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The first of Toho and Konami's ChouSeiShin trilogy, Chouseishin Gransazer debuted in 2003.

Millions of years ago, the Earth was once a highly-advanced civilisation until the day it was attacked by an alliance of alien races called "Warp Monarch". Though humanity built giant humanoid war machines called "Ultra Star Gods" to defend themselves, the civilisation was ultimately defeated by Warp Monarch's superior numbers.

Now in the modern day, the Lost Technology of that precursor race is stirring, awakening the dormant DNA of their descendants in response to a new threat. Courier Tenma Kudou discovers that he is one of the chosen, gaining the power to transform into one of the twelve legendary warriors known as the Gransazer.

Like their ancestors, the Gransazer are split into four elemental Tribes: Fire, Wind, Earth and Water. As the leader of the reborn Fire Tribe, Tenma (as Sazer Tarious) soon finds both allies and enemies in the other three Tribes as he struggles to unite them in the face of the alien menace that threatens to repeat the genocide of the past. Fortunately he has help, for when three members of the same Tribe unite their powers they can summon their respective Ultra Star God and take the fight to the enemy.

    List of Characters 

The Fire Tribe:

The Wind Tribe:

The Earth Tribe

The Water Tribe

  • Makoto Sorimachi/ Sazer-Gorbion (Scorpio): A photographer and Team Dad (an Ineffectual Loner outside the perceptions of his tribe); he uses a Cool Sword upon activating his Shark-based armor.
  • Ai Uozumi/ Sazer-Pisces (take a guess): the youngest of all 12; her Orca-based armor is equipped with a small gun.
  • Tappei Mikami/ Sazer-Gans (Cancer): A Friend to All Living Things who has a crush on Ai; his Manta Ray based armor is equipped with a double-edged spear.

The villains

  • Saeki Karin: A disguised alien of the Akelon race. Tries to use her disguise to put the Gransazers against eachother. When she is exposed, she goes One-Winged Angel, but is defeated.
  • The Impactors: A Proud Warrior Race trio consisting of Henshin Villains. They consist of:
    • Logia: The leader of the trio. A Gun Slinger who mainly uses dirty methods to get what he wants. Also likes to use the trope 'Unexplained Recovery' multiple times.
    • Radia: The hotheaded Brute. Uses an ax as weapon. Subtlety is NOT his preferred method.
    • Lucia: Almost as equally hotheaded as Radia, but completely devoted to please her leader Logia. Wielder of a Boomerang Blade.
  • The Garbans
    • Belzeus: The leader of the Garbans and the one responsible for the Warp Monarch's invasion of Earth in the first place.
    • Brighton: An emissary sent down to Earth by Belzeus to find the Communicator.


This show features examples of:

  • Action Girl: All female Gransazers are skilled fighters who are just as capable as their male counterparts.
    • Dark Action Girl: Ryouko (Sazer Velsou) initially, though she's not evil so much as misguided. Lucia of the Impactors plays this straight and is capable of overpowering each Gransazer individually.
  • Advanced Ancient Humans: The human civilization that existed on Earth 400,000,000 years ago was global in scope and developed advanced technology such as the Chou Sei Shin and Cloud Dragon.
  • Animal-Themed Superbeing: Every Gransazer Tribe has a specific motif based around a kind of animal. The Flame Tribe has birds, the Wind Tribe has insects, the Earth Tribe has mammals and the Water Tribe has aquatic animals.
  • Apocalypse How: Earth's ancient human civilization suffered a Class 3 in the past when they were bombarded into oblivion by Warp Monarch. Although at that point they'd already suffered a Class 2 from having their planet overrun by Bosquito and being nearly wiped out.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: In #6, Ran fully transforms into Sazer Visuel for the first time when Naito, the thug who blackmailed her childhood friend, Akaki, prepared to fire his gun at Go.
  • Boss Subtitles: Subtitles are always shown to name the Gransazers and their Chou Sei Shins.
  • Brick Joke:
    • In #7, Go chases on his bike after Tenma (who was hastily delivering blood for a transfusion) and arrives after the surgery is over, completely exhausted and out of breath.
    • In #25, Hoshiguchi is shown wearing a wig that gets blown away after he and Mika touch the crystal slab during a flashback. At the final episode, when Mika and Hosiguchi are cleaning the lab, Mika finds it.
  • But Now I Must Go: The Chouseishin and Cloud Dragon leave in the finale after the threat of Warp Monarch is ended, no longer being needed to protect Earth.
  • By the Power of Grayskull!: The Gransazers chant "Souchaku!" to transform.
  • Contrived Coincidence: All 12 Gransazers are Japanese and their Chou Sei Shins are all buried in Japan, even though the Precursors were a global civilization. They also keep running into each other by chance.
  • Couch Gag: Each episode ends with a clip show of footage from said episode.
  • Courier: Tenma's main job is a motorcycle deliveryman.
  • Cycle of Revenge: The reason Ai stops the other Gransazers from killing Lucia is to keep from promulgating this, as she believes if they continue to battle the Impactors it will only lead to more coming down to avenge the comrades they've just trounced.
  • Darkest Hour: Comes towards the end of the penultimate episode and carries on into the finale. Ruby and Tenma are both seemingly dead, the other Gransazers are fighting a losing battle against Cabryon, the Chouseishin are decimated, Ran's Communicator powers still haven't awakened and the Warp Monarch fleet is just hours away from destroying Earth.
  • Disappeared Dad: Ai's father was never present when she was a kid. He's actually Dr. Bear/Professor Wakui.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Jin (to Ryouko) and Tappei (to Ai). Ultimately for Jin, Ryouko marries Naoto as seen in the finale.
  • Elemental Powers: We have:
  • Empty Piles of Clothing: When the Bosquito absorbs energy from people, only their clothes are left behind.
  • End-of-Series Awareness: In the final episode:
    Mika: Our final battle, right?
    Tenma: Yeah.
  • Energy Absorption: The Bosquito's modus apparatus is to drain energy from people to feed itself.
  • Everybody Calls Him "Barkeep": The mysterious benefactor who kept an eye on Ai all her life addressed himself as Mr. Bear. In reality he's Professor Wakui who's also her father.
  • Evolving Credits: Early in the show, the beginning and ending credits only show the Gransazers that appear so far.
  • Fangirl: Maki, a friend of Tenma, is a big fan of Naoto.
  • Foreshadowing: In the beginning of episode 16, Ai is shown sending a text message to someone. Minutes later, Professor Wakui enters Horiguchi's office. Wakui pulls out a cellphone similar to Ai's and smiles at the note, to note that he's the receiver of the message.
  • Geodesic Cast: The 12 Gransazers are split into four elemental tribes.
  • Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Gender-flipped, the only girl who actually uses long-ranged weapons is Pisces with a gun. The other shooters are guys: Tarious, Relms and Tawlon.
  • Humans Are Cthulhu: Subverted; it's revealed that the Gransazers, and possibly all humans, are descendants of the Bosquito. However, it's just propaganda set up by Belzeus.
  • Humongous Mecha: The Chou Sei Shins, who transform from mecha animal to robot, and combine together to form Daisazer with Guntras as the core. In a neat twist, the tribes' four transforming mecha merge with a humanoid to form a dragon-shaped robot instead of a bigger humanoid.
  • Interim Villain:
    • Clo-Akelon, which serves as the villain in episodes 28 and 29. Although it's technically Akelon it has no affiliation with Warp Monarch, instead being a rogue JSDF science experiment.
    • Kriminel in 36 is another one of the few enemies to have no connection to Warp Monarch, instead being an alien fugitive.
    • The Bosquito, which although playing a critical role in the lore of the series, only appears for a mini arc comprising episodes 42-45, in between the Gransazers' previous encounter with Logia and the beginning of the final arc.
  • It's All My Fault: In #7, Tenma blamed himself for his friend, Maki, put in a critical condition as he had no idea that Karin would go attacking him.
  • It's Personal: Ai personally wants to take down Lucia after the latter nearly killed Dr. Wakui/her father and also because she gave the chip to the Guntroller.
  • Lost Technology: The Ultra Star Gods, Cloud Dragon and Guntras were all developed by a long lost civilization millions of years old.
  • Make My Monster Grow: A given considering this is a Sentai show, but how it comes into play varies throughout.
    • Karin Saeki enlarged herself by absorbing energy to turn herself into a kaiju. The same goes for the Clo-Akelon created from her in episode 28.
    • Impactors Radia and Lucia were both capable of enlarging themselves. Their commander Logia opts for a different approach, instead fighting the Chouseishin in his own personal mecha, Dailogian.
    • When two Bosquito are destroyed, the third absorbs the cores they left behind to turn into a giant monster.
    • Troius and Cabryon are two kaiju kept in the employ of Warp Monarch that are naturally giant.
    • Other Warp Monarch members, including aliens of the week Kilardo, Gadaru and Gorfin, avert this by staying human-sized and never enlarging, resulting in the Chouseishin being Out of Focus for their respective episodes.
  • The Man Behind the Man: The Gransazers first assume the Akelons are the ones responsible for destroying ancient humanity, given their encounter with Karin. They soon discover that the Akelons are just one race in the universe-spanning Cosmic Alliance.
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Mika is a tough. abrasive tomboy while her brother Ken is friendlier and more passive.
  • Militaries Are Useless: Averted, as JSDF is much more involved in the plot than most of Toku series, and actually fared pretty well in assisting the Gransazers, especially after they got their own Humongous Mecha Youhi.
  • Monster of the Week: Initially averted, with the Gransazers doing battle against Arc Villains at first. By the third quarter however, the series shifts to self-contained episode plots about the Gransazers fighting various aliens of the week sent down by Warp Monarch.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Ryoko, Ran and Ai all get to show off skin at various points. Ryoko with her tight outfits and Ran and Ai with their beach scenes.
  • One-Hour Work Week: Subverted; many times we see the Gransazers doing their jobs (Tenma being in a delivery service, Jin a fashion designer, Akira and Ai both working at the hospital, etc.)
  • One-Steve Limit: Averted; two successive victims of the week were named Shinji.
  • Pale Females, Dark Males: Zigzagged. Mithras' armor showed a lot of white, Velsou's armor was magenta in contrast to the dark purple and blue of the other Wind Tribe members, Pisces was a light cyan, but Visuel was a dark orange compared to Tawlon's yellow.
  • Post-Final Boss: Cabryon is the show's effective final boss but is fought only after the Gransazers have halted Warp Monarch's attack, when Belzeus uses it to mount one last stand.
  • Power Trio: Each tribe is composed of three fighters.
  • Precursors: Ancient Humanity, who existed millions of years before the current iteration of humankind and left behind the Chouseishin. The Gransazers are all descended from them.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Impactors. Deconstructed as they feel as if they have nothing else but their pride. Lucia tried to kill herself via Cyanide Pill when Ai takes sympathy for her, and Professor Hoshiguki suggests that Logia killed himself to save his own pride.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Jin (Sazer-Dail) is a fashion designer whose Sazer armor is purple, but that doesn't mean he can't kick ass like his fellow Sazers.
  • Refusal of the Call:
    • Tenma initially doesn't want to do anything with the summoning of the Gransazers as he believes that it's not going to be part of his fate. He comes back because he states "When someone punches me, I punch back."
    • Makoto also was this at first, until Tenma convinces him to fight.
  • Recap Episode: Episode 25 serves as this, recounting the formations of many of the Gransazers and their fights against the villains.
  • Rousing Speech: Tenma usually gives these to the members of the Water Tribe, explaining that the Gransazers are fighting together and it's nothing about tribes.
  • Sentai: With the twist being that it's four Sentai teams all coming together.
  • Shout-Out: The opening music theme ends with tunes similar to the intro themes from the first game of Contra, another Konami franchise.
  • Sibling Team: Mika and Ken, whenever they fight togehter.
  • Skyward Scream: #22 has Logia screaming Lucia's name in agony after she dies.
  • The Smurfette Principle: An interesting play: While each tribe has exactly one female Sazer to play the trope straight, the subversion comes when they all got together. The ratio is still the same though.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: The Gransazers start off fighting each other before coming together to battle Akelon alien Karin Saeki, who puts up a moderately tough challenge but is defeated by only three of the tribes. Then the Impactors arrive and prove much tougher than Karin, forcing all four tribes to team up. They're followed by several one-shot aliens of varying power levels, after which the Gransazers face much stronger opponents in the Bosquito and even stronger ones in the Garbans, with the Final Boss Cabryon putting up a tougher fight than anything they've battled previously.
  • Spice Up the Subtitles: Happens a lot, especially in regards to Tenma.
  • The Stoic: The times Naoto smiles can be counted on one hand.
  • Story Arc: Gransazer is broken up into four arcs each roughly comprising a quarter of the show.
    • 1-12: The Flame Tribe gets formed and searches for the members of the Earth Tribe all while having repeated battles against the Wind Tribe, who've been deceived into attacking them by an agent of the Warp Monarch.
    • 13-24: The last of the tribes, the Water Tribe, is found as the Gransazers do battle against the Impactors, a trio of robotic aliens sent by the Warp Monarch to destroy Earth.
    • 25-41: A where the Gransazer mostly do battle against various sent by Warp Monarch, all while having repeated encounters with Logia.
    • 42-51: The Gransazers learn the truth about the conflict involving the ancient human civilization and work to stop the Warp Monarch's final assault.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: The Gransazers all obtained their powers by being descended from the ancient humans.
  • Taking the Bullet: Subverted. Go tries to do this against Logia but Tenma pushes him out of the way. Good thing too...Go would've been obliterated if he wasn't pushed.
  • The Psycho Rangers: The Impactor trio, who are Human Aliens with black-armored fighting forms that resemble evil Gransazers.
  • Token Romance: Naoto and Ryoko, who end up married at the finale.
  • Transformation Trinket: The Knuckle Riser, devices the Gransazers equip on the backs of their hands to transform.
  • Tsundere: Mika is a Type A, mostly acting abrasive around Tenma while secretly caring about him.
  • Unexplained Recovery: Impactor Logia. He clearly committed a suicide attack and when he returned, no real explanation was given apart from that Logia wanted vengeance.
  • Unreliable Narrator: The narrator in the first episode turns out to be a literal version. Everything that's said about the war involing the Warp Monarch and the ancient humans turns out to be untrue.
  • Victim of the Week: The routines in the second half of the show are mostly this, with a different human being targeted by a new Warp Monarch Alien of the Week and needing to be defended by the Gransazers.
  • Western Zodiac: Each Sazer is modeled after a specific sign of the Zodiac.
  • Wham Line: Ep 18, for Ai.
    Lucia: (while gripping onto Professor Wakui) Ah, I see. So you do care for your father's safety.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: A Victim of the Week has a far greater survival rate if he is a human than if he is an alien.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Tenma asks what Go was thinking when Go decides to take a bullet against Logia.
  • "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The end credits for the final episode have a montage showing what all the Gransazers got up to after the battle with Warp Monarch ended. It closes on the other Gransazers and Professor Horiguchi attending Ryouko and Naoto's wedding.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Lucia kicks a boy in the stomach, sending him flying in #19. Fortunately, he survives.


 
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