Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger

Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger (元気爆発ガンバルガー) is a 47 episode animated shōnen mecha television series, and the second series produced for the Eldran franchise funded by Takara-Tomy and produced by Sunrise. It aired on TV Tokyo from April 1, 1992 to February 24, 1993.

Plot
Koutarou's father is trying to train his son in the art of the ninja, but a mis-hit bomb accidentally damages a shrine and releases a great demon that Eldoran had been keeping contained. Eldoran manages to contain him, but one of his servants manages to escape as well, and now attempts to free his master. To stop him, Eldoran grants the three mecha Go Tiger, King Elephant, and Mach Eagle to Koutarou and his two friends, as well as suits that grant each of them a special power. Miracle Ninja Ganbare Team is born!

Gambare Team

 * Kotaro Kirigakure (霧隠 虎太郎)

Kotaro Kirigakure is the main pilot, who becomes Yellow Ganbar when he activates the Ganbar Bracelet with the command "Flushing!". When wearing the Ganbare Suit, he gains super-speed. His "Ride On" vehicle is the Ganbar Bike, a tiger-motif motorcycle, and he pilots Go Tiger, as well as being the main pilot of Ganbaruger and Great Ganbaruger. Besides being a 4th-year student in school, he is being trained as a ninja by his father. He also enjoys playing pranks, and just goofing off in general. Though he argues all the time with Chinatsu, it seems as if they'll end up with each other.


 * Yousuke Kazamatsuri (風祭 鷹介)

The geek/nerd of the group is Yuusuke Kazamatsuri who becomes Blue Ganbar. He is the first to discover their superpowers in the Ganbare Suits, which in his case is super-senses. He flies the Ganbare Jet (which is actually a prop-driven plane) and Mach Eagle. After he protects the egg containing it, he becomes the pilot of Gekiryuger as well. He is the one who figures out the Ganbare Commander and its functions. He is a bit weak and shy, and is often emotionally blackmailed by his mother early on. He is made to attend a very lot of cram schools and lessons by his mother every day. She seems to treat him like a trophy child, putting all his perfect tests on the walls of their apartment, and making him play violin even though he is not good at it. He does the unrequited love to Yurika, and is does anything for her. He does not mind the latter though as much, since it means he gets to see his crush, Yurika. They're the most obvious of the three couples. Besides his normal schooling and violin lessons, he also attends a cram school where one of the subjects is English.


 * Rikiya Ryuzaki (流崎 力哉)

As Red Ganbar, Rikiya Ryuuzaki gains super-strength. His vehicle is the Ganbar Buggy, which looks like a red go-cart, and like the other two vehicles becomes part of the cockpit for his mech, in this case King Elephant. When they need more help, he ends up becoming the pilot of Revolger as well. His parents run a ramen restaurant, and he has a part-time job with them delivering ramen. His main passion, however, is for baseball. Though it is only shown in a few episodes, his match seems to be the daughter of General Takeda (and fellow 4-1 classmate), Katsura.

Friends and Allies

 * Toubei Kirigakure (霧隠 藤兵衛) (Gonzales)

Koutarou's father, Toubei is a ninja. However, early on Yaminorius turns him into a dog when he attempts to battle him, a form he stays in for most of the rest of the series. Because they need to keep it a secret, he ends up getting "adopted" by his own family, and called Gonzales, or Gon for short. Under his doghouse is a secret ninja training chamber, where he attempts to help train the Ganbare Team, and especially Kotaro. As time goes on, he finds himself adopting more and more dog habits, such as burying and digging up bones. Eventually he is returned to human form in time for the final battle. Presumably he's disappeared like that before for training and such, as no one seems to wonder where he went.


 * Kasumi Kirigakure (霧隠 かすみ)

Koutarou's older sister. She is slightly violent. Kotaro always quarrels with her. She is the one who (re)names Toubei as Gon and tries to take care of him. She is also good at badminton. She is an ace attacker of the badminton club. She has become devildom person by the influence of Yaminorius's magic.


 * Yayoi Kirigakure (霧隠 やよい)

Koutarou and Kasumi's mother. She is very mild. She's a nursery teacher in the day nursery that has been managed at home.


 * Aiko Tachibana (立花 亜衣子)

The teacher of the 4-1 class. She is a strict teacher but she loves students. She believes that there’s not true bad person in the world. She is very good at Aikidou. She is in love with Kyouji Yamino which Yaminorius which became the memory loss changed itself into. later, She will be informed of his real nature and is shocked but, she runs after him to make him reform.


 * Chinatsu Yuuki (結城 千夏)

A photographer, she is always raving about finding the next "Great Scoop" even though she is only a 4th year elementary student like the Ganbare guys. She is very good at the aikido. She fights with Kotaro a lot, but at the end seems as if it is just because she cares about him.


 * Yurika Komaki (小牧 百合香)

A gentle girl, Yuusuke has a crush on her and she returns the favor. Besides sharing the 4-1 class with Yousuke, she also has violin lessons with him.


 * Katsura Takeda (武田 桂)

The daughter of General Takeda of the Defense Force. She is a bit spoiled by her father. The budding relationship between her and Rikia is the least obvious of the three.


 * Tetsuya Ryuzaki (流崎 哲哉)

Rikiya's little brother. He is friends with Akie, and in the same preschool/daycare. He looks up to Red Ganbare even before he finds out that he's his brother.


 * Akie Yuuki (結城 秋絵)

Chinatsu's little sister. He is friends with Tetsuya, and seems to be in the equivalent of preschool.


 * Jun Araki (荒木純)

The local Little League coach. He lives over his father's candy store. He ends up falling for Aiko, but just cannot make her notice him.


 * Genzo Araki (荒木源蔵)

Father of Junkato, he owns the local candy store the Ganbare kids get candy from. Something always seems to happen to him or his store about a third to a half of the time, but it always gets restored along with all the other damages at the end.


 * General Takeda (武田長官)

The general of the Defence Force. It seems as if the reason he does not show up as much in Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh is because he was busy over in Aozora Town with his daughter and Makaijuu (Hellbeast) attacks. He later returns one last time in Gosaurer, but the subject of his daughter never comes up there.

The Daimakai (The Demon World)

 * Yaminorius the third (ヤミノリウスⅢ世) (Kyouji Yamino)

A sorcerer and servant of Gokurark. When he fails his first escape attempt, he slips Yaminorius out to work on freeing him. he then possesses a skeleton in a school science lab(seemingly the same school that the Ganbare team attends) and summons Makaijuu(Hellbeasts) via a magic tome and the chalkboard in the lab. He is goofy, but is very earnest. He also created a human-looking form for subterfuge purposes. (Mostly information collecting.) His human form is journalist's Kyouji Yamino mainly. He has transformed himself into the bus guide's Riuko Yamino also. after his master's defeat, the surviving portion of Gokuark embeds itself in him, granting him more power and a slightly altered form. From this point on, until the other two demons free Gokuark from his body and restore Gokuark's power, he is able to convert pre-existing objects directly into Makaijuu. During this period, he has a bout of amnesia, during which he(in human form) and Aiko fall for each other. After regaining his memories, he seems to forget about it until a picture of them brings it back. Though reforming is persistently urged on him by Aiko, He succeeds in the revival of The Three Great Demons. but, he witnesses the Ganber Team that tries to fight still even if becoming a dog. in addition, he finally rebels because they try to destroy the earth that was to have been remodeled greatly. He helps the Ganbar Team. He leaves somewhere after they defeated Three Kings. He returned as human Kyouji Yamino to Aiko in Ending.

The Three Great Demons

 * Gokuark (ゴクアーク)

The first of the three demons, originally sealed in the shrine at Koutarou's home. The leader of the three. After his initial defeat by the Ganbare Team, he hides himself within Yaminorius, until his revived brothers pull him free once more.


 * Seiyark (サイアーク)

The second of the three demons. He had been sealed by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, until Yamino Ryuuse broke the master seal in Japan and freed him and Retsuark. Has control of Lightning.


 * Retsuark (レツアーク)

The last of the three demons. He had been sealed near the Great Pyramids of Giza until freed by the breaking of the combined seal in Japan. Has the power of demon summoning.

Go Tiger
The robot piloted by Yellow Ganbare, Kotaro. It typically launches from either underneath a park, or from a warehouse in a mall. In addition to its claws in beast mode, it has a pair of back cannons(Go Cannon), and fire breath that it only seems to use when executing the team attack Ganbare Ninpo with Mach Eagle and King Elephant.

In robot mode, it wields the Go Saber. It forms the lower torso and upper legs of Ganbaruger.

King Elephant
This is Rikiya/Red Ganbare's vehicle. Its main launch points are under an apartment building and under a highway overpass. It has the King Missile in its trunk in beast mode, besides crushing things with its feet, and using its tusks. In robot mode it uses the King Tomahawk. It forms the legs from the knees down of Ganbaruger.

Mach Eagle
The third of the original Ganbare Team robots, controlled by Yuusuke aka Blue Ganbare. It can launch from either an intersection, or from under a toll road, just past the toll booths. In beast mode it has vulcans on the wings, and can twirl to create a tornado (Mach Cyclone), which is one of the parts of the Ganbare Ninpo team attack. In robot mode it fires the Mach Arrow. It forms the arms, wings and chest of Ganbaruger.

Ganbaruger
When Koutarou activates the sequence for "Miracle Gattai" the three above robots combine into Ganbaruger. Its attacks are: After a victory, and the victory cry of "Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger!"(or the name of whatever mech pulled the win, as this applies to the reinforcements and Great Ganbaruger too) it "explodes" into motes of light which then rain down over the city, restoring whatever damage the Daimakai forces did, and spitting the Ganbare Team out from some hidden area back in their civilian clothes, like inside some pipes or out of a drinking machine.
 * Ganba Fire A stream of fire from the lion head on the chest
 * Ganba Flare It is the same as above, but a single ball of fire
 * Ganba Missile It fires a missile form the trunk on the shield
 * Ganba Slugger It throws an energy boomerang created from the mohawk on the head
 * Ganba Flasher Two balls of light come flying from its sides(from the shoulders perhaps) and disintegrate the part of the Makaijuu they hit(arms both times it was used)
 * Ganba Sword It summons the Ganbare Sword
 * Ganba Final Attack The finisher. Energy bands launch from the tusks of the shield, holding the enemy in place while the Ganba sword is drawn out of the ground, after which it ignites. Ganbaruger then jets forward and cuts the Makaijuu into quarters, and after it explodes, extinguishes the sword with the shield's tusks.

Revolger
The first of the two reinforcements. Its transforming command is "Miracle Henkei", as opposed to the "Miracle Change" of the previous robots(although later on they do use Miracle Change for it a few times). Its pilot is Red Ganbare, and the cockpit is close to what Rikiya is used to in King Elephant. It launches from underneath a railroad crossing. In beast mode it can use its claws and teeth to attack, as well as fire shots form the tail, and in robot mode it has:
 * Head Bomber It fires shots from the "revolver" in the head
 * Shot Blaster It fires blasts from its rifle

RevolBuster
The gun mode. When the command "Miracle Bussou"is given, it transforms into a huge double-barrel gun. This mode is called the RevolBuster, and used for the finisher RevolBuster Last Fire.

Gekiryuger
Gekiryuger is the last of the reinforcements, granted to Yuusuke. Besides its natural weapons it can fire shots from the tailguns(Back Shot) and duplicate the tornado that Mach Eagle creates(Gekiryu Hurricane). After it transforms with Miracle Henkei(and also Change later):
 * Dragon Shot It summons and fires shots form its handheld rifle
 * Gekiryu Cannon The first part of the major attack(and sometimes finisher). It summons two over-the-shoulder cannons and starts charging an energy blast between them.
 * Dragon Thunder Crash The second part of the major attack. It launches the generated plasma ball at the enemy with a blast from the dragon head on the chest.
 * There is also a nameless energy boomerang launched from the head crest.
 * It can also join hands with Revolger and Ganbaruger for a team attack and part-time finisher called Ultra Ganbare Ninpo. They become a wheel of flame and roll through the enemy.

Great Gambaruger
The final form. The main torso is Ganbaruger, though Revolger adds onto it, and forms the head, and lower arms at least. Gekiryuger becomes the legs, and wings. There may be more parts but it is difficult to tell what all goes where of the smaller parts without the actual figures. The fusion command Kotaro uses when he activates it is "Chou Miracle Gattai! Genki Bakuhatsu da!". He has to manipulate a hologram of all the parts together to unlock the gattai initially. Its attacks are:
 * Ganba Breast Flash It fires an energy blast shaped like the symbol on its chest from its chest at the enemy.
 * Final Ganba Sword It summons the sword from a pillar of light between earth and sky. Note: It seems as if it can barely handle the weight of the sword!
 * Great Final Attack The finishing move, firing an electric blast form the sword to immobilize the enemy, then jet forward and slash it in half.
 * It can also swap the hand for a cannon and fire in a nameless attack.

Trivia
This series was dubbed into English and was part of Cartoon Network's lineup in the Philippines. The only commercially-available release of this English dub is a licensed set of four VCD boxsets which include the original Japanese track as well.

The series takes place apparently around the same time as Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh—during one episode, the team are warped by holes to various places (toilets, manholes, districts) and they are apparently warped to another district, and a monster attacks. Jin shows up and holds it off and tells the team to "leave it to us in this district". They apparently know each other, since they speak on friendly terms and know that they protect the eastern districts.

Gambaruger is also included as an entry in the latest Super Robot Wars series of video games called Super Robot Wars NEO for the Wii along with the other 3 Eldran Mecha series. CM's Corporation has issued a Sunrise Mechanical Action figure of Ganbaruger, set to be released in July 2009.