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The savage DinoGuts!

Bakuryū Sentai Abaranger ("Explosive Dragon"/"Blastosaur"/"Dynasaur" Squadron Abarangernote ) is the twenty-seventh program in the Super Sentai franchise, airing from 2003 to 2004. The Title Theme Tune was sung by Masaaki Endoh.

In the backstory of Abaranger, the meteorite that killed all the dinosaurs in the distant past actually split Earth into two parallel worlds: "Another Earth", the world as we know it where the dinosaurs became extinct, and "Dino Earth", where dinosaurs lived on alongside humans and eventually evolved into "Bakuryu"note  and "Ryujin"note  respectively.

All is well in Dino Earth until the awakening of the evil lifeform Evolien and their god, Dezumozorlya. Dino Earth soon falls to the Evolien, and a lone Ryujin warrior called Asuka flees through an interdimensional portal to Another Earth. There he seeks human allies with the ability to harness a powerful inner energy called "Dinoguts", and fight against the invading Evolien before they conquer Another Earth as well.

He soon finds three: Ryouga Hakua, a young father with boundless optimism; Yukito Sanjō, a cold and cynical chiropractor; and Ranru Itsuki, a keen tomboy mechanic. Together they gain the partnership and power of three Bakuryu, and fight against the Evolien as the Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger.

Asuka soon recovers from being Brought Down to Normal and joins as the fourth Abaranger, only to have his resolve tested as he is forced to fight Jeanne, a vicious Evolien general who shares the appearance of his lost love. Later on, a powerful Evil Counterpart appears in the form of Mikoto Nakadai, an amoral genius who uses a Super Prototype of the Abaranger technology to become "AbareKiller", a nemesis that challenges the Abaranger's belief in the basic goodness of humanity.

The theme of the series is, quite obvious from the title, dinosaurs, lots and lots of hotbloodedness, and explosions.note 

Also, did we mention that the dinosaurs can speak?

Partnered with the Kamen Rider series Kamen Rider 555 before concluding its airing alongside the first episodes of Kamen Rider Blade in the Super Hero Time block, marking the first such Sentai/Rider partnership to be accompanied by the name.

Check/help build the character sheet.

Adapted as Power Rangers: Dino Thunder which also adapted a directly dubbed episode 10 of the original show in one of their episodes as a Show Within a Show.

A V-Cinema epilogue film titled Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger 20th: The Unforgivable Abare released in cinemas in 2023 followed by a Blu-ray/DVD release in March 27, 2024.


Recurring Super Sentai tropes:


Tropes specific to Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger:

  • All Just a Dream: Episode 44 is revealed to be a dream.
  • And I Must Scream: the victims of the Ep. 38 Trinoid are turned into Rafflesia flowers, known for smelling like rotting meat and relying on flies to be pollinated. Think about it.
  • Applied Phlebotinum: DinoGuts.
  • Artifact of Doom: The cursed armor that Asuka acquires eventually causes the wearer to go insane attacking both friend and foe alike.
  • Badass Longcoat: Yukito fancies himself as one initially. Then Mikoto comes along and hijacks the trope for his own.
  • Berserk Button: Ryouga goes crazy in attacking Mikoto in episode 34 after Mikoto said he doesn't care if everybody on Earth ends up being killed off.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: In episode 14 when Denjirou tells Ranru about his old friendship with Ryunosuke, with a flashback for the viewer. She interrupts the story to ask which of the boys in the flashback scene is Ryunosuke.
  • Butt-Monkey: Asuka, generally in AnotherEarth's everyday life.
  • Call-Back: In episode 2, Sanjo claims he wants 400 million yen for his services. In episode 49, Asuka says he has 398,125,000 yen to go.
  • Camp Gay: Ranru's trainer for idol singing qualifies.
  • Christmas Episode: Episode 41.
  • Color Failure: The Finishing Move of Giganoid 10: Tragic.
  • Companion Cube: Ranru's bicycle, nicknamed "Mr. Birdie".
  • Crossover: With Tsuribaka Nisshi, a fishing anime, by way of Roger Rabbit Effect.
  • Cute Bruiser: Ranru.
  • Cosmic Horror Story: Surprisingly for a Sentai, which generally has a Lighter and Softer tone compared to its sister series Kamen Rider, Abaranger is one of few series that managed to have this implemented on the story. There is an Eldritch Abomination that crashed together with the meteor that caused the Dino Earth and our Earth to separate. Said entity is later worshipped as God of Evil through brainwashing his followers into launching their invasion on earth. It doesn't even stop there, as said creature split himself in two parts, and said latter half is held within the Sixth Ranger's body, manipulating him and leading him to the events of his life. It even gets worse once both half of the said entity fused together, which likely will cause extinction.
  • Dancing Mook Credits: The series had dancing Baomia grunts as part of its end title sequence. (In most series, the it's the Rangers who dance, if anyone.)
  • Dartboard of Hate: Mikoto is doing this with a picture of the yellow, blue, and AbareMax Red rangers at the start of episode 37.
  • Dead Guy Junior: At the very end of the season, Asuka and Mahoro name their baby daughter Mikoto after the deceased Abare Killer.
  • Deadline News: episode 39. See And I Must Scream above.
  • Death of a Thousand Cuts: Paras' final attack.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Episode 13 has the villains celebrating getting rid of the Abarangers by sending them to the past in Episode 12. However, they start disappearing in the course of the episode. Turns out, sending your enemies back in time is not the most sound plan. In short, the Abarangers make it back to the present because the villains brought them back (granted, they tried killing them first with monsters, but that went as well as expected).
  • Dream Within a Dream: Episode 44 starts with the 4 rangers in a dream world where they have white collar jobs in a office building. They eventually figure out it's a dream and escape to reality. Then they find out they were trapped in that dream because of a attack by Yatsudenwani. The rangers track him down and blow him up, except it turns out the whole episode was a nightmare Yatsudenwani was having.
  • Dumb Is Good: Asuka, once again. The exception is when he is fighting Evoliens.
    • Ryouga is even more. At least Asuka was knowledgable in Dino Earth culture. But Ryouga out-messiah'd Asuka.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Exactly what Asuka did.
  • Evil Laugh: Mikoto does a very hammy version. Still, not as bad as Lejewel's.
  • Expy: The three main Abarangers draw their powers from dinosaurs that were represented by three of the Zyurangers (namely the tyrannosaurus, the triceratops and the pteranodon), while Abare Black draws his power from a brachiosaurus (which was present in Zyuranger in the form of King Brachion).
  • Fastball Special: in The Movie, the villain is defeated after Tyranno tail-whips RYOGA into him.
  • For the Evulz: Mikoto's motivation.
  • Fuel Meter of Power: Abarekiller's suit is set to self-destruct after a set amount of transformations. It eventually does.
  • Fun with Acronyms: "Abare"; it's a word-per-syllable acronym instead of word-per-letter, and stands for "Attack Bandit Resistance".
  • Giant Robot Hands Save Lives: done in the final battle with AbarenOh's very-seldom-used hands.
  • Grand Theft Prototype: AbareKiller forces Stego into combining with TopGaler to form KillerOh. Later on he temporarily kidnaps Bachycelo and Dimenoko and uses them against their own will.
  • Gratuitous Spanish: The Parasarokkiru zord does this, because it woke up off the coast of Chile.
  • Grievous Harm with a Body: Mecha variation in The Movie, after BakurenOh jacks AbarenOh's drill arm.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Dr. Nakadai Mikoto/AbareKiller, Mahoro/Jeanne, and (arguably) Yatsudenwani.
  • Hero Stole My Bike: episode 35, Ranru jacks up to three vehicles in succession.
  • Hot-Blooded: "Abare Mode" encourages hot-bloodedness, since rage equals ass-kicking in this form.
    • And let's not forget that Masaaki Endoh did the theme song.
      "Rampage! Rampage! Rampage even more! Get up!"
    • "Blast-Dinosaur Task Force Rampage Rangers"... It seems no further elaboration would be necessary.
  • Identical Stranger: At the very end of the series, most of the cast has reunited at the Dino Curry restaurant. People identical to Asuka and Mahoro show up with a daughter who looks like Leje. Then, a couple come in who are identical to Mikoto and Lejewel. Ryouga, Yukito, Ranru, Emiri, Ryunnosuke, and Yatsudenwani are very surprised.
  • Idol Singer: Ranru trained as one before becoming a mechanic.
  • Inn Between the Worlds: Ever since its creation, the Dinosaur Curry shop has been referenced in some of the annual teamups, serving as a place where members of the past and present teams meet each other. The thing's a landmark.
  • I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Episode 6 feature's Aiko Ito's old friend from her time as an idol as Ranru's old friend from her time as an idol. They even play one of the group's songs.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: If any one trope sums up Yukito's character, this is it.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: The girl group from episodes 22-23, who were not only fully aware that their song and program were brainwashing kids into delinquency, but actively banking on it to boost their credo and even protected Mukadenpansy, the Trinoid responsible, so the Abarangers wouldn't destroy him and ruin their show. Though the manager has a Heel Realisation when he sees that his granddaughter is among the affected, despite him telling her not to watch. And one of the G3 Princesses calls it quits after the dust settles, wanting to start over honestly; but for the rest there's no indication they reformed.
  • Lighter and Softer: Played with. It is generally pretty lighthearted, with many funny moments coming out of the dynamic between our oddball trio, Asuka's lack of knowledge about Earth, the Bakuryus in general, and even the Evolien. However, it still has plenty of dark moments with its Cosmic Horror Story, the reveal of Jeanne's real identity, Asuka wielding the Cursed Armor, everything about Leje and Lejewel, and Mikoto's death.
  • Literal Genie: ep. 25's Trinoid.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Reje's father turned out to be Asuka.
  • Meaningful Name: Ryouga, Yukito and Ranru's family names, "Hakua" (Cretaceous), "Sanjō" (Triassic) and "Itsuki" (Jurassicnote ), are puns on names of the prehistoric periods where dinosaurs thrived in. Lampshaded in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger vs. Abaranger.
    • There is also Mikela, the painter, named after Michelangelo, and Voffa, the composer, whose name derives from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
  • Medium Awareness: in episode 14, Ranru meets Ryuunosuke's old friend, who relates a story from their childhood in the form of a sepia toned flashback that they can actually see.
    "So which one is Ryuunosuke?"
    "Sshh, pay attention!"
  • Missed the Call: Mikoto misses the distribution of Transformation Trinkets. He finds a Sealed Evil In An Egg McGuffin while moping.
  • Mood Whiplash: The series somehow manages to be both one of the campiest Super Sentai AND one of the darkest.
  • More than Mind Control: After breaking free from AbareKiller's influence, Stego decides to stay with him anyway since this means a promotion from "auxiliary zord called out once-every-so-often" to "one half of a Megazord". Even Mikoto was surprised at the Face–Heel Turn.
  • Mythology Gag
    • The spamming of diamond motifs on the outfits is most certainly a callback to Zyuranger.
    • Also like Zyuranger, Red is a Tyrannosaurus, Blue is a Triceratops, while the Action Girl is a Pteranodon, only yellow rather than pink this time. The official Sixth Ranger (technically fifth here) starts as evil, then Death Equals Redemption. There is also an immense Brachiosaurus which functions as a Carrier Mecha, only now he has his own Ranger and is not the Final Mecha.
    • Asuka’s storyline with Jeanne/Mahoro mirrors that of Ryu’s storyline with Maria/Rie. It has a happier ending though.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: AbareKiller. Also, the main antagonists are named Evolian.
  • Nephewism: Ryouga is biologically Mai's uncle and has been caring for her since her parents were killed.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Actually justified in-universe, with Wrench Wench Ranru making random modifications to the Dino Braces (explaining the out-of-nowhere 'Abare Beam' in the Hurricaneger teamup) and adding stuff to the Bakuryu (Kera slaps a bug on the ep. 25 Trinoid, which tricks it into attacking a holographic building).
  • Next Tier Power-Up / Mid-Season Upgrade: AbareMax and Bakuryu Styracosaurus / MaxOhja.
  • Non-Action Guy: Brachio is a Non Action Mecha. In Super Sentai, nonetheless.
  • The One That Got Away: Yukito's First Love was forced to move away after his father broke up their relationship.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: All the Bakuryu have nicknames, to be addressed easily, except for TopGaler. Mikoto does call him "Toppu" in The Movie, though.
  • Our Monsters Are Weird: Even by Super Sentai standards, the Trinoids are pretty bizarre.
  • Overly Long Name: All Trinoids, see Punny Name below. Mikela turns out to have one in ep. 22.
  • Overnight Age-Up: Happens to Lije full-circle; from baby to 11 to 20 then back to 11 and to baby again.
  • Palette Swap: the first three Bakuryuu go through this when they are brought under control.
  • Papa Wolf: Ryoga.
    • Tyra also revealed in episode 3 that he had a child, all the while teaching Ryoga a parental aesop.
  • Phantom Zone: When in AbareMax mode, Ryouga can trap the Trinoid in a bizarre alternate dimension — the "Max Field" — to whale away at it; he can even change the dimension to whatever he feels like.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Ryoga has a moment in the Abaranger vs. Dekaranger special:
    I'm! I'M! A FATHER! I CAN'T BE KILLED HERE!!!!!
  • Punny Name: Each Trinoid comes from three concepts: a plant, an animal and a man-made appliance, not necessarily in that order. Naturally, their names are punny portmanteaux of all three. For the pun to work, however, each concept's last syllable(s) must be the same as the next concept's first syllable(s).
    • For example, the first Trinoid to appear in the series is created from "Bakudan/Bomb", "Dandelion" and "Lion". Its name? Bakudandelion.
    • Taken to its logical extreme with the Hexanoid's six-piece name: Hanabinote  + Binote  + Bikini + Nikibinote  + Binasunote  + Nasunote  = Hanabikinikibinasu.
  • Put on a Bus: Happens to Emiri and Ryuunosuke sometime before episode 13, when the Rangers get hurled into the past and meet their Identical Strangers.
  • Recycled Premise: The plot of the show is oddly reminiscent of the plot of the Super Mario Bros. (1993) movie. This means Asuka is Princess Daisy.
  • Redemption Equals Death: AbareKiller, and in a way, TopGaler.
  • Refused by the Call: Emiri and Sugishita weren't able to handle the transformation, so they chose to stay in the sidelines anyway. Emiri kept hoping, though, and did (sort of) join in once in a homemade costume.
  • The Reveal: Reje is actually Asuka's daughter. Dezumozorlya just implanted his DNA in to her.
  • Rubber-Forehead Aliens: All Ryujin have four claws over their cheekbones.
  • Sealed Evil In A Person Shaped Can: Half of the Evolien's God is sealed away inside Mikoto Nakadai, which triggers his Villainous Breakdown.
  • Shirtless Scene: Asuka, Ryouga, and Sanjo on the beach at the start of the summer movie. And Mikoto in episode 18.
  • Shout-Out: Brachio, every time he appears on the battlefield, does so with a different line. Best part? Virtually all of them are lyrics from Toku songs. For those unable to read Japanese, Brachio's referenced songs from Space Sheriff Sharivan, J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai, Battle Fever J, Bishoujo Kamen Poitrine, Denshi Sentai Denziman, Jikuu Senshi Spielban, Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan, Kagaku Sentai Dynaman, Space Sheriff Shaider, Kaiketsu Zubat, Dai Sentai Goggle Five, Dengeki Sentai Changeman, Yuugen Jikkou Sisters Shushutorian, Rescue Sentai GoGoFive, Space Sheriff Gavan, Kamen Rider: Skyrider, Tokusou Robo Janperson, Seiun Kamen Machineman, Kikaider, Kamen Rider 555, Abaranger itself, Gekisou Sentai Carranger, Kamen Rider Kuuga, Captain Ultra, Kamen Rider X, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger (in the Crossover with that show), and Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (again, in the Crossover with that show).
    • Ranru using different disguises to get past the ep. 35 MotW is straight out of Scooby-Doo.
    • In episode 13, the villains figure out the past is changing because they are disappearing from a photograph, thanks to the interference of people from the present day. Sounds a lot like Back to the Future...
    • In episode 13, a baby carriage is seen and protected by the rangers. A samurai in a straw hat takes it away.
    • The closing sequence mimics the Beatles' iconic "Abbey Road" cover, which makes it into the EDs of the movies.
    • According to designer Satou Keiichi, Giganoid 10: Tragic from #37 is based on Alien Waiell from Ultraseven.
  • Special Edition Title: In #30, three Trinoids are revived as Jamei Sentai Evoranger and even get for a few seconds a special version of the opening theme before Abare Killer stops it abruptly.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Asuka and Mahoro aka Jeanne. They got better temporarily. After that, they enter a Dating Catwoman scenario, even take an Act of True Love fight for each other in episode 40. Finally things turned Happily Ever After for them.
    • In lesser degree Rije/Rijewel and Mikoto/Abarekiller.
  • The Stinger: Unusually for Super Sentai, every episode has a post-credits scene.
  • Super Power Lottery: Mikoto's Zero Suit will eventually explode. In the meantime, he's powerful enough to take on the entire team at once and go toe-to-toe with AbareMax.
  • Super-Speed: One of AbareKiller's many abilities.
  • That Woman Is Dead: Jeanne is formerly Asuka's lover Mahoro. She discarded her name and became the Apostle of Destruction, fixated on killing Asuka for "betraying" her.
  • These Hands Have Killed: Episode 30, when we learn that Asuka was not only the first to become Geildon, but killed scores of fellow Ryujin.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Let's just say that Mai-chan got along well with the Bakuryu awfully fast. Case in point: Tyra is the one who attacked the building she and Ryoga are living in, yet at the end of the next episode, she's cheerfully riding on Tyra's head.
  • Unwinnable Training Simulation: episode 30.
  • Verbal Tic: Every Bakuryu speaks with a repetition of these, except for Styracosaurus, Carnoryutus, and Chasmoshieldon.
  • Wanting Is Better Than Having: Dr. Nakadai was naturally good at anything he tried, due to being the host for half of the series' main villain, and spent most of his life bored out of his skull from the lack of challenge. When he found the dangerous prototype Transformation Trinket, he became a supervillain rather than a good guy because it was more fun, and learning that the device will eventually explode only made it more exciting. Ironically Mikoto implies he only truely found satisfaction when finally joining up with the Abarangers briefly towards the end, implying he might actually have been better off as a good guy from the start.

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