Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger

Go Go Pow-- whoops, wrong show.

Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (Dinosaur Squadron Zyuranger [1]) is the sixteenth entry in the Super Sentai franchise, which aired from 1992 to 1993.

170 million years ago, humans lived in peace with dinosaurs, until the evil witch Bandora appeared, killed the dinosaurs, and began to attack humanity. The Guardian Beasts, great gods in the form of prehistoric-animal-shaped Humongous Mecha, sealed her away on the stray planet Nemesis. In modern times, astronauts exploring Nemesis accidentally release Bandora and her followers from captivity, and she again starts to attempt to kill humanity, starting with the children. The ancient wizard Barza, in disguise as a landlord, releases five warriors from the five prehistoric human tribes to fight Bandora's forces alongside the Guardian Beasts.

This series is very important for two reasons:

  1. It was the first series that was adapted for American audiences as part of the Power Rangers franchise, serving as the basis for the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and having the costumes of its heroes and villains continued to be used for the next two.
  2. It started the Sixth Ranger tradition with the addition of Burai, the Dragon Ranger, whose story and fate was the focus of much of the show after his appearance.

The Zyurangers are:

The villains are:

And then there's:

Tropes used in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger include:

Recurring Super Sentai tropes:

Tropes specific to Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger:

Mei: Love!
Boi: Hope!
Goushi: Wisdom!
Dan: Courage!
Burai: Power!
Geki: Justice!
Daizyuzin: By your powers combined, I have been resurrected!

Kai: Uwah! Mamaaaa!

  • Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: That's what Kyoryu means.
  • Evil Laugh: All of Dai-Satan's words are this
  • Expy: Hideki Fujiwara (Dan) had a role in Choujin Sentai Jetman... as a blue birdman named Dan.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: Dai Satan's head blows up rather graphically after he's been hit with the Grand Banisher. Also, Kai is blown up while still inside the Dora Talos and even visibly catches on fire. What the heck, Toei?!
  • First Church of Mecha: The six Shugozyu, as well as the Zyukishin, were worshiped as avatars of one God.
  • Fish Out of Temporal Water: Averted; the Zyurangers adjust incredibly well to modern civilization in-spite of being away for millions of years.
  • Forgotten Phlebotinum: A Super Sentai guidebook reveals that the Zyurangers can combine the three Saurer Machines into one deadly battle machine known as the Saurer Buster (source). However, this combination is not even mentioned on the show itself.
    • Zyutei Daizyuzin at one point had Dragon Caesar's chest plate and drill tail on each Z-pad. They were removed from the suit used on the actual show since it was too uncomfortable for the suit wearer to bear.
    • The back of the Dragon Ranger's Hikaru Chogokin action figure reveals that he can perform the Babel Attack with the other five Zyurangers by standing atop Boi's and Mei's shoulders, forming the "Super Babel Attack".
  • Furo Scene: There's one episode where Mei participates in this. With an old lady.
  • Gag Boobs: Dan once jokingly tried to put apples on his chest, as in 'Apple Boobs'. Mei was not amused.
  • Giant Robot Hands Save Lives: Used by Daizyujin to save a young girl in episode 9.
  • Gratuitous English: The honorary titles of each of the five main Zyurangers. Geki is referred as the purinsu (Prince) of the Yamato Tribe instead of ouji, Mei is the purinsesu (Princess) of the Rishiya Tribe instead of the hime, and the other three are naito (knights) of their respective tribes instead of kishi.
  • Heel Face Turn: Burai starts off as a villain out of a desire for revenge against Geki. The two of them bury the hatchet at the end of Burai's intro arc, thus Burai's Heel Face Turn.
  • Homage: According to a Japanese column written by Tsuyoshi Nonaka (chief director of Plex, the company that did the set and costume designs for Super Sentai), the design of the Daizyuzin is based on GoLion (better known to Westerners as Voltron), while the transformation sequence from Dyno Tanker to Daizyuzin was inspired by Daitetsujin 17.
  • Hope Spot: When Burai reveals himself as Dragon Ranger, the heroes initially think they're gaining a new ally. Instead he starts kicking their butts... hard.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: The theme of episode 35 ("Boi the Ninja Warrior"). Tokusatsu fans take this as a shout-out to Takumi Hashimoto's role of the ninja boy Manabu Yamaji in Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya.
  • Jerkass Gods: Daizyuzin is a decent God, but he can be rather heartless about certain matters especially concerning Burai. He is however open to debate on certain issues if the Zyuranger can make a decent case.
  • Kids Are Cruel, Start of Darkness: Bandora was actually a decent sorceress back in the days, but Kai was a little monster who broke dinosaur eggs for lulz. So obviously when the dinosaurs found out, they chase him off to a cliff, resulting his death. Bandora, doting mother she is, decided to take vengeance on the dinosaurs as a result and kickstarted the storyline...
  • Killed Off for Real: Burai
  • Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Mei (while she CAN count as the Tomboy, it was only on one occassion and she usually spends her time doing light feminine things) and Lamie (really sensual with her relationship with Grifforzer)
  • Living on Borrowed Time: Burai only has forty hours to live; he can only extend his time with his time-stopping magic chamber.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Justified in that they were ancient warriors in modern day, so they were not accustomed to how people in that age change clothes from day to day. The use here would evolve into Custom Uniforms in later seasons.
  • Long-Lost Relative: Burai is Geki's brother.
  • Love At First Sight: Dora Pixie induces this. It includes loving inanimate objects.
  • Meaningful Name: "Burai" means "villain". He starts off as one.
  • Misplaced Wildlife: See above.
  • Mood Whiplash: Kinda similar to Kamen Rider Black to Kamen Rider Black RX. After the Darker and Edgier Jetman, comes this very Lighter and Softer Sentai show.
    • This can also happen when an episode ends with the Zyurangers seemingly unable to defeat a monster, then transitions into the cheery end credits song accompanied by the Zyurangers engaging in such activities as practicing baseball and retrieving a girl's balloon.
  • Only One Name: Justified in the fact that the team are warriors from the past and therefore have no surnames (the closest thing they have to surnames are their honorary titles).
  • Pet the Dog: Bandora loves her monsters and Grifforzer and Lamie's son.
  • Portmantitle: The title was meant to be a portmanteau of "Jurassic" and "ranger"[12], which also serves as a Pun-Based Title, since jū is Japanese for "beast". However, the producers ended up transliterating the Jū portion of the title as "Zyu" on the show itself.
  • Product Promotion Parade: In the Grand Finale, they go through each mecha combination in order to save the day.
  • Protected by a Child: Bandora kidnaps a little boy and forces him to make an invincible swords for Dora Knight. Because he made the sword, it can't hurt him, as the villains find out when he tries to take a hit for the Rangers.
  • Riddle of the Sphinx: A victim of Dora Sphinx is asked this question; as with everybody not named Oedipus, the victim fails to answer it right.
  • Rule of Symbolism: The Zyurangers are survivors of a tribe of dinosaur-evolved humans. When the Guardian Beast Tyrannosaurus combines with the other four Guardian Beasts to form the Dyno Tanker, which then transform into Daizyuzin, it is essentially a dinosaur evolving into a man.
  • Shout-Out: Dragon Caesar not only looks like Godzilla, but its very name is a reference to the King of Monsters.
  • The Speechless: Grifforzer. At first.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Bandōra's name is spelled "Bandra" on her palace, despite the fact that the "ō" in her name is a long vowel and definitely not silent. The title itself also qualifies, since the word for beast in Japan is normally transliterated as Jū and the title is pronounced "Juranger". Oddly enough, most fans transliterated the mecha's name as "Daizyujin" instead of the more consistent "Daizyūzin" (Kunrei style) or "Daijūjin" (Hepburn style).
  • Stock Dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Pteranadon, Brachiosaurus.
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: The first segment of thefull opening theme (which isn't played on the TV version, curiously enough) rips off various notes from the Total Recall theme.
  • Swiss Army Tears: In episode 4, a child in the Continent of Despair who fears his mother to be dead begins to lose hope, and, due to the nature of this realm, turns into stone. His mother's tears, when they are reunited, return him to normal.
  • Tyrannosaurus Rex: Geki's Guardian Beast. Well, duh, you can't have a dinosaur-themed show without this one dino.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Grifforzer and Lamie
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Despite the strange prehistoric attire wore by the Zyurangers when unmorphed, very few civilians seems to realize who they are until they literally transform in front of them.
  • Villain Song: "Dolla! The Theme of Bandora the Witch".
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Or, what happened to Gnome and Ryota?
  • Yeah! Shot: Occurs at the end of the end credits.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Burai couldn't be saved, despite having half the series to look for a way.
  1. ↑ "Zyu" is an alternate romanization of jū or "beast".
  2. ↑ Guardian Beasts
  3. ↑ Beast Steed God
  4. ↑ Great Beast God
  5. ↑ Mighty Dragon God
  6. ↑ Beast Emperor Daizyuzin
  7. ↑ Ultimate Daizyuzin
  8. ↑ Dragon Strike Sword
  9. ↑ Axe & Cannon Modes
  10. ↑ Splits from a twin-bladed trident into two spears.
  11. ↑ Beast Instrument Dagger
  12. ↑ as in "Juranger", which is closer to the actual Japanese pronunciation of Jūrenjā
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