REVIEW: ‘Go! Go! Loser Ranger!’ Is Fun But Slightly Underwhelming

When Go Go Loser Ranger (Sentai Daishikkaku) was initially announced it was exciting to get a new Super Sentai-inspired anime. Instead of treading over familiar tropes and storylines, Go Go Loser Ranger is a darker twist that takes a whole new look at the subgenre.

Instead of focusing on the heroes, Go Go Loser Ranger is a story about the villains. Or, rather, who the world of the series considers the villains. See, the world was invaded by the Nefarious Monster Army 13 years prior to the events of the series and they were only stopped by the glorious Dragon Keepers. The Dragon Keepers are sporting the familiar Power Rangers look and continue to fight against remnants of the Nefarious Monster Army to keep the world safe.

Enter the Fighters. The Fighters are essentially enslaved creatures trotted out into a coliseum to fight against the Dragon Keepers for sport. It is established pretty early on that the Nefarious Monster Army is no longer a real threat, but the regular citizens don’t know that. Instead, they gather gleefully to watch the Fighters get decimated by the Dragon Keepers week in and week out. These Sunday Showdown events are used by the Dragon Keepers to keep their power and influence.

One of the Fighters, Fighter D (Yûsuke Kobayashi), has had enough. He is sick and tired of the constant destruction and is determined to get revenge on the Dragon Keepers. He manages to infiltrate the real world and sets out on his quest to take down the Dragon Keepers and reveal their deep, dark secrets along the way.

It is a fascinating premise for a few different reasons. The series takes an approach very similar to The Boys in that the people who are treated as heroes by the public are actually horrible, narcissistic villains. The way Go Go Loser Ranger reveals their cruelty constantly evolves throughout the season but is always interesting. They go to extreme lengths to secure their place on top of the social pecking order and commit heinous acts in the process.

All of this makes viewers sympathize with not only Fighter D but the allies he finds along the way. His motives are easy to understand, but they evolve. He meets humans training to become part of the Rangers and starts to see some of them as worth saving. He is conflicted about the NMA’s initial goals of world domination, which leads him to make some really shocking decisions towards the end of the season.

Go Go Loser Ranger spends quite a bit of time establishing the relationships between Fighter D and the people he meets. It tries to be more than just a show about one man and his quest for revenge and it mostly works. Some of the extended storylines with these side characters are a bit drawn out, but they do give added context to Fighter D’s goals and why he makes the choices he does later on.

Where Go Go Loser Ranger really stands out is the action. It would not be a Super Sentai series without some over-the-top fighting. Yostar Pictures does a great job of showing the fighting in motion, making the actions of the characters look fluid at fast and slow tempos. There is plenty of creativity in character design too that really helps make it a joy to look at all throughout.

It helps that Fighter D never gets to power up and do the typical Shonen main protagonist thing of overcoming his enemy through some absurd new abilities. He is always at a disadvantage, never able to do any of this all on his own. This makes the fights more interesting and allows the animation team to really flex its muscles by pitting him up against much stronger foes and still making him look weak.

With all of that, Go Go Loser Ranger is not perfect. It is hampered by a 12-episode run that limits the storytelling capabilities. There is a really good story there lurking beneath the surface, but it gets lost amongst all of the shuffling pieces. All of that time spent world-building and growing the characters is great, but it leads to a somewhat rushed ending. More time to breathe or less time spent on smaller stories would have made the ending feel more natural, but it was not terrible by any means.

Go Go Loser Ranger is a Super Sentai-inspired story that delivers an intriguing world and fun action but doesn’t quite stick the landing. Still, there are plenty of interesting characters and constant twists and turns that make it worth checking out.

Go Go Loser Ranger is streaming now on Hulu.