Shinzo

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Mushrambo, also known as Shinzo, is a 32-episode Shounen series that aired on Fox Kids/Jetix in the early 2000s.

The human girl Yakumo wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world where mankind has been destroyed by a genetically engineered race, Enterrans/Matrixer. Yakumo heads out to find Shinzo/Center, the place where the last humans are supposed to be, and bring peace between them and the Enterrans/Matrixer. A few Enterrans/Matrixer accompany her on the way, starting with Mushra/Mashura. Except they just go around and save Yakumo a lot, don't look for clues and twice leave a territory without really having verified Shinzo/Center is not there. The story really is about winning battles.

The various adaptions differ per country, but generally are rather cut up, some more than others.

Tropes used in Shinzo include:

Actual Pacifist:Yakumo refuses to fight anyone, even if they are attacking her personally. Given that she's the Big Bad's most wanted, this gets her into trouble at least once an episode.
After the End - 300/500 years after the end in the 21st Century, depending on what version you watch.
Aliens Speaking English^[context?]
All Your Powers Combined - Mushrambo
Exclusively Evil - The Kadrians and any Enterran that doesn't look human or huggable. If an enemy does look human, they will undergo a transformation that makes sure you know they're evil. Unless they're female, in which case they'll only die in a degrading way.
And Now You Must Marry Me: The Reptile King Ryuma (one of the seven Enterran generals) decides to do this to Yakumo to prove his superiority over her.
Applied Phlebotinum - All those pretty cards.
Aya Hisakawa^[context?] - Binka
Bad Boss - All villains who have servants will be seen harming/killing said servants for no apparent reason, often they didn't even fail them.
Balance Between Good and Evil - Dub only.
Barrier Maiden - Yakumo
Biological Mashup^[context?]
Bishonen - Hyper Mushra, Mushrambo, Hyper Sago and Ryuma.
Broken Aesop - They're trying to say that racism and such is bad and forgiveness is good, yet Enterrans outside of the three heroes are at the best depicted as greedy, sneaky and deceiving, and with one mild exception all of the villains are pure, sadistic evil. If Yakumo forgives someone, they will endanger her life shortly after. The real message becomes : forgiveness is stupid and you can totally judge people on their appearance.
Card-Carrying Villain^[context?]
Cross-Dressing Voices - Mushra, Hyper Mushra, Mushrambo, Black Mushrambo, Gold Mushrambo, Satan Mushrambo, and Ryuma in the Japanese version
Damsel in Distress - Poor Yakumo, A LOT.
- Its because she's an Actual Pacifist. See Let's Get Dangerous.
Deader Than Dead - With difficulty and the right tech, an Enterran reduced to End Card form can be revived. Cut the card, however, and that's that.
Deus Ex Machina - Yakumo in the second season more or less counts, as does Hakuba. The card that turned Mushra back into a god is deus ex machina incarnate, as is the random power-up of pink light in the final episode.
Devour the Dragon - An oddly literal version of this comes when Ryuma transforms into Hyper Serpent Warrior Ryuma and severs Grandora's (a three headed dragon) head for the express purpose of obtaining and swallowing Grandora's card to become Grand Ryuma.
Did Not Do the Research - The Statue of Liberty is made of stone.
Distant Finale - Manga only Five years into the future, Sago and Kutal return to a small village where Matrixer live peacefully with humans and are greeted by a girl who is the daughter of Mushra and Yakumo.
Double Standard - Ill Girl Yakumo can't save a life without being shown collapsing afterward/losing consciousness/needing help herself/dying from exhaustion, the male heroes save lives looking all heroic. Similarly, female antagonists will either be absorbed by someone with only their face sticking out and get Mushra's speer shoved in said face, another died by having Mushra fall on her from high altitude, the last was killed by Yakumo (who collapsed afterward). Where as pretty much all main male enemies died in combat with the heroes in full battle mode and got epic deaths. Also, the very same powers that make Mushra a god and boosted Sago and Kutal are apparently too much for Yakumo to handle and they end up killing her.
Earthshattering Kaboom - Mercury, Venus and almost Earth.
Elemental Powers - Fire, water, earth, time, darkness, light, web, ice and ghost.
Empathic Environment^[context?]
The End of the World as We Know It - Prior to the series' first timeline, there was global genocide on the human race, leaving the world to the Enterrans. In the second time line, Lanancuras threatens it as well.
Eternal English^[context?]
Cute Kitten - Este/Sanju, Rei, and Sen.
Fighting Series^[context?]
Five-Man Band:
- The Hero — Mushra
- The Lancer — Sago
- The Big Guy — Kutal
- The Smart Guy — Hakuba
- The Chick — Yakumo
Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke - Somehow, mixing the DNA of humans with those of animals granted the resulting creatures magical powers of the elements, the spirit world and the time-space continuum.
Girl in a Box - Yakumo
Heroic Bystander - Sago and Kutal, as Mushra returns to godhood. Don't forget the kittens.
Homage - Journey to the West. Like Xuanzang,Yakumo is constantly advocating sparing the lives of their enemies, and Mushra like Sun Wukong, loves to fight, wields a staff, and wears a golden headband. Kutal counterparts to Zhu Bajie, and Sago to Sha Wujing. Also, the way Hakuba transforms into a car to transport Yakumo similar to the other show.
Hot-Blooded: both played semi-straight and interestingly subverted: Mushra, though as his power increases by transforming into Hyper Mushra and then even further into Mushrambo, his hot blood actually cools down a fair bit, appearing to increase his maturity alongside his power level. When he becomes Celestial Mushra at the very end of the series, though, his personality is pretty much the same as his regular form.
- Although when combining into Mushrambo, however, that could be due to his having to merge with Sago and Kutal. Therefore, as Mushrambo, Mushra is just as Hot-Blooded as always, it's merely diluted with Sago and Kutal's personalities as well.
- Grandora is based on King Ghidorah, arch-enemy of Godzilla. It even has Godzilla's roar. Unlike King Ghidorah, Grandora has arms and only one tail where King Ghidorah has two tails.
Human Popsicle - Yakumo is placed in Cold Sleep for 300 years (500 in the dub). The dub also expands/alters this a bit by presented it as a hibernation that makes her age 1 year for every 50.
I Have You Now, My Pretty - Ryuma with Yakumo
Ill Girl: Yakumo, specially after the Time Skip.
I Will Protect Her - Mushra
Kick the Dog - Specifically, try to kill the kittens.
Jerkass Facade - the local Tin Man, King Niper.
Large Ham - Ryuma. Instead of killing Yakumo as every other Enterran is want to do, he chooses to marry Yakumo, complete with ice castle wedding ceremony, frilly dress, and assloads of subjects as onlookers. Did we mention he essentially did this to prove how awesome he is?
- He actually says that's why "Anyone can kill their enemy. Only the truly powerful can marry them." (or something to that effect).
Last of His Kind - Last of her kind, until the timeline is altered that is.
Light Is Good - Yakumo and Mushra
Lego Genetics^[context?]
Let's Get Dangerous: Yakumo gives up her pacifism shtick at the end of the first season and displays Psychic Powers
MacGuffin Location^[context?]
Naoki Tatsuta^[context?] - Kutal
The Man Behind the Man - Lanancuras
Mega Neko - Kutal
Minami Takayama^[context?] - Mushra, Hyper Mushra, and Mushrambo, Black Mushrambo, Gold Mushrambo, and Satan Mushrambo
Monumental Battle^[context?]
Merchandise-Driven - A defeated monster will turn into a card.
Not So Fast^[context?]
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown - That's how Mushrambo appears, after Mushra gets beaten up and Sago and Kutal die into cards.
Older Than They Look - Mushra looks like 12 or 13, is 15, and can grow to look like 20. Then there's the little fact Mushra's actually a reincarnated god, and is about as old as the galaxy. He still looks like a 13 year old.
Ominous Latin Chanting - Not ominous, bet definitely Latin when the gang meets Yakumo again in the second timeline.
Peggy O Neal^[context?] - Yakumo's dub voice
Philece Sampler^[context?] - Binka's dub voice
Promotion to Parent - Yakumo pretty much adopts little Binka.
Plucky Girl - Both Binka and Yakumo.
Ryusei Nakao^[context?] - Gyasa
Sidekick Glass Ceiling - Sago and Kutal get to keep their powers for most of the series, however then ,aside of Mushra still being stronger all the time, all three of them lose their powers through a trick of the villain, Mushra finds out he actually still has another power and can keep going, while Sago and Kutal become useless.
Steve Blum^[context?] - Sago and Gold Mushrambo in the dub
Takeshi Aono^[context?] - Lanancuras
Time Paradox - Rusephine for inexplicable reasons sends Mushra, Sago and Kutal back to the past, getting rid of Yakumo's guards. In the past, they destroy Mushrambo and save Yakumo's life, leading to Yakumo in the future gathering them together to the point of being sent back in time. In order for this time loop to occur, Yakumo should've been able to survive Mushrambo's visit without anyone's help.
- Actually, (in the dub at least) Rusephine wanted to discourage them by revealing Mushrambo was evil. Regardless, they were beaten and only able to win once the child Yakumo used some sort of eye-laser power to subdue him. Later, near the end of the series, either Mushrambo or Lanancuras are recounting how when Mushrambo was sent to kill the child Yakumo, she somehow removed the evil from him, making it his new objective to protect her. This pretty much means she could have protected herself in the original past without any help.
Timey-Wimey Ball - What do you expect from a series where time is an element alongsider spiderweb and phantom energy?
Tom Gibis^[context?] - Mushra's dub voice
The Farmer and the Viper - Yakumo saves an Enterran child. Once the villagers find out she's human, they try to burn her. Oh, and every single villain Yakumo forgives.
The Smurfette Principle - Even more grating since the first half of the series takes place in areas dominated by mutants based on animals were normally the females are stronger and bigger, yet they encounter only 2 females. Unless you count the female member of the kittens that is.
Plot Coupon - Yakumo in the first season.
Promotion to Parent: The reason why Binka adores Yakumo is because she raised her after her parents died.
The Power of Love - And the dub added some extra sugar too.
Reptiles Are Abhorrent^[context?]
Small Girl, Big Gun - Binka
We Have Reserves :- Makes one wonder how the Enterrans/Matrixer won the war when several generals don't even get the idea to order their troops to stand aside before attacking the enemy.
"Wake-Up Call" Boss: Gyassa (sp?) was the first major villain whose plan spanned 3 episodes. He turned Yakumo to stone and chucked her in an acid lake. Fighting him required the first transformation into Mushrambo to win.
- The guy had a touch of Implacable Man since he could shed his skin right before death and return with no damage damage even stronger than before. And he was just so creepy.
What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic? Mushra, angel wings and crosses.
Winged Humanoid: A number of characters, including the Bird Enterrans and Celestial Mushra.
Yasuhiko Kawazu^[context?] - Sago
You Fail Biology Forever - Just how does the ecosystem function if all death results in the body vaporizing, leaving no biomass at all, just a card?
You Fail Geography Forever - 300 (500 in the English dub) years into the future, the statue of liberty is partially buried and surrounded by forest, with miles and miles of land around. At the same time, Egypt has become an ocean. Global warming apparently is only regional.
Younger Than They Look - Yakumo was placed in suspended animation at the age of 6 or 7, which for some reason made her wake up as a 16 year old; even her clothes grew along.
- Actually, that was partially explained during a flashback sequence. Yakumo's dad was planning to have her sleep for 50 years, with the intention that she would age only one year. But due to interference/malfunction, Yakumo wound up sleeping 500 years (ten times as long), therefore she aged ten years. The suspended animation was intended NOT to halt aging completely, just slow it down drastically.
Yuko Minaguchi^[context?] - Yakumo