Go Go Sentai Boukenger

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Even today, there are those who risk their lives to adventure.
 They overcome all troubles to secretly protect dangerous treasures.
Adventurers!"

Gōgō Sentai Boukenger (Boisterous Squadron Boukenger [1]) is the thirtieth program in the Super Sentai franchise, airing from 2006 to 2007.

SGS ("Search Guard Successor") is a private philanthropic organisation dedicated to the preservation of historical artifacts and treasures. The most dangerous of these relics, possessing powers beyond that of modern human technology, are designated as "Precious".

To stop these artifacts from falling into the wrong hands, SGS have created the GoGo Sentai Boukenger: an elite team of Adventurer Archaeologists who channel the spirit of adventure as they search the four corners of the globe for the mythical Precious. Opposing them are the "Negative Syndicates", a designation that SGS gives to any hostile organisation that seeks to misuse the Precious for their own ends.

Boukenger is based mostly on treasure hunting and the tales based on it as well as bringing some unique ideas to forefront such as different villain factions. There is also a bit of a personality change between the Pink and Yellow members as explained below.

Search Guard Successor Foundation

  • Morio Makino: Called just "Makino-sensei" by everyone. Takes the Mr. Fixit position mostly.
  • Mr. Voice: A voice-and-avatar combo which appears now and then on-screen only to give instructions. Can be a bit harsh at times in attitude and logic.

Negative Syndicates

  • Godom Civilization: An ancient (and dead) civilization led by High Priest Gajah, who is awakened from his slumber and decides to resurrect his lost empire. Has an endless supply of magic rocks with which he can create his Mooks. So much so that he's donated his mooks ("Karsts") to the Jaryu and Dark Shadow like they were Halloween candy.
  • Jaryu Clan: A tribe of genetically engineered dragonmen. Their Mooks are stronger (but less numerous) than that of Gajah, and occasionally creates giant half-cyborg dragon monsters.
    • Ryuwon: The King and literal dragon who has dinosaur genes and thus thinks they should rule the world.

It should be noted that every mecha and villain, from the lowest mook to the biggest bad, is a Shout-Out to various Humongous Mecha from prior Super Sentai shows.

Adapted for US audiences as Power Rangers Operation Overdrive.

Tropes used in Go Go Sentai Boukenger include:

Recurring Super Sentai tropes

  • All Your Powers Combined: The Acceltector might be a realistic example, requiring the whole team to back up the main attacker already wearing the armor himself/herself from recoil.
  • Artifact Collection Agency: The Negative Syndicate and the Search Guard Successor Foundation both qualify.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Boukenger, Start Up!".
    • Eiji has "GoGoChanger, Start Up!", but he just sticks to the others' later anyway.
  • Calling Your Attacks
  • Combination Attack: pulled off by Ryuuwon and the Questers to almost hilarious effect. What kept it from being funny was that it worked. The Boukengers did NOT see that coming...
  • Crossover: Boukenger vs. Super Sentai. Since this is another anniversary series, the crossover involved a Dream Team of assorted rangers, particularly from the previous four shows: Nanami Nono/Hurricane Blue, Asuka/Abare Black, Tetsu/Deka Break, Tsubasa Ozu/Magi Yellow and Hikaru/Magi Shine. The movie also introduces AkaRed, who can summons the spirit of every previous red warrior. He would go on to becoming a key supporting character five years later.
  • Custom Uniform
  • Evil Plan: The "Negative Syndicates" and their plans for the "Precious"
  • Eyecatch: The camera pulls out to the Boukengers spinning around, stopping to show Satoru in Ranger form shooting the Survi Buster once. After the break, the camera passes the Boukengers in civilian form while they look at the camera, stopping with Satoru looking at the camera.
  • Finishing Move
  • Five-Man Band
  • Home Base: The SGS Museum secret room.
  • Humongous Mecha: Boukenger, for awhile, held the Sentai record for "Most Mecha Combined" at 10[2] (both Ultimate Daibouken and Voyager Daibouken), with a 12-combination (Ultimate Daibouken with Police and Aider added on the back) seen in a bonus video.
    • A Mech by Any Other Name: The GoGo Vehicles.
    • Combining Mecha
      • Gogo Dump + Gogo Formula + Gogo Gyro + Gogo Dozer + Gogo Marine = Daibouken
      • Gogo Drill + Gogo Shovel + Gogo Mixer + Gogo Crane + Gogo Jet = Daitanken
      • Gogo Fire + Gogo Aider + Gogo Police = Siren Builder
      • Gogo Commander + Gogo Carrier + Gogo Fighter + Gogo Attacker + Gogo Roader = Gogo Voyager, which transforms into the DaiVoyager.
    • Mecha Expansion Pack: The variations of the Daibouken due to the Gogo Buso system.
      • Daibouken + Gogo Drill = Daibouken Drill
      • Daibouken + Gogo Shovel = Daibouken Shovel
      • Daibouken + Gogo Drill + Gogo Shovel = Daibouken Drill & Shovel
      • Daibouken + Gogo Mixer = Daibouken Mixer
      • Daibouken + Gogo Drill + Gogo Mixer = Daibouken Drill & Mixer
      • Daibouken + Gogo Drill + Gogo Crane = Daibouken Drill & Crane
      • Daibouken + Gogo Drill + Gogo Shovel + Gogo Mixer + Gogo Crane = Super Daibouken
      • Super Daibouken + Gogo Jet = Ultimate Daibouken
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Episodes are called "Tasks", and the titles are noun phrases, often the treasure of the week.
  • In the Name of the Moon: Involves invoking their "title" and then crying out what color they are. Often enough, a speech will be involved with this somehow.

Satoru: The fiery adventurer! BoukenRed!
Masumi: The fast adventurer! BoukenBlack!
Souta: The high-up adventurer! BoukenBlue!
Natsuki: The strong adventurer! BoukenYellow!
Sakura: The deep adventurer! BoukenPink!
Eiji: The dazzling adventurer! BoukenSilver!
Satoru: The endless adventure spirits!
All: GoGo Sentai Boukenger!

Tropes specific to Go Go Sentai Boukenger

  • Action Bomb: One filler episode (Task 39) is notorious for having the Rangers try to defuse one of these by literally pacifying it. The girls dress up as Meido while the guys perform Manzai.
  • All Myths Are True: Although some reveal a previously unknown side to the legend. Case in point, the episode with Cinderella's glass slipper...
  • All Your Powers Combined: During Boukenger vs. Super Sentai, when the main five Boukengers are having trouble defeating Chronos, AkaRed asks Eiji and the five guest heroes to transfer a part of their spirits into him so that he could help power-up DaiVoyager.

BoukenSilver: Hope!
MagiShine: Love!
MagiYellow: Courage!
DekaBreak: Justice!
AbareBlack: Passion!
HurricaneBlue: Friendship!

  • Alphabetical Theme Naming: Satoru, Souta and Sakura are the three senior members; Masumi and Natsuki (and then Eiji) are the rookies.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: At the beginning of the Christmas episode, nobody believes Satoru when he says a miniskirt Santa fell from the sky and smashed the cake he bought. Keep in mind that these are the same people who had dabbled with people like (and related to) The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Princess Kaguya, Issunboshi, Cinderella, Momotaro etc. And yet they say that the idea of Sants Claus existing, let alone not being like everyone thinks, is too much for them to grasp?!
  • Badass: Most of the team.
  • Big Freaking Sword: Zubaan, even by GIANT MECHA standards.
  • Big Red Button: SirenBuilder's self-destruct mechanism is triggered with one, appropiately labeled "SUICIDE".
  • Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Female members of the Ashu tribe tend towards Cute Monster Girls, while males are a lot more monsterish.
  • Non Sequitur Episode: The aforementioned Task 39, coupled with Clip Shows of past episodes (first as they try to figure out which villain sent them the Prometheus Stone, then when its bomb is accidentally activated and everyone decides to stay together when it goes off). As it turns out, it was Makino-sensei who gave them the Stone as a form of training, and they stopped the bomb in the nick of time by smothering the Stone in Aegean salt. That is, no henshin, no mecha fights, and Eiji and Masumi dancing hula among other things.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Quester Gai is a villainous example. He takes things like evil with hearty fun and has a tendency to laugh while taunting the Boukengers whenever things go his way.
  • Bling of War: BoukenSilver's suit. Wonder if anyone has used his helmet as a mirror...
  • Catch Phrase: Satoru has his utterly-spammed "Attack!", and occasionally, "Mission Start!".
    • Souta's "Sou sou Souta!"[8] also counts.
    • Sakura usually responds with "Use code names whenever in a mission" whenever she's called by name, not 'Pink', in missions.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Natsuki's bracelet. If the camera shows it close-up in the first two episodes, we better remember that.
    • Also, in Task 7, Natsuki's comment about Ryuuwon being the author of the notebook is shrugged of... until later, when it actually turned out to be true.
  • Chew Toy: When Satoru is cursed with bad luck, he gets hit by a bus, a crane falls on him, chunks of building fall him, he catches on fire from the explosion that follows the roll call, a appears from nowhere rolls over him, and gets struck by lighting.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Whenever Negative Syndicates work together... again and again and again and again... and again.
  • Completely Different Title: The Korean dub refers to the series as Power Ranger Treasure Force.
    • Further, the Super Hero Time block that Kamen Rider and Super Sentai share featured a Massive Multiplayer Crossover between Kamen Rider Kabuto and this series to signify that the other show was starting. These can be found on fansubs of Kabuto's episodes... and must be seen to be believed.
  • Dark Side: Yaiba keeps on telling Masumi to fall into it.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Sakura.
    • Eiji, who acts as a catalyst to this, goes through some defrosting of his own as he starts out the brooding loner, but warms up to his new family enough to address Sakura as Nee-san habitually.
  • Determinator: The remaining five Boukengers fighting to free Natsuki from Ryuuwon and the Questers' clutches in Task 34. Masumi even gains a Crowning Moment of Awesome during his henshin sequence: he brushes his Accellular against a bullet fired by Ryuuwon. And the bullet is deflected, to boot.
  • Dub Name Change: In the Korean version the Boukengers become Keine (Satoru), Ray (Masumi), Ryuu (Souta), Hannah (Natsuki), Yumi (Sakura) and Jackie (Eiji).
  • Elemental Powers: The Boukenger's weapons are each powered by a different element.
  • Empathic Weapon: Zubaan can turn into a weapon and reacts empathically to those around him...
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: Natsuki. Or rather, she would be if her kingdom still existed...
  • Genki Girl: Natsuki. In spades.
    • And Shizuka, in a rare villainous example.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Natsuki again.
  • Golem: A Jewish style golem is the Monster of the Week for the Christmas episode. It's even defeated in the traditional way when DaiBouken drills away the first letter on its forehead.
  • Gratuitous English: It's not the first time the Rangers call each other by color in English in the field, but their pronunciation of 'Chief' stood out to the point of Memetic Mutation.
    • Also Akashi's "Attack!" and "Good job!"
    • One of Ryuuwon's monsters also added 'baby' in his sentences.
    • Although Tohru Furuya outdoes them all by far, with his Gratuitous English voice coming out of nearly every piece of equipment they have.
    • But we have to conclude that it can't get any more gratuitous than this [dead link].
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Eiji.
    • Ryuuwon turned out to be one very close to the end. The hints come somewhat earlier though.
  • Handsome Lech: A mild version; Souta. He's got lots of girlfriends. The behavior also surfaces a tad when he's facing off against Shizuka.
  • Heroic BSOD: Played for laughs. Satoru gets one after failing an adventure school's entrance exam and sat moping at a corner throughout the first half of the episode, as Eiji and Masumi tease him for 3/4 of the episode. Actually he did pass, but the proctors made a mistake.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: There's a LOT of Sentai actors returning for bit parts this year. Of special note are Natsuki's parents, both of whom played Yellow Rangers in Dairanger (Keisuke Tsuchiya) and Megaranger (Eri Tanaka).
    • And BoukenRed's father Akashi Kouichi is played by a veteran actor who's had several roles in Hongkong martial arts movies, as lampshaded in the Gag Sub: "You fought Jackie Chan that one time..." "I think he fought Jet Li..." "Is that like jet lag?"
    • Non-Sentai alumni Rina Akiyama was literally between roles, having been Mana from Kamen Rider Agito before her role as a miniskirt-Santa here, then moving on to Kamen Rider Den-O as Naomi.
    • Eiji's mother, too, was played by a Denji Sentai Megaranger actress, only this one (Mami Higashiyama) played MegaPink, while his father (Hiroshi Watari) played two different Metal Heroes before.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: AkaRed of one of the Boukenger movies is voiced by Tohru Furuya, best known for his vocal roles in the Gundam franchise (Amuro Ray and Ribbons Almarck), as well as playing Yamcha in Dragon Ball, Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon, Seiya in Saint Seiya... among many other voices in anime.
  • If It Swims, It Flies: GoGoMarine uses GoGoGyro to cleverly avert this. GogoVoyager resembles a battleship but classifies as an amphibious vehicle by way of having wheels.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Shizuka, obviously, but Gajah too. Maybe it's because his actor is an old man, or because he puts more effort into his schemes than the other groups, but it's hard not to feel bad for him when they fail.
  • Japanese Pronouns: Eiji tends to use the very arrogant "Ore-sama" as first person pronoun, but uses the more moderate "Ore" when feeling less secure. He is also in general very impolite: He uses towards the spirit of his dead mother "Anta" as second person pronoun, which is normally rather hostile, even though he uses it in a scene where he is reconciled with his mother.
  • Kawaiiko: Kaze no Shizuka. The Fan Service is just a secondary trait.
  • Lampshade Hanging: When Satoru is cursed with bad luck in one episode, the explosion that follows the Sentai roll call causes him to catch on FIRE.
  • Large Ham: Gajah. So. Very. Much.
    • ZUBAAAAN!!
  • Lightning Bruiser: Zubaan. This does NOT change when he shifts to Humongous Mecha size.
  • Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Pulled off with the movie Boukenger vs Super Sentai. This crosses the series over with Magiranger (from which Tsubasa, Hikaru - along with his ainde Smoky - and Meemy were drawn), Dekaranger (from which Tetsu was drafted), Abaranger (from where came Asuka), Hurricaneger (from which Nanami and Furabijou returned) and even Gaoranger (from which no heroes came, but villainess Tsuetsue made her appearance) for one massively insane storyline.
  • Mook Maker: Gajah, a (re-)living example.
  • The Movie: While no attempt is made to link it to series continuity, it does provide an origin for the aux-mecha-only DaiTanken.
    • Introducing a mech in the movie that appears in the show with little to no explanation has been the norm ever since Abaranger.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Shizuka, hoo boy, Shizuka. The Rainbow Cloth just cranks this Up to Eleven (well, unless she decides to turn into a truck or a harpy-like monster...).
  • Mysterious Waif: Natsuki.
  • Not Quite Dead: After seemingly exploding with the Precious Bank, Satoru appears safe on the DaiVoyager in time for the final battle due to Zuuban.
    • Also, the circumstances surrounding Gai and Rei's evolution into Questers.
  • Oblivious to Love: Satoru, much to Sakura's dismay.
  • One-Winged Angel: Most of the main villians have it happen at some point, though Yaiba's is just his faceplate moving aside to reveal a different faceplate. A bit of a letdown after the big dramatic "nobody has seen my true face and lived" thing.
  • Ouside Context Villain: Every now and then you get something that doesn't originate from the Negatives, although Gajya will attempt to control some of them.
  • Panthera Awesome: the Ashu's entire schtick, which seeps into their Quester forms.
  • Photographic Memory: Gajah's previously hidden ability.
  • Pokémon-Speak: BAN BAN ZUBAAAAAAAAAAAN!
  • Power Levels: Each Precious has a Hazard Level measuring how dangerous its power is. It goes Over Nine Thousand in The Movie.
  • Punny Name: Each Boukenger has a name that has to do with his/her respective color:
    • Akashi Satoru (the Kanji for Satoru can be read as akatsuki or "red moon"/dawn)
    • Masumi (sumi = black ink)
    • Souta ("Sou" can be read as ao or blue)
    • Natsuki (Na can mean "cole blossom" and tsuki can mean "moon"; both of these are often seen as being yellow)
    • Sakura (cherry blossoms, which are pink)
    • Eiji (pronounced A-G, like Ag, the chemical symbol for silver)
  • Rags to Riches: A subversion of the Snow White type; Natsuki is the princess and last living member of the Lemurian kingdom. Since said kingdom is long gone, she has nothing left to rule, which is good since her parents just wanted her to live a normal life anyway.
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Masumi and Natsuki.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Souta and Masumi.
  • Ship Sinking: Despite the Ship Tease between Masumi and Natsuki, nothing comes out of it. The ship sunk when Masumi's actor, Yasuka Saitou, explained that Masumi sees Natsuki as a little sister or a daughter he needs to protect.
  • Shout-Out: Aside from the design Shout-Out listed above, this series was also the 30th Anniversary of the franchise. The ending of almost every episode, starting with episode 4, had a 30-second tribute to a Super Sentai crew of years past - and then went on to make special mentions of firsts in the franchise, such as the most notable Sixth Ranger characters in addition to the first.
    • The title might be a shout-out to the Power Rangers theme song, "Go Go Power Rangers".
    • Of note, the only series whose mecha got no 'enemy representative' is Goggle V. However, Boukenger still gives them Shout-Out in form of any of their mecha's completion quote, "(insert mecha name here), Gattai Kanryou (Combination Complete)!"
  • Stealth Pun: Kaze no Shizuka as a truck going nuts when BoukenSilver's hand lands on one of her headlights.
  • Sugar and Ice Personality: Sakura
  • Taking You with Me: Well he ALMOST did.
  • Thememobile: the first five GoGoVehicles (Dump [truck], Formula [1 racing car], Gyro [kind of a helicopter], Dozer and [Sub]Marine) apparently have nothing in common apart from their windshields looking like the ones on our heroes' helmets, but vehicles appearing later start to take on themed motifs:
    • Drill, Shovel, Mixer, Crane - construction vehicles
    • Jet's ability to airlift smaller vehicles place it somewhere between construction and rescue
    • Fire [fire truck], Police, Aider [ambulance] - rescue service vehicles. Notable as the first time the designated pilot BoukenSilver shares none of their motif (or even base colors) in his design.
    • Commander, Carrier, Figher, Attacker, Roller (and their combined GoGoVoyager form) - armed combat vehicles. Notable as the first time Super Sentai has used such vehicles since Maskman, in lieu of Japan's non-militant politics (see Kaiju Defence Force.)
  • Theme Music Power-Up: When Start Up! Bonds kicks in, you just know someone's gonna get their ass handed to them.
  • Theme Naming: Each Boukenger's family name is taken from that of a Japanese explorer.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Though Ultimate DaiBouken would later be overshadowed in terms of component parts, using it on normal-sized mooks (and friends) is overkill. All by Natsuki.
  • Third Person Person: Natsuki.
  • This Is a Drill: Go Go Drill and Dual Crusher's Drill Head Mode.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Sakura and Natsuki.
  • Villain Team-Up: Some episodes but they quickly break up.
  • Was Once a Man: Gekko. A very subtle hint about Ryuon being one came very early in the series.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: Task 26 is basically Revolutionary Girl Utena, minus over-abundent rose symbolism, plus giant robot battle. And it is awesome.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: According to The Movie, it's bugs for Sakura. To her credit though, they were huge.
  • The Worf Barrage: Ultimate Daibouken's Ultimate Blaster. At least DaiVoyager's finisher tended to kill the monster once they finally got it off.
  • The Worf Effect: Despite it being Boukenger's most powerful mecha, DaiVoyager tends to see action only when they're fighting something even it can't beat.

Bouken Dreams On...

  1. ↑ A combination of bōken (adventure) and "ranger"
  2. ↑ At least until Engine Sentai Go-onger comes along two years later with its Engine-O G-12...
  3. ↑ It sounds better in Japanese (Gattai kanryou!).
  4. ↑ Mixer Head and Drill Head modes.
  5. ↑ Miniature bulldozer scoops
  6. ↑ Portable hydro cannon
  7. ↑ Gun, Spear, and Metal Detector modes.
  8. ↑ a pun on "sou sou sou da!", lit. "yeah, yeah, that's right!"
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