Armored Hero Ryu-O (装甲勇者竜王 Sōkōyūsha Ryū-Ō), also known as Dragon Swordsman Ryu-O (竜剣士竜王Ryūkenshi Ryū-Ō) is an animated tokusatsu series based on Teletoon's Camp Lakebottom and Madan Senki Ryukendo. It is the first installment in the Cartoon Heroes franchise.
Plot[]
Hundreds of centuries ago, an evil race of demons known as the Jajima terrorized the Earth and its population. Led by their ruthless king, Blood Moon, the Jajima and their servants caused havoc and misery wherever they went, not hesitating to eliminate anyone in their way. However, 6 brave warriors called Maten Knights rose up against the demons, and led by their leader, Dragon Swordsman Ryu-O, banished them all to their homeworld, the Nether Realm, where they would rest forever. Unfortunately, by doing so, they lost their lives, and their weapons, the DaiTenZyu, were scattered all over the world. One of them, Ryu-O's sword/partner/henshin device Dairyuoh, landed on the grounds which would become Camp Lakebottom, and then went into slumber for many centuries, until a worthy person could be found to become the next Ryu-O.
Now, in the present day, the Jajima have amassed their forces while trapped in the Nether Realm, and to escape from their prison and revive their now in-slumber leader, they decide to send out their Darkness Beast servants to collect Nega Energy (negative emotions) from the human population; the more Nega Energy collected, the weaker the barrier that seals off the Nether Realm from Earth will become, and the stronger Blood Moon will become.
Characters[]
Maten Knights[]
The Maten (Magical Heaven) Knights are t
Jajima[]
The Jajima (translated in English as Wicked Hell Demons) are an ancient race of demons who seek to cause suffering to humanity. Their main purpose is to collect Nega Energy (negative emotions like sadness, anger, fear, misery, pain, resent, hatred, guilt, etc..) from humans so they can revive their leader: Daimaou (Great Demon King) Blood Moon.
Darkness Beasts[]
The Darkness Beasts (translated in Japanese as Yamiju) are the servants of the Jajima, who are either created with the Power Switches, or are living demons. After almost all the Power Switches in the Jajima's possession were retaken by the Maten Knights, the remaining Darkness Beasts were reduced to just the living demon variety, with several exceptions. They come in a variety of sizes, ranging from small-sized demons to gigantic kaiju-like demons. The human-sized variants are capable of speech and disguising themselves as humans, with a few exceptions, while the small-sized and giant-sized demons are incapable of speech, instead speaking in wails, hisses, moans, growls and grunts, with only about 6 to 8 being capable of speech.
- Darkness Beast Reptearer (1): A reptillian/insectoid-like Darkness Beast capable of leaping long distances. In addition to that ability, it could also extend its tongue, breathe fire, strike victims with its powerful legs, see in multiple directions and had an armored upper body which was nearly impervious to attack. Sent to eliminate Cameron (Gami-O), it overwhelmed and defeated him, but was soon confronted by and the newly found Dairyuoh, and was eventually destroyed when the latter (as Ryu-O) used the Dairyuoh Hyper Slash to cut it in half from its underside, which was also its weak spot. From that battle, McGee gained the Fire Switch.
- Darkness Beast Ghoulem (2): A stone golem/ghoul-like Darkness Beast with the ability to either make its body as hard as stone so it can withstand attacks, or super soft so they can just pass through its body as if it wasn't there. It targeted , and was about to eat them when
- Darkness Beast Macoda (3): A computer-like Darkness Beast scientist tasked to defeat Ryu-O and Gami-O after Ghoulem's failure. Sending a copy of himself to analyse the two warriors' moves, Macoda continued to transfer the data into himself until the copy was destroyed by Ryu-O's Dairyuoh Fire Slash. After the copy was destroyed, Macoda then attacked both of them the next day, severely injuring Ryu-O/McGee and shattering Cameron's confidence. But thanks to some advice from Daigaoh, he was able to regain it
- Darkness Beast Tentomajin (4): A loud-mouthed and arrogant ladybug-like Darkness Beast with a near-unbreakable body armor. Sent to eliminate both Ryu-O and Gami-O, Tentomajin was initially a very hard opponent to face, as he shrugged of a number of their slashes and shots, and even withstood both their finishing attacks, sending them both retreating. However, Tentomajin's overconfidence proved to be his undoing, as his armor was broken by Ryu-O's Maten Knuckle Spark in the second round, and was soon destroyed by Gami-O's Daigaoh Blaster Shot. From that battle, McGee gained the then-unnamed Rumble Switch.
- Darkness Beast Mazereign (5): A gigantic maze-like Darkness Beast who could teleport her indecisive victims into her maze-like stomach, chasing the victims with her small human-sized aspect. After transporting and to her "maze", Cameron decided to go and rescue them. Mazereign's human-sized aspect was unexpectedly defeated by Squirt, while the actual Mazereign was destroyed by Gami-O's new Daigaoh Burster Shot finisher.
- Wisps (6): Small but ferocious demons resembling the Tooth Fairies from Hellboy. The Wisps attacked their victims by swarming them alive, eating almost everything but their teeth, which they would take as trophies. After an initial battle in which both
- Darkness Beast Arijigoku (7-8): A gigantic antlion like Darkness Beast that dug giant funnel-like pits to trap potential victims inside to feed on. It was apparently destroyed by Gami-O with the Daigaoh Burster Shot, but its remains were later revived by the then unseen/unnamed Baron Blasphel as Arijigokuloid, a humanoid robot/antlion-like beast armed with weapons on his body, and a staff that could be used for combat, either as a staff, or to shoot lasers, or to summon antlions in the pits it trapped its victims in to eat them alive. After overwhelming Gami-O, it then proceeded to fight Ryu-O, but was soon destroyed by Ryu-O's new move: the Dairyuoh Rumble Slash.
- Darkness Beast Ekado (9): A playing-card themed Darkness Beast who could use card decks in his attacks. Assuming the form of a con-man,
- Darkness Beast Nocturna
- Darkness Beast Terrorsoar
- Darkness Beast Vener
- Darkness Beast Kowagaraa
- Flesh Rippers
- Darkness Beast Rag Doll
- Darkness Beast Geldis
- Darkness Beast Machineloid
- Zombust : Initially the formless demon known as Darkness Beast Noname,
- Darkness Beast Nuckelavee : A ruthless and ps
- a
- Darkness Beast Karasunaipa
- Giga Balloon:
- Darkness Beast Tsukurage:
- Darkness Beast Death Scorpion:
- Darkness Beast Dezair:
- Darkness Beast Starcon
- Darkness Beast Neverend
- Darkness Beast Big Burpy
- Copier:
- Darkness Beast Textface
- Darkness Beast Leech
- Darkness Beast
- Darkness Beast Beaker
- Darkness Beast Harpoon
- Darkness Beast Glob
- Darkness Beast Kinokomori
- Darkness Beast Pierce:
- Darkness Beast Flipper
- Darkness Beast Joyride
- Darkness Beast Goldie
- Magic House
- Utokkunagi
- Darkness Beast RipperJack
- Steaming Pot
- Darkness Beast Mangacon
- Darkness Beast Lunaro
- Suzumebachi
- Darkness Beast Necroblivio
- Armageddon Satellite Blood Star
- Darkness Beast Jelly Belly
- Formics
- Blood Knight
- Darkness Beast Despairia
- Darkness Beast Ashtark
- Enemoon
- Darkness Beast Puropuru
- Darkness Beast Ganesha
- Darkness Beast Convexia
- Darkness Beast Vase: A vase-like Darkness Beast who used the vase-like hole on his body to capture objects of sentimental value to the person who owns said object (s).
- Gunnertron
- Jajima Xtremis
Grunts[]
- Yaminin (闇忍 Yaminin): The ninja-themed infantry used mainly as cannon fodder.
Episodes[]
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
- a
Trivia[]
- This series takes place a year after the events of Camp Lakebottom.
- Except for Suzuma/Suzi, Dokuro and Geistro, all of the villains are homages to their Ryukendo counterparts; i.e. Jigore is a homage to Jack Moon, Dr. Mukade is a homage to Dr. Worm, Tanken is a homage to Rock Crimson, Lady Garudia is a homage to Lady Gold, Baron Blasphel is a homage to Baron Bloody and Blood Moon is a homage to GrenGhost himself.