Premium Bandai Reveals Akibaranger Sentai Gears and Ranger Keys

In celebration of Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger‘s 10th anniversary, a new set of Sentai Gears and Ranger Keys have been announced.

Following last year’s celebrations of Super Sentai‘s 45th anniversary and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger‘s 10th anniversary, Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger turns 10 years old in 2022. In celebration of this anniversary, this unofficial Sentai is getting official Sentai Gears and Ranger Keys.

At least that’s what we would be reporting if the Akibarangers were an official Sentai. While Premium Bandai has officially announced this Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger 10th Anniversary Set complete with 6 gears and 5 keys, compatible with the DX Geartlinger and Memorial Mobirates respectively, the only “Sentai Gear” being included is the Akiba Red Sentai Gear as seen in the movie, Super Hero Senki. No “Ranger Keys” are being included either. For a detailed explanation, please keep reading.

There are 6 gears and 5 keys in this set. The gears are compatible with the DX Geartlinger, but only the Season 1 Akiba Red’s Gear is classified as a “Sentai Gear” while the other five are the Akibarangers’ imitations called “Sesotai Gears.”

Similarly, the five keys will be compatible with the Memorial Mobirates with the same “one push” functionality as the Ranger Keys that released alongside that Mobirates, but these are not official “Ranger Keys” since they were never used by the Gokaigers. Rather, they are “Resoger Keys”, the Akibarangers’ imitations of the Ranger Keys. (The ‘n’ / ン character in “Sentai” and in “Ranger” are replaced by a similarly looking character ‘so’ / ソ.)

The difference between Sentai Gears and Sesotai Gears is that the Sentai Gear will seem like any other Sentai Gear released during Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger‘s airing while the Sesotai Gears will have flat faces on the front and back decorated with stickers instead of an embossed design. Fans who may find this disappointing can take solace in the “pain” kanji (痛) written on the Sesotai Gears. The Gears based on the season 1 Akibarangers have the stylized kanji for “unofficial” written on it. The second trio of Gears are based on the Akibarangers from season 2.

As for the Resoger Keys, there seem to be no advertised differences between them and the recent Memorial Ranger Keys seeing release.

The gears in this set are confirmed to all activate the same sounds in the DX Geartlinger, and there is no mention on the product page of functionality with other toys. The keys in this set may not function with any toy besides the Memorial Mobirates.

The Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger 10th Anniversary Set is available from Premium Bandai for 4,950 yen (tax included). The item is expected to ship in October 2022. Pre-orders will be open from 11 am JST on April 6th until June 13th at 11 pm JST.

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Source: Premium Bandai via Twitter