Bakuryuu Sentai AbaRanger (2003-2004)
Production: Toei Corporation
Episodes: 50
By Rangerhenshi

Introduction

In 2003, the 27th incarnation of the Super Sentai series premiered in Mid-February on Japanese television. For this show, they took a theme that was actually used back in 1992 for the series Kyoryu Sentai ZyuRanger, dinosaurs. But this was very different. It was updated in so many ways that it put the ZyuRanger actually to shame (although that show remains a classic). This series exploded in Japan and resulted in many amazing toys that kids jumped at the chance to buy. This awesome new sentai series was Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger.

The Story

Long ago, when the Earth was still young, a meteorite struck the great planet, splitting it into two different dimensions, the normal Earth and Dino Earth. The people on Dino Earth were called Ryuuji; on this Dino Earth, a new evil has risen named the Evorian. This evil force has taken all of the dinosaurs that are still alive on Dino Earth and revived them by making them into mechanic beasts, known as Bakuryuu, or Blast Dragons. There are warriors who get the powers of certain Bakuryuu, like Asuka, who is actually a Ryuujin known also as AbareBlack.

Soon though, the powers accidentally slip into present-day Japan as three giant dinosaurs, the tyrannosaurus, the triceratops, and the pteranodon, attack the city! During the chaos of their attack Asuka attempts to find the warriors of these dinosaurs, he needs them to tame the beasts. He fails once with an elderly man named Ryunosuke and a second time with a young girl named Emiri, then as all hope seems lost three young people start to hear voices that are crying for help: Ryouga Hakua – AbaRed, Yukito Sanjou – AbareBlue, and Ranru Itsuki – AbareYellow. After rushing to the rescue, they transform into the Abarangers, though Asuka can’t transform because his transformation key has been broken! But don’t worry, Ryunosuke and Emiri have taken Asuka and the others under their wings, letting them live with them at their dinosaur themed restaurant.

Later on a new evil rises, Mikoto Nakadai, a power hungry doctor who from the first time he saw the Bakuryuu was determined to own one, but when he finally did had one in Top Galer, he used his powers for evil, becoming AbareKiller, the most powerful Abaranger of them all….or at least so it seems.

AbareKiller terrorizes the Abarangers and Asuka strugglse with his transformation. But soon, even more problems appear as Asuka realizes that one of members of the Evorian, Jannu, is actually the woman he was to marry long ago on Dino Earth. Asuka must now try to convince her to come back to her original personality, Mahoro.

Now, with all these problems happening at once, it’s going to be an interesting battle…

Review

This series had tons of epic stories, such as the love story between Asuka and Mahoro/Jannu. Many people commonly mistake it as “idiotic” just because it’s very different from other Sentai series, which I disagree with. You should really watch the whole series before judging it as I too found it odd for the first few episodes but it really does grow on you as the story progresses.

They planned and wrote out the AbareKiller story very well. They took his evilness from episodes 18-48! It also helped that they had a great actor for AbareKiller! He played the part so well that I could actually believe Mikoto was a real psycho doctor and I was just a passerby, watching him.

The other characters were also amazing. Ryouga had just inherited a niece whose parents had recently died in a car accident. Ranru is the girl who gave up a career in singing to pursue her real dream: becoming a mechanic and Yukito is the chiropractor who does such great work that he gets paid a lot for it. These three saw a lot of hard times such as Ryouga and Yukito switching bodies or just Yukito being his normal jerky self, where he just ignored everyone around him, doing everything his own way. There was even a time when Ranru almost got herself killed just to get a bracelet that Mahoro gave to Asuka long ago.

I watched this series as it was airing on television, though I made the mistake of not following it after I watched the first 12 episodes. I didn’t pick it back up until the mid-30s. I found the series a little bit odd. Unfortunately for me, I can never hate a Sentai series and I have to see it as a whole if I can get my hands on it. So, after a few months I said, “I need to watch this series!”, so I watched about 10 episodes a day. Boy, was I surprised at how amazing the show as a whole was.

The introduction to AbareMax, AbaRed’s power-up, amazing one although it was stretched out for a few episodes. But when the power-up finally appeared in the series, after much anticipation, it was amazing! The suit was so powerful, with a sword/shield type weapon, that he used to send the enemy into another dimension, where he finished them off. It was very interesting to see this against a Christmas-themed Evorian. It was also a great idea to use another dinosaur for the power-up, the Styracosaurus.

There were also tons of hilarious moments like when Yukito dressed up like a girl to get his friends back, but there were also a ton of serious ones also, like when Asuka sacrificed himself for his lover, Mahoro, ridding her body of the legendary armor and getting it attached to his own body, making him extremely evil.

Conclusion

If you are a true Sentai fan, you definitely need to get your hands on Abaranger. If you like goofy Sentai series, this is the one for you. If you like a serious series, this is also for you. This series has something for everyone. Though, many people only see the goofy parts as stupid, and they tend to not even notice the amazing stories within the goofiness. I mean, what good would be a series if it was serious all the time? Don’t let the dancing patrollers fool you either, this is an awesome show that should not, nay I say, shall not, be forgotten. In the words of the Abarangers, “Bakuryuu Change!”

Rangerhenshi