Series / Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters

Let's Morphin'! It's Time For Buster!

"Busters, ready...Go!!"

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters (Special Operations Squadron/Spec-Ops Cell Go-Busters) is the 36th Super Sentai series, airing from 2012 to 2013. Hideyuki Takahashi sang the Title Theme Tune for the second time in the series.

In the year 2012 of the Neo A.D. calendar, urban life is supported by a new, clean energy source known as "Enetron". However, a hostile force codenamed "Vaglass" is attempting to steal that energy for their own dark purposes.

Thirteen years ago, the Vaglass computer virus infected the main computers of the Energy Management Centre that regulates Enetron. The virus quickly raged out of control and gained sentience, becoming a threat to the world itself. With no other option, the researchers sealed the virus away by teleporting the entire facility into hyperspace at the cost of their own lives.

Now in the present, the agents of Vaglass are aiming to siphon enough Enetron to teleport the consciousness known as "Messiah" back into the real world. Opposing their evil plans is the secret special-ops division of the Energy Management Centre, codenamed "Go-Busters".

Aired alongside the Kamen Rider series Kamen Rider Fourze and then Kamen Rider Wizard, with the casts meeting each other in Super Hero Taisen and Super Hero Taisen Z respectively, in the Super Hero Time block.

This series would not receive a concurrent Power Rangers season during its run, being passed over for Power Rangers Dino Charge, the PR adaptation of Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger. After the rights of the Power Rangers franchise changed over from Saban to Hasbro, the series would finally receive an adaptation in the form of 2019's Power Rangers Beast Morphers.

See also Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger, a parody Super Sentai, and probably, the NSFW counterpart of Go-Busters, that ran early during the same year.

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Recurring Super Sentai tropes:

• Alpha Strike: Buster Hercules' Finishing Move; Hercules Crisis.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Mission 45, the first episode to air in 2013, begins with the Busters and crew asking the audience if they had a good New Year's celebration.
• By the Power of Grayskull!: The team's Transformation Trinkets announce "It's Morphin' Time!" after being activated. Once it's formed the majority of their costume, they say "Let's Morphin'!" to form the visor to their helmet and finish the change.
• Color Character: For the first time since Carranger, this Sentai has codenames with the color as the head, now followed by the title "Buster". Though the Power Trio play this straight, the extra two use their beetle motifs instead.
• Crossover:
  • The Go-Busters join the action in Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen as the most recent Super Sentai team.
  • The new Gavan guest-stars in #31 and #32 in a poorly disguised promo for his movie.
  • Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: The Movie teams them up with the Gokaigers, naturally.
  • Played with in the Returns special, in which the Go-Busters cross over with themselves (specifically, an alternate-universe version of themselves).
• Eye Catch: Averted, much like in Gokaiger, the Go-Busters' logo appears in the corner of the screen prior to commercial breaks.
• Fleeting Demographic Rule: It's only been two years since the animal-vehicle hybrids in Tensou Sentai Goseiger, and four years since that was combined with Robot Buddies in Engine Sentai Go-onger.
  • Not to mention, a whopping thirty-seven years since the last espionage-themed sentai.
• Giant Mook: Bugzords, humanoid mecha piloted by Buglers, can be counted as both this and a Mook Mobile.
• Hammerspace: Conspicuously averted; dimensional matter transport itself is an established technology used by both sides, and would seemingly be prominently featured throughout. Both the Go-Busters and Buster Machines have their weapons teleported in from their base. Go-Buster Ace even has backup swords on standby in case it should lose one.
  • On the other hand, the entire concept of subspace as used by the villains is this trope taken to its creepy conclusion.
• Humongous Mecha:
  • A Mech by Any Other Name: "Buster Machines" for the Go-Busters' standard mechs and "Megazords" for humanoid mechs, including those used by both Vaglass and the Go-Busters. Human-sized bots are "-roids" (Buddyroids for the Busters, Metaroids for Vaglass).
    • Spell My Name With An S: The official spelling provided by all Japanese publication refers to the human-sized robots as "-loid"◊ (see also these T-shirts). However, "-roid" as in "android" prevailed in fansubs. The whole ambiguity of R and L in Japanese doesn't help things, along with show having the English text as "BUDDYROID" in earlier episodes and "METALOID" in later ones.
  • Transforming Mecha: Each Buster Machine can transform from a vehicle mode (Buster Vehicle) to an animal mode of some sort (Buster Animal). Buster Machines CB-01 Cheetah, BC-04 Beetle, and LT-06 Tategami Lioh both have an additional Megazord mode as well (Go-Buster Ace and Go-Buster Beet for the first two).
  • Combining Mecha: For starters, Nick, Gorisaki, Usada, and Ene-tan combine with the Buster Machines to get them to do anything more complicated than their vehicle mode.
    • CB-01 (Red) + GT-02 (Blue) + RH-03 (Yellow) = Go-Buster Oh.
    • BC-04 + SJ-05 = Buster Hercules.
    • Go-Buster Oh + Buster Hercules = Great Go-Buster.
    • LT-06 + GT-02 + RH-03 Rabbit = Go-Buster Lioh.
    • Go-Buster Lioh + Buster Hercules = Go-Buster King
  • Mecha Expansion Pack:
    • The Go-Buster Ace can combine with the Stag Beetle to form the Go-Buster Ace Stag Custom.
    • Buster Machine FS-0O Frog can replace the RH-03 Rabbit to form Go-Buster Kero Oh.
    • In Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen, Go-Buster-Oh uses Kamen Rider Fourze's Super Astro Switches, of all things.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Episodes are called "missions", with the episode number said in English.
• In the Name of the Moon: Like Gokaiger, their roll call is pretty simple:
  Hiromu: Red Buster!
  Ryuji: Blue Buster!
  Yoko: Yellow Buster!
  Jin: Beet Buster!
  J: Stag Buster!
  Hiromu: Busters, ready...
  All: Go!
  • The Doubutsu Sentai Go-Busters from Go-Busters Returns have their own:
  Hiromu: Savannah Hunter! Red Cheetah!
  Ryuji: Jungle Warrior! Blue Gorilla!
  Yoko: Field Jumper! Yellow Rabbit!
  Jin: Arboreal Leader! Gold Beetle!
  J: Juice Drinker! Silver Stag!
  Hiromu: Doubutsu Sentai...
  All: Go-Busters!

  • And later:
  Atsushi: Wetland Swimmer! Green Hippopotamus!
  Kuroki: Midnight Walker! Black Puuuuuumaaaaaa!
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: The red and gold Buddyroids and Buster Machines have more features than the others. CB-01 Cheetah (red), BC-04 Beetle (gold), and LT-06 Tategami Lioh (blue-and-gold) have humanoid modes in addition to their vehicle and animal modes, and can wear other Buster Machines as armor. Cheeda Nick can also turn into a motorcycle, and Beet J. Stag becomes the fifth warrior, Stag Buster.
• Monster of the Week: Metaroids, evil machines created by a virus that Enter injects into other machines or living beings.
  • Make My Monster Grow: Averted. Instead of Metaroids growing into giant-size, Messiah sends a giant companion robot called a "Megazord" to assist the Metaroid (or take over the attack if the Metaroid is already destroyed). They come in at least four types (Alpha, Beta Gamma, and Delta).
  • Unlike other series, this is justified in the case of the Megazords. Sending them into real space takes a tremendous amount of energy so Vaglass is only able to send one at a time. In #3, Enter even suggests that they hold off sending Megazords until they can gather sufficient Enetron to dispatch multiple Megazords at once. In the same episode, it was revealed that a slow transfer time uses up less Enetron.
• Mini Dress Of Power: Part of Yellow Buster's costume.
• Mooks: Buglers, mechanical foot soldiers of the Vaglass. They can also pilot their own zords, which are called 'Bugzords'.
• Mook Mobile: Bugzords, being humanoid mecha piloted by the Buglers, are a mix of this and Giant Mook. #37 has a more traditional one-off when Tiarazord summons a fleet of unmanned fighter craft.
• The Movie
  • Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen (featuring Fourze, Gokaiger and Decade)
  • Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters The Movie: Protect the Tokyo Enetower! (annual summer movie)
  • Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: The Movie (first Vs. teamup)
  • Tokumei Sentai Go-busters Returns vs. Dobutsu Sentai Go-busters (Post-season V-Cinema)
• Narrator: Shoo Munekata narrates the series.
• Power Trio: The first since Juken Sentai Gekiranger.
• Revisiting the Roots : The series was considered as this when it tries to use the spy theme from the earlier sentai series like Himitsu Sentai Gorenger.
• Rookie Red Ranger: ...sort of. While Hiromu is a fully-trained member of the team, he was on furlough for a while because his sister didn't approve of it, so Yoko resents him as a "newcomer".
• The Smurfette Principle: Like the last two Sentai teams that started with just three members and never had an additional female ranger (see Abaranger and Gekiranger), Yellow serves as the token girl.
• Spandex, Latex, or Leather: As opposed to the usual Sentai spandex, this series goes for leather with more uniform-like suits.
• Super Mode: #33 introduces the Custom Visors, which convert the Buddyroids into additional armor that enhances the team's natural powers, but requires the Busters and their Buddyroids to be in sync to function properly.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Significantly more effective in the second half of the season, after the Retool resulted in a brand new OP, because each time a major plot-important battle goes down, they play the original OP.
• Theme Naming: The first names of each of the Buddyroids are a combination of the animals they're modeled after and their respective partners, while their last names is a reference to their favorite foods.
  • Cheeda (Cheetah + Sakurada) Nick (a play on niku, which means meat)
  • Gorisaki (Gorilla + Iwasaki) Banana
  • Usada (a reference to his partner Usami and usagi, Japanese for bunny) Lettuce
  • Beet J. Stag's middle initial stands for Jueki (plant sap), which is the kind of fluid commonly drunk by beetles, and is also the first letter in "Jin" and "Jet".
  • Even the movie-exclusive Ene-tan gets in on the food-theme naming, being named for the series' power source Enetron, which the other Buddyroids have sometimes been seen drinking as if it were soda.
  • Enter and Escape are named after keyboard keys starting with "E", and have opposite meanings (to enter is to go into something, to escape is to get out).
  • The mecha seem to be taking a different approach - Go-Buster Ace, and Go-Buster Oh, with "oh" meaning King.
    • Followed by an actual Go-Buster King.
• Three Plus Two: Two additional Busters, Beet and Stag, joined the team later in the series.
• Title Scream: The first OP averts for the first time since Ninja Sentai Kakuranger's "title sing." The second OP brings the Title Scream back. (Though it's at the end of the opening instead of at the beginning, where the previous Title Screams were.)
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Subverted, transformations happen in real time and there have been cases where the Go-Busters have had to dodge while performing it while the mecha transformations happen very rapidly. Go-Buster-Oh's transformation takes longer, but the components of Blue and Yellow Busters' mecha circle Go-Buster Ace and form an energy field before it begins to protect it during the combination.
• Transformation Sequence: Averted for the first nine episodes, doing transformations without stock footage a la Kamen Rider. A stock transformation sequence was introduced though, possibly for budget reasons, but it's rarely used.
  • Also subverted with the mecha, who transform in live action as well. Played with when it comes to Go-Buster-Oh, who does have a transformation sequence, but is implied to happen in in real time protected by an energy shield.
  • Further subverted by Great Go-Buster, as all its component parts are always assembled in the hangar instead of having a transformation sequence out in the field.
• Transformation Trinket:
  • Hiromu, Ryuji, & Yoko: Morphin Brace
  • Jin & Beet J. Stag: Morphin Blaster
• Villains Act, Heroes React: As is the norm for Super Sentai, we generally get a MOTW appearing with an Evil Plan Once an Episode, typically to rob some Enetron, with our heroes then arriving on the scene to stop them with the support of the Energy Management Center, who are quick to report whenever the enemy show up in the city.

Tropes specific to Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters:

• Absurd Phobia: Hiromu is terrified of chickens after he was attacked by them at a young age.
• All There in the Manual: The official names of Enter's and Escape's monster forums, "Enter Unite" and "Escape Evolved", are never mentioned on the show and only appeared in secondary sources such as TV Asahi's official site for the show.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Big Bad (at least at the start) is a computer that gained self-awareness.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us:
  • Enter actually launches an infiltration of the EMC's base as early as #6, though he started it off in #4. #26 has another infiltration that plays out somewhat less seriously.
  • #29 has the biggest one yet, complete with command staff and maintenance crew up in arms to hold them off as Great Go-Buster is about to enter hyperspace.
• Alternate Timeline: The first Sentai to follow the trope, seeing that Enetron is already present at 2012 and before, but nowhere in sight during Gokaiger and any Sentai titles previously[[/note]]. The "Shinseireki"/"Anno Novi" designation on the year indicates this. This is retconned in the crossovers and later series which establish that Go-Busters was in the Sentai prime universe all along.
  • Then there's the parallel world of Doubutsu Sentai Go-Busters, which explores what things would have been like if the Messiah incident of 1999 had never happened. And in the meta sense, it answers the question of what Go-Busters would have been like if it had been done in the style of the Showa-era Super Sentai series, slamming the sliding scale firmly to the silly side in the process.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Panthera Awesome: Red Buster and Cheeda Nick, who are both based on cheetahs.
  • Gorilla: Blue Buster and Gorisaki Banana, who are both based on gorillas.
  • Righteous Rabbit: Yellow Buster and Usada Lettuce, who are both based on rabbits.
  • Japanese Beetle Brothers: Beet Buster and Beet J. Stag/Stag Buster, based on a rhinoceros beetle and stag beetle, respectively.
  • King of Beasts: LT-06 Tategami Lioh, based on a lion.
  • FS-0O Frog and its Buddyroid Enetan are both based on a frog.
• An Asskicking Christmas: #43 and #44, which don't just take place at Christmas but features the final destruction of the original Messiah, the death of the original Escape (a new version is created a few episodes later) and the only appearance of a MegaZord Zeta. Talk about one hell of a Christmas.
• Aside Glance: In #21, Hiromu and Yoko give one to the camera when Jin attacks J for failing to tell Gorisaki Banana that Ryuji wasn't dying.
• Batman Gambit: The plan to rescue Usada in #9 was one massive gambit. It even ticked off Enter!
• Big Badass Rig: GT-02, an eight-wheeled truck with a helicopter landing pad on top.
• Big Damn Heroes: Hiromu in #1, arriving on Cheeda Nick's bike mode and shooting out the monster's eye when it has his team mates on the ropes, weakening it enough for them to finish it off while he takes on the Megazord in Go-Buster Ace.
• Bilingual Bonus: In Mission 12, the actress Angie Sue sends the Go-busters an e-mail in English. It's never translated into Japanese, outside of its overall meaning as a thank you as stated by Ryuji. Those fluent in English can read most of it, and can also tell that it's not written by someone who is a native speaker. It only appears a few seconds on screen, so it has to be paused to be read.
  • The opening sequence includes random English text. That text is the HTML source code of the English Wikipedia's Super Sentai page.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • Hurray! Messiah has finally shutdown! It's surely a victory for the Go-Busters! Except for the fact that the scientists trapped in cyberspace are all dead now, including Hiromu's parents and Yoko's mom. Though Jin seems to be still alive, they couldn't take his real body back out of cyberspace so he is there until further notice.
  • In the series finale, the Vaglass are defeated once and for all but Jin dies. To put it in perspective, the last permanent death of an official hero was a decade ago.
• Black Comedy: #21 has an Imagine Spot about what the Go-Busters would look like in the future, and acknowledges the age difference between Ryuji and the others by showing him Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence, to put it one way.
• Bland-Name Product: Angie Sue's email to Yoko at the end of #12 has two: her email server is called "Gyahun" (which is basically Yahoo! with an Eastern twist), and there's a link to "NyuTube" on it.
• Boogie Knights: Go-Buster Ace can dance.◊ Your argument is invalid.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: In Mission 27, the scientist's 17-year-old daughter is this, only showing up at her father's work place to collect her allowance. She gets better when she discovers that her father really does care about her contrary to her belief he didn't because he worked long hours, therefore she did not get to see him often.
• Breather Episode:
  • #28 can qualify since it's just plain silly (even by Sentai standards!) although it suffers Mood Whiplash at the very end when Jin's enetron supply is stolen. Mission 34 could also count, but then again suffers Mood Whiplash when the final fight comes.
  • In a way, #31 and #32 (the two-part team up with Gavan Type-G) are this since, while being action episodes, they represent a break in the series' plot.
  • Mission 45 gives the viewers a chance to relax before things get serious again with a Denser and Wackier episode involving blind dates, a mochi-based Metaroid, and lots of humor derived from all the misunderstandings.
• Catch-22 Dilemma: Enter needs to collect Enetron for Messiah. To do so, he needs to use Megazords... but to use Megazords, he has to have Enetron.
• Cerebus Retcon: If it's possible to take a straight example even further, Ryuji almost punching out the chief in #4, treated merely as a Hot-Blooded Shōnen staple, carries even more serious implications in #5 with the reveal of his overheated Ax Crazy side.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Go-Busters was already pretty dark by Sentai standards, but it somehow manages to top itself with Enter becoming a Knight of Cerebus to the point where he's the Big Bad, the Messianic Metaroids that have the goal of absorbing people to create a new Messiah, shocking revelations about the characters such as Hiromu being Enter's Soul Jar and Jin's hidden depression, and the stakes gradually stacking up against them as the villains get closer to their goal. The team still win at the end, but the journey to get there was brutal, to say the least, and the ending is bittersweet at best.
• Chekhov's Gag: Beet J. Stag's habit of jumping in front of Jin in order to upstage him comes in handy in Mission 25 when the Monster of the Week tries to use his candlelight to give Jin nightmares just as he had to Hiromu, Yoko, and Ryuuji when they looked into it. Since Buddyroids are immune to it, J is unaffected and Jin is able to slash the wick and put the flame out. (Though it's entirely possible that avatars are immune too, as Jin is not really there.)
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • At the start of #4, Mission Control tells the Go-Busters that transporting through Cyberspace is unreliable, and even using Metaroids as a beacon, enemy Megazords can be as far off the mark as three kilometers. When Enter shows up right outside one Enetron tank and is blatantly obvious about it, Hiromu realizes that he's just a diversion and their real goal is another district's tank, three kilometers away behind a nearby mountain range.
  • The Go-Buster Ace holding up against RH-03 gunfire in #2 actually justifies Yoko picking out the Copyroid impersonator by shooting them both in #12.
  • In #14, when rescuing Yoko after she's kidnapped by the second Tubaroid, Hiromu attempts to fool it by impersonating Enter, right down to the voice, but is discovered once it realizes that Hiromu has a heartbeat. Turns out, this is because Enter is actually an avatar in the real world, and his real body is in Hyperspace.
• Combat Tentacles: Enter has some.
• Concealment Equals Cover: From the looks of the first episode (and the general theme of this year's Sentai), looks like this one's going to see a lot of use.
  • Improbable Cover: Ryuji uses a table in #1 to block a bullet attack from the Monster of the Week. Said monster has an arm that can cut through a car with no effort.
• Cool Bike: Cheeda Nick can transform into one for Red Buster, making it the first Sentai bike since the Machine Husky and Machine Boxer and LT-06 Tategami Lioh in mecha-sized version.
• Cool Shades: A part of the season's visual motif. They're incorporated into the Go-Busters' henshin devices, their helmets, and their megazords. Enter's got a pair, too, as does Escape.
  • Triangle Shades: Red Buster's.
• Cyberpunk and Post-Cyberpunk: A case can be made for both, but it swings more towards Post-Cyberpunk. A Government Agency of Fiction using child soldiers is presented as mostly good, even if it is also responsible for the series' Big Bad, while the child soldiers themselves apparently underwent some degree of Unwilling Roboticisation. Although to be fair, the Unwilling Roboticisation (which was basically uploading an organic program into them that gave super powers, the ability to be telaported safely (which is what saved them in the first place) and a weakness. They're all still very much human) the kids were subjected to saved them from an even worse one.
• Dancing Theme: In this case, it's the Rangers and crew dancing on catwalks around Go-Buster Ace.
• Darker and Edgier: Seems to go this way, even at five episodes. Deconstruction aside, Enter already displays capabilities to outmaneuver the Busters in #4, their commander is not exactly the nicest guy around. And then, when Ryuji was overheated, he's utterly scary...
  • Episode to episode it's fairly standard, and even more comedic than most series (the Buddyroids will bring back pleasant memories of the Engines or other wacky Robot Buddy characters), but some of the darkest things in franchise history happen in this series. Wherever you'd say Like You Would Really Do It, it turns out they would. It doesn't hit you 'til the end, because it's not until it's all over that it becomes final that yes, they did really have the Rangers forced to sacrifice the lives of their parents and all the rest of those researchers in order to render Messiah Only Mostly Dead, and one of their teammates also had to be sacrificed to finish the job. It's better than letting Messiah absorb the whole world, of course, but it really feels like they lost. Especially after all the Hope Spots that make it seem like they're going to Screw Destiny on points where other teams always have; usually "X can't be saved" where saving X is a Series Goal just means it'll happen awesomely in the last couple of episodes, and there's always a dangled thread of hope like "there's still some of their data in those Messiah cards," or "there's still some of Jin's data in Enter." In the end, it always serves only to make the fact that there's nothing they can do even more painful.
• Deconstruction: Go-Busters is much more explicit about the sort of after-effects that would be involved in a giant robot attack than the usual Sentai series. The Busters often spend just as much time rescuing people from collateral damage or cleaning up the aftermath of the battle than they do actually fighting the robots.
  • Also, while definitely not the first Sentai series to have a Mission Control and support crew, it is likely the first to realistically depict the amount of logistics that these crews have to do to give assistance to the team (instead of simply showing them typing on computers). For instance, the first episode shows that a large number of technicians are needed to coordinate the launch of Go-Buster Ace. Hiromu also needs to inform the base minutes before that he will be using the mech to give them some prep time, instead of simply 'summoning' it instantly.
  • It's worth noting, however, that it's not the first or the most "logical/realistic" by far; Kyūkyū Sentai GoGoV was pretty much an entire series of a serious take on that.
  • Another deconstructed is towards the Civilian Powers from Power Rangers. The powers are the results of upgrades and those same upgrades also grant side-effects, like freezing at the sight of chickens, slowing down to a grind, or the real clincher, going Ax-Crazy if you use your powers too much.
• Department of Redundancy Department: In the updated version of Gokaiger's Super Hero Getter which includes Gokaiger and Go-Busters, Go-Busters line is "Tokumei Mission, Go-Busters." The problem is that "Tokumei" translates to "Special Mission", so in full English, the line is actually "Special Mission Mission, Go-Busters."
  • The DVD and Blu-Ray releases contain special features that are also called "Tokumei Missions".
  • Also, the command to form the Combining Mecha is "Combine Operation, Tokumei Gattai", which one fansub group translated as "Combine Operation, Operative Combination".
  • Episode 42 Enter makes a Messianic Metaroid out of a Megazord. The resulting Delta Megazord that transports in is the MegazordMegazord
• Designated Girl Fight: Though Escape's chosen Worthy Opponent is Ryuji, she and Yoko notable come to blows in #37, the Wedding Episode.
• Distaff Counterpart: In #22, we are introduced to Enter's female counterpart, Escape.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: #25. The RousokuZord taking out an Enetron structure by setting it literally aflame (the fire never spreads from the spire, looking like a huge candle) may remind older viewers of the case of oil rigs being deliberately set aflame in the Middle East, an incident that preceded the Gulf War.
• Dual Wielding: Ryuji does this in the 8th episode when facing the Drillroid.
• Early-Bird Cameo: As is a recent tradition started by Goseiger, the three Go-Busters make their debut in Gokaiger vs. Gavan, where they foil Basco's attempt to take the Gokai Galleon as the Gokaigers are busy rescuing Gavan, as well as Yoko giving Sally a pile of fruit to eat.
  • Subverted in Super Hero Taisen, though it was rumoured, Beet and Stag Buster did not appear, despite Gokai Silver's appearance in the 199 Heroes movie. However, come next year, Kyoryu Gold does indeed make his first appearance in Super Hero Taisen Z.
  • The Special DVD features a cameo by Space Sheriff Gavan, then Gavan Type-G appears in two-part teamup (Missions 31 and 32) to promote Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie. Ironically, Gokaiger vs. Gavan, which as mentioned featured the debut of Go-Busters, was what lead to the Space Sheriff revival.
  • Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger make their first apperance in Go-Busters vs. Gokaiger, resulting in an awkward moment when Kyoryu Red finds he is alone when he comes to assist Red Buster and Gokai Red, the rest of his team ran late and only arrived after the two Reds took their leave.
• Epic Tracking Shot: A low-tech but effective example in #5, where the image is simply rotated at the same speed as Blue and Yellow's particularly difficult 360-flipping moves.
• Everything Is Online: On the plus side, Enter can't just remotely hack into random machines to create Metaroids. On the minus side, how do you infect a fork with a computer virus? Or a candle? Or a rubber eraser?!
  • In Ep 46 this is a plot point, as Enter reveals that he has gained the ability to directly create Metaroids, with just his fingers, from plants and animals. The Go-Busters express extreme horror at this revelation.
• Final Boss, New Dimension: Invoked, the Go-Busters decide to drag Enter and his Megazord Omega into Hyperspace for the Final Battle to avoid casualties, as well as allowing them to remove the Messiah Card from Hiromu's body.
• Expy: Enter is almost like one for Agent Smith from The Matrix, starting off a computerized being created by the villain, but then evolving into a more dangerous threat and usurping the role of Big Bad.
• For Want Of A Nail: The premise of Go-Busters Returns, where the team meet alternate versions of themselves from a timeline where the Messiah incident of 1999 never happened. The alternate team are known as the Dōbutsu Sentai (Animal Squadron) and their codename system is a deliberate throwback to the one used in Liveman and Jetman (i.e. Red Cheetah, Yellow Rabbit, Blue Gorilla and Gold Beetle). Beet J. Stag, who was also brought from the normal universe, fights alongside both teams, using the codename of "Silver Stag" when fighting with the alternate team. There are also two new team members: the Sixth Ranger Green Hippopotamus, and Black Puma, who is Kuroki joining the fight on his own.
  • In Spite of a Nail: Despite the change in history, a lot of things stay the same: the whole team gets together, their foes (the Machine Empire Mechalius) are pretty much identical to Vaglass (with their leader being a counterpart of Escape), and they have all the same weapons and mecha as the main team (plus extras, such as the Go-Buster Ball). Even the Buddyroids still exist, though they have to be programmed with personalities early on in order to help run their robot.
• Fling a Light into the Future: Realizing that sending Messiah to subspace wouldn't defeat it for good, Hiromu's father essentually did this with the three Busters and Buddyroids, inserting in them a program that can counter the Metavirus.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The first opening has excerpts from the English Super Sentai Wikipedia page scroll down at one point (in HTML code). See here◊.
  • It also pops up in some monitors throughout the series, like the one that appears right when Mission 04 starts.
• Freudian Trio: The main Go-Busters trio fit into the three types quite nicely.
  • Superego: Hiromu - a Brutally Honest stoic who is the most goal-oriented.
  • Ego: Ryuji - the most levelheaded of the trio that keeps Hiromu and Yoko in the line.
  • Id: Yoko - a Hot-Blooded teen who gets annoyed at the slightest provocation.
• Funny Background Event: In Mission 21 while Gorisaki Banana and Masato Jin are having a conversation about Ryuji at a park, Beet J Stag rides a zipline on the playground then starts running around the playground with a bug net conversing with a large piece of equipment that has a grasshopper head. He continues this while waving the bug net in the air and eventually falling on his face.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: In #47, this is how Hiromu manages to get past his weak point, by having the other team members quickly attack him whenever he freezes.
• Goomba Stomp: Pulled off by the Great Go-Buster in #22.
• Gratuitous English: Dear Lord where do we begin...
  • From the Buster Gear (whose English is surprisingly good)
    • "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"
    • "TRANSPORT!"
    • "LET'S DRIVING!"
    • "IT'S TIME FOR BUSTER!"
    • "CALL MODE!"
    • "ANALYZE MODE!"
    • "IT'S TIME FOR SPECIAL BUSTER!"
    • "BOOST UP FOR BUSTER!"
    • "ROGER! BC-04 BEETLE, SHIFT UP!"
    • "OK! SJ-05 STAG BEETLE, TAKE OFF!"
    • "IT'S TIME FOR BEET/STAG ATTACK!"
    • "SET! ARE YOU READY?"
    • "POWERED CUSTOM!"
  • From the main characters:
    • "Let's Morphin'!"
    • "Roger Rabbit."-Usada Lettuce
    • "Come on!"
    • "Oh, Shit!" -Jin
    • From the movie: "Yessss" -Kurorin
    • "Powered Morphin'!"
  • The Morphin Brace toy also has some other lines:
    • "SPEEEEEECIAAAAAAAAL MODE!"
    • "EXCELLENT! subarashii! COOL na SUPER sentai SOUL wo kanjiru zo!" Ironically this line shows up its Japanese as being far worse than its English.
  • From the theme song: "4, 2, 3, 1, let's go!" Yes, in that order.
  • #12 at the end, Angie Sue sent a e-mail thanking Yoko entirely in (really broken) English, if you read the screen.
  • Every episode is called a "Mission", the English term, with the episode number said in English.
  • #21 takes the cake with a billboard advertising a "Fatless Sports Gym". Really.
• Gratuitous French: Enter uses quite a bit of this, including his Catchphrase "Ça va (How are you), Go-Busters?".
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Yoko and J. get paired up a few times
• I Meant to Do That: In Mission 28, when the Metaroid uses its powers to disguise its Buglers as the original three Busters and the Busters as each other and Enter, J jumps in and starts attacking everyone as part of a supposed effort to work out who's who. When one of his attacks then throws Hiromu (who's been turned into Yoko) into a nearby fountain where the water returns him to normal, J insists that he planned that one.
• Identical Stranger: The actress that the Go-Busters protect in #12, Angie Sue, looks exactly like Yoko. The team spare no expense in lampshading this.
• Instant Expert: Averted, the team has been training through simulations for 13 years, including Hiromu who was sheltered by his sister all this time.
• Irony: In real life, this season was heavily influenced by- and made references to- Power Rangers. It was the first series to be skipped for adapting PR since Dairanger...at first.
• Insult of Endearment: J keeps referring to Nick as "bike".
• Kansas City Shuffle: #9 has the Go-Busters rescue Usada, who has been kidnapped by Enter. Yoko comes up with an extremely elaborate rescue operation that involves using stand-ins for herself and Hiromu to distract Enter long enough for her to execute the rescue.
• Kill Steal: In #25, just before Hiromu and Nick can deliver the finisher to RousokuZord, Jin and Stag. J jump in to do it themselves, much to Nick's indignation.
• Knight of Cerebus: Enter was already a pretty serious villain, but after Messiah's defeat, he's gotten much more unstable, taken control of the Vaglass, manages to scare Escape into helping him, and on top of that, obtained the much more powerful Messianic Metaroids whose goal is to absorb people until they evolve into a new Messiah. And then, just to further the trope more, he becomes the Big Bad.
• Lighter and Softer: Subverted. The show seemed to go this way after Messiah's death in #30 and a two episode Crossover with Gavan by inserting a bit more wacky humor and more toyetic items. However, the exact opposite occurred with the show getting far more grim (but not without its Hope Spots however) and stakes continually building after Enter takes control of the Vaglass and becoming the Big Bad.
• Lotus-Eater Machine:
  • In Mission 20, as Filmloid traps the main trio in various illusions.
  • Mission 25 has this as well, albeit in a more comedic light as Rousokuloid traps the Go-Busters in their worst nightmares.
• Market-Based Title: The Korean dub is called Power Rangers Go-Bursters.
• Meaningful Name: The code for the Buster Machines indicate the animals and vehicles they can transform into. Buster Machine GT-02 for example, is a Gorilla that can transform into a Truck. Subverted by the CB-01, which is a Cheetah that transforms into a sports car, which combines with Cheeda Nick (who transforms into a Bike). The number at the end (0X) also indicates their owner. When X is a number, it indicates that the owner is a Buster, whereas letters indicates that it's an auxiliary mecha not owned by anyone in particular.
• Mistaken for Dying: Ryuji in #21, thanks to a rather cruel joke played on Gorisaki by Jin.
• Mood Whiplash: Mission 45 takes place between Mission 44, a Climax Boss battle and one of the heaviest episodes thus far, and Mission 46, featuring the return of both Enter and Escape, another very serious episode. #45 itself is a slapstick-heavy filler episode, and while there was a week's break between it and #44, watching the two back-to-back is incredibly jarring.
• Movie Superheroes Wear Black: The suits are still colorful, but incorporate black leather rather than the usual spandex. The main trio's uniforms are mostly black, but incorporate lines of color.
• Murder-Suicide: Hiromu attempts to do this in Mission 48 in order to off Enter along with Card no.13, but it doesn't work due to Enter protecting Hiromu at the last second.
• Mythology Gag: Has its own page.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "Messiah" is the trying-way-too-hard-to-be-good type. It's a reference to Messiah's birth being on Christmas Day, the celebration of the birth of the Christian Messiah. Pretty ironic.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Red Buster plays it the straightest as his buddyroid, Cheeda, stands by him the most compared to other buddyroids who stay in the headquarters. And J usually follows Jin closely.
• Oddly Named Sequel: The first Sentai season since Kyūkyū Sentai GoGoV that doesn't use the suffix "-ranger" or "-ger" in its title. It is also the only Sentai title that has the team's name pluralized.
• Oddly Small Organization: The Go-Busters unit is made of Kuroki, Nakamura and Morishita plus the Go-Busters team and a team of mechanics and engineers. They don't have any security forces specialists in the ranks.
• Off-the-Shelf FX: The prototype for the Powered Custom Super Mode looks exactly like motorcross body armor. The same is true of Enter's outfit worn under his overcoat.
• Older Than They Look: Jin, who looks exactly the same as he did thirteen years ago, due to being an avatar that doesn't age. Lampshaded in #17 where Ryuji points out that Jin is technically forty years old, but Jin insists he's still 27 thus Ryuji is the oldest and should give him money.
• Only in It for the Money: Why Kazuya, Ryuji's high school friend, decided to cooperate with Enter after the hard work he made to the Buster Machine was not done the way he did in his years as an Engineer. This was before he decided to forget it after seeing Ryuji fight off the Drillroid to prevent Vaglass from securing the blueprints of Buster Machine BC-04.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: #5. Not just Ryuji - Seriously, how often does the Monster of the Week plead for mercy?
• Overt Operative: It's Super Sentai. "Secret" agents or no, they still have colorful suits and giant robots.
• Painting the Medium:
  • The audio noticeably becomes glitchy when Ryuji overheats and goes berserk.
  • #24. J can even interrupt Jin using the splitscreen.◊
  • In Go-Busters Returns, the passage of the year in the alternate universe is marked by title cards from episodes of a hypothetical Doubutsu Sentai Go-Busters series.
• Panthera Awesome: Tategami Lioh.
• Poorly Disguised Pilot: The two-parter (#31-32) featuring the new Gavan, which was a glorified promo for his new movie.
• Production Foreshadowing:
  • Remember in the little handover clip at the end of the last episode of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, with Marvelous about to punch Hiromu in the face, and Hiromu catching the punch? Now watch the end of Go-Busters #4.
  • The Televi-Kun DVD starts with Beet J Stag singing a song In the Style of Ichiro Mizuki, well before the man himself would appear on the show.
• Race Against the Clock: Zigzagged. The timer that shows how long before an enemy Megazord materializes ticks with varying paces, but there's nothing that states that the Go-Busters absolutely must defeat the Monster of the Week before the countdown finishes; in fact, more often they simply split up and bring in their Humongous Mecha while simultaneously fighting the monster if there isn't enough time, or they defeat the monster well before the countdown finishes and have plenty of time to get into their Buster Vehicles.
• Retool: Mission 28 has a new OP, removing the narration and bringing back the title scream. The new opening isn't that different, however. Mission 30 kills off the Big Bad and the next two episodes are devoted to a crossover with Gavan, leaving the fanbase fearing a complete abandoning of the original plot and the decline of Go-Busters' quality. #33 reveals they were wrong, since the plot's picked back up, with Messiah getting a new can and Enter stepping up as the new Big Bad. Also from this point onward the show introduced more "Toyetic" items like the Powered Custom and had less of a focus on the spy aspect.
• Right Behind Me: The plot of #9 is kicked off by a feud between Yoko and Usada after she walks in on him ranting about her poor test scores and how "she doesn't need to be getting any dumber!", all while Hiromu and Ryuji look on and wince.
• Robot Buddy: Each Go-Buster has a "Buddyroid", a human sized robot companion that is capable of transforming into the control panel of their individual mecha.
• Running Gag: J's habit of upstaging Jin usually by jumping in front of him. Jumps into Painting the Medium territory when J does it when both are in their respective Buster Machines using the splitscreen. See Painting the Medium above
• Sexy Santa Dress: All four of the girls wear some variant in the Christmas special. First is Escape, who appears in a black Santa dress in #43 alongside Enter, who is in a male version obviously. And at the party at the end of #44, Nakamura wears a more traditional girl Santa costume, Yoko wears a Little Red Riding Hood-esque Santa dress with leather boots while Rika wears a slightly naughtier sleeveless dress.
• Shout-Out:
  • Cheeda Nick is a red mecha who can transform into a bike much like Denjin Zaboga, Autovajin from Kamen Rider 555, Rikushinki from Changerion or Kamen Rider Accel. His humanoid form is noticeably less cat-like and rather similar to ZECT or Den-O Riders.
  • Go-Buster Ace bears a striking similarity to Zambo Ace, in that it's the only member of a 3-piece combiner with its own humanoid mode.
  • Usada's response to all his commands is "Roger, Rabbit".
  • The launching sequence for the Go-Buster Ace looks similar to the one for Eva-01 in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
  • Go-Buster Oh seems to have taken some cues from the King of Braves when it comes to its Transformation Sequence and Finishing Move.
  • Go-Buster Beet's combination even mimics GaoGaiGar's arms - both arms are a single piece that passes through a hollow torso until it's midway through. The camera angle of it coming in is even the same.
  • Drillroid (the Metaroid in #9) resembles Eva Unit 02, only covered in drills.
  • Fanroid (the Metaroid in #11) looks suspiciously like a cross between Air Man and the Tallgeese III.
  • Beet Buster and Stag Buster's Transformation Trinkets double as their Handguns. Only a few other toku superheroes comes to mind.
  • Jin's belief that pursuing perfection cannot be done, and he's a Bunny-Ears Lawyer who's been trapped in hyperspace without aging. He's an Expy of Kevin Flynn!
    • On that note, one can also see Enter's interactions with Messiah as a parallel to Sark and the MCP. Especially since Messiah is essentially a big giant red face.
  • #19, Cheeda trying out cooking is accompanied by a musical theme similar to a BGM from Iron Chef.
  • Escape's weapons Goku and Magoku are a reference to the Bible, of all things.
  • #25. Yoko's Psychological Torment Zone involves a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl climbing out of a well.
  • Enetron itself is only two letters away from Energon.
    • It's also a letter away from a certain pod/machine that heals you. But you're still hungry...
  • As if acknowledging the pre-emption of Kamen Rider Wizard, #37 has Yoko mimicking the Kick Strike+Drill Finishing Move.
  • Kenta's shouts of "Tatakae!" (Fight!) after being possessed by Messiah/Karateroid in Mission 39 does invoke another person who liked to say that word.
  • Rhino Doubler's weak spot is the same as it was waaaay back in the original Space Sheriff Gavan series. It's not called attention to at all, but a strike to that exact spot is the only thing to make him feel any pain in the first round with him.
  • There are a good many to Kamen Rider 555:
    • The "leader" is identified by wearing Red, and has access to super speed. Not only that, but his ID number, listed in the opening, is 555-913-315, the henshin codes for Faiz, Kaixa, and Psyga respectively.
    • As mentioned, Nick to the Autovaijin, even including the wheel machine gun!
    • Powered Yellow Buster's Rapid Kick looks exactly like Faiz's Crimson Smash, from the camera angle to the kick itself.
  • The #42 MOTW turns into a train that flies and goes through portals.
  • #43 Escape crushing Enter with Zeta Megazord resembles the same scene of Shinji crushing Kaworu with EVA-01.
  • The Epsilon Megazord appears as a cross between an Evangelion Mass Production Type and an Orbital Frame. Or alternatively, it resembles Thanatos.
  • The finishers of the Powered Custom mimic the finishers of Kamen Rider OOO's forms:
    • Red Buster's finisher, Volcanick Attack, is RaToraTah's finisher. Red Buster's buddyroid is a cheetah. RaToraTah is based on wild felines, and cheetah is part of RaToraTah's component.
    • Blue Buster's finisher, Gorillarge Punch, is SaGoZou's finisher, only minus the ground pound and the headbutt. Blue Buster's buddyroid is a gorilla. One of SaGoZou's components is gorilla. The hand prop even looks similar.
    • Yellow Buster's finisher, Rabbit Kick, is practically a rider kick, TaToBa's finisher. Yellow Buster's buddyroid is a rabbit. While this makes the connection fall out of place, TaToBa also falls out of place for not having a consistent animal theme.
  • Messiah's origin is pretty much a reference to the infamous Y2K rumor.
• Signature Style: It's written by Kobayashi; her trope repertoire is bound to show up sooner or later. However, the series itself in general seems to be breaking a number of trends already from the start, although it's hard to tell which ones are her handiwork.
  • Nice Guy: Hiromu; there's something to be said about his socially unintelligent bluntness though... Ryuji, on the other hand, fits the trope absolutely so far, until he overheats, anyway.
  • True Companions: While it takes a lot of arguing to get there, the Go-Busters (along with their EMC allies) eventually become very close to each other.
• Sixth Ranger: Subverted. Technically, there is a sixth ranger (or rather, a sixth Buster), but he's nothing more than Enter's final form after copying Red Buster's powers.
• Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness: The show has some incredibly silly moments and downright wacky episodes, but when it gets dead serious; it gets dead serious. The hyperspace two-parter, Christmas Episodes, and the final arc feature almost zero humor and is more often bittersweet - downright depressing at times - than really super triumphant. Meanwhile, filler episodes such as Missions 21, 28, and 45 are very slapstick-heavy and extremely goofy.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: #10. Yoko eating her candies while staring down the enemy actually looks badass.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: #20. when Filmroid traps Hiromu in an illusion that his family is back with him, Jingle Bells can be heard playing in the background, and it continues playing during Yoko and Ryuji's fight against Filmroid. Considering that this was Hiromu's first time with his "family" since the incident 13 years ago, this is more than likely deliberate on the production side.
• Spot the Imposter:
  • #12. The Copyroid even drops below the radar when impersonating someone, so all our heroes can do is watch for Character Tics. Unfortunately the Copyzord has none of those later on...so Yoko just shoots them both.
  • Our heroes try to turn this on the bad guys in #14 with Hiromu dressed as Enter - but instead of Hiromu's incorrect use of French, it's his vital signs that tip them off.
• The Starscream: Midway through, Enter begins to deviate from his programming and sets out to become the Ultimate Lifeform in place of Messiah. Following the permanent destruction of Messiah, he assumes the role of Big Bad.
• Stock Footage: One of the hardest aversions in Super Sentai history almost nothing is stock footage especially the henshin sequences.
• Superdickery: In Go-Busters vs. Gokaiger, the previous team has apparently teamed up with their former enemies, the Zangyack Empire. Naturally, it's a ruse to try to foil their plans.
• Super Prototype: Tategami Lioh.
• Supporting Protagonist: Cheeda Nick gets the main character role in Go-Busters Returns, but he naturally takes a back seat to the Go-Busters themselves for the fight scenes.
• Sweet Tooth: Yoko eats sweets to keep her energy up.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: The Lio Attaché is borderline Green Lantern Ring.
• Teen Superspy: Yoko, and Hiromu isn't far out of his teens either. Averted with Ryuji who, at the time of the series, was one of the oldest heroes in many years at 28 years old, at least for a hero who's not a returning Legend and an official hero (Nobuo is 29 years old). The next year, Kyoryu Blue would one-up him by being 32.
• Temporal Paradox: At the end of the Go-Busters Returns special, because Nick's death was prevented, the Doubutsu Sentai Go-Busters and their universe have no more reason to exist, so they disappear.
• Thanks for the Mammary: Subverted: Tiararoid, #37's Monster of the Week, explodes before she can reprimand Ryuji, who had just hit her with his Gorillarge Punch.
• Traveling at the Speed of Plot: Hyperspace transfer times for Vaglass Megazords seem to depend on how soon the writers need it to appear. For example, the ShovelZord in Mission 1 took 3 minutes and 30 seconds to transfer. In Mission 3, the NeedleZord took 42 minutes to completely transfer. The TiaraZord takes over twenty hours to transport.
  • It should be noted however, that the slower transfer time was acknowledged in series. Also note that it was implied to be that the slower the transfer time, the less Enetron used in the process.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: The Fanzord managed to do this at Yoko in #11, unfortunately.
• Twin Switch: The Go-Busters take advantage of this in #12 with Yoko and Angie to smoke out the Metaroid.
• Twisted Christmas:
  • Messiah's first incursion into the human world 13 years ago happened on Christmas Day.
  • And it somehow happens again in #43 and #44, where Escape kills Enter, revives Messiah in the newly-minted Megazord Zeta, and comes pretty damn close to defeating the Go-Busters.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: #10. Nick can't find his way to Rika's exhibition, and tries hitchhiking...but gets ignored.
• Villainous Breakdown: Enter has a glorious one when his plan in #9 is utterly foiled.
• Visual Pun:
  • The debut of Beet Buster and Beet J Stag involves Kuroki searching all over and finding them up a tree - which is precisely where kids go to catch beetles in Japan.
  • #19. Spanneroid's ability to dismantle machinery instantaneously (including Buddyroids!) makes him a literal Spanner in the Works.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Hiromu and Yoko. They become less vitriolic as the series goes on however.
• The Watson: The newest support personnel, Miho Nakamura, has little to no knowledge of what the Vaglass are or even how the Go-Busters got their powers, and is in frequent need of explanation. Good thing too since if she didn't the viewers would have a hard time keeping up.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The same procedure that gave the Go-Busters their superpowers also gave each of them a weak point somehow relating to a Real Life computer problem:
  • Hiromu: When he panics, he completely freezes up. Even when in mid air, at which point he will be stuck floating. Chickens are the thing he fears the most (a phobia resulting from a childhood trauma and actually unrelated to his weakpoint), so more often than not it's the sight of a chicken, even a picture of one, that will freeze him up. While not as bad, yelling "chicken" at him will make him move like a rusted robot. The fast food chain KFC is known in Japan too, so his fear could be called a "Colonel panic", which would be a pun on Kernel panic, the Unix-variant of a Blue Screen of Death.
  • Ryuji: If he uses his Super-Strength too much, he will overheat, much like an overclocked computer. And when he overheats, he goes Ax-Crazy and starts lashing out at anyone nearby, friend or foe, until he either cools down or collapses.
  • Yoko: If she runs out of energy, she will stop moving. As a result, she has to eat sweets. Her weakpoint could be compared to a computer with a faulty battery.
    • Cursed with Awesome: Let's reiterate, she regenerates her powers by eating sweets. However, in practice, for a while it actually rendered her a Faux Action Girl, as she'd run out of power and fall on her face a few minutes into standard Ranger action and need to be rescued Once an Episode, in exchange for a "power" that's something every Ranger has (jumping is the standard method of Humongous Mecha entry, after all.) Lately, though, she's able to endure much longer.
• Wham Episode:
  • Mission 30: Messiah and Enter are gone! And with them, all the researchers, the Rangers' parents included, who'd been digitized. It's only episode 30, so clearly this can't stand, but we're given no kind of hint as to how it'll be reversed — the preview for the next episode is all about a Crossover with the new Space Sheriff Gavan and gives us nothing on where the Go-Busters' story goes from here.
  • Mission 33 then proceeds to be another one by revealing exactly where the Go-Busters' story goes from here. Enter's far more dangerous now that he's in charge instead of Messiah.
  • Mission 43 AND HOW! Escape steals 2 Messaiah cards, powering up Megazord Zeta, seemingly kills Enter by CRUSHING him to death, and then a Curb-Stomp Battle occurs where she blows away the Buster Machines with a single blast! All of this in a Christmas Episode no less!
  • Mission 46 has Enter return with Escape, revealing at the end of the episode that he can recreate her from a flower. He also turned J's pet stag beetle into a Metaroid. Yes. Enter can infect living beings, such as plants and animals, with Metaviruses!
  • Mission 47 finds yet another way to top the above, TWICE. 1) Enter found out Hiromu's weakpoint 2) How did he find out? ...After a Final Buster, even after getting vaporized and utterly annihilated along with the Messiah cards, he still respawns. His backup is stored in Hiromu, who is the receptacle for Card #13. Cue massive Oh, Crap!.
  • Mission 48 has Enter transforming into Dark Buster. Cue another massive Oh, Crap!.
  • Somehow the freakin' Grand Finale manages to do this with Jin deciding to destroy his original body to extract Card no.13 out of Hiromu's body, effectively killing any chance of reviving him in the real world. The others obviously do not take this well.
• Wham Line:
  • Two from Mission 28:
  Jin: They took the entire Enetron supply that I had in hyperspace! and one from
  Enter: My majesté, Messiah...Your evolution is at hand!"
  • [From Mission 47, Enter drops this massive bombshell:
  "Red Buster, you are my back-up. As long as you are alive, I will always revive!".^note The missing 13th Messiah Card is inside Hiromu]]
  • Mission 48:
  Enter: Let's...morphin'.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Everyone gets back together for Yoko's high school graduation party sometime after the finale, with Ryuji now an engineer, Hiromu and Nick back as a family with Rika, and J traveling the world and exploring (and guarding) nature.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The city in Japan where the EMC is based in is never specified.
• The Worf Effect: Despite all the training, the superhuman abilities, and the battles against the Vaglass, the core 3 Go-Busters are foiled by a mere cat burglar in #41.
• Wrestler in All of Us:
  • Ryuji's battle with the Dumbbellroid in Mission 20.
  • The entire premise in Mission 38, where Go-Buster Ace enters a Megazord deathmatch in an arena infected by the MOTW.
• Write Back to the Future: In Go-Busters vs. Gokaiger, Yoko, Beet J. Stag and Gai are trapped in the Edo era, and end up informing their friends left behind in the present of what happened by leaving a message with the Shiba clan which is kept in the family until the present.
• Writers Cannot Do Math:
  • In Mission 44, Enter mentions that Messiah came to power 13 years ago. It should really be 14 years ago as the series started with it being 13 years ago, almost a year has passed, and Christmas should mark 14 years.
  • Averted with Ryuji as the writers haven't forgotten that he celebrated a birthday some time during the series as Mission 45 mentions that he's 29 where he was previously 28 at the start of the series.
  • Also averted with Yoko, as she celebrated her 17th birthday in-series and the crossover movie with Kyoryuger mentioned that she was 18.
• You Are Not Alone: One of the recurring themes of Go-Busters throughout the series. Over and over again, the team reestablishes that none of them can go at the Vaglass alone no matter how hard they try, even if they don't want the others get involved.
• Your Mind Makes It Real: Candleroid's Psychological Torment Zone in #25. Ryuji hallucinates about zombies, and gets bite marks for real (he doesn't turn, though). Unless you count his Explosive Overclocking later.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Mission 44 ends with the Go-Busters successfully destroying Messiah once and for all, seemingly ending the threat and fulfilling their mission...but then at the last second, Enter returns, now able to fully assume his position as the True Final Boss.