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戦隊大失格 [Sentai Daishikkaku] #1
Go! Go! Loser Ranger!, Vol. 1
WHO IS THE HERO... AND WHO IS THE VILLAIN?
When the Monster Army invaded Earth thirteen years ago, the Divine Dragon Rangers rose up to stop them! With the war raging on, these great heroes are mankind’s last hope!
...or are they?
In truth, the invaders were subjugated within a year, forced to continue to crank out a monster a week for the Rangers to crush in front of their adoring fans! But one monster has had enough. Something has to change! He’ll rebel against the might of the Dragon Rangers and destroy them all...from the inside!
When the Monster Army invaded Earth thirteen years ago, the Divine Dragon Rangers rose up to stop them! With the war raging on, these great heroes are mankind’s last hope!
...or are they?
In truth, the invaders were subjugated within a year, forced to continue to crank out a monster a week for the Rangers to crush in front of their adoring fans! But one monster has had enough. Something has to change! He’ll rebel against the might of the Dragon Rangers and destroy them all...from the inside!
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 16, 2021
About the author
Negi Haruba
74 books58 followersHARUBA Negi
Name (in native language): 春場ねぎ.
Associated Names:
Харуба Нэги
Name (in native language): 春場ねぎ.
Associated Names:
Харуба Нэги
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews
December 31, 2022
En este manga nos encontramos con la historia de una ciudad que se ha visto amenazada por una nave alienígena que se “estacionó” sobre su espacio aéreo. Todo el mundo cree que son un peligro para la humanidad y por eso confían en que la patrulla del Dragón Divino los proteja de la invasión. Pero la verdad es que los Dragon Keepers tienen subyugados a los aliens y los obligan a crear monstruos todos los domingos para que bajen a una arena a enfrentarse a ellos, entreteniendo así al público. Sin embargo, un día un alienígena se harta de que lo destruyan siempre y tenga que reformarse para atacar de nuevo otro domingo, así que decide bajar a la ciudad, disfrazarse e infiltrarse en los Dragons para desenmascararlos de una vez por todas.
La verdad es que este fue un manga bastante divertido de leer y, aunque está completamente por fuera del estilo de las cosas que leo, me pareció entretenido ver las aventuras de este pobre (y un poco idiota) alienígena intentando infiltrarse en las filas de la Tierra. Ahora, lo que no pude evitar pensar durante TODO el tomo fue: ¿pero cuán estúpida puede ser la gente? O sea, tienen a una nave alienígena parqueada encima desde hace más de diez años y nunca los han atacado masivamente, sino que siempre esperan, muy juiciosos, a cada domingo para bajar y atacar precisamente en una arena… ¿Y AÚN ASÍ NO SE SOSPECHAN NADA EXTRAÑO? Madre mía xD.
En fin, el final de este tomo me dejó intrigada porque parece que hay más fuerzas y personajes en juego de los que creíamos, así que a ver qué tal los siguientes.
La verdad es que este fue un manga bastante divertido de leer y, aunque está completamente por fuera del estilo de las cosas que leo, me pareció entretenido ver las aventuras de este pobre (y un poco idiota) alienígena intentando infiltrarse en las filas de la Tierra. Ahora, lo que no pude evitar pensar durante TODO el tomo fue: ¿pero cuán estúpida puede ser la gente? O sea, tienen a una nave alienígena parqueada encima desde hace más de diez años y nunca los han atacado masivamente, sino que siempre esperan, muy juiciosos, a cada domingo para bajar y atacar precisamente en una arena… ¿Y AÚN ASÍ NO SE SOSPECHAN NADA EXTRAÑO? Madre mía xD.
En fin, el final de este tomo me dejó intrigada porque parece que hay más fuerzas y personajes en juego de los que creíamos, así que a ver qué tal los siguientes.
October 28, 2023
This first volume brings a lot of new angles to the table, the attitude and the concept of the plot partly remind me of The Boys (the Amazon Prime series), I will stay tuned for the next volume to see if the 'monster' can decode the secrets of the superhero group, win the fight and be successful in their world domination scheme!
PS: the artwork is nice but it isn't very exciting, though!
PS: the artwork is nice but it isn't very exciting, though!
January 27, 2023
This was a fun spin on the tokusatsu/Power Rangers mythos. Essentially the story is flipped to be from the point of view of the bad guys/monsters of the week, where you have one mook who's tired of being locked into a contract saying they must always be defeated, every week, ad nauseum, for thirteen years. The Dragon Rangers have them over a barrel for reasons unknown, and rather than defeat them for good, they keep them around in entertainment servitude.
There's some additional twists to the story that I don't want to spoil here, but it's an interesting idea that I want to see play out. I'm a big fan of the tokusatsu genre, and to see a different take is refreshing.
There's some additional twists to the story that I don't want to spoil here, but it's an interesting idea that I want to see play out. I'm a big fan of the tokusatsu genre, and to see a different take is refreshing.
September 21, 2023
One of the Kodansha manga now on sale in the Google Play shop and I was curious. In this manga we have a world with heroes and the baddies. But as the story continues we learn that not all is so fine with those so-called heroes. We see that some of the villains, and one in particular, is just not happy with how they are being treated, how their immortality keeps being treated like a plaything. It was quite a fun manga to see things flipped around, and wonder who is the baddie anyway? And I was rooting for our loser ranger. He isn't that good at things, but he does try his best. And I have to say, I wanted to punch the heroes.
Also Suzukiri is just way too creepy. Like Makima from Chainsaw Man, but without Makima's charm and sexiness but with a ton more sadism.
Also Suzukiri is just way too creepy. Like Makima from Chainsaw Man, but without Makima's charm and sexiness but with a ton more sadism.
September 4, 2023
The artwork is nice and I found The plot of this mango very interesting. I’d say this is probably closer to a 3 1/2 for me the villains were kind of interesting I know it’s been a new trope where the villains are more human and humans the humans act more evil so I’m kind of interested to see where this goes I am probably gonna read the rest of the series I haven’t been able to say that for a while for a manga series.
June 6, 2023
There is interest here...but so far, I'm not sold completely. Will pick up the next to see if it improves.
May 22, 2026
“Yeah, I get it… shut up already. What you want to see is a bad guy struggling desperately, only to get his ass kicked. You think it’s funny? You wanna look down on me? I’d like to see you keep laughing when I make you feel fear for the first time. Take a close look. Because standing in front of you is a cruel, brutal, and proud monster!”
Reading this wasn’t enough, I need to see the Red Ranger be killed 1000 times with hammers and then explode.
This was a really well-written and BEAUTIFULLY drawn revenge-themed spin on the Super Sentai genre. The primary theme of this book, to me, is to be aware when you start seeing a group of people as “the good guys” and another as “the bad guys”. Losing nuance, glorifying human beings, rejoicing in the bloodshed of others, is a quick way to gamify people’s lives. Loser Ranger is very much about how bad actors (in this case, literally) will take advantage of people’s trust and adoration for the sake of their own ego.
Thirteen years after an alien invasion, the Power Ranger-like Dragon Keepers fight alien goons every Sunday, “defending the earth” from the aliens’ “attacks”. However, it’s nothing more than a farce, a sporting event designed to keep spectators engaged and keep the Keepers on top. However, for the alien monsters in question, this means being beaten, exploded, talked down to, and humiliated every week, with no hope of winning. What kind of life is that? I found this plot setup so compelling, and the amazing art really elevated it for me.
This was a really harrowing and exciting action-dramedy-fantasy manga that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time with nervousness, emotion, anticipation, and even anger towards the antagonists. I could really feel Fighter D’s emotions through the whole volume - how sick he was of the injustice that he’s suffering. Red claims to be an upholder of justice, but what he really is is a horrible, abusive person with no interest in actually protecting others. He’s an egomaniac who’s become all-too-absorbed in his own personal Truman Show, using his position on top to outnumber bully those below him. He is seriously such a hateable antagonist, and I think that's what helps this work so well!!
It truly was a crazy read. I can’t help but recommend it! I have no idea where the story could possibly go from the way this volume ended, so I look forward to reading on sometime in the future!!
November 14, 2022
The Dragon Rangers have successfully defended the world from the evil monsters for many Sundays now, but how much danger is the world really in? One low-ranking monster wants some answers and heads are going to roll. Again and again and again.
There’s no other way to say it, but Go! Go! Loser Ranger! has one of the strongest first chapters of any manga I’ve read in ages, certainly all year. Not volume, just chapter, mind, but it is a sentai parody that puts anything in Love After World Domination to utter shame and that series was no slouch.
With no Rita Repulsa or Lord Zedd to lead them, the monsters actually lost in the first days of the war and have just been showing up every week ever since as part of the terms of surrender (another wry commentary on the unending and unvarying nature of these shows).
Which leaves it to them to create the monster of the week and watching them crap on one another’s ideas before trading on a set of abysmal puns to get the job done is absolutely phenomenal. Combined with the spectacle and circus around each week’s match, an utterly pointless endeavour, it makes the story sing.
Now, it can’t maintain that pitch at all and the rest of the story follows our rogue Fighter D as he attempts to infiltrate and destroy the heroes, who are kind of huge jerks, from within. He’s got a great introduction, but, minus his multiple beheadings, the jokes basically stagnate in favour of plot at this point.
It definitely slides the humour tab way down in favour of machinations and some characters that I just don’t terribly care for, but appear to be here for the long haul so I guess I gotta get used to them. There are still some decent jokes - Fighter D’s approximation of human behaviour (and biology) really helps him sell his disguise, or something.
Overall, it’s a really good concept. The idea that the heroes are a bunch of monsters compared to the real bunch of monsters is nothing new, but I like the way the story drums up sympathy for the bad guys quite readily, with them just having a role to play and doing so, over and over, and nothing to show for it but being despised.
Some of the human characters are ridiculously exaggerated, and not the females for once, and that makes them a little too obvious, but the premise makes it clear that nothing about the humans is above board, so might as well go broad, I suppose.
Honestly, I don’t know that I need another one of these intricately plotted ‘everybody one-ups everybody’ manga, but I have to admit that the ending of this volume genuinely surprised me in a couple ways with cleverness and that does count for a lot.
And that’s the thing. While Negi Haruba’s previous work on Quintessential Quintuplets was never especially funny, he absolutely nailed the long-running mystery and the human element more often than not. That being the case, I’ll definitely see what another volume has in store.
3.5 stars - 5 star opening and a 3 star everything else drags this one down to the lower tier, but it’ll still be worth seeing what it has up its sleeve next time out.
There’s no other way to say it, but Go! Go! Loser Ranger! has one of the strongest first chapters of any manga I’ve read in ages, certainly all year. Not volume, just chapter, mind, but it is a sentai parody that puts anything in Love After World Domination to utter shame and that series was no slouch.
With no Rita Repulsa or Lord Zedd to lead them, the monsters actually lost in the first days of the war and have just been showing up every week ever since as part of the terms of surrender (another wry commentary on the unending and unvarying nature of these shows).
Which leaves it to them to create the monster of the week and watching them crap on one another’s ideas before trading on a set of abysmal puns to get the job done is absolutely phenomenal. Combined with the spectacle and circus around each week’s match, an utterly pointless endeavour, it makes the story sing.
Now, it can’t maintain that pitch at all and the rest of the story follows our rogue Fighter D as he attempts to infiltrate and destroy the heroes, who are kind of huge jerks, from within. He’s got a great introduction, but, minus his multiple beheadings, the jokes basically stagnate in favour of plot at this point.
It definitely slides the humour tab way down in favour of machinations and some characters that I just don’t terribly care for, but appear to be here for the long haul so I guess I gotta get used to them. There are still some decent jokes - Fighter D’s approximation of human behaviour (and biology) really helps him sell his disguise, or something.
Overall, it’s a really good concept. The idea that the heroes are a bunch of monsters compared to the real bunch of monsters is nothing new, but I like the way the story drums up sympathy for the bad guys quite readily, with them just having a role to play and doing so, over and over, and nothing to show for it but being despised.
Some of the human characters are ridiculously exaggerated, and not the females for once, and that makes them a little too obvious, but the premise makes it clear that nothing about the humans is above board, so might as well go broad, I suppose.
Honestly, I don’t know that I need another one of these intricately plotted ‘everybody one-ups everybody’ manga, but I have to admit that the ending of this volume genuinely surprised me in a couple ways with cleverness and that does count for a lot.
And that’s the thing. While Negi Haruba’s previous work on Quintessential Quintuplets was never especially funny, he absolutely nailed the long-running mystery and the human element more often than not. That being the case, I’ll definitely see what another volume has in store.
3.5 stars - 5 star opening and a 3 star everything else drags this one down to the lower tier, but it’ll still be worth seeing what it has up its sleeve next time out.
June 9, 2022
Me esperaba un shonen divertido con guiños a muchas series de mi infancia. También me esperaba un dibujo muy bueno porque conocía el trazo de Haruba. Lo que no me esperaba y me ha flipado es el subtexto que acompaña a este primer tomo de Ranger Reject.
Un ejemplo claro de propaganda bélica. Un retrato certero sobre cómo los vencedores cuentan cómo sucedió la guerra sin preguntarle a la otra parte. El uso de los medios de comunicación para simplificar lo ocurrido y hacérselo llegar masticado al gran público que lo consume sin preguntar qué lleva dentro.
Ahí es donde Haruba me ha conquistado. En esa crítica a la sociedad actual. En ese intento de hacer ver a sus lectores que aquello que nos llega siempre ha sido manipulado previamente por personas que tienen intereses en una interpretación en concreto.
Se nos habla de marketing. Se nos habla de lo que sucede fuera de plano. Y espero sinceramente que la historia siga teniendo estos puntos de crítica social porque de verdad que le otorgan enteros a una obra que funciona muy bien al nivel de dibujo y entretenimiento.
Un ejemplo claro de propaganda bélica. Un retrato certero sobre cómo los vencedores cuentan cómo sucedió la guerra sin preguntarle a la otra parte. El uso de los medios de comunicación para simplificar lo ocurrido y hacérselo llegar masticado al gran público que lo consume sin preguntar qué lleva dentro.
Ahí es donde Haruba me ha conquistado. En esa crítica a la sociedad actual. En ese intento de hacer ver a sus lectores que aquello que nos llega siempre ha sido manipulado previamente por personas que tienen intereses en una interpretación en concreto.
Se nos habla de marketing. Se nos habla de lo que sucede fuera de plano. Y espero sinceramente que la historia siga teniendo estos puntos de crítica social porque de verdad que le otorgan enteros a una obra que funciona muy bien al nivel de dibujo y entretenimiento.
February 19, 2025
Every Sunday for thirteen years, the Monsters have fought against the Dragon Keepers, an elite group of superheroes protecting mankind from the evil and immortal monsters. Or so everyone thinks because The Monsters were forced to agree to a truce of sorts, one that forces them to fight the Dragon Keepers in for nothing more than ratings, slaves in all but name. However, one Sunday afternoon, a monster snaps, infliterating Earth with one simple goal: To put an end to the Dragon Keepers.
This was genuinely hilarious but also a lot more serious than I expected. The Monsters are basically prisoners to a group of people (the Dragon Keepers) who are just completely nuts. To essentially enslave a group of people for nothing more than popularity is disturbing, to say the least. Which, of course, means that I loved this! Add in the two Divine Dragon Rangers who have decided to help out Fighter D for their own equally disturbing reasons, and you've got a solid foundation for an excellent new series.
Overall, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is a new and unique series that I found to be a refreshing break from all of the Isekais I've been reading lately! Definitely recommend it, especially if you enjoy stories where the heroes are most definitely the villains.
As always, thanks to Kodansha Comics and NetGalley for the eArc!
This was genuinely hilarious but also a lot more serious than I expected. The Monsters are basically prisoners to a group of people (the Dragon Keepers) who are just completely nuts. To essentially enslave a group of people for nothing more than popularity is disturbing, to say the least. Which, of course, means that I loved this! Add in the two Divine Dragon Rangers who have decided to help out Fighter D for their own equally disturbing reasons, and you've got a solid foundation for an excellent new series.
Overall, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is a new and unique series that I found to be a refreshing break from all of the Isekais I've been reading lately! Definitely recommend it, especially if you enjoy stories where the heroes are most definitely the villains.
As always, thanks to Kodansha Comics and NetGalley for the eArc!
July 10, 2022
Unos alienígenas llegaron a la Tierra para conquistarla en su nave espacial, un castillo flotante. La salvación del mundo y de la galaxia está en las manos de la patrulla del Dragón Divino, formada por unos superhéroes enmascarados. Cada cierto tiempo hay un enfrentamiento televisado. Pero todo es una farsa, pues los villanos están subyugados por los Dragon Keepers. Todo esto ocurre hasta que un villano se rebela y empieza a tramar un plan para infiltrarse, desenmascarar la farsa, eliminarnos desde dentro y conseguir su libertad.
Esta historia tiene como protagonista a unos personajes muy singulares. Aquí los villanos no son tan villanos y los buenos no son tan buenos. De hecho, los protagonistas van a ser los malos. En concreto será uno de ellos, el cual se infiltrará para recabar información y recoger los objetos divinos, aquellos capaces de matar a los aliens (que son inmortales y tienen capacidades especiales). Junto a este conoceremos a algunos miembros de los Dragon Keepers, unos líderes muy soberbios, unos segundones deseosos de poder y unos don nadie con sus propios planes.
La trama está llena de acción, de intrigas y de conspiraciones. Cada personaje parece tener su propio plan y hará todo lo posible para ello. Además contamos con varias escenas muy disparatadas. Al mismo tiempo, el lector sentirá mucha empatía por los villanos, porque los pobres dan muchísima pena. La trama es súper entretenida y muy activa, se hace súper amena la lectura y rápida. Los dibujos están también geniales, sobre todo los de acción y las de las transformaciones del villano protagonista (porque puede transformarse). Son dibujos muy bien hechos y los superhéroes tienen un aire a los Power Rangers.
https://lagranbibliotecadedavid.blogs...
Esta historia tiene como protagonista a unos personajes muy singulares. Aquí los villanos no son tan villanos y los buenos no son tan buenos. De hecho, los protagonistas van a ser los malos. En concreto será uno de ellos, el cual se infiltrará para recabar información y recoger los objetos divinos, aquellos capaces de matar a los aliens (que son inmortales y tienen capacidades especiales). Junto a este conoceremos a algunos miembros de los Dragon Keepers, unos líderes muy soberbios, unos segundones deseosos de poder y unos don nadie con sus propios planes.
La trama está llena de acción, de intrigas y de conspiraciones. Cada personaje parece tener su propio plan y hará todo lo posible para ello. Además contamos con varias escenas muy disparatadas. Al mismo tiempo, el lector sentirá mucha empatía por los villanos, porque los pobres dan muchísima pena. La trama es súper entretenida y muy activa, se hace súper amena la lectura y rápida. Los dibujos están también geniales, sobre todo los de acción y las de las transformaciones del villano protagonista (porque puede transformarse). Son dibujos muy bien hechos y los superhéroes tienen un aire a los Power Rangers.
https://lagranbibliotecadedavid.blogs...
January 16, 2025
Eh, this was alright. Maybe I’ve been reading too many manga cause this one just seemed too chaotic for me. It’s basically a copycat of Power Rangers except the Rangers fight the aliens once a week in a pretend battle for humanity. The aliens have been subjected to lose the battle every week for 13 years and they are tired of it, so one of them decides to infiltrate the ranger force but it goes horribly wrong. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for that guy.
May 3, 2023
Ame el inicio de la historia. El soldado D cansado de que su flota sea manipulada y sometida solo para que la patrulla dragón quede bien ante el público humano se arma de valor para infiltrarse en la patrulla para desmalntenarla desde dentro. Muchas sorpresas y giros buenísimos desde el primer tomo. Lo seguiré leyendo por qué me encanta el soldado D.
June 3, 2024
What if the Power Rangers were real? Except they were so good, they defeated all the monsters and now their weekly television show is completely staged between them and the remaining hench-monsters? Except one of the monsters is tired of the ruse! And thus Go Go Loser Ranger was born!
June 11, 2024
3.5 🌟
November 11, 2024
Yeah so this manga/anime is now on my top 10. The art style in the manga is basic, but i love the premise of this so freaking much i can ignore that.
December 24, 2025
so good get book 2 on Sunday
June 20, 2022
Tiene puntos de giro muy buenos
January 26, 2023
In recent years evil superheroes have become more popular Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is one of them and I'm all for it.
It's been a decade since the Dragon Keepers (Rangers) killed off all the "enemy villains" which left only the footsoldiers called dusters behind. The Dragon Keepers force the duster in fighting them just for the sake of entertainment for the public. After getting their asses handed to them by the Keepers every week one particular Duster named D has had enough of it and makes it his mission to destroy the Dragon Keepers from the inside.
Go! Go! Loser Ranger! has an interesting take on the evil superhero genre. At first, it might seem this manga is just a goofy parody of the power rangers, but it's actually pretty serious with some lighthearted moments here and there.
Read
February 18, 2025A riff on Power Rangers et al in which, each week, the five Dragon Keepers defend the city against a new monster, attacking from the invaders' flying city. As you'd expect, they always win, but the twist is that here that's not just an externally imposed narrative constraint, it's an in-world arrangement too; in reality, the monsters' leaders were taken down years ago, and ever since the whole arrangement has been a sham, maintained so that the Keepers get to look good. Until eventually, one of the monster minions loses patience, and uses his shapechanging abilities to infiltrate the supposed heroes' support structure... The mix of self-aware comedy with a really quite bleak set-up reminds me a little of Mark Russell, and part of me wonders if it'll develop its subgenre critique with the same ingenious savagery as Puella Magi, even while I nurse the fear that, like so much manga before it, I'll end up drifting away somewhere around volumes 2-4. Still, there are enough further ramifications and reversals within this opening salvo that I think it's earned that chance. Oh, and when I referred yesterday to another comic entirely using decapitation as punctuation, I hadn't seen anything yet
January 18, 2024
I loved this so much and I didn't think I would
You got to read this !!!
You got to read this !!!
November 16, 2025
Recopila los primeros 5 capítulos, más largos que los de tomos subsiguientes.
June 8, 2024
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Kodansha Comics, for an advance copy of graphic novel that takes the sentai story and make it something novel and different, thought still with lots of monsters, battles with a lot of intrigue and very good ideas.
Being old I missed the influx of shows featuring live action characters fighting giant monsters and henchmen, with American actors cut in. I had been a fan of Battle of the Planets and Star Blazers so I knew what it was like to get an Japanese anime adapted for American audiences, ie made very confusing, and childlike. Power Rangers was a show my cousins loved, and I made fun of being older and what I thought was wiser. I had no idea the popularity of sentai in Japan the numerous shows that were shown, nor how loyal the fan base was. To myself, it was a Monster fight a week, with nothing in the way of plot advancement or storyline. I was completely missing the point. Maybe the point of the show was to get us used to being afraid of monsters. So afraid that we keep giving our rights away, and endow certain people to be our protectors, from these bad guys. All for fame, power and the right to rule. That is the plot of Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 1 written and illustrated by Negi Haruba, about a world of monsters and so-called protectors, though who are the read bad guys is still in contention.
Thirteen years ago the Monster Army invaded from space and were stopped only by the strength and ancient artifacts of the Divine Dragon Rangers. Both sides fought to a stalemate, one that continues today, with constant fights and battles, all televised for the planet to watch. This is a lie. The monsters were defeated, their leaders killed, and the monsters given a choice. Join their leaders in death, or pretend to invade the Earth once a week, in a new monster form, with footsoldiers, lose, disappear and come back in a week. Time passes, until one Footsoldier D, decides enough is enough, and goes rogue, leaving the monsters and infiltrating the Rangers, as a new cadet. Footsoldier D finds other humans who seem to have their own reasons for hating the Rangers, which only adds to the confusion of what is going on. The more time D spends on Earth, the more questions D has.
What an interesting take on why the Rangers and monsters battle all the time, with nothing really changing. It's all about control, and money, and fame. Or is it. The author leaves a lot of plot strings dangling in the first volume, while developing the world, the idea of the monsters and the rangers. I enjoyed the story, and liked the humour. There was a bit of monster out of water moments, and a lot of don't interrupt a woman when she is talking slices. The art is good too. The monsters are different, I enjoyed the shape changing, and I really liked the design of the rangers. A lot of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, at least to my eyes. This is a series I would like to read more of, and actually can't wait to do so. Fans of Power Rangers and of sentai and kaiju stories will get a kick out of this.
Being old I missed the influx of shows featuring live action characters fighting giant monsters and henchmen, with American actors cut in. I had been a fan of Battle of the Planets and Star Blazers so I knew what it was like to get an Japanese anime adapted for American audiences, ie made very confusing, and childlike. Power Rangers was a show my cousins loved, and I made fun of being older and what I thought was wiser. I had no idea the popularity of sentai in Japan the numerous shows that were shown, nor how loyal the fan base was. To myself, it was a Monster fight a week, with nothing in the way of plot advancement or storyline. I was completely missing the point. Maybe the point of the show was to get us used to being afraid of monsters. So afraid that we keep giving our rights away, and endow certain people to be our protectors, from these bad guys. All for fame, power and the right to rule. That is the plot of Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 1 written and illustrated by Negi Haruba, about a world of monsters and so-called protectors, though who are the read bad guys is still in contention.
Thirteen years ago the Monster Army invaded from space and were stopped only by the strength and ancient artifacts of the Divine Dragon Rangers. Both sides fought to a stalemate, one that continues today, with constant fights and battles, all televised for the planet to watch. This is a lie. The monsters were defeated, their leaders killed, and the monsters given a choice. Join their leaders in death, or pretend to invade the Earth once a week, in a new monster form, with footsoldiers, lose, disappear and come back in a week. Time passes, until one Footsoldier D, decides enough is enough, and goes rogue, leaving the monsters and infiltrating the Rangers, as a new cadet. Footsoldier D finds other humans who seem to have their own reasons for hating the Rangers, which only adds to the confusion of what is going on. The more time D spends on Earth, the more questions D has.
What an interesting take on why the Rangers and monsters battle all the time, with nothing really changing. It's all about control, and money, and fame. Or is it. The author leaves a lot of plot strings dangling in the first volume, while developing the world, the idea of the monsters and the rangers. I enjoyed the story, and liked the humour. There was a bit of monster out of water moments, and a lot of don't interrupt a woman when she is talking slices. The art is good too. The monsters are different, I enjoyed the shape changing, and I really liked the design of the rangers. A lot of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, at least to my eyes. This is a series I would like to read more of, and actually can't wait to do so. Fans of Power Rangers and of sentai and kaiju stories will get a kick out of this.
May 20, 2026
I have very mixed feelings about this one. Morally ambiguous stories about the "bad guys" pushing back against "good guys" who've prevailed for so long that they've become corrupt, can be interesting. Especially in this day and age. See Ajin or (most of) Tokyo Ghoul for some of the best examples of this trope. Done right, these sorts of stories can be effective social commentary on how history is written by the victors, or how society only cares about justice when it's convenient, or any number of things. But I'm not sure Go! Go! Loser Ranger! brings much to the table, aside from the corrupt "good guys" being superheroes--and you could argue that's been done too, in The Boys.
13 years ago, aliens attacked Earth from a flying fortress, and five super sentai-style heroes called the Dragon Rangers rose up, wielding divine artifacts to fight them. The prevailing narrative is that the war has been going on ever since, with the aliens sending weekly sorties of monsters to ultimately get beaten back, time and again, by the Rangers. The reality is that the whole thing is a farce: The Rangers won the war in less than a year, and everything since then has been a one-sided contract, where the remaining aliens are only allowed to continue living if they launch an "attack" every week, knowing they're going to lose, so that the status quo on Earth can be upheld. That has potential!
The main protagonist for this volume is one of the aliens who's tired of being little more than a slave for the past 12 years, so he disguises himself as a human, and sets about trying to infiltrate the Rangers' base to bring things down from the inside. That also has potential!
Unfortunately, things get a bit shaky in the execution. Our protagonist never really has much in the way of a solid plan. Furthermore he has run-ins with...other elements who are also dissatisfied with the way things are going, and who either don't care that he's trying to burn everything down, or try to turn him to their slightly different ways of thinking. Either way, it's implied they saw through his disguise pretty easily, with the implication that others likely can as well. It turns what could have been a tense, cat & mouse, long con, where he would have had to learn to navigate human society while gradually working his way deeper into the Rangers' organization, and really undercuts that promise, by making it clear he's way out of his league. And then there's the way this volume ends, which simultaneously works to compound that wasted potential, while having one twist is both clever, and leaves me wondering just where volume 2 is going to go with this.
That said, I'm not exactly about to rush out and pick up the next book to find out. There's an interesting framework here, the art is nice, and every so often the narrative goes someplace unexpected. But at the same time, it doesn't really feel like it's treading new ground, or doing enough to really stand out. I'm sure I'll continue with this series at some point, but it might take awhile.
13 years ago, aliens attacked Earth from a flying fortress, and five super sentai-style heroes called the Dragon Rangers rose up, wielding divine artifacts to fight them. The prevailing narrative is that the war has been going on ever since, with the aliens sending weekly sorties of monsters to ultimately get beaten back, time and again, by the Rangers. The reality is that the whole thing is a farce: The Rangers won the war in less than a year, and everything since then has been a one-sided contract, where the remaining aliens are only allowed to continue living if they launch an "attack" every week, knowing they're going to lose, so that the status quo on Earth can be upheld. That has potential!
The main protagonist for this volume is one of the aliens who's tired of being little more than a slave for the past 12 years, so he disguises himself as a human, and sets about trying to infiltrate the Rangers' base to bring things down from the inside. That also has potential!
Unfortunately, things get a bit shaky in the execution. Our protagonist never really has much in the way of a solid plan. Furthermore he has run-ins with...other elements who are also dissatisfied with the way things are going, and who either don't care that he's trying to burn everything down, or try to turn him to their slightly different ways of thinking. Either way, it's implied they saw through his disguise pretty easily, with the implication that others likely can as well. It turns what could have been a tense, cat & mouse, long con, where he would have had to learn to navigate human society while gradually working his way deeper into the Rangers' organization, and really undercuts that promise, by making it clear he's way out of his league. And then there's the way this volume ends, which simultaneously works to compound that wasted potential, while having one twist is both clever, and leaves me wondering just where volume 2 is going to go with this.
That said, I'm not exactly about to rush out and pick up the next book to find out. There's an interesting framework here, the art is nice, and every so often the narrative goes someplace unexpected. But at the same time, it doesn't really feel like it's treading new ground, or doing enough to really stand out. I'm sure I'll continue with this series at some point, but it might take awhile.
June 6, 2022
Ce premier tome était une des sorties du mois de juin qui m’intriguait le plus. Ma curiosité a été clairement piqué pour le coup et j’étais vraiment très curieuse et impatiente mais en même temps j’avais un peu peur de me lancer dedans. au premier abord, je ne vais pas vous cacher, j’avais l’impression que ça allait être un copié collé des Powers Rangers. Alors sachant que je ne pas une adepte des Powers Rangers. Du coup j’y suis quand même allé avec pas mal d’appréhensions. Finalement j’ai beaucoup aimé ce premier tome et je suis très curieuse de découvrir la suite de ce manga!
On va se retrouver dans un monde où les cinq Dragon Keepers et leur escadron sont la seule ligne de défense de l’humanité contre l’armée maléfique qui tente de conquérir le monde. Du moins, ça c’est ce qui est dit à la télévision! En réalité, ça fait douze ans que les envahisseurs ont capitulé face aux justiciers de la Terre. Ces troupiers sans chefs ne sont désormais plus des faire-valoir condamnés à enchainer les défaites devant les caméras, tels des pantins indignes du titre de « méchants ». Pourtant, après la 999ème défaite, un des troupiers va jouer les éléments perturbateurs. Il brave les interdits et infiltre le grand escadron, décidé à anéantir de l’intérieur les imposteurs que sont les Dragon Keepers.
L’univers était hyper intéressant à découvrir. Je dois bien avouer que la façon dont les troupiers sont traités, ça m’a fait un peu de peine quand même. Ils ne sont plus une menace pour l’humanité mais pour prouver que les Dragon Keepers sont les meilleurs, ils ont littéralement réduit les troupiers à se ridiculiser constamment à la télévision. Je trouve ça vraiment horrible cette façon de les traiter. Je comprends parfaitement pourquoi le troupier a décidé d’infiltrer le grand escadron dans le but de se venger. Surtout qu’il prend d’énormes risques et que c’est vraiment dangereux pour lui de s’infiltrer. D’ailleurs il avoir un bon nombre d’embûches sur son chemin. Sa mission ne va pas être facile à exécuter et je sens que ça va être palpitant à découvrir. Des alliances, des mensonges, des retournements de situation, un mélange qui nous annonce une histoire très intéressante.
Moi qui partais légèrement septique sur ce titre, je dois bien dire que j’ai été agréablement surprise. Ce premier tome m’a vraiment convaincu et je suis déjà hyper impatiente de découvrir la suite de cette histoire, surtout vu comment ce premier tome se termine, ça va être très intéressant à découvrir. J’aime beaucoup l’univers, les différents personnages que l’on côtoie au fil des pages, l’intrigue que je trouve vraiment passionnante. Les Dragon Keepers m’intriguent beaucoup et j’ai très hâte de découvrir la suite.
On va se retrouver dans un monde où les cinq Dragon Keepers et leur escadron sont la seule ligne de défense de l’humanité contre l’armée maléfique qui tente de conquérir le monde. Du moins, ça c’est ce qui est dit à la télévision! En réalité, ça fait douze ans que les envahisseurs ont capitulé face aux justiciers de la Terre. Ces troupiers sans chefs ne sont désormais plus des faire-valoir condamnés à enchainer les défaites devant les caméras, tels des pantins indignes du titre de « méchants ». Pourtant, après la 999ème défaite, un des troupiers va jouer les éléments perturbateurs. Il brave les interdits et infiltre le grand escadron, décidé à anéantir de l’intérieur les imposteurs que sont les Dragon Keepers.
L’univers était hyper intéressant à découvrir. Je dois bien avouer que la façon dont les troupiers sont traités, ça m’a fait un peu de peine quand même. Ils ne sont plus une menace pour l’humanité mais pour prouver que les Dragon Keepers sont les meilleurs, ils ont littéralement réduit les troupiers à se ridiculiser constamment à la télévision. Je trouve ça vraiment horrible cette façon de les traiter. Je comprends parfaitement pourquoi le troupier a décidé d’infiltrer le grand escadron dans le but de se venger. Surtout qu’il prend d’énormes risques et que c’est vraiment dangereux pour lui de s’infiltrer. D’ailleurs il avoir un bon nombre d’embûches sur son chemin. Sa mission ne va pas être facile à exécuter et je sens que ça va être palpitant à découvrir. Des alliances, des mensonges, des retournements de situation, un mélange qui nous annonce une histoire très intéressante.
Moi qui partais légèrement septique sur ce titre, je dois bien dire que j’ai été agréablement surprise. Ce premier tome m’a vraiment convaincu et je suis déjà hyper impatiente de découvrir la suite de cette histoire, surtout vu comment ce premier tome se termine, ça va être très intéressant à découvrir. J’aime beaucoup l’univers, les différents personnages que l’on côtoie au fil des pages, l’intrigue que je trouve vraiment passionnante. Les Dragon Keepers m’intriguent beaucoup et j’ai très hâte de découvrir la suite.
May 17, 2024
A Special Thanks Goes Out To Kondansha For The Opportunity To Review This Title.
We’re trading in the Gothic Horror for some Super Sentai fun and suspense, it’s one of the hottest manga on the market today, and now the anime adaptation is already a fan favorite. From the creator of The Quintessential Quintuplets, Negi Haruba comes Go! Go! Loser Ranger! A crazy take on the world of Superheroes, Tokusatsu, and Super Sentai.
Who is the Hero? And who is the Villain? Thirteen years ago, when the Monster Army invaded Earth, the Dragon Rangers rose to stop them! As the war waged on, these great heroes were mankind’s last hope! Or are they? The truth is, the invaders were subjugated within a year, forced to continue to crank out a monster a week for the Rangers to crush in front of their adoring fans! But one monster has had enough. Something has to change! He’ll rebel against the might of the Dragon Rangers and destroy them all…from the inside!
It may be a Super Sentai parody, but Negi Haruba’s approach to the Tokusatsu genre is fascinating to read. It was the first time I had read his work, most fans have compared his approach to the genre to Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s Comic Book Series, The Boys. That similarity was that the heroes were corrupted by their celebrity status and engaged in reckless behavior behind the scenes. But it explored where the villains seemed to act more human than the heroes would be, not to mention where the villains were treated as a Circus Attraction where they had to create a Monster of the Week for the Dragon Rangers to fight for every week, a subtle nod to how Tokusatsu themed shows are marketed and were written.
Speaking of writing, it was a good script that had a good balance of action and comedy to keep the reader’s attention while keeping the story going at a steady pace. The characters that were introduced in this volume are intriguing, especially Fighter D, who seemed to be more human than the ones he met. Speaking of which, one that felt out of place was Yumeko Suzukiri, she was cold and apathetic. Suzukiri seemed to be a clever nod to Makima from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man, in terms of how calm she can be in certain situations.
The artwork offered dynamic action and well-detailed sequences that brought out the aspect of the theme of the book, even if it was satire, the character’s expressions and actions may be exaggerated at times, but it offered the perfect sense of excitement and mystery that Super Sentai/Kamen Rider Stage Shows offer.
We’re trading in the Gothic Horror for some Super Sentai fun and suspense, it’s one of the hottest manga on the market today, and now the anime adaptation is already a fan favorite. From the creator of The Quintessential Quintuplets, Negi Haruba comes Go! Go! Loser Ranger! A crazy take on the world of Superheroes, Tokusatsu, and Super Sentai.
Who is the Hero? And who is the Villain? Thirteen years ago, when the Monster Army invaded Earth, the Dragon Rangers rose to stop them! As the war waged on, these great heroes were mankind’s last hope! Or are they? The truth is, the invaders were subjugated within a year, forced to continue to crank out a monster a week for the Rangers to crush in front of their adoring fans! But one monster has had enough. Something has to change! He’ll rebel against the might of the Dragon Rangers and destroy them all…from the inside!
It may be a Super Sentai parody, but Negi Haruba’s approach to the Tokusatsu genre is fascinating to read. It was the first time I had read his work, most fans have compared his approach to the genre to Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s Comic Book Series, The Boys. That similarity was that the heroes were corrupted by their celebrity status and engaged in reckless behavior behind the scenes. But it explored where the villains seemed to act more human than the heroes would be, not to mention where the villains were treated as a Circus Attraction where they had to create a Monster of the Week for the Dragon Rangers to fight for every week, a subtle nod to how Tokusatsu themed shows are marketed and were written.
Speaking of writing, it was a good script that had a good balance of action and comedy to keep the reader’s attention while keeping the story going at a steady pace. The characters that were introduced in this volume are intriguing, especially Fighter D, who seemed to be more human than the ones he met. Speaking of which, one that felt out of place was Yumeko Suzukiri, she was cold and apathetic. Suzukiri seemed to be a clever nod to Makima from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man, in terms of how calm she can be in certain situations.
The artwork offered dynamic action and well-detailed sequences that brought out the aspect of the theme of the book, even if it was satire, the character’s expressions and actions may be exaggerated at times, but it offered the perfect sense of excitement and mystery that Super Sentai/Kamen Rider Stage Shows offer.
November 12, 2023
This is my first foray into manga. I was drawn by the satirical take on the hero vs. monster of the week style and the obvious Power Rangers parody. I'm a sucker for parody, and to come across something unabashedly kitsch that I still unabashedly enjoyed as a teenager (older than the target audience ;) in satirical form made it an instant purchase.
In this series, the human heroes are douchebags and the immortal "monsters" are the imprisoned repressed that are eking out their survival by competing in televised fights. It's a genius idea that simultaneously pokes fun at both the formula and the media commercialism of the genre (including interrupting the narrative with toy ads!) while giving us awesome examples of it in graphic novel form. Most of the textual story is given through dialogue (vs. narrative balloons), and though it can be a little cheesy and/or superfluous at times, it does a good job of getting us to sympathize with the Monsters—protagonists (who are actually the antagonists?)—and despise the Rangers—our antagonists (I really don't want to call them the protagonists...). So, the characterization can be pretty one-sided for the Rangers, but is actually fairly developed and nuanced for the Monsters. It does the satire right.
Also on point is the art. The backgrounds tend to be more detailed than the characters (some of them looking downright gorgeous—who knew hand-drawn pancakes could elicit such rumblings of hunger! XD), but the characters have solid design and are acted well, both physically and emotionally. Like I said, this is my first manga so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I actually really like the difference between the more pliable actors and the more static backgrounds they appear against.
I'm super excited to see where the series goes and eventually ends up. (I'm PRAYING it's not going to last as long as My Hero, Bleach, or One Piece... Just tell a good story and end, please!)
In this series, the human heroes are douchebags and the immortal "monsters" are the imprisoned repressed that are eking out their survival by competing in televised fights. It's a genius idea that simultaneously pokes fun at both the formula and the media commercialism of the genre (including interrupting the narrative with toy ads!) while giving us awesome examples of it in graphic novel form. Most of the textual story is given through dialogue (vs. narrative balloons), and though it can be a little cheesy and/or superfluous at times, it does a good job of getting us to sympathize with the Monsters—protagonists (who are actually the antagonists?)—and despise the Rangers—our antagonists (I really don't want to call them the protagonists...). So, the characterization can be pretty one-sided for the Rangers, but is actually fairly developed and nuanced for the Monsters. It does the satire right.
Also on point is the art. The backgrounds tend to be more detailed than the characters (some of them looking downright gorgeous—who knew hand-drawn pancakes could elicit such rumblings of hunger! XD), but the characters have solid design and are acted well, both physically and emotionally. Like I said, this is my first manga so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I actually really like the difference between the more pliable actors and the more static backgrounds they appear against.
I'm super excited to see where the series goes and eventually ends up. (I'm PRAYING it's not going to last as long as My Hero, Bleach, or One Piece... Just tell a good story and end, please!)
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