Legend of the Demon Lands (Makyou Densetsu) Acrobunch, officially known in English as Acrobunch: The Quest for Treasure, is an anime that aired in 1982 on Nippon TV. Led by scientist Tatsuya Randou, the Randou family undertakes a journey around the globe in order to search out ancient ruins to uncover the legend of Quetzalcoatl, which unlocks the key to a fabulous treasure. However, tailing the Randou family is Gopurin, an evil organisation that covets the legendary treasure for itself. The Randou family has the secret weapon of super robot Acrobunch. It becomes a race around the world of who finds the treasure first.
An MIC (Kokusai Eigasha) production with production support by Kaname Productions and (for the second half of the series) Toei Animation, the series marked Mutsumi Inomata's (of Brain Powerd, Windaria, and Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko fame) debut as a character designer, and the debut role for seiyuu Shigeru Nakahara as Jun (the youngest of the five Randou children).
Compare to the same production company's Honey Honey, which also features globetrotting adventurers, and the same year's The Mysterious Cities of Gold, which is also centered around a hunt for a mysterious treasure with Latin American roots (in this case, El Dorado).
The series also made an appearance in Super Robot Wars Compact 3 and given the Super Robot Wars franchise's track record, this is likely how some mecha fans were introduced to the series.
A popular show in France and other Francophone European nations and in the '80s (known as L'Empire Des Cinq there), the show had its first original American release in 2021, when Discotek Media released the complete 24-episode series in one BluRay set (subtitled only).
Contains examples of:
- Badass Family: The Randou family. All of which are accomplished explorers and pilot the title mech.
- Big Bad: Deros, leader of the Gopurin.
- Combining Mecha: Acrobunch is formed from a jet, two motorcycles and two cars.
- Worth nothing that the show's largely an inversion. The combined robot is the default form, and when they're attacked the family usually splits up to fight back.
- Dub Name Change: The French dub changes the name of the family (from Randou to Cossyg), the five children (from Hiro, Ryo, Reika, Miki and Jun to Quentin, Mathieu, Ulrich, Jill, and Antoine), and the Acrobunch robot itself (to Thorn-Rock). It also changes the setting from the Japanese Alps to the Canadian Rockies.
- Gratuitous English: The phrase "Be silent!" in the opening theme song.
- Insistent Terminology: Tatsuya prefers his children to call him "Father," and will correct Jun and Miki whenever they call him "Papa."
- Missing Mom: Laura, the mother of the five Randou children, died after giving birth to Jun.
- Monumental Damage: Episode 7 has Stonehenge being destroyed by some fire column...thing.
- Ms. Fanservice: Both Miki and Reika at times, sometimes the result of Clothing Damage.
- Proper Lady: Miki, who is serving as something of a Parental Substitute since her father is a widower. Among other things, she's a Supreme Chef, having learned how to cook from her brother Ryo. Unlike Ryo, though, she's also an ace at making coffee.
- Race Lift: The producers had initially planned to make the Randou family Americans and call them the Owen family. Miki and Reika were called Jenny and Betty at one point.
- Recycled In Space: Indiana Jones WITH GIANT ROBOTS!
- Shout-Out: Befitting the series' roots as an homage to American cinema, Tatsuya's character design was modeled after John Wayne and Ben Cartwright, and Hiro's appearance was based on Peter Fonda.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The sisters Reika (tomboy) and Miki (girly-girl), who although they are twins, couldn't be more different. The French dub even gives Reika a masculine-sounding name ("Ulrich").
