The Power Rangers have always been the epitome of the perfect hero team – young, strong, and dedicated to truth and justice, but what will happen when they finally win their war against the forces of evil and all their foes are vanquished? A Kodansha manga explores that idea, showing that once the Rangers have no more villains to fight, they become the bad guys.
Negi Haruba’s Go! Go! Loser Ranger! explores what happens to a Power Ranger team after they’ve finally succeeded in winning the fight against the enemies of the world. While the fight against evil has demanded more than a general level of sacrifice from the Rangers, they knew the dangers, accepted the risks, and were trained to win at almost every cost. All wars, however, come to an end, and when they do, the Ranger Corps that has only known battle, death, and destruction is not ready for peace.
Loser Ranger! Shows How The Heroes Get Corrupted By Their Own Power
For the Rangers in Loser Ranger!, known as the Dragon Keepers, winning the war against the evil invaders meant becoming the villains they so valiantly defeated. Indeed, rather than demobilize and downsize to a smaller vanguard, the Dragon Keepers have maintained their current levels of readiness and are still actively recruiting new talent. To sustain the impression that society needs them, the Corps brutalizes and tortures previously captured members of the alien invader army and forces them to launch attacks on a regular basis. In a perfectly scripted act, after the invaders appear for an attack, all hope seems lost before the Dragon Keepers gain the upper hand and save the day.
Maintaining such a high-end farce is a complex operation. Accordingly, in order to make sure that their little secret isn’t exposed, the Corps leadership, the five original Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Pink Rangers – have a constant need to stay ahead of the news media, conventional public security, like the police, and even their own new and idealistic recruits. At times, this means they must eliminate some of the good guys, or sacrifice the very people they’ve sworn to protect. Naturally, over the years, the sensibilities of these once heroic youth have slowly been corrupted. While they may still hold true to the idea of justice they certainly do not believe truth, integrity, honor, equality, and fairness should stand in the way of accomplishing it. Whatever purity and idealism they once had, died the day they defeated the alien invaders.
Go! Go! Loser Ranger! Is A Thoughtful Exploration Of Heroism And Corruption
Loser Ranger! is a must-read manga for Power Rangers fans as well as for anyone interested in the Super Sentai genre. While it displays all the bells and whistles fans have grown to expect in a Super Sentai story, from different colored hero unis to over-the-top villains commanding armies of hapless Power Rangers fodder, its genius is the different perspectives it gives on these tired Super Sentai tropes. On the one hand, it’s a fun and enjoyable parody that will have fans re-examining their thoughts on the real Power Rangers. On the other hand, it’s a fascinating story of how being a hero can corrupt the individual. As such, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! can stand on its own and be enjoyed by fans who have never seen nor read a Power Rangers show or comic book.