Headscratchers / Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger

• It's stated that one of the reasons this show is "not for kids" is because it depicts the Super Sentai series as fiction, and not real superheroes actually out there fighting evil. But, how does that match up with the actual Super Sentai series? Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters takes place in 2012 of a new calendar system which we currently don't use. Obviously it's supposed to take place in the future, so...how does that help kids to think there are actual superheroes right now? At least Mirai Sentai Timeranger mostly took place in the present.
  • Go-Busters is actually set in a different continuity to Gokaiger, hence the Neo 2012 dating. It's a parallel universe, not the future.
    • If so, it should probably be explained in the movie. It doesn't make sense just to easily meet up on each other if they are, let alone all the Super Sentais, come from different universes.
    • Gokaiger takes place in the VS Sentai universe, so everything is ok.
  • The Problem is Akibaranger is going around pointing out all of Sentais Tropes, that's why it breaks the illusion to kids
    • Episode three involves heavy drinking, the monster of the week looking up Aoyagi's skirt, Moegi being a Yaoi Fangirl, and Ho Yay that's practically soft-core porn. Definitely not for kids.
    • Hell, even earlier than that, in episode 2 we got a bunch of naked men covered only in bubble-sticker-panels, as well as Malshiina in the same position, but also shown from the back.
    • As well as in S2E10, what looked like General Pain and Malshina having sex under the covers.
• How come AkibaYellow isn't getting her own Inordinate Power? Red gained two (Dekaranger and Jetman) and Blue gained one (Boukenger) so... I can understand the Law of Chromatic Superiority in Red's case, but it seems a little unfair considering what little time the show has left.
  • They don’t each have their own Inordinate Power. In episode eight Yumeria summons the Deka Cuffs when they each have one. Also in episode nine we see Nobuo use all three of them. They can all share the powers.
    • I know they can share them, it's just the fact that Yumeria didn't have her own Red Ranger episode to get one from that bothers me.
    • Okay, let's see, Akagi is a MAJOR Sentai fanboy so naturally he'd delude some up the most. Then Mitsuki's power came from starting to appreciate Sentai, so she gets one there. Yumeria seems to be a casual fan at best, so she probably wasn't a deluded enough fan to do so. Let's just say seeing her dead mother again is a consolation prize.
• Why did Red Hawk give Akagi the Jetflyer? It was Aoyagi's development that summoned him.
  • There are three reasons I can think of. One is that it is lampshading the Sentai trope of the Red Ranger always getting the new equipment and upgrades. The second is that Aoyagi’s development was connected to Niibori as a suit actor whereas Nobuo meeting him was about Niibori as Red Hawk. The third reason is that it is foreshadowing how much more delusional Nobuo is. He is in control of Red Hawk because his delusion is stronger, especially being at Toei Studios. This could be a clue to the events of episode 9 where Nobuo breaks down the barrier between delusion and reality and is able to transform in the real world.
  • In #13, the girls explain that the appearance of Red Hawk and the Jetflyer possibly came from both Mitsuki's training... and Yumeria's Jetman BL fantasies. How Nobuo ties into it is a debate for the ages.
• In episode 12, what was the purpose of retconning the Delusion Empire into alien invaders rather than beings from a parallel world, and giving them an invasion fleet poised to attack the Earth? I guess that having a huge fleet surrounding the Earth is one of the flags for the final battle- for example, Gokaiger's ending- but the fleet never shows up and there's no mention of it being destroyed. Furthermore, the Delusion Empire doesn't need to be from another planet to have an invasion fleet, it could easily be just a bunch of ship designs that Dr. Z and/or Deluknight created and brought to life. And there are plenty of official Sentai villains who aren't aliens, so it can't be that they did it to make it more like official Sentai.
  • The "writers" simply didn't care at that point. My guess is that the "writer" for that episode simply "forgot" that the Delusion Empire was from a different dimension. When Doctor Z pointed out that they were not in fact, aliens, the network execs and censors just decided to retcon it into being an alien force, because the show was already airing and there was no way to go back and redo that line. Plus, it was necessary to keep him under control and not have him develop awareness of their reality being a television show.
    • This is actually true, as we see another example of this with a sudden ret-con of Deluknight being killed by Dr. Z, who later claims that he only attacked him "with the blunt edge of his sword" and thus did not kill him. Dr. Z actually just shot him in that scene, and there was no sword involved whatsoever. The "writers" just didn't care about continuity at this point, and were doing whatever was necessary to force a final battle.
  • The impression I got was that as part of turning Akibaranger into a more traditional sentai series, the writers were trying to deliberately distance it from its original parody elements. So in addition to trying to write out Nobuo, they are also retconning away the whole "monsters of the week are actually personified daydreams" angle.
• Why would Bandai/Toei/Whatever release official English subs but block them in America?
  • Some licensing issue regarding the official Sentai rights in the US. Probably Saban would have to handle any American release of Akibaranger, or at least be involved somehow.
• What WAS the one difference between the two first episodes' chief clerks?
  • This gets revealed in episode 13: the colour of their teeth.
• According to the first episode of Season 2, Akibaranger became a official Sentai series but it takes place after "Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger", does this mean that in this world, the second season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers takes their footage from "Gosei Sentai Akibaranger" instead of "Gosei Sentai Dairanger?"
  • Could be. There was word that it was a reference to Saban ditching the Dairanger suits to keep the Zyuranger suits in MMPR (save for Kibaranger).
    • And Gosei Sentai Akibaranger does still include Kibaranger... how Power Rangers would've explained the Akibaranger A emblem (which replaces his tiger symbol) is anyone's guess.
    • Actually... it doesn't. In the show it was mentioned that Akibaranger was cancelled before Kibaranger or the fifth member could appear, which is why he was angry at them. So, if Saban were adapting Akibaranger as the beginning to MMPR season 2, it would have to use only the three Akiba suits we know.
    • It's possible that they had already made the Kibaranger suit, and they let Saban use it for original footage. Heck, maybe Toei was so incredibly embarrassed by Akibaranger that having Power Rangers skip it entirely in favor of shooting new footage with the Zyuranger suits (plus Kibaranger) was their idea in this timeline.
• So if Gosei Sentai Akibaranger was supposed to be the dark mark of Sentai History, would that mean Ohranger didn't get the crap end of the stick, or did it too get the shaft of being a dark mark? If so, wouldn't two dark marks in Sentai History almost consecutively cause some fear and a massive fandom mantra of "odd numbered Sentais bad, even numbered Sentais good"? Would it have been canceled all together and thus putting future Sentais to oblivion? What other changes have been made with this revelation? Perhaps in the future, Hikonin Sentai Dairanger gets made...
  • Perhaps Gosei Sentai Akibaranger served as kind of an anti-Jetman. Choujin Sentai Jetman was so good that many of the series that followed couldn't live up to it. Gosei Sentai Akibaranger, meanwhile, was so insultingly awful that every series that came after it, Ohranger included, looked like a solid gold masterpiece by comparison. It helps that Ohranger reportedly wasn't really that bad of a show in and of itself, and that it simply suffered from some bad luck and very unfortunate timing (and, y'know, not being as good as Jetman). Heck, Gosei Sentai Akibaranger getting Cut Short at only 13 episodes meant that Ohranger aired earlier than it did in real history, thus potentially allowing it to avoid the timing issues that hurt it so badly.
• What happened to AkibaRed and AkibaYellow's families in S2-13? We didn't get to see their reaction from their Heroic Sacrifice from the previous episode.
  • Because of the nature of the parody, we're just assumed that it happened off-screen. Make that as you will in how their reactions come out.
  • What about Malshina's reaction to their deaths? We never really got to see it, but we would assume that she becomes an Antagonist in Mourning.
• How come they never brought up Theme Music Power Up as a victory flag?
• Kind of an out of universe question, but why is Malshina's name on Ranger Wiki ©Na?
  • Because, in Japanese, "©" can be read as "maru C," meaning "circle C." "Maru-C-Na." Get it?
• Anybody else confused as to why the final enemy in Season 2 is a parody of Ultraman and not Kamen Rider? Kamen Rider would make a bit more sense, since it's the sibling series to Super Sentai and would've allowed parodies of the Super Hero Taisen movies.
  • The plot of that episode was partly a reference to the legal dispute over the licensing rights to Ultraman between Tsuburaya and Chaiyo Productions (the latter of which is spoofed in the show as "Chigauyo Productions". That's probably why they based the character on Ultraman.