open/close all folders
Hikoma Kusakabe
Hikoma Kusakabe, a.k.a: Jii | Actor: Goro Ibuki
"Well done, my Lord!"
The Shiba household's retainer. Everyone calls him "Jii". Beside helping make sure the Shiba's traditional style Japanese mansion runs smoothly, he trains the Samurai in use of their mojikara and often oversees sword training and the like. He can be very nice and respectable, despite his strictness. Just don't go against him...
- Battle Butler: Sort of. He's old, but at least capable of giving a beatdown if needed.
- Badass Biker: He has a bike, but rarely uses it. Probably because it looks odd with his attire.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Shinkengers calls him Jii.
- Large Ham: By virtue of being played by a Jidaigeki veteran, but not as dramatic or often as Ryunosuke or Genta; he's the mildest of the three Hams in the series, in fact.
- Meaningful Name: Jii's name is simple; a different reading of the Kanji "Samurai". It also puns lightly on one of the least formal ways to address an elder, often translated as "grandfather". What's more, "Jii" is also a very common name in Japanese media - perhaps almost a nominal stereotype - to address well-aged butlers. All three surprisingly fit him perfectly.
- Parental Abandonment: Not his fault though. His work with the Shiba household, and desire to keep his family from getting caught in the crossfire of the fighting, leaves him just one day a year to visit his wife's grave and his daughter and her family, which he's had to give a miss several times.
- Parental Substitute: Raised Takeru after the tono's father was killed in the Gedoshu raid on Shiba manor.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: To the team as a whole. While he will step in to discipline them if they step out of line (looking at you, Chiaki), he is never malicious about it.
- Stern Teacher: He's mainly this to the Shinkengers, especially Chiaki.
- Team Dad: Since he's the only adult and mentor of the team, this is a given.
The Kuroko
The Kuroko
"..."
The Shiba household's servant crew, dressed as traditional Japanese stage hands— and they expect to be as ignored. Besides helping Jii maintain the Shiba's ancestral home, they serve as heralds for the Shinkengers, carrying the elaborate curtains and war drums that often accompany the Samurai's entrance. They can even provide distraction and minor battle support, but mostly clear civilians from an area so the Samurai-tachi can focus on the battle at hand.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Don't be fooled by the archaic attires; they're incredibly adept at their tasks, be it at the mansion or the battlefield.
- Funny Background Event: A majority of the scenes featuring them have a few in the background overacting with body language, enhancing the comedy of scenes.
- Red Shirt: Averted.
- The Voiceless: They communicate with 100% body language (except for very few occasions when they whisper to Jii). There's two exceptions in the whole series; one is because he's not from the same dimension as them and the other becomes important later.
Secret Lantern DaiGoyo
DaiGoyo | Voice actor: Koichi Tochika
"Move it, move it, move it!!"note
A lantern brought to life through Genta's Mojikara. Acts as the Team Pet and can grow to Mecha scale, goyo de!
- Face–Heel Turn: Pulls a brief one for about 30 seconds in the Shinkenger/Go-Onger team-up. He arrives on Samurai World and helps police capture four of the main characters. He comes to them in their jail cell shortly afterwards to help them escape, apologizing that he (being based on a feudal police lantern) got caught up in the moment and was unable to realize it was them.
- Light 'em Up: Well, he is an offshoot of Genta, whose element is light. His light can be so bright that it can cause hidden secrets to be revealed, while enemies can be blinded.
- Meaningful Name/Punny Name: Being fashioned on an Edo police officer, DaiGoyo's name and Verbal Tic have an interesting reference built in: Go-yo was what Edo period lawmen would say to clear the way when they were on official business. At night, they would carry latterns with the phrase on them in kanji.
- Secret-Keeper: Sort of. During the events of both Shinkenger team-up movies, he was the only character to witness an upcoming new Sentai team when they fought against Gedoushu members who attempted to do some sinister plan while the Shinkengers and the other team were busy fighting the big bad of the movie. After the brief fight, the team would notice DaiGoyo and ask him not to tell the other teams about themselves.
- Team Pet: He's obviously this to the Shinkengers.
- Verbal Tic: Goyo de!
Toshizo Tanba
Tanba Toshizo | Actor: Kazuyuki Matsuzawa
Kaoru's personal retainer who served her father. A very stubborn man who prefers a strict adherence to tradition, often scolding anyone who suggests to subvert it even the slightest bit.
- Butt-Monkey: While he's a complete jerk to the other samurai, he never gets off without some kind of punishment from his princess. Kaoru has beaten him with paper fans of varying sizes and she has even had him Bound and Gagged when he was getting really unruly.
- Foil: To Hikoma. Both are retainers for their respective lords and both are very strict. However, Hikoma treats Takeru as a son just as much as a lord and he slowly opens up to the other samurai as well. Tanba, despite also wanting the best for Kaoru, is much more focused on tradition; therefore, his strict adherence to preserving the old ways makes it much harder for anyone to get along with him.
- Hate Sink: His very abrasive nature is very much meant to make Kaoru's appearance much more difficult to swallow as he shouts down at any attempt at insubordination. As such, no one really likes him much. Even Kaoru is rather disgusted by his behavior, despite a lot of it being solely for her sake.
- His presence also diverts a lot of the dislike that would otherwise be aimed at Kaoru herself, since she comes off as quite a Reasonable Authority Figure while he acts condescending towards Takeru and the others. (In real life, his actor Kazuyuki Matsuzawa had taken this interpretation after reading the script and thus played him accordingly.)
- Pet the Dog: All things considered, everything he does is ultimately for Kaoru's sake. When Kaoru is injured after failing to defeat Dokoku, he is constantly checking in on her and his attempts to listen in on her meeting with Takeru is out of concern. In the finale, he tries to stop Kaoru when making the Sealing Character is putting a heavy strain on her and is still recovering from her injuries.
- Ungrateful Bastard: He really doesn't show any respect to Genta for his hard work. This is despite the fact that Genta's contributions had been very instrumental in the Shinkengers' cause.
