__Go! Go! Loser Ranger! (Sentai Daishikkaku)
Creator: Negi Haruba (The Quintessential Quintuplets)
Director: Keiichi Satou (GANTZ:0, Tiger & Bunny)
Music: Yoshihiro Ike (Akiba Maid War, Saint Seiya)__

Throughout my life I’ve seen many different iterations of Super Sentai or Power Rangers, even as I got older and they were less prevalent, but I would see them around nonetheless. I’ve had the chance to get to know Super Sentai, that Power Rangers is based on, as Japanese media has become easier to access than it was, say 30 years ago. The story of Go! Go! Loser Ranger! looks to put a spin on a format we’ve all known for decades, using a formula similar to Amazon’s The Boys. What if the good guys are really just messed up, flawed individuals like the rest of humanity? Now give them super powers. Go! Go! Loser Ranger! gives us the perspective of one of the many, nameless foot soldiers so common to this genre, and how he becomes the Main Character of a revenge story against humanity’s saviors.

What GGLR offers as a series is a story rife with twists and turns along the way, but also rife in it's amount of characters that borders on overwhelming. While something you don't expect might be lurking around that next corner, so is another character trope with a name that'll be tough to remember three episodes later. That's not to say that the series doesn't have characters with merit, but the sheer number of side characters met along the way of this debut arc is a little tough to keep up with. Don't even get me started on the Dragon Keeper Ranking system. I've watched the entire series and I still have absolutely no idea how it works, other than the Dragon Keepers themselves are at the top and have a Right Hand Man/Woman that's next in line to take their position. The story gives many opportunities for the characters to grow, not just with Fighter D (who has the most runway for growth) but even the human characters that surprisingly align with him in his quest against the Dragon Keepers.

Moving along to animation, GGLR has plenty of original style between the cutesy to gritty character designs, well made effects for pewpews, albeit a rather dull color palette. A shoutout to the use of "swirling sand" (for lack of a better name) use of CG effects when the Fighters are regenerating. It looks good and is an example of well-used CGI when composited right. The backgrounds of the series are pretty average and aren't given much flair, which I can't really fault when nearly half your episodes take place in a parking garage. The animation itself is pretty fluid and reaches the standards for above average in this regard. There is definitely better out there, but they put more effort into making sure things were moving more smoothly than your average seasonal shonen. Composition really lacks in the series, but is overall about average. There's plenty of action and even a few moments of exposition and reflection in the series. These opportunities are often used solely for the purposes of that action and exposition, but we aren't given a very cinematographic lens with which to view it through. The moments are captured, but not in the best light given those opportunities.

Audio! Really doing it's best to carry this series, which gets an above average in all Audio criteria, but a perfect 5/5 in OP/ED, and for good reason! Both the OP and ED are certified bangers and of course the ED follows my absolute OP/ED rule: if you make your characters dance to the song, you will get my vote! Tatsuya Kitani has been getting a lot of work done in the last few anime seasons and this OP brings a lot of depth and variance. Ranging from hard, melodic vocals, to using a children's chorus as backup vocals, this OP has a lot going on. But it's an orderly chaos that comes together so well, paired with the animation, really depicts the range of character that Fighter D is. NANAOAKARI gives us the ED, which is just a wonderful dance number complete with dancing Fighters, Dragon Keepers, and even umbrella props! Setting aside the OP and ED, the rest of the show's Score is well produced, and used appropriately to set the tone in a wide range of scenes from intense suspense to colorful whimsy. While I do have my criticisms about the sheer amount of characters in the show, I give a 4/5 to the VA team because they've all got personality across that wide swath of characters. Usually there are obvious weak-links in every show, but I think they did a pretty great job in casting given the many archetypes they had to fill.

I would recommend Go! Go! Loser Ranger! to just about any shonen fan, but with Power Rangers' popularity in the US in the 90's, I think it can serve as an on-ramp even for those who haven't taken the plunge into anime and "Big 3" series like DBZ, Naruto, and OP are far too daunting. This series looks to have more depth than just "Strong guys go pewpew" and framing the perspective as the traditional "bad guy" gives the audience an underdog to never feel bad cheering for.

My Grading System and Criteria can be found in the bio section of my profile HERE

Animation:
Style: 4
Fluidity: 4
Background: 3
Shading: 4
Composition: 3
Total Score: 18
Average: 7.2

Audio:
Score: 4
OP/ED: 5
Tone: 4
VA: 4
Total Score: 17
Average: 8.5

Story:
Plot: 4
Pacing: 4
Character Development: 4
Total Score: 12
Average: 8

Overall Score: (7.2 + 8.5 + 8 ÷ 3) 8.0 (rounded to the nearest .5)