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aka: Ressha Sentai Tokkyuger

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Ressha Sentai ToQger (pronounced "Tokkyuuger" and roughly meaning "Violent-Train Squadron Express-ger") is the 38th program in the Super Sentai franchise, airing from 2014 to 2015. It's notably the first Super Sentai series to be outright train-themed, which is the main reason it lacks a Power Rangers adaptation. Daiki Ise sang the Title Theme Tune.

The Rainbow Line is a magical railway network powered by the boundless imagination that exists in our world. However, it is under threat by the evil forces of Shadow Line, who harvest darkness from the human heart to expand their own railway lines and aim to Take Over the World.

Standing against Shadow Line are the heroes of Rainbow Line: five childhood friends who are reunited after many years apart, but realise that they have no memories other than the time they spent together. Drawing on their imaginations to picture themselves as amazing superheroes, they transform into the ToQgers and defend the world from evil.

Aired alongside the Kamen Rider series Kamen Rider Gaim and then Kamen Rider Drive, the former of which sharing a one hour crossover followed by the team making a cameo in the spring Rider movie, in the Super Hero Time block.

The series was the second one that Power Rangers skipped adapting (the first being Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters), jumping from the adaptation of Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (as Power Rangers Dino Charge) to Shuriken Sentai Ninninger (Power Rangers Ninja Steel).

P.S.: It's an action-comedy. (At least, at first anyway.) Compare to Gekisou Sentai Carranger and the later Engine Sentai Go-onger.


Recurring Super Sentai tropes:

  • All Your Powers Combined: Renketsu Bazooka, the team cannon composed of each individual members' personal weapon.
  • Big Bad: The Darkness Emperor, despite being absent, is this. Until #11 that is.
  • By the Power of Grayskull!: ToQ Change!
  • Calling Your Attacks: Returns this season along with the team cannon. The interesting thing is that the shot works differently depending on whatever the team imagines. Called (Insert Unique Effect Name) Rainbow Rush.
  • Carry a Big Stick: Akira's weapon, Yudo Breaker is a club.
  • Color-Coded Characters: Subverted. The team is able to swap the Ressha in their ToQ Changer, resulting in a costume swap between members. For instance, Kagura is normally the Pink Ranger but can use Right's Ressha to become a Red Ranger instead. This may explain why they are identified by their number instead of color like they have been for decades now.
    • #1 also helps explain why the trope is normally in place, as Tokatti comments that with all the changes he can't tell who's who anymore.
    • Played Straight With ToQ 6gou, since he can't Line Change. He's also the first Orange Ranger in 35 years since Battle Cossack.
  • Color Motif: The ToQger costumes are deliberately colorful and simple to compliment their rainbow motif. In contrast, the outfits for this season's baddies are much darker and highly intricate. Basically, simple and colorful = good guys. Complex and dark = bad guys. Pretty standard fare for Sentai.
  • Combining Mecha: Fitting the simple and colorful motif, rather than shifting into the separate pieces of the Mecha, the trains line up side to side before locking together from the sides to form the mecha, and forming a Rainbow pattern.
    • Red Ressha + Blue Ressha + Yellow Ressha + Green Ressha + Pink Ressha = ToQ-Oh
    • Diesel Ressha + Tank Ressha + Car Carrier Ressha = Diesel-Oh
    • ToQ-Oh + Diesel-Oh = Cho ToQ-Oh
    • ToQ-Oh + Diesel-Oh + Build-Daioh = Cho Cho ToQ-Daioh
    • ToQ-Oh + Diesel-Oh + Build-Daioh + Hyper-Ressha-Teioh + all of the support mecha = ToQ-Rainbow. This one is especially notable in that it's easily three times the size of the average mecha, and it's simply the other trains attached (Read: Clinging) to Hyper-Ressha-Teioh.
    • In the summer movie, Lion Ressha + Eagle Ressha + Panda Ressha + Alligator Ressha + Cat Ressha = SafariGaoh
  • Early-Bird Cameo: As per recent tradition, they appeared in the previous VS movie. They changed it, however, in that they appear after the ending to take down Neo-Geildon, who had just transformed into Neo-Messiah.
  • Eye Catch: Averted. As with the case of Gokaiger and Go-Busters, the show's logo appearing in the corner of the screen indicates a commercial break coming up.
  • Foreshadowing: Episode 4's ending has the ToQgers work chores to pay off their expenses. Sounds a lot like children doing housework for allowance right? That's because they ARE children.
  • Give Me a Sword: Due to the core ToQgers' ability to swap colors, they are able to use each other's weapons. Their standard weapons are as followed:
    • Right: Rail Slasher
    • Tokatti: Form Trigger
    • Mio: Signal Hammer
    • Hikari: Tunnel Axe
    • Kagura: Tekkyo Clawnote 
  • In the Name of the Moon: Simplified, compared to last season. The team transforms and then the ToQ Changer's voice announces every member by codename while the ranger poses. It's not until the entire team has transformed that they get their own catchphrase:
    Right's ToQ Changer: ToQ 1gou! ToQ 1gou!note 
    Tokatti's ToQ Changer: ToQ 2gou! ToQ 2gou!note 
    Mio's ToQ Changer: ToQ 3gou! ToQ 3gou!note 
    Hikari's ToQ Changer: ToQ 4gou! ToQ 4gou!note 
    Kagura's ToQ Changer: ToQ 5gou! ToQ 5gou!note 
    Akira's Applichanger: ToQ 6gou! ToQ 6gou!note 
    All: The victorious imagination!note  Ressha Sentai! ToQger!
    Right: Now departing!note 
  • Kid-Appeal Character: The core five ToQgers technically as they were actually kids. Yes, they are a team of them.
  • Make My Monster Grow: This season the Monster of the Week grows itself naturally in a similar way to Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.
  • Mecha Expansion Pack: Like previous Sentai mecha, there are an assortment of support Ressha that make alternate arms. Combinations with [X] Ressha are called [base mecha] [X] (or [X]-[Y] when it uses different ones on each arm).
    • Shield Ressha: Provides a shield.
    • Car Carrier Ressha: Shoots out vehicles as ammo - including other Ressha if ToQ-Oh is using a second one. As a separate car, it can launch the ToQgers to dangerous places via the cars, or act as a bridge.
    • Tank Ressha: This armored car is used as boxing gloves. As a separate car, it can refuel the Rainbow Line with special supercharged fuel.
    • Fire Ressha: Includes a water cannon and a flamethrower.
    • Police Ressha: Grants a gun and a set of handcuffs.
    • Drill Ressha: This Is a Drill
    • The team also has some Ressha that they use with their weapons, but not the mecha: Energy Ressha is ammo for the Renketsu Bazooka, Scope Ressha is an accuracy add-on for the ToQ Blaster, and Hyper Ressha summons Super Mode armor and is the primary ammo for the Dai Kaitennote  Cannon.
    • And for the third year in a row, special powerups for the Superhero Taisen film - only this time, it's not from the current Rider but a past Rider that shares the ToQger's theme plus the previous Sentai, forming "ToQ-Oh Kyoryuzin featuring DenLiner".
  • Mini Dress Of Power: Part of the ToQgers girls' suits, regardless of their current color.
  • Monster of the Week: The Shadow monstersnote .
    • Although so far the ToQgers have faced one at a time, in #3 Baron Nero says that right now, multiple cities are being corrupted by Shadow monsters simultaneously.
  • Mooks: The Kurosnote , themed after train robbers. They can also pilot giant Darklinernote  Robos.
  • Super Mode: Hyper Ressha, which lets any of the Rangers go into Hyper Mode. Sometimes two at once. The Hyper Ressha is also used with the Dai Kaiten Cannon.
  • "Super Sentai" Stance: The ToQgers do theirs lined up one in front of another (like train cars) rather than side-by-side, though in their first appearance in Kyoryuger vs. Go-Busters they did have one where they stood side-by-side.
  • Swiss-Army Weapon: The ToQ Blasters.note 
  • Title Scream: Like Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, it's averted.
    • Not averted by the Kamen Rider Gaim crossover though, in which the entire name of the special was said aloud, including, of course, both individual show names.
  • Transformation Is a Free Action: Done in the most hilarious way yet: when the ToQgers start their Transformation Sequence, their ToQ Changers announce: "Commencing transformation! Please wait behind the white line!" ...and they actually summon a white line. Which the monsters keep themselves from crossing.
    • Averted by the Transfer Changes, which are done in real-time.
    • Played with in the Kamen Rider Gaim crossover, where the team faces an Inves that's little more than a wild beast. It ignores the line and charges the ToQgers, only to get smacked around by the Ressha during the transformation.
  • Transformation Trinket: ToQ Changer
    • Akira uses a Blackberry Smartphone called the Appli Changer.
  • True Companions: As a sentai show this is obvious, but even among other sentais, this team is very close due to being childhood friends.
  • Two Girls to a Team: First time in three years as part of the main team (Kyoryuger had Amy and Yayoi but the latter wasn't part of the main six).
  • Vertical Mecha Fins: On ToQ-Oh

Tropes present in Ressha Sentai ToQger:

  • Accidental Misnaming: Right keeps calling the President of the Rainbow Line a sidedish. This is because of the very similar words in Japanese - President is "Sousai" and sidedish is "Souzai".
  • Actor Allusion: Jun Fukuyama is playing a hammy, masked aristocrat associated with the color black.
    • The ToQgers dig up the real name of their hometown, Subarugahama. Hikari was previously Iseki Jiro from Subaruboshi High School.
    • Look carefully at the Wagon helmet with its heart-shaped black visor. Does it look kinda like Kyoryu Pink? That's because they have the same suit actor!
    • They bring in Akira Kushida to sing the new Leitmotif for Safari Gaoh, which is interesting as Kushida actually sang a jingle for a safari park once!
    • Mio previously guested on Goseiger where she played a high school girl that another male student had a huge crush on.
    • Hiroyuki Konishi, who played the idiot police chief from episode 14, is constantly referred to as "Boss" by his subordinates — a nod to his role on Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle, as Captain Hiroshi Hyuuga, who was also referred as "Boss".
  • Adventure Towns: In this season, instead of the Shadow Line attacking one town. They attack multiple towns and the ToQgers are chasing after them and saving each town.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The villain's plan seem to be this. By causing enough dark emotions in the inhabitants of a town, they take over the town's Railroad and the Station.
  • Arc Words: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star..."
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: The Shadow Line's leaders.
  • Aside Comment: In episode 1, when the monster of the week gets attacked with a bunch of crying babies, he complains, "I don't get it." Kagura looks at the camera and says, "Me neither."
    • After Raito gets Zalam to be the sixth ranger and gives optimism over his future, Zalam enters battles saying this is where he's going to die. Raito looks at the camera and asks if Zalam heard a word he said.
  • Attack of the Killer Whatever: The Shadow kaijin are all themed after random objects.
  • Birthday Episode: Episode 30, "The Birthday Celebration" is about Mio's birthday.
  • Boring, but Practical: Invoked and weaponised in #2 when Right tells Hikari he can use his imagination while still applying logic, leading to the Monster of the Week's defeat by low bridge.
  • Breather Episode: #42, the last episode before the end of 2014, serves as this before the endgame arc in the new year. A Clip Show, there are no fight scenes in this episode beyond flashbacks.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Right tanking the Stove Shadow's coals without any reaction comes up again in #18, allowing him to con Ring Shadow into thinking the Restraining Bolt he put on Right wasn't even working.
  • Childhood Friends: All five from the main team. Arguably subverted when you learn they're still children.
  • Couch Gag: Each episode's opening has a different ToQger knocked over by an explosion in the background.
  • Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The team's powers come from their imagination. As in, imagine having super strength and being able to punch the bad guys through a wall.
    • Kagura also deserves special mention in this department. She'll often cower in fear upon being cornered by Mooks, but then she starts repeating to herself "I am strong... I am strong!" And then she'll start overpowering them like nobody's business.
  • Clip Show: #42 serves as this. See Breather Episode.
  • Crossover: The team appears in Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai.
    • Setting up the plot of the movie, they crossed over with Kamen Rider Gaim for a one-hour spring break special.
  • Credit Card Plot: A minor version in #4. Wagon mentions that the rainbow passes can be used to purchase things, but doesn't mention they need to pay back the money. Fortunately, they can return everything they buy and pay back the nonrefundable goods by cleaning.
  • Cute, but Cacophonic: Kagura in spades.
  • Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Kagura can sometimes enter this with her pretending.
    • This also applies to the Ressha as well. Cho-ToQ-Oh was never in the original plans for the Ressha in design, so using the combo puts strain on the Ressha.
  • Dead All Along: The ToQgers themselves...are a subversion. Ticket actually said "good as dead", but they took it as literally dead and they started trying to solve it. As of #2, it's highly likely they aren't dead.
    • Turns out what Ticket meant was that their own mothers wouldn't recognize them because the Rainbow Line President magically aged them up into adults.
  • Deal with the Devil: In #35, Akira negotiates with Schwarz for the return of the Drill Ressha (which is needed to complete ToQ-Rainbow) after he is unable to take it back by force. Acknowledging that he too has seen some shine, Schwarz agrees, but on one condition... to turn his back on the Rainbow Line and join with Schwarz to assist in his assault against Zed when called for. Akira lives up to his end of the bargain in #39, but is ultimately freed to rejoin the Rainbow Line when Schwarz is killed by the newly-empowered Zed in #41.
  • Death by Irony: The Rainbow Rush finisher defeats each monster in a manner that fits their crime somehow.
    • Subverted in #12, when the Rainbow Rush finisher produces fire-extinguisher buckets to eliminate Lamp Shadow, he comments, "wh-why fire prevention!? I don't get it!" because the attack doesn't make any sense in relation to the events of the episode.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: The ToQ Changer has a tendency to repeat the same thing twice, as can be seen in the Roll Call.
    • That detail just follows the general theme of the series considering that, in Japan, the arrival of a train at a station is announced that way. Ticket itself does that when arriving to Kettougaharanote  station in #2
  • Detachment Combat: ToQ-Oh partially disassembles to its component trains in #2 just long enough to let a barrage of bullets slip right through.
  • Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Daiki Ise performs the full theme song in front of the ToQgers in #42.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Z's and Grita's arranged marriage shares some real-life parallels. Namely: The only thing that Z cared about Grita was her " shine ", Noire plotted to kill Z so her daughter could become the leader of the Shadow Line and Grita herself desired to just end her troubles in any way she can such as attempted murder to switching bodies with Mio.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: The Diesel-Oh trains are in fact in the opening from the beginning. When the main trains are going over a bridge, you might not notice the more realistically colored ones on a lower level...
  • Easily Forgiven: Zed is saved by Gritta after the final battle, and she consoles him about his failure to gain a 'shine' of his own by telling him that light needs the darkness to shine as it does. As sweet as the ending was, consider that Zed killed Gritta's mother and followed it up by killing the general Gritta was in love with, and both for the crime of saving her from Zed. You'd really expect anyone in Gritta's position to leave Zed to his fate.
  • Eldritch Location: Invoked in #26 with a naturally forming pool of darkness under a bathhouse premises. At least it wasn't an onsen or we'd never hear the end of it.
  • Enemy Mine: #29 has the ToQgers working with General Schwarz. It doesn't last.
  • Epic Fail: Kagura as Red in #19, trying to execute the wrap-the-enemy-in-rails move. They end up dragging her around.
  • Establishing Series Moment: The very first episode's ending, in which the stationmaster informs the ToQgers they're as good as dead, pretty much derails any sort of tone the motif of the team ran by, letting us know that this Lighter and Softer series will not be without its, well, shadows.
  • Evil Versus Evil: The second half of the season ends up with a lot of fights between followers of the Emperor and former followers of the Emperor who want him gone.
  • Expy: The Renketsu Bazooka and Fumikiri Ken to Super Highway Buster and KanKanBar. Similarly, the Yudo Breaker to the Billy the Rod.
    • The team cannon should look like the Go-Ongers,' since three of the individual weapons that go into it (Red's sword, Green's ax, Blue's cannon) are pretty much the same in both series.
    • Wagon to Colon.
    • The ToQgers themselves are these to the Smile PreCures right down to having the same colors and personalities.
  • Eye Motifs: The Shadow Line logo seems to be inspired by an eye. The Shadow Monsters themselves have Eyes That Do Not Belong There.
  • Food Porn: Kagura getting help from a patissier in making Mio's birthday cake in Station 30.
  • Foreshadowing: What's Green always carrying around and playing with? A kendama, a child's toy where you try to bounce the ball into a cup on each side. Why would the serious "cool one" have such a thing? You'll see it in a new light after Station 32.
    • Similarly, the team's general antics. It's to be expected from one of the less serious seasons, nothing that'd be out of place in Go-Onger or Carranger, but... again, you'll see the team being a bit childish in a new light later.
  • Fractured Fairy Tale: When Spotlight Shadow brings storybook characters to life, they end up deviating from their original personalities as a result. Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood are more interested in current fashion than their original destinations, Momotaro is not very heroic and the Emperor with '' new clothes '' is openly annoyed by humidity.
  • "Freaky Friday" Flip: #21. Getting to be a staple of Super Sentai of course, but this time there's actual arc relevance as Greeta swaps bodies with Mio to get out of her Arranged Marriage.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • Funny Background Event: Early in #7, one of the affected civilians is slumped into a tree, looking like... Well, just see for yourself.
    • Hikari, Kagura and Right tending to and carrying a fainted Tokatti in #34 while Mio and Akira try to throw off her Stalker with a Crush.
  • Funny Bruce Lee Noises: In episode 2, Kagura made those after imagining herself as Kung Fu Girl.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Kagura
  • Good Hurts Evil: Inverted, it's stated many time that the darkness of the Shadow Line damages the Trains. A more darker example is the more the ToQgers are exposed to darkness the less likely they can turn back to kids.
  • Gratuitous English: The 2nd patch on Tokatti's jacket reads "This is an Exclusive Brand". Also: whenever Kagura's channels her imagination during a fight:
    [SPECIAL POWER] GIIIIRL!!
    • Right has a lot of this on his clothes as well, in particular his "Junk Motive" jacket and "Florida" shirt.
  • Graying Morality: The show at first showed the Rainbow Line as good and the Shadow Line as pure evil. With the addition of Akira that started to change. While the Rainbow Line stays the force for good, the villains gain more and more humanizing moments. Gritter is revealed to be an Anti-Villain whose kindness reveals Schwartz and Noir's better sides. Even the main villain Zett is made to be more of a sad figure than completely evil.
  • Growing Up Sucks: It's stated that most adults lose their imagination as they grow up. This becomes a plot point in the Returns films for ToQgers where years have passed and the ToQgers have actually grown up and as a result have lost their powers. Though it's averted as it's shown adults can easily gain it back. Also, the Kyoryugers have enough imagination to easily see the Rainbow Line.
  • His Name Really Is "Barkeep": The conductor of the Rainbow Line's only name is Conductor as far as we know.
    • And we never learn the real name of the Rainbow Line President, either.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The episodes are called "Stations".
  • Imagination-Based Superpower: Quite possibly the most literal example of this ever. Imagination actually seems to function as a form of energy in the series.
  • Imprinting: #30. The ToQGers are supposedly 'cursed' with nests on their heads and chicks in the nests that will kill our heroes if not raised properly. The chicks not only mature into big, strong roosters, but jump to our heroes' defence, and can be seen running alongside the Rainbow Line later!
  • Incredibly Obvious Bug: Schwarz plants one on the Red Ressha, a big red petal that not only has a flashing light but goes through a few mecha battles before they find it. Somewhat justified in this case, as it's on the outside of a train mech, and neither trains nor giant robots are known for being quiet.
  • Instant Expert: Justified. The rangers can use the mecha as their controls work as they imagine it to.
  • It Amused Me: Why Right and then Hikari started doing Transfer Changes during #1.
  • Just Train Wrong: Any inaccuracies are justified by the fact that these are magic imagination trains.
  • Lampshade Hanging: A literal one by Conductor on ToQ #6 introduction episode. The ToQgers and Wagon, of course, didn't understand it.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The title sequence starts with an announcement that "Ressha Sentai ToQger will be departing at 7:30." - the show's start time.
    • In #2, Ticket gripes that the Rangers are treating their Transfer Change ability like a toy gimmick.
    • Akira always expecting to die alludes to the fact that he was a Monster of the Week, which is expected to die every week.
  • Lethal Joke Character: A lot of the MOTW are much more dangerous than what their abilities would suggest.
  • Lighter and Softer: Looks to be this to Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger just as Kyoryuger was to Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, but is steadily being subverted.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: As the series goes on, its obvious the ToQgers are this to each other. Considering at first they don't have any memories, and then they learn they are just children and might not be able to return to their families, its obvious why they become this for each other. While it takes some time, the original five become this to Akira as well.
  • Manchild: Justified Since they are children in adult bodies.
  • Meaningful Name: The monster was named Zaram which is Arabic for "darkness". After he turns into a good human, his new name is Akira Nijino, which loosely means "bright of the rainbow".
  • Mêlée à Trois: #31. General Schwarz makes his move on Zed, only to take on Mork and Noire at once, both defending Zed for their own reasons and ready to take potshots at each other Tomas-style. Then it actually goes further when Right busts into the scene, sees Zed for himself, and immediately takes him on, leading to Mork and Noire battling Right as well despite Zed being fully able to take him on (and in fact curbstomp all four of them if need be) for a fantastic five-way!
  • Minimalism: The ToQgers themselves, compared to other Heisei Super Sentai (Especially the previous three), their costumes are very simple with a simple design on their bodysuits with their number and only moderately themed helmets. Even their Mecha is simply formed by snapping together by the sides rather then directly transforming into the body parts. In contrast, the Shadow Line has very complex monster suits, and their Darkliner Mechs, even their Mook ones, look very elaborate compared to the simple designs of the Rainbow liners.
    • A case of Real Life Writes the Plot. Due to the Transfer Line feature of the season, this was necessary to do the effects quickly. All that would be need is to swap out the numbers to the appropriate colors and add the skirt color if it was say... a male ranger shifting to the yellow or pink ranger.
  • Mood Whiplash: #1 is generally a comedic episode, making us think it's a lighter and softer season. Then at the end we learn that all the rangers are "as good as dead," which is the reason they were chosen. It was revealed by the monkey puppet for Pete's sake.
  • Mythology Gag: Has its own page.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: #26. The team carries out their own promotion for the bathhouse, but fail to raise enough money when Akira established his own discounts. Then the big fight begins, and takes a bad turn when Akira smacks Coin Shadow into the pool of darkness energy he was after the whole time. As per Rule of Three though, Coin Shadow cleaned up the darkness energy for our heroes as a result.
    • Despite not being heroes, Noire and Schwarz have one of these in #41 - their effort to free Gritta from Zed, while ultimately successful, has the unintended side effect of unleashing Zed's full darkness potential, which gets both of them killed.
  • The Night That Never Ends: The Shadow Line's main goal
  • Numerological Motif: This time, the Rangers have numbers as their call sign instead of their colors.
  • Oddly Small Organization: The Rainbow Line is of less thant twenty Ressha, the 6 Toqgers as well as a handful of allies. Compare that with Shadow Line with its large fleet of Kuliners, Mooks and a wide array of kaijin.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In Station 21, Madame Noire squares off against Baron Nero in order to buy time for the ToQgers to recover Grita. We see the two of them facing off with appropriate dramatic tension... and then they don't show up for the rest of the episode. The incident isn't brought up in the following episodes, either.
  • One-Steve Limit: Averted with Right's sister Mai, who shares her name with another character the team met early on.
  • Only One Name: As part of their Laser-Guided Amnesia, the ToQgers can't even remember their family names!note 
    • Their names are as follows Right Suzuki, Haru Tokashiki (Tokatti), Mio Natsume, Hikari Nonomura and Kagura Izumi. They're written in paperlights in a flashback scene.
  • Perception Filter: Fittingly anyone without enough imagination has trouble seeing the Rainbow and Shadow Lines. Everyday people can see the monster though.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: The Shadow Line, in contrast to the ToQgers, have complex monster designs and clothes using dark colors and black and white contrast. Even their Darkliners are more complexly designed.
  • Pink Means Feminine: This is actually subverted. Although The Heart gets pink as her primary color, none of the guys seem to mind being pink. In fact, Hikari willingly switched with Kagura as her weapon was lighter (though he left her with his weapon, which is too heavy for her to lift). Right winds up in pink as often as anyone else.
  • Pinky Swear: Tokashiki and Akira have one, after Akira made a deal with General Schwarz.
  • Powers as Programs: There's a power-swapping mechanic this year, allowing the ToQgers to switch their colors and personal weapons around while keeping their number.
  • Public Bathhouse Scene: #26 gives us one with all 6 of the ToQgers.
  • Purple Is the New Black: Frequently used with the Shadow Line.
  • Railroad Baron: The members of the Shadow Line fit by virtue of trying to take over the Rainbow Line, but especially Baron Nero.
  • Rainbow Motif: The trains are part of the "Rainbow Line" and run on rainbow tracks. The way ToQ-Oh is built, with the component trains making five vertical stripes, even makes it look like a walking rainbow.
  • Re-Release Soundtrack: The DVD and Blu-ray releases removed the end credits completely, skipping straight to the next time preview. On broadcast, the end credits had been an "Everybody's Train Corner" segment, during which shots of various trains, some of which were sent in by viewers, would play. Rights issues on the clips are likely why this was cut.
  • Rollerblade Good: ToQ-Oh, by virtue of its feet being train cars.
  • Rubber Man: ToQ-Oh can expand Yellow Ressha and Green Ressha with punch and kicks attacks.
  • Running Gag: Kagura needs help getting in and out of the mechs.
  • Spell My Name With An S: The official romanization of the word for "express line" is "ToQ" instead of the more common "Tokkyu". But as is often the case, it's not consistent; the official show website, for instance, spells the name of the robot as "Tokyuoh".
  • Spikes of Villainy: Shadow Line's train tracks have spikes.
  • Steam Never Dies: Red Ressha - the most prominent train of the series - is a steam engine.
  • Sweet and Sour Grapes: In the final episode, the ToQgers decide to remain adults and leave their homes and families behind so that they won't lose their memories of their adventures. However, it turns out that thanks to their own imaginations, the heroes' family members can recognize them in their adult forms, and they all turn back into kids anyway.
  • Theme Naming: The representatives of the Shadow Line (including the Mooks) have the word "black" in different languages as their names.
  • Traintop Battle: But of course! And with flying trains in #2!
  • Transformation Is a Free Action: Our heroes can summon platform lines and pass gates that invoke this.
  • Triumphant Reprise: Akira/ToQ-6's harmonica tune has one, in the form of his own battle theme.
  • Tulpa: The shenanigans of the Shadow Line end up bringing Mio (in # 15) and Tokkati's (in # 25) imaginary characters to life in the form of:
    • Mikey/ Maiki: An adorable yet mischievous creature (but is good deep down) who resembles shumai that used to be a character Mio used to play as a doll. He dies while doing a Heroic Sacrifice for Mio.
    • Ryo Knight: A blue-colored, star-adorned swordsman who was Tokatti's idea for a cool hero. He is actually based on Tokatti's older brother Ryo.
  • Unperson: The series show that for stations that have been taken over by the Shadow Line, any evidence or memory of that town and it's people are erased. The Rainbow Line is similar, anyone on the Rainbow Line is forgotten as well.
  • Vehicle Vanish: The Shadow Line members often make their exit like this. A Kuliner train roars by in front of them, and when it passes, they're gone.
  • Verbal Tic: Wagon uses the word "intense" in almost every sentence.
  • Weakened by the Light: Both Grita and Z have displayed signs that their bodies can't stand daylight for some time. Akira doesn't seem to have this problem, though perhaps his human form doesn't suffer it.
  • Weapon Tombstone: In Station 41, one ends up being left for Schwarz after Z kills him, with Akira planting his sword in some rocks. And a little later, Gritta comes by and leaves a rose.
  • Wham Episode: Station 11 has the shadow line emperor making his grand appearance, everyone except for Right losing the ability to see the ressha, and Greeta deciding to stay in the human world.
    • Station 22 has Z and Gritta's wedding, which results in Gritta EATING him and gaining his power. Effectively becoming the new Big Bad of the series.
    • Followed in the very next episode by Gritta dying when Z explodes of her, absorbing her powers in the process and becoming even more powerful, then causually slashing Schwarz, sending him off of a cliff, for good measure.
    • Station 32 takes the cake with its revelations about the team. As much of a shocker as it was when we first heard the line, we've long known that the "as good as dead" bit doesn't mean anything quite as grim as "Go, go, Zombie Rangers." So why don't they remember anything between being kids playing at their 'secret base' and being ToQger years later? It's not years later. They're still kids, taken from there to the trains and given adult bodies to better withstand combat. And with that question answered, we get new questions: The lanterns that give us the team's last names also have wishes; all were pretty innocuous except for Mio's: Her wish is for her dad to not get hurt. Oh, and you know how Zed always sings that Japanese version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?" Well, so did the ToQgers when they were kids - and again, by that we mean "a few seconds before the first scene of the premiere, as their town was in the process of being covered in darkness." Makes you wonder yet again just why Zed usually looks human. And if they're connected as closely as they appear, does that have anything to do with why both the Hyper Terminal's mecha form and Zed have the same title, "Emperor?" That's a lot of wham packed into one episode of the lightest sentai in some time. Yasuko Kobayashi does it again!
      • Mio's wish can be seen in even stronger context at the end of the series, where it's implied that not only is her father raising her alone, but that two of the other ToQgers (Right and Hikari) have also lost their fathers.
    • Station 40: The big imposing homebase/terminal that Zed's throne is in and where all the main baddies live— It's the team's long missing home town!
    • Station 44: You know how there's no black ToQger? There is now!
    • Hoo boy, Station 45... Right is tainted with darkness, and not only leaves the rest of the team but destroys their rail passes, turning them back into children and removing their memories as ToQgers while he goes off alone to fight Zed, who has finally given in to his destiny and started a full scale invasion of the surface world after apparently killing Grita (again).
  • Wham Line: From the first episode:
    Ticket: (why the group can become the ToQger) I was saying because you're all as good as dead!
    • In Episode 32:
    Twinkle, twinkle little star....note 
  • Wham Shot: #43: Right giving off intense darkness.
    • Immediately followed by Right transforming into Dark ToQ 1 at the end of #44, absent any indication what it means for the endgame.
  • "With Our Swords" Scene: In the final episode, Raito fights and wins against the Emperor Of Darkness because the other 5 give him their trains. He transfers between all 6 ranger powers and reaching a new form - Toqger Rainbow.
  • The Worf Effect: #30. Kagura's "Ultimate Girl", normally a powerful ability, proves useless against Wig Shadow.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz: Officially, the team's name is "ToQger", and the team emblem is even "TQG". Q is one of the cool letters now, don't you know.
    • The official romanisations of the rangers' designations is ToQ 1gou, 2gou, 3gou etc.
  • You Are Worth Hell: Station 47 has Tokatti, Mio, Hikaru and Kagura tell Right even if they may never live with their families again they refuse to forget about their time as ToQgers especially if that involves forgetting about Right.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: The ToQgers at the start of the series forgot the name of their hometown and then learn it was taken over by the Shadow Line. A large part of the ToQgers motivation is to go home again.
  • Your Size May Vary: The Ressha tend to vary between regular sized trains to giant mech sized. You could probably just Hand Wave it as the team utilizing imagination power out of convenience.
    • Similarly, Car Carrier's cars. Are they the size of cars, or are they several stories tall when used as ammo by ToQOh?

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Alternative Title(s): Ressha Sentai Tokkyuger

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ToQ-Oh

Even though the mechs are created by imagination, ToQger still shows in detail the formation of ToQ-Oh.

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