Anime RE-Claimed: Go Go Loser Rangers

I'm a huge fan of "Power Rangers", I'm pretty sure I said that on this blog here and there but it bears repeating. Surprisingly there are very few Sentai-related animes, sure you've got "Sailor Moon" and "Gatchaman" and to an extent "Voltron" but none of them capture that Sentai vibe. Most recently I watched "Love After World Domination" and I enjoyed that fully but even then the sentai aspect took a back seat to the romance plot. "Ranger Rejects" or "Go Go Loser Rangers" is a subversive take on the Sentai genre that I'm surprised took this long to make. I'll dive in after the break;

Week after week, The Dragon Keepers (the rangers) fight against the evil villains of the Sky Fortress and week after week The Dragon Keepers despite getting put on the back foot emerge victorious and save the day...or so you'd think. In actuality, the evil villains of the Sky Fortress were defeated within a year and all that remains of the invading army are the witless, directionless, and powerless foot soldiers (called Dusters) who have been forced by The Dragon Keepers themselves to pretend they're still a threat to keep up appearances. So week after week The Dusters are forced into a continuous performance to lose against The Dragon Keepers, they're basically The Washington Generals, except the public is not in on the joke. The Dusters are effectively the slaves of The Dragon Keepers.

Fed up with this treatment, a certain Duster, Duster D decides to rebel and infiltrate The Dragon Keepers to destroy them from within. The Dusters are called Dusters because when they're destroyed their bodies are ultimately reduced to dust and they reassemble themselves at their sky fortress. Because of their malleable nature, they are able to shapeshift and if given enough time enhance their strength and endurance. Duster D manages to get inside The Dragon Keepers ranks BUT quickly discovers he's in way over his head in a plot twist so shocking that I almost didn't catch it until later. The plot takes off like a gazelle and we get a real good look at The Dragon Keepers and realize these guys are way less than heroic. What's interesting is that Duster D eventually gains a few allies during his quest to take down The Dragon Keepers and their motivations are...interesting to say the least.

This dude...

Thus far "Go Go Loser Ranger" is shaping up to be a pretty awesome series, but just how long can this premise stand? Duster D appears to be quite wily for a mere foot soldier. I'm really enjoying this and I'm wondering if Duster D will abandon the concept that he's a monster and fight simply for the liberation of his people. The morality here is really interesting because on the one end The Dusters and their Masters arrived on Earth to conquer it, therefore the plight that they're suffering under The Dragon Keepers would have been the same plight they'd have inflicted on Earthlings had they won, so ultimately they're getting a taste of their own medicine. This makes it a little difficult to root for Duster D again if not for the fact that The Dragon Keepers are far from heroic. I'll be interested to see where this goes and what other twists and turns this series takes. This far I highly recommend this series if you're a "Power Rangers" fan who wants to see a different take on the genre.