Wham Episode / Tokusatsu

This page lists examples of Wham Episodes in Tokusatsu shows, like Kamen Rider, Power Rangers, Super Sentai, and the Ultra Series.

Kamen Rider

• Kamen Rider Agito has an episode that reveals that the powers of the eponymous character are in fact a gift gained from God (well, sort off). Also, there is the reveal that the equivalent of Satan created humanity, but his counterpart gave humanity the Seed of Agito, so that one day humanity may break free from "Satan's" rule.
• Kamen Rider Blade has the sudden appearance of Kamen Rider Leangle. He pummels The Hero and the Anti-hero with relative ease. Later there is the big reveal that one of the anti-hero is in fact a being that can cause the end of the world as we know it.
• Kamen Rider Decade has a Wham ending arc. Tsukasa, the eponymous character, spend an entire series on a mission to prevent the multiverse from collapsing. He does so by helping the Riders of other dimensions, thinking its the right thing to do, only to see his new friends killing each other on the battlefield. To add more injury to the insult, Kurenai Wataru, the one who send him on his mission, reveals that he had to kill all the riders instead of helping them, so as a punishment, Tsukasa would get killed. The final episode ends with him getting shot at point-blank range and a trailer for a new sequel movie
• Kamen Rider Gaim has plenty of examples, but of the most notable:
  • As early as episode 14, we learn that the Monster of the Week tropes are heavily deconstructed. Every monster that has been killed may have likely been a human that ate the fruit from the Helheim Forest. That's right, the Kamen Riders in this show have been killing humans.
  • Episode 20 reveals that the Eldritch Location has already overrun a civilization and turned all living creatures into MOTW, and Earth will be taken over in ten years. Subsequent episodes reveal that, in order to make things easier, the MegaCorp is willing to completely destroy the City of Adventure and kill 6 billion people to make things easier for the 1 billion able to survive in the Eldritch Location.
• Kamen Rider Ex-Aid has over half of the episodes contain plot twists that would make them examples in other Kamen Rider series, but of the most notable:
  • Episode 12 confirms that Poppy is a Bugster...which isn't that much of a twist even In-Universe. The really big twist, however, is the Big Bad Kuroto Dan/Kamen Rider Gemn gaining a powerful new form that far outclasses everyone else at the time and killing Lazer.
  • Episode 14 reveals that the reason that Emu can transform into Ex-Aid without compatibility surgery the other Riders need to withstand the Bugster infection is because he's already infected. The rest of the cast tries to hide this from Emu out of fear that the resulting stress would cause the virus to flare up, only for Kuroto to reveal to his face that he's not just any Bugster virus patient, but Bugster virus Patient Zero.
  • Episode 23: Big Bad Kuroto is finally defeated, only for co-Big Bad Parado to kill him and take the reins of his Evil Plan himself.
  • Episode 29 reveals that Parado is the Bugster that was formed from Emu's infection, a twisted manifestation of his childhood desire to have a friend to play with. He also manages to trick Emu into giving him the ability to use the Gamer Driver, which allows him to transform into his Super Mode. And to combat him, Poppy starts considering bringing Kuroto Back from the Dead.
  • Episode 32: The Final Battle between the Doctor Riders and the Bugster Executives is interrupted by Masamune Dan, Kuroto's father, who reveals that he manipulated the villains from behind the scenes to create Kamen Rider Chronicle and made himself the second Patient Zero of the Bugster virus so he could swoop in and claim the power of the game's Infinity +1 Sword, Kamen Rider Cronus. He promptly does so and demonstrates its power to "pause" time and permanently kill Bugsters, which he promptly demonstrates and Loverica.
• Kamen Rider Build, much like its predecesor Ex-Aid, is filled with plot twists in most of its episodes, but of the most prominent ones:
  • Episodes 13 through 16 turns the entire show's premesis on its head before majorly shaking up the status quo. Blood Stalk is revealed to be Soichi Isurugi, who's been manipulating the heroes into completing Faust's work under the guise of heroism. Sento's true identity turns out to be Katsuragi Takumi, the scientist who founded Faust and created both the Smash and the Rider System. Gentoku is exposed as Night Rogue, but Blood Stalk poisons his father before he can take back his position as Prime Minister, leaving Gentoku free to openly declare Civil War against the other two Japanese territories, who, thanks to Nanba Heavy Industries, not only have their own Smash, but also Kamen Riders.
  • Episode 21 deconstructs the Dangerous Forbidden Technique when Sento uses the Hazard Trigger to fight Kamen Rider Grease and his Hokuto Three Crows, only for the Trigger to drive Sento into a mindless berserker who kills of of the Crows, which absolutely traumatizes Sento once he snaps out of it.
  • Episode 27: The heroes win the proxy battle against Seito, which promises an end to the Civil War, and Sawa decides to fully break away from being a Nanba Industries spy, but Blood Stalk kills the Seito Prime Minister and helps Nanba replace him, and Nanba is more than willing to continue the war and orders the release of the Hard Guardians.
  • Pretty much everything after Episode 28 is one big Wham Episode after another, but to sum up the most important point: Blood Stalk actually turns out to be Evolt, a planet-destroying alien who hijacked Soichi's body and masterminded the events of the entire show in a bid to reclaim his planet-destroying power after he lost much of it in a battle when he destroyed Martian civilization. The rest of the show becomes a Cosmic Horror Story as the heroes desperately try to stop Evolt before he starts The End of the World as We Know It.
• Kamen Rider Zero-One has the appearance of Kamen Rider Ark-One. It was known through toy catalogue leaks and previews that the Big Bad Ark had another form beyond the already monstrously powerful Kamen Rider Ark-Zero. However, in one of the most shocking twists in the franchise, the host of the new form ends up being Hiden Aruto, who in a first in Kamen Rider history, willingly accepts the Ark's power after being pushed past the Despair Event Horizon by the death of Is in order to sate his malice against her killer Horobi.

Power Rangers

• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers has several:
  • The "Green with Evil" saga has several of these. The whole arc was the first time the villains actually pushed the Rangers against the wall, instead of being defeated at the end of each episode. Part 1 has the evil Green Ranger wreck the Command Center, which prevents the Rangers from contacting Zordon and utterly curbstomping them during his first battle. Part 4 ends with Rita trapping the Zords beneath the earth after rendering them powerless using an eclipse.
  • "The Mutiny" from Mighty Morphin season 2 was a Wham Episode aired in prime time. Synopsis: Rita's boss, Lord Zedd has come do what she didn't and take out Rangers once and for all. The Dinozords are frozen. The Tyrannosaurus and Dragonzords are under his control. The monsters are stronger. And even if it did end with eventual triumph, we learn that resurrected Green Ranger power will never be viable again leading us to "Green No More" with the Dragonzord coin's eventual end.
  • "The Ninja Encounter" is the first time outsiders learn of the Rangers' secret identities, when the Rangers are forced to unmask before Rocky, Adam, and Aisha.
  • In "The Power Transfer" the aforementioned three replace Jason, Zack, and Trini.
  • "Ninja Quest" which shocked fans with the sight of the Zords blowing up and falling to pieces, along with the destruction of the Ranger powers themselves, forcing them to find a new power source.
  • "Climb Every Fountain" ends with the destruction of the Power Coins, along with the hope of restoring the rangers back to normal.
  • "Hog Day Afternoon" is the finale of Mighty Morphin which ends with Rito and Goldar blowing up the Command Center''.
• "Chase Into Space", the finale of Power Rangers Turbo qualifies. Part one ends with Zordon in trouble, the Zords destroyed, and the Big Bad launching an assault on the Power Chamber. Part two ends Zordon captured, The Power Chamber destroyed and the Rangers having lost their powers. they are only saved from the big Bad when The Man Behind the Man's messenger requests her company. Justin convinces NASADA into loaning the Rangers a space shuttle and chooses to stay on Earth with his wayward father while the others fly into space in hopes of finding Zordon. To drive the point home even further, the credits run next to a still shot of the Rangers' shuttle, rather than the then-usual outtakes reel.
• Power Rangers in Space
  • "The Secret of the Locket" reveals Astronema is actually Karone, the long lost sister of the Red Ranger Andros.
  • Perhaps the biggest Wham episode of the franchise is the Grand Finale "Countdown to Destruction". All villains from this and the previous seasons perform an all out attack on the whole galaxy and succeed in defeating almost all of the rangers. Zordon then sacrifices himself to disperse a wave of positive energy which destroys or purifies all aforementioned villains. This episode concludes almost six years of continuity and wipes the slate clean for any future seasons.
• Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. "The Power of Pink." After a kickass teamup with the Space Rangers in the previous episode, Psycho Pink manages to do what no other villain before or after her could ever do, and kill one of the Rangers.
• Then we have Power Rangers RPM, a wham season. The premise kills off 99.9% of humanity (including anyone from previous seasons not dead of old age and all of their descendants). There are not-so-subtle hints throughout that the entire planet has been nuked (as in with actual nuclear weapons). One of (if not the first) episodes involves a prison brawl. We see people actually die onscreen with alarming regularity (although they don't use the word). And so on. Describe the plot to anyone for the first time and they generally refuse to believe you.

Super Sentai

• Mahou Sentai Magiranger: Episode 33 reveals that Wolzard is actually the Magirangers' brainwashed father. This is followed by 34, which sees him do a full Heel–Face Turn, followed by a Heroic Sacrifice against the recently unsealed N. Ma. Just before he charges into battle, he also reveals that Rangers' mother is still alive.
• The Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger episode "The Greatest Treasure In The Universe" has the team finally obtaining the treasure, only to learn everything is not hunky-dorey: It has the power to erase the Zangyack Empire from existence, but in return it would remove the 34 Super Sentai teams from existence as well.
• Episode 30 from Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters shows the Big Bad Messiah being destroyed. Unfortunately, the Busters' parents, whom they spend the entire series trying to save, were completely assimilated by Messiah, meaning they also had to die.
• Episode 16 of Uchu Sentai Kyuranger when Champ saves Stinger from certain death at his brother Scorpio's hands, only to get blown to bits.

Ultra Series

• Ultraman: Low-stakes example compared to most others, but Part 1 of the two-part episode "The Monster Prince" shocked viewers across Japan in 1967 because it was the first time that Ultraman was defeated by a monster ever.
• Ultraseven: In "the Ultra Garrison goes West" Part 1, Robot King Joe defeats Seven after all of the hero's attacks were useless against the alien creation.
• Return of Ultraman: Episode 37 when Ken and Aki Sakata are Killed Off for Real by the alien Nackle — the first of a very rare instance in the franchise
• Ultraman Ace: Episode 26, all the Ultra Brothers up to that point (even Ace) were defeated, first covered in tar, then turned into statues.
• Ultraman Taro: Episode 18, where Taro dies from his injuries after a savage attack from Birdon, who then killed Zoffy during his Big Damn Heroes moment.
• Ultraman Leo kills off ever single character except Gen and Tohru in the first seven minutes of Episode 40.
• Ultraman 80: Princess Yullian arrives from M-78, and soon after UGM member Emi Johno dies.
• Ultraman Nexus kills off Nexus' human host Jun Himeya about two-thirds of the way into the show — the only time it has ever happened in Ultra Series history. But as Jun says to Komon before leaving:
  "The Light is a bond someone will inherit, and it will shine again"
• Ultraman Mebius: The two-part episode "Day of Farewell" and "Flames of Promise", in which Mirai/Mebius is given orders from M78 to leave Earth due to the upcoming arrival of a dire threat. Mebius doesn't obey them and ends up facing the immensely powerful Humongous Mecha Imperiser. And soon things get so bad that Mirai, for the first time ever in franchise history, reveals his Secret Identity to his friends some good twenty episodes before the finale when it usually happens.