Ep. 5: Scary Riddles

This article is about an episode in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger.

Ep. 5: Scary Riddles
Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, Episode 5
Air Date(s)	March 27, 1992
Production Information
Written by	Noboru Sugimura
Directed by	Tarou Sakamoto
Episode Guide
Previous	Ep. 4: Reawaken, Legendary Weapons
Next	Ep. 6: Arise! Daizyuzin

Scary Riddles (怖～いナゾナゾ, Kowai Nazonazo) is the fifth episode of Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. It is the first part of a two-part arc focusing on the Zyurangers' battle with Dora Sphinx.

Synopsis

The Zyuranger fall apart as they fight a strange Dora Monster who punishes those who get its riddles wrong.

Plot

As a boy runs to go home, he hears a strange laughter followed by a riddle: "If a horse turns to the right, where does her tail face?", being spoken by a man in a pharaoh headdress through a microphone forcing the boy to answer. The boy tries to answer stating that a tail always points down, which the man states is the correct answer, stating that he likes riddles. Teleporting in a strange throne with a clock on it, he introduces the boy as entering into the "ultimate riddle championship", with a prize of a trip around the world if you answer all of the riddles correctly; but will lose if you can't answer any of the riddles within 10 seconds. The riddle master begins:

-"What kind of 'air' flies in the air?" - An airplane.

-"What kind of wheel do you need to drive a car?" - A steering wheel.

-"Four in the morning, two in the afternoon, three in the evening, what am I?" - The boy incorrectly answers "a ghost", with the answer being "a human being"; a baby crawls on four, an adult walks on two legs and an old man walks with a cane, thus three.

With the last riddle failed, the strange man turns into a Dora Monster, Dora Sphinx, who blows towards the boy making him fly away as he laughs manically.

Returning to his form as the riddle master, he asks another boy "The tighter it gets, the hotter it is, what is it?", which he answers "a meat bun" with the answer as "a dog pile" leading to his expulsion.

Meanwhile in town, Dan and Boi are checking out a vibrant shopping area; Dan tries to hit on the girls as Boi pulls him away trying to tell him to return to the base with everyone worried; but Dan states that Bandora is probably too embarrassed to show up right now and they need to get out after 170 million years asleep before chasing more girls. At the same time, Geki appears to be staggering through a barren area, falling to the ground until Mei wakes him, revealing he was having a dream and moaning through it. Geki admits he keeps having the same dream with Mei admitting that he's tired and they've been fighting Bandora without rest since resurrecting. Asking where Dan and Boi are, Mei states they've been out for a while and calls them slackers until Goushi appears showing Bandora's already working on her next move, stating several incidents of six missing children recently and a monster sighted when it happened as well as children flying in the air.

At the Bandora Palace, the witch and her minions are dancing merrily with Dora Sphinx; the witch declares that since kids love riddles, that will be the means to their downfall. Bandora states this is because she kissed something, which Bookback asks what she kissed, leading to them stopping their dancing as she declares that she would kidnap many children for "Satan of Hell"; further declaring that as children suffer, adults will panic and humanity will be destroyed without any children. She further declares again her hatred of children; Pleprechaun asks why she hates children so much and if there's a reason behind it, making her shut her monster maker up before asking Dora Sphinx to trap more children with his riddles.

In a nearby park, Dan and Boi are on patrol watching children with Boi pointing out that the monster appeared around evening and that Geki and the other are watching the other playgrounds for it. Dan tries to get an excuse out due to getting a date with a girl from Harajuku and he had to call her, leaving Boi behind to continue the security watch. However as he leaves, all the children are gone as the riddle-master slides down a slide asking "there are five deep-fried tofu, a bird came and dropped one, how many are left?" Boi asks who he is with Dora Sphinx complaining that he thought he was a child. On the Moon, Bandora identifies him as a Zyuranger and to go after him leading to him repeating the question; Boi tries to shut him up for stealing the children but the Dora Monster continues to torment him with a countdown until it runs out, leading to the answer of "six", due to the bird dropping an extra tofu with the five; and leading to Dora Sphinx attempting to blow Tigerranger away. Dan rushes by seeing his teammate trapped as Boi is blown away.

Back at base, Dan blames himself for Boi's capture due to his selfishness; as Barza realizes that it is the Sphinx behind the strange riddles due to it eating anyone who got it's riddles wrong and Bandora making a Dora Monster based on it. Goushi asks how to defeat it, but Barza admits he doesn't know and that anyone who fails will be blown away as had happened prior; but Mei wonders how considering they can't just keep answering riddles over and over, plus Boi and the children being missing. Dan decides to answer a riddle wrong to find Boi and the children, but Geki tries to stop him wondering if he's trying to do more selfish things, making Triceraranger continue to blame himself for Boi's capture and Goushi worried that the Zyuranger are falling apart. However before chasing after him, Geki faints and begins to have another vision of the wasteland, falling down and wondering what's happening as a voice tells him to "hang in there" before Mei wakes him up and they decide to pursue Dan.

The three Zyuranger ride to search for Dan, but suddenly see him flying away due to Dora Sphinx, forcing the team to go after him. They arrive in a wooded area where they hear children yelling out for their lives. Listening to a tree, Geki realizes that Dora Sphinx has turned all his captives into trees, including Dan and Boi! The riddle master appears where he reveals that he turned them into trees and that they're still alive but that shortly the forest will be turned into a golf course, thus cutting the trees down; stating that adults don't care about children playgrounds but don't mind destroying nature for their own pleasure; thus they will kill their own children by their own hands. The Zyuranger try to attack Dora Sphinx but he moves again, stating the remaining trio are destined to become trees and killed by the same manner before starting another Riddle Championship to deal with them.

Entering into a stage with Tottopat and Bookback watching them, Dora Sphinx decides to make Mei the first contestant; Geki tells her to go far away so his voice won't reach her but she decides to face the Dora Monster head on as a platoon of Golems protect him. Geki and Goushi transform while Mei fights untransformed before joining them; with the Riddle Master noting the teamwork isn't in sync today. He thus begins his riddle challenge for Mei:

-"What kind of bird has double in the middle?"

Geki tells her to answer but she doesn't know the answer, making the guess of a "crow" but the answer being "an owl", leading to Mei being blown away into a tree. The riddle master next tries Goushi:

-"What do you twist without your hands?" - Your head -"What is convenient if you put it below but is in the way if you put it above?" - Goushi hits Tottopat while hesitating but answers "a desk pad" after time runs out, forcing Mammothranger into a tree.

With Geki alone, Dora Sphinx begins his challenge against him:

-"What kind of tree grows on your body?" - A palm tree

-"What kind of car is a wreck" - A junker

-"What kind of door is always in front of everything?" - A Front Door

-Then comes the hardest riddle: "Is it true there is no 'absolute' in the world?" - Geki hesitates before answering the answer is "absolute justice"; but Dora Sphinx responds it is "absolute evil".

The two argue until Dora Sphinx returns to his true form to shoot Tyrannoranger; the two attack between sword and staff until they leap into a quarry where they roll down and continue their battle where Geki is knocked to the ground until he kicks Dora Sphinx down. Bandora decides to help the Dora Monster by making it grow, forcing Geki to summon Tyrannosaurus to combat him. But before he can enter, the Guardian Beast zaps Geki with eye lasers, sending him into the desolate area from his dream, forcing him to stagger about into the wasteland.

Cast

• Geki (ゲキ, Geki): Yūta Mochizuki (望月 祐多, Mochizuki Yūta)
• Goushi (ゴウシ, Gōshi): Seiju Umon (右門 青寿, Umon Seiju)
• Dan (ダン, Dan): Hideki Fujiwara (藤原 秀樹, Fujiwara Hideki)
• Boi (ボーイ, Bōi): Takumi Hashimoto (橋本 巧, Hashimoto Takumi)
• Mei (メイ, Mei): Reiko Chiba (千葉 麗子, Chiba Reiko)
• Mysterious Sage Barza (不思議仙人バーザ, Fushigi Sennin Bāza): Jun Tatara (多々良 純, Tatara Jun)
• Witch Bandora (魔女バンドーラ, Majo Bandōra): Machiko Soga (曽我 町子, Soga Machiko)
• Totpat (トットパット, Tottopatto, Voice): Kaoru Shinoda (篠田 薫, Shinoda Kaoru)
• Bookback (ブックバック, Bukkubakku, Voice): Takeshi Watabe (渡部 猛, Watabe Takeshi)
• Grifforzar (グリフォーザー, Guriffōzā, Voice): Yoshimasa Chida (千田義正, Chida Yoshimasa)
• Pleprechuan (プリプリカン, Voice): Yutaka Ooyama (大山 豊, Ōyama Yutaka)

Guest Cast

• Dora Sphinx (ドーラスフィンクス, Dōra Sufinkusu): Isamu Ichikawa (市川勇, Ichikawa Isamu)
• Boy: Kosuke Yoshida (吉田晃介, Yoshida Kosuke), Shinji Uemura (上村真司, Uemura Shinji)

Notes

• Viewership: 7.8%

File:Zyu McDonalds.jpg

A McDonald's sign visible in downtown Tokyo.

• The riddle the first child fails with is the riddle of the Sphinx from the Greek legend of Oedipus:
  • Q.: What has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?
  • A.: Man (crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two as an adult, uses a cane to assist walking in old age)
• Several riddles changed between the original Japanese and Shout! Factory version:
  • "What sort of bird is black in the middle?", which the answer is "an owl" due to the Japanese word for "owl" being "fukurou", with kuro being the Japanese word for "black". In the Shout translation, the riddle is changed to "what sort of bird is double in the middle" referring to the letter w as the middle letter in "owl".
  • "What sort of tree is inside your body?", the answer being "Ginko" due to it being called "ichou", which is also a reading for "stomach"; this is changed to "What sort of tree grows on your body?" with the answer being "a palm tree" referring to the palm of a hand.
• A McDonald's sign is visible on the left side of the shot after the title card. The fast food chain would later become a sponsor of both Super Sentai and the Kamen Rider Series following their union in the Super Hero Time block.
• This episode features the first reference to Dai-Satan, Witch Bandora's master and the ultimate evil of the series. Bandora invokes his name here to gain his blessing for Dora Sphinx's operation.

DVD Releases

Zyuranger Volume 1, DVD cover

• Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger Volume 1 features episodes 1-10.
  

Zyuranger: The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)

• The complete Zyuranger series was released in North America by Shout! Factory in 2015.
  

See Also

• A Pressing Engagement - Power Rangers counterpart in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Season 1). See comparison page.