In this episode, D applies to join the Ranger Force and he meets the two rangers he met last episode, Hibiki Sakurama (Daishi Kajita) and Yumeko Suzukiri (Yumika Yano). Both rangers take D out for lunch and explain how the Dragon Keepers operate. Each Keeper is in charge of their own battalion and garrison and they run other ventures besides kicking fighting the Monster Army besides Sunday.
I have one major concern with Go! Go! Loser Ranger right now and it’s the fact that D is frankly a bit of an idiot. Joining the Ranger Force to defeat the Dragon Keepers from within is a smart idea but as for executing it, D seems to be winging it. Some of his decisions are still pretty clever, such as impersonating Hibiki so that he can sneak into the garrisons before he actually joins the Ranger Force. Other times however, his ideas are just dumb. Like, his weapon of choice this time around is a steak knife. That’s it. Even against a depowered Keeper (which D very much runs into this episode), there’s no way he’s going to win with just that. It’s also stupid of him to not investigate the identities of the Dragon Keepers first. In this episode, he goes to the Red Garrison to find Sosei Akabane (Yuichi Nakamura), the Red Keeper, but he has no idea what Red Keeper looks like. One of Akabane’s lackeys Shun Tokita (Hiroyuki Yoshino) jokes about being Red Keeper and D almost blows his cover when he tries to draw his knife and realizes too late that he’s targeting the wrong guy. You’d think since Dusters can’t win a fistfight, D would try to think of something clever. But no, he’s just making up a plan as he goes.
The one who is constantly getting D out of a pinch is Suzukiri. Towards the end of the episode, it’s revealed that all of Suzukiri’s actions are intentional. She is aware that D is a Duster and for whatever reason, she wants to ally with him in taking down the Dragon Keepers. Aside from the fact that she can simply rat D out, Suzukiri makes it very clear that she has him wrapped around her finger. She manages to get D to hand over his knife and while D is very stupid for complying, this nevertheless shows that Suzukiri is pretty manipulative. Suzukiri also shows that she can easily beat D in a fight so all things considered, D is powerless to oppose her. I said in the last post that Suzukiri interests me the most and that point still stands after two episodes. Someone needs to be the brains of this plot and Suzukiri most certainly fits the bill. Her personality also just makes her a very entertaining character. The lack of a backstory right now is a bit concerning but not knowing why Suzukiri wants to defeat the Dragon Keepers does give her an mysterious and intriguing aura.
Another thing that I appreciate is the effect D’s disappearance has on the rest of the Monster Army. Displeased with D’s rebellious act, the Dragon Keepers decide to have two of Blue Keeper’s cadets oversee the army’s lair. The Dusters aren’t keen about having even less freedom but they’re powerless to oppose the plan so they comply. Later, we see Fighter F (Taito Ban), D’s one and only friend in the army, try to find D and get killed by Red Keeper for going out in public. Kind of dumb of F to go outside, he had to know the repercussions, but whatever. I like this development as it paints D’s endeavor in a greyer light. D isn’t wrong in wanting better lives for the army but there’s no denying that his ambition is making things harder for his kind. With F’s death, we now have a casualty in this conflict and a personal loss for D. There doesn’t seem to be a clear solution here. D shouldn’t necessarily give up but I wonder if he’ll get so caught up in getting revenge that he’ll forget whatever good intention he had for this vendetta in the first place.
OP: “Jikai Yokoku” by Tatsuya Kitani
ED: “Seikai wa Iranai” by Akari Nanawo
Watch Go! Go! Loser Ranger on Hulu
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