Loser Ranger was one of the absolute stand-outs of Spring 2024. A slickly animated and stylized first episode that instantly grabbed you with its ‘Power Rangers meets The Boys’ aesthetic and did not let go for a while. Sure, the second half slowed down and dragged just a little - but you still got some insane payoff by the end. Not to mention the absolute banger of an opening by Tatsuya Kitani that was the cherry on the top.
So, it was only logical to look forward to something that would be even better than that when Season 2 rolled around. The first episode pulls you right back into the world and its craziness, even if the distinct style and tone it had back in its first season is gone. No more interrupting texts, no more fourth-wall breaking humor that genuinely works, no more gorgeous animation. But at the very least the story was still as strong. For…right about three or so episodes.
The school time loop arc starts showing the major cracks in the adaptation of this season with the middling direction and less than acceptable editing. Even if it has some really good set pieces and visual ideas, the issues are so jarring that it is difficult to digest. For example - take a look at the scene where Fighter D starts realizing who the real boss monster is. It plays with the whole trope of repeating a few seconds over and over again to slowly build up to the reveal. But the completely tone deaf cuts probably make it the worst version of such a scene I have ever seen. It goes on forever, does not put you in the mind of the character and has zero build up of momentum as it goes on.
Once that comes to an end, however, you are in for something worse. The next episode ends with Green Keeper finding out that Fighter D is Sakurama. And then instead of building up on that for even a second, the next one jumps to a completely different plot line with the Red Keeper “dying” for absolutely no reason (like, seriously, that is never brought up again and has no actual effect on the plot). What follows is an actual fever dream.
The Ranger Force loses trust, gains trust, loses trust and then gains trust again as the Monster Protection Society rises. And, oh, did I mention Usukubo is the daughter of its head, and that they are planning on becoming monsters? Oh, and Hwalipon is helping them. Oh, no nevermind, Hwalipon is an evil boss monster. Oh, Daddy Usukubo pulled a Euphy and turned a stadium of humans into monsters. And now regular members can turn into monsters. And some of them can turn into boss monsters. And here’s lore for the Dragon Weapons. And Suzukiri is a Dragon Priestess. And there are a million Suzukiris. And now she has formed a Suzukiri cult. And Hisui is…what is she even doing, honestly? XX is with Peltrola? No, she is now against him. Sakurama (real) is a good guy? No, he is kinda ambiguous now. The Rangers are the enemies? No, we’re cool now. Sakurama dies? No, his sister dies. No, wait, she does not die either and is fine despite having her neck slashed. Fighter D is fighting the monsters, then he is fighting Tokita, then he is fighting Usukubo, then he is fighting the tiny Blue Squadron girl. Oh, now he is teaming up with Hisui to fight the big bad. And now…Usukubo loves him?
Did that give you a headache? Well, I’m sorry if it did. But that is exactly what watching the season felt like.
There is zero cohesion to any of these plot lines. Things just happen because they need to, not because they are correlated to each other. Season 1 had points like these as well, but they were used sparingly, and rather cleverly to maintain a certain uncertainty that increased the threat and horror brought by the Dragon Keepers. But because of how easily they appear in Season 2, they seem to carry no weight any more. The Red Keeper goes from being the Homelander of the show to an actual joke who takes the tension away from a scene instead of bringing more in - without any character development.
The many, many random flashbacks of random characters really want you to feel the emotions they are feeling at that given moment, but it is not easy to pull that off. And the show never does pull it off. It is a jumble of storytelling that wants to tell the tale of a minor apocalypse caused by the savior complex of a human driven mad by love, but never ends up achieving it because of how little connection you have to these characters. Seeing the Keepers be the villains for most of the show, and then slowly building them up to demonstrate their individual strengths and stories could have made the final sequence where they come together to actually save the world for once an incredible payoff, but we get a mostly-boring action sequence with slightly better animation and zero actual emotion instead.
I could go on and on about just how much of a misstep in terms of pacing this season is, but I’ll probably end up repeating myself over and over. The main point, I think, has been put across. There is nothing holding the second half of this story together. Nothing that you can actually see progress and develop, paired with characters who are more like two-dimensional caricatures being forced to be at points of mental development with no buildup. It is nothing less than chaos, and not in a good way.
It is an absolute shame that this is how this is where the trajectory of this story took it. A lot of potential squandered because of a rushed arc that had no place so early on this show’s life cycle. I’ll watch Season 3 if they decide to make it, but with tempered expectations. All is not lost, since the soft reset at the end of 2 can give time to course correct and start over. All we can do is hope that lessons are learnt and mistakes not repeated.
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