G-On Riders is a 13 episode (with a '14th episode' Ecchi OVA) Fanservice filled Meganekko Anime about the adventures of Yuuki Kurama, Sela Arashiyama and super shy Yayoi Hoshikawa as they fight off alien attacks with the combined powers of friendship and Magical Girls with the unusual Power-Up of putting on glasses (though they stop bothering to take them off about halfway through the series). In support of their adventures are Unlucky Everydude/Badass Normal Ichiro, the school nurse Mio Sanada, who is also the one who developed the girls' power-source, a pair of Bridge Bunnies and the Casanova Wannabe, with a crush on the doctor, School Principal.
Has nothing to do with Go-Onger or Kamen Rider.
This anime contains examples of the following tropes:
- After the End: Most of the world has been conquered by the attacking aliens, except for Japan and the surrounding areas.
- Applied Phlebotinum: The glasses (and their powersouce) that the girls use, as well as Ichiro's True Nature and the source of his powers
- Art Shift: Done whenever Ichiro transforms into Cosmo Banchou, or when a male character is being badass or Dead Serious about something.
- Badass Longcoat: Exemplified to the point of parody by Cosmo Banchou, with a bit of 80's Shōnen manga hero and Distilled Manliness (the back of his coat even says "Male" in big gold kanji) mixed in for good measure.
- Badass Normal: Ichiro, who has no superpowers except extreme durability. He's actually a cyborg and when he becomes manly enough, gains the ability to turn into Cosmo Banchou by doing manly things and putting on a mask.
- BFS: Especially Sera's sword, but the other girl's weapons probably qualify aswell.
- Calling Your Attacks: Subverted in that the attack names change each time.
- Cool Big Sis: Inverted by Mio. She's actually the younger sister, but looks older because of unintentional time travel.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": No one ever addresses the school's Pricipal or President by name.
- Face–Heel Turn: Mio's is actually The Plan to free her sister.
- Fanservice: Lots of it early on, then it starts to cut down some, except for the glasses thing.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Ai, who makes all the Humongous Mecha. She even fixes a car with a dead engine in about 30 seconds.
- Girl Next Door: Yuki has a lot of this kind of charm.
- Gratuitous English: Played with and mostly subverted. Only one episode has any more english than is resonable (its even lampshaded for hilarity) and the only character who would know and use english doesn't understand it at all.
- Hired Guns: The aliens were contracted to take over the earth.
- Human Aliens: All but one of the aliens shown, the other is a Cat Girl.
- Humongous Mecha: Called "Fancy Beasts" and usually in some Kawaiiko and childish design. Even the school building gets in on the act. It even transforms!
- Improbable Age: All the aliens except Dr. Sanada are, at least physically (and usually mentally, aswell), prepubescent girls, who are charged with conquering an entire planet.
- I Want to Be a Real Man: Ichiro's primary motivation in everything he does and the source of his powers.
- Kawaiiko: The aliens, their mecha. This is even lampshaded by a character commenting that the latest one is "really cute"
- Kuudere: Zero is a Type 3 depending on if her Maiden Chip is activated.
- Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: The Principal, who has all the suave and charismatic traits but is constantly failing at getting the one castmember he wants.
- Man Behind the Man: The alien's unseen until episode 12 client, who communicates with them by taking over the body of one and speaking through her.
- Macross Missile Massacre: This and Beam Spam are used by the School Principal against the alien's UFO, to no effect whatsoever.
- Pao after she moves in with Sera is an alien Cat Girl maid.
- Monster of the Week: Both used straight and lampshaded.Mako: They wouldn't expect two attacks in one day, now would thay?
- Nun Too Holy: Sela. She appears to be devoted to God based on her "confessional helmet" and her school uniform goes down to her ankles to prevent sexual connotations but her G-On uniform is a nun outfit with short pants, is extremely violent, wields a cross shaped sword called "God Arm", and has no problem offering herself sexually to Ichiro after she realizes he is Cosmo Bancho".
- Odd Friendship: Occurs between the Principal and Ai. They both enjoy reading, hearing, and revising each others poetry; often complimenting each other on said poetry.
- Once an Episode: Ichiro spends most of the series attempting to return a pair of panties that Yuuki lost in the first episode. He eventually manages it, only to discover that she lost another pair in that episode's fight.
- The Power of Friendship: Yuki practically lives off this trope, using it as her primary motivation in life. The aliens are all even converted in this manner. They even get paired friendships with the main heroes.
- Redemption Equals Death: Averted best with Zero's Heel–Face Turn when Mako activates her self-destruct. Only to have her be rescued from it by Cosmo Banchou, who had no idea there was a bomb in her. Being an android, she, of course, falls in love with him.
- Rule of Cool: Used by a few characters, mostly Cosmo Banchou, who is more or less powered by this.
- Rule of Three: There are three main aliens to the three main girls
- Shout-Out:
- Several, mostly to the Magical Girl genre, as well as few to classic Super Sentai Super Sentai, such as The War Room and Mio's Cool Ship. Even one to the Nintendo Virtual Boy.
- Ichiro has a star shaped birthmark and a Japanese delinquent outfit just like Jotaro from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders
- Token Minority: Sera is of obvious European descent, though her backstory never goes into it.
- Unwanted Harem: Ichiro spends most of the anime trying to confess his love, or at least return her panties in a suitably impressive manner. Just a bit into the series, both Sera who knows about his Secret Identity, Yayoi (who is terribly afraid of men, leading to obvious results) and even alien maid Zero start to try to get with him.
