Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger/WMG

The Akibarangers will cameo in the upcoming Kamen Rider X Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen
In keeping with the Toei tradition of upcoming series making cameos in movies. Considering the subject of material of Akibaranger, it might even be a joke moment. With both debuting in April, it's a possibility.
 * Considering the tone of the show, I doubt that the Moral Guardians will be thrilled about them appearing and luring kids into watching something they shouldn't.
 * Very likely Jossed: Akibaranger will premier April 9, a little less than two weeks before Super Hero Taisen. All the other cameos were anywhere from a few days to a month before the new show. That, plus the fact Toei doesn't want kids to watch the show ("Good kids, stay away from this show. Got it?"), makes a cameo highly unlikely.

The Akibarangers will, despite their title, eventually become official Super Sentai
Humorous subject material aside, there may come a time when the Akibarangers will save the Earth in some fashion. In doing so, they'll be recognized as a Super Sentai on their own.
 * Hiroyo said that their goal is save the world (from whatever), get an official primetime, and become official Super Sentai. However, one can also be aware the possibility of eventually the Akibaranger embracing their unofficial status and still be heroes anyway.
 * Maybe they will become the Official Unofficial Sentai
 * The 36.5th Super Sentai? I can see it happening.

Akibaranger will make references, possibly even stabs, towards Kamen Rider
Referencing the real life fandom and divide between the two shows.
 * Jossed. It's been confirmed that Kamen Rider does not exist in the Akibaranger World.

Akibaranger, despite the blood and sexiness, will be Lighter and Softer in tone than Gobusters.

 * Confirmed. The series takes itself pretty much as a joke.

The Moe Morphers (for want of a better name) use the power of daydreaming.
Basically, the Moe Morphers force the users into Sentai themed group hallucination/daydream, where they believe they're actual Sentai fighting villains (which explains the sudden teleportation, random explosions and mook appearances, and how Akagi is actually right about a lot of things). Meanwhile, in the real world they're actually just being useful to the people around them (in the first episode they probably just cleaned the Sentai cafe and had a civil discussion with the vampire maids about health and safety regulations and how the owner is distressed about the direction they were taking the restaurant in). However, the Moe Morphers need a user that's a prolific daydreamer already, hence why Hasake picked the 3 people she did, and why she keeps going on about them having a great power. The fact that one of them daydreams about Super Sentai (and the character that forms the Moe Morpher/Magnum) is probably why he was picked to be the red Akibaranger: because in context his daydreaming would be the most "relevant" to the delusion.
 * Partly confirmed. The Z-Cune Aoi dolls (whatever their name is) do work with daydreaming (or rather, delusions) as a power, and indeed, do send the Akibarangers into delusion-land. That said, they aren't even being helpful to others, they just do shadowboxing.
 * Official name is the Moe Moe Z-Cune 01 or MMZ-01
 * Except now it's broken out of the delusion world and into the real one.

Akibaranger will be Darker and Edgier
Why not?
 * It's aimed at teens and adults so yeah why not.
 * Jossed. It's actually pretty Lighter and Softer.

It will somehow manage to be both Lighter and Softer and Darker and Edgier at the same time
This is a required WMG.

The Sixth ranger will be a lesbian
Who Does Not Like Men. Including Akiba Red, at first. Resulting in a Let's You and Him Fight. Now Red's harem is complete.

Alternatively, The Sixth Ranger (Fourth Ranger?) will be male and designated "AkibaPink"
Since blue and yellow are both girls, why not?
 * If this were the case, he might end up being a Wholesome Crossdresser type.
 * Can't he just be Camp.

There will be a crossover with Kamen Rider G, as a parody of the Sentai tradition of VS movies

 * Alternately, Goro Inagaki will just appear as himself, but the Akibarangers will try to get him to become Kamen Rider G again in order to have a crossover.
 * Most likely jossed, given that Kamen Rider doesn't exist in Akibaranger.

The Sixth Ranger will have an Afro
It already has molded hair and it would be awesome

This series will be a testbed
They will use the parody nature to hide the fact they are testing wilder ideas for designs.

Red is only The One Guy for now
Which means another guy may come in down the line.

Viacom is going to try to get Saban to get it adapted for either Spike and/or Comedy Central
It makes too much financial sense, and who else is going to air it?
 * Adult Swim
 * MTV is owned and run by Viacom, the owners and runners of Nickelodeon, who airs Power Rangers Samurai. Thus, it'd be the perfect home for Akibaranger. Not to mention that MTV has been known to air SpongeBob SquarePants from time to time...
 * Or Teen Nick, At least after The 90s Are All That block.

Red will be only The One Guy
Somehow this will turn into a Harem Sentai. No really, all of the other characters introduced (one way or another) are female.

Former Sentai actors will appear in the show, but as themselves, rather than as their rangers.
From the first promo (with Akiba Red running into a Go-Busters production meeting and having Maskman merchandise) it seems like in the Akibaranger world, Super Sentai is a TV show. So the Akibarangers could easily meet previous actors. It could be an opportunity to spoof Gokaiger, by having the Akibarangers expect to learn how to be a good Super Sentai from the previous actor but not get anywhere.
 * Might be true- the 2nd PV showed Bouken Yellow... but only visible on the back, so who knows.
 * It may be Yumeria cosplaying but she's shown in front visible with the her costume's paws.
 * It's Kozkoz, actually.
 * On the other hand, the 3rd promo actually has Ban from Dekaranger appearing, so this might be entirely possible.
 * Eventually confirmed in episode 2. Nobuo imagines meeting DekaRed but he actually runs into Ryuji Sainei, who's only in his costume because he's going to an event to promote the Japanese dub of Power Rangers SPD.

Red won't be The One Guy, but the next guy to be a ranger will be evil.

 * There have been evil rangers before. Why not have one that's the only other male ranger in the series? He'll either try to win over the girls, giving Red a reason to man up and fight him, or he'll be an evil Gay Option

Another guy will be introduced, but get magically turned into a girl.

 * Honestly, for a series involving Otaku and fetishism, why not? It's no less likely than a tentacle monster, is it?

Saban will adapt this series into a Power Rangers series for preschool
However, they'll end up being bankrupt spending too much money on censoring all the inappropriate parts.

There will be an Evolving OP.
Officially there's two singers credited for it, but one of them, who previously did the theme for Gaoranger, is barely audible over the chirpy female vocals - as the show goes on and Cerebus Syndrome kicks in, the volume for both vocals shift inversely, and the music changes from digital samples to brass and electric guitar, but the tempo stays the same, until the OP turns into a full-on Hot-Blooded theme well worthy of being counted among Super Sentai.
 * Jossed. They didn't even take the opportunity to use Yumeria's and Kozkoz's cosplaying for Couch Gags.

One of the extra rangers will be a gaijin...
...who is a Power Rangers fanboy and only knows about Super Sentai because of Power Rangers. Because of this, he will mix up Power Rangers facts with Sentai, annoying Akiba Red.

Hiroyo is Marushina
At least someone is making them imagine so realistically in Marushina.

There's a Dream World that the villains try to take over
That's the place where the Akibarangers fight all along!
 * Jossed after a fashion: there is a dream world, but the goal of the villains is to get out.

Unofficial Sentai will happen annually
OP here Exactly What It Says on the Tin this is the first of a line of unofficial Sentai

Akibaranger and Super Sentai are Mutually Fictional
And if any time a TV is shown in Gobusters Akibaranger will be on it.

Hakase will transform at one point.
And become AkibaProfessor

Akiba yellow is actually a crossdresser.
Don't ask why I just have a strange feeling they are gonna do this
 * Whether actual a man cosplaying women or a woman cosplayer this is very likely confirmed
 * Confirmed that she crossdresses, since as of episode 3 she's been both a catgirl and a schoolboy.
 * Confirmed that she crossdresses, since as of episode 3 she's been both a catgirl and a schoolboy.

The Stema Corporation aren't the true villains
Towards the end, it'll be revealed that the Akibarangers' powers as well as the villains are all being generated by an evil force for it's own amusement. Even if the Stema Corporation are defeated, it'll simply create new villains, and if the Akibarangers refuse to fight it, it'll make new rangers to combat it (a parody of the longevity of Super Sentai). In the end, they must choose between saving the world for good and losing their powers, or remaining the Akibarangers and have to combat evil forever.
 * And then they Take a Third Option?

Before Super Hero Taisen
In a short waiting in line to see it

Marushina does not exist
Everytime she does things, it is usually having the Akibarangers transform and she just poofs out when the enemy is defeated. Therefore, Marushina is a figment of the Akibarangers' delusions and doesn't exist in real life. Which means, there's nobody who are thinking to make Akihabara the second Shibuya, Marushina exists, plots and whatever because in such delusions of a hero, a villain is needed, and the plan to make Akihabara the next Shibuya was merely a personification of the fears of Nobuo, Mitsuki and Yumeria to be shunned by the public if their otaku style were to be discovered in public... especially Shibuya.
 * Well, she was just a delusion originally, but

Malshina does actually exist, and knows/worked with Hiroyo in the past
The two of them worked on the Grand Delusion project together, but for some reason the two of them went their separate ways before it was complete with Malshina wanting to use it for evil (or just plain sell out, which explains why her mooks are Corporate Drones) and Hiroyo wanting to use it for good/altruistic purposes (hence why she seemed so convincing when she asked Akagi if he wanted to protect the world, whereas her saying she made it for no real reason seemed a bit... odd). Both of them tried to finish it on their own, and by coincidence managed to finish around the same time, albeit with different devices, leading to the events of the series.

This story, of all things, will have An Aesop
The aesop being: "You can turn your delusions into reality... if you try hard, and not constantly delude yourself." As of the moment, all the Akibarangers can only delude themselves, but then there will be a point that the crisis extends to real life and they managed to bring what they deluded into real life and as Hiroyo stated, 'Be a better person'.

Hakase is going to use the Akibarangers for her own purposes
She is planning to control them through delusions to do something for her. Like robbing banks.

If Akibarangers have ranger keys
When Gokai Blue becomes, Akiba Blue, the helmet retains, but the body suit will be similar to Akiba Red, sans the polar bear print on the back of the pants.
 * Alternately, it'll keep the polar bear print for Rule of Funny.

Mitsuki represents the normal sentai fans watching Akibarangers
Basically, she represents the fans who have no idea what is going on in Akibarangers.

The Itasha Robo will only work when the Sixth Ranger comes
Hakase said that they don't have enough delusional power to make it useful, so many a person or two might make it functional, as the delusions are channeled through the Akibarangers.
 * Jossed. They get it to work properly in Episode 7.

Akibaranger Ranger Keys will show up in Gokaiger Vs Go-Busters...
...or some other Super Sentai movie involving the Gokaiger, thus allowing the Unoffical Sentai to cameo as a Gokai Change. No in-verse explanation will be given for this whatsover, but an Akibaranger Ranger Key set will coincedentially be available for purchase, possibly as a Tamashii Web Exclusive.

The Stema Corporation will somehow break out of the Akibarangers' delusions and appear in the real world.

 * It happens in episode 6.

There won't be a Sixth Ranger.
This show is subverting all the tropes, after all...
 * Alternatively, we can have an initial Mary Sue character as a sixth ranger, but when things do not go well, (s)he'll chicken out and will not be seen again.
 * If there is a Mary Sue Sixth Ranger, it will be Cure Candy. Because hey, it makes as much sense as half the other shit on this page.

Moe Moe Z-Cune will get her own show.
Because why not?
 * Supporting this, there is an opening that appeared in episode 8.
 * Also there has been confirmation of a Z-Cune Manga.

Red Hawk will appear in an episode.
This might sound like a completely out of left field WMG... unless you look at the release dates for this summer's SH Figuarts. The Akibarangers' figures and Deka Red's were announced for release around the same time, and Deka Red just happens to come with the Deka Wapper that Akiba Red used. And in the months after that, Bouken Red will be released as well... and so will Red Hawk. This certainly can't be a coincidence.
 * Confirmed. Red Hawk appears in episode 6. I suppose this means we can expect Akaranger in a future episode as well.

The series will end with a Cease and Desist order from Toei given to the Akibarangers.
Because it would be the perfect way to end the series.
 * Partially Jossed as the basis of episode 9 will be the Akibarangers being disbanded. Whether it's by Toei or not is up for grabs.

The series will end with the making of the series itself.
Perhaps the Akibarangers will make one final attempt at being made official, and will be met with a response from the executives along the lines of "well, we can't make you the next Sentai for kids, but how about we make a show for adults?"

There will be a Digital Piracy Is Evil plot.
Featuring a Ruthless Modern Pirate Monster of the Week and a Gokaiger or Hurricanger cameo.
 * Or Gingaman

Akibaranger exists in the Z-Cune Aoi universe.
Aoi herself will be shown at some point with the three Akibaranger on a keychain.

The three actors playing the Akibaranger will go on to play three of...whatever the 37th Super Sentai is called
...thus giving the Akibaranger their dream (kind of) in a way that doesn't actually require Japanese kids to see Akibaranger.

Mitsuki is The Mole
Or at least, she's been working with Hiroyo since the beginning; we didn't see her being recruited, and she gave a rather flimsy excuse for sticking around in #2.

In actuality, her mission is to:
 * test her teammates, learning how they react to the delusions and trying to understand how they function, and;
 * act as a failsafe system in case something goes wrong.

Indeed, we can see that she:
 * is both familiar enough with otaku culture to get along with her teammates' delusions and "normal" enough to remain somewhat in control;
 * has martial arts training, which might have been necessary to handle oneself in the delusions (it wasn't), and;
 * is underage, which gives her an excuse not to partake in the craziest of experiments (like drinking in #3).

Obviously, she too has been kept in the dark about what the purpose of all this is (she must have been told that it was some kind of "experiment"). On the other hand, as demonstrated by #4, she is allowed to take initiative: when she announced she wasn't going to transform anymore, Hiroyo was genuinely surprised and took some time to understand what she was up to (and even then, Hiroyo was unaware that she was in fact in Akihabara).

The Akibarangers are test subjects for a new product
The Moe Moe Z-Cune are prototypes for a new form entertainment, a way of making virtual reality through brain waves. It could easily become the most immersive form of entertainment ever, as well as making telepathy possible eventually.

However, the technology is still being tested. Among other things, one needs to determine whether delusions can be dangerous in and of themselves, whether they can leave long term damage, and whether they can cause addiction.

Should Akibaranger be adapted, it will be as a Power Rangers RPM sequel.
Think about it. The season RPM was made from was insanely goofy, but RPM has a Darker and Edgier After the End story going on. Of course, that would require a lot of original footage...

Possible future episode parodies
Very well, tropers. Share to us what would be a premise of episode in Akibaranger!
 * There will be an episode which Malshina and the rest try to replace manga with normal picture books for children, which infuriates Nobuo (Mitsuki included) as not only he is an otaku and really respects manga, there has been two instances that picture books have been used by Sentai villains for havoc: Either by trapping kids in it or hypnotizing kids to do ridiculous things.
 * A spoof body-swap episode in which Yumeria cosplays as Nobuo and forces him to dress as her.
 * An episode where a dimension-traveling villain results in Nobou teaming up with Hikonin Rider Akiba, an alternate version of himself from a world where the Kamen Rider show exists, but Super Sentai doesn't; Mitsuki is rather disturbed to learn that her counterpart from the other universe is KR Akiba's girlfriend. Meanwhile, Malshina meets her (male) counterpart, who fills her in on how to make monsters grow giant...
 * Alternately, The Akibarangers will team up with Hikonin Senshi Akiba-Fighter, a team of alternate versions of themselves who come from a world where the Metal Heroes genre exists, but Super Sentai doesn't.
 * A heartbreak episode, involving Nobuo's relationship with Sayaka. When Sayaka reveals the reason she doesn't have a boyfriend because she's interested in woman, Nobuo will quit the team (again), until he develops a new crush on Malshina.
 * A flashback episode, where none of the flashbacks are actually the way they happened.
 * A team-up episode with a nonexistent ranger team.

Nobuo is Gai's father

 * Jossed if it is biological. They have only about a decade in their age differences.
 * And even if you assume Nobuo just becomes Gai's father in the future, in the first episode, Nobuo thinks the Akibarangers will be the 37th Super Sentai, which wouldn't make sense if a member of the 35th Super Sentai hadn't even been born yet. Then again, someone from a world in which all the Super Sentai are fictional becoming the father of someone living in a world where they all really existed would require some sort of interdimensional travel in the first place, so maybe time travel could be involved as well.

Members of AKB48 will make a cameo at some point.
It's set in Akibahara, after all. Minami Takahashi may be the most likely choice, especially if they do an episode where NinjaRed appears, due to her childhood heroes being the Kakuranger.

The Akibarangers will accidentally kill their Sixth Ranger just before (s)he can join
The Sixth Ranger will start off working for the bad guys, but display obvious hints that (s)he can be redeemed. Eventually he'll drop his weapon and declare he doesn't want to fight any more, at which point a Genre Blind Blue will shoot him.

The fourth ranger will be purple
The purple ranger on the pictures in the classroom in the movie episode will be the team's sixth (fourth) ranger.

The Akibarangers will eventually get a proper Humongous Mecha and/or Combining Mecha.
Possibly with the advent of their additional Rangers, who will bring with them a giant mecha about the same time the Chief Clerks find a way to Make My Monster Grow, causing Akiba Red to complain they don't have one. Either Itashar Robo will dock with said Mecha to power it up somehow, or they get their own Humongous Mecha shortly afterwards. This will also allow them to use the typical people in rubber suits as opposed to full CGI models, which they can parody.

The additional rangers will have powers stemming from a different source and be an "offical Sentai"
Now that the battle has entered the real world, the JSDF or some other group there will create their own duo of Rangers to face the monsters, who are "real" and don't use the delusion power. They will treat the Akibarangers as vigilantes while they themselves are "offical" and recognized by the government/Toei.

An official version of Akibaranger will be the next sentai series
Akibaranger will end with the heroes being hired to play themselves in an official series based off their adventures. It will have no in story connection and can be watched separately, being more in line with a true Sentai series, but have the same actors, with the characters credited as the actors. It'd be a nice way to give the series an Earn Your Happy Ending ending.

Sayaka is an Otaku, too.
She's just much better at hiding it than the Akibarangers.
 * As an extension of this, Sayaka is Aoi's secretive voice actress.
 * VA part is jossed - Aoi's voice is Hiroyo!

Sayaka will be the fourth-Sixth Ranger
In relation to the above theory.

If an American version is made
Lewis Lovhaug will play Nobuo's American counterpart.
 * And Jason David Frank will play the male version of Hiroyo (assuming he doesn't end up in Gai's role when they make the American version of Gokaiger).
 * How about Johnny Yong Bosch? With all his time dubbing anime, he's even earned his otaku card. Oh, and Kelson Henderson gets the equivalent role to Kozkoz.

Malshina is Hiroyo's father's creation.
It's so obvious.
 * As of episode 7, confirmed.

Expansion to the above: Hiroyo's father created Malshina to be his waifu
She didn't like being an object one bit and is doing something to get an identity for herself.

The transformation trinkets for the additional Akibarangers' will be based on Seed Jeanne from Nijiyome Academy Z-Cune Aoi.
They would be recruited by Malshina as her Evil Knockoff versions to fight the originals in order to build up delusion power and keep them busy but they later pull a Heel Face Turn and join up with the original 3.

Akibaranger will have about 12 episodes

 * There are four DV Ds currently scheduled for release, each with 3 episodes, for a total of 12.
 * The series has been confirmed for 13 episodes.

Akibaranger will have more than 12 episodes

 * Both this and the above theory are confirmed. 13 episodes total.

Hakase will be the Sixth Ranger
Kozkoz acts as Mission Control in episode 8, so we know that Hakase doesn't have to be the one doing that job. With the revelation that Malshina was created by her father, maybe she'll want to do something about that?
 * Furthermore, she'll be Akiba White, given her white lab coat (to go with Nobuo's red jacket, Mitsuki's blue uniform, and Yumeria's yellow wig).

Hakase's father is the Big Bad
And Malshina appeared as part of his plot to get revenge on the Aoi studio for letting him go.
 * And he's that creepy old guy who was with Malshina at the end of #8
 * Confirmed in episode 9.

Yumeria's mom is just one of several Chekhov's Gunmen...
...who return for the last episode, where an overload of delusion power from every civilian in Akihabara supporting our heroes by watching them in action causes damn near every Red ranger and then some to appear alongside our heroes. Bonus points if Kozkoz is dressed as a mecha instead.

Their delusional powers will recreate the Legend Wars
Similar to above, but the delusional powers cause everyone to become a Sentai member. How this goes down is unknown. Either they make it a farce and not show it, or go with it and show it.

The crossover to reality is a mass delusion
Remember the MMZ-01's ability to broadcast brainwaves? It's actually been getting stronger due to the Akibarangers' delusion power, and it currently affects the entirety of Akihabara, with the potential to affect the whole world. Unlike the usual delusion, they're well blended with reality, making things like everyday functioning coexist with delusional elements. This would mean that the sign gun, for example, not only didn't transform, but was never blown away from where it hung to begin. Being the MMZ-01 an electronic device, it would also cover the photos of the Akibarangers in action; a traditional camera would've led to a Tomato Surprise, but such device is practically nonexistant in the electronic town of Akihabara.
 * In a case of Fridge Brilliance, it would validate the "battles that exist entirely in their heads" piece of the opening monologue for the remainder of the series.

Both Hakase and Sayaka are gonna become Akibarangers
And they will have a long In the Name of the Moon speech

All of the other Sentai teams had their start via Grand Delusion
In-universe, the actors that played the other Sentai teams were recruited and trained through Grand Delusion. The Akibarangers were the first to have theirs.

Doctor Z is not actually a cyborg. He's just wearing a costume.
To go with the Showa-era vibe, his robotic parts have a rubbery, cheap-looking vibe to them. This is intentional. It's all just a costume that he made himself in order to look more intimidating.

The show was created in part because of restrictions on Gokaiger
While Gokaiger reffed just about every last sentai member ever, there were things the show couldn't do, lampshading its core audience could not deal with, fourth wall breaking that could have gone too far. This troper believes Gokaiger was forced by its premise of respectful homage to bypass a lot of good jokes that Akibaranger has become the recipient of.