Juken Sentai Gekiranger

"A martial art which grants the power of beasts through sensing one's own feral spirit: Juken.
Juken is split into two opposing styles.
One, a Juken of Justice: Geki Juken Beast Arts!
The other, a Juken of Evil: Rin Juken Akugata!
Martial artists destined to fight.
Every day they aim for the top.
They learn. They change."

Jūken Sentai Gekiranger (Beast Fist Squadron Gekiranger) is the 31st program in the Super Sentai series, airing from 2007 to 2008.

SCRTC (pronounced "Scratch") is a sportswear company that acts as a front for a secret martial arts academy teaching the ancient art of "Juken". The academy specialises in the "Geki Juken Beast Arts" school of Juken, teaching students to harness their inner spirit of justice to generate a powerful force called "Geki".

One day, a talented student of Geki Juken Beast Arts decides to defect from the academy in his pursuit of more power. He revives the opposing school of Rin Juken Akugata, an evil style that reaps strength from the suffering of others, and resurrects an army of undead Rin Juken fighters.

Opposing him are the top three students of Geki Juken: the wild child Jan Kandou, the straightforward and honest Ran Uzaki, and the stylish Retsu Fukami. With their training and Gekichangers, they harness their Geki to transform into the heroes of Geki Juken Beast Arts: the Gekiranger.

While on the surface, Gekiranger focuses on Chinese martial arts, it more specifically takes its elements from the Wuxia genre: split sects, constant competition in martial arts, and Wire Fu techniques very prominent in Wuxia media, to name a few. And also, since a major standpoint of the series is how heroes and villains alike strive to improve and perfect their skill, it was a notable entry exhibiting Character Development to both sides.

Note: The word "Ken" used throughout the page can mean either "Fist"/"Ken", alternatively "Kobushi", or "Martial arts"/"Kenpo", owing to the same Kanji.

Geki Juken Beast Arts

The Gekirangers

Allies

Rin Juken Akugata

Like every modern Super Sentai series, Gekiranger was adapted into a Power Rangers season titled Jungle Fury.

Tropes used in Juken Sentai Gekiranger include:

Recurring Super Sentai tropes:

Jan: "This body swells with infinite energy! Unbreakable Body, GekiYellow!"
Ran: "With daily purification, polishing the heart! Honest Heart, GekiBlue!"
Retsu: "Techniques color this grand flower! Fantastic Technique, GekiViolet!"
Gou: "Excitement, my style, to the limit of my will! Iron Will, GekiChopper!"

Ken: "Polishing the talent, I cut open my future! Amazing Ability, Juken!"
—All: Our blazing Geki is our proof of justice! Juken Sentai Gekiranger!

Jan: "Extreme Unbreakable Body, GekiRed!"
Ran: "Extreme Honest Heart, GekiYellow!"

Retsu: "Extreme Fantastic Technique, GekiBlue!"
—All: Our seething Kageki is for justice! Juken Sentai Gekiranger!
    • GekiViolet:

Rio: "As purely fierce as a lion, as powerful as a lion. The one destined to rule the world; my name is the Black Lion Rio!"
Mele: "For Lord Rio's love I live, for Lord Rio's love I fight as his Love Warrior. Rin Ju Chameleon-Ken Mistress, Mele!"

Rio: "Pure fierceness, pure power, leaving the world, one without equal; I am Gen Ju King Rio!"
Mele: "For Rio-sama's love, an even more powerful-clad Love Warrior. Gen Ju Phoenix-Ken Mistress, Mele!"

      • The Kenma:

Kata: "Hatred is power givingly born. Sky Kenma, Rin Ju Hawk-Ken's Kata!"
Rageku: "Envy is power bestowed. Sea Kenma, Rin Ju Jelly-Ken's Rageku!"
Maku: "Rage is the power to dominate. Land Kenma, Rin Ju Bear-Ken's Maku!"

    • The Kensei:

Shafu: "There is training in one's livelihood. The Geki Juken well achieved on a daily basis. Felis-Ken, Shafu!"
Elehung: "There is training while having fun. The worldly-loving Elephant-Ken, Elehung Gambou!"
Bat Li: "There is training while in a trance. The performance mastering Bat-Ken, Bat Li!"
Sharkie: "There is "Sharkin!" while training. The doing your best Shark-Ken, Sharkie Chan!"
Gorie: "The Wild Wiseman. 'Raging Heart,' Gorie Yen!"
Michelle: "The Splendid Fighting Goddess. 'Supreme Technique,' Michelle Peng!"
Bion: "The Savanna Shortstop. 'Undying Body,' Bion Biao!"

  • Make My Monster Grow: "Ringi! Jashin Gouten Hen!" followed later by "Gengi! Genshin Gouten Hen!"
    • To put this in context, Rinrinshi, and, later, followers of Genjuuken, are able to make themselves grow using martial arts! Now THAT's Serial Escalation!
      • Another Shout-Out to Wuxia media; martial arts can, depending on the tone of a series, vary between just practical self-defense to replacement for magic.
  • Mix and Match: Super Sentai + Wuxia.
  • Monster of the Week: A variation this time around. The monsters are essentially Rinshi (this series' footsoldier mooks) that are stronger than the other Rinshi. Proven by passing through the Chamber of Trials, defeating all the other Rinshi inside single-handedly. Then they can remove their mask and the animal motif on their forehead appears. They also gain the ability to transform into the shows traditional monster form.
  • The Movie: Gekiranger the Movie: Nei-Nei! Hou-Hou! The Decisive Battle in Hong Kong
  • Regular Caller: Jan himself. If he utters "Zowazowa!", there's a Monster of the Week wreaking havoc.
  • Sixth Ranger: Gou and Ken, who are actually the fourth and fifth members of Gekiranger respectively. Rio and Mele effectively become extra rangers when they switch sides.
  • The Smurfette Principle: The Gekirangers themselves only have one female member, even when the roster is extended from three to five. However, when Mele switches sides, she essentially serves the role of a second heroine, even though she's technically not a Gekiranger.
  • Super Mode: Literally and figuratively: "Super Gekiranger".
  • Transformation Trinket:
    • Jan, Ran and Retsu: Geki Changer
    • Gou: GekiChopper
    • Ken: Super GekiRed [12]
  • Weapon of Choice

Tropes specific to Juken Sentai Gekiranger:

  • Idiot Ball: The other team members carry it when an impostor from the Mirror World replaces Retsu whom they cannot tell from the original. They even invent handy excuses for the impostor, like for him being suddenly left-handed, which he didn't think of.
  • If It Swims, It Flies: Quite arguable with RinJyuKen: It never floats through air, and jumps out of a small "pool" of Geki when summoned. But then another question pops up on how it approaches the base Mecha.
    • /, however, completely averts this by floating around on a small jet surf-board.
  • The Jimmy Hart Version: A meta example from the same singer: the ending theme, sung by Ichiro Mizuki, is pretty much a rearranged, relaxing version of the Mazinger Z theme song. This is more noticeable within the first verses and the start of the chorus.
  • Ki Attacks: Spammed for all its worth: Geki Juken has "Gekiwaza", Rin Juken has "Ringi", Gen Juken has "Gengi". But they all boil down to "[School Name] Technique".
  • Lampshade Hanging: When Ran lets being team captain go to her head, Elehung and Michelle refer to her as Moe and Tsundere respectively, even remarking that those tropes are popular lately.
  • Love Redeems: Rio turns good when he realizes that he loves Mele.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Jan turns out to be the son of "White Tiger" Dan, whom Rio "defeated" in a duel years ago.
  • Making Use of the Twin: An episode features an Evil Twin of Retsu, played by Takagi Manpei's identical twin brother.
  • Meaningful Name: One word: "SCRTC".
    • Ken Hisatsu. "Hissatsu" means "finisher" or "final strike", Ken means "fist". He's the last warrior to appear; so he's the "Finisher Fist".
    • Most of The Rin Ju Den Kenshi, save Rio and Mele, have names based on the Japanese for their theme animal, but with the first Kana moved to the end[19][20].
    • Brusa Ee, the grand founder of Juken, is named from Bruce Lee. Also, when written in Kana, his name his a combination of "Bruce" and "Sai/Rhino".
    • Retsu, Gou, Ran, and Jan are named to say "Let's go run and jump."
    • Long is Chinese for dragon.
  • My Juken Is Stronger Than Yours: THE core element of the series.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Five Deadly Venoms, and later the Kenma, which literally translates into "fist demon". Corny, but nothing with the word "demon" in its name is bad, especially here. Later we get the Four Mythical Generals[21] and the Mythical Beast King[22]. It's also revealed that Long's true identity is something called the Infinity Dragon[23].
  • Not Worth Killing: Rio defeats the Rangers more than once, only to let them go.
  • One-Winged Angel: Long. Interestingly, he gets his butt kicked after transforming, and fights in his usual armored form in the finale. Then again, it's a giant dragon...
  • Panthera Awesome: The three core Rangers use tiger, cheetah, and jaguar styles. Rio uses a lion style. Even Miki uses leopard style (which we get to see... once or twice).
  • Perky Female Minion: Mele, Mele, Mele.
  • Pet the Dog: Rio is mostly evil, but he is nice to Mele every once in a while.
  • Pummel Duel: Ran in spades. Especially in Training 5, when this trope makes up the majority of the final normal-sized fight with Kademu.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Rio and Mele.
  • Rhino Rampage: Ken, and Brusa Ee before him, hence the existence of GekiShark.
  • Scenery Porn: The scenes of the rangers fighting in the opening (before they announce the title.)
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: The three Kenma, and in the end, Long.
  • Shout-Out: To an earlier fellow Sentai series; GekiTouja, a giant white animal mecha, also a standalone giant, piloted by the White Sixth Ranger on its back with a curved saber. MoTD's, a giant white animal mecha, also a standalone giant, piloted by the White Sixth Ranger on its back with a curved saber. Hmm...
      • Speaking of Dairanger, the Ranger suit designs are very similar to Dairanger's, only solid-coloured.
    • Ken shares some key character traits with Kinnikuman. In one episode he even yells "Kajiba no Kuso Jikara"!
    • The not so quirky miniboss squad the Five Venom Fists are a reference to the "Five Deadly Venoms."
    • Rio's Lion Armor has many similarities [dead link] to Lowemon.
    • At one point, Geki Yellow performs Hokuto Zankai Ken on an unfortunate Monster of the Week, complete with the beast apparently exploding.
    • At the end of Lesson 43, the Gekirangers pose like the Imagin from Kamen Rider Den-O, whose colors they parallel (Jan = Momotaros, Ran = Kintaros, Retsu = Urataros, Gou = Ryutaros, Ken = Sieg).
    • A Shout-Out to previous Sentai: Rio being mainly black-colored, learning Gryphon-ken, and later gets counted as a ranger (unofficially) whereas in Dengeki Sentai Changeman, we have a Black Ranger called Change Gryphon...
  • Shout-Out Theme Naming: The Kensei are named after various martial arts film stars: Elehung Gambou, Bat Li, Sharkie Chan, Gorie Yen, Byon Biao and Michelle Peng.
  • Significant Anagram: The Monster of the Week will typically have as its name the katakana of the Japanese name for the animal it represents, with the first kana shifted to the end (for example, a frog (kaeru)-themed enemy is called Eruka).
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Even the other two Kenma fear Maku and his Dorinki (as do the good guys--even when he was initially killed, his heart was removed to assure that he would never be resurrected. As is often the case, the impossible took a while.)
  • Spell My Name with an "S": An alternative spelling to Master Shafu's name is "Xia Fu". Considering the series take heavily from Chinese Wuxia, it makes sense.
    • Not to mention "Jyan", "Retu", and "Mere" from The Movie's opening sequence.
    • And Brusa Ee. A possible alternative on his name is a combination of "Bruce Lee" and "Sai"/"Rhinoceros", his Kenpo style, thus "Brusa I".
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: One of the main themes of the series.
  • Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Ran and Mele.
  • Theme Naming: All five of the Gekirangers' names contain two Kanji for Family Name, and two Kana for First Name. And the first syllables of the core group's names when combined spell "Kung Fu".[24]
  • Three Plus Two
  • Took a Level in Badass: The powerful moments of the series are built on this.
    • The Rangers when they acquire their "Kageki"[25] powerup, and later Rio and Mele as they learn "Dorinki"[26].
    • Personality-wise, Jan took a level in badass over the course of the series. By the mid-30s, he's almost unrecognizable as the Idiot Hero he was in the early episodes.
    • Rio and Mele take another level in badass when they join up with Long and swap their Rinki for Genki.
  • Villain Protagonist: Rio and Mele are probably the only Sentai villains to get as much focus and Character Development as the heroes. Justified as they are sort of a rival team and they perform a Heel Face Turn near the end of the series, cementing their position as sixth and seventh rangers.
  • Villainous BSOD: Rio, when he realizes that he is an Unwitting Pawn.
  • Wax On, Wax Off: Shafu's all-time favourite, but other masters also employ this concept in their own ways.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Rio, whose whole life turns out to have been masterminded by Long.
  • Wham! Episode: Training 40. After three relatively-lighthearted episodes spotlighting most of the characters' relationships with their families, all of which ended well, we get this episode. Jan finds out who his father is and what became of him. It's not pretty. At all. Jan has a Heroic BSOD. Gou flips out too, since Jan's father was a friend of his. Rio and crew hand the Gekirangers their asses in a Curb Stomp Battle before issuing a challenge to Jan. Then the episode ends.
  • What Could Have Been: According to leaked production notes, the series was originally going to be a Spiritual Successor to Gosei Sentai Dairanger, with a much greater focus on Chinese mythology, including mecha based around the Eastern Zodiac. Interestingly, many of the rejected elements, such as a black ranger with a snake mecha, were later recycled to make Tensou Sentai Goseiger, accounting for its many Dairanger-esque elements despite their wildly different premises.
  1. ↑ Hu Quan
  2. ↑ Wing Chun
  3. ↑ Pigua Quan
  4. ↑ Muay Thai
  5. ↑ Karate
  6. ↑ "Kenpo Demons"; literally "Fist Demons".
  7. ↑ Jellyfish
  8. ↑ Boil over!
  9. ↑ Echo!
  10. ↑ Sharpen!
  11. ↑ Rinki Victory Song Equip!
  12. ↑ This is also his Weapon of Choice
  13. ↑ Two swords that can combine into one.
  14. ↑ Finger and Cutter modes.
  15. ↑ Super GekiYellow + Super Geki Claw
  16. ↑ Although, do note that "ja" is also an actual particle in Japanese language.
  17. ↑ Strange Bedfellows Beast-Fist Combination
  18. ↑ A total of 3.
  19. ↑ Rin Ju Mantis-Ken - Makirika: "Kamakiri"/"Praying Mantis"
  20. ↑ Rin Ju Jelly-Ken - Rageku: "Kurage"/"Jellyfish"
  21. ↑ Shigenshō
  22. ↑ Genjūō
  23. ↑ Mugen Ryū
  24. ↑ "Kan-Fu-U"
  25. ↑ Extreme Fierce Ki
  26. ↑ Full Confrontation Ki
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