Ready to Ride the Rainbow Line?!

The Express Sentai Tokkyuger Premiere Event took place on January 25, and although we’ll have some exclusive stuff coming soon, here’s a look at the new info released in the Terebi-kun pamphlet.

There’s a recap on the new heroes’ personalities, as well as their weapons, and a first look at their friends and this season’s villains!

Light – Ichigou is a hero with a rich imagination and a lot of courage! Nothing will make him falter!

Tokacchi – Nigou is a super-logical, plan-making hero! Tokacchi reads a lot of books to study.

Mio – Sangou is a hero with a lot of fighting power! Mio is a tomboy kind of girl. She’s good at cooking and cleaning and other household things.

Hikari – Yongou is a hero who’s universally good with weapons and excellent with techniques! Hikari has a lot of decision-making power, and is good with the kendama.

Kagura – Gogou is a hero who’s strong with her imagination and can come up with anything! if Kagura could get a grip on her imagination, she’d be an invincible warrior.

This season’s villains are the dark empire borne from the bottom of the Earth, the “Shadow Line”. Scheming to wrap the world in darkness, they ride on dark “Machine Kuliner” (a play on the words kurai – dark/gloomy/depressed & “rainaa” – liner) and use “Shadow Monsters” and “Kurothes” (a play on kuro – black & kuro-zu – clothes), who look like old-time train robbers, to make people fear and despair.

The generals, from left to right are General Schwarz (the Tokkyuger’s main nemesis), Baron Nero (who wishes to expand the influence of the Shadow Line), Lady Noir (who plans to make Gritta into a queen) and Miss Gritta (Lady Noir’s daughter and a candidate to become Queen to the Emperor of Darkness, presumably the “Big Bad” of the season). Their names are all translations/puns of black – Noir, Nero and Schwarz are French, Italian and German, respectively.

It’s also revealed on this page that the Tokkugers are childhood friends who have lost pieces of their memories and seem to be traveling in hopes of restoring their missing shared memories.

The Tokkyugers actually live inside the Red Ressha, along with the mysterious conductor and his monkey Ticket, who appears to be a puppet but insists he’s “separate”, the Announcer, and a robot named Wagon, who manages the guest cabins and brings around a cart with food and drinks.

The Announcer is an important part of Tokkyuger, giving big introductions when they transform and call their trains, as well as hinting as the missing memories with things like “Let’s All Remember!” Some of the other phrases listed in the colored bubbles on the page include: (pink) Transformation in Progress – Please Stay Behind The White Line, (blue) De-Transformation in Progress – Please Hurry To Your Connections/Transfers, (red) Shooting ~ Please Pay Attention!, (purple) The Trains Are Arriving – Please Stay Behind The White Line, (green) Thank You For Alwats Taking The Train – Tokkyu-oh Is Complete! And, of course, what will probably become the trademark finisher for this season, Light’s “favorite words”, something like: “I’ve seen it! It’s the end of the line for you!”

There’s a closer look at the Tokkyuchanger, a bracer-type transformation item that goes on their left wrist. Insert a Ressha, hit the transformation button and pull the lever, and the Announcer goes off so you can transform! The main shared weapon can become an energy gun in shooting mode or a sword in slashing mode. At the bottom left of this page, you can also see Tokkyu Ichigou swapping through all the colors and corresponding weapons of his comrades, part of the powers of this new team!

Some of the fun of the color-swapping is sharing the individual weapons. Ichigou gets the Rails Rusher, a big sword, and he swings around the massive iron plate like it’s nothing! Nigou gets a beam gun, the Homing Trigger, and with two muzzles, it can fire continuously. Sangou gets a massive Traffic Light Hammer and by striking the earth, she can blow her enemies away! Yongou gets a the double-sided Tunnel Axe and it’s heavy enough to have the power to cut things clean in half. Gogou gets the Railway Bridge Claw, which has two blades to pierce her enemies! When they combine all five exclusive weapons, they get the Express Sentai’s most powerful equipment: the Renketsu (coupling/connection/linking) Bazooka! They imagine their enemy’s weak point, imagine a killer attack, fire it, and “Rainbow Rush” to strike a finishing blow!

There’s not much new info on Tokkyu-oh, but here’s a blown-up shot of the cockpit.

Did you ever imagine we’d see a color-swapping sentai team? (Sorry Gokaigers, you’re a special exception!) Is your mood feeling dark with all those villainous black puns? Share your comments below!

Thanks to ekala for translating the pamphlet and Tokkyu2go for providing some of the full pics.