Super Sentai



Long-running live-action Japanese Sentai Tokusatsu franchise by the Toei Company based around a Five-Man Band of transforming heroes armed with Humongous Mecha.

Unlike most American shows, each season is treated as its own series, introducing a new team, new costumes, a new setup, and new mecha. Each series has a unique Verse disjoint from the others, and the teamup movies are considered non-Canon, though they appear to occupy their own side universe. The 35th anniversary series Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger is the first series to take place in this universe where all Sentai exist.

Since 1993, each Super Sentai series from the previous year has been adapted for American and global audiences in the form of Power Rangers, using a multi-ethnic cast and splicing in the combat and mecha footage (often with many changes). This changed to two years after the 2010 hiatus in which a "reversion" of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was aired instead of an adaptation of the previous year's Sentai.

To date, the franchise has undergone the following series:


 * Himitsu Sentai Goranger (1975-1977)
 * JAKQ Dengekitai (1977)
 * Battle Fever J (1979-1980)
 * Denshi Sentai Denziman (1980-1981)
 * Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan (1981-1982)
 * Dai Sentai Goggle Five (1982-1983)
 * Kagaku Sentai Dynaman (1983-1984)
 * Choudenshi Bioman (1984-1985)
 * Dengeki Sentai Changeman (1985-1986)
 * Choushinsei Flashman (1986-1987)
 * Hikari Sentai Maskman (1987-1988)
 * Choujuu Sentai Liveman (1988-1989)
 * Kousoku Sentai Turboranger (1989-1990)
 * Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman (1990-1991)
 * Choujin Sentai Jetman (1991-1992)
 * Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (1992-1993) (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, season 1)
 * Gosei Sentai Dairanger (1993-1994) (provided mecha, some Monsters Of The Week, and the Sixth Ranger costume for MMPR season 2)
 * Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (1994-1995) (MMPR S3 mecha and (partly) villains; Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers continued the season and gave the costumes to a different team, the Rangers of Aquitar)
 * Chouriki Sentai Ohranger (1995-1996) (Power Rangers Zeo)
 * Gekisou Sentai Carranger (1996-1997) (Power Rangers Turbo)
 * Denji Sentai Megaranger (1997-1998) (Power Rangers in Space)
 * Seijuu Sentai Gingaman (1998-1999) (Power Rangers Lost Galaxy)
 * Rescue Sentai Go Go Five (1999-2000) (Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue)
 * Mirai Sentai Timeranger (2000-2001) (Power Rangers Time Force)
 * Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger (2001-2002) (Power Rangers Wild Force)
 * Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger (2002-2003) (Power Rangers Ninja Storm)
 * Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger (2003-2004) (Power Rangers Dino Thunder)
 * Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (2004-2005) (Power Rangers SPD)
 * Mahou Sentai Magiranger (2005-2006) (Power Rangers Mystic Force)
 * Go Go Sentai Boukenger (2006-2007) (Power Rangers Operation Overdrive)
 * Juken Sentai Gekiranger (2007-2008) (Power Rangers Jungle Fury)
 * Engine Sentai Go-onger (2008-2009) (Power Rangers RPM)
 * Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (2009-2010) (Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai)
 * Tensou Sentai Goseiger (2010-2011) (Power Rangers Megaforce)
 * Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (2011-2012) (Power Rangers Super Megaforce), a season so Troperiffic that its movies needed pages of their own:
 * Gokaiger Goseiger Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle
 * Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger the Movie The Flying Ghost Ship
 * Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger vs. Space Sheriff Gavan the Movie
 * Kamen Rider X Super Sentai Super Hero Taisen (2012): A Crossover film of the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises.
 * Tokumei Sentai Gobusters (2012-2013)
 * Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (2013-2014)
 * Ressha Sentai Toqger (2014-2015)

Ex: Super Sentai
 * Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger (2012, 2013), described as an unofficial installment.

The addition of mecha to the series was made with the third installment, Battle Fever J, which was originally intended as an adaptation of Captain America in the spirit of the Japanese live action version of Spider-Man (which also featured a giant robot). This is actually where the "Super" in "Super Sentai" comes from; for years Goranger and J.A.K.Q. were just called "Sentai" and not counted in chronologies until the 25th anniversary with Gaoranger.

Super Sentai is usually contrasted with Kamen Rider, another Tokusatsu franchise by the same corporation, with a similar deal but no mecha and far more serious stories. The two franchises met (canonically) on-screen for the first time in an episode of Kamen Rider Decade featuring the Shinkenger team, with Decade making a brief cameo in a Shinkenger episode beforehand.

Before Power Rangers, the USA Network had run several episodes of a Gag Dub of Dynaman, dubbing ridiculous dialogue in place of the original.

Recently has been appearing in the SH Figuarts and Super Robot Chogokin toylines.

And May 2012 will see the release of Kamen Rider X Super Sentai Super Hero Taisen, a full-fledged crossover between the two franchises with 240 heroes joining forces. The star on the Super Sentai side will be Captain Marvelous/Gokai Red, with the other Gokaiger and the Go-Busters playing a prominent role.

See also the arcade game, Super Sentai Battle Dice O.

Tropes found in most or all Super Sentai:
 * All Up to You: Most of the single shot episodes involve the character getting focus that day needing to save the rest of the team from the Monster of the Week.
 * An Asskicking Christmas: It's nearly a norm now that there will be a Christmas episode... and monster ass-kicking WILL still occur.
 * With the New Year's episode next week following the norm.
 * Artifact Title: The Super Sentai arcade game Dice-O, so named because each Ranger's attacks were represented by six-sided dice. When the game was upgraded during Gokaiger's run, the dice were replaced by a roulette shaped like a ship's wheel.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: The higher you get up the villains' chain of command, the more powerful they generally are. The leader of the Sentai also tends to be the strongest fighter.
 * BFG: The "Team Bazooka", which comes in one of two flavors. Sometimes it's a combination of all the team members' personal weapons (the first example of which is Battle Fever's Pentaforce) while other times it's a standalone weapon (the first example being Changeman's Power Bazooka). Though J.A.K.Q.'s Big Bomber is a BFG, it's not usually considered a Team Bazooka because it's a literal cannon and the separate pieces can't be used as weapons)
 * As of Gokaiger, 11 shows have use the combining weapons version (Gaoranger had the same concept applied to a BFS) while nine use separate bazookas (including the aforementioned Big Bomber). Three more teams use one of each, while the other eleven use alternative methods of finishing off a monster.
 * Gokaiger Goseiger 199 Heroes introduced the Super Sentai Bazooka, formed from the powers of all the teams and requiring ten Rangers (two full teams) to wield properly.
 * Badass: Lots. Usually, it's the leader, the second-in-command and the sixth ranger who fit the badass role perfectly.
 * Boss Subtitles: A tradition that started with Bioman and ended with Magiranger, in which nearly every villain, whether they be a Monster of the Week or one of the main bad guys, would have their name displayed during their first appearance. The same goes for the heroes' and villains' mechs.
 * By the Power of Grayskull: Each Sentai team has its own henshin call.
 * Calling Your Attacks
 * Camera Abuse: Starting to see use as of the 2000's, enemy explosions generally cause the battlefield "camera" to shake violently, in an attempt to hide the twitches and slight movements by heroes and mecha during finisher poses.
 * Card-Carrying Villain: Many of the villains openly proclaim "evil" as their ideology.
 * Conflict Ball: In pretty much all the Crossover movies, the two reds will find some reason not to get along.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience
 * Crossover: Since Ohranger vs. Kakuranger, Toei has released a crossover movie each year that teams up the previous year's Super Sentai team with their direct predecessors.
 * Before that, there was a JAKQ vs. Goranger movie, which serves as an epilogue to the JAKQ Dengekitai TV series.
 * The first episode of Kousoku Sentai Turboranger was preceded by a retrospective of the last ten Super Sentai shows before it. The Turborangers appeared in the special, along with the ten preceding teams from Battle Fever to Liveman (Gorangers and the JAKQ team were not part of the special, since they were only retroactively considered part of the franchise in later years).
 * Super Sentai World was a short 3D movie shown at amusement parks focusing mainly on the Kakuranger team, that had them teaming up with the previous four Sentai teams (Fiveman, Jetman, Zyuranger, and Dairanger).
 * The milestone crossovers, Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai (25th anniversary commemorative, which featured a Dream Sentai consisting of Big One, Red Falcon, Mega Pink, Ginga Blue, and Go Yellow, as well as a cameos by all the other Reds up to that point) and Boukenger vs. Super Sentai (which commemorated the 30th anniversary, but was less broad in its coverage than the Gaoranger one, using heroes and villains from the 2000s series, as its Dream Sentai team consisted of Hurricane Blue, Abare Black, Deka Break, Magi Yellow and Magi Shine, and Aka Red).
 * Taken to Up to Eleven levels with the first episode of Gokaiger, wherein all 34 teams fight together. Gokaiger's entire premise is of a crossover nature as well.
 * Then there's the arcade game Dice-O (and its successor, Dice-O Deluxe), in which you can build your own dream team of Sentai heroes and have them fight against other heroes or villains from various Sentai series.
 * Custom Uniform: has varied in use over the years, sometimes crossing over into the realm of Limited Wardrobe, but nowadays, it's par for the course.
 * In terms of the Sentai suits themselves (not counting the girls' miniskirts), this is pretty much the norm for extra warriors. While each member is (or would be, if they were monochromatic) differentiated by their helmets, extra rangers get a few more tweaks on their suits (like the Kiba Ranger in Dairanger, who wears a black vest over his suit while his teammates' vests are white).
 * Deus Exit Machina: A lot of times, Sixth Rangers are often away for crucial fights.
 * The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: In the Dice-O video game, normally using rangers from different teams in a Finishing Move results in random quotes and grunts from those rangers taking the place of the usual phrases used during the finishimg move. If you use the intended team, you'll get the quotes. If you mix up the order of the rangers from the usual one... they'll still use the quotes, but they'll be said by different rangers compared to what usually happens in the show. See these variations of the Big Bomber for an example of this in action.
 * In the same vein, the Gokai Galleon Buster is a special card that can be used by any team; the animations are the same regardless, but each character uses their own personal Ranger Key.
 * Elemental Powers
 * Evolving Credits: Usually happens when a new Big Bad takes control of the villains, a new member joins the team or when they get a new Mecha and/or Mecha combination.
 * Five-Man Band: Usually Sentai has a different qualification:
 * The Hero: Red Rangers, obviously.
 * The Lancer: Mostly the Number Two, but can also mean any type of 'Lone Wolf' (Gekiranger) or those with authority issues (GoGoV). Usually the Blue, Black, or Green Rangers, but also a few Yellows.
 * The Smart Guy: Those with brains and analytical, using trickery in battle or lots of back flips. Or possesses tricky skills that require more brains than brawn. Usually Green Rangers, but also Blue and Pink Rangers.
 * Kid Appeal Character: In a series where The Smart Guy isn't really the smartest of the group, this is where the Kid Appeal Character comes in. The main feature of a Sentai Kid Appeal Character is that he's relatable by children, either he's really good with kids or most importantly, he's the youngest of the team or between the men, making him more relatable to kids, but way too competent to be considered a Tagalong Kid. This may overlap with The Smart Guy, but not always. Very much justified since the intended audience of Super Sentai are mostly kids, so they're going to need someone relatable.
 * The Big Guy: Biggest raw power, able to 'wrestle' with villains. For girls, could be the token no-nonsense Action Girl (if they're not The Lancer or The Chick) or the Tomboy Girl half of the Tomboy and Girly Girl. Usually Yellow Rangers, but also Blue, Black, Green, even Pink Rangers.
 * The Chick: Mostly the token female, or the Girly Girl half of the Tomboy and Girly Girl but can sometimes be the emotional one. Usually Pink or Yellow Rangers, but sometimes Blue Rangers (female only).
 * Averted with Sun Vulcan, which only had three members and all three of them were men. Later series, such as Liveman and Hurricanger, started off with three members and added more mid-series.
 * God Mode: This varies from era to era, but especially in recent years, it's common to see the team getting through entire battles without even getting a single scratch until around episode 3.
 * The Good Guys Always Win
 * Good Is Not Nice: Some series have some characters that are good, but are also jerks. Turned up to eleven in Gokaiger, where 60% of the team (now 50%, with the Sixth Ranger) has a dickish demeanor.
 * Henshin Hero: though they mostly don't use the word (Ohranger and Magiranger might be the only examples).
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Its not uncommon to see the same actor in more than one show playing a different character each time, since Toei usually hire most of their actors from the Japan Action Enterprise (formerly the Japan Action Club) for Super Sentai and other tokusatsu shows. Notable examples include:
 * Hiroshi Miyauchi was Akira Shinmei/Aoranger in Himitsu Sentai Goranger and Sokichi Banba/Big One in JAKQ Dengekitai, as well as Captain Miura in Chouriki Sentai Ohranger. Oh, and speaking of other tokusatsu shows, he also was Shiro Kazami and Ken Hayakawa, the titular heroes of Kamen Rider V 3 and Kaiketsu Zubat, respectively.
 * Yukio Ito was Kenji Asuka/Midoranger in Goranger and Kensaku Shiraishi/Battle Cossack I in Battle Fever J.
 * Kenji Ohba was Shiro Akebono/Battle Kenya in Battle Fever and Daigoro Oume/Denzi Blue in Denshi Sentai Denziman. He makes a cameo later in Juken Sentai Gekiranger as Jan's father and Rio's previous rival, Dan the White Tiger. In the meantime, he also kicked off the Space Sheriff series as the main hero of Uchuu Keiji Gavan. Highlighted in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger vs. Space Sheriff Gavan the Movie, where he plays Battle Kenya, Denzi Blue, and of course Gavan.
 * Junichi Haruta was Kanpei Kuroda/Goggle Black in Dai Sentai Goggle Five and Ryu Hoshikawa/Dyna Black in Kagaku Sentai Dynaman.
 * Machiko Soga was Queen Hedrian in Denshi Sentai Denziman and Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan, Bandora the Sorceress in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (whose footage, in turn, was kept for Rita Repulsa in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), and Heavenly Saint Magiel in Mahou Sentai Magiranger. She also had guest roles in Battle Fever J and Hikari Sentai Maskman.
 * Not to mention all the actors who have guest starred in each other's series.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Many former Sentai actors became voice actors after their stint.
 * Denji Green voiced Light's father.
 * Sir Cowler (and later Great Profesor Bias) voiced Folken, Alucard, Corporal Giroro, Diethard, etc.
 * Ninja Blue voiced Skull Man, Capote, Raido Namiashi, Masamune, Zasalamel
 * Red Racer voiced Yazoo, Kite and Castro, Ken Masters
 * Mega Blue voiced Kyoya, Teru and Ren.
 * Deka Pink voiced Arika and Mokona.
 * And on the other side of the coin, Shinkenger has Romi Paku voicing one of the villains. How Toei was able to pull this off, we'll never know.
 * Shinkenger isn't the first time Toei used high profile anime voice actors in their Super Sentai series. For example, there's Hikaru Midorikawa voicing Top Galer the pterosaur mecha from Abaranger and Akira Ishida voicing Bae from Gekiranger.
 * Sandaaru of Hurricaneger (and, by extension, Sandaaru, Jr. in Gokaiger) was voiced by Shuichi Ikeda. Sandaaru, he is A CHAR.
 * Doggie Kruger from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger is voiced by Tetsu Inada, who also voices other anthromorphic badasses like 7th Division Captain Sajin Komamura! As well as Elzam V. Branstein Ratsel Feinschmeker, Harry Ord and LU B--
 * Goseiger's Sixth Ranger GoseiKnight being voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi, AKA Kamina, Amidamaru, America and Ozma Lee
 * All of the Gokaigers' equipment has Domon Kasshu's voice coming out of it.
 * Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: appropriately, overlapped with Highly-Visible Ninja in Kakuranger and Hurricanger.
 * Hot-Blooded: The number one defining trait of a Red Ranger, though there are aversions, like Ryu Tendou and Takeru Shiba.
 * Humongous Mecha: introduced in Battle Fever J - and, conversely, introducing the "Super" to Sentai.
 * In the Name of the Moon
 * Law of Chromatic Superiority: Not to the extent of Power Rangers, but the Reds definitely have the advantage, usually getting extra weapons and vehicles. Taken to the extreme with Abaranger's AbareMax, in which AbaRed takes some of the power from his partners, AbareBlue and AbareYellow, to gain a Super Mode.
 * Leader Forms the Head: Varies depending on the show.
 * Lighter and Softer: When compared to Kamen Rider. But not as light and soft as Power Rangers... sometimes.
 * Darker and Edgier: A few of the shows do feature a somewhat heavier tone than most, however, most notably Jetman, which was at least as dark as the original Kamen Rider towards the end.
 * Ohranger was also supposed to go the Darker and Edgier route until real-world disasters (including the sarin gas attack) forced the studio to quickly change it.
 * Super Sentai has bounced back and forth on this for decades. The franchise took a big turn for the Darker and Edgier when it grew a massive beard in 1985's Dengeki Sentai Changeman, a status quo that lasted through 1991's Choujin Sentai Jetman. Sentai of this era was at least as dark and edgy as any Kamen Rider series short of the first 13 episodes of the original. Super Sentai then shifted to Lighter and Softer with 1992's Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (which coincided with Noboru Sugimura taking over as head writer) and again with 2001's Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger (Sugimura was long gone by then). While a small handful of individual series since Zyuranger and Gaoranger have been Darker and Edgier than those two, (2000's Mirai Sentai Timeranger, for example) the tone of the 1992-2000 era is lighter on average than the 1985-1991 era, and the average tone of the 2001-present era is lighter still.
 * Part of the lighter tone recent Sentai has had in general is due to its being in a Sunday morning time slot (geared towards kids) since 1997, as opposed to a Wednesday evening time slot (more family-oriented).
 * Long Runners: 2011 marks 35 years of Super Sentai, with 199 Heroes uniting all of them (an expansion of the opening of Gokaiger's first episode). Unlike its companion franchise, Kamen Rider (which reached 40 years in 2011 and had its reunion in the OOO movie Let's go Kamen Riders), there has been a new Sentai series almost every year since the beginning, with the exception of 1978 (Battle Fever J, which was considered the first Super Sentai for years, aired in 1979).
 * Meaningful Name/Punny Name/Theme Naming: PLENTY, if you're really knowledgeable in Japanese and each specific theme.
 * Media Watchdogs: Around 1983/84 Super Sentai series recieved serious retools in how the action scenes played out due to being specifically targeted by Moral Guardians for violent content due to being directly targeted at children.
 * Mini-Dress of Power: Every female ranger since Maskman (plus the girls in JAKQ and Denjiman before it; Fiveman and Dekaranger being the only exceptions after), over their regular bodysuit/leggings, which allows one to tell which (usually yellow) rangers were gender-swapped when the series was converted to Power Rangers. Even when they did not have them, sometimes the suits had designs reminiscent of swimsuits (as seen in Bioman and Changeman).
 * Mood Whiplash: Aside from Wham Episodes interspersing with BLAM Episodes depending on the series, there's also the fact that the ending theme is quite upbeat pretty much most of the time, creating the effect when an episode ends in a dramatic note.
 * Name's the Same: Counting only the on-duty Rangers, so far we had three Akiras (Goranger, Denziman - this one was a woman - and Maskman), two Asukas (Hurricaneger and Abaranger), two Daichis (JAKQ and Turboranger), two Gais (Jetman and Gokaiger), two Gakus (Fiveman and Gaoranger), two Goros (JAKQ and Ohranger), three Hikarus (Bioman - this one too was a girl -, Gingaman and Magiranger), two Juns (one male in Denziman, one female in Bioman), two Kais (Gaoranger and Magiranger), two Kens (Fiveman and Gekiranger), two Kentas (Maskman and Megaranger), two Kyosukes (Battle Fever J and Carranger), two Rikis (Turboranger and Ohranger), three Ryus (JAKQ, Dynaman and Jetman), two Shiros (Battle Fever J and Bioman), two Shous (Changeman and Go Go V), two Takerus (Maskman and Shinkenger), two Tatsuyas (Denziman and Timeranger), two Yosukes (Dynaman and Hurricanger), two Yokos (Carranger and Go-Busters) and two Daigoros (Goranger and Denziman). By extension, one can also count two Hayates (Changeman - in which case it's Shou/Change Griffin's surname - and Gingaman - where it's a given name), two Tsubasas (Changeman - again where it's a surname, Mai/Change Phoenix's - and Magiranger, where it's a given name), two Shiraishis (Kensaku/Battle Cossack in Battle Fever and Mako/ShinkenPink in Shinkenger), two Nagisas (Maria/Miss America II in Battle Fever and Sayaka/Change Mermaid in Changeman, also it's not spelled with the same Kanji), and three Joes (Liveman - where it was spelled the Japanese way, Jou - Go-onger, a surname also spelled the Japanese way, and Gokaiger - where it's spelled the English way), and six Hoshikawas (semi-justified: one of them is Ryu/DynaBlack from Dynaman, while the others are the all-sibling team of Fivemen).
 * In addition, the carrier mecha from Maskman was called the Turboranger (although the pronunciation is different; the Maskman carrier is pronounced "Turbo Runger"), while the evil sentai from Fiveman was called Gingaman.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Villains tend to have names that translate into this, as well as the team mecha's.
 * Near Villain Victory: The last few episodes of any given series will see the Big Bad on the cusp of absolute victory before their inevitable defeat.
 * No Export for You: A few countries have received some form of export of the series, but most of those countries are still missing some of them. North America, for example, has Power Rangers, but that only adapts the series from Zyuranger forward (and will possibly be skipping Goseiger). And even then, people who want the original Japanese shows in countries where Power Rangers is shown are usually out of luck.
 * No Ontological Inertia: several cases of whatever damage the villains have caused being completely undone after their defeat. More specifically, afflictions to civilians seemingly disappear afer the MotW is brought down the first time, even if it's Not Quite Dead AND still able to return as a giant.
 * Only One Name: Generally used to mark characters who are outsiders to modern day Japan, like the Zyurangers, Timerangers, or Goseigers.
 * Passing the Torch: A symbolic version. Starting with Dekaranger, the closing credits of each series finale ends with a short vignette of the current Red Ranger shaking hands with the Red Ranger of the next series.
 * Pink Means Feminine: The series often had a girl in the group wearing pink. Nowadays in teams without a Pink Ranger, it's often the Yellow Ranger instead. For bonus points, when the girl is the White Ranger, she tends to have pink accents in the uniform (examples being Jetman and Gaoranger, while Kakuranger is an aversion).
 * Product Promotion Parade
 * Ranger: Many Super Sentai heroes aren't technically this by name, but they're all generally this in description.
 * Real Men Wear Pink: Averted. Pink is the only one of the seven main colors in Super Sentai that is solely reserved for women. Green and Black are solely for men, while red, yellow, blue and white can be used by both genders (although so far there has been only one female in red, and she appeared in only a few episodes).
 * By adding Sixth Rangers, Extra Heroes and Battle Cossack to the mix, the colors Orange, Violet, Gold and Silver are added to the ranks. Orange, Gold and Silver were male-only until Dekaranger, while Green lost its male-only status in Gekiranger. Violet (officially introduced in that same series) and Black are still male-only though.
 * Played straight in Gokaiger VS Gavan, which has a scene in which the entire team (rather than just the girls) changes into pink warriors.
 * Rookie Red Ranger: Naturally, considering that the trope comes from Power Rangers.
 * Scarf of Asskicking: All of the series before Dynaman.
 * Sentai: Of course.
 * Sixth Ranger: A once-a-year tradition that began with Zyuranger, although J.A.K.Q. and Liveman both featured additional members introduced mid-series, while Maskman experimented with the idea of a sixth member in the form of a One-Shot Character. Some of the more recent shows that begin with just three members on the team (such as Hurricaneger and Gekiranger) have more than one additional warrior in order to round out a team of five.
 * The Smurfette Principle / Two Girls to a Team: Almost all of the early shows up to Kagaku Sentai Dynaman only had one female ranger per team. Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan didn't even have a female member at all, just a supporting character who assisted the team from the sidelines. Choudenshi Bioman in 1984 started the tradition of having two full-time female rangers at the same time, going back and forth between periods where the franchise would return to having just one female per team (1988-1989, 1992-1994, 1998-2003) and then going back to having two again (1990-1991, 1995-1997). Almost all the teams since 2004 have featured two full-time female rangers with the exception of Gekiranger, while the second girl in Go-onger ended up being an extra ranger who joins the team mid-series.
 * During its early seasons, Power Rangers would Gender Flip the yellow rangers when adapting Sentai shows with just one girl in order to have two girls for each each season, resulting in five male yellow heroes from Super Sentai being changed into female characters for Power Rangers.
 * Strictly Formula: Not just individual episodes, but the series themselves.
 * Around episode 10 there will be an unbeatable Monster of the Week necessitating a new Humongous Mecha combination.
 * The Sixth Ranger appears around Episode 17.
 * Roughly Episode 20 will involve the villains having another extra strong Monster of the Week, which will require the heroes to get another Humongous Mecha in order to defeat it.
 * The vicinity of Episode 30 will get the villains the ability to create stronger Monsters of the Week.
 * Anywhere from Episode 42-47, the villains get their own Humongous Mecha that's every bit as strong as the heroes'. In some cases, this is the last battle.
 * In the final 3 episodes the teams base (if they have one) will be destroyed (though their tech crew and mentor will be able to escape in time) and they will lose the ability to transform until the very final battle.
 * Also the team almost always use the same equipment year after year with different names and slightly different looks and design. (All members carry a sidearm that can transform into a melee weapon. All members have personal weapons, Red almost always has a sword, and the others vary but usually at least one member has a stronger ranged weapon and another has a spear and one member will have a very weird weapons like a flute or fan or something. The team always has a big cannon to finish off the monster off on the ground. The trademark Humongous Mecha always has a sword to finish off monsters, but Mid Season upgrades and combinations of the two will focus on firepower instead.
 * Also fights follow similar formulas year after year. Monster attacks civilians. Team has initial face off against the monster in which it uses its gimmick against the team which disables all members except the character getting focus that week and they need to retreat. Focus character researches weakness/gets confidence back/does some other Character Development thing. Round two, focus character beats up the monster and frees the other members. The use the team attack to knock the monster out. Make My Monster Grow. Mecha battle. Scene with group at the end.
 * Certain plots will happen once per series
 * A Monster of the Week will attack brides, forcing the heroes to go undercover as a couple getting married.
 * Two of the members will be forced into one body and unable to transform.
 * The villains will create duplicates of the heroes and fool civilians.
 * The heroes will be Brought Down to Normal and have to fight without transforming until they can regain their transformation ability somehow.
 * One of the heroes will become a Fake Defector, usually to save one of the others.
 * The two female heroes will get into a Cat Fight with each other, about factors unrelated to saving the world.
 * The Lancer will try saving the day on his own and have to learn the meaning of teamwork.
 * A Monster of the Week will pose as a human and fool one of the heroes into falling in love with them. The monster may or may not become the mask.
 * One hero (usually but not always male, but almost never the Red) will encounter and fall in love with a mysterious person, who by the end of the episode turns out not to be human and either leaves the show or dies. If it's the latter, cue a cry of This Is Unforgivable! at whatever bad guy killed her (or him, if the episode's hero is female) followed by a cathartic Curb Stomp Battle. Sometimes overlaps with the above plot, sometimes not. Usually written by Naruhisa Arakawa, who has written episodes of nearly every Super Sentai since 1991 and likes to write this plot into nearly every series he writes for.
 * The heroes may find and befriend a Monster of the Week who doesn't want to harm anybody. They are usually forced to destroy the monster at the end of the episode. It also usually ends up being a Tear Jerker for the heroes. However, it may also be a Crowning Episode of Funny and, in this case, the monster will end the episode alive.
 * The heroes fight off Mooks unmorphed while dressed up as medieval samurai. Or cowboys. For the latter's case, this always happen: Most rangers are owning the mooks, but the token cool guy will nearly blast themselves by accident for comic relief. The women of the group will knock down the Mooks using a cute wink (This trend started in Denshi Sentai Denziman, especially the 'wink knockdown'. The comic relief by the cool guy started out by Dai Sentai Goggle Five, and it keeps getting better and better, especially in Dengeki Sentai Changeman. You'll more often see this in earlier Sentai, though, the last time used being in Timeranger vs GoGoV).
 * One Monster of the Week will have an ability to brainwash one of the heroes and make them attack the team. The usual victim is those saddled with the color Blue.
 * A Beach Episode
 * The characters prepare for some sort of festival or event (usually New Year, Tanabata or a summer festival), requiring them to dress in gorgeous traditional clothing
 * The characters are forced to go to Kyoto and/or go back in time to Edo-era Kyoto, complete with gratuitous Scenery Porn. This one has a funny subversion in Dekaranger, where the characters voluntarily pretend they are in Edo-era Kyoto to calm an alien (not an Alienizer) who had a brief freak-out with modern-day Kyoto.
 * The Christmas episodes mentioned in An Asskicking Christmas don't need to happen (Shinkenger didn't necessarily have one - the plot is occupied by the final battle against Akumaro instead - but it was shown that they celebrate Christmas there), but the New Year episodes do (New Year's Day in Japan has a higher cultural significance than Christmas).
 * Stock Sound Effects Super Sentai is known to reuse some of the same sound effects in multiple series.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: The first explosion in Super Sentai history occurs two seconds into the opening of Goranger. Between the colored post-transformation explosions behind the heroes and the huge detonations of defeated monsters, it's a long-held tradition.
 * Super Sentai Stance: The Trope Namer.
 * Swiss Army Weapon: Most team's sidearms can transform from a gun into a sword.
 * Title Scream: A tradition that began with Goggle-V, although they don't scream the full title until Bioman. From then on, prior to Tokumei Sentai Gobusters, only Kakuranger averted this, with something we could call Title Sing (as it is the first line of the opening theme).
 * Transformation Trinket: Known throughout the series as Changers, these vary from wrist-mounted ones in early Sentai to handheld ones resembling cell phones in the Heisei Sentai.
 * Translation Matchmaking: Ever since Abaranger, Super Sentai is dubbed in South Korea under the title of Power Rangers. Funnily enough, Abaranger and Dekaranger had the same titles as their respective American counterparts.
 * Traveling At the Speed of Plot: Regardless of where they are, it seems the team can always call for their mecha and have it arrive within seconds.
 * True Companions: Every sentai group is this. During the VS crossovers, the starring two teams will become this.
 * Unflinching Walk: A Sentai-only variant of this trope occurs when a new giant robot is introduced, and performs the Unflinching Walk INTO ENEMY FIRE.
 * Unflinching Walk: A Sentai-only variant of this trope occurs when a new giant robot is introduced, and performs the Unflinching Walk INTO ENEMY FIRE.