Go! Go! Loser Ranger!

By: Negi Haruba

Disclaimer: 

This review is based on volumes 1-3 (chapter 1-23)

Summary: 

When the Monster Army invaded Earth thirteen years ago, the Divine Dragon Rangers rose up to stop them! With the war raging on, these great heroes are mankind’s last hope!

…or are they?

In truth, the invaders were subjugated within a year, forced to continue to crank out a monster a week for the Rangers to crush in front of their adoring fans! But one monster has had enough. Something has to change! He’ll rebel against the might of the Dragon Rangers and destroy them all…from the inside!

Review: 

Go! Go! Loser Ranger will feel familiar to anyone that used to watch Power Rangers. Every Sunday, the Dragon Rangers fight against monsters that are trying to take over the Earth. Or at least that’s the story fed to the general populace and even a chunk of the soldiers in the Dragon Rangers. Only the five Divine Dragon Rangers know the truth. The war that has been raging for thirteen years, actually ended after one year. The bosses of the monsters were all destroyed and the only monsters left were the lowly pawns that don’t even have proper names. The Rangers made a deal with the pawns, they wouldn’t kill them if they would “attack” every Sunday to put on a show for the public. However, one pawn, known as D, is fed up and decides he’s had enough. 

D is our protagonist, a pawn specializing in transforming himself to look human, which is what he uses to try and hide amongst the humans. He is hot headed and only cares about destroying the Dragon Rangers. The monsters are unable to die unless injured by an artifact so D can cut off his own limbs in a fight. Though now that he’s pretending to be human he has to be careful not to reveal this to anyone. I won’t spoil anything for later volumes, but I will say that we see right away that at least the Red Dragon Ranger is a jerk. He taunts the pawns and tells them to remember their place. You get a strong feeling that their popularity and frame has gone to their heads. 

The art for this series is okay. I wouldn’t say it’s anything amazing, but it’s also not bad. Pretty simple character design and backgrounds. The fight scenes probably have the most detail. None of this takes away from reading the manga, but it’s not art that will stand out among other series. If you’re a fan of Quintessential Quintuplets the art might seem similar, since the manga is done by the same author/artist. 

Overall Thoughts:

Go! Go! Loser Ranger is an interesting enough series. We’ve seen plenty of examples where the “good guys” are actually terrible so that’s nothing really new. Though seeing that mixed with the Power Rangers is a different twist. Other than that though it’s pretty simple, good guys being bad and a villain fighting against them. We don’t see it in the first three volumes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if D turns into a good guy at some point. Like protecting humans or something like that, it’s where these series usually go. Nothing new or exciting, but still not a terrible read. 

I would recommend this manga to fans of Power Rangers or other shows like that. Also fans of the troupe of “good guys” being evil and underdogs fighting against powerful foes, because D is much weaker then the Dragon Ranger. It’s not the best series out there, but it was worth the read. 

Story: 6/10

Art: 6/10

Characters: 7/10

Overall: 6/10