Seijuu Sentai Gingaman

The Starbeasts: They are mysterious animals who fight for the sake of defending harmony in the Milky Way!

Seijū Sentai Gingaman (Star Beast Squadron Gingaman ) is the twenty-second installment in the Super Sentai series, running from 1998 to 1999.

3,000 years ago, the evil Space Pirate gang, the Barban, attempted to conquer Earth. They were foiled and imprisoned by the mystical Starbeasts and their human companions, the Gingamen of Ginga Forest. Since then, the mantle of the Gingamen was passed down through the generations of Ginga Forest. On the day of the appointment of the 133rd generation, an undersea earthquake releases the Barban from their imprisonment. In their attempt to kill the newest Gingamen, Hyūga, the appointed Ginga Red, is swallowed up in the Earth. Before he falls in, he passes on the duty to his brother, Ryōma. The Gingamen thus begin their mission to foil the Barban's scheme to revive Daitanix, the monster whose back houses the Barban's castle.

Starring, the Gingamen:

• Ryōma: (Ginga Red): The Hero. He assumes the role of Ginga Red when his older brother (presumably) dies just as he's about to take up the legacy.
• Hayate: (Ginga Green): The Smart Lancer. He plays the flute.
• Gōki: (Ginga Blue): The Big Guy (of the Gentle Giant variety). The Team Chef.
• Hikaru: (Ginga Yellow): Bumbling Big Eater and prankster.
• Saya: (Ginga Pink): The Chick. Strong and silent.
• Hyūga: (Black Knight): Sixth Ranger, Ryōma's older brother, Back From the Dead.

Allies:

• Moku: The Mentor, a talking tree.
• Bokku: An acorn fairy, very much the Team Pet.
• Haruhiko Aoyama: Children's book writer who runs the Silver Star Equestrian Ranch. Takes the Gingamen in after the loss of the Ginga Forest, and tends to write about their adventures.
• Yuta Aoyama: Haruhiko's 9-year-old son. Originally was a skeptic about the Ginga Forest, but realized his dad was right after meeting the Gingamen.

The Barban:

• Captain Zahab: The Big Bad.
• Shelinda: Dark Chick.
• Bucrates: Evil Genius.
• Biznella: The Sixth Ranger and Arms Dealer.
• Yartots: Mooks.

The Barban Army Generals. Barban's Four Dragons.

• Sambash: The Gunslinger, and Badass Biker
• Budoh: Honorable Swordsman.
• Iliess: The Treacherous Sorceress.
• Battobas: The Brute. Of the four generals, he's the closest to Zahab.

Adapted as Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. This is (so far) the last Sentai series to have the suffix "-man" in its name.

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Recurring Super Sentai tropes:

• All Your Powers Combined: In addition to the team attacks, Iliess, in a last-ditch effort, absorbed the souls of her fallen monsters to achieve a One-Winged Angel form. Take a guess on how she does in the fight.
• By the Power of Grayskull: "Ginga Tensei!"
  • Hyūga: "Chi Tensei!"
• Calling Your Attacks
• Cool Bike: Ginga Red's Galeopulser.
• Crossover: Gingaman vs. Megaranger
• Custom Uniform: The white accents of the suits have a black wavy stripe, akin to Charlie Brown.
• Finishing Move: They go through several.
• Five-Man Band
  • The Hero: Ryōma
  • The Smart Lancer: Hayate
  • The Big Guy: Gōki
  • Kid Appeal Character: Hikaru
  • The Chick: Saya
  • Sixth Ranger: Hyūga
• Home Base
• Humongous Mecha:
  • A Mech by Any Other Name: The Star Beasts (Seijū) and its three categories: the Silver Star Beasts (Ginseijū, the components of Gingaioh), the Heavy Star Beast (Jūseijū, a category exclusive to Bulltaurus) and the Steel Star Beasts (Kōseijū, composed of Giga Bitus, Giga Phoenix and Giga Rhinos).
  • Animal Mecha: The Silver Star Beasts and the Bulltaurus. Subverted with the Giga Rhinos and Giga Phoenix, which were Star Beasts that were cursed into the form of humanoid mechas and are formed from the combination of five land-based vehicles and five air-based vehicles respectively. The Giga Bitus was a shark that was turned into a giant transforming mecha carrier, but still resembles a shark in one of its modes.
  • Mechanical Lifeforms: All the Star Beasts are living animals (or at least they were originally), while Jūkishi (Heavy Knight) is actually Kurokishi enlarged to giant size.
  • Combining Mecha: Notably, this marks the first occasion of having four combining robots at the same time.
    • Gingaleon + Gingalcon + Gingarilla + Gingaverick + Gingat = Gingaioh
    • Jūkishi + Goutaurus = Bulltaurus
    • Giga Wheel 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = Giga Rhinos
    • Giga Wing 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = Giga Phoenix
  • Transforming Mecha: The Giga Bitus, a large-sized Steel Star Beast which transforms from a shark-shaped Cruiser Mode to a humanoid-shaped Scramble Mode.
  • Mecha Expansion Pack: Two in particular.
    • Chōsōkō ("Super Armor Shine") Gingaioh, although it isn't really a new combination as it is a Super Mode that is introduced when the actual team gets theirs.
    • Giga Bitus, which serves as a mecha carrier for the components of the Giga Rhinos and Giga Phoenix (a throwback to the mecha carriers from the 80s Sentai shows).
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode is called a "Chapter", and is called "X" of "Y" .
• In the Name of the Moon:

Red: "Ginga Red: Ryōma!" Green: "Ginga Green: Hayate!" Blue: "Ginga Blue: Gōki!" Yellow: "Ginga Yellow: Hikaru!" Pink: "Ginga Pink: Saya!" Black Knight: "Black Knight: Hyūga!" Red: "The legendary blade that slices through the galaxy! Seijū Sentai!" All: "Gingaman!"

• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Ryōma receives the Galeopulsar, a mighty motorcycle, while his flame power proves essential to defeat the Earth Beast in the finale.
• Make My Monster Grow: The Barban Majin drank from a flask of "Barba-X" to grow to giant size. The Barba-X also slowly kills them, neatly explaining why they don't drink it until they're on the verge of death already.
• Mooks:
• "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase: "And now, another page of the legend will be reavealed."
• The Smurfette Principle: Only one girl again. From this point onward, Super Sentai would have only one female member per team for the next five years, forcing the Power Rangers adaptations of this show and the next three to have a gender flipped Yellow Ranger in order to maintain the two girl quota.
• Super Mode: Introduced this trope to Super Sentai with the Beast Armor Shine.
• Supervillain Lair: The Rowdy Invincible Castle, which is first situated atop Daitanix, and then on the Earth Beast.
• Theme Music Power-Up:
• Transformation Trinket: The Ginga Brace, which is activated by turning a dial to one's respective color. Meanwhile, the Kiba blades can also transform the Seijuu into GinSeijuu.
• Weapon of Choice:
  • Cool Sword: The SeiJuuKen.
  • Simple Staff: The JuuGekiBos, which can convert to blaster mode.
  • Swiss Army Weapon: The Kiba Blades can transform into various weapon modes. The standard issue formation for each Gingaman:
    • Ryōma: Kiba Cutter
    • Hayate: Kiba Shot
    • Gōki: Kiba Claw
    • Hikaru: Kiba Knives
    • Saya: Kiba Arrow
  • Black Knight: Bull Riot and Knight Axe

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Tropes specific to Seijuu Sentai Gingaman:

• Animal Motifs
  • Big Badass Wolf: Gingaverick
  • Everything's Better with Monkeys: Gingarilla
  • Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: Giga Bitus
  • King of Beasts: Gingaleon
  • A Load of Bull: Bull Taurus
  • Mega Neko: Gingat
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Gingalcon
  • The Phoenix: Giga Phoenix
  • Rhino Rampage: Giga Rhinos
• Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever: A Monster of the Week accidentally brings Saya up to giant-size. She doesn't take it that well.
• BLAM Episode: Episode 21. Among other things, it involves the Gingaman drawing markers on Gōki's face when he falls asleep and Hayate shoving a tomato down his trunks to avoid eating it.
• Body Horror. Think about it. The process of mechanising Ginga Rhinos and Ginga Phoenix involves dismembering them into five parts each WHEN THEY ARE STILL ALIVE.
• Breast Plate: Shelinda.
• Cool Horse: The Gingamen had their own horses.
• Dead Little Brother: The first Black Knight's brother died at the hands of the Barban eons ago, which motivates him to revenge.
• Deal with the Devil: Hyūga made one with Bucrates to save Gō Taurus which resulted him in losing his Earth power. This resulted in little tragedy: he got a Cool Axe, and ultimately his Earth Power back by the finale.
• Driven to Suicide: After Sambash fails to revive Daitanix for the umpteenth time, he drives himself off a cliff.
• Elemental Powers
  • Playing with Fire - Ryōma and Hyūga, although he doesn't use it that much.
  • Blow You Away - Hayate
  • Making a Splash - Gōki
  • Shock and Awe - Hikaru
  • Petal Power - Saya
• Gang of Hats: The Barban generals' monsters all follow a specific theme. Sambash's are insectoids who dress like Bikers, Budoh's are sea creatures in feudal Japanese attire, Iliess's are mythological entities, and Battobas's are robots.
• Gratuitous English: The opening theme has an English version. While Masato Shimon's English skills are a bit wonky(it should be noted he has a degree in English studies however), they aren't the worst out there. His accent makes some of the lines difficult to understand, however.
• Karmic Death: Biznella is killed by Ginga Rhinos and Ginga Phoenix, the very Starbeasts he captured and mechanized 3,000 years ago. A few episodes later, Battobas brings the Earth Beast up to giant size, but it quickly devours him.
  • At the same time, Bucrates is killed by Shelinda for his part in causing the death of her crush, Budoh, and betraying Zahab.
• Legacy Character: The Gingamen and the Black Knight.
• Limited Wardrobe
• Mid-Season Upgrade: The Lights of Ginga armor for both the Gingamen and Gingaioh.
• Mythology Gag: Ginga Bitus is an homage to the old Super Sentai flying fortresses which carried the mecha--it's almost an updated version of the Jaguar Vulcan from Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan.
• Narrator: Not just any narrator, but Norio Wakamoto himself.
• Names to Know In Anime: Masato Shimon does the theme song and ending theme under the stage name Ryō Kisao.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: After receiving a scar on her forearm from Hayate in #10, Shelinda vows revenge on him.
• Only One Name: Apparently, the tribe the Gingamen come from don't have surnames.
• Planet Eater: Daitanix
• Primal Stance: The Gingamen pose like their respective animals.
• Reliable Traitor: Sort-of; Zahab referred to Budoh as the least likely to betray him. He was correct, but when Iliess and Bucrates framed Budoh for attempting to use the Lights of Ginga for himself, Zahab turned against him.
  • Once their scheme is revealed, Bucrates, whom Zahab revered as a mentor, finds himself in Budoh's shoes.
• Rookie Red Ranger: Perhaps the first obvious example in Sentai: Ryōma only joined the team after Hyūga, the first choice as Ginga Red, passed his powers to him.
• Sealed Evil in a Can
• Shout-Out: The three Steel Star Beasts (Giga Rhinos, Bitus and Phoenix) are based on the three great beasts of Jewish mythology: the Behemoth, Leviathan and Ziz, respectively.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: The four generals are introduced in the first episode, and take their turns down the line to plot against the Gingamen. Iliess' impatience with this trope leads her to successfully plot against Budoh with Bucrates.
• Take Up My Sword: Ryōma gets his powers this way from Hyūga, who in turn, gets the powers of Bull Black this way as well.
• Taken for Granite: Ginga Forest. It does get better in the end.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Zahab posessed immortality thanks to the Star Soul Jewel where his heart should be. He later moved it to the wheel on his chest, where it (and eventually, him) were destroyed.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: The Gingamen fail to stop Daitanix's revival.