Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

YMMV / Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger

Go To

  • Accidental Innuendo: #16 has some unintentionally suggestive lines thanks to its Body Swap premise. Even in a somber moment in the episode, we get this:
    Touma (in Gangler’s body): My body or not, don’t hold back.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Goodie a Cloudcuckoolander who doesn't understand both sides see him as a traitor? Is he the only one who actually focus on fighting Ganglers, willing to work with all Rangers for this cause, using Obfuscating Stupidity to make them work together? Or is he only interested in protecting the collection and looking for thrills?
    • Zamigo turning down Dogranio's offer to be the boss. Did he just want to operate on his own or did he believe that the Ganglers, and by that respect Dogranio, became complacent that he didn't want to lead an organization that kept getting defeated by the cops and the thieves?
    • Noel says that the Global Police had sent the collection pieces they had from France to Japan on accident. Was it an accident or did he want to allow the Police to combat the Gangler threat as well seeing as he wanted to unite both teams?
  • Awesome Music:
    • The opening. It doesn't even sound like something you'd hear in Sentai, but it works tremendously. Both tracks on their own are fantastic, but together? Astronomical.
    • "Grieving Collection" by Yohei Onishi is a decidely more somber tune likely from Kairi's point of view, and it perfectly portrays his thoughts on his tragic past and his determination to get it back.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In the VS Kyuranger team-up movie, Misao Mondo/Zyuoh The World shows up out of nowhere for the climatic battle, insisting he needs no reason to join them, shortly before activating his Great Instinct Awakened form and running off and out of the battle just barely after the fight started. Everyone was speechless.
  • Broken Base: To say that fans were divided on the quality of the series would be a massive understatement. On one hand, you have the camp that believes that the series was fine, with its plot being the biggest and most major flaw. On the other hand, you have the camp that believes that the series is blatantly awful due to its unbalanced focus on the two teams, heavily underdeveloped villains, tons of filler episodes, and so on and so forth, along with the aforementioned plot issue. However, the general consensus among the fandom seems to be that the series had incredible writing when it came to the characters (especially with Kairi and Keiichiro), the action is some of the best the series has seen, and the music is fantastic, but the plot was admittedly very thin in that aspect and the imbalance between the two team cast.
  • Catharsis Factor: Patrangers fans found it rather satisfying when Tsukasa used the Lupinrangers as part of her plan to learn the bomb location from the MOTW.
  • Complete Monster: Zamigo Delma, introduced by freezing and seemingly killing multiple innocents, became the Lupinrangers' most hated enemy due to their loved ones being among his victims. Serving the Interdimensional Crime Group Gangler as an informant on the human world, Zamigo fed information to various Ganglers to aid them in their criminal activities. Though his freezing ability didn't actually kill the people he abducted, he murdered several of them and turned them into human disguises to provide to other Ganglers, uncaring if they're used to hurt billions of lives. Throughout the series, Zamigo has supplied lucky charms that turn multiple victims into plants; sent a spy disguised as the Patrangers' old friend to frame and kill Noel Takao; held the Lupinrangers' loved ones hostage to force Kairi to duel him; and had his boss Dogranio Yaboon trap him and the Lupinrangers in his safe so his battle with them can continue uninterrupted. An utter Sadist who's motivated purely by his own entertainment, Zamigo is willing to backstab his own allies and even threaten his boss just to keep toying with Lupin Red, with both teams holding him responsible for the suffering of many people as a result of his role in the crimes committed by the Ganglers.
  • Crossover Ship: Tsukasa gets paired with Canalo in the annual VS crossover movie with Ryusoulger. Of course, this being Canalo this doesn’t last long.
  • Designated Monkey: Some feel that the Patrangers status as comedic Butt-Monkey has gone too far since they have been denied the same cool action as the Lupinrangers and feels that the Patrangers should also have cool action for being also one of the heroic teams.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Episode 45's Gangler, who wants to force people to eat salmon instead of chicken at Christmas time, instantly became this in the Japanese tokusatsu fandom, with the hashtag #EatSalmonOnChristmas quickly trending on Twitter after the episode's premiere. He actually became so popular, that every single Super Sentai Christmas Episode afterward features some kind of an appearance by a salmon as a tribute to him.
  • Epileptic Trees: The reveal of the ~GIRLFRIENDS ARMY~ Hyper Battle DVD with Umika and Tsukasa as the only main characters made several fans assume that the special will feature any possible Yuri interaction between the two.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • The series name has been shortened to "LupaPato" in Japan. For English-speaking fandoms, it gets further simplified to "LuPat" or "LvP".
    • The crossover movie with Kyuranger, Lupinranger VS Patranger VS Kyuranger, was similarly shortened to "LupaPatoKyu" in Japan.
    • Concerning Lupin-Pat pairs, Kairi and Keiichiro are known as "W Red”, Umika and Tsukasa are known as "W Heroine", and Touma and Sakuya are known as "W Leotard". You can thank episode 27 for that one.note 
  • Friendly Fandoms: Take a wild guess at why Persona 5 fans are also a fan of this series.
  • Foe Yay Shipping: Sakuya has a crush on Umika, though he doesn't know she's his enemy Lupin Yellow. Episode 45 onwards hint that Umika is starting to return his feelings.
  • Genius Bonus: “Herlock Sholmes” being the villain of the summer film seems like a funny-sounding Spoonerism for most, but this was actually how the enemy of Arsène Lupin himself was named due to legal conflict between the authors of Arsène Lupin and Sherlock Holmes, much like the conflict between the Lupinrangers and Patorangers.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Ho Yay: Kairi and Keiichiro get a lot of this. It also doubles as a case of Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading, as staff members have described their relationship to be “brotherly” in the past. Noel wooing over how much of a "nice team" they make (and their immediate denial) in episode 32 can be interpreted as something else. Even their own actors got in on it, they actually kiss in the stage play and thus it soared higher than it already had.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Kairi/Lupin Red is this. He's most of the time pretty cold, abrasive and even downright cynical for the Patrarangers' genuine commitment on defending the weak, even if Keichiiro himself treats him nicely...but this all stemmed for his own anger over the fact he wasn't able to keep up with his brother who was a genuiely good man, got raised by him after his parents died and then indirectly got him killed from Zamigo's attack. Is it any wonder why he's so bitter over the course of the series as of recently?
  • Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: The Ganglers are utterly despicable but still generally fun to watch. #19's Shinta Yanagami is not, and the fact that he gets away with his antics scot-free does little to improve his standing to fans.
  • LGBT Fanbase: Largely thanks to episode 13 and the ~GIRLFRIENDS ARMY~ special featuring Umika and Tsukasa, Kairi and Keiichiro’s integral relationship development and their ad-libbed kiss in the final live tour, and the queer interpretations of Noël’s character, the season gained notoriety among LGBT+ fans. Initially airing alongside Kamen Rider Build, which is laden with similar subtext, likely aided this.
  • Moral Event Horizon: See examples here.
  • Most Wonderful Sound:
    • "LUPINRANGER~" and “PATRANGER!"
      • "LUPIN/PATREN X!"
    • Honestly, pick a sound the VS Changer makes and it probably counts.
    • The music that plays when Gauche appears to make the monster grow.
    • Lupinranger's jazzy fight tune is an amazing piece.
    • The Hot-Blooded Punctuated! For! Emphasis! marching chants the Trigger Machines make when made giant are ridiculously catchy.
      Trigger Machine 1gō: Hear! The! Engines! Roar! note 
      Trigger Machine 2gō: 100! Shots! 100! Hits! note 
      Trigger Machine 3gō: Wild! Attacks! Wild! Impacts! note 
      Trigger Machine Biker: Ride! Fast! And! Free! note 
      Trigger Machine Crane: Extend! Out! Retract! In! note 
      Trigger Machine Drill: Pierce! Through! One! Point! note 
      Trigger Machine Splash: Rushing! Flow! Douses! Flames! note 
      Good Striker (Trigger Machine): One! Shot! To! Victory! note 
      X-Train Thunder: As! Fast! As! Lightning! note 
      Siren Striker: Brave! As! Can! Be! note 
    • The hammy airhorn with the announcement of the Dial Fighters will get stuck in your head for a while.
      Red Dial Fighter: R-R-R-RED!
      Blue Dial Fighter: B-B-B-BLUE!
      Yellow Dial Fighter: Y-Y-Y-YELLOW!
      Cyclone Dial Fighter: C-C-C-CYCLONE!
      Scissors Dial Fighter: S-S-S-SCISSORS!
      Blade Dial Fighter: B-B-B-BLADE!
      Hammer Dial Fighter: HA-HA-HA-HAMMER!
      Magic Dial Fighter: MA-MA-MA-MAGIC!
      Good Striker (Dial Fighter): G-G-G-GOOD!
      Jackpot Striker: J-J-J-JACKPOT!
      X-Train Fire: F-F-F-FIRE!
      VictoryStriker: V-V-V-VICTORY!
    • The entire chant that Noël's X-Trains Gold and Silver have combine both the Trigger Machine chants and the Dial Fighter's announcement.
      X-Train Gold/Silver: All Clear In Front! Signal Clear! Ready to Move Out! All Aboard! X-X-X-X! note 
  • Narm Charm:
    • Gauche Lu Medo was intended to emulate Naria from Zyuohger or Insarn from Gokaiger, down to the Make My Monster Grow role, but while those characters (heck, all the dark chick types) were designed with feminine lips, Gauche has cartoonishly huge lips similar to Akkyanba from Kyuranger, while lacking the latter's Design Student's Orgasm aesthetic, resulting in a very unique design that helps her to stand out. Her theme also helps Gauche stand out thanks to it being insanely creepy as well as stylish.
    • The sounds the Dial Fighters make when made giant, mostly due to the rather memetic airhorn that accompanies them. It's so goofy it loops around into being charming.
  • Never Live It Down: Both In-Universe and out, Touma's dance from Episode 27.
  • Newer Than They Think: Although there have been other series with more than one team, this season is the first to have two heroic teams at the beginning, in other cases they were either sub-teams (i.e., The Gouraigers, Go-On Wings) or Psycho Rangers (i.e., Flowery Kunoichi Team, Jaden Sentai Neziranger).
  • Older Than They Think:
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: One of the most triumphant examples in recent Sentai history; Keiichiro. Not that there was anything too bad about him, but his early attitude and mannerisms didn't exactly help endear him to fans. His Jerkass, Inspector Javert tendencies have been toned down considerably, and while he's yet to fully abandon his Black-and-White Morality, he's had several scenes showing a kinder, nobler side. It helps that Tsukasa gave him a much needed reality check in episode 6. And then Episodes 14 and 15 showed how truly badass he really is. Episode 30 adds more to this and by the end of the series, he's won over almost everyone, becoming one of the best characters in the series, if not one of the best Reds in Super Sentai history.
  • The Scrappy: GSPO senior official Shinta Yanagami in #19. A Jerkass Obstructive Bureaucrat with Skewed Priorities, Bad Boss habits, more incompetence than his employees in the little screentime we see of him and little to no repercussions for his actions. Safe to say, he's one of the franchise's most widely hated characters, and unlike the Ganglers his character has little to no entertainment value.
  • Strangled by the Red String: The Sakuya x Umika love line falls into this for a portion of the Western fandom. Umika doesn’t exhibit romantic interest in Sakuya for much of the series, making her actions in episode 46 and onwards seem forced in the eyes of the fandom. On the other hand, some fans dropped the pairing upon the revelation that Sakuya was a flirt prior to meeting Umika, and others dislike how Sakuya pursues Umika without regard for her feelings. There are also those who think said love line was detrimental for showing Sakuya as a character in his own right. Then again, the love line has never been the main focus and inconsistent characterization is a common criticism of the show.
  • Strawman Has a Point: Despite Keiichirō's over-the-top anger towards the Lupinrangers, his argument about them prioritizing the Lupin Collection over defeating the Ganglers is valid. For the most part, other than Lymon and his ability to regenerate, the Patrangers haven't really struggled against the Ganglers. It's when the Lupinrangers jump in and extend the fight to where the Ganglers can take advantage of the chaos and their Collection piece to turn the tides or get away that proves Keiichirō's point. The best example, which ironically doesn't involve both teams clashing, is the Crane/Drill arc where the Lupinrangers allowed the Gangler to get away which lead to a sneak attack on the Patrangers and a mass shooting the following episode - all for a casually tossed Collection piece. Lampshaded in Episode 32. Keiichirō refuses to team up with the Lupinrangers, saying that they've let many Ganglers go after stealing their Collection piece.
    • This extends to Noël where in they had to go behind his back to retrieve the Trigger Machine Splash. There wouldn't have been any reason for it if Noël hadn't given the Lupinrangers the Magic Dial Fighter which he gave the dry explanation of, that the Patrangers had a bad match up with it.
    • Furthermore, in Episode 33 it is shown that even after Keiichiro; knows something is obviously up, Noël still acts like he knows nothing, which doesn't really help in the slightest. If they can't even trust Noël, how can they trust the Lupins?
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • A number of Trigger Machines (particularly those obtained by the Lupins first, such as Splash and Siren Striker) had the fact that they had functioning triggers ignored; When the Lupins use them, they are flipped to the top of the VS Changer like any other Dial Fighter, however when eventually used by the Patrangers they follow suit and flip them to the top as well, despite having no specific reason to disregard the use of their triggers.
    • The Crane & Drill Keisatsu Boost is heavily underutilized since it was used only a total of 3 times in the show and even then it was only used as a finisher instead of an armament to fight with like the weapons the Lupinrangers used which also appeared more since they were used pretty much used in every battle after they were acquired. Not helping the matters is that Toei used a crane as the weapon of another hero in one of their series. Also problematic is the Boost itself, while the Scissors & Blade Boost produced a reasonable Shield and Boomerang combo, the Crane, as in the vehicle itself and not something made to resemble it like the Scissors Boost, literally sticks itself onto the arm of the user, forcing the user to hold on to the crane with both hands while the Drill is at the end of said crane and the user just awkwardly swings it around. The idea was probably to make the Crane a gauntlet with an extending attachment and using the Drill like a sword in which they could attach it to perform a drill punch finisher. But instead feels too impractical to use, even as a finisher.
    • Splash never got a chance to be used by the Patrangers, but instead is relegated into a part of the Lupinrangers arsenal. It would have been interesting to see the Patrangers use Splash themselves.
    • And, as it has been noted, the Patrangers themselves. Imagine if they'd been truly equal to the Lupins with Both Sides Have a Point done better. As it is, the Lupins are the main characters with the Pats in their way, though the Pats do get their moments. Also, all of the vehicles past a certain (early) point go to the Lupins, even when they clearly have triggers or are based on emergency vehicles (so likely planned for the Patrangers in the early stages of writing.) Also, the decision to give the Lupins all the extra Megazord centerpiece vehicles, including Siren Striker, instead of maybe letting the Pats have one of those robs us of a mech-on-mech battle.
      • In the same token Noel doesn't take advantage of the double agent gimmick he was given to its fullest extent. While it seems like he has his own agenda, all that really shows is that he favors the Lupinrangers due to his affiliation but becomes buddy buddy with the Patrangers and nothing else is really done about this. It seems like it was going somewhere when he was accused of leaking information and when Gauche scanned him not to be human, it could have hinted to being something else, but nothing comes off of it other than another repeat of the Lupinrangers' goals.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
    • At the end of #34, Kogure muses at the fact that Kairi is the only one to succeed in inheriting the Lupin Magnum from Arsène Lupin, and wonders if he has further potential as The Chosen One. This plot point was never raised again for the rest of the series. In a similar vein is what would happen to Kairi after he managed to achieve his goal of saving his brother, because unlike his Umika or Touma, he doesn't have any true talents or skills besides his skills as a thief that would allow him to function in society.
    • After all the hype about the Collection's power during the entire series, it was never revealed if the Collection could resurrect the dead or if anything would happen at all, but instead the series ends with both teams continuing to fight for the collection.
      • Adding to this was the fact that Arsène Lupin was mentioned to have once made a wish upon completing the collection himself, but it was never revealed what that wish was.
    • The promise between the Lupinrangers that they will keep fighting for their ambition even if the others fall is never really that much addressed in the series and is more or less an Informed Attribute since they pretty much fight like any other Sentai team by fighting together and helping or saving each other in battle while also being close in real life. It would have been interesting to see them fight more recklessly without any care for their teammates which could have been a nice contrast with the Patranger who fight together as a unit. Then again, considering that Kairi keeps trying to put himself in harms way to save other, even for the Patrangers, that might have been the point.
    • As stated several times, the rival teams aspect isn't as utilized as it should have been. While the interactions between the teams have been fine with varying results, we don't really see the true rivalry between the two teams other than their methods and goals, especially since the ranger vs ranger fights have been very well received when they happened. What we probably needed was a final showdown between the two teams to reaffirm their stances and motivations.
    • Former Toku Reviewer Des Shinta explains here that the show's biggest failure is its inability to recognize that, despite being "thieves," the Lupinrangers are actually contractors performing a legitimate service (the recovery of the Lupin Collection for its true owners) who only take the motifs of thieves, and their only "crimes" are making the police look useless and resisting unlawful arrest. Toei playing up the rivalry between the teams failed disastrously when even kids realized the Patrangers were in the wrong.
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: In just about seven episodes, we've had people getting their organs harvested, people being sold on the black market, and in one episode there's the implication that at least one group of people were eaten and dissolved within the episode's villain. And we're intentionally ignoring the ice based Serial Killer, because his crimes are the most mundane. What we're saying is that it sucks to be a civilian in this world, which is ironic, because it has two Sentai to protect it. And then Episode 11 follows all this up with......multiple on-screen crotch-grabbings, of all things. By both gender.
  • Win Back the Crowd: Lupinranger VS Patranger attempted to achieve this, as while Kyuranger was an improvement on the sales numbers of the previous years, it still underperformed Toei's sales projections, leading to speculation that the Super Sentai brand might be in danger if the next show couldn't right the ship. Unfortunately, it becomes an Acclaimed Flop in terms of toy sales, while in terms of the show itself, it was better received than the aforementioned Kyuranger, in which this show became nominated for a Galaxy Award.

Alternative Title(s): Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger Vs Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top