This article is about a villain/ranger in Gosei Sentai Dairanger. |
Iron Face Chouryou (鉄面臂張遼 Tetsumenpi Chōryō) was the original RyuuRanger who betrayed his team and joined the Gorma Tribe, becoming immortal. 20 years prior to the series, he fell in love with a human woman who gave birth to his son, Ryo of the Heavenly Fire Star. His namesake is Zhang Liao.
Biography
Early Life
Six thousand years before the start of the series, Chouryou led the first team of Dairangers against the Gorma and was the first pilot of RyuSeiOh. Lured by the promise of power and longevity, he became the Archbishop Saw's subordinate, and led his four teammates into a trap costing them their lives.
Slightly over 20 years before the start of the series, Chouryo met a woman and married her, hiding his true identity, and fathered Ryo and Yoko. Five years later, however, Chouryou was called back to the Gorma, and he faked his death, taking with him a photograph of his wife and children.
Despite knowing his past and who he was, Master Kaku did not reveal any of this to Ryo, the current day RyuuRanger, when Chouryou re-emerged.
Dairanger
Chouryou first appears when Archbishop Saw shows up to help Shadam, Gara, and Zydos take down the Dairangers, despite their protests. Zydos, aware of who Chouryou really was, attempts to kill him, only for Saw to strike him back. Saw then sends Chouryou to kill Master Kaku, and the iron face Gorma engaged the present day Dairangers, thoroughly beating them before capturing Daigo, Rin, and Kazu, leaving a beaten and traumatized Shoji to tell Kaku to meet Chouryou at 3 o'clock sharp, or else the three Dairangers would be killed.
Ryo, blaming himself for not showing up to the fight on time, volunteers to fight Chouryou, though Kaku locks him in a room and leaves to fight Chouryou himself. Upon arriving at the meeting place, the two engage in a stalemate battle before Ryo arrives and attempts to free his teammates, and Kaku, distracted by Ryo, takes several heavy blows and collapses. Ryo transforms and attempts to fight Chouryo, only to be stopped instantly. Preparing to kill Ryo, Chouryou raises his sword and brings it down, only for Kaku to reveal that Ryo is his son before he could strike him. Chouryou is left stunned and shocked at this revelation. TV STORY-Ep. 7: Traito-o-or!
Looking into Ryo's eyes and frozen in shock that he nearly killed his son and that he was a Dairanger, Chouryou silently walked away, leaving an equally shocked Ryo to watch.
Later, Ryo, unable to cope with the truth about his father, runs from the Dairanger's base and looks out over the ocean, asking his mother in spirit if all he found out was true. Chouryou, having come up behind him, tosses his photo of their family to Ryo, and the two confront each other. Expressing regret over leaving Ryo, Chouryou states that some day, the Gorma will rule over the world, and tells Ryo to leave the Dairangers. Ryo tells him that he will not, and Chouryou says that then the next time they meet, they will be enemies. As he turns to walk away, Ryo questions how the man who betrayed his allies for evil could fall in love and marry Ryo's mother, and, wearing an expression of pain and guilt, Chouryou silently disappears, leaving their family's photo to float into the river below.
Back at the Gorma's base, he is beaten by Saw for hesitating to kill Ryo just because he was his son, and Saw attacks the city to lure the Dairangers to him. When the Dairangers appear, he transports them to the first plane of Hell, and tells them he will kill the Dairangers in Chouryou's place. He summons Ryo's father and tells him to watch, and as the Dairanger's use Chi Bomber on him, Saw blows them away. He begins to torture Ryo as Chouryou painfully watches on before turning away, although Ryo begins to beg for his father's help.
Ryo's cries finally reignite Chouryou's once lost honor, and Chouryou screams his son's name before attacking Saw, striking him several times before stabbing him. Saw in turn engulfs him point blank with a flame breath, mortally wounding him, and Ryo runs to his father's side. Ryo removes his mask to look at his father's face, and begins to cry as Chouryou admits that even as a traitor, he could never give up his love, and that is why he married Ryo's mother. With a tear in his eye, Chouryou asks for forgiveness.
- "That was good, Ryo, my... beloved son."
- ―Chouryou’s final words to his son before his death[src]
Finally redeemed, the past four Dairangers appear before him and Ryo, and he asks them for forgiveness as well, to which they accept. Chouryou tells Ryo and the other Dairangers that the Lai-Lai Balls have great power and due to his betrayal his team never got a chance to use it, and he and the other past Dairangers pass them down to the present day team.
Chouryou takes one last look at Ryo before turning into energy and leaving to the afterlife with his team. TV STORY-Ep. 8: D-a-a-ad!!
RyuuRanger
Mythical Chi Beast
- Mythical Chi Beast RyuseiOh / Mythical Chi Warrior RyuseiOh
Arsenal
- DaiBuster
- Dairen Rod
- Naginata (assumed)
- Sekiryu Double Dragon Swords (assumed)
- Heavenly Treasure Lai-Lai Jewels
Dragon-Fist attacks
- Heavenly Fire Star Lightning Blaze Destruction (assumed)
- Heavenly Fire Star Blaze Destruction (assumed)
Other Chi and Yo Powers
Chouryou seemingly possess his own version of all the other Dairanger's Chi abilities, as well as Gorma's Yo abilities, using them to great effects, and even posses the ability to combine them into powerful attacks.
- Reverse Straight Line Tornado: A version of Rin's Heavenly Wind Star Straight Line Tornado.
- Reverse Gravity Destruction: A version of Shoji's Heavenly Gravity Star Inversion Wave.
- Great Exploding Earthquake: By combining his Chi and Yo powers, Chouryou can cause an earthquake that swallows his opponents.
- Flaming Hell: A Yo power that surrounds the target in flames before exploding.
Notes
- Although Iron Face Chouryou was unused in season two of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, his boots and armor parts were repainted silver and combined with a horned helmet-engraved head, a generic body, and the saw arm of Erik Barbaric to form Plague Patrol #3.
- Chouryou is the only past Dairanger whose name is revealed in the series.
- Chouryou's armor as a Gorma minion is based off of Chinese mountain-pattern soldier armor, just like Dairen'oh. His appearance thus foreshadows the mecha's debut.
- The waist skirt for Chouryou's armor is recycled from Burai's outfit, with a decorative lion head taking the place of the Dino Buckler holster.
- Chouryou and Kaku's fight is ironic, as Chouryou betrayed the Dairangers for the Gorma Tribe, Kaku (as seen much later in the series) betrayed the Gorma to make sure that the Dairangers lived on and defeated the Gorma. Despite their previous alliances, both became very proficient in the powers they once fought against (Kaku in Chi power, and Chouryou in Yo power).
- Chouryou's character is very similar to Brajira of the Messiah, the main villain of Tensou Sentai Goseiger:
- Both were traitorous Sentai Rangers (Brajira being implied to have been a Goseiger at one point) who betrayed their team for power and immortality.
- They both have the powers of their once-teammates, however, while it's unknown how Chouryuou obtained his teammates powers, Brajira killed his teammates and took them by force.
- However, Chouryuou ends up becoming good before death while Brajira remained evil until death.
- Chouryou and Ryo's story mirrors the story of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker of the Star Wars franchise in many ways. Chouryou, like Vader, joins the evil side (The Sith/Gorma) for power and immortality, and, upon finding out his son had joined the cause he once fought for (The Jedi/the Dairangers), attempted to have him join his cause. Both Luke and Ryo refused their offers, and upon their confrontation of their father's master (Darth Sidious/Archbishop Saw), they were tortured with lightning as they called for their father's help. Upon hearing their cries, Chouryou/Vader's good side finally returned, and they save their sons while sacrificing themselves. Both fathers then passed on to the afterlife with their allies from the good side, redeemed and forgiven.
- In the real-life history, Zhang Liao was a known warrior of Three Kingdom era who served under three different lords before serving Lü Bu. When Lü Bu surrendered, Zhang Liao swore his loyalties to Cao Cao, under whom his career skyrocketed. He is most famous for his battles at Hefei, successfully defending the castle with just a few hundred men. When he perished due to illness, Cao Cao's son and successor, Cao Pi wept for him. After his death, he has been lauded as one of the 5 Generals of Wei. His actual son in real-life history is Zhang Hu, instead of Ryo.
Appearances
- Gosei Sentai Dairanger
- Ep. 7: Traitooor!
- Ep. 8: Daaaad!! (death)
- Final Ep.: Let's Go! (archive footage only)
See Also
- Ryo of the Heavenly Fire Star - his son and successor as RyuuRanger.
- Ryo's grandson - his great-grandson and successor as RyuuRanger.