Denji Sentai Megaranger

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Denji Sentai Megaranger (Electromagnetic Squadron Megaranger) is the twenty-first installment in the Super Sentai series, running from 1997 to 1998. Adapted in the US as Power Rangers in Space.

Kenta Date is a high-school underachiever who enjoys two things: eating yakiniku and playing the "Megaranger" arcade video game. One day, a couple of recruiters show up. It turns out that the Megaranger game is just a simulation intended to recruit people to become actual Megarangers. Kenta is the first person to be good enough at the game to be recruited. While The Mentor Dr. Kubota tries to talk Kenta into accepting, the Earth is invaded by Nejiregia, invaders from the Twisted Dimension. Due to the emergency, the Megaranger gear is given to Kenta and four of his classmates who happened to be in the area. And the battle begins...

The heroes and their gear are themed after different pieces of digital technology. Manages to avoid being too Totally Radical given the show was made when computers were first becoming mainstream, but technology still marches on.

The heroes:

The villains (Nejiregia):


Tropes used in Denji Sentai Megaranger include:

Recurring 'Super Sentai tropes:

Tropes specific to Denji Sentai Megaranger:

  • Acting for Two: Actually three. Asami Jo portrayed three character. Shizuka, Shibolena and Hizumina. All of whom are Replacement Goldfishes to each other.
  • Arm Cannon: Delta Mega has gatling guns on each arm.
  • Avenging the Villains: Hizumina's motivation.
  • Badass Bookworm: Yuusaku. Designs mecha by day, beats down mooks barehanded and untransformed ...er, also by day. It helps that he works out.
  • Catch Phrase: "Game Over!", said before destroying the Monster of the Week with Galaxy Mega. Dropped when they switch to Mega Voyager.
  • Cool Old Guy/Older Sidekick: Mega Silver may be the Sixth Ranger, but Yuusaku Hayakawa (age 25) is this to the rangers.
  • Compressed Hair: Shibolena makes you wonder where the actress hides her hair.
  • Cool Sword: In a sense. The Galaxy Mega has the second-highest number of sword finishers in Sentai history, losing only to the semi-sentient Bio Robo.
  • Dancing Theme: The second ending teme, "Bomb Dancing Megaranger."
  • Egg McGuffin: Komutan.
  • Elemental Powers: The Nejiranger's true forms each have one:
  • Elite Mook: Boss Kunekune, a Monster of the Week.
  • Enemy Civil War: Guirail and Yugande clash over Guirail's more underhanded tactics vs. Yugande's more honorable methods. It hits the fan when Guirail severely injures Yugande by using him as a Human Shield against the Megarangers. Hinelar then decides to end it by offering Guirail a power-up that's really Psycho Serum that turns Guirail into a mindless One-Winged Angel. Guirail is soon the first to be killed by the Megarangers' Mid-Season Upgrade mecha.
  • Giant Mook: King Kunekune, which is Boss Kunekune surrounded by a "body" of Kunekunes.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Miku. Surprisingly, she lost it when she reappears in Gaorangers vs Super Sentai
  • Gratuitous English: The opening (and the transformation sequence) gives us this garbled mess.
    • Tighten up reality gangster / Stigma through idiot hearing / Keep frustration clear / Patience open ahead / Getting away with it lead / Some distant memory drove / Get the message / Indiscipline all remains / Wish double editorials cover / Under stress new canoe / Primal tribal / [a final line which is obscured by the main text of "MEGA[insert color here] OK"].
  • Hair Antennae: A robotic version instead.
  • High School: All the Megarangers except Yuusaku are high-school students.
  • Home Base: Subverted hard - Nejirejia destroys INET's Earth base very early on, so for most of the show Megaranger's 120-man strong support team is based aboard the Mega Ship. They're in there during battles as well.
  • Hypocritical Humor: With a Freudian Slip to match.

Kenta: *seeing Miku eating a lot* Miku, did you just get fatter?
Miku: (Beat) Fat?
Shun: Kenta, you shouldn't bemean a woman's heart with words like that!
Miku: Shun, did I get fatter?
Shun: Yep - I mean, just a little!

  • Idiot Hero: Megaranger began this trope in Sentai. It's now used at least every other series, but Megaranger is one of the only ones to actually justify it with Obfuscating Stupidity.
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: Mega Voyager for the heroes, Yugande's repaired form and the switch to cyborg Monsters Of The Week for the villains.
  • Ms. Fanservice: All main female characters.
  • Nice Hat: Because of the way the Mega Shuttle combines with the Mega Ship, it looks like Galaxy Mega is wearing a nice shuttle-shaped hat. Behold.
  • Noblewoman's Laugh: A frequent trait of Shibolena.
  • Official Couple: Shun & Miku and Koichiro & Chisato are both heavily implied. Even Shibolena & Yugande qualify this.
  • Panty Shot: Miku has a famous one in episode 50.
    • Shibolena's can be seen alot.
  • Parental Abandonment: Dr. Hinelar is Shibolena's father, but her mother never appears.
  • Pac-Man Fever: Inverted; the Megaranger game at the beginning of the show had photo-realistic graphics (at least for the characters; there's not much in the way of backgrounds) due to it being actors in suits.
  • Product Placement: In the first episode, if you look hard enough when Kenta is playing the Megaranger arcade, you'll see there's an X-Men vs. Street Fighter machine behind him.
  • The Psycho Rangers: The US adaptation of the Nejirangers is the Trope Namer.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Shiborena is actually a robot modeled after Dr. Hinelar's dead daughter, Shizuka
    • Hizumina is a replacement of Shibolena
  • Rocket Punch: Super Galaxy Mega's finishing blow.
  • Secret Identity: As they're just highschoolers, the Megarangers keep their identities as secret as possible - a point hammered home by the Nejirangers attacking users of a popular wireless 'net access device, just because it made the same sound as their Transformation Trinket. Yuusaku, on the other hand, has no such reservations, and frequently doesn't bother. Then again, near the end of the series Dr. Hinelar does find out who the Rangers are, and sends a monster to attack them at school, leading to them being ostracized and having to live in an old warehouse.
  • Sky Surfing: The Megarangers ride around on hoverboards called the Cyber Sliders. Mega Silver has a modified version, the Auto Slider, that also transforms into a Cool Bike.
  • Spiritual Successor: To Denshi Sentai Denziman. The series' share, among other things, the light-up foreheads of the ranger's helms and the hideous, twisted, asymmetrical look of the monsters.
  • Something About a Rose: One Neji monster was based on a rose, and it turned people into plant people. Turning Chisato's best friend into a plant person and laughing about it in her face is not a good idea, as Shibolena found out first hand.
  • Super Prototype: The Mega Silver suit, customized and fitted for actual battle, and noticeably more powerful than the Mega Ranger suits. Naturally, it has a 2.5 minute time limit. Becomes more of an Ace Custom later on, after Yuusaku removes the time limit, accompanied by a drop in power.
  • Taken for Granite: The Ankou[12] Nejire Beast had this power.
  • Taking the Bullet: After Yugande's power is reduced and he is almost killed by MegaRed's Drill Saber, Shibolena runs in to take the damage instead.
  • Tank Goodness: The Digitank, the first Sentai tank (that isn't just a form or component of a mecha) since the Jack Tank in JAKQ Dengekitai.
  • Tech Marches On: Surprisingly averted; the writers predicted the rise of digital technology. For example, Chisato was a photographer who specialized in using digital cameras. In 1997.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The Nejirangers do not get along, even though it's in their best interest to do so.
  • Tempting Fate: After Miku screwed up for the umpteenth time...

Chisato: Oh great. Now we just need a Nejirejia attack to complete the day!
*Digitizers ring*
Whole team: *sigh*

  • Theme Naming
    • The surnames of the five main Megarangers (Date, Endoh, Namiki, Jogasaki and Imamura) form the word "DENJI".
    • Keeping with their "twisted" theme, everyone in Nejiregia (including Nejiregia itself) is named after either the Japanese word for "to twist" or a synonym.
  • Theme Tune Cameo: Kenta hums the shows theme song while riding his bike in episode 24.
  • Villain Song: Shibolena has "The Blue Devil's Smile", and Bibidebi has "Bibi! Bibidebi da Debi".
  • Villainous Breakdown: Neji Blue is particularly fixated on attacking his counterpart. When five Mega Blues and one Neji Silver show up, he attacks his own teammates to get at them.
  • Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Yuusaku can only stay as Mega Silver for 2.5 minutes at a time at first, but he later fixes it, at the cost of reducing Mega Silver's overall strength.
  • The Worf Barrage: When fighting Mad Guirail the Super Galaxy Mega is given a new uber attack. If anything it only pisses him off more.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Averted first in episode 50 when Mega Red kills Shibolena and later in Seijuu Sentai Gingaman vs. Megaranger, where he kills Hizumina.
  • Xanatos Gambit: Dr. Hinelar pulls off one of these late in the series, when he decides that he wants to be the actual leader of Nejiregia, not just the de facto one. Thus, he creates the Nejirangers, secretly using Javious' life force as their power source. He knows full well the Megarangers will eventually kill the Nejirangers, so he made sure that when the Nejirangers die, the backlash kills Javious too. Hinelar succeeds, becoming the new Big Bad.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Hinelar(Silver and Purple), Shibolena(Blue) and(if you count) Bibidebi(Green)
  • You Fail the IQ Test: In one episode Miku evolves into a genius with an IQ of 800.
    • Which would make her a pretty good contender to join Volt, wouldn't it?
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Chisato
    • And, if tall boots count, Shibolena too.
  1. Also another [[The Dragon
  2. Actually Yuusaku in a Nejiranger costume.
  3. Subversion; he's actually the leader. Also, Mega Black's description is "Powerful, but rather slow".
  4. Primarily a gun, but can either split into two smaller guns or combine with the Megaranger's personal weapons into a "Sniper" gun.
  5. Drill Saber + Mega Sniper = Drill Sniper. It later upgrades into the Drill Sniper Custom
  6. Mega Rod + Mega Sniper = Rod Sniper
  7. Mega Tomahawk + Mega Sniper = Tomahawk Sniper
  8. Mega Sling + Mega Sniper = Sling Sniper
  9. A stun/capture gun
  10. Mega Capture + Mega Sniper = Capture Sniper
  11. Gun and Sword modes.
  12. Anglerfish