Power Rangers and The Boys aren’t often mentioned in the same breath when discussing pop culture franchises involving superheroes, but Go! Go! Loser Ranger! seeks to change this mindset. It isn’t to say that the sentai superheroes have the same exploitable fatal flaws that plague other mainstream Western superheroes, but subverting their image is a compelling idea. It’s also no coincidence that Go! Go! Loser Ranger! takes inspiration from Western dramas like The Boys, according to the director, Keiichi Sato.

Go! Go! Loser Ranger! or as it’s known in Japan, Sentai Daishikkaku, is mainly told from the perspective of a footsoldier or “duster” named Fighter D. D sees his villainous Monster Army as having lost sight of their cause, subjugated by the oppressive Dragon Keepers for over a decade, and wishes to kill them, break free, and rule Earth as he intended.

Fighter D is also powerless against these costume-clad egotists, forced to use underhanded tactics to even get on their level, inevitably drawing parallels between Go! Go! Loser Ranger! and The Boys.

Go! Go! Loser Ranger! Anime is Modeled After Shows Like The Boys, Says Director Keiichi Sato

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Keiichi Sato confirmed in his recent interview with febri.jp that when adapting Go! Go! Loser Ranger! he wanted to authentically subvert the Power Rangers or Sentai image, citing The Boys as his example. He refers to the anime as a way for an anti-hero, in this case traditionally portrayed as a villain’s henchman, to confront the “hero of justice” with a hidden dark side. While it’s not an instant parallel with Hughie Campbell’s call to action in The Boys, it’s easy to see glaring similarities between the two series’ unpredictable central “heroes,” the Red Keeper and Homelander.

Sentai Daishikkaku [Go! Go! Loser Ranger! in the West], in which the main character from the bad side confronts a hero of justice with a hidden dark side, has similarities to “The Boys”, and the story develops in an unexpected direction[…]I had a similar image. So, if I were to make an anime about Sentai Dai Shikkaku, I wanted the overall tone to be similar to that of a foreign drama.

-Keiichi Sato, Director of the Go! Go! Loser Ranger! anime

Homelander has become an icon in American pop culture thanks partly to his brilliant portrayal by Anthony Starr and the character’s ruthless, psychologically complex, twisted Superman archetype. The Red Keeper shows how Go! Go! Loser Ranger! can be just like The Boys, even showing his brutal side in Episode #4 of the anime, albeit without the psychosexual elements of his American counterpart. Similarly to The Boys, this anime also features other Dragon Keepers with varying sympathetic appeals and some surprising secrets, such as the Pink Keeper.

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Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is still wholly different as a concept thanks to the mangaka Negi Haruba’s expert writing. The creator of The Quintessential Quintuplets weaves an intricate plot where readers’ understanding of the Dragon Keepers’ role is presented with conflicting images, starting in earnest with the Bailong’s Nest Arc. Here, an Executive named Peltrola of the Monster Army runs loose, wreaking havoc while Fighter D vies for a spot as a Ranger Cadet at the Dragon Keepers’ training grounds. The Ranger Cadets are jaded by Chapter #35, and Fighter D’s true loyalties are questioned.

Unlike in The Boys, Fighter D has a score to settle with the Dragon Keepers, yet it’s not personal. He wants to take over the world, but on his terms, and Peltrola’s brutal dystopian leadership isn’t ideal for him, as hinted in Chapter #44. As the series continues, the Dragon Keepers are portrayed heroically in Chapter #47, unlike their usual image-obsessed iterations, leading to Fighter D questioning what he wants.

Comparing Go! Go! Loser Ranger! to The Boys is easy, but this new series is much more than an anime version of Amazon’s hit show. Fans who are familiar with the Super Sentai franchise should check it out for its brilliant spin on the genre and criticism of the Japanese superhero tropes, but Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is also a standout Shonen on its own.

Source: Febri