After F’s death, Hibiki reveals to D that he knows of the Duster’s true identity. D refuses to surrender himself but to his surprise, Hibiki asks D to form an alliance with him. Hibiki is actually sympathetic to the Monster Army’s situation and he hopes that he and D can change the Dragon Keepers from within. D refuses however, arguing that he and Hibiki are still enemies.
Funnily enough, D agrees to work with Suzukiri in the very next scene of the episode. At first, it feels strange for D to refuse Hibiki’s help but accept Suzukiri’s but I can see why he’d gravitate more towards the latter. D isn’t really interested in changing the Dragon Keepers, let alone for a righteous cause, so he’d naturally find Suzukiri’s pragmatism more appealing. Hibiki acting so friendly probably also rubs D the wrong way. Suzukiri is manipulative, uses force, and she only sees D as a friend in the sense that he’s the enemy of the enemy, but that’s how D perceives humans in general. In a weird way, Suzukiri baffles D less than Hibiki.
Suzukiri’s plan is quite simple. Each of the five Dragon Keepers has a Divine Artifact that grants them their powers. It is also the only thing that can permanently kill the otherwise immortal Monster Army. Thing is, none of the Keepers actually use their Divine Artifacts during the Sunday showdown and they instead leave it in storage after they transform for the show. This gives D a brief window of opportunity to seize one of the Divine Artifacts and even the playing field. Seeing as Akabane is the leader of the Keepers, D impersonates him to steal Red Keeper’s Artifact.
You know, D’s secret identity might be the worst kept secret ever. First, Suzukiri figures it out. Then, Hibiki. During the heist, one of the Red Rangers, Shun Tokita (Hiroyuki Yoshino), sees through D’s disguise. By the end of the episode, all five Keepers know who he is. I guess D isn’t trying that hard to maintain his cover but it’s not like he’s running around with a neon sign spilling the beans either. Poor guy is just unlucky.
The fight between D and the Keepers goes about as you’d expect. I get that D is feeling a little more confident thanks to Red Keeper’s Divine Artifact but it is pretty stupid of him to try and fight the ranger head on. Technically, Red Keeper has already kicked D’s butt without his Artifact, back in Episode 1. Then again, even the most clever attack D comes up with seems to backfire on him. I do like how the Keepers are barely taking the fight seriously. They even have a camera crew filming it as a sort of extension to the weekly showdown. D is here fighting for his life but for the Keepers, this fight is just Tuesday (well, Sunday but you get my point). Yostar Pictures also does a good job animating this scene. For a fairly young studio, they’re rising up as a pretty darn capable one.
While D doesn’t strike to me as a smart fellow, him disguising his dismembered arm as Red Keeper’s Divine Artifact is an ingenious move. The Keepers see D as the laughing stock but in the end, D is the one with the last laugh. I’m curious to see what the Keepers will do from here. They will probably keep this blow a secret from the public but that might be hard to maintain. I can see Red going down a spiral of some sort; the dude clearly has a huge ego and a sense of superiority so losing his big fancy weapon isn’t going to sit well for him. Hell, he already looks pissed at being duped so hard. As for the real weapon, it’s apparently in Suzukiri’s possession now. I don’t know if she should leave it out in what appears to be her dorm but whatever.
Loser Ranger! makes it look like D is dead but I don’t buy it. I think D has cheated death like he has in the past. The post-credit scene shows a new monster running amok but I doubt they’ll take D’s place. I wouldn’t be opposed to Suzukiri taking over as the protagonist, she is easily the best character in the show, but it would be weird to change gears this early on. Plus, making Suzukiri the protagonist would shift attention away from the discrimination towards the Monster Army. One problem with D coming back is what appearance he’ll take since everyone seems to know what his default human form looks like. I notice that the OP and ED implies that D will impersonate Hibiki again so that’ll probably be his disguise going forward. Here’s hoping D and Hibiki will point at each other like the classic Spider-Man meme.
Watch Go! Go! Loser Ranger on Hulu
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