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Choujuu Sentai Liveman: Difference between revisions
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Three students from Academia Island, an elite school funded by the U.N. for the purpose of researching space flight, are tempted by promises of power from the evil Great Professor Bias. They flee Academia Island, killing two of their classmates in cold blood during their escape.
Two years later they return as officers of an evil organization called Volt. Having changed their bodies, minds and names, they use their new powers to destroy Academia.
In response, three of their former classmates use cutting-edge power suits (originally designed as a new form of space suit) to fight against Volt as Liveman.
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* [[Monster of the Week]]: The Brain Beasts or ''Zunōjū''. The naming pattern is "(theme)-Zuno".
* [[Mook|Mooks]]: The Jimmers <ref> Jin = Person, Ma = Machine</ref>
* [[Oddly Small Organization]]: As with [[Choudenshi Bioman|Bioman]], Volt consists of Bias, his students, and a crapton of robots.
* [["On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase]]
* [[Robot Buddy]]: Colon, though she subverts it by having few built-in functions and relying heavily on external devices.
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* [[Actor Allusion]]: When ''Liveman'' started, Daisuke Shima was an [[Idol Singer]] with a [[Hot-Blooded]] rebel image, and the character of Yuusuke was written to match. Later on, under the insistence of Shima himself, Yuusuke developed into a [[The Hero|traditional leader]].
* [[Affably Evil]]: Great Professor Bias {{spoiler|until about 3/4 of the way through. Then the "affable" goes right out the airlock.}}
* [[
* [[Anatomy Arsenal]]: Dr. Mazenda outfits her cyborg body with a ridiculous amount of weaponry, including at least three different [[Arm Cannon|Arm Cannons]].
* [[And I Must Scream]]: {{spoiler|Dr. Kemp has his brain removed from his head while he's still alive, so it can be used in Bias' [[Fountain of Youth]]. His body turns into a mindless Brain Beast, and his consciousness remains alive ''in the immobile brain'', unable to see, hear, feel or do anything}}.
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* [[Bound and Gagged]]: The first literal happening in Sentai (previous titles didn't use gags), in which Megumi is the victim (when she's taken hostage to force Yuusuke fight a swordsman-type [[Monster of the Week]])
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Before [[Darker and Edgier]] hits on full throttle, this is Jou's role.
* [[Cast
* [[Chinese Vampire]]: One [[Monster of the Week]] transformed the souls of Academia's departed into these.
* [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul]]: Played straight and subverted ''hard'' towards the end. Dr. Mazenda willingly made herself more cybernetic, and embraced its dehumanizing effects to preserve her youth and beauty. {{spoiler|Though eventually she reconsiders - ironically, it's only ''after'' she becomes Robo Mazenda that she recovers her humanity}}.
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* [[Education Mama]]: {{spoiler|Omura}} had one mean Mama {{spoiler|who eventually [[Mama Bear|goes all out]] to help her son gain back his self-worth.}}
* [[The Eighties]]: Much of the show, but the theme song especially. The end of the opening sequence has a moonwalking Colon. Not to mention the early [[Computer Generated Images|CGI]] seen in the transformation and Bimotion Buster sequences.
* [[Engrish]]: The Live Blasters are labelled "Librastar".
* [[Everyone Went to School Together]]: The other main hook of the show - the original three Liveman members and Volt generals are pretty familiar with each other, if never out-and-out friends. Often played up for drama, once or twice for humor.
* [[Evil Former Friend]]: Kemp, Mazenda, and Oblar. {{spoiler|The third one pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]] though.}}
* [[Evil Genius]]: ''All'' of Volt.
* [[Evil Is Visceral]]: Not as prominent as in most examples, but Volt often invokes this style.
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Omura. Seriously.
* [[Freudian Trio]]
** Ego: Yūsuke
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* [[Improbably High IQ]]: All the members of Volt have ridiculously high IQs. In fact, Bias' goal is {{spoiler|1=to raise their IQs to 1000}}.
** There's a problem with this, though - those numbers are Bias' scores for their brains (he wants a 'thousand-point brain'), and it seems that they're closer to test scores.
* [[Infinite Supplies]]: GranTortoise apparently provides this.
* [[Instant Expert]]: This show, surprisingly for a [[Super Sentai]], mostly ''doesn't'' play it straight.
** They built their own equipment and mecha, and have been training for two years, so they know how everything works from the first episode.
** Live Robo, on the other hand, they can pilot only because they're very smart.
** Same goes for Volt. Kemp, Mazenda, and Obular have had the same two years to get to know their own abilities. Arashi, in becoming Ashura, is given a (reversible!) genius boost.
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* [[Product Placement]]: Jou's apparently a ''Seicross'' fan, and has a [[My Pet Monster]] doll on the rearview mirror of his car.
* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]: {{spoiler|Great Professor Bias}}.
* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Dr. Mazenda}} and {{spoiler|Arashi}}. {{spoiler|Kemp, in his last few seconds of life, comes round as well. Butchy doesn't get as far as Redemption, but his last moments makes it clear that he would have, if not for Bias blowing him up.}}
* [[Redemption Equals Life]]: {{spoiler|Gou}}
* [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]]: Colon. She's obviously mechanical, but it's kinda hard to tell if she's giving exposition or ''reminding the audience'' when she announces, towards the end, that she's a robot and therefore immune to planetary mind control.
** {{spoiler|"Human" might not be the right word here, but Guildos and Butchy were}} sufficiently lifelike enough to fool the three super-geniuses in Volt ''and'' Liveman.
* [[Robot Girl]]: Colon. Not Mazenda, {{spoiler|until she turns herself into Robo Mazenda, specifically to keep Bias from taking her brain}}.
* [[Robot Maid]]: Colon, assigned to run the GranTortoise base, seems to have been intended to be this. In practice, she was over-engineered to have a near-human personality and [[Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids|enough defensive capability to support Liveman in battle]].
* [[Small Girl, Big Gun]]: The rangers are under the sway of a mind-control gas early on. Colon saves them with the antidote... fired from a bazooka.
* [[The Smart Guy]]: Initially averted - the protagonists and antagonists ''all'' qualify for the trope - and then deconstructed, more or less starting with Obular's breakdown.
** Volt as a whole kinda shows what happens when you let this trope be the thing by which everything is measured.
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* [[The Cameo]]: Dorothée, not that you'll care if you're not French.
* [[Three Plus Two]]: The series starts off with three members like ''[[Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan|Sun Vulcan]]'', but then two new members are added in Episode 30. This practice would be repeated in some later ''Super Sentai'' shows (namely ''[[Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger|Hurricaneger]]'', ''[[Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger|Abaranger]]'', ''[[Juuken Sentai Gekiranger|Gekiranger]]'' and ''[[Engine Sentai Go-onger|Go-onger]]''), but in those cases, the [[Sixth Ranger|new heroes]] were planned from the ''start''.
* [[Took a Level
* [[Turtle Power]]: The Gran Tortoise, of course.
* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: Actually powers a Brain Beast at one point, which it drained off from nearby sources - Liveman, innocent bystanders, ''Dr Kemp''... The only solution turned out to be to ''not'' fight Volt with entirely justified rage, and fight to protect people. ...and for Kemp to stay a good distance away from the Ikari-Zuno during battle.
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* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: Colon is generally treated like a human female for plot purposes (the ludicrously high level of her AI isn't touched on), albeit one with the added benefit of being mechanical, and therefore more chances at [[Heroic Sacrifice|Heroic Near-Sacrifices]].
** With the exception of Dr. Oblar, all the (formerly) human Volt doctors stay on as face characters and are all humanized in one way or other when they "leave" Volt.
** Even Butchy gets an episode to prove this, and he's non-human by every definition of the phrase.
* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Bias and Kemp shoot for this.
* [[Xanatos Gambit]]: The entire plot is {{spoiler|a scheme by Bias to maintain his [[Immortality]] by raising one of his subordinates' scores to 1000, creating a [[Fountain of Youth]]}}.
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