Takeru Shiba

"Shinken Red!~Takeru Shiba!" "Super Shinken Red! Going Forth!" "Hyper Shinken Red! Going Forth!"



Takeru Shiba (志葉 丈瑠, Shiba Takeru) is a young man descended from feudal lords, referred by his vassals and servants as Lord (殿, Tono).

Biography
He was raised since childhood by Hikoma Kusakabe to act the role of the 18th head of the Shiba line after his father gave him the Shishi Origami. His upbringing made him create a facade to look very arrogant and proud to others, claiming none can match his strength and greatness while keeping his cool in any situation. Though he was reluctant to have the vassals fight by his side, as he wanted no one else to bear the burden, he allowed their involvement after giving them the choice to turn back or become Shinkengers out of want rather than need, as long they are willing to finish their mission to the last detail.

By the time Genta arrives, Takeru's facade is revealed as he now questions himself of how it makes him strong along with learning he shares similar attributes with Juzo before defeating him. While at times it may not seem like it, Takeru cares a lot about his vassals and when Genta arrives, he becomes more open with them. However, in a fight against Juzo, it is revealed that Takeru started to value his life more which, in Juzo's words, makes him weaker and makes Takeru doubt himself. After Takeru is injured and taken down by Ayakashi Yomotsugari's Onibidama, Kaoru Shiba, the true eighteenth head of the Shiba Clan, appears and reveals herself as the real Shinken Red, thus exposing Takeru as a kagemusha.

It is revealed that the previous Shinken Red could not defeat Doukoku and his army, and decided to leave the task to the next generation. In order to hide the previous lord's unborn daughter, Hikoma Kusakabe recruited Takeru, who was never a samurai but had great fighting abilities and possessed enormous Mojikara, to pose as the eighteenth head of the Shiba Clan in order to hold Kaoru's pursuers at bay. After Kaoru's failed attempt to seal away Doukoku with the sealing character, she resigned as the 18th head and adopted Takeru as her son, which made him the 19th head and therefore allowing him to continue as Shinken Red once more.

Months after wiping out the last of the Gedoushu, Takeru fought alongside not only his own team, but every single Sentai ranger in existance, against the Empire of Zangyack when it attacked the Earth in the Great Legend War. Takeru was the one of the first Super Sentai Reds seen engaging a Gormin and Sugormin group. After fighting against hundreds of Gormin and their Sugormin commanders. AkaRanger noticed the fleet moving towards them, he gathered all the Rangers together and gave them the order to sacrifice their powers to wipe out the first invasion's armada.

After the Gokaigers defeated the Zangyack invasion, Marvelous released the Ranger Keys/powers back to their original owners. Takeru and his team currently have their powers back.

Takeru and his team are set to return in the Kamen Rider X Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen to fight against the Kamen Riders despite the fact they teamed up with Tsukasa Kadoya during their war with Dokoku.

Shinken Red
As Shinken Red (シンケンレッド, Shinken Reddo), he is the Samurai of Fire (火の侍, Hi no Samurai) and can use the Inromaru by itself to become Super Shinken Red (スーパーシンケンレッド, Sūpā Shinken Reddo) or with the Kyoryumaru to become Hyper Shinken Red (ハイパーシンケンレッド, Haipā Shinken Reddo).

Trivia

 * He shares the same name with the Red Ranger from the 1987 Series Hikari Sentai Maskman, Takeru, and is the only Red Ranger to share the same name with his predecessor.
 * Takeru and his Samurai counterpart Jayden both had fathers who were (respectively) given the Shishi Origami/Lion Folding Zord. Also, Takeru and Jayden share the same last name.