Yamato Tribe Knight Burai

"DragonRanger~Burai!"

Burai was the son of the Black Knight, and the elder brother of Geki's, the TyrannoRanger. He was the DragonRanger, "Warrior of Power". He too was in suspended animation, but his cave was located outside of town. He was 32 years old, making him the eldest of the team, and was considered the strongest of the Zyurangers. He was resurrected by Gnome's grandson, Ryota, and attacked the Zyurangers, arrogantly calling himself a "Yamato Tribe Prince."

Biography
Burai was about seven years old when Geki was born. Their father, the Black Knight, was a prideful man who showed utter disrespect to his monarch, the Yamato King. The childless King, rather than executing him, penalized the Knight with his younger son, Geki, adopting the boy as his heir when Geki was a year old and Burai was eight. The Black Knight was unable to come to terms with this loss and led a rebellion to take back Geki only to be killed in a duel by the Yamato King. Burai, witnessing his father's death, swore revenge by stealing the Yamato Tribe's Dragon Armor treasure and vowed to kill the Yamato King, but when Bandora attacked and killed the Yamato King, Burai began to set his sights on Geki.

As the Dark DragonRanger
Burai trained every day of his life, living with Gnome and Ryota. His promise to his father was not the only thing he wanted: he also wanted to be a hero, to fight the monsters that were destroying their lands. Only he never had the chance. The war was over too quickly and the Yamato King was already dead by the time Burai was mature. Then later on, Geki and the others went into suspended animation. There was no other way to get revenge but to follow them.

There was nothing the Zyurangers could do but to befriend him, and Geki did his very best every chance he got. Burai, meanwhile, ran afowl with Witch Bandora. When he wouldn't work for her, she pointed out that he did not have the power to defeat the Zyurangers and told him she knew where a legendary sword, the Sword of Hellfriede, was, that would give him the strength he needed, and she sent him after it.

What Bandora did not mention was that the sword would drive its wielder crazy. Since Burai was so long in suspended animation, he was still not stable. And so he ended up working for her, growing increasingly insane under the influence of the evil sword. Geki tried to befriend Burai and refused to fight him. Daizyujin intervened to protect Geki and ordered him to kill Burai. When Geki refused, the god punished him. But his continued refusal only enabled Bandora to use Burai to deal the Zyurangers a devastating blow. She managed to trap the Guardian Beasts underground in lava.

Geki retreated in depression and Bandora and her followers partied on the moon. But Burai could not stand still and he attacked Bandora, meaning to take her power and rule the world. She threw him down to Earth and would have killed him if it wasn't for a tiny person in white (Spirit of Life Clotho), who dragged him off to a cave and told him it was his new home. She also told him that in 32 hours he would die. Burai's life-force was burning out, in the form of a green candle. As long as he stayed in this cave (Lapseless Room), time would not pass for him.

She also had a gift for him: a green dagger that doubled as a flute, Zyusouken. She told him if he went out and played it, something marvellous would happen. So she left him and he went out and played the dagger. Out of the depths of Tokyo Bay, out came the Dragon Caesar. Though Burai would soon die, he had his own Guardian Beast. He used Dragon Caesar to destroy the city. It attracted the attention of the Zyurangers and Bandora. She sent Grifforzer and Lamia-Scorpion down to fight Dragon Caesar. Barza used a combination of prayer and magic and managed to free the Guardian Beasts out of the lava hole. They lead Burai and Dragon Caesar out of the city, and Tyrannosaurus fought the newcomer by itself.

Too many helpless humans had died or merely been injured because he had let Burai run wild. Geki knew this and for the first time, he fought his best and defeated his brother, blasting him out of his armor. The Guardian Beasts formed Daizyujin, who punished Dragon Caesar for fighting against them, then demanded Geki finish off Burai. Burai was exhausted and unable to get to his feet. But instead, Geki stabbed his sword deep into the ground, stating he could not be made to murder his own brother, not matter what he had done, and turned and walked away.

As part of the ZyuRangers
Burai got a surge of mad energy, snatched up the Hellfriede Sword and went after Geki, as the others cried out. But Geki did not turn, only telling Burai to strike, who stumbled to a halt. In the continued silence, Geki asked Burai to strike if it would make Burai feel better. But Burai could not do it. When Geki turned, tears streaming down his cheeks, Burai's madness broke and he fell to his knees, begging his brother's forgiveness. Tears fell from his own eyes and touched the evil sword, which turned to dust. The Zyurangers welcomed him to their circle. Daizyujin demonstrated how it could join with Dragon Caesar now that they were together. But Burai disappeared, without explanation, as the Zyurangers did not know that Burai was imprisoned in the Lapsless Room.

For many adventures afterwards, Burai and Dragon Caesar would only show up if battles were too hard.

Eventually though, while dealing with Great Satan and Satan Franke, the others were sent to his cave and Clotho in white explained, despite Burai's protests, what was going on. It turned out that Burai's life was limited; his sleep chamber had caved in and crushed him, but Daizyujin had the Spirit of Life Clotho bring him back to life so he can be given the Zyusouken, as Dragon Caesar would be needed by the Zyurangers. Things were complicated by Geki's refusal to kill Burai, but now things would work out fine. He would die, and Daizyujin would still have Dragon Caesar. Though the god was happy, this arrangement did not suit Geki at all. He started to get antsy about Burai coming out of the cave and Bandora started to make certain that this would happen.

Eventually, Clotho appeared to warn the Zyurangers that Burai was down to 4 hours and the next time he came out of the cave would be the last. Meanwhile, Burai was having dreams, where in he would get in a rickshaw cart and the driver would tell him he was riding to the Land of the Dead. And there was a little boy waiting at the next stop. Bandora found Burai's cave and destroyed it, leaving him out in the cold with only 4 hours left. He set off to find the boy he was always dreaming about, and did. The kid, whose name was Kota Matsui, was a big fan of Dragon Caesar and was ecstatic to meet Burai.

Meanwhile, the other Zyurangers found out about the Water of Life. It was in a special fountain, and all you had to do was drink it and it would renew your lifeforce. Between Bandora's attacks and the time limit, they had to split up. Goushi and Dan went off to find the water. The others stayed to join Burai and fight Bandora's Dora Fake. Kota was injured by falling rubble and hospitalized. He was dying.

Burai knew it and left his medal in Kota's palm. They fought and at last defeated Dora Fake with Ultimate Daizyujin. But then, Burai vanished from the cockpit, to the dismay of Geki, Boi and Mei. Goushi and Dan made it to the water, fought their way past the Guardian and at last got the water, only to be informed that they were too late for Burai.

Geki, Boi, and Mei searched until they found him, lying as though dead on the beach. With his last few moments, he passed the Dragon Armor, Zyusouken and Dragon Caesar to Geki. His last words to Geki were to save the world and protect all children. With that, he died in his brother's arms; his body then vanished, and he fully departed for the afterlife. The Zyurangers gave the water to Kota instead, and he was fine, but wondered what had happened to Burai, whose medal vanished the moment he opened his hand. And Burai, riding on the road to the Land of the Dead, looked out and smiled when he saw that the stop Kota had been at was empty.

As a spirit
In the finale, Burai's spirit appeared before the Zyurangers to tell them that the Guardian Beasts were in Bandora's Magic Realm.

Return
Years later, DragonRanger somehow returned and fought alongside not only his own team, but every single Sentai ranger in existence, against the Empire of Zangyack when it attacked the Earth in the Great Legend War. After fighting against hundreds of Gormin and their Zgormin commanders. Kaijou noticed the fleet moving towards them, he gathered all the Rangers together and gave them the order to sacrifice their powers to wipe out the first invasion's armada. Given Burai's death, this could possibly be a successor.

Gokaiger

Burai is seen again in Gokaiger episode 17 "A Privateer Appears." Summoned by Basco Ta Jolokia, the DragonRanger fights and is defeated by GokaiBlue. Aside from the Gokaiger pilot, it his first scene of live-action fighting in 15 years.

Guardian Beast

 * Guardian Beast Dragon Caesar

Arsenal

 * Dragon Buckler
 * Dragon Armor
 * Zyusouken
 * Demon Sword Hellfriede

Trivia

 * Burai is the first regular sixth member of a Sentai team (X1 Mask only appeared in one episode).
 * The actor who played Burai, Shiro Izumi, had played another Sentai member before, that being Oozora Yuuma (a.k.a. ChangePegasus) in 1985's Dengeki Sentai Changeman.
 * Burai is the first known active sentai ranger above his 20s. Others include Riki/King Ranger, and Shirogane/Gao Silver who are at least 1000 years old, though both Riki and Shirogane are from ancient or prehistoric times just like Burai and the other Zyurangers, and unlike the other two, Burai's age did not change much like his fellow Zyurangers despite being in suspended animation in contrast to Riki and Shirogane

Also see

 * Tommy Oliver
 * Tom Oliver