Go! Go! Loser Ranger episode 3 review: the courage, brutality and cunning of Fighter D

We take a look at how Fighter D’s changed since the last episode in our Loser Ranger episode 3 review.

Loser Ranger episode 3 review

Loser Ranger episode 3 wastes no time in showing us the aftermath of Fighter F’s death in the last episode. Distraught at what he just witnessed, Fighter D leaves the area, and accompanying him is Sakurama, who reveals that he eavesdropped on the conversation between him and Suzukiri from earlier. After D rejects Sakurama’s proposal of surrendering to the Dragon Keepers, the Ranger recruiter surprises him by saying he passed his test and that Sakurama wants to build a world where there’s peace between monsters and humans. D rejects this idea and leaves, but not without saying Sakurama isn’t fit to be a Ranger.

Later, he meets up with Suzukiri, who explains to him that the Dragon Keepers rely on their Divine Artifacts (the special weapons they use to put down monsters for good as well as transform them into Dragon Keepers) and in turn, their entire Keeper organization relies on them. She explains that by robbing the Artifacts, that’ll be the end of the Dragon Keepers and their organization.

While the latest Sunday Showdown battle between the Keepers and the Fighters takes place, D manages to disguise himself as the Red Keeper and infiltrates the base, but quickly comes into contact with Tokita, who sneaks up behind him and starts attacking him. However, threatening his attacker with dynamite and a match manages to make Tokita stop, leaving himself wide open for D to treat his head like a golf ball when he picks up a nearby golf club, before leaving with the Red Keeper’s Artifact.

His exfiltration almost immediately goes south when D’s caught red-handed by the Red Keeper and a brawl between the two ensues. Though the alien invader makes good use of his shapeshifting abilities, he’s no match for his crimson adversary and he soon loses one of his arms when the Artifact slips from his grasp.

The rest of the “heroic” Keepers appear (with news crews in tow because they love being in the limelight) to aid their leader and after D refuses their offer of surrendering and becoming their prisoner, they end the fight by using another Divine Artifact to blow him up, though D’s actual fate remains unclear. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean our leading man lost in this episode, but I won’t elaborate on this bit for the sake of spoilers. There’s also an after-credits scene where what appears to be a lethal new alien is seen killing members of the Blue Keeper’s garrison.

The main man

This latest chapter largely focuses on Fighter D to let us see that he’s a bit different from the character we saw back in the first two episodes. It seems like F’s death had a big impact on him since D’s become more courageous and cool-headed as well as more intelligent since he threatens to blow the Red Keeper’s base sky-high to get Tokita to back off. This leaves the latter distracted long enough for D to take him out of the equation with a couple of golf club swings. It seems like any fear D had towards the guy has completely vanished.

Then there’s the guys’ smarts. In the battle against the Red Keeper, he uses a water tank many times his size as a projectile to be lobbed at his opponent. Sure, it doesn’t pan out for D since the Red Keeper treats it like a baseball and whacks it away, but he does get points for trying. D also proves that he’s using his brain (unlike that one scene last episode) when he needs to move fast because he momentarily loses the Artifact.

He successfully catches it when it falls off of the rooftop where the battle takes place, climbing back up and continuing to fight even though he lost his arm. Again, I won’t go into details here because of spoilers, but let’s just say that the Dragon Keepers aren’t the only ones who know how to deceive someone.

Fame and a bit of lunacy

Aside from D, the other characters that stand out are Tokita and his boss, the Red Keeper. Tokita because he shows actual enjoyment when attacking D and repeatedly shooting him in the head, while the Red Keeper reveals just how vain he and his team are when he tells D he won’t fight him if there’s no crowd or cameras around and even acts as though he’s injured when the other Keepers arrive to increase the drama. The Green Keeper is also the one who suggests they take D as a prisoner since they don’t want to get “stuck in a routine” of just killing Fighters since their fans will quickly get bored of it.

Suzukiri doesn’t do much in this episode. She just gives useful info to D and advises him during his mission. That’s about it. The Keepers and their constant desire to stay in the spotlight is nothing new for the show, though their need to stay relevant and beloved by the masses now starts to seem somewhat pathetic and tiring in my eyes, which is fitting given who these guys are.

Just like last time, Tokita’s reaction when he discovers D and repeatedly shoots him in the head is very unsettling as he seems to have way more screws loose than I initially thought, especially when it looks like D is bleeding and Tokita has a big, fat grin on his face because of the pain he’s inflicting. But given that he’s smart enough to be afraid of someone threatening to blow themselves up in front of him, maybe he’s not as nutty as I thought. His presence continues to keep things interesting.

D letting loose

The best part is when Tokita discovers D and his mission and when the extraterrestrial tosses a water tank at the Red Keeper. The animation for when D repeatedly needs to reassemble his head after it gets shot looks very good thanks to the particle effects and the moment where D beats Tokita with a golf club is equal parts smooth and brutal, with blood being drawn from the first blow to Tokita’s head showing how painful it looks. The music accompanying this moment reflects how serious the protagonist has gotten since the second chapter.

The same goes for when D lobs the water tank at his crimson opponent. The moment where the Red Keeper uses a pipe to hit the tank as if it were a baseball pauses for a second before it resumes and you can feel the power behind that blow.

Loser Ranger episode 3 excels at showing us the radical change in D’s character as well as how dangerous he can be if he pushes himself. This alone makes me want to see what happens in the next chapter. The ambiguous fate of the main character and the tease of a new threat now on Earth are just the icing on this multicolored cake.