AkaRed

"The one who inherits the red souls~AkaRed!"

AkaRed (アカレッド) is the embodiment of all prior Red Warriors of the long running Super Sentai series.

Design
His costume pays homage to Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, the original Sentai, with a high collar surrounding his neck, much like the capes on the battle suits in the original series. He also pays homage to Akarenger, the original Red Warrior, with a large V across his chest. His visor has a "V" symbol, representing "V Cinema" (the name given to the VS specials). He has the 30th Anniversary logo on the left-hand side of his suit, as well as a belt with three X's as the buckle, XXX being the Roman numeral for 30. His belt buckle and anniversary pin are reminiscent of the costumes from Dai Sentai Goggle V.

As of Gokaiger, the 30th Anniversary logo on his left chest has changed to show the number 35 above the V of the logo and the Roman numeral XXX on his buckle has been given a golden V across the center most X, symbolizing the 35th Anniversary of the Super Sentai.

GoGo Sentai Boukenger Vs Super Sentai
AkaRed, the representation of the Red Warrior of the 30 Super Sentai, first appeared in the movie, watching over Time Demon God Chronos and High Priest Gajah as they plot to defeat the Boukengers. He then made his first contact with the Boukenger team by giving Bouken Silver the Super Sentai Address Book after the rest of the team is abducted by Chronos into another dimension. This book contains information on the whereabouts of every Super Sentai member there is.

He then leads Bouken Silver and the past Super Sentai warriors to the rescue of the trapped Boukengers and MagiShine. The Super Sentai warriors break the Boukengers and MagiShine free while AkaRed fights the villains with his ability to fight as any of the past Red Warriors. Afterwards, after Ultimate DaiBouken and SirenBuilder are defeated by an enlarged Chronos, AkaRed acted as a vessel to power up DaiVoyager into its Burning Legend form with the powers of the five recruited Sentai members and Eiji. This allowed Burning Legend DaiVoyager to defeat Chronos. After the credits, AkaRed was shown reading off the Super Sentai Address Book while overlooking the Earth from outer space. He leaves the world to the current group of Super Sentai, the Boukengers, to them and goes into a deep sleep until he is needed again.

Gokaiger
AkaRed returned in the aftermath of the Great Legend War in which the 34 teams of Sentai Heroes all sacrificed their powers to defeat the Space Empire Zangyack's invasion of Earth. He became a pirate and formed the Red Pirate Gang, with his teammates, Marvelous and Basco ta Jolokia, along with his robotic parrot, Navi. They searched the universe in the Gokai Galleon to find the Ranger Keys, keys that contained the powers of the 34 Sentai teams, which were dispersed all over the universe. The trio knew that with them, they could find the Greatest Treasure in the Universe.

AkaRed encountered Marvelous when he discovered the Akarenger Key after fighting Gormin. Marvelous refused to give it to him and fought AkaRed, who swiftly defeated Marvelous. Marvelous revealed to AkaRed that he wished to find the Greatest Treasure in the Universe. AkaRed showed Marvelous his ship, the GokaiGalleon, telling him that he would never find the treasure if he gave up. They went on to find many Ranger Keys, such as the Bouken Red Key. They later met Basco ta Jolokia who joined them. Although Marvelous was unaware, AkaRed knew of Basco's true monster form, and was afraid of him.

Since Basco didn't appear in the flashback in episode 21, it is presumed that he joined after Marvelous.

They eventually managed to find all the Ranger Keys, but Basco betrayed AkaRed and Marvelous, he conspired with Zangyack which attacked the ship, wanting the treasure all for himself. AkaRed saved Marvelous from the Zangyack forces and gave him the chest containing the Ranger Keys, telling him to find the Greatest Treasure in the Universe. AkaRed was last seen charging into dozens of Gormin Sailors. Marvelous, along with Navi, later founded the Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and worked on unlocking the power of the Ranger Keys on Earth so they could get the Greatest Treasure.

After an adventure where Marvelous and the Gokaiger assisted Satoru Akashi in stopping Ryuuwon once again, Akashi appears to speak to himself about AkaRed selecting the Gokaigers for this mission, noting that he knows more about the spirit's true intentions, having encountered him once himself.

When Marvelous became unconscious after GokaiOh was crippled by the Great Warz, he encountered AkaRed in a vision.

However, it turned out that AkaRed's motive was not acquiring the Greatest Treasure in the Universe. As Basco revealed to Marvelous before their final battle, which resulted in the death of the former, AkaRed used the treasure as bait to Marvelous and Basco so they would help him gather up the Ranger Keys. After all the Ranger Keys were collected, AkaRed would return to Earth and give them back to their owners in order to protect the planet. Basco said that he didn't betray them, AkaRed had betrayed them from the beginning. Marvelous, however, didn't care, explaining to Basco that he wasn't a Red Pirate anymore and he had everything that was needed to claim the Greatest Treasure in the Universe. He added that no one would be able to keep the Gokaigers from their dream, whether it be Basco, Zangyack, or AkaRed himself.

After Marvelous returned all the Ranger Keys to their respective owners, AkaRed can be seen standing on the prow of the GokaiGalleon nodding at Marvelous before disappearing.

Super Sentai Versus Series Theater
Hyde (Gosei Blue) appears disguised as AkaRed during the Super Sentai Versus Series Theater, foreshadowing his appearance in Gokaiger.

Akibaranger
In episode 1 of Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger: Season Two, Nobuo Akagi (AkibaRed) comments that he feels like AkaRed as the Akibarangers fight alongside the Dekarangers, Boukengers, and Jetmen.

A picture of AkaRed and the Akibarangers is seen in the ending sequence of several episodes of Season Two.

AkaRed is seen on a magazine in episode 12 Season Two, where he appears with three red heroes (TyrannoRanger, RyuuRanger, and HurricaneRed) handing the Sunday 7:30AM time slot from Super Sentai to Hiroyo Hakase for her "older brother" Prism Ace.

Portrayal
AkaRed is voiced by Toru Furuya (古谷 徹), while his suit actor is Keizo Yabe (矢部 敬三). After his original appearance in Boukenger vs. Super Sentai, both actors reprised the role in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.

Ranger Key
The AkaRed Ranger Key (アカレッドレンジャーキー) is a toy-exclusive Ranger Key which is part of the "Legends" series of toys along with Ranger Keys of the first three Go-Busters, released with the Legend Mobilate toy. It only exists as a toy and it is unknown if it will appear in Super Sentai. Of course as with all Ranger Keys, should it exist, it would be able to transform one, i.e. Gokai Red, into AkaRed.

This first AkaRed Ranger Key was of his 35th anniversary form seen in Gokaiger. Later, a second AkaRed Ranger Key based off his 30th anniversary form seen in GoGo Sentai Boukenger vs. Super Sentai was released.

AkaRed's team
After the initial appearance of AkaRed, the embodiment of the Red Warrior Spirit, some have pondered the possibility of other warriors like him, a whole team composed of AkaRed and his counterparts for other Sentai colors. Following the color scheme of the original Gorenger which became the most common Sentai color scheme, AkaRed would be joined by AoBlue, KiYellow, MomoPink, MidoGreen, and (possibly) RokuSix. These heroes would most likely follow the same counterparts as the Gokaigers. But for now, these other heroes are merely an idea, and have yet to be introduced in an official crossover.

Sentai notes

 * Due to the selection of Reds he has, it could mean that he is the embodiment of all past primary Reds, who have been around since the beginning of their respective seasons. He does not have the spirits of TimeFire, KabutoRaiger, Wolzard Fire, or Princess Shinken Red, who are also red.
 * AkaRed is the only ranger in the Super Sentai 199 that does not have his own Ranger Key in the series. However, a toy version of the Ranger Key does exist as part of the Gokaiger toyline.
 * AkaRed's ability to transform into past heroes precedes Kamen Rider Decade where the titular hero could transform into past Kamen Riders. The idea of a series where the hero(es) regularly change into past heroes would later be used in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger of course, where the Gokaigers can change into any of the 34 Super Sentai.
 * AkaRed's Soul Advent ability is similar to whenever the Gokaigers activate a Gokai Change in a tribute episode, going through the entire transformation sequence into the Red he is becoming (as seen both when becoming MagiRed and GaoRed).
 * Ironically, he never changes into a past warrior in any of his appearances in Gokaiger, despite the fact that the main heroes have that ability as well.
 * He is the only Sentai Ranger to not belong to any actual Sentai series.
 * As such, he is also one of three Sentai Rangers created after Dairanger that doesn't have a Power Rangers counterpart (The other two being the also movie exclusive DekaGold, and One-off Ranger Gosei Green).
 * AkaRed is the first of five Sentai Rangers to have two rangers keys based off of him followed by Stag Buster, AkibaYellow, AkibaBlue, and Kyoryu Red.
 * AkaRed is one of two and the second Sentai Red who was not temporarily resurrected after his death. The first one is Naoto Takizawa.

Appearances

 * GoGo Sentai Boukenger vs. Super Sentai
 * Gokaiger Episode 2 - The Worth of this Planet (flashback)
 * Gokaiger Episode 8 - Little Spy Tactics (flashback; archive material from episode 2)
 * Gokaiger Episode 15 - A Privateer Appears (flashback)
 * Gokaiger Episode 16 - Clash! Sentai vs. Sentai (flashback)
 * Gokaiger Goseiger Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle
 * Gokaiger Episode 21 - The Adventurer Heart (flashback)
 * Gokaiger Episode 37 - The Strongest Fighting Machine (flashback; archive material from episode 2)
 * Gokaiger Episode 38 - The Power to Seize Dreams
 * Gokaiger Episode 47 - The Limits of Betrayal (flashback; archive material from episode 15)
 * Gokaiger Episode 51 - Farewell Space Pirates