REVIEW: ‘The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World’ Episode 1 — “The Red Ranger and the Mage”

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World (Sentai Reddo Isekai de Bôkensha ni Naru) Episode 1 by SATELIGHT takes a different spin by adding in an Isekai element to the classic ranger genre. From Japan’s roots of Super Sentai to America’s Powers Rangers, the ranger genre is always making a comeback for different generations of audiences. So many TV series and movies have inspired concepts, such as the general tropes in Ben 10, Tiger & Bunny, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Ultraman, She-Ra and The Princesses Of Power, along with a current fan-favourite ongoing anime called Go! Go! Loser Ranger! The general gists of the morphing into one superpowered being and colored team squads have been around for decades now. Now, there’s The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World.

The story revolves around Togo Asagaki (Tomoya Ito), who leads a Super Sentai team called Adhesive Squadron Kizuna Five. After being presumed killed in a battle with the boss of the evil organization, the Relationship Enders’ Break-Up King, he is reborn into another world. With no way home, Togo/Kizuna Red joins forces with the heroes of this new world to stop an evil threat. However, unlike his new allies, he can still use his mighty morphing powers.

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World Episode 1 Leans On Tropes To Create Huge Comedy.

This means that in a world with monsters, magic, and different species, Red is an oddity. He can summon a mecha called the Kizuna Kaiser and cause giant explosions with his transformation (and his attacks). Even the monsters Togo faces explode when the battle is over. Unfortunately, this means he only has burnt ashes to loot. These are classic tropes for the Red Ranger in Super Sentai.

The classic tropes are to die laughing for, as The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World Episode 1 leans into them heavily. Examples include how the Red Ranger is usually the leader who focuses on team bonding, commits a lot of self-sacrificing, and always fires everyone up. They are also depicted as the most emotional and have some innate leadership traits.

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World Episode 1 leans so heavily into Togo’s character traits of bonds that it’s the focus of his world. The villains in his world hate bonds, and it even creates more nonsensical names for his weapons and attacks, such as Cooperation Caliber (a kind of helicopter blade-looking weapon) and the Marriage Beam Gun with its attacks: Lovers Snipe, Proposal Pot-Shot, and Engagement Gift Burst.

To make matters even more humorous, the Kizuna Red Ranger shows all of his attacks to an archmage named Idora Arvoln (Konomi Inagaki), the brilliant child of a disgraced court mage who seeks to redeem her family’s reputation and use sorcery for good. Since the story takes place six months after Togo is transported to this fantasy world, it glosses over how confused he is being in a whole new world and just gets right to it.

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World Episode 1 Twists Expectations Through Comedy.

While other ranger titles lean toward drama and thrillers, The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World Episode 1 makes the over-the-top satire clear that this is a flat-out comedy series. It’s more lighthearted and played for comedy, with the insanely breast-centric female character utilized for slapstick comedy, like falling on her breasts and bouncing off the ground. It comes off as simple fan service, and there is nothing much to laugh at other than facepalming at how they could’ve included that.

The reactions of Idora and other people of the fantasy world towards Togo’s out-of-place powers are where the comedy shines. When Togo constantly whips out blades and guns found in a sci-fi world, it’s hilarious to see everyone’s reactions who cannot understand how his weapons cause explosions without any mana or magic use. Ultimately, Togo and Idora form a special bond based on their common goals of using their ‘magical’ powers to restore happiness across the land. Idora even has a line recognizing the Red Ranger’s weird focus on bonds, “You seriously love all this friendship and bonds talk, don’t you?”

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World Episode 1 shapes up to its entertaining comedy adventure story that smartly interweaves satirical commentary on all of the classic Super Sentai/Power Rangers tropes. Sometimes, a show doesn’t need a flashy or unique animation style; sometimes, viewers just want a show to have a good, mindless time.

This could easily be an overlooked series solely based on the title alone. But it shouldn’t be. If any anime fans are looking for a belly-busting-super-hilarious-ultra-funny-completely-bonkers-extremely-satirical journey, this might be a series to add to their watchlists.

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.