Choujin Sentai Jetman

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Chōjin Sentai Jetman (Aviator Squadron Jetman) is the fifteenth Super Sentai series, running from 1991 to 1992. Notable for being a tribute of Gatchaman.

An international army, Skyforce, is working on a project to create superhumans by infusing them with "Birdonic Waves". Five of the best Skyforce officers are chosen to receive the treatment. Unfortunately, right after the first officer, Ryū Tendō, receives the treatment, extradimensional invaders known as the Vyram attack Skyforce's orbital base. The remaining four Birdonic Waves are scattered around the globe Japan, where they strike four random civilians. Even worse, one of the candidates, Ryū's lover Rie Aoi, is sucked out into space. Ryū and the project's leader, Chief Aya Odagiri, must now find the four civilians struck by the Birdonic Waves and recruit them to fight the Vyram.

(A fan adaptation was completed in 2009, see Power Rangers Take Flight here)

The Jetmen

• Ryū Tendō ('Red Hawk): The Hero who's still much in love with his dead girlfriend. He then finds out that she's Not Quite Dead and that she's with the bad guys. Based on Gatchamans Ken the Eagle.
• Gai Yūki ('Black Condor): The Lancer, Sour Supporter. Initially comes off as a Sociopathic Anti-Hero but later revealed to be a nice guy too. Based on Gatchamans Condor Joe.
• Raita Ōishi ('Yellow Owl): The Big and Smart Guy. He just wants to be a normal farmer. One of the very few visibly fat heroes in any Super Sentai series. Based on Gatchamans Ryū the Owl.
• Kaori Rokumeikan ('White Swan): The Chick, The Ojou. Based on Gatchamans Jun the Swan.
• Ako Hayasaka ('Blue Swallow): Kid Appeal Character. Starts off as a tomboyish and athletic Ordinary High School Student. Is a bit of a High School Hustler at the beginning of the series. Based on Gatchamans Jinpei the Swallow.
• Chief Aya Odagiri: The Team Mom, The Mentor. Based on Gatchaman's Dr. Nanbu.

The Shadow Dimension War Party Vyram

• Radiguet: Dragon-in-Chief at first, becomes the Big Bad late in the series. Later develops a feud with Tranza. A really evil monster through and through.
• Tran: Evil Tagalong Kid with an annoying laugh. Despite his age, just as much of a monster as Radiguet. Later rapidly ages into Tranza, starting an Enemy Civil War with Radiguet... and actually winning.
• Grey: The Dragon, Worthy Opponent, Noble Demon. Enjoys wine, women, song, and cigarettes despite being a robot. His rivalry with Gai is almost friendly, or at least as friendly as a rivalry between an Anti-Hero and a Noble Demon can be.
• Maria: Dark Chick who turns out to be a Brainwashed Rie Aoi, Ryū's supposedly-dead sweetheart.

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Tropes used in Choujin Sentai Jetman include:

Recurring Super Sentai tropes

• All Your Powers Combined:
• By the Power of Greyskull: "Cross Changer!"
• Calling Your Attacks: Expected, since the Jetmen have individual attacks, not individual weapons.
• Combination Attack
• Color Coded for Your Convenience: The codenames used the same "[color] [animal]" pattern as Choujuu Sentai Liveman, only based specifically on birds.
• Cool Bike: Black Condor and Blue Swallow both got their own Jet Speeder motorcycles...
• Cool Car: ...while Red Hawk gets the Jet Striker race car. Yellow Owl drives the Jet Bouncer jeep with White Swan.
• Eyecatch: The eyecatch before the break features the Jetman team (in their suits) posing somewhere in a side of a mountain. Their positions from left to right (from the viewer's view) featured Black Condor seating with his right leg over his left leg, White Swan stands behind him, Red Hawk is at the center, Yellow Owl is in a side view, and sitting beside him is Blue Swallow. The end of the commercial break features the Jetman team in their Human forms in the same positions.
• Finishing Move:
• Five-Man Band
  • The Hero: Ryū
  • The Lancer: Gai
  • The Big Smart Guy: Raita
  • The Chick: Kaori
  • Kid Appeal Character: Ako
• Home Base
• Humongous Mecha: Like Fiveman, the Jetman's main set of mechas could combine into two forms. This time both forms could be upgraded. The team also received a third robot.
  • A Mech by Any Other Name: The Jet Machines.
  • Animal Mecha: The Jet Machines are borderline examples, since they're really just jets with cockpits shaped like the respective birds each one is based on. The Garuda is based on the mythical creature of the same name.
  • Combining Mecha: Jet Hawk + Condor + Owl + Swallow + Swan = Jet Icarus (robot mode) or Icarus Haken (jet mode).
  • Transforming Mecha: The alien jet Bird Garuda, which transforms into the Jet Garuda.
  • Robot Buddy: Tetra Boy, a sentient support robot that could transform into the Tetrabuster cannon, which could be used by Jet Icarus or Jet Garuda.
  • Mecha Expansion Pack: The Garuda could combine with the Icarus in either of its two forms.
    • Jet Icarus + Jet Garuda = Great Icarus
    • Icarus Haken + Bird Garuda = Hyper Haken
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming:
• In the Name of the Moon:
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Red Hawk's vehicle, the Jet Striker, transforms into the BFG.
• Make My Monster Grow: The Jigenmushi fulfills this role; if it can latch off the monster as it's destroyed, it can bring it back giant size. It can be destroyed, thus keeping the monster from coming back.
• Monsters Of The Week: The Jigenjū (Dimensional Beasts), which were created from material objects that were implanted with a breed of parasites known as "Jigenmushi" (Dimensional Bug). Notable in that it had three sympathetic Monsters of the Week.
• Mooks: The Grinam Soldiers
• The Narrator:
• "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase:
• Psycho Rangers: The Shadow Jetman team in Episode 25. The only one who didn't get his own Evil Counterpart was Black Condor, who was absent during the time the clones were made.
• Regular Caller:
• Supervillain Lair: Check out the Vylock!
• Theme Music Power-Up:
• Transformation Trinket: See By the Power of Greyskull.
• Two Girls to a Team: White and Blue instead of the traditional Pink and Yellow (although White Swan does have pink spandex on her suit). Notable that it's the second time both of these colors were used for female rangers (following Change Mermaid and Blue Dolphin) and the only time they were ever used together (not counting Mahou Sentai Magiranger, which had the white-clad Magi Mother joining her daughters Pink and Blue during the final story arc). This would also be the last Sentai team with two female rangers for the next three years.
• Weapon of Choice: For the first time since Bioman, the heroes do not have an individual Weapon of Choice. They do have:
  • Sword and Gun: The Bringer Swords and Bird Blasters.
  • Power Fist: The Wing Gauntlets.
  • BFG: The Fire Bazooka fired by the whole team, and later the Beak Smashers for each member as a Mid-Season Upgrade.
  • Bifurcated Weapon: Two of them, both of which use the Bird Blaster:
    • Jet Hand Cannon: Bird Blaster + Bringer Sword.
    • Smash Bomber: Bird Blaster + Beak Smasher.

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Tropes significant to Choujin Sentai Jetman

• The Ace: Ryu and Gai, for different reasons. Ryu was already a trained soldier before the series started and thus didn't need to undergo the Training from Hell that the others (minus Gai) did. Gai was just naturally talented (and had a history of getting into fistfights).
• Actor Allusion: The final episode features cameos by Kazuo Niibori and Naoki Ofuji, the suit actors for Red Hawk and Black Condor, as the priest who conducts Ryu's wedding with Kaori and the mugger who stabs Gai respectively.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted. While Kaori does end up dating Gai for a while, it is boy scout Ryu whom she is more attracted to and ends up marrying.
• Anti-Hero Substitute: The Neo Jetman team from Episode 40 and 41, who are assembled by Chief Ichijō (Odagiri's rival) to replace the original team. They end up being less effective than the original team.
• Big Bad: Subverted, after having no leader for almost 20 episodes, Empress Juza, the leader of Vyram comes back to life. She lasts two episodes before being killed.
• Bird Motif: Does it need to be said?
  • Hawk: Ryu
  • Condor: Gai
  • Owl: Raita
  • Swan: Kaori
  • Swallow: Ako
• Bittersweet Ending: Gai is stabbed to death by a random mugger in the Where Are They Now? Epilogue (even more bittersweet is that he was saving a woman who got mugged). None of the other Jetmen notice, despite him collapsing right next to them.
  • Not to mention Rie/Maria, who sacrifices herself after finally remembering who she was.
• Bizarrchitecture: The inside of Vyram's base.
• Non Sequitur Episode: The Dryer Jigen episode.
• Blood From the Mouth: How Radiguet dies.
• But Not Too Foreign: Jeff, in the manga epilogue.
• Catch Phrase: Gai is very fond of the word "Ii ka..." ("Listen up..." or "Now, look here...")
• Casanova: Gai.
• Crossdresser: Only one occasion. Raita is not the Master of Disguise, but he manages to pull it off with kimono, wig and make-ups.
• Crucified Hero Shot: The crucifixion of the Jetmen in #43.
• Darker and Edgier: Acknowledged by most fans as one of the darker installments of the Sentai franchise.
• The Danza: Kaori's prehistoric counterpart in episode 26 is called Rika, just like the actress playing her.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life: Kaori's reason to join the Jetman, to break out of the Rich Idiot With No Day Job shell she lived in.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: A blood-red diamond is turned by Vyram into a Hate Plague-mongering Monster of the Week. As if people didn't fight over "blood diamonds" in real life...
• Drink Order: Ryu and his hot, sugar-free milk. On the contrary, Gai orders whiskies all the time.
• Enemy Civil War: Radiguet and Tranza seize power from each other back and forth.
• Enemy Mine: Radiguet and Ryū team up to defeat Tranza once and for all. Considering what kind of person Radiguet is, no surprise that he'd turn against Ryū once he served his purposes.
  • Radiguet did it before too, when he gave the Jetman the hint on how to beat Juza.
• Expy: The whole series is an intentional expy of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
• Four Is Death: The Vyram Elite.
• A God Am I: Radiguet says that the Vyram are humanity's gods when he first reveals himself.
• Groin Attack: Stay away from Kaori and Ako if you value your nads. Poor Raita.
  • Also, if you're a Mook, careful around Gai. He's not above SQUEEZING your groin.
• Hate Plague: Used by a diamond-themed Monster of the Week.
• Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?: Darn it, Dryer Jigen tries to be a terrifying menace, but can't resist helping people in need. By the end of the episode he gives up evil and becomes a hairdresser. Really.
  • Gomi Jigen was pretty much the same. He never wanted to do no harm to anyone in the first place, pretty much because the main part of his mind comes from a teddy bear which Ako used to care a lot for when she was a child. To see what else happened, refer to Nightmare Fuel ahead. Anyway, he came back to his senses thanks to Ako, only to have a disgusted Maria kill him, inadvertently hitting a Berserk Button in Blue Swallow in the process.
• Hey, It's That Guy!!:
  • Yūta Mochizuki shows up a couple of months early leading the Neo-Jetman in episodes 40-41.
  • The Dimensia team that delivers Jet Garuda is made up of Blue Flash, Yellow Mask...and Tricera Ranger who also showed up early.
  • Being a Toshiki Inoue-written series, Yutaka Hirose, known for playing the likes of Dr. Kemp and Jin Matoba appears as Tranza.
• Hidden Depths: Played around in the 11th episode. A drink from the Vending Machine Jigen makes a hidden aspect of the the Jetmen's personalities become their dominant one: Ryū becomes a Lazy Bum, Gai becomes The Messiah (counts as a hidden depth for his Heroic Sociopath tendencies, he's actually a Jerk with a Heart of Gold), Raita becomes a jerk, Kaori turns into a rich snob worse than her pre-development phase, Ako turns into Girly Girl. They get better in the end...
• Hope Spot: Brutally in Episode 24 - After getting curbstomped by Queen Juuza's fully-grown monster child, the team is rescued by Jet Garuda, piloted by three warriors from another dimension. After a whole episode of making it compatible, the warriors set off with Jet Garuda to save the day and combine into Great Icarus! Then Radiguet murders them and Gundamjacks it.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Noodle Jigen. Inspired by instant ramen and created by Tran, anyone affected by eating his noodles get extremely aggressive and try to get everything done as quickly as possible until they die of overworking themselves. He didn't count on Yellow Owl eating his noodles, which caused him to kill the monster as fast as possible.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: The Vyram's motivation for attacking Earth. As if they were any different...
  • Though with some, as Aya coined, 'pathetic excuse of human being' like Commander Ichijou, Radiguet might be partially right (though he's still no better).
• Hypocrite: Especially Radiguet in terms of the trope above:

Ryū: Why do you attack humans!? Radiguet: Because they're ugly and foolish like bugs. And bugs deserve to be squished! Ryū: No! Humans are not like that! They are able to love and develop... Radiguet: *goes One-Winged Angel* Ryū: Well, humans are not ugly. You ARE!

• Image Song: Honoo no Condor, for Black Condor. Listen, while he kicks some Vyram butt
• Instant Expert: Averted hard with everybody (except Ryū, for whom the trope doesn't even apply). Cue Training from Hell to the other four (or three, since Gai's not the training kind).
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As the series progresses, Gai shows himself to be one.
• Kids Are Cruel: Tran, before his growth.
• Last Of Their Kind: The Dimensian Soldiers Ray, Kanna, and Dan; each of whom possess powers similar to the Jetman. All three are introduced and killed off within two episodes.
• Love Triangle: Ryū is still hung up over losing Rie. Kaori likes Ryū. Gai likes Kaori. Kaori doesn't like Gai. Gai hates Ryū's guts. Then we find out that Rie is still alive as Maria, and Grey likes Maria... Also, Kaori starts liking Gai, but Gai broke up with her and lets her to be together with Ryū
• Morality Pet: In one episode, Radiguet loses his memories and is turned into a human by Empress Juza. During this period, Radiguet falls in love with a human girl and learns to appreciate the beauty of mankind. This doesn't last long after Radiguet regains his memories and returns to his old ways. Just to be sure, he kills the girl.
• My Name Is Not Gentleman: It's Jetman!
• Non-Indicative Name: The name of the jet mode of their giant combining mecha is the Icarus Haken, not the Jet Icarus. Same thing applies to the Jet Garuda, which is the robot form of the Bird Garuda jet.
• Not So Invincible After All: Gai. A year of surviving against the Vyram does him no good to a stab by a mere mugger.
• Novelization: The only Sentai series to receive such treatment. Show's writer Toshiki Inoue wrote a trilogy of novels a couple of years after the series ended that is much closer to his original plans, managing to be Darker and Edgier and aimed exclusively at adult fans. The biggest differences are the omission of the giant robots and the Dimensional Beasts and the fact that Empress Juza has a bigger role than she did in the series.
• Official Couple: Ryū and Kaori get married in the Where Are They Now? Epilogue.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Played around. Gai stated that he's the only one allowed to complain about Ryū.
• Opposites Attract: Subverted with Gai and Kaori, they were way too opposite for their relationship to last any longer.
• Orcus on His Throne: Averted. Even though Radiguet is the Big Bad, he is more prone to jump into the battlefield. His 'superior' Empress Juza also doesn't like sitting on the throne way too often.
• Our Vampires Are Different: In #48, Maria transforms into a vampire, slowly transforming into a more monstrous form. The victims do not die of blood loss, but evaporate.
• Poor Man's Substitute: The Neo-Jetman team.
• Punny Name: Ōishi (Raita's surname) means "big rock," like the ones he throws or drops from his ship. It also a play on oishii, meaning delicious, a reference to his weight.
• Right Hand Versus Left Hand: The Vyram Elite often fail their battles, not because the Jetmen are superior to them, but because one of them is always trying to sabotage the success of the other.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Except for Ryū, everyone's a Jetman by accident.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Gai and Ryū.
• Refusal of the Call: Gai, in the first three episodes (though he is only introduced in the second).
• Rescue Romance: Gai and Kaori, which eventually broke due to their conflicting personalities.
• The Reveal: Maria is really Rie Aoi, alive and brainwashed by Radiguet. Not terribly surprising, given that they're both played by the same actress.
• Rule of Cool: Jet Swallow's Wing Cutter attack, which would be very dangerous in real life.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Raita and Gai.
• Shout-Out: The entire series is a Shout-Out to Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
  • Also when Ako's teddy bear-cum-Monster of the Week fixes a child's broken toy, it's the Star Five from Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman.
  • It's probably a stretch, but the one who's like KEN is named RYU
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Ryū and Rie aka Maria.
• The Starscream: While technically the Big Bad, Radiguet pulls this twice. When Empress Juza comes back to claim her place as ruler of the Vyram, Radiguet kills her. Later, Tranza seizes control and has the rest of the Vyram leaders pilot his robot. Radiguet teams up with Ryū and beats Tranza within an inch of his life, but spares Tranza, who winds up in a mental hospital.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Jetman had an official tie-in epilogue in manga form, in which the now-deceased Gai was replaced by new team member, Jeff Kenzaki/Green Eagle.
• Time Travel: In episode 26, the team is thrown thousands of years back in time. However, since Raita tackled the monster while it was doing this, he ended up thrown somewhere else and stuck for most of the episode with a primitive tribe which worships him like a god due to him introducing them to fire and agriculture... Plus, among these tribesmen, there happens to be a Vision Of Another Self of Kaori who falls in love with Raita. And, considering Raita's own feelings for Kaori...
• To Hell and Back: Ako, Gai and Raita in episode 27. The "back" part is thanks to Ryu.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Ako and Kaori. Though, by the end of the series, it became a subversion. Kaori becomes less shallow and materialistic over the course of the series, while initially tomboyish Ako becomes more looks-conscious, grows out her hair and eventually becomes a heavily made up idol singer after the events of the show.
• Took a Level in Badass: Tran, after forcing himself into adulthood and transforming Tranza, becomes way more assertive with the other Vyram members and more aggressive against the Jetmen.
  • Arguably, most of the team qualifies, as they started out as civilians with no combat experience whatsoever - by the finale, they're pretty much taking names.
• Transformation Name Announcement
• Villain Song: The Grinam get one, "Sad Soldiers Grinam" sung and composed by series composer Kazuhiko Toyama.
• What Could Have Been: Jetman was very close to being the first series adapted for Power Rangers.
• Where Are They Now? Epilogue: Three years after the final battle, Ryū and Kaori get married, Gai became a businessman and gets stabbed to death in a random act of heroism, Ako becomes an idol singer, and Raita runs a farm.
  • The Toei TV Hero Encyclopedia compilation goes further by showing Ryū and Kaori and their son, Gai six years later.