"Dinosaurs plus humans! After millions of years, the strongest and bravest team in history has assembled to protect the Earth! LISTEN AND BE AMAZED!!!!"
Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (Electrobeast Squadron Dinosaurangers) is the 37th program in the Super Sentai franchise, scheduled to air from 2013 to 2014. It is the third dinosaur-themed instalment in the franchise, following Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (1992) and Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger (2003).A long time ago, in the age of the dinosaurs, the Earth came under attack by an alien force known as the Deboss Army. However, they were defeated by a team of dinosaurs given supernatural powers, and sealed within the polar ice caps. Torin, the divine mentor of the heroes, stored the souls of these brave dinosaur warriors in capsules so that their power could be called upon if the threat of the Deboss ever returned.Now in the modern age, a new team of humans are scouted by Torin to fight against the revived Deboss Army. Defeating their partner dinosaurs in single combat to earn their trust and respect, these chosen are granted their awesome prehistoric power and the ability to become the new generation of heroes, the Kyoryuger!
The Kyoryugers are:
Daigo "King" Kiryu/Kyoryu Red: "The Fanged Hero", the confident and courageous leader of the group.
Ian Yorkland/Kyoryu Black: "The Bullet Hero", a cocky and stylish charmer from Europe.
Nobuharu Udo/Kyoryu Blue: "The Armored Hero", a goofy but reliable handyman.
Soji Rippukan/Kyoryu Green: "The Slashing Hero", a straight-faced high-school student and expert swordsman.
Amy Yuzuki/Kyoryu Pink: "The Horned Heroine", a cheerful and multi-cultural young heiress with a tough streak.
Utsusemimaru/Kyoryu Gold: "The Thunderous Hero", a samurai from the feudal era who survived to the modern day. Notably for being the first Sixth Ranger with the quickest debut since Signalman, appearing only nine episodes into the series.
Ramirez/Kyoryu Cyan: "The Steel Hero", a Hot Blooded warrior from the dark ages. First ever Caucasian Sentai member ever.
Tessai/Kyoryu Gray: "The Charging Hero", a monk from ancient China that comes in to teach the team his style of fighting, Tessai-Ken, or Iron Breaking Fist.
All Your Powers Combined: The Kentrospiker. This is the first time since Goseiger to have a weapon formed from the team's individual weapons (which is expected since this is also the return of the aforementioned Weapon of Choice), and the first since Gaoranger to be a melee weapon, although the Finishing Move involves Red throwing it after the whole team catapult him to the air, similar to the Goggle Golden Spear. After he joins, Kyoryu Gold participates by riding the Kentrospiker like a surfboard and then slashing the target while they're getting skewered by the 'spiker.
Fang Shot: Combination of Kyoryu Red and Black's weapons.
Shield LanSlasher: Combination of Kyoryu Blue, Green, and Pink's weapons.
Boss Subtitles: Characters getting names on the bottom of the screen when they first appear returns to the franchise after being absent from Boukenger onward. The Monster of the Week doesn't get introduced thusly, though.
Cool Bike: The team's bikes, the Deinochasers, are each actually combined from two Zyudenryu mechs called "Deinos" and "Chase."
Dancing Theme: The ending. Even the dinosaurs dance.
The Deboss join in too, with some Mooks as backup dancers for our heroes, and the generals getting a few seconds of dancing in themselves.
The endings now also feature, in a split screen with the original ending, home video footage of various Japanese children doing the dance.
Debut Queue: All five Kyoryugers meet in the first episode, however, it will take a few more episodes before they start being open to each other.
Eyecatch: After being absent for the last two years.
The pre-break eyecatch has all 5 main Zyudenchi in a circle before being thrown screenward by the team. The post-break eyecatch has the team posing for a jump-shot in front of Kyoryujin's smiling face!
Also The Heart, very much so. Before he came along, the other Kyoryugers didn't even know each others identities. Not only that, but the others respect him enough to call him by his nickname 'King'
Fleeting Demographic Rule: It's been ten years since the last dino Sentai (Abaranger), and twenty-one since the one before that (Zyuranger). Additionally, the title is basically a reversal of Zyuranger's: Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (Dinosaur Squadron Beastranger) => Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger ((Electro)Beast Squadron Dinosauranger).
Genre Throwback: To the older Sentai Series in many ways. There's the Battle Fever J references, but also the blockier design of the mecha and crazier and weirder designs for the monsters.
Leader Forms The Head: One of the exaggerated examples, as Gabutyra makes up all of Kyoryuzin but the arms.
Mecha Expansion Pack: Most mecha can combine with Gabutyra to become the arms of the combined robot; each one granting unique weaponry. Pteraiden-Oh can also use these mecha as arms in place of its own:
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode is referred to as "Brave", while the titles are written in only hiragana and katakana. Also, the first word in the title is an exclamation, something that Goranger, J.A.K.Q, and Megaranger had previously done (partially in the case of the latter).
In the Name of the Moon: After the previoustwo seasons took a break from it, Kyoryuger heralds a return to more elaborate role call sequences.
Daigo: Listen and be amazed!
Daigo: The Fanged Hero! Kyoryu Red!
Ian: The Bullet Hero! Kyoryu Black!
Nobuharu: The Armored Hero! Kyoryu Blue!
Soji: The Slashing Hero! Kyoryu Green!
Amy: The Horned Heroine! Kyoryu Pink!
Utsusemimaru: The Thunderous Hero! Kyoryu Gold is here!
Actually it's apparently a liquid form of Master Deboss's own cells.
Precursor Heroes: An unusual example, the mecha this season are actually the Kyoryuger's predecessor team.
There have also been a few Kyoryugers in the past, such as Ramirez, Utsusemimaru, and Tessai.
The Psycho Rangers: A Monster of the Week turned some Mooks into a set of evil counterparts not to fight the Rangers, but to impersonate them and get everyone pissed at each other.
Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: When Deboss first start their invasion, they and the Kyoryugers fight battles worldwide. After a one-month timeskip, however, everyone's gathered in Japan with no reason given.
Justified in episode 14. Japan is the "Golden Land," the place the Zyudenryu were created by Torin and the only place they would gather naturally.
Transformation Trinket: The team's sidearm, the Gaburevolver, pulls double duty as this.
Utsusemimaru's Gaburichanger pulls triple duty, as it is also his sidearm and a mini blade.
Badass Boast: Daigo delivers one in episode 9. When Souji and Amy have been captured, he, Nobuharo, and Ian are faced with a Hostage Situation. But instead of dropping his gun like he's told to, Daigo shoots the crystal ball that's being used to show them their captured teammates. When the Monster of the Week called him an idiot and asked how he could still shoot, he responded with this line.
Who's the idiot? If the guys you've captured are weaklings, even I would throw away my gun. Why'd you capture such strong guys? We're a Sentai! The five of us together are invincible, but we're still really strong by ourselves! I believe in their strength!
The Bad Guys Win: To a certain degree the Deboss Army sort of wins every episode with them getting at least some energy to revive Deboss each episode and then this trope is played completely straight in Episode 7 with Chaos successfully stealing Pteragordon.
Boogie Knights: Kyoryuzin performs a little dance after the combination sequence.
But Not Too Foreign: Amy is a Japanese-American studying abroad in Japan. Similarly, "Ian Yorkland" is a very Anglo name and the character is known to have found his partner Zyudenryu in Europe, though it's not clear if he was born or raised there. Both characters are played by Japanese actors.
Averted with Ramirez, who is the first hero in franchise history to be played by a non-Japanese actor.
Caped Mecha: Pteraiden-Oh before he gets turned good.
Coup de Grāce: Kyoryu Blue performs one a Mook he just knocked to the ground in the opening.
Crazy-Prepared: In #14, Gentle reveals that he placed a GPS system on the obi on Amy's kimono in the case that she happens to be kidnapped.
Dance Battler: Besides dinosaurs, the series has a loose music theme; for instance, the henshin pose has become the henshin dance to samba music. Even Kyoryuzin does a little tribal dance at the end of its Transformation Sequence!
Early-Bird Cameo: A tradition started by Goseiger, the five Kyoryugers make their debut in Go-Busters vs. Gokaiger, resulting in an awkward moment when Kyoryu Red finds he is alone when he comes to assist Red Buster and Gokai Red, the rest of his team ran late and only arrived after the two Reds took their leave.
Emotion Eater: The Monsters of the series are trying to absorb different types of emotions from the civilians. Aigaron's collect sadness, Dogold's go for anger, and Candelilla's want happiness. As such, hers fall into What Do You Mean Its Not Heinous territory, and it took an unknown outside force altering her Monster of the Week to make it harmful to the populace.
Fuel Meter Of Power: Part of the "battery" concept; the Kyoryugers carry three or four batteries each, and they lose their charge when they're used for special attacks, summoning gear, and the like. They can be recharged afterward, but some care does have to be taken so they're not all used up in a single battle.
#4 shows the first time this drawback comes into play, where the Kyoryugers have to go to battle while their Beast Batteries are still charging.
Fun with Acronyms: Take the first one or two letters of the Kyoryugers' names: the first names (of all seven revealed heroes) make up "Dinosaur" and the last names (of the core five) are "Kyouryu".
Gratuitous English: Gratuitous is an understatement here. Both Ian and Amy are fond of using it since they're both from Europe and North America respectively. Ramierez, too. Also, the command for inserting a Beast Battery is "Brave In!"
There's also some Gratuitous Spanish and, in what might be a first for Super Sentai, Gratuitous Portuguese. When Kyoryujin transforms, the background music chants "Ha Ha, Sim Ha Ha"; "sim" is Portuguese for "yes".
Heroic Spirit: Both figurative and literal. The team thinks Ramirez is a ghost, but he corrects them by saying that he's a warrior spirit, one that fights on even after death.
Hot Blooded: King, of course, but nowhere near the levels of some of the perpetually-screaming reds of the past. However, the narrator takes it Up to Eleven.
That's Shigeru Chiba narrating, what else were you expecting?
Informed Ability: Debo Hyogakki (Ice Age) is credited with having wiped out the dinosaurs. He's the first monster and thus naturally gets wiped out with relative ease.
Insistent Terminology: Ramirez says he's not a ghost, he's a "spirit". Nobuharu isn't sure what the difference is.
Lighter and Softer: After the more serious Go-Busters underperformed, Kyoryuger was designed to be bright and upbeat.
List Song: The ending lists all the batteries' names and effects in numerical order.
Magnetic Hero: Daigo. He's the one who got the other Kyoryugers to work with each other - they didn't even want to share their identities otherwise.
Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty: Word Of God pretty much stated that this was the reason for using The Smurfette Principle; becoming a Kyoryuger requires a test of strength, so it made sense to them that only one woman makes the team. On top of that, part of Amy's character is that she has pressure on her to be ladylike in spite of her natural Action Girl tendencies.
Motion Capture Mecha: the Kyoryugers control Kyoryuzin through their own movements.
Multinational Team: While it's not clear if the Kyoryugers themselves are multinational (especially because they're Not Too Foreign), the Zyudenryu seem to be scattered worldwide and the Kyorugers are well-traveled to have found them.
However it seems to be clearly playing straight with the previous Kyoryugers. Ramirez fought during the Dark Ages and looks to be some sort of warrior, Utsusemimaru was a Samurai in Feudal Japan, and Te Sai is a monk from China.
Mundane Utility: Gabutyra, the core mecha this year, standing in for a dinosaur exhibit in #2.
Zyuranger ones include prehistoric beings in suspension for the past millenia and the presence of a Bigger Bad.
A Pteranodon mech emerges from a volcano?
The restaurant where Amy works is called "Tiger Boy" and has a yellow sign; a reference to the Yellow Tiger Ranger named Boi.
Don't forget Jan, who also called himself a tiger boy.
The chest of Kyoryujin resembles that of Daizyujin... as does the -yujin name. Not the first time Daizyujin has been homaged with a similarly-named mech.
The Psycho Rangers are Mooks disguised as Rangers and have no special powers, sent impersonate the real team rather than fight them on even terms. (Difference is, Zyuranger's were to get the public against the heroes, while Kyoryuger's were to get the heroes against each other.)
Abaranger ones include the dinosaurs being living partners of the heroes, the Mooksdancing during the ending theme (though this time joined by our heroes), a restaurant that every hero has enterednote (though in Abaranger, it was their base of operations; in Kyoryuger it's Amy's workplace and the others' occasional hangout.), and a pterosaur-themed Sixth Ranger.
The upgrade mode where the suit gets spikier, though it's only on one arm so far.
Blue's "weapon" is a shield.
The design of Raiden Kyoryujin is practically identical to Killer Abaren-Oh, minus Stegaraidon. The pteranodon robot piloted by the Sixth Ranger transforms into its beast mode and docks with the main robot's back.
The Tuperanda beast battery represents an obscure pterosaur called a Tupandactylus and is colored white, just like Abarekiller.
Related to both Zyuranger and Abaranger, there's yet another dino mecha with a huge drill just like Gouryuzin, Abarenoh, and Gokaiger's Gozyujin; as well as another Red Ranger Super Mode that borrows powers from teammates like Armed Tryrannoranger and AbareMax. Also, dinosaur series seem to like their zigzag patterns.
The order in which each member reveals their identity roughly follows the order in which the members of Jetman are recruited (at least in their character archetype): the first is of course Red, followed by Pink/White, Blue/Yellow, Green/Blue and lastly Black.
The characters seem to have lot of characteristics of past sentai heroes:
Red is hot blooded and gains respect from his team mates little by little. Seems like a combination of Red Hawk and Deka Red.
Black is a sniper who is a ladykiller. Seems like a mix of Black Condor, Deka Blue Bouken Blue.
Blue is a family man who's is older and very strong. Appears to be Gao Black, Aba Red Blue Buster.
Green has issues with his father regarding his fighting style and reverse grip. Gao White and Shinken Gold are the ones here, and even RJ from Power Rangers Jungle Fury!.
Pink is a rich lady, who is American and fights with kicks. Seems to be like Miss America, White Swan and Yellow Buster.
Souji's father Genryu knows Barizorg/Sid (later Joe)'s Signature Move.
Ramirez's Transformation Sequence calls him a Spirit Ranger. Also a rare male Ranger in the lighter blue color, just like one of PRJF's Spirit Rangers, and an older member of the order just like all of 'em.
The Kentrospiker is a ramped up Goggle Golden Spear from Dai Sentai Goggle Five, it's a spear and using it involves Black, Blue, Green, Pink put their hands together and catapult a leaping Red even further to the air where he throws it to the Monster of the Week.
Utsusemimaru is a member of the previous generation of the team, survives into the present day by being possessed by one of the villainous lieutenants, is responsible for that lieutenant's erratic behavior, and goes all I Work Alone once freed. It's word-for-word from Gaoranger's Shirogane.
Not to mention that his mecha changes its appearance when it turns from evil to good, just as GaoHunter did.
It comes full circle in Super Hero Taisen Z when Wizard boards Kyoryujin and has Wizardragon combine with Kyoryujin!
Episode 10 was not the first time a member of the team had his soul loaded into one of the team's special items and fired at a teammate who was under an enemy's control. It was how Sousuke got his body back after being the victim of Grand Theft Me.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Although Chaos's 400 year old plan to both capture Pteragordon and seal away Utsusemimaru was beautifully executed, the fact remains that had he simply destroyed both, they wouldn't have been able to return to fight against the Deboss Legion in the modern day.
Off-the-Shelf FX: they're not even bothering to hide how the Kyoryuzin Transformation Sequence uses actual toys. Part of the "back to oldschool" theme, instead of the CGI of recent years.
Perma Stubble: Kyoryu Blue, though given his demeanor it's more played to reinforce the "sloppy handyman" look.
The Power of Friendship: Sentai always celebrates teamwork, but more emphasis is placed on the Kyoryugers being a team than usual.
Pungeon Master: Nobuharu regularly makes what everyone calls "old man puns." In #8, he even stands up to the Monster of the Week's illusion with a series of horrible puns!
Dricera's name is a combination of Triceratops and dry cell, a type of battery. It's also a double pun since Dricera's tail is a drill
Daigo Kiryu's preferred nickname, King, is a Stealth Pun on the dinosaur he commands, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Rex being Latin for King.
The first syllable in the heroes' family names spell "dinosaur" in Japanese, while the given names are the same in English!
Sealed Evil in a Can: The Deboss Army has been frozen in ice since the extinction of the dinosaurs. Even after their awakening, their leader Deboss is still imprisoned.
Shout Out: KyoryuBlack is named Ian Yorkland. Gee, a dinosaur-based story with a character named Ian who wears black. Sound familiar to anyone?
#12 has Soji as Green performing a sideways sliding dash straight out of the Rurouni Kenshin movie.
The G-Bo in #15 homages several well-known concept robots like the Asimo (the name in particular brings to mind the Aibo, a robo-puppy).
Spell My Name with an S: Not counting the various ways Dinoranger has been romanized using long vowels, (Kyoryuger, Kyouryuuger, and every combination between) electrobeast has been romanized as Zyuden and also Jyuden by some, with the former of each set being used in Bandai and Toei's merchandise range.
The official romanization of Kyoryu Gold's mecha was revealed to be "Pteragordon", even though either "Pteragodon" or "Pteragoldon" would make more sense.
Then there's "Devoss" or "Deboss" and the show adds to the confusion with "Deboth."
Spoiler Ending: The ending did not keep the name of ZyuDenRyu #6 (Pteragordon) a mystery. It even described it as having Shock and Awe powers!
#6's ending also reveals all the next six beast batteries this way when by then, only #7 (Ankydon) and #11 (Deinochaser) were already shown.
The ending seems to be Pokerapping all the dinos, to the point that by now, the ending has more you haven't seen in action than you have.
Theme Naming: The Deboss Knights and Luckyuro all include currencies in their names: Dogold, Aigaron(galleon), Candelila(lira) and Luckyuro(euro).
True Companions: Both the team itself as well as their Zyudenryu partners. It's clear to see that they really do care for one another.
Gabutyra and Daigo. In #12 when Daigo goes missing along with Ucchi, Gabutyra is called on to locate them both. Not only does the big guy succeed, but upon finding his partner in trouble, he comes stomping in and takes out the attack force in seconds!
Villain Song: Candelilla sings one in #6. With the help of Debo Virsun, it becomes a Brown Note capable of putting people to sleep and causing them to have pleasant dreams, enabling the Deboss to harvest their happiness.
Wham Episode: At #6's end we see the Beast Battery for Kyoryu Gold. But it's in High Priest Chaos's hands!
And in #7 Chaos sends out a monster to keep the Kyoryugers occupied while he went to free Pteragordon and put it under his control!
#9 qualifies, too. Dogold is revealed to be a Animated Armor containing the former KyoryuGold, Souji and Amy have been captured by a Monster of the Week, and Torin is slowly turning to stone thanks to an old injury. Not to mention the Deboss are still in control of Pteragordon.
#17 has Tessai calling for Daigo to be kicked from the Kyoryugers because he has no weakness and have Ucchi be made the leader.
You Shall Not Pass: Nobuharu's niece, Rika, does this to the Monster of the Week in Ep 2. when he was about to destroy the T-Rex statue she and the other kids made. In perspective, the monster can flatten skyscrapers with a wave of his hand, and the niece is at most six.
Your Size May Vary: Depending on the scene, Gabutyra can be as small as a normal T. rex, or as tall as a skyscraper.
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