Kyoryuger : a review part 1 : Heroes and allies

Now that Kyoryuger has fully aired, as I planned before, I'm going to do a big review of the show, and my review is going to start by an analysis of the heroes and my personal feelings about them.

1) The main six Kyoryuger

1) Daigo "King" Kiryuu/ Kyoryu Red

He's the main hero of the show, and he has by far the most focus in the show. He's the leader of the team, completely trusting his friends, and a typical brave, reckless, optimistic, even sometimes stupid red ranger.  He likes other people to call him "King". He's pretty much the one who holds the team together. Indeed, at the beginning of the show, he's the one who made the other heroes show their identity to each other and, instead of only meeting when fighting, made them become a true team of friends. Whenever he feels a teammate is in trouble, either during a fight or because of personal issues, he's ready to help him (or her), even if it means putting his life in danger, like when he helped Ian when he was fighting who he thought has killed his friend, or making Yayoi have faith in herself during the Plesioh arc. His trust of his partners is very strong, and even when he learned that Torin was a former member of the Deboth army, he's the first one to accept it, and of course, the others followed. As such, everyone in the team likes him, especially the girls (Yayoi and Amy who both have a crush on him), Torin, and Ian.

Daigo has also a very strong bond with his Zyudenryu partner, Gabutyra, a bond that has built itself in the first episode, when Daigo, by his actions, earned the trust of the big tyrannosaurus who never had a partner before. That partnership went even further when Daigo was able to use the Carnival Battery which made Gabutyra shrink as Minityra. After becoming Minityra, Daigo could use him as a Gaburevolver and transform into Kyoryu Red Di Carnival, which is basically Daigo fused with Gabutyra. Once becoming Kyoryu Red Di Carnival, Daigo could fight in a similar way as Kyoryujin, using the other Zyudenchi to become basically a "Mini -Kyoryujin" (with all the different combinations (Western, Macho, Kung Fu)), with each Zyudenchi becoming like small copies of the Zyudenryu.

Daigo has also a very strong bond with his father Dantetsu. When he was a kid, he was first wandering through the world with his father, but, once he became a young boy, his father left him to continue his search, because it was too dangerous to have him stay with him, but gave him an amber gem with a dinosaur teeth inside (it's later revealed that it was Allomeras's remains), and told him to follow the path of the strong dragons if he felt it was his fate. Since then, Daigo wandered the world by himself, wanting to be stronger and to follow his father's path.  During his travels, he met a young singer, Mikoto Amano, who became his friend, and would later protect her from Deathryuger, who wanted to use her as the key to control Zyudenryu Tobaspino. Daigo always saw his father as an example to follow. It's especially shown during the various appearances of Dantetsu throughout the show, when he gives good advice to his son, or even rescues him from his enemies. While Daigo was shocked to see his father seemingly working for the Deboth in the final arc, even killing Torin, he quickly realized that there was more than meets the eye, and that his father had a good reason to do so (he knew that his father was still his ally, because he could become Kyoryu Silver). At the end, he's the one who defeats Deboth in an one on one fight in the Frozen palace, helped by the Melody sent to him by his teammates, and managed to come back alive thanks to the Zyudenryu's help.

My opinion of Daigo: Daigo is really a stereotypical Red ranger, and it's both his strength and his weakness: he's a very charismatic main character, and really carries the show as a central character, but at the same time, he's often annoying, because he's written as a "too perfect character". Besides, even more annoying is the behavior of the other heroes, who can be basically called "the Daigo fan club", because of how much they admire him (even Ian, who calls him an idiot : the only exception is Tessai). Another problem is that, even by Sentai standards, he completely steals the focus from the other heroes : Kyoryuger is incredibly Red centric, even by Sentai standards, as Daigo has his personal Power up, he's the one to defeat Deboth, he's the central focus on most of the main arcs (only Torin and Utsusemimaru, and in a lesser way, Ian,  sometimes have some focus, notably because of their strong rivalries with some main villains), with Daigo's dad being by far the most important supporting character of the show : Kyoryuger feels sometimes like Kiryuger.

2) Ian Yorkland/ Kyoryu Black

Ian Yorkland is an adventurer archeologist, who was wandering the world with his friend Shiro Mifune to look for archeological artifacts. He's also a ladies’ man, who loves charming young women, using his charm, and most importantly, his ability to make them feel happy (but he's completely unsuccessful with Amy and Yayoi, though).  One day, he was attacked by the Deboth Legion, and he ended up being unable to save his friend Shiro, who was killed by a mysterious Deboth warrior hidden in a black cloak. He almost died himself, and was saved thanks to Zyudenryu Parasagan and Torin and soon became Kyoryu Black, with Parasagan as his partner. Ian's a marksman, and he uses guns as his main weapons, even if he at first doubted himself, because he couldn't save his friend with his marksman skills. While at first he was a solitary and cynical guy, soon after meeting Daigo, he started to act in a more relaxed way, after being able to save Daigo from the cloaked enemy using the Gaburevolver, and as such, overcome the trauma of his past. Ian soon became very fond of Daigo, and while he felt Daigo was an idiot, he still admired him.  He's also fond of Souji whom he calls "Boy". Ian often behaves in a rather frivolous way, especially when girls are involved, which pretty annoys Utchy and Souji.

Ian was the second in command when Daigo ended up possessed by the spirit of the Tyrannosaurus after using the Carnival Zyudenchi to transform, and showed good leadership skills until Daigo turned back into normal.

Ian also realized that the one who killed his friend was none other than Aigalon ( the cloaked enemy Ian defeated to save Daigo was just a monster Aigalon lent the cloak), and had a strong rivalry with him, even if Aigalon didn't understand why the killing of that human was such a big deal at first. However, when Aigalon worked with Endolf for the first time, he mercilessly taunted Ian about how he killed his friend in order to gather hate from Ian. However, Ian managed to keep his cool, in order to avenge Shiro with a cool head, confirming his potential as a supporting leader.

However, after Aigalon ended up being betrayed by his own allies and was doing all he could to protect Candelira, he was forced to beg his former enemies from help and as such, realized how the lives of others are important. While at first Ian couldn't stand Aigalon's requests, because of his past, he realized how his rival had changed by witnessing him sacrificing himself to save Candelira, taking a mortal blow from his Sadness Knight successor Aiserondo, and at the end, showed mercy to his rival, releasing his soul from the armor and avenging him by killing Aiserondo using Aigalon's own axe.

My opinion of Ian: Ian as a character had potential, as the second in command, an adventurer, a ladies’ man, and of course his rivalry with Aigalon. However, Ian never had enough focus to have those elements more explored.  Besides, his rivalry with Aigalon suffered from the inconsistencies in the way Aigalon was written, and during the second half of the show, especially after the Endolf arc, Ian's rivalry was Aigalon was pretty much forgotten until the final arc, and even then, Ian was only meeting Aigalon by accident, instead of looking for him to settle their rivalry. Likewise, his skills as second in command, his playboy personality were only explored in a couple of episodes. Ian was a good character, but he never had enough focus to show it enough.

3) Nobuharu Udo "Nossan"/Kyoryu Blue

Nobuharu Udo is a 32 year old man who is doing various little jobs in a company called "Jack-of-All-Trades Marufuku.  He lives with his widowed sister Yuko and his niece Rika and became the father figure in the house. At first, he was more ambitious, wanting to become a highly paid white collar, but when his brother in law died, he decided to give up his initial ambitions to help his widow sister keep alive his brother-in-law company. He didn't mind giving up his dreams to become merely a "little jobs" man, because what he really wanted was to make people feel happy, especially his sister and his niece.  One of his major motivations to become Kyoryu Blue was to be able to protect his family from the Deboth, even if he had to hide it from his family, especially his sister, and endure the fact that his sister disliked Kyoryu Blue. Rika soon found out about his uncle being Kyoryu Blue, and later, Yuko realized it as well, and of course ended up liking the fact his brother was Kyoryu Blue, even hiding the fact she knew about him to make him less worry. Because he's the oldest of the main team, he's been nicknamed "Nossan" by his teammates (a play with "Nobuharu" and "Ossan' (old man) much to his chagrin. Nossan also loves doing puns, even if they are pretty bad. Nossan is a very kind man, but whenever his family is threatened, he's able to be a pretty tough opponent. Unlike Ian, Nossan isn't successful with ladies. However, he managed to earn a pretty unlikely fan, who pretty liked his jokes and who was able to look like a beautiful woman: that fan was none other than the Deboth Knight of Joy, Candelira. As such, he played a key role in Candelira's redemption showing her she could be able to live peacefully with humans, and comforting her after Aigalon's death.

My opinion of Nossan: another character that had plenty of potential, as a family man, who became a Kyoryuger to protect his family. Unfortunately, like Ian, he didn't have enough focus to be explored, and most of the time, was only the guy who was making lame jokes; besides, since Yuko was the one who mostly was looking after Rika, he never really had the opportunity to be shown as a father figure (unlike Ryouga/Abared in Abaranger whose father role for Mai was explored in depth). Moreover, his rivalry (more like friendship) with Candelira wasn't explored enough either, even if it had its moments. Once again, he was a potentially good character that was only explored superficially because of a lack of focus.

4) Souji Rippukan/ Kyoryu Green

A young high school student and a very skilled swordsman, he belongs to a family of famous swordsmen, and underwent harsh training with his father Genryu. His father's harshness was very difficult for Souji to endure, as it was the reason his parents separated, and it made Souji a young boy who had trouble relaxing, and connecting with others. However, he knew that beneath his father's cold exterior, there was a very sensitive man, and it's the main reason why he chose to stay with his father after his mother left, even if sometimes, conflicts were unavoidable. Besides, like his father, Souji had the true spirit of a swordsman, and wanted to improve his skills as much as he could, by training on his own, and learning new techniques, like Torin's Trinity Strizer. Thus, he became a great swordsman by combining his own style and the teachings of his teachers (his father, Torin). When Torin had to sacrifice himself to fight in hell, the one he gave his sword was Souji, as the youngest of the team and his worthy successor as a swordsman. Moreover, thanks to his friendship with his teammates, he was able to show his feelings and feel happiness. However, his passion for swordsmanship made him pretty inept socially and he was completely unaware of the crush one of his female classmates had on him, and ended up hurting her feelings without realizing it.  He's also a very serious character, who is easily annoyed by people behaving in an immature way (notably Ian)

My opinion of Souji: As seen in that description, most of all the focus on Souji is about his swordsmanship. He's a high school student, but except interacting with a few schoolmates (and in a Kendo club (once again, swords are there), that aspect of him is hardly shown. His family history and his awkward relationship with the female schoolmate who had a crush on him are explored in two episodes each (and he has the honor of having two veterans Sentai actors playing his parents (interestingly, both played in the Sentai series airing thirty years before: Dynaman): Junichi Haruta (Goggle Black, Dynablack, Madgallant) and Sayoko Hagiwara (Dynapink, Ley Nefel)). Other than that, he's pretty much sidelined during the show; he doesn't even have a Deboth rival. Once again, a character only explored in a superficial way

5) Amy Yuuzuki/ Kyoryu Pink

She's a young college student from a wealthy family. Because her parents are in America for their work, she mostly lives with her butler Gentle, who wants her to be a good student and to behave like the upper class lady she should be. He had even her working in a part time job as a waitress in a restaurant, to learn about society. However, Amy is lazy; more interested in DVD and shoujo mangas (notably the "Love Touch" series) than in studying and behaving like a lady. She's a skilled fighter, especially with her kicks, and, like Daigo, she plays an important role in supporting her teammates, notably Utsusemimaru, Ramirez, Souji, or even Yayoi. While Amy credits Daigo in making the team hold together, Daigo credits Amy as well, who was there when her teammates needed emotional support. Amy has two unlikely fellow "Love touch" fans, both coming from the Deboth Legion: Torin and, more importantly, Luckyuro. As such, she managed to connect with the Fun Spy, as fellow fans, and it certainly helped in making Luckyuro turn good. While it took time to really realize it, she realized she had a big crush on King as shown in the final arc of the show.

My opinion of Amy : While her background " rich lady, college student, who still has a part time job"  was interesting, Amy ended up as a completely stereotypical "girl pink ranger", mostly there to emotionally support her teammates and her arc involving her having a crush on Daigo was really forced and should have been avoided. Once again, a wasted character which didn't have enough focus, and when she had, she was a stereotype, even by Sentai standards.

6) Utsusemimaru "Utchy"/ Kyoryu Gold

He's from the Sengoku era. 400 years, ago, soon after becoming Kyoryu Gold, he became a samurai under the orders of a young lord named Iwaizumi (who looked like Daigo), in order to help him against the attack of the Deboth which at the time were led by Dogold. However, during an attack, he ended up deceived by a Debo Monster and a Zorima disguised as a kid, and his lord scarified himself to save him. He felt horribly guilty because of this, and believed his compassion and kindness were his weakness. Later, Dogold and Chaos started to kill all the people he cared for. Utsusemimaru was so enraged by those killing that his anger against the Deboth legion reached an incredible level, even more when they were about to kill Torin. But that anger was exactly what the Deboth Legion was after, and because of that anger, Dogold, who is actually armor, was able to take over Utsusemimaru's body. Some years later, Dogold was frozen and when he came back in the modern era, he forgot that his body host was Utsusemimaru's. However, he was able to use the Pteragodon Zyudenchi and manipulate the Pteragodon Zyudenryu for the Deboth clan. A few weeks after being reawakened, Utsusemimaru's mind managed to awaken, but it's only after a very powerful attack from Daigo that Dogold's mask was separated from his body, and that Utsusemimaru's mind managed to be freed from Dogold's power. Utsusemimaru was furious when he realized Dogold used his body for evil purposes, and this rage allowed Dogold to take control again. Since then, Dogold and Utsusemimaru struggled for the control of the body, until Torin and Ramirez managed, thanks to their soul full of justice, to allow the samurai warrior to get rid of Dogold. As soon as he was free, Utsusemimaru was able to become again Kyoryu Gold and to be Pteragodon's partner. As Kyoryu Gold, he's a very skilled swordsman, with his signature move, Zander Thunder, and he's a very tough opponent for the Deboth legion. At first he was behaving very coldly with the other Kyoryuger, telling them bluntly of their weaknesses. However Amy quickly realized that it was a facade, and that in fact Utsusemimaru was a very nice and kind young man, who is shy when with young women, and she gave her the nickname Utchy and agreed to help him deal with the rest of the team. Of course, Utchy's kind character couldn't be hidden very long from the rest of the team, and Daigo realized it as well in a fight involving the Debo Monster responsible of his previous lord's death, and at last, he could become a full member of the team. Because he's from the Sengoku era and because he spent most of his life as a samurai, he has sometimes trouble dealing with the mentality of the people in the modern era and is very shy when with young women. Besides, he pretty much uses old fashioned language, using “sessha" to say 'I' and his constant use of the "de Gozaru". However, he's a very skilled fighter, especially with swords. Moreover, he has a very strong rivalry with Dogold, because of all the evil he’s undergone because of him, having his friends killed, being himself possessed by the armor. Dogold also enjoyed tormenting Utchy, calling him derisively "Utsusemimaru-chan", using his signature attack as well, and trying to get him angry. But thanks to his friends, he managed to be much more serene than before, and once, while he tried to save Daigo from the Deboth, he even managed to deceive Dogold by faking being angry to catch him off-guard. His rivalry with Dogold went even further when Dogold was fighting obediently under the orders of Endolf, because Utchy lost the last bit of respect for his hated enemy, who at least was a strong warrior with pride before. But in fact, Dogold was merely waiting for an opportunity to strike Endolf, whom he hated more than anything else, and during a last showdown,  Utchy and Dogold worked together to defeat Endolf, with Dogold borrowing Utchy's body without possessing him. Mortally wounded, Dogold had a last duel with Utchy, who at least acknowledged the evil armor as a worthy opponent. Seriously wounded as well, he managed to be revived thanks to the melody of his partners.

My opinion of Utchy: Probably the best of the main six rangers, notably because of the contrast of his very competent skills as a warrior and his awkwardness in civilian life. As such, he's able to show both a serious side and a funny side.  His rivalry with Dogold is well explored, and, unlike Aigalon, Dogold is shown as a very dangerous and serious enemy, hurting his opponent mentally as much as physically. As such, the rivalry between the gold hero and the lion armor is very intense and their final climax is powerful. A little issue is that, after his intro arc, he ends up more often than not becoming a background character, like his non-Red teammates. even if thanks to his rivalry with Dogold, he still have some nice moments.

2) Auxiliary Kyoryugers

1) Torin/ Kyoryu Silver

Torin is a bird looking humanoid creature who is the mentor of the team. He's the one who created the Kyoryuger, by having humans becoming the partners of the Zyudenryu, and he's been the mentor of the Kyoryuger in the past and in the present, as well as their partners while fighting the Deboth legion. In fact, he's himself a former member of the Deboth legion and the brother of Chaos, created by Deboth millions of years ago, and sent to Earth in order to destroy the living creatures in it. At that time, the dinosaurs were the dominant creatures on Earth. When Torin came, he was impressed by the beauty of the Earth and the dinosaurs and because his heart was deeply moved, he wasn't able anymore to be a destroyer, and rebelled against the Deboth to protect Earth.  When Deboth and Chaos attacked, notably with the Gadoma monster, Torin wasn't able to stop the extinction of the dinosaurs, only saving some of them as Zyudenryu. He even was able to become the partner of one of the Zyudenryu, Bragigas, but wasn't able to stop the killing of the Guardian Beasts, and Bragigas scarified himself to destroy Gadoma and seal Deboth's heart. However, thanks to those sacrifices the Deboth clan was stopped and Torin created the Spirit Base to keep alive the spirits of the dinosaurs.

At different times, the Deboth Legion tried to attack again in order to destroy Earth and revive Deboth, and Torin always fought to stop them, with the help of some humans who became partners with Zyudenryu, like the Chinese martial artist Tessai who became Bunpachy's partner during the 6th century, the European warrior Ramirez 500 years before modern era, and of course Utchy, 400 years before modern era. However, while he was able to stop the Deboth's ambitions, he had to see his partners die prematurely (even if they were able to come back as spirits), or in the case of Utchy, be possessed by the enemy. Torin felt deeply guilty of the loss of his friends, because he was the one who recruited them, even if of course all joined him willingly.  More recently, he found two powerful allies: Dr. Ulshade, who became Plesion's partner and fought as Kyoryu Violet and Dantetsu Kiryuu, who he acknowledged as the King chosen by Earth, and who became a very good friend. But it was only years later that he at last found what he was looking for millions of years: a full team of five brave young warriors who would be ready to fight with him as Kyoryuger. The fact that one of them was none other than the son of his friend Dantetsu made him even happier. During that time, Torin became a very good mentor for the team, both wise, but also very humble, who was admiring the courage of his young team members rather than scolding them, because he was well aware of his own mistakes and flaws and how he was putting them in danger. He's also able to show a funny side, reading mangas, watching Amy's DVD, calling Nobuharu "Nossan". He's a very skilled fighter, but because of his numerous fights, has been pretty weakened and was able to turn into stone if he fought for too long. Torin has also a very strong rivalry with his brother Chaos, who hates him because of his betrayal and because he wounded him during a fight. Chaos would do anything to hurt Torin, leading the cruelest attacks against him, like having Dogold possessing Utchy, reminding him how weak he is without his Kyoryuger and reminding him of his past failure, notably being unable to become Bragigas's full partner. It was Chaos who revealed to the Kyoryuger that Torin was a former member of the Deboth, and used an evil melody to force him to fight as a Deboth once again, and made him grow up to fight Kyoryujin. However, rather than hurt his teammates, Torin chose to kill himself using Kyoryujin's sword and told the Kyoryuger the truth about him. Fortunately, the Kyoryuger were able to revive him using their melody and the Guardian gems they had, and Torin was able to come back to life, deeply moved by the friendship his teammates showed him despite knowing of his Deboth past. Likewise, it's also thanks to his friends that he was able to find the courage to become at last a full partner to Bragigas (during the era of the dinosaurs, while he was Bragigas's partner, he wasn’t a full partner because of his Deboth nature, and as such, it played a big part of his failure in saving the dinosaurs) and become the flashing hero Kyoryu Silver, much to Chaos's dismay. As Kyoryu Silver, Torin was at last able to fight at his full potential, and became a strong ally, with his signature technique, the Trinity Strizer. However, Torin was aware that his final fate was coming. Indeed, in order to completely defeat the Deboth army and save Earth, he had to fight inside the Deboth hell itself to destroy it and the souls of the fallen Debo Monsters. As such, he asked Dantetsu to kill him, but allowing his soul full of justice to reach the Deboth hell, and Dantetsu did it, even pretending to join the Deboth army. Once sent into Hell, Torin started an intense fight against the Debo monsters souls, preventing them to come back to Earth, and soon, he was helped by the spirits of Ramirez and Tessai. At last, he managed to destroy the Deboth hell with the help of Ramirez, Tessai, and the newly reformed Candelira and Luckyuro, defeating Chaos as well who allowed himself to be killed to stop Torin and his allies. At the end, Torin's spirit, left with Ramirez's and Tessai’s at last, his mission fulfilled and with no regrets and a proud heart.

My opinion of Torin: as seen in this very detailed chapter, Torin is probably the most interesting character of Kyoryuger, as a mentor who showed wisdom, but also weaknesses. Because he's well aware of his failings, he's a very kind mentor. He has a detailed backstory, and is probably the only character that has at least as much focused as Daigo: he can even be seen as the deuteragonist of the show. While his design looks silly at first glance, his voice actor is very convincing, and it's obvious that Torin is a very serious character. His rivalry with Chaos is very well shown, and is probably the best rivalry of the whole show, because both have a leadership role in their teams, both know each other very well, which Chaos takes advantage to hurt his rebellious brother the most cruelly he can. He also shows plenty of development, because he feels he's learning at least as much from his young partners as they learn from him. He manages to overcome his doubts thanks to his team, and succeeded at last to become himself a Kyoryuger, which he was unable to be for millions of years.  His sense of humor helps balance his serious side, and makes him feel less of a distant mentor figure, and more of a teammate. As such, he's very liked by his young companions. Torin is really a good mentor, a good character, and probably, the biggest reason Kyoryuger is a good show.

2) Ramirez/ Kyoryu Cyan

He's Ankydon's partner. 500 years before the beginning of the show, he joined Torin in his fights against the Deboth army, and became Kyoryu Cyan and Ankydon's partner. Sadly, he died in battle, but managed to come back as a spirit ranger. He first appeared to the team when he needed their help to save his partner Ankydon from the evil influence of Debo Virusun, who had taken control of him. Because of that, he was in danger of disappearing, because Ankydon's spirit wasn't strong enough to keep his spirit ranger power alive very long. However, Amy managed to trick Debo Virusun out of Ankydon's body, and as such, allowing Ramirez to change into Kyoryu Cyan using Ankydon's Zyudenchi. Afterwards, Ramirez regularly came back as Kyoryu Cyan to help his friends, like when he helped Torin free Utchy from Dogold, or finding Tessai and Bunpachy, looking for the Guardian amber gems, and of course, fighting as Kyoryu Cyan against the Deboth army in several battles. During the final battle, he had to go to the Deboth hell to fight with Torin, and chose as his successor Yuko, Nossan's sister, because he witnessed her strength, determination and kindness. Ramirez is a very kind man, always thinking of others before himself, completely trusting his partners, and with a very good natured personality. He's also a skilled fighter, using his massive body as a weapon. At the end, his spirit leaves with Torin's and Tessai's.

My opinion of Ramirez: a pretty okay character, who has the honor of being the first Caucasian Sentai ranger, as well as an overweight and elder one. He's not a very memorable character, but he has his functions in the show and fulfills it pretty well

3) Tessai/ Kyoryu Grey

A martial artist from China, who fought the Deboth army during the 6th century, as and Bunpachy's partner He's very skilled, but he's also aware of how cruel the fight is, and can't stand any naivety. Indeed, when he fought, his greatest fear was not being strong enough to protect his home and the ones he cared for. As such, when he met the Kyoryuger, he made them undergo a very harsh training to make them realize their weaknesses, and, as a result, overcome them and become stronger. Unlike the other Kyoryuger, he's very harsh against Daigo because he feels that his strength comes from recklessness instead of true bravery. As a result, he forced him to search what he feared. Daigo realized that his fear was to lose his friends, and by realizing it and fighting that fear, he managed to get the approval of Grey. Grey came back several times to help the Kyoryuger, like Ramirez, looking for the Guardian gems, fighting the Deboth army. One day, he discovered his descendant, Shinya, who was a mangaka, and the author of the "love touch" manga. He was furious to see his descendant doing such useless stuff instead of doing a more manly sport like rugby, but even more when he realized his descendant was afraid to see a big fan because he didn't want to show he was a man. He even tried to force him to see the fan himself. However, he soon realized that Shinya became a mangaka to make young woman feel happy, and when he saw people in danger, he would protect them despite of the danger. Realizing he had a worthy descendant, he acknowledged him as his successor, and when he followed Ramirez and Tessai in the Deboth hell, he allowed Shinya to become his successor as. At the end, his spirit left with Torin's and Ramirez's.

My opinion of Tessai: his biggest quality: he's not a Daigo worshipper and is harsh with him, unlike almost every other character of the show. He's also a very serious guy, blunt and obstinate, and a nice contrast with the very kind nature of the other Kyoryuger. Unlike Utchy, he's not faking when being harsh, since it's his true personality. While he can be prejudiced, he's able to admit his mistakes, like he did when judging his descendant.  Overall, he was a good character.

4) Yayoi Ulshade/ Kyoryu Violet II

She's the granddaughter of Dr. Ulshade, the first Kyoryu Violet, and her assistant. She's at least as smart, skilled in technology as her grandfather, and uses special glasses as a computer like device. She immediately rebukes Ian's attempt at seducing her. However, she has a very big crush on Daigo, having plenty of photos of him in her computer glasses. She's very affectionate with her grandfather, even if she has to endure his very over the top personality. When her grandfather went into the hospital because of a bad back, she replaced her as the technological expect for the team. Her first task was trying to have Plesion wake up and use his full power. However, she was unable to stop a revived Debovirusun to destroy the lab with Plesion, and she felt horribly guilty about it, and believed she was a failure. However, Daigo managed to give her a very needed comfort, show her she was much worthier than she believed herself she was, and as such, she was able to gather all her bravery to awaken Plesion, and become her partner. As a result, Daigo was able to use Plesion with Gabutyra and Bunpachy to fight an incompletely revived Deboth as Bakuretsu Kyoryujin and defeat the revived monster. Since Plesion acknowledged Yayoi, Dr. Ulshade was ready to make Yayoi his successor as Kyoryu Violet, and Yayoi was very excited to become so, because she always admired her grandfather when he was fighting as Kyoryu Violet and she wanted to follow her path. However, her first attempts were unsuccessful, and she again had low self-esteem. Attacked by a revived Debo Ice Age, she was filled with fear, as she wasn't strong enough to fight. But when Daigo and Amy made her realize that the reason she wanted to become Kyoryu Violet was her deep own desire to be Kyoryu Violet, and not show her worth to Daigo or her granddad, she managed at last to brave in and become Kyoryu Violet and showed good fighting skills. She soon left to train with her granddad in the lab, but often came back with new items, notably additional Zyudenchi, including the Carnival, Victory and Maximum Zyudenchi, which allowed the team to be even more powerful. She also was the one who showed Torin that he could overcome his fears and his feelings of worthlessness, and become a Kyoryuger, since she experienced the same. Other than her role as technological support, she also regularly fought as Kyoryu Silver, and at the end, fought with her grandfather in Plesioh. She has a big crush on Daigo, and showed jealousy towards other girls who were attracted to Daigo, notably the singer Mikoto.

My opinion of Yayoi: I like the fact she's the first Violet ranger, and the fact she was at last the second girl ranger in the huge Kyoryuger team. However, her obsession with Daigo made her more often than not an annoying character, which is a shame.

3) Allies

1) Dantetsu Kiryuu/ Kyoryu Silver II

He's Daigo's father and a very good friend of Torin. He learnt by Torin that he was chosen by Earth to be its ruler, as Torin and as a responsible ruler, did everything to save it from the danger of the Deboth army. He searched through the world the Guardian Amber gems, and indeed succeeded to find some, which he gave to Torin. At first, he was travelling with his young son, but once his son was old enough, he separated from him to continue his quest alone. He allowed Daigo to choose his path, and of course, he was very happy to see his son follow his footsteps in the way of the big dragons. He's a role model for Daigo, and not only his image was important as a role model, he also occasionally came back to help him, like during the fight against Debo Tanabata, or when trying to find the last amber gem to bring back to life Plesioh, or, more importantly, when he saved them from Dogold during the Debo Yanasanta plot. It's during that arc that Daigo learnt the truth about his father. After that fight, Dantetsu left for his final task, which involved fighting Earth's true melody. However, when he came back, he seemed to have become an ally of the Deboth army, going as far as killing in cold blood Torin. After killing Torin, he became Kyoryu Silver, and defeated the other Kyoryuger, without killing them though. He justified his killing of Torin as the wish of Earth, and asking Deboth to spare non-human living being of Earth in exchange for Torin's life. However, the true reason Dantetsu killed Torin was because Torin had to be killed to go to the Deboth hell, and destroy it from the inside, and Torin's death was in fact planned between Dantetsu and him. Daigo soon was aware that Dantetsu couldn't have joined the Deboth's ranks otherwise he would never have been able to become Kyoryu Silver and after a last showdown with his father, he managed to overcome his dad's big attack, and learn more about Earth melody. During the final fight, Dantetsu fought Chaos and Deboth mooks with Yuko and Shinya, and managed to kill Chaos, even if in the latter case, Chaos allowed to kill him to join Torin and the others in the Deboth hell and protect it.

At the end, Dantetsu leaves, asking Dr. Ulshade to call his son "King".

My opinion of Dantetsu: While he's pretty much as over the top as his son, he's still a nice character, because he's a mysterious figure, but still a good help for his son and Torin and his relationship with Torin is very nicely done. Indeed, it's thanks to that friendship that they were able to outsmart Chaos, who's a very smart enemy. Dantetsu is also a strong warrior, despite his age. All those elements make him a worthy character.

2) Yuko Fukui/ Kyoryu Cyan II

Nossan's sister and the mother of a little girl, Rika. Yuko is the widow, and it's obvious the death of her husband was very harsh for her, as seen in the episode with the Debo Monster Kokodoko, who made her see hallucinations showing her husband. However, she's also a strong willed woman, keeping alive her late husband's service company with her brother, raising her daughter Rika the best she can and tolerating her brother's lame jokes. At first she's very annoyed with the Kyoryuger, especially Kyoryu Blue, whom she sees as dangerous; despite the fact he saved Rika from Zorimas. Of course, she doesn't know that Kyoryu Blue is none other than her own brother, and Nossan who does everything he can to hide it from her. However, during the Debo Vacance era, she was able to witness how Kyoryu Blue did his best to protect others, especially her and her brother, and she discovered her brother was Kyoryu Blue (her niece learnt the true identity of Blue very early in the show). Besides, she was very annoyed when she saw that the Kyoryuger weren't helping Blue, dancing a silly dance instead, and she pretty much brought King to his senses by throwing a barrel to him. Later, she also played a key role in helping the Kyoryuger against a revived Gadoma, by leading the cheers of the crowd and giving them bravery. Yuko cares a lot for her brother and wanted him to have a girlfriend, and she unknowingly made him meet a disguised Candelira. At the time, she was hiding her brother she knew about him being Kyoryu Blue. She also had the opportunity to meet Ramirez, and she had the opportunity to show her strength when she attacked Candelira because she was deceiving her brother, and she even fought Zorima by using the voluminous Ramirez as a weapon. But she's also the one who chose to believe in Candelira following her brother's wishes, and the Deboth general was obviously moved by that. All those qualities impressed Ramirez, who chose her as her successor to become Kyoryu Cyan, and she was ready to fight the Deboth during the final arc, protecting her daughter against Zorima, and becoming Kyoryu Cyan to fight the Deboth army. Even when losing her transformation, she continued the fight with her Gaburevolver. After the fight, she resumed her quiet life with her brother and daughter.

A few words about Rika: She's a very cute little girl, very mature for her age, as seen with her quick acceptance of Kyoryu Blue and delighted her blue hero is none other than her uncle, and also how she wasn't deceived by Debo Kokodoko's illusions. Her first arc shows her obvious bond with her uncle. Unfortunately, in later episode, that link was only showed in once scene or two, and she never had much screen time.

My opinion of Yuko: She’s the character who had obviously the most character development despite having pretty little screen time (she appears in 9 episodes). While she's always shown as a loving mother and sister, she was also annoying because of her dislike for the Kyoryuger. As a smart woman, she soon suspected that her brother's friends might be the Kyoryuger. However, it's the Debo Vacance arc which showed the most significant development, by showing her acknowledging the value of the Kyoryuger, notably Kyoryu Blue, and even acting as the one who made the heroes stop their silliness, and help their teammates. Following that, she did everything she could to help the heroes, cheering her, and even, during the Debo Kantoku arc, helping Ramirez and fighting Zorimas. Of course, the climax of her development would be her becoming herself a Kyoryuger as Kyoryu Cyan, and being fully involved in the final fight. All in all, a good character, and a worthy role for the Sentai veteran Ayumi Kinoshita. Her daughter Rika is a cute girl, but she's completely underused, especially after episode 8, which is a shame since it didn't allow Nossan to have his role as a "father figure" explored.

3) Dr. Ulshade/ Kyoryu Violet I

Yayoi's grandfather and the first Kyoryu Violet. He fought the Deboth with Torin as Kyoryu Violet, protecting his granddaughter while doing it. He’s also the one who created all the modern arsenal of the Kyoryuger, the Gaburevolver, and the Zyudenchi, and it's thanks to him that the Kyoryuger have a strong technology to support their bravery. When he first appeared, he was coming back from a planet the Deboth destroyed and was gathering data from it. In his first appearance, he's shown to be a capable fighter, and rescued Daigo from Deboth mooks. However, he has a very over the top personality, loving to scream and doing big movements. Because of that, he ended up having his back blocked when starting a fight, and had to be hospitalized. Admitting he was too old to fight as good as before, he made Yayoi his successor, and became his trainer, but still came back as Kyoryu Violet for the final fight, using Plesioh, despite his bad back. At the end, he reunites with Yayoi.

My opinion of Dr. Ulshade: he's interesting since he's the one who introduced technology in the history of the Kyoryuger fight against the Deboth, as the creator of the Kyoryuger arsenal. However, his completely over the top personality, with his actor Shigeru Chiba completely overacting him, makes him a very annoying character, which is a shame.

4) Shinya Tsukouchi/ Kyoryu Grey II

Tessai's descendant and the author of the manga "Love Touch" under the pseudo Yuu Aoyagi. He was playing in a rugby team, but one day draw a very nice drawing to make the managers of the team feel better. Because they liked it, he decided to write a manga with a story inspired of his experience in a rugby team, and that manga became very popular, with Amy being a huge fan of it. Shinya asked Amy to visit a sick fan instead of him, because he was afraid that if the fan realized the author was a man, she would be disappointed. Of course, Tessai was furious of that behavior, since he believed his descendant was a coward and forced him to see the fan himself (who, unbeknown to him, was the Deboth spy Luckyuro). However, Shinya proved that he was not the coward his ancestor believed when he protected a young woman from a Zorima, and Tessai eventually acknowledged his descendant, even choosing him as his successor as. At the end, Shinya fought in the final battle with Yuko, Dantetsu and Yayoi.

My opinion of Shinya: since he only appears in three episodes, there is not much to say about him, but he's pretty much the living proof of “more than meets the eyes”: he a man who writes shoujo manga, but he's also strong and brave. As such, a nice touch that I love (pun very intended)

5) Others

Gentle : the butler of Amy : he's the one taking care of her, trying to educate her like a true lady (without much success), and being strict with her, especially when her college work isn't very well done. However, when he met a teacher Debo Monster who was at least as strict as him, he was horrified to realize he has a lot in common with such a monster. Gentle doesn't have much screen time afterwards, but it’s likely he became less strict with Amy, and the few episodes he appears in later show him helping civilians during Deboth attacks, cheering the Kyoryuger, and even fight himself the Zorima. As such, he ends up being a decent character.

Souji's father, Genryuu is also shown, a very skilled swords master who was the strict teacher of his son. While behaving very harshly, Souji knows that beneath there is a sensitive man, who blamed himself for the failure of his couple. Souji's mom, a fashion designer is also shown. While she wanted her son to stop risking his life in fights, she also realized, after meeting Torin (who at that time, used a human guise) that she had to respect her son's choices.

Final comment about the heroes and allies: while the characters are pretty uneven, some well-done (Torin), some pretty good (Utchy, Tessai, Yuko, Dantetsu), some being okay (Daigo, Ian), and other which are annoying (Amy, the Ulshades), and a lot of them are wasted (all the main Kyoryuger not named Daigo or Utsusemimaru), the cast is pretty diverse, and it allowed a lot of world building. Besides, the way the additional rangers are used, with their number of appearance being chosen skillfully, and the nice idea to make the rangers legacy characters, with a hero being able to choose a successor.