The Power Rangers Meet The Boys In This New Disney+ Show - And It's Morf'n Brutal
If you enjoy anime, "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers," "The Boys"-style irreverence, or all of the above, you might want to check out "Go! Go! Loser Ranger!" on Disney+. The anime is based on Negi Haruba's superhero manga of the same name, and its premise is as simple as it is clever: It's Power Rangers, but they're total jerks.
The story starts after the Power Rangers expy team, Dragon Keepers, has vanquished a powerful group of alien invaders — which, conveniently enough, is called the Villainous Army. The heroes and the villains still battle every week, but the apparent high-stakes fights are now merely a sham to keep the Keepers in power. The remains of the Villainous Army are effectively slaves, doomed to play-fight the Keepers over and over again.
With the Dragon Keepers effectively playing a fraudulent superteam role not unlike the Seven on "The Boys," it's only fitting that the show's protagonist comes from the other team. The hero of "Go! Go! Loser Ranger!" is Footsoldier D (Yūsuke Kobayashi), a Villainous Army minion who has had enough of the situation and infiltrates the Dragon Keepers as a cadet who supposedly aspires to join the group.
Go! Go! Loser Ranger! blurs the lines between good and evil
"The Boys" is famous for its scathing satire of traditional superhero stories, which it does by reimagining nearly every superpowered character in the show as a twisted figure corrupted by power, wealth, and fame. As it happens, this is exactly what's going on with "Go! Go! Loser Ranger!" But instead of a horrible superhero universe that doesn't even bother to hide its influences, the action takes place ... well, in an awful superhero anime-verse that doesn't even pretend to hide its inspiration.
As such, just like "The Boys" is excellent entertainment for both lovers and haters of the superhero genre, "Go! Go! Loser Ranger!" hits the spot on multiple levels. "Power Rangers" fans have debated the franchise's most mature show, which may or may not exist given the series' inherently goofy kids'-show nature. The significantly darker "Go! Go! Loser Ranger!" might just provide the answer to that call — and even if you find every "Power Rangers" series and similar franchises deeply annoying, the series' subversion of the heroic team offers plenty to enjoy.
Oh, and as a bonus for "The Boys" fans, "Go! Go! Loser Ranger!" even has its version of the shocking Homelander (Antony Starr in "The Boys") in Red Keeper (Yuichi Nakamura), the apparently heroic but secretly vain and cruel leader of the Dragon Keepers.