• Reestablishing Character Moment:
  • In #27 after the Time Skip, Gira is shown leading a meeting of the leaders of the Six-Nation Alliance, showing how he's grown into his role as the king of Shugodom.
  • The other countries, however, are represented by the retainers due to the monarchs having gotten themselves imprisoned in Gokkan due to over-indulging their vices (though in Rita's case they put themselves into jail as a way to use up their accumulated leaves).
  • Jeramie, however, is shown as having barely survived a Curb-Stomp Battle, indicating his plan to integrate the Bug Naraku as Tikyu's newest kingdom have hit a big snag — and a new enemy is coming on the horizon.
  • At the end of #39, a cut-away reveals Kaguragi is yet again scheming with Racules after having been relatively honest for the majority of the Time Skip.
• Revisiting the Roots: Zigzagged. On one hand, after two seasons of suit experimentation with extremely Non-Uniform Uniform designs and warriors being completely CGI, this season returns to the roots of having all its members with uniformly-designed suits portrayed on set by actors and the semi-traditional Two Girls to a Team also returns here as well. On the other hand, King-Ohger continues the non-traditional cast dynamics as seen in Donbrothers and the show makes use elements like a serialized plot structure and a mid-season Time Skip to keep things fresh.
• Rewatch Bonus: All over the place. If you pay close attention, you can find subtle clues and Foreshadowing to some of the biggest twists in the show from the first episode onward. Go back and pay close attention to Racles's Facial Dialogue and reaction shots in the early episodes, and you can see exactly when and why his "tyrant" persona slips for a few seconds, such as when Gira barges into the throne room in Episode 1, or when Jeramie starts talking about "the history of Terra before history" in Episode 13. The true location of God Kuwagata's Shugod Soul is hinted at in the first episode as well; a brief shot shows it in some kind of unidentified reddish void. Then there's Boshimar and Kamejim sharing the exact same hand gesture, the swirls in the eyes of the Cicada Shugods in the Fury of the Gods flashbacks, the mural on Caucasus Kabuto Castle's ceiling being incomplete...
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: The main theme of the season. All of the core rangers, with the exception of Gira (he eventually does become Shugodom's king in #20), are rulers of their respective kingdoms.
• Running Gag:
  • The first five episodes open or close with Gira being forcibly taken by a ruler in a Shugod to another kingdom.
  • After the world thinks that he's dead after the duel in #8, Gira gets around the kingdoms by donning various weak disguises.
  • Rita's scream of irritation at anything that defies their initial notion for the investigation or at the other monarchs' antics.
• Scenery Porn: A number of locations in the five kingdoms are gorgeous to look at thanks to the usage of wide LED walls.
• Sentenced Without Trial: The Fury of the Gods was such a devastating global event that the previous King of Gokkan chose to actively break her nation's vow of supreme legal neutrality so she could personally find and contain the suspect herself; her husband aiding her in Faking the Dead by posing as her killer for more than a decade to do so.
• Shout-Out:
  • #1's prologue features 3-D models of the five kingdoms being assembled and the display of their emblems on a map, in a manner not unlike the title sequence of Game of Thrones.
    • #5's title contains the words of House Stark, "Winter is Coming"; "King of Winter" is also another name for the King in the North. Rita's throne even resembles the TV version of the Iron Throne.
  • The scene in #1 where the Bug Naraku assault Shugodom is a giant love letter to Chapter 1 of Attack on Titan.
  • #11's title is a reference to "The Man in the Iron Mask", the third and final part of Alexandre Dumas's novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne. For Japanese fans, the title is also a reference to the very first episode of Kamen Rider (1971), "The Mysterious Spider Man" (怪奇蜘蛛男, Kaiki Kumo Otoko).
  • The Monster of the Week in #15 is outright stated by the designers to "resemble a certain grasshopper warrior". Baejim has mostly black suit with red and yellow accents to the arms and have massive red eyes like Kamen Rider Black and does the stance where his arms are on the side. His belt even features two Kingstone-like buckles!
• Show Within a Show: The Ishabana-produced anime Together with Moffun, which Rita is a fan of.
• Slaying Mantis: Kamakiri Ohger, the first Sentai Ranger intentionally themed after a praying mantis (Beast Morphers, the Power Rangers adaptation of Go-Busters, was technically the first to have a mantis-themed Ranger, but that was only due to name changes meant to make the Gold and Silver Rangers themed after more audience-familiar insects).
• Stealth Sequel: #32-#33 reveals that King-Ohger is one to Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, with the events of the former post-Timeskip taking place ten years after the events of the latter.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • The whole team being comprised of kings who have ruled individually for two millennia has led to the current generation becoming egotistical and aloof to differing degrees due to their conflicting ideologies of how the team should be led. This goes as far as Racules believing that a whole team is not needed at all. It took the main team up to #10 to truly put their conflicts aside and work together as one to reawaken Legend King-Ohger.
  • In the first episode, Gira breaks into the palace, steals a royal family heirloom (which doubles as a weapon), points said heirloom at his country's ruler, and openly proclaims his intent to dethrone Racules. Before the credits roll, Racules declares Gira an enemy of the crown and has his guards sent to arrest him. Gira then spends the next few episodes jumping around the various kingdoms, until he's eventually caught and has to stand trial for the crimes he's accused of.
  • Jeramie's obsession with conveying his words in an "artistic" manner rather predictably backfires on him more often than not, often causing many communication issues that could have been averted if he didn't obscure the truth.
  • Gira's naïveté puts him at a severe disadvantage compared to the other monarchs, making him an easy target for their demands when he becomes king.
  • While the monarchs do eventually grow into friends, the fact that each of them represent nations means there's an element of self-interest to how they interact with one another even at their best.
  • The events of the Kyoryuger crossover actively set up the plot for the following arc, since the King-Ohgers had to manually fly from Earth back to Tikyu, which only took two days for them but six whole months for their planet, giving the Jesters almost half a year to shape Tikyu to their liking.
  • Most Sentai villains are evil empires whose power stems from the fact that there wouldn't be a plot without them. The villains of King-Ohger's post-Time Skip era are Eldritch Abominations that are near-omnipotent by Tikyu's standards, making the power gap wide enough to Justify their Plot Armor. Most victories against them come about through trickery and luck and inevitably come saddled with Diabolus ex Machina down the line.
• Time Skip: Two years pass between #26 and #27 after Dethnaarok's death and Jeramie's ascension to the Bug Naraku's throne.
• Trailers Always Lie: The promos list Racules as a benevolent king on the side of the heroes and beloved by his subjects. The first episode proves this is indeed the case... until the Bug Naraku Empire attacks and he is revealed to be ruling under a facade.
• Un-Installment: The Together with Moffun spinoff, after being absent for a few months following episode 3, returned with episode 57, with dialogue indicating that it had been more than a year since the story began. Meanwhile, episode 31 of the main King-Ohger series gives a glimpse of the 3528th episode of the show.
• Virtuous Bees: Hachi Ohger, in another first for Super Sentai, though he slips between this and Wicked Wasps.
• Wham Episode:
  • #5 reveals that Gira is a prince of Shugodom — specifically, he and Racules are brothers.
  • #12 reveals that there was a sixth warrior who fought alongside the five heroes 2,000 years ago, but his existence was erased from all historical records due to his love for a Bug Naraku.
  • #20 drastically changes the series' status quo: Racules reveals his true colors as a tyrant to his kingdom, directly leading to his defeat by Gira's hands. As a result, Gira has officially attained Shugodom's throne. On top of all of that, Boshimar is revealed to have been killed long before the series began, with Kamejim having taken his appearance to infiltrate Shugodom.
  • #24 has a couple of whammies: Boone reveals that the original legend that Jeramie wrote inadvertently caused the current Bug Naraku-human conflict. To erase the Bug Naraku's "dishonor" caused by the legend, Dethnaarok decides to throw himself into Tikyū's core to wipe out the entire planet. As if that wasn't enough, Jeramie reveals to the team that he and Dethnaarok are distant relatives.
  • Appropriately for the first part's finale, there are plenty of huge reveals in #26. To boot: Hymeno's examination of Gerojim revealed that the Bug Naraku's DNA is extremely similar to humans. They diverged from the human race after eating Shugod Souls, which gave them insectoid appearances and a shortened lifespan the more they eat. Said Shugod Souls were gained from the Semishugods - the same ones used in the Fury of the Gods. However, that was not the only Shugod in the Bug Naraku's residence, as the monarchs find out the existence of God Tarantula Abyss, a black version of God Tarantula that Dethnaarok was protecting. On top of all of this, Kamejim reveals that he was the one that mechanized the conflict between humanity and the Bug Naraku after stabbing Dethnaarok and leaving him to die by an unknown force. However, before Dethnaarok dies, he passes on the Bug Naraku's throne to Jeramie, which then leads to him getting officially recognized as a monarch by the five kingdoms.
  • #30 reveals the culprit behind the Fury of the Gods to be Grodie the Tranquil, the fifth of the Galactinsect Jesters.
  • #32 reveals that the humans on Tikyu are descended from refugees who fled Earth several million years ago, landing on the planet that originally was predominantly Bug Naraku territory.
  • #34 is a doozy. The royals return home from Earth only to discover they've been gone for six months and the Galactinsects have completely taken over the five kingdoms in their absence. Also, Racules is revealed to be still alive and now working for Dadged.
  • #35 sees Nkosopa crumbling back to the state it was before Yanma's rule as Yanma destroyed the main server in exchange for Shiokara's life. The only thing that keeps it from being a Downer Ending is Yanma's promise to Shiokara that they can rebuild just like before.
  • #40 reveals Gira is a creation of Dadged which is the reason for his ability to communicate with the Shugods.
  • #41 ends on a big whammy: Racules has Gira down and Dadged hands him the power to slay immortals to finish him off. However, Racules suddenly betrays the king of the universe and reveals his true goals to gain the power to finish him off instead, to Gira's shock.
• Wham Shot:
  • The end of #5 shows the inside of the Ziburn Castle with three large holes, having been ravaged by the Bug Naraku's forces in the midst of the team's battle.
  • At the end of #7, Gira sneaks back into the orphanage, only to see that not only is it a trap laid by Shugodom troops, they've already taken the kids hostage... all under Rita's orders.
  • #31 takes the main cast away from Tikyu... and places them on Earth.
  • #35's ending sees Yanma and Shiokara looking towards a nearly decimated Nkosopa.
  • At the climax of #41, Racules suddenly turns his empowered OhgerCalibur ZERO on Dadged.
• Worldbuilding: Due to the setting being that of of fictional world instead of Earth, the history of Tikyū and the nations that make up it receives a lot of detail throughout the show.

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♫It's all right, it's all right! You’re King!♫