History Anime / TimeBokan

* CustomUniformOfSexy: Downplayed, but Atasha's Time Patrol uniform features a skirt instead of shorts and lacks the knee-high socks other female officers wear, showing more bare leg than usual.

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Gekigaski. He's the one who created Tomomot in the first place, and all the tasks he gave to the Ojamaman were just tests to prove that history can be changed so that [[WellIntentionedExtremist he can then do it by himself to save humanity from self-destructing because of their actions]].]]

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Subverted. At the end of the series, the four villains perform a HeroicSacrifice by blowing themselves up to stop a meteorite that's about to hit Earth. However, before the meteorite explodes, one can make out 4 rescue ships leaving the spaceship.]]

* DubSpeciesChange: The Italian dub changes the species of three of the Otasukeman mechas: the frog is turned into a toad, the seal into a sea lion and the tanuki into a groundhog.

** Subverted in ''Yattodetaman'' where the villains are a group of four.
* TimeTravel: Ironically, ''Yatterman'' is the only exception.

* ArtificialIntelligence: [[spoiler: Tomomot, surprisingly. He is a robot build by Gekigasuki.]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Gekigaski. He's the one who built Tomomot in the first place.]]

* {{Qipao}}: Mun Mun often wears this dress as a civilian outfit. Justified, because she is chinese.

* RecycledSoundtrack: Multiple pieces of background music have been reused in later series. For example, the theme heard during the Dorombo gang scams in ''Yatterman'' is sometimes used in ''Otasukeman'' when the Ojamamen seem to be very close into succeeding with their plan, while a fanfare associated with the Time Patrol in ''Otasukeman'' comes back in the second half of''Yattodetaman'' as Daikyojin's entrance theme.

** The second half of the series introduces Professor Onuki, that keeps being called "Professor Tanuki" (or similar names) by other characters.

* {{Animorphism}}: Episode 47 has all the characters become {{Funny Animal}}s while travelling back to colonial America, to match with the main characters in the comics drawn by Gekigasuki's father. Hikaru and Nana become a dog and a bunny, Atasha, Sekovitch, Dowalski and Gekigasuki become respectively a fox, a weasel, a boar and a horse (they then transform into a pig, a wolf, a gorilla and a giraffe while in their Ojamaman suits, and the final scene also depicts them as a butterfly, a mantis, a cockroach and a grasshopper), Tonnan and Onuki become respectively a lion and a tanuki, Tomomot becomes a {{Kappa}} and Gekigasuki's father a donkey.

* SickeninglySweethearts: Hikaru and Nana continuously.
* SixthRanger: Gekigasuki as the fourth member to the Terrible trio.

* {{Animorphism}}: Episode 47 has all the characters become {{Funny Animal}}s while travelling back to colonial America, to match with the main characters in the comics drawn by Gekigasuki's father. Hikaru and Nana become a dog and a bunny, Atasha, Sekovitch, Dowalski and Gekigasuki become respectively a fox, a weasel, a boar and a horse (and then transform into a pig, a wolf, a gorilla and a giraffe while in their Ojamaman suits), Tonnan and Onuki become respectively a lion and a tanuki, Tomomot becomes a {{Kappa}} and Gekigasuki's father a donkey.

* MayTheFarceBeWithYou: Episode 46 haves the main characters travel to the future to help their descendants. The Ojamamen descendants are Stormtrooper-like soldiers led by Ojamavader (a Darth Vader {{Expy}} and Tomomot's descendants), fighting against rebel soldiers (led by Hikaru and Nana's descendants who are also expies of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia) and stationing on a Death Star-esque base.

* TheOlympics: Episode 37, aired as a tie-in for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, features Hikaru and Atasha leading the two teams of a sport event for Time Patrol members. The Ojamamen cheat by bringing multiple historical figures in their team (mainly because they plan to sell the trophy to recover their lost funds), but at the end the competition is cancelled and the trophy is split in two halves and each half is given to

* {{Animorphism}}: Episode 47 has the villains and the heroes became {{Funny Animal}}s in colonial America, to match with the main characters in the comics drawn by Gekigasuki's father. Hikaru and Nana become a dog and a bunny, while Atasha, Sekovitch, Dowalski and Gekigasuki become respectively a fox, a weasel, a boar and a horse.

* MayTheFarceBeWithYou: Episode 46 haves the main characters travel to the future to help their descendants. The Ojamamen descendants are Stormtrooper-like soldiers led by Ojamavader (a Darth Vader {{Expy}} and Tomomot's descendants), fighting against rebel soldiers (led by Hikaru and Nana's descendants) and stationing on a Death Star-esque base.

** The second half of the series introduces Professor Onuki, that keeps being called "Professor Tanuki" by other characters.

* MayTheFarceBeWithYou: Episode 46 is a WholeEpisodeReference to ''Film/ANewHope'', with Tomomot taking the role of Darth Vader.

* TrainingFromHell: At the end of each episode, the chief of police allows the main cast to choose randomly between two types of training: a hard and dangerous session, and an easy, enjoyable session that often barely qualifies as an actual training. The bad guys always wind up with the former.

* InUniverseFactoidFailure: Tomomot's history book is filled with lies and inaccuracies, attributing multiple events to his ancestors and claiming that multiple figures from the past were known for more mundane things than what they actually did (for example, he claims that Napoleon was a wine maker, Benjamin Franklin was a takoyaki vendor and Ieyasu Tokugawa was a dormouse). The Ojamaman's job is to change the past so that these claims become the truth.

* RecycledSoundtrack: Multiple pieces of background music have been reused in later series. For example, the theme heard during the Dorombo gang scams in ''Yatterman'' is sometimes used in ''Otasukeman'' when the Ojamamen seem to be very close into succeeding with their plan.

* FunWithPalindromes: Tomomot (Lampshaded by himself).
* GhostLegLottery: The heroes have multiple mechs. Which one they use in each episode is chosen via a Ghost Leg game on their ship's main computer.

* AccidentalMisnaming: Sometimes Atasha accidentally calls Sekovich with the name of one of his counterparts from the earlier series.

* InUniverseFactoidFailure: Tomomot's history book is filled with lies and inaccuracies, attributing multiple events to his ancestors and claiming that multiple figures from the past were known for more mundane things than what they actually did (for example, he claims that Napoleon was a wine maker, Benjamin Franklin was a takoyaki vendor and Nostradamus was a pig breeder). The Ojamaman's job is to change the past so that these claims become the truth.

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Gekigaski. He's the one who built Tomomot in the first place.]]

** The two team's spaceships are designed after a DeliveryStork and a [[VileVulture vulture]], with the latter also being able to turn into [[OminousOwl an owl-shaped hovercraft]]. Tonnan, the Time Patrol director, owns a pelican-shaped spaceship.

* {{Animorphism}}: Episode 47 has the villains and the heroes became {{Funny Animal}}s in colonial America, to match with the main characters in the comics drawn by Gekigasuki's father. Atasha becomes a fox, Dowalski a boar and Sekovitch a weasel, while Hikaru and Nana becoame a dog and a bunny.

* DifferentInEveryEpisode: The Ojamamen's final attack is preannounced by an orchestra of small robots popping out from the mech's cockpit. The director haves a different face each time, usually being some kind of ShoutOut (for example, in one episode the director is actually [[Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman Joe the Condor]] and comments that he's in the wrong show)

* TheFaceless: Atasha's mysterious boyfriend.

* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: Atasha. Beyond the classic amount of ClothingDamage, a RunningGag has her caught in the middle of the dress sequence when the trio switch from her Time Patrol outfits to Otasukemen costume.

* TrainingFromHell: At the end of each episode, the chief of police allows the main cast to choose randomly between two types of training: a hard and dangerous session, and an easy, enjoyable session. The bad guys always wind up with the former.

* CanonDiscontinuity: There was a 3-episode OVA in the 90's called ''Sengoku Bushou Retsuden Bakufu Hissatsuman'', made by the same studio behind the ''Anime/CasshanRobotHunter'' OVA. Despite being directed by franchise director Hiroshi Sasagawa and being thematically similar to other ''Time Bokan'' series, Tatsunoko does not consider it a part of the franchise.

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: Once per episode, the villains sabotage the good guys's spaceship to ensure they will arrive on destination first

* FourthWallMailSlot: Some episode has, after the end, an extra scene where the main character respond to mail of the fans or comment their ideas for new mini-mecha.
** MediumShiftGag: In the episode 26 and 27, appear some live people that perform a {{Cosplay}} of the main character.

** [[spoiler: TheManBehindTheMan: He's the one who built Tomomot in the first place.]]

* RobotBuddy

* DubSpeciesChange: The Italian dub changes the species of three of the Otasukeman mechas: the frog is turned into a toad, the seal into a sea lion and the raccoon dog into a groundhog.

* AbsoluteCleavage: Atasha Otasukemen's costume.

* {{Animorphism}}: Episode 47 has the villains and the heroes became anthros in colonial america..for some reason. Atasha a fox, Dowalski a boar and Sekovitchia weasel while Hikaru and Nana becoame a dog and a bunny.

* DarkIsEvil: The Otasukemen costumes are all black to contrast the white of the Time Patrol outfits.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Tomomot's plan. The history book he just wrote is nothing but CriticalResearchFailure? Just get some guys to go back in time and manipulate the entire history of humankind so that it matches the book!

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Junko has green hair. Oddly enough, the intro for the show portrayed her as blonde at one point.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Atasha has green hair.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Mun Mun has purple hair, while Min-Min has green hair.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: In the second half of series, the heroes use a Gorilla mech.

** Specifically, ''one'' TerribleTrio: the Doronbo Gang. These wacky villains have been at the center of many adaptations, including both ''Royal Revival'' [=OVAs=] and numerous games. So much, in fact, that the [[Anime/YattermanNight distant sequel series]] is about ''their'' descendants instead of Gan and Ai's.

* RobotBuddy: Chorobo.

* RobotBuddy

** In ''Ippatsuman'' and ''Yattodetaman'', the mechas are larger and form into a SuperRobot.

* BeeAfraid: One of the scouting mechs on the ''Kuwagattan'' is modeled after one.

* ShoutOut: An episode has a big parody of ''Manga/TheRoseOfVersailles'' with an {{Expy}} of Oscar who is a StrawFeminist that hate all the men and turn in a monster toward the end. Her entire kingdom is similar to France and the japanese name is a malapropism of Versailles.

* CallBack: The intro for this series starts with a countdown leading to a "TIIIME BOKAN!" TitleScream, just like the first series. Also counts as a series-wide BookEnd, since this is the last series produced for the franchise before the revival in 2015.

* {{Expy}}: The series has many similarities with ''Anime/HurricanePolymar'' (another "Tatsunoko" show). It’s main character that works under an inept private detective and has a tomboyish girlfriend that helps him out. He gains access to an ability to transform into a powerful hero clad in red. To hammer this in even further, both Wataru and Takeshi even share the same voice actor, Kazuyuki Sogabe.

* DayOfTheWeekName: The Italian adaptation, called Calendar Men, had a field day with this. Since the series' main theme is time travel, they decided to give everyone names related to days of the week, months and so on. For example, Mirenjo became Lunedì (Monday) and her little brother Komaro became Sabato (Saturday); her two lackeys were renamed Settembre and Ottobre, full names Primo Settembre and Due Ottobre ("September the First" and "October the Second"), the hero's wimpy alter ego Wataru Toki became Beppe Domani (something like "Joe Tomorrow")...

* TheDogWastheMastermind: [[spoiler: Oddly enough, it was the Trio's pet this turn around who turned out to be the BigBad. Nyaravolta found the lake containing the elixir long ago and had actually lived for thousands of years due to a sample he obtained. However, the elixir’s effect wasn’t infinite, and by the end of the series he was in need of more. He used the Akudaman trio to locate the lake for him, and had no intention of letting them have any of the elixir.]]

* [[TheDogWastheMastermind The Cat Was the Mastermind]]: [[spoiler: Oddly enough, it was the Trio's pet this turn around who turned out to be the BigBad. Nyaravolta found the lake containing the elixir long ago and had actually lived for thousands of years due to a sample he obtained. However, the elixir’s effect wasn’t infinite, and by the end of the series he was in need of more. He used the Akudaman trio to locate the lake for him, and had no intention of letting them have any of the elixir.]]

* Trope2000: This is the only entry in the series with the ''Time Bokan 2000'' label as its subtitle.