Mirai Sentai Timeranger

"People from the the year 3000 AD and one man from the present have met by chance, for the sake of marking a new passage of time...!"

"Even if we can't change the future, we can change tomorrow."

Mirai Sentai Timeranger (Future Squadron Timeranger) is the twenty-fourth installment in the Super Sentai series, running from 2000 to 2001.

By the year 3000AD, Time Travel has been discovered and thoroughly developed. To prevent possible abuses of this technology, it is regulated by the Time Police, an intergalactic organisation that also captures dangerous alien criminals and holds them in cryogenic stasis for the length of their sentence.

One such criminal, Don Dorneiro, escapes from the Time Police, hijacks a prison ship full of convicts and flees to the year 2000AD. Captain Ryūya of the Time Police sends four cadets to the past to capture him and his minions, Lira and Gien.

Unfortunately, the cadets have been deceived by Lira (masquerading as their captain) and are almost killed upon reaching the 21st century. With their Timeship destroyed, the cadets are trapped in the past until they can apprehend Don Dorneiro and his gang. To aid their mission, they have access to powerful transformation devices called Chrono Changers. However, the Timeranger Project requires all five Chrono Changers to be activated at the same time.

Enter Tatsuya Asami, an idealistic young man yearning to break free from his oppressive father and future as the heir of the prestigious Asami Group corporation. Happening upon the cadets, he becomes their fifth member and vows to change the future for the better even against the pessimism of the other four Timerangers. Later on, an old university acquaintance of Tatsuya called Naoto Takizawa seizes some of the Timeranger technology for himself and becomes Time Fire, a Rival and Foil to Tatsuya himself.

A major theme in Timeranger is the nature of fate. The characters of the future, being from a period where Time Travel has been extensively researched, are resigned to the fact that the future is entirely predetermined. On the other hand, the characters from the present day are determined to change their own destinies: Tatsuya wishes to break free from the future that has been decided for him since his birth, while Naoto wants to gain power in a world where connections and nepotism mean more than hard work. Eventually, the team discover that the entire story was set in motion by one solitary person whose only wish was to change his own future.

The Heroes:

• Tatsuya Asami: (Time Red): The Hero and a Lonely Rich Kid who wants to run away from the Asami name. Got roped into the whole Timeranger thing when he stumbled into the rest of the team while jogging
• Yuuri: (Time Pink): The Tsundereish Action Girl. The team's effective leader. Has an It's Personal issue with Don Dorneiro.
• Ayase: (Time Blue): A Deadpan Snarker racer and The Lancer in second-in-command. Because he has an incurable disease, he has given up on life and become a Death Seeker.
• Domon: (Time Yellow): The Big Guy and sometimes a Handsome Lech. Used to be an MMA grappler but he was banned from the ring for being late to matches.
• Sion: (Time Green): The Smart Guy and Mr. Fixit. An alien from the Doomed Hometown of Planet Hummard and Last of His Kind. Childish and cute. Has empathetic powers. Changes his hair colour every few episodes.
• Naoto Takizawa: (Time Fire): Sixth Ranger, from the present. A Jerkass Rival to Tatsuya who seizes the power of TimeFire so that he can take control of his own destiny and advance up the professional ladder. Resents Tatsuya because he believes he was given everything on a plate, while Naoto had to work hard to be acknowledged (and never was to the same level as Tatsuya).
• T.A.C.: A robot owl that acts as Mission Control.
• Time Robota: Team Pet sort of. Has a Verbal Tic, adding 'Time!' in her sentences.

The villains, who call themselves the Londers Family after the name of the prison ship they have hijacked:

• Don Dorneiro: The Big Bad. Likes money, power, women and money (in that order). Yes, he's that kind of Don.
• Lira: The Dark Chick. Employed by Don Dorneiro to provide some fun and refreshment to his dark and dismal life. Freely admits that she is a Gold Digger.
• Gien: An Evil Genius robot who acts as Don Dorneiro's right-hand man. He later goes Ax Crazy and becomes The Starscream.
• Zenitts: Robot Mooks.

Adapted as Power Rangers Time Force; the adaptation is one of the closest ever done to the original Sentai.

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Recurring Super Sentai tropes:

• All Your Powers Combined
• By the Power of Greyskull: "Chrono Changer!" For Naoto, it's "Time Fire!"
• Calling Your Attacks
• Combination Attack
• Cool Bike: Averted. This was the first Sentai without a proper road vehicle. The closest thing was the Time Flyer, a small hovercraft that was at least large enough to carry the main team.
• Crossover: Timeranger vs. Gogo-V
• Evil Counterpart: Naoto to Tatsuya. There's a reason they both get the red suits. But a second Evil Counterpart exists in Ryuya, who also wishes to change his own fate. But he does so out of purely selfish reasons and by changing the past instead of the future.
• Finishing Move: Slight subversion; the finishers are meant to shrink, not kill, their adversaries.
• Five-Man Band:
  • The Hero: Tatsuya
  • The Chick: Yuuri
  • The Lancer: Ayase
  • The Big Guy: Domon
  • Kid Appeal Smart Guy: Sion
  • Sixth Ranger: Naoto
• Home Base
• Humongous Mecha: After several shows with multiple combining robots, Timeranger went back to having one individual mecha per ranger. Instead, their main set of mechas now have three possible combined forms (two robot forms and a jet).
  • A Mech by Any Other Name: The Time Jets.
  • Combining Mecha: Time Jet 1 (Red) + 2 (Blue) + 3 (Green) + 4 (Yellow) + 5 (Pink) = Time Robo Alpha, Time Robo Beta or Time Jet Gamma
  • Robot Buddy: Probydus
  • Transforming Mecha: The Time Shadow, which transforms between Stealth Mode (jet) or Time Mode (robot), and the V-Rex, which transforms into the V-Rex Robo.
  • Mecha Expansion Pack: The Time Shadow, which combines with either Time Robo formation.
    • Time Robo Alpha + Time Shadow = Time Robo Shadow Alpha
    • Time Robo Beta + Time Shadow = Time Robo Shadow Beta
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Episodes are called "Case Files," and each one has a date attached to it.
• In the Name of the Moon: "Timeranger! (Prisoner)! You're under arrest!"
  • They do a combined roll call with GoGo Five during their team-up movie.

Tatsuya: "The lives of people are the future of this planet!" Matoi: "Burning Rescue spirits!" GoGo Five: "Kyukyu Sentai - !" Matoi: "Go! Go!" All: "Five!" "Timeranger!"

• Law of Chromatic Superiority
• Make My Monster Grow: Each prisoner has a seal on their body that was used to shrink them; breaking it off has the opposite effect.
• Monster of the Week: Actually prisoners.
• Mooks: Zenitts, the Mecha-Mooks. Gien even calls the cannon fodder troops!
• "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase
• Robot Buddy: T.A.C. and Robota.
• The Smurfette Principle: Time Pink, who is the leader this time.
• Supervillain Lair: A prison!
• Theme Music Power-Up
• Transformation Trinket: The Chrono Changer!
  • As well as Naoto's V Commander.
• Weapon of Choice
  • Bifurcated Weapon: The Double Vector
  • BFG: The "Vol" guns, one for each Timeranger.
    • Tatsuya: VolBlaster
    • Yuuri: VolSniper
    • Ayase: VolLauncher
    • Domon: VolVulcan
    • Shion: VolPulser
  • The Gunslinger: The Assault Vector.
  • Naoto: DV Defender

Tropes specific to Mirai Sentai Timeranger:

• Acting for Two - Tatsuya and Captain Ryūya are both played by Masaru Nagai.
• Almighty Janitor - Sometimes the rangers get jobs that involved cleaning.
• Always Someone Better - Naoto to Tatsuya. However, Tatsuya also feels the same way: because Tatsuya comes from a rich family with great social influence, no one will take him seriously.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension - Arguing every step of the way while being chased by your enemies should certainly make them qualify...
• Big Eater - Domon.
• Bittersweet Ending - The disaster in 2000AD that would have wiped out two-thirds of the Earth has been averted, and Tatsuya and Yuri finally confess their love to each other. But the Time Agents have to return to the future, and depending on whether or not Captain Ryūya was telling the truth about the changes made to history, it may be the same future they came from: one where Domon is still banned from the ring, Ayase is definitely going to die and Yuri's family is still dead.
• Broken Aesop - In episode 17, an aesop is taught that fighting is wrong, even in self-defense - in a Super Sentai series, where fights are the preferred method of problem solving.
• Broken Bird - Yuuri has hints of this as her family was murdered when she was ten.
• Casanova Wannabe - The reason why Domon never seems to get a student for his self defense class.
• Catch Phrase - 'Time's Up' and 'The End'
• The Chessmaster - Ryūya. But he still fails
• Conspicuous CG: Used slightly jarringly for the transformation sequences of the main five, but they try to cover it up by heavy use of rotating the angle at which the viewer sees the CG Timerangers (this works better for some than others).
• Corrupt Corporate Executive - Dorneiro actually manages to get rich enough and becomes an executive of a company.
• Cooking Duel - Not exactly between two cooks but an iron soba chef Domon against a food taster Londers.
• Crimefighting with Cash - The City Guardians and when Naoto became TimeFire.
• Darker and Edgier - Timeranger is quite possibly the most straight-faced and serious Super Sentai series in the Heisei era.
• Deadly Doctor - One episode had a mad doctor monster taking over a hospital.
• Defrosting Ice Queen - Yuri, thanks to Character Development
• Death Seeker - Because Ayase has the incurable Osiris Syndrome, he practically chooses to completely forget his well-being to protect people.
• Eva Fins: Time Robo Beta has very tall shoulders.
• The Fatalist - The characters from the year 3000AD. Augmented by the fact that they are from a time period where Time Travel has been greatly researched and accept it as common knowledge that the future cannot be changed. The series never answers the question of whether it is possible, but it does instil the message that whether or not time is predetermined, you have to possess hope for the future.
• First-Name Basis - Every Timeranger whose suit color isn't red.
• Flung Clothing - Sometimes part of the rangers' transformation sequence to reveal their Chrono Suits. They usually throw said clothing on their opponents' faces.
• Frickin' Laser Beams: Lira's specialty.
• Gadgeteer Genius - Sion. His usually odd job is also fixing broken electronics.
• Gold Digger - Lira even tells Dorneiro outright that she'll keep loving him if he keeps giving her money. But when Dorneiro died she also said that even without the money she will still have liked Dorneiro a little
• Heroic BSOD - T.A.C. in a very late episode. Because he just doesn't seem to have the crucial data the rangers needed.
• Heel Face Turn - Dorneiro, who attempts to help the City Guardians and the Timerangers in order to stop Gien. his final attempt to stop Gien results in his death, but not before handing over all of the remaining Londers prisoners to the Timerangers
• Identical Grandson - Ryūya says he came from the Tatsuya's bloodline and they're both played by Masaru Nagai (although Nagai changes his hairstyle when playing Ryūya).
• Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja - TimeShadow, a stealth jet which turns into a gigantic ninja robot.
• I Have Your Wife - Well your Robot Buddy alarm clock in one episode.
• I Was Just Passing Through - Naoto used this excuse once.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold - Ayase and Naoto. Naoto borders a lot more on the Jerkass though, but gradually becomes more willing to work with the other rangers as the series progresses.
• Killed Off for Real - Naoto and Ryūya.
• Lethal Chef - Yuuri. She got better in the later episodes. Domon's soba chef friend Sugara also counts and he got better.
• Littlest Cancer Patient - A kid named Taichi in one episode.
• Mad Scientist - Gien, especially in the later episodes where he completely went bonkers for death and destruction.
• The Man Behind the Man - Captain Ryūya. He orchestrated everything, including Dorneiro's release and Naoto's death, because he saw a glimpse of two possible timelines - in both of which he would die - and wished to change history so that he would survive. He succeeds in changing history, but is killed in a different way instead.
• Meaningful Name - All three main villain are named after money currency; specifically, Dolnero from dinheiro,Lila from lira and Gien from Yen, the former two are curriences of Portugal and Italy, respectively (and the first one is still the Portuguese word for "money").
• Moment Killer - There was a breakfast scene where Tatsuya and Yuuri were alone and enjoying themselves over pancakes when Sion suddenly bursts in, making the couple bounce several inches from each other.
• My God, What Have I Done? - Dorneiro's reaction after Gien's conversion to a robot.
• Multiform Balance: The red, sword-wielding Time Robo Alpha is generally sturdier and better in close combat, while the blue, gun-wielding Time Robo Beta is more agile. Time Jet Gamma is for sturdy defenses and safe time travel.
• Official Couple - Honami and Domon (They even have a child!) and Tatsuya and Yuuri via Last-Minute Hookup in the finale. But of course Yuuri and Domon still have to return to the future...
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You - It came to the point that Yuuri shielded Dorneiro from Gien's attack because she wants to be the one to arrest him and complete her revenge.
• Only Sane Man - There was one episode where the rangers drank a 30th century wine and rendered them to think like playful children. Sion, being an alien, wasn't affected.
• Papa Wolf - Domon beats the living crap out of the Monster of the Week that kidnapped Sion...
• Pet the Dog - Naoto has his moments, especially when it involves a little girl and his pet birds.
• Prison Ship: The villains hijack a Prison Ship and name themselves after it.
• Psychic Powers - An alien that Sion befriended had telekinesis.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni - Tatsuya and Naoto.
• Replacement Goldfish - It's very subtly implied by Don Dorneiro in the episode where he dies that Lira is a younger clone of his dead mother. She is unaware of this and doesn't pick up on the "confession".
• Robot Buddy - T.A.C. and then later Robota.
• Screw Destiny - By the end of the series, "You were also told that you can't do what you want to do. You can't return to the future. Even if you can't save the future, let's just save tomorrow."
  • Also, "I don't know what history is meant to be. But I can't just stand here!"
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money - How Tatsuya initially got his black belt. Though to be fair, it was his father's idea.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man - Sion and Domon.
• Shout-Out - The G-Zord.
  • There are some obvious nods towards The Matrix, including a Bullet Time scene in the first episode, along with Time Robo Beta's first fight containing a 360-Degree camera spin as the mech fires on the MotW in midair.
  • The Time Robo is a Homage to Jet Icarus from Choujin Sentai Jetman, which also had a jet mode for its mecha.
    • The similarities to Jetman don't end there. The Timerangers themselves are sort of an inversion of the Jetmen, with a Rookie Red Ranger and four more experienced time cops, whereas Red Hawk was the only Jetman with actual training. Gien also has some parallels to Tranza.
• Surprisingly Good English - The V-Commander, Naoto's Transformation Trinket, speaks several complete sentences of perfect English.
• She Cleans Up Nicely - Yuuri in one episode, after a lady Londers made fun of her tomboyishness (Can't cook or do feminine things).
• Someone to Remember Him By - Honami has Domon Jr in the finale. Though of course Domon didn't die but just went back to his time...
• Ten-Minute Retirement - Tatsuya, when Ryūya took his Chrono Changer and he had to lead his father's company.
• This Is a Drill - The City Guardian's Raimei battle tank had a drill but never got to use it.
• Timey-Wimey Ball - The last 4th of the series, once Captain Ryūya and the G-zord show up.
• Tyrannosaurus Rex - Time Fire's V-Rex
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife - Not exactly married to Lira, but Dorneiro is not exactly handsome at all. Well to humans anyway.
• Verbal Tic - Robota ends most of its sentences with the word "time."
• Was Once a Man - Gien, who was originally a simple, but good natured young man who ended up trying to help Dorneiro out. After he was nearly killed, Dorneiro had his brain transferred to a robotic body, only to result in making Gien into a psychopath.
• Wife Husbandry: Averted in episode 33; guest character Emily, whom Ayase guarded, asks if she can marry him later. Ayase sort of agrees, but he knows he can't do it.
• Will They or Won't They? - Yuuri and Tatsuya
• You Can't Fight Fate - Despite manipulating everything to change history and avoid his death, Ryūya still dies on the same date he would have originally died, just a thousand years later and by a different method.
  • As for Tatsuya, he will eventually become the head of the Asami Group just as history dictated... but on his own terms.
• Your Days Are Numbered - Ayase having an incurable disease means he only has around a year or two to live.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Lira, even more than Shibolena and Denus up to point that she "all way has it", but she has pink hair. Sion, on the other hand, had blue hair at one point.
• You Killed My Father - Dorneiro also killed Yuuri's mother and younger sister.
• Villain Teleportation - Actually, this is only one to show "how" that the villains teleport themselves(Gien used his device to teleport).