Satoru Akashi

"The Fiery Adventurer! Bouken Red!"

Satoru Akashi (明石 暁), nicknamed "Chief" (チーフ, Chīfu) by his fellow Boukengers, is the Fiery Adventurer Bouken Red' (熱き冒険者ボウケンレッド, Atsuki Bōkensha Bōken Reddo) of the Boukengers. He drives the GoGo Dump and leads the team with a calm expression and a fire in his heart. He mostly battles against King Ryuuwon of the Jaryuu Clan.

Boukenger
Satoru is the chief of the Search Guard Success Foundation and the Fiery Adventurer. Once an enthusiastic treasure-hunter known as the "Immortal Fang," the tragic deaths of his partners Kyouko and Masaki in a blaze trap made him retire, only to be hired by SGS. With a calm exterior, Satoru actually hides hot blood inside, as evidenced when he simply catapulted Masumi Inou and Natsuki Mamiya into the Go Go Dump's bucket and carried them and an entire tub of dirt and gravel at full throttle out of the Gordom temple before dumping the entire load upon coming to a full stop. He says "Attack!" and simultaneously snaps his finger at the end of each order he gives to the others. He refers to the other Boukengers by their respective colors, something that Masumi has a thing against.

He is also seemingly oblivious to Sakura Nishihori's heavily implied attraction to him as he is a workaholic. He became filled with self-doubt in Task 4 after Go Go Vehicles 1~5 were buried under ice in a deep crevasse, the resulting suffering of his teammates sparked his memories of Kyouko and Masaki. It took his mighty willpower for him to control the overload-prone GoGo Drill and prevent history from repeating itself.

Satoru used to be a huge fan of Jimon Kagawa's writings about heroes. He is a constant rival of Ryuuwon and took Ragi, a human whom Ryuuwon had transformed into a Wicked Dragon, under his protection and received "the Greatest Adventure" while restoring the Water Metropolis. During the events of the Boukenger movie, Satoru encountered his father Kouchi, whom he eventually settled his affairs with. Satoru was given the offer to quit the Boukengers and join SGS Rescue, but he refused, because he likes to have his own adventures. Instead, he gave Eiji Takaoka the GoGo Changer.

Satoru has at times gone off by himself to find Precious or protect his comrades. In Task 10-11, he let Ryuuwon and Arch Priest Gajah take DaiBouken with him inside to the secret island where SGS kept the Manuscript of Leon Giordana. In Task 42, when all of the GoGo Vehicles were damaged by Furious Demon God Gai and Grand Beast Rei's new Homunculus, he took SirenBuilder, since Eiji at that time was frozen in stone and was never used, to go stop the Quester controlled Homuculus. His real intention was to detonate SirenBuilder with the Homunculus holding on, but everyone came in time to tell Satoru that they are a team and cannot do everything alone. He fought Ryuuwon for the final time, only to endure the destruction of the Precious Bank thanks to DaiKenjin Zubaan. He then followed Desparado in the modified DaiVoyager.

Six months after the final battle with Gajah, Satoru left the Boukenger team to take on a new adventure by taking the space-worthy GoGo Voyager into space to fight outer space Precious, though he was surprised that Sakura followed him, and apparently utterly clueless as to her true intentions. However, when Sakura is possessed by Pachacamac, Satoru is forced to aid him in obtaining the two jewels the monster needed to regain his power. Once Sakura is freed, Satoru aids his team and the Gekirangers in defeating Pachacamac.

Gokaiger
A few years later, Satoru fought alongside not only his own team, but every single Sentai ranger in existence, against the Empire of Zangyack when it attacked the Earth in the Great Legend War. After fighting against hundreds of Gormin and their Zgormin commanders, the Red he was based on, AkaRenger 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 Great Legend War, Satoru is the one who informs the Goseigers that they destroyed the Zangyack's first invasion alongside Go-Onger Saki Rouyama. During the battle with the Black Cross King, He gave the Gokaigers the Boukenger's Greater Power.

Satoru appeared in episode 21 of Gokaiger, asking for the Gokaiger's aid in retrieving The Heart of Hades (黄泉の心臓 Yomi no Shinzō), a powerful Precious. He taught Marvelous about Adventurer's Heart. At the end of the episode, Satoru mentions AkaRed.

After the Zangyack's final defeat, Marvelous returned the Ranger Keys to their original owners. It is assumed Satoru and the rest of his team got their powers back.

Super Hero Taisen
Satoru, alongside his team (Bouken Silver and Zubaan were absent), among the majority of the Super Sentai heroes, was caught up in the "Super Hero Taisen" incident which eventually resulted in the Super Sentai teams and Kamen Riders joining forces to defeat both Dai-Zangyack and Dai-Shocker.

Super Hero Taisen Z
to be added

Super Sentai Versus Series Theater
Satoru's appearances in the "Versus Series", Boukenger vs. Super Sentai and Gekiranger vs. Boukenger, are featured in the Super Sentai Versus Series Theater, hosted by the heroes of Tensou Sentai Goseiger. Alata (Gosei Red) also dresses as Satoru in the Boukenger cosplay.

Akibaranger
An imaginary Bouken Red appear twice alongside the "unofficial" Sentai team, Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger, in the third episode, after AkibaRed says his catchphrase "Boukenger, Attack!", wearing his "lucky outfit". Later, he appears to encourage AkibaBlue and transforms into Bouken Scooper.

Bouken Red reappears leading his five-man team alongside the other two Inordinate Sentai, Dekaranger and Jetman, in Season Two's alternate take on the events of the first season. The three official Sentai come to aid the Akibarangers in the final battle with the Stema Otsu Corporation.

Kozukozu Mita cosplays as Satoru in the sixth episode of Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger: Season Two.

Ranger Key
The Bouken Red Ranger Key (ボウケンレッドレンジャーキー) is Satoru Akashi's personal Ranger Key and what became of his powers after he along with the rest of the 34 Super Sentai sacrificed their powers to end the Great Legend War.

This key along with the majority of the Ranger Keys were collected by the Red Pirates and later used by the Gokaigers. Marvelous and AkaRed found the Bouken Red key together, with AkaRed saving Marvelous from a trap shortly before. The Bouken Red Ranger Key was mainly used by Captain Marvelous (Gokai Red), who used it to fight as Bouken Red. It was also used by Joe Gibken (Gokai Blue) on one occasion.
 * Joe became Bouken Red as part of an all-red Gokai Change when the Gokaigers traveled to the past and fought against Shitari of the Bones and his Gedoushu during the Goseigers' team-up with the Shinkengers.
 * Among several changes as he, Luka, Don, and Ahim fought against Zangyack while Joe was absent.
 * When the Gokaigers became the Boukengers in their battle with the revived King Ryuuwon.
 * As part of a bombardment of changes in the final battle with Emperor Ackdos Gill.

After Zangyack were finally defeated, the Gokaigers gave the Ranger Keys back to their rightful owners. It is presumed that Satoru received his key and became Bouken Red once more.

Red Spirit
As the thirtieth Red, Bouken Red's Red Warrior Spirit was embodied by AkaRed.

Imitations
A copy of Bouken Red was created by Ouga as part of the Evil Boukengers.

Portrayal
Satoru Akashi is portrayed by Mitsuomi Takahashi (高橋 光臣). As Bouken Red, his suit actor was Hirofumi Fukuzawa (福沢 博文).

Etymology

 * "Akashi" (明石) is from the surname of Japanese officer Motojiro Akashi (明石 元二郎), who entrapped Russia to confusion as a spy of the imperial Japanese army in the Russo-Japanese war.
 * The kanji for "Satoru," "暁," can also be read as "sunrise" (暁). "Satoru" is also Japanese for "to realize".
 * The First 3 Letters in his Surname (Aka) also refers to the kanji for his color