Gekisou Sentai Carranger

Plot

Five workers from the Pegasus Auto Garage discover Dappu, an alien from planet Hazard. He empowers the five with the "Carmagic" power of the five legendary car constellations, transforming them into Carrangers. As Carrangers, the five battle an alien reckless driver gang and prevent them from destroying Earth.

Characters

Carrangers

The eponymous Carrangers are five employees at the Pegasus (ペガサス, Pegasasu) auto garage who use Carmagic Power (クルマジックパワー, Kurumajikku Pawā) to fight the Bowzock.

The team utilizes Accel Keys (アクセルキー, Akuseru Kī) in conjunction with the ignition switch-like Accel Changer ((アクセルチェンジャー, Akuseru Chenjā) bracelet to transform. While transformed, each member carries an Auto Blaster (オートブラスター, Ōto Burasutā), which can be reconfigured into the Auto Punisher (オートパニッシャー, Ōto Panisshā) railgun, and a ViBlade (バイブレード, Baiburēdo) sword as their sidearms. They also ride Speeder Machine (スピーダーマシン, Supīdā Mashin) go-karts. By combining their personal weapons and a wheeled platform, they form the Giga Formula (ギガフォーミュラー, Giga Fōmyurā), which can be reconfigured into the Formula Nova (フォーミュラーノバ, Fōmyurā Noba) to destroy human-sized Gorotsuki.

Kyosuke Jinnai/Red Racer (陣内 恭介/レッドレーサー, Jinnai Kyōsuke/Reddo Rēsā) is 23 years old. He is a test driver at the Pegasus Auto Garage, normally only assigned to do errands and aberrant jobs. Kyosuke was pristinely a selfish jerk, callous enough to abandon his team because he wanted to drive his boss's classic car. Soon, though, Kyosuke realized that he had a responsibility as the Carranger's leader and became very conscientious, albeit the role of leader sometimes gets to him and he is inundated by the stress of being responsible for the team. He fell in love with Zonnette, albeit at first she only loves his Red Racer alter ego, and is eventually able to confess his love to her. He is a very stouthearted, heroic man who was disposed to jeopardize his life to fight as Kyousuke and not Red Racer to prove his love for Zonnette.

As Red Racer, Kyosuke wields the Fender Sword (フェンダーソード, Fendā Sōdo). He also rides the Red Speeder 1 (レッドスピーダー１, Reddo Supīdā Wan), which is equipped with the Speeder Gun (スピーダーガン, Supīdā Gan).

Naoki Domon/Blue Racer (土門 直樹/ブルーレーサー, Domon Naoki/Burū Rēsā) is 17 years old (though he turns 18 during the series – he had his day of inception party early on in the series, but his partners unknowingly missed the date by a month) and very polite and shy. He works as a car designer at Pegasus Garage, and his aptitude had led him to be sought by car manufacturers before. Naoki is also an animal lover.

As Blue Racer, Naoki dual wields the twin Muffler Guns (マフラーガン, Mafurā Gan). He also rides the Blue Speeder 2 (ブルーススピーダー２, Burū Supīdā Tsū), which is the fastest of the Speeder Machines.

Allies

Dapp (ダップ, Dappu) is one of the few survivors of planet Hazard, which was destroyed by the Bowzock after they ransacked it for its treasures, he took his mother's pendant as her final wish to find the Carrangers. Stalling away on the Barbariban, Dappu arrives to Earth to find the Carrangers-to-be. But when they refused to fight for frivolous reasons, Dappu fights Zelmonda himself and fakes being killed to give the gang incentive to fight. He is the keeper of the 'Kurumagic' (a pun on Kuruma (car) and Magic), thus the Carrangers' power is dependent on their friendship with him. Through about episode 18, he wore a cloak, until the events of that episode forced him into Earth-style clothes.

Signalman (シグナルマン, Shigunaruman) is a blue-colored robotic being who was assigned to Earth, and something of a Sixth Ranger figure. He originates from the Police Planet where he left behind his wife Sigue and son Sigtarou. To Gynamo, Signalman is space's number one worst person. He can sometimes be more of an obstruction than a help to the Carrangers, because of his excruciating training in the rules of traffic. Signalman briefly left Earth and returned to his homeworld to spend time with his family only to find that it was polluted by five-colored exhaust engendered by Exhaus to warp Signalman's mind. Tricked into thinking that the Carrangers were behind it, he went back to Earth to perform police brutality on them, and remotely became the new leader of the Bowzock. Fortunately, the Carrangers managed to restore their friend to normal by tricking him into imbibing natural mineral dihydrogen monoxide. Signalman kenned off the Carrangers true identities until episode 46 through Ichitarou.

Signalman can conventionally be optically discerned operating from the Kobaan Base (コバーンベース, Kōban Bēsu; Police Box Base), a diminutively minuscule Police booth, which can be proximately everywhere in Japan (except places where people might actually pass it...). In battle, he wields the Signaizer (シグナイザー, Shigunaizā) sidearm, which can switch between Police Baton Mode (ポリスバトンモード, Porisu Baton Mōdo) and Gun Mode (ポリスバトンモード, Gan Mōdo). He also rides the Policepeeder (ポリスピーダー, Porisupīdā) police motorcycle.

The Tenma Family (天馬家, Tenma-ke) is the family involved in the Carrangers' lives. The father is the owner of the Pegasus Garage where the gang works, and his son befriended Signalman.

Souichirou Tenma (天馬 総一郎, Tenma Sōichirō) is the owner of the Pegasus Garage and the Carrangers' boss. He is an automobile aficionado and always drives his prized vehicles to work, much to the envy of other car lovers such as Kyousuke Jinnai. He and his family are fans of the Carrangers (even though he does not know they are his workers) and finds himself at the mercy upon occasion both at the actions of the Bowzock as well as Dapp, who is using one of the garage's rooms as the team's headquarters in secret.

Universal Reckless Driving Tribe Bowzock

The Universal Reckless Driving Tribe Bowzock (宇宙暴走族ボーゾック, Uchū Bōsōzoku Bōzokku) is an intergalactic biker gang with no regard for the laws of traffic. Hired by Exhaus to pave the way for his highway by blowing up every planet in the way of construction. They have targeted Earth, the last of such planets, for destruction and frequently hang out at the BB Saloon, a bar in the Baribarian spacecraft. After he had absorbed the Carrangers' Carmagic Power, Exhaus set the Baribarian spacecraft on fire and sent it crashing to Earth, only to have it stopped by Sirender and the Carrangers in human form take control of it and drove it straight into Exhaus to try and kill him. It did not kill him, though it was destroyed.

The Bowzock members, as well as Signalman, mispronounce the Japanese word for "Earth", saying チーキュ (Chīkyu) (吃球) instead of the correct form ㋠キュー (Chikyū) (地球). In Shout! Factory's release of the series, the name of "Earth" is changed to "Earsh".

Reckless Driving Emperor Exhaus (暴走皇帝エグゾス, Bōsō Kōtei Eguzosu) is the main antagonist of the series who hired the Universal Reckless Driving Tribe Bowzock to do his dirty work. His ultimate plan was to build a giant road for aliens across the Milky Way, and to destroy Earth because it was in the way of the road. Exhaus kidnapped Dapp and tried to drain his Carmagic Power to use for his own robots, turning it into Akumagic Power, but his plan backfired when Dappu overloaded the robots with power. He betrayed the Bowzock and took over the operation personally, only to fight the Carrangers personally when he absorbed the evil energies of the entire universe into his body to assume a fighting form, Exhaus Super-Strong (エグゾス・スーパーストロング, Eguzosu Sūpā Sutorongu). In this form he seemed unbeatable, damaging both VRV Robo and RV Robo, but was fed stale imo-youkan by Gynamo, causing him to weaken, revert to his original form and shrink to human size so he could be finished off by the Carrangers.

Instructor Ritchhiker (リッチハイカー教授, Ritchihaikā-kyōju) is an alien who Gynamo hired to help the Bowzock as their "Evil Director of Human Resources", devising the plans to deal with the Carrangers and Signalman, whom he had a grudge on from putting him in jail. However, during the Bowzock Matsuri festival, Ritchhicker is struck by a lightning bolt made of pure evil cosmic energy that turns him into RitchRitchhiker (リッチリッチハイカー, Ritchiritchihaikā). With his increased intellect, RitchRitchiker kicked out Gynamo and Zonette and takes over as leader of the Bowzock with the promises of riches to the space bikers. From there, RitchRitchiker uses Braking to steal RV Robo from the Carrangers before using his robot to take a building holding the Study Book Fair to educate his forces. But it leads to his robot's defeat by the VRV Machines with RitchRitchhiker upgrading Braking as he proceeds to capture VRV Master. However, it results in RitchRitchiker's death when is consumed in the blaze caused by Braking being finally destroyed by VRV Robo.

Episodes

V-Cinema releases

Gekisou Sentai Carranger Super Video

Gekisou Sentai Carranger vs. Ohranger (Takes place between Episodes 38 and 39 of Gekisou Sentai Carranger)

Denji Sentai Megaranger vs. Carranger (Takes place between Episodes 39 and 40 of Denji Sentai Megaranger)

Cast

Kyosuke Jinnai (陣内 恭介, Jinnai Kyõsuke): Yūji Kishi (岸 祐二, Kishi Yūji)

Naoki Domon (土門 直樹, Domon Naoki): Yoshihiro Masujima (増島 愛浩, Masujima Yoshihiro)

Minoru Uesugi (上杉 実, Uesugi Minoru): Yoshihiro Fukuda (福田 佳弘, Fukuda Yoshihiro)

Natsumi Shinohara (志乃原 菜摘, Shinohara Natsumi): Yuka Motohashi (本橋 由香, Motohashi Yuka)

Yoko Yagami (八神 洋子, Yagami Yōko): Atsuko Kurusu (来栖 あつこ, Kurusu Atsuko)

Zonnette (ゾンネット, Zonnetto): Rika Nanase (七瀬 理香, Nanase Rika)

Souichirou Tenma (天馬 総一郎, Tenma Sōichirō): Ed Yamaguchi (エド 山口, Edo Yamaguchi)

Yoshie Tenma (天馬 良江, Tenma Yoshie): Yoshimi Iwasaki (岩崎 良美, Iwasaki Yoshimi)

Ichitaro Tenma (天馬市太郎, Tenma Ichitarō): Ryuji Teraoka (寺岡 龍治, Teraoka Ryūji)

Radietta Fanbelt (ラジエッタ・ファンベルト, Rajietta Fanberuto): Megumi Hamamatsu (濱松 恵, Hamamatsu Megumi; 25), Misaki Sudō (須藤 実咲, Sudō Misaki; 34, 45, 48)

Imocho Shopkeeper (芋長主人, Imochō Shūjin): Tarō Nanjū (南州 太郎, Nanjū Tarō)

Yaokatsu Shopkeeper (八百勝主人, Yaokatsu Shūjin): Chū Takatsuki (高月 忠, Takatsuki Chū)

Voice cast

Dappu (ダップ): Mari Maruta (まるた まり, Maruta Mari)

Signalman (シグナルマン, Shigunaruman): Hōchū Ōtsuka (大塚 芳忠, Ōtsuka Hōchū)

VRV Master (VRVマスター, Bui Aru Bui Masutā): Kiyoshi Kobayashi (小林 清志, Kobayashi Kiyoshi)

Sigue (シグエ, Shigue): Miki Nagasawa (長沢 美樹, Nagasawa Miki)

Sigtarou (シグタロウ, Shigutarō): Yuki Sawada (沢田 雄希, Sawada Yūki)→Hiromasa Ikegami (池上 央将, Ikegami Hiromasa)

President Gynamo (総長ガイナモ, Sōchō Gainamo): Hiroshi Ōtake (大竹 宏, Ōtake Hiroshi)

Deputy Leader Zelmoda (副長ゼルモダ, Fukuchō Zerumoda): Kyōsei Tsukui (津久井 教生, Tsukui Kyōsei)

Inventor Grotch (発明家グラッチ, Hatsumeika Guratchi): Takashi Nagasako (長嶝 高士, Nagasako Takashi)

Instructor Ritchhiker (リッチハイカー教授, Ritchihaikā Kyōju): Nobuo Tanaka (田中 信夫, Tanaka Nobuo)

Space Cockroach Goki-chan (宇宙ゴキブリ・ゴキちゃん, Uchū Gokiburi Goki-chan): Toshiharu Sakurai (桜井 敏治, Sakurai Toshiharu)

Reckless Dash Emperor Exhaus (暴走皇帝エグゾス, Bōsōgōtei Eguzosu): Osamu Kobayashi (小林 修, Kobayashi Osamu)

Songs

Opening themes

"Gekisou Sentai Carranger" (激走戦隊カーレンジャー, Gekisō Sentai Kārenjā)

Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori (森 雪之丞, Mori Yukinojō)

Composition & Arrangement: Takashi Shōji (小路 隆, Shōji Takashi)

Artist: Naritaka Takayama (高山 成孝, Takayama Naritaka)

Episodes: 1–13, 48 (End Credits)

"Gekisou Sentai Carranger ~Full Accel Version~" (激走戦隊カーレンジャー～フルアクセルヴァージョン～, Gekisō Sentai Kārenjā ~Furu Akuseru Vājon~)

Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori

Composition: Takashi Shōji

Arrangement: Keiichi Oku

Artist: Naritaka Takayama

Episodes: 14–48

Ending theme

"Tengoku Samba" (天国サンバ, Tengoku Sanba; "Paradise Samba")

Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori

Composition & Arrangement: Takashi Shōji

Artist: Naritaka Takayama