Go! Go! Loser Ranger! (2024)

[戦隊大失格]

Season 1

Director: Keiichi Sato
Studio: Yostar Pictures
Starring: Yusuke Kobayashi, Yumika Yano, Daishi Kajita
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
A lowly Fighter, one of the remnants of an alien invasion force that is forced to participate in a masquerade of mock battles by the not-so-virtuous heroes of Earth, plots to infiltrate the Ranger organization to get his revenge.

Impressions:
There have been a number of series doing fun takes on the sentai formula and this one feels somewhat reminiscent of what The Boys did for the superhero genre. Yes, the baddies are bad, but the goodies aren't so good (and, indeed, a few of the Dragon Keepers out-villain the villains). I would've never guess this was a story by Negi Haruba of The Quintessential Quintuplets fame, and though I was already sold on the series by that point, learning that prompted me to go out and start collecting the manga (which I need to start reading, but I've been busy with the Kagejtsu novels lately). Fighter D is rather appealing as the villain protagonist, a low-level bad guy in way over his head, who's not quite as bad as he wants to portray himself, an angry little yippy dog going up against lions and such. The Dragon Keepers and their Ranger crews are quite the dysfunctional collection of individuals ranging from outright monsters to well-meaning innocents hopeless caught up in the Big Lie. Plots and intrigue abound and it's all quite compelling to see play out. Although the series can be quite funny, we get some rather dark and bloody moments to remind us just how serious the situation can be. And all this is delivered in a rather slick package by Yostar Pictures, which has become a studio worth keeping an eye on when they have a project coming. I'm sure in no small part to the original author's cred, we've already got a second season lined up, but in the meantime, this is certainly worth adding to your collection.

Rating:
Own It