To transform, the Lupinranger have to first slot their Dial Fighters on the side of the VS Changer and then turn the dial to input a combination before then slotting it on top. They're safecracking their henshin devices.
Better still, apparently they can use them to safecrack anything that would be applicable.
The Patrangers' suits are red, pink, and green, the same as the procession of jackets across the original series of Lupin III. The red ranger being the leader might just be Sentai tradition, but consider how Lupin III: Part II is the version everyone thinks about first, because it's the longest and most iconic version.
In episode 1, when Kairi tells Keiichiro he's going to miss his newspaper throw, he probably used Rouletter's piece of the Lupin Collection, the Die, to manipulate the outcome. Reminder that, at that time, he still has the Collection with him.
Subverted as humans are unable to use the Lupin Collection. The Pieces used by the Lupins/Pats are specially modified for human use, and only a rare few (such as Arsène Lupin & Noël) are able to modify them.
Even in their finishers, the Lupinrangers and Patrangers retain their Order vs. Chaos motif. The Patrangers fuse into one being, as it’s more organized to have one person than 3, while the Lupinrangers duplicate for a more chaotic, but higher numbered finisher.
It also goes into the secondary theme of showy vs practical. Merging together is less flashy than splitting up, but pooling power is certainly far more efficient.
Adding on, The Patrangers are police officers and are expected to work together as one unit while the Lupinrangers are willing to sacrifice each other if it means the one left standing can accomplish the work of three and achieve their dream.
Or it could have been a reference to the other two team members' colors. Blue and yellow (Lupinranger) are primary colors, which means it cannot be obtained by mixing other colors whereas green and pink (Patranger) are secondary colors, which mixes two primary colors.
What do most phantom thieves do in their stories after they've stolen the treasure they were after from a criminal? They leave the criminal for the police to deal with. Just like what the Lupinrangers did with the Garatto Naago, leaving the Patrangers to deal with him after they stole the piece of the Lupin Collection.
Much like monsters before them, the Gangler operate one at a time, though as a gang, it would be suitable for multiple high ranking members to go at once. But due to the nature of the succession that Dogranio Yabun put forth, they want to be able to stand out as much as they can so that they will gain favor. It's why the giant monster mechanic for this season works the way it does, they have been impressive enough that they are given a second chance.
Which is exactly how Goodie Striker also decides which team he'll support too. Whichever team impresses him at the time gets his support to form the team's respective Kaiser and fight the giant Gangler.
Why is Good Striker so afraid of Kogure? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that for a hundred years, Good Striker was trapped in the room where the Lupin Collection was stored. A sentient being spent a century in captivity... it's no wonder Good Striker flees upon hearing Kogure's name. He's finally free and doesn't want to go back to his prison.
The fact that we first see him bolted down in a briefcase also helps his case against staying with the Patrangers. Poor bugger can't catch a break.
Not to mention that when he regains a piece of the collection what does Kogure do with it? He places it inside the pages of his book, no wonder Goodie doesn't want him to find him.
The bistro the Lupinrangers work at is an obvious, but great cover location for them. It's small enough that Kogure can personally fund the bistro without using too much money, but also fancy enough that they can make up the excuse that a VIP party will reserve the restaurant forcing them to close early when a mission comes up. Location-wise, Kogure set up the bistro close to the police station so they can listen in on Gangler activity by any patrons from the station. Finally, as this is a small business, it can be realistically shut down immediately if their cover gets blown.
The Lupinrangers' front (which is also the Patrangers' favorite lunch spot) is called Bistro Jurer. As in, juror. The other casual customers are unknowingly in the space between thieves and authority, like how members of a jury are unaffiliated with both the prosecutor and the defendant for a fair trial.
However, the customers are unknowingly supporting the phantom thieves by dining there. This reflects the Lupinrangers ironically being more popular in the public than the Patrangers (and GSPO).
Since the VS Changer is basically a gun, the way both teams transform can be similar to that of a warning shot. Obviously, the way they perform their shots are different. The Patrangers shoot above them, not to directly harm anyone nearby, but to call attention to themselves. The Lupinrangers fire straight ahead, similar to how some will shoot a shot at someone but deliberately miss by inches to show that they mean business.
All parts of the Lupin Collection represent various crimes. The ones in possession of the Ganglers are obvious enough, with Arson, Drug Dealing, Kidnapping, Forgery, various forms of Murder (such as Electrocution), Eating without Paying, Breaking out of Prison, Theft of Identity, Violating Noise Regulations, etc., but even the standard equipment of both teams can qualify. The VS Changer is a pretty simple charge of Armed Violence, The Dial Fighters are of course Theft. The Trigger Machines can stem from Usage of Excessive Force. Even the Good Striker can be interpreted by law as either Aiding a Fugitive, or as Vigilante Activity based on whose side he works with. Jackpot Striker can also be interpreted as Cheating at Play and Inside Jobs, what with the casino theming he possesses, his ability to manipulate Ganglers from within their safes, and letting the Lupinrangers have their Mecha at the ready at the same time the Patrangers do.
All of the Gangler, leaders included, all have safes on their bodies. Other than that, they don't really look that much different to other alien creatures older Sentai had. That being said, the Gangler name isn't their race, it's the name of their gang. In this case, the safe may have been put on them, similar to that of a tattoo that brands them to the gang or a simple clothing style that a gang may use.
In Episode 11, Pitch Cock uses his Gender Bender beam on the Blade Dial Fighter, creating the Hammer Dial Fighter. This elicits confusion from the Lupins, Goodie, and Pitch Cock himself, but it does make sense. After all, Swords and Hammers are opposites of each other. Swords are slashing weapons that are made for finesse and control and as such require heavy training to even cut properly. Hammers are crushing weapons that are much clumsier and require little to no training to use properly.
Plus the Lupin Collection items have French names. Les Ciseaux is considered feminine and means scissors, while le marteau means hammer and is considered masculine. It really did switch the gender of the weapon!
Segues into Fridge Humor when you realize what Pitch Cock probably wanted to do: change a sharp weapon into a dull one. What he got was a bladed weapon into a blunt weapon, which the Lupinrangers decided to pummel him with.
It gets even funnier when you realize the Blade Dial isn't just a set of swords, it's a pair of scissors and a hammer looks phallic when viewed from a certain angle. They essentially snuck a sex joke into the show.
Also in Episode 11, Destra is confused that Dogranio would want to see a movie about the Ganglers. But of course! It's about the Ganglers under DOGRANIO (and it's also extolling the guy), not under his successor. It's like the statue in Episode 3.
Of course, Destra is right to be wary... a movie is a lot easier to mess up than a statue. Pitch Cock's "masterpiece" could have wound up a blunder... to the point Dogranio could have been enraged instead of intrigued. Destra was probably expecting such a "blunder".
Given that Guche said Pitch Cock "may have come up with something good this time", the guy might have a track record of, ah, "smash hits".
Episode 13 gives us a perfect reason why the Lupinrangers even bothered to disguise themselves if they'll morph anyways. If they get knocked out of transformation, their identities are still protected. Episode 26 backs this up further by stating that the Lupinrangers' mask are imbued with some sort of identity covering technology, explaining why not even the cops are able to recognize them by facial features alone, and why the Lupinrangers can get away with wearing a simple domino mask.
Lupin/Patren X (pronounced like the letter) is named as such as he is an ever changing variable being able to freely change sides, even in the middle of a fight. Thus he is sort of like an X factor, a wild card that can be whoever he feels like.
There's also the pun with his first name. Noel is the French word for Christmas and what's another name for Christmas? X-mas.
Both of his transformed forms have X in their names. A "double-cross", so to speak.
His transformation call? Kaitou/Keisatsu X-Change or exchange.
While at first it is weird that Lupin X is the Mighty Glacier and that Patren X is the Fragile Speedster which are traits of the Patrangers and Lupinrangers respectively. However it makes sense to know that he is an extra member of the team whose skills are usually needed in specific heists/cases. After #21 the forms power can also be considered the counter against the team he at the time opposes something like fighting fire with fire.
In the case of the Lupinrangers he can be considered the hired "muscle" of the team that the thieves need to keep the enemy busy in order to buy the rest of the team more time.
The armor can also be used to keep the Patrangers busy, because unlike the other Lupinrangers who need to dodge their attacks, he can just tank the hits and keep them busy at close.
In the case of the Patrangers he can be seen as a detective who is hired by the police. It should be noted that unlike the cops they work with the detective they hire doesn't get the same gear or armor the cops have which means that the detective has to rely more on his skills and speed to evade enemy attacks.
The speed and agility he gains can also be used to counter the Lupinrangers's speed and agility in catching or apprehending them.
If Noel has the X-Train Fire, a Train with a dial to crack open a safe, why doesn't he use that as the safecracker? Simple, as an engineer he doesn't want to put his creations in danger unless absolutely necessary. Thus as part of his outfit, he has it integrated with his belt as it's part of the suit, not the collection piece itself.
Not to mention that its dial is also not functional.
Zamigo states against Lymon that his collection piece's power is useless against him. It was revealed that Lymon's collection piece gives him a strong Healing Factor. Zamigo's ice powers could freeze Lymon completely and make his collection piece's ability useless, because being frozen is technically not a damage that can be healed. Not to mention, most, if not all of Zamigo's victims shatter right away after being frozen. Lymon's healing factor must have its limits, and full body shattering must be it.
Then we learn much later that he doesn't shatter victims. Rather, he teleports them and only the ice shell shatters. This really makes it brilliant foreshadowing, as a Healing Factor, even one good enough to let you survive shattering, can do nothing about you being sent somewhere you don't want to be. And if you really piss Zamigo off, you might find yourself floating in space or buried miles underground.
People tends to be mad when Lupinrangers tends to one-up the Patrangers a lot of time. But when I think of it, combined with Good Striker's quote when forming Lupin Kaiser, "Let's steal victory!"... It all starts to make sense why Lupinrangers tend to get better showing in battle: They're stealing victories too; not just Lupin Collections. If they don't steal victories from the Patrangers (which might win from the monsters through sheer determination despite their early losses), they're not doing their job as super phantom thieves.
Regarding stealing concepts such as victory, there's another thing the Lupinrangers stole. Consider the fact that Sakuya has a crush on Umika. She, a Lupinranger, stole his heart.
Another major reason is that for the Lupinrangers and Noel It's Personal because they all lost a close person of their to the Gangler and want to get them back, while the Patrangers some of them having extremely strong dedication to justice aside, are just cops doing their jobs for the most part so the Lupinrangers have far more motivation and it shows in their actions. Towards the final stretch of the show the Patrangers suddenly get a major competence boostafter they find out that not only have the Gangler been abducting and killing people for their disguises for over two years and the Patrangers were completely unaware of this, but one of these victims was Keiichiro and Tsukasa's old partner who nearly tricked them all with his face. And unlike the Lupinrangers loved ones who it's revealed they still have a chance to save, Satoru is definitely dead. Now It's Personal for the Patrangers as well and with it they get the motivation and drive they lacked for most of the show.
In episode 13, of course the Lupinrangers' domino mask can block a monster's projectiles. If the mask is flimsy and fragile, they wouldn't be wearing it every time. It's just as much protection as it is a disguise. Plus, something that can mask their identity efficiently needs to not break so easily.
In episode 29, Keiichiro lost his memories....but somehow, still remember Tsukasa. Which makes sense if you remember their backstory - both of them have known each other for so long, there are just too many memories of Tsukasa within Keiichiro's head, and the Collection's power can't take them all.
In episode 30 Keiichiro was able to round up a gang of normal humans rather easily, and yet he still has trouble with the Gangler and the Lupinrangers. But the Ganglers are inter-dimensional beings with powers they still cannot comprehend while the Lupinrangers are expertly trained thieves who are trained to outrun the police. Needless to say, there is no way the GSPO knows how to deal with the Ganglers before obtaining the VS Changers and if it wasn't for their tricks and their own training, the Lupinrangers would have gotten caught as well.
Episode 33 shows why the two sides can't just keep using Good Cool Kaiser VSX, what has basically become their Ultrazord for the season. While the Lupinrangers don't have a qualm against using it (though that comes with a finger wag from Kogure), the Patrangers do since teaming up with the Lupinrangers would be considered aiding a criminal, possibly collusion at best. And with public opinion already favoring the thieves, the already low opinion of the Global Police would plummet.
Speaking of Good Cool Kaiser VSX, why is it made of CGI instead of having its dedicated suit? Well, considering how rarely they form it, it's a good move on Toei's part to save money by not making an expensive suit they'll only use 2-3 times in the whole show.
That, and it is four-armed, so CGI is the only option to have all arms active without having to build an expensive, intricate suit using puppetry tools.
Why is the VS Sentai (a two-in-one Sentai team composed of Lupinrangers and Patrangers, with Noel being the double agent Sixth Ranger) respectively designated as the 42nd and 43rd Sentai team (meaning the next Sentai team would be the 44th)? Because they want the 45th Sentai team to debut in the year of the 45th anniversary ofHimitsu Sentai Gorenger.
Episode 50 reveals that the Trigger Machines can reset the combination on the Gangler safes, which is rather similar to how most businesses will update their security protocols after a security breach occurs - which would include, oh say, being a victim of phantom thieves.
With the way Dogranio's safe works, it wouldn't be out of the realms of possibility that all of the safes the other Ganglar uses are based off of his.
In Lupinranger VS Patranger VS Kyuranger, it's shown that the Trigger Machines are explicitly meant to transform its user into Patranger, even the Lupinrangers. The Patrangers we do have were never meant for the power to begin with, so why did Noel design it like that? Easy, it's another disguise. What better way for them to infiltrate the GSPO than to become cops themselves.
Given Noel does seem to sincerely believe in the Global Police and using the collection for good, it's also possible that Noel intended for the Trigger Machines to be used as Police all along, just not deployed in Japan where they would directly come into conflict with the Lupinrangers and inadvertently becomes a risk to his own plans. Noel very well could have intended for the Patrangers to be people stationed in another country to watch for potential Gangler problems there (with Noel as Lupin X to crack any safes and retrieve the collection "For police research") while leaving Japan to the Lupinrangers.
Toward the ending of the opening sequence, the Lupinrangers cross the Patrangers in their civilian forms and Kairi turns into LupinRed as he passes Keiichiro. The next scene is a VS Changer being dropped. It hints two important things the Reds do with their VS Changers in the finale:
It hints to Kairi, Tooma, and Umika returning their VS Changers to Noel through Kogure’s book after defeating Zamigo in Dogranio’s safe, that way Noel can make his wish.
In episode 28, Umika’s Birthday Episode, Noel gives the Lupinrangers the Magic Dial Fighter, with a Stage Magician theming. We saw before that Noel asked for the VS Vehicle from Kogure during his debut arc. Stage magicians often perform for birthday parties. Perhaps in a way the auxiliary power-up was Noel’s birthday gift to Umika... and Kairi and Touma, by extension.
In En Film, Kairi and Keiichiro escape the Back World by putting JackpotStriker in one of Goche’s safes. The safe they put him in happened to be the one containing Guéris le monde. The same treasure Kogure and Noël dread because it can out them as not-human. If Keiichiro didn’t toss the piece aside or Kairi took a few seconds to swipe it before escaping, things would have definitely played differently later on.
If the mini-stage show at the reveal of the actors is anything to go by, the two teams will be more focused on each-other than fighting the Ganglers. Who knows what'll happen with the two teams fighting each-other as opposed to the monsters...
Just look at Kamen Rider where many series have the Riders fighting each other more than fighting the monsters.
Hell, the last time twoSentai fought each other, it ended up causing a Bad Future where Sentai is dead.
It's somewhat played with, but the Patrangers know the more immediate threat are the Ganglers, but won't hesitate to aim at the Lupinrangers given the chance. In the same vein, the Lupinrangers will attempt to hold off the Patrangers until the collection piece the Gangler hold is in their hands. That being said, the Lupinrangers will not hesitate to put the Patrangers in danger if it furthers their goals.
The Patrangers have orders to execute the Gangler if they do not submit to arrest, rather than taking them down with non-lethal methods. Just how evil and dangerous of a criminal organization are the Ganglers if police officers are allowed to execute their members if they resist arrest?
Worth noting at this point is that according to Dekaranger 10 Years After, "Judgment Time" means that the authority for immediate execution has to be obtained from a galactic high court that by its nature has to be located within a temporal anomaly, where months of investigation are completed within the few seconds it takes to countdown to the SP License's verdict. The Patorangers don't really defer to anyone during battle (heck, Sakuya's the new guy and he's somehow authorized to break out the Good Striker).
In episode 4 they state they are authorized by the Global Police to use force against the Ganglers.
In episode 6 we learn Zamigo Delma (the ice Gangler who froze the Lupinranger's loved ones) has a habit of chewing on ice. Is he chewing on normal ice or his latest victim?
Episode 17 showed it was a rock ice (some kind of snack for him).
Fridge Tearjerker: Tsukasa’s affinity for stuffed animals (and also saying “heal me, please!” as she cuddles them) is a Running Gag. Episode 24 reveals that Tsukasa’s parents both died when she was young, so it’s likely she copes with their loss by indulging in childish things.
The Time Skip in episode 51 is an example of Be Careful What You Wish For in the Patrangers' case, particularly Keiichiro's. Throughout the series, he's constantly swearing that they will arrest the Lupinrangers. In the final battle, he is the last person aiming a gun at Dogranio: who has the Lupinrangers in his safe. As he struggles to pull the trigger, the Patrangers reflect on how close they have grown to them without realizing they're the enemy. In the end, Keiichiro couldn't bring himself to kill Dogranio and the Lupinrangers by extent, and instead the Patrangers lock the Gangler up. Trapped in the safe, the Lupinrangers were technically arrested by the Patrangers, but it wasn't the glorious victory they imagined it to be. The cost was that the Patrangers had to live the succeeding year as revered heroes carrying guilt that they couldn't do anything to rescue their close friends.
The Gangler have been around for 500 years, and since the first time we see Zamigo he has his human disguise on... and the disguises are made from killing his kidnapped humans... For just exactly how long has Zamigo been human?? Because that's how long the human whose appearance he assumes has been dead.
On the other hand, Zamigo didn't start his kidnapping streak until about a year before the first episode. Despite that it's safe to assume his disguise came from his first victim, since he's been getting away by acting as an eccentric wanderer in the streets.
The last time we see Satoru before he comes back in episode 43, he visits Bistrot Jurer and looks after the Patrangers from afar. Episode 44 reveals Satoru was murdered by Zamigo sometime after to become Narizma's human disguise. The last scene of Another Patren2gou was Satoru walking out of Jurer, earbuds on and plugged into his MP3... Did he run into the Gangler after that!?
The Monster of the Week in episode 45 transports Sakuya and Noel into illusions where they're cooked in salmon recipes. It's Played for Laughs, but, the Gangler are infamous criminals. While they are illusions, they might also double as threats to be cooked alive and eaten.
As mentioned above, Dial Fighters can crack a safe... but apparently they can also crack a regular old door? Try explaining that one.
Thieves usually have tools that let them break through doors.
More Fridge Brilliance...They can open anything with a lock. Safes, and doors alike, have locks. Episode 33 showcases this even further by showing Umika opening a locked cabinet in Hilltop's table, using her Yellow Dial Fighter, said cabinet is normally locked and opened via a regular key.
In episode 32, Keiichiro blatantly stated that he refuses to work together with the thieves against the Status Quintuple Gangler despite having to work together in the past. But the situation was very situational and it forced the cops to work with the thieves - Lymon has a regenerating collection piece so removing it was the only option. Here, it's just another Gangler with no recovery power, sure it's stronger and it would be much easier to deal with by removing the collection pieces, but they see no reason to just destroy it with brute force.
The Patrangers won't mind, but Lupinrangers can't allow the destruction of the collection piece. That would lead to a worse scenario wherein instead of a Gangler being the common target of two teams, The Lupinrangers will now be busy stopping the Patrangers from destroying the safes which allows the Gangler to easily pick off two occupied teams leaving Noel as the only one who can fulfill both requirements.
While the Patrangers are selfless and will willingly give up their lives to protect the public, using brute force and risking their lives may not be the smartest idea in this case. Unlike the Lupinrangers, they're lacking in equipment which means they'd bring everything they have with them to the fight. If they die, the GSPO loses the best weapons to fight the Gangler. The only silver lining to that situation is if the gear was recovered by Noel or the Lupinrangers.
Even with everything they have, the Gangler experiment has power nullification and counters to the Mighty Glacier Patrangers and Fragile Speedster Lupinrangers. Having the thieves remove those pieces would be the only way to beat it.
Alternative Title(s):Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger Vs Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger
