Go! Go! Loser Ranger![a], also known as Ranger Reject, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Negi Haruba. It has been serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine since February 2021, with its chapters collected in seventeen tankōbon volumes as of January 2025[update]. An anime television series adaptation produced by Yostar Pictures aired from April to June 2024. A second season is set to premiere in April 2025. In October 2023, the manga had over 20 million copies in circulation.
Plot
Thirteen years ago, the Villainous Army of Evil attempted to invade Earth, faced by the Super Sentai squadron known as the Divine Dragon Rangers (竜神戦隊ドラゴンキーパー, Ryūjin Sentai Doragon Kīpā, lit.'Dragon God Squadron Dragon Keeper'), also known as the Dragon Keepers, and their super weapons, the Divine Tools. The evil army, however, was defeated within a year, all of its Executives wiped out, and the surviving (and almost immortal) foot soldiers have been forced ever since to reenact their defeat to the Keepers in front of a crowd of spectators every Sunday. Tired of the charade, and realizing that this amounts to little more than slavery, one of the foot soldiers rebels and decides he will defeat the Dragon Keepers by infiltrating the organization.
A rebellious foot soldier from the villainous army in the sky fortress that arrived 13 years ago, he is a Duster with transformative and regeneration abilities alongside his fellow foot soldiers who vowed to defeat the Dragon Keepers by infiltrating their organization and ranks. He takes on two disguises for most of the series; one is an appearance of an average black haired teenage guy, and the other as Hibiki so he can use his identity to infiltrate their ranks easier.
Hibiki Sakurama (桜間 日々輝, Sakurama Hibiki)
Voiced by: Daishi Kajita,[2] Tenma TakeshitaEp. 4 credits (young) (Japanese); Paul Castro Jr.,[3] William Luke[3] (young) (English)
An inspiring independent Ranger cadet who is aware of the Keeper's corruption but wishes to fix their system by bringing them back to their original sense of justice. Following an attack to cover D, he swaps places with him after becoming disfigured while D carries on using his identity for most of the series. His current whereabouts remain unknown.
A Junior First-Class ranked Ranger from the Yellow Battalion, who has a mysterious grudge against the Dragon Keepers. She and D made an alliance together to collect their Divine Tools and plans to kill them, though her background and motives remains unknown.
Dragon Keepers
The Dragon Keepers team.
The Dragon Keepers organization comprises the five "First Class" Dragon Keepers and those under their command. Each Keeper has their own battalion with distinct responsibilities within the organization, and each member has a different rank determined by their respective Keeper. The First Class Keepers also possess the Divine Tools that have the power to permanently kill members of the Villainous Army, although lower-ranking members can be assigned replicas or other weapons with similar power.
The leader of the Dragon Keepers and commander of the Red Battalion. Despite appearing friendly and inspiring, he possesses an extremely violent nature that he will not hesitate to use on those that anger him, including his own subordinates.
Voiced by: Go Inoue[4] (Japanese); Alain Mesa[3] (English)
The Blue Keeper and commander of the Blue Battalion, and the only member with visible scars on his face. Originally in a gang to raise money for an orphanage, he joined the Rangers after Akabane blackmails him while in jail. He was killed by Peltrola's sneak attack in a battle with D.
The Pink Keeper and commander of the Pink Battalion and Hibiki's older sister. She is obsessed with Hibiki. When un-transformed, it is revealed she is crippled after getting caught up in Peltrola's battle, and has to rely on a wheelchair.
The oldest of the colorless cadets who once held the Dragon Keepers in high regards. He is killed by Peltrola during the monster's reveal in the final exams to become Rangers, sacrificing his life to ensure his friends won.
The shortest of the colorless cadets who was childhood friends with Urabe, both with dreams of joining the Dragon Keepers. He is the first to discover Fighter D's identity when he is in disguise as Hibiki, the Duster having trusted him enough to reveal his secret. He is nearly killed by Petrola when the monster reveals himself in the Blue Garrison, but survives and is left in a coma for a time.
A surviving Executive of the Villainous Army who resides in the Blue Garrison.
Magatia (マガティア)
A surviving Executive of the Villainous Army who resides in a school by trapping it in a loop.
Dusters
Footsoldier F (戦せん闘とう員 F, Sentōin F)
Voiced by: Taito Ban[9] (Japanese); Daniel Walton[3] (English)
A loyal footsoldier who stayed in the fortress, submitting to the Dragon Keepers. He was D's first true friend and leaves the fortress to find him when he leaves to infiltrate the Dragon Keepers, only to end up being caught by them and executed by Red Keeper. His death heavily affects D.
A stray female foot soldier who left the fortress in search of any surviving boss monsters and resides in Hibiki's room who befriends D.
Production
On October 27, 2020, Negi Haruba started recruiting regular assistants for his coming new series.[10][11] On December 23, 2020, it was announced that Negi Haruba would start his new manga series Go! Go! Loser Ranger! on February 3, 2021.[12]
Media
Manga
Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is written and illustrated by Negi Haruba.[13] The manga series began its serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine in the 10th issue published on February 3, 2021.[14] Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on April 16, 2021.[15] As of January 17, 2025, seventeen volumes have been released.[16] In November 2021, during their panel at Anime NYC, Kodansha USA announced their license to the series and would release it in both print and digital.[17]
An anime television series adaptation was announced on December 6, 2022.[47] It was produced by Yostar Pictures and directed by Keiichi Sato, with scripts written by Keiichirō Ōchi, and character designs handled by Kahoko Koseki, with Kenji Hayama serving as animation supervisor.[48][49] The series aired from April 7 to June 30, 2024 on TBS and its affiliates.[2] The opening theme song is "Jikai Yokoku" (次回予告, lit.'"Next Time Preview"'), performed by Tatsuya Kitani,[50] while the ending theme song is "Seikai wa Iranai" (正解はいらない, "Don't Need the Right Answer"), performed by Nanawo Akari.[51] The series is streaming worldwide on Disney+, and on Hulu in the United States.[50]
The English dub premiered on Hulu on June 12, 2024.[52]
After the airing of the final episode of the first season, a second season was announced[53] and is set to premiere on April 13, 2025, on the brand new Agaru Anime [ja] programming block on all JNN affiliates, including CBC and TBS.[54][55]
A flying fortress appears over the town as a group of heroes called the Dragon Keepers dedicate themselves to defend humanity in a never ending war against the invaders. Thirteen years later, the fortress continues to send down monsters and creatures called Dusters to fight the Dragon Keepers every Sunday in an arena display called the Sunday Showdown. The latest is Ul-Tora Tiger, who puts up a dramatic fight against the Dragon Keepers before being defeated. However, it is revealed that this was all staged. In reality, the Dragon Keepers beat the invaders within the first year they arrived. They set up a truce with the remaining Dusters to have them put on performances like this in exchange for being allowed to live. One of the Dusters, Footsoldier D, has grown tired of this and tries to take a stand against the Dragon Keepers before being swiftly cut down by the Red Keeper. He decides to disguise himself as a human and join the Dragon Keepers so he can take them down from within.
D has started his plan by taking the entrance exam to join the Ranger Force. While there, he runs into the two humans he met before, Yumeko Suzukiri and Hibiki Sakurama. They take him out to lunch where he learns that Suzukiri has a mission to deliver a letter to the Red Garrison HQ. Seeing his opportunity, he transforms into Sakurama and accompanies her. Meanwhile, Red and Blue Keeper arrive at the fortress to punish D and scare the Dusters back in line. D plans to stab Red Keeper when he sees him but is scared off by the garrison members and Red Keeper himself. After leaving, Suzukiri reveals she knew about the knife and who D really is. She tells D she wants to work with him to kill the Keepers. Just then, the real Sakurama shows up and says a monster has appeared nearby. The monster is D's friend Footsoldier F, who is trying to find D to bring him back. Red Keeper himself shows up and uses the Divine Artifact to truly kill F.
3
"Our Evil Will Bloom, Someday" Transliteration: "Itsuka, Aku no Hana wa Saku Darou" (Japanese: いつか、悪の花は咲くだろう)
After witnessing F's death, D runs into Sukurama, who reveals he knows the truth after he overheard D and Suzukiri's conversation. However, he also reveals he wants to make a world where humans and monsters can co-exist, which D rejects. D meets with Suzukiri who tells him that the key to defeat the Keepers is to steal their five Divine Artifacts. She also says that the best time to do this is during the Sunday Showdown. D impersonates the Red Keeper and sneaks into Red Garrison headquarters, but is stopped by garrison member Shun Tokita. Tokita repeatedly kills D but D manages to trick and beat him. As D escapes with the Divine Artifact, he is confronted by the Keepers. Green Keeper comes up with an idea to have D surrender peacefully but D refuses. As such, Blue Keeper uses his Divine Artifact to kill D. When Red Keeper goes to get his artifact back, it is shown to be a fake as it was created by D using his arm Red Keeper severed earlier. The real one was stolen by Suzukiri. Later on, multiple Blue Ranger members are killed by an unknown monster.
4
"The Soldier With Love, Hibiki!" Transliteration: "Ai no Sorujā Hibiki!" (Japanese: 愛のソルジャー日々輝!)
The Dragon Keepers have a meeting along with their second-in-commands where Red reveals his Divine Artifact was stolen. His second-in-command argues that he should hand the title of Red Keeper to him, but Red beats him to death. Blue and one of subordinates, Hikeru, investigate the battle site to try and find D and the Divine Artifact. Meanwhile, D is revealed to be alive but now has a stomach wound that will not heal thanks to Blue's Divine Artifact. He is found by Sukurama, who tells D his backstory. They are then found by Hikeru. Sukurama tries to lure him away but after Hikeru threatens him, D arrives to fight. Hikeru counters with a Divine Artifact replica that D cannot touch due to it only being able to be used by someone Hikeru "bonds" with. D runs away and tries to use Sukurama as a hostage. Hikeru backs off and drops the replica. Sukurama grabs it and appears to kill D. In reality, the two made an agreement to swap disguises so D could infiltrate the Rangers. The disguised D and Hikeru fly away in a chopper, while Sukurama stays in the forest disguised as D.
5
"Fighter D, as a Part of 'Ranger Force'" Transliteration: "Ima, Taisen Sai no Naka de" (Japanese: いま、大戦際のなかで)
A disguised D is living at the independent Ranger's HQ. He smashes Hibiki's laptop which contains all the information Hibiki left behind. While a blue cadet repairs it, D is tasked with delivering badges to all of his fellow trainees. On his way back to his room, D meets Hibiki's sister, who is revealed to be the Pink Keeper Sesera. He runs back to his room and goes to investigate a noise coming from his closet. A female Duster Hibiki has been hiding in his room pops out and attacks him. After revealing his identity, she calms down. Sesera then shows up wanting to talk. She tries to convince Hibiki to have both of them quit the Rangers and go back to living a quiet life. The female Duster hears this and is convinced that D is a traitor. D gets Sesera to temporarily leave so he can trap the female Duster's head in a box. Once Sesera returns, D rejects her offer. When Sesera leaves the room, D convinces the female Duster to work with him. Meanwhile on the ride home, Sesera stops a group of thugs while rejoicing at how much Hibiki has changed.
6
"1 Plus 2 Equals... Threat!" Transliteration: "Ichi Tasu Ni Tasu Sanzanda!" (Japanese: 1たす2たす散々だ!)
D begins training but is beat by the other trainees. XX, the female Duster, reminds him not to get friendly with the other trainees. At the final exam, they are told they will have to fight other Rangers acting as monsters and retrieve a key from them in three days. D gets paired up with a volatile trainee named Kai Shion and sent after a now maimed Tokita. Shion repeatedly tries to fight Tokita but gets defeated each time. While it appears D has run away, in actuality he steals a car and rams it, which also brings the Green Ranger actor, Kanon Hisui, and the trainees fighting her. D gets one of the trainees to draw Tokita and Hisui. He then causes a smokescreen and uses his transformation ability to disorient and aggravate the two into fighting each other. D ambushes Tokita and goads Shion into attacking him as well. Hisui shows up and attacks Tokita and Shion but is stopped from attacking D by the other trainees. D moves in to finish Tokita off but the bell rings before he can, signaling the end of the first day.
7
"The Zigzag Road to the Final Exam!" Transliteration: "Jiguzagu Saishū Shiken Rōdo!" (Japanese: ジグザグ最終試験ロード!)
One of the trainees quit after the first day. Shion says he wants to talk to D but the latter sees XX running outside and goes after her. He catches her in the maintenance area tapping on pipes before locking her back in the closet. D meets back with Shion where they talk about why they joined the Rangers. Shion reveals his brother was killed by a boss monster four years ago despite D thinking all the bosses were killed thirteen years ago. Elsewhere, XX gets discovered by the Blue Ranger who repaired the laptop but is saved by a boss monster, Peltrola, who got her distress message she sent through the pipes earlier. On the second day of the test, D finds out that Shion teamed up with four other trainees to take all the keys. D decides to team up with the remaining trainees to go after the last key held by Suzukiri. She willingly hands it over to them to further help D. However, Shion's team shows up and takes the key just as the bell rings. Meanwhile, Peltrola and XX are making their escape, killing multiple people along the way.
8
"Shout Out Loud, Cadets!" Transliteration: "Kunren-sei, Hoero!" (Japanese: 訓練生、吼えろ!)
The elite trainees gloat over their victory when D snatches the key back. It is revealed that the second day is not over yet as the bell ringing early was a trap set by trainee Renmaru to get Suzuriki to lower her guard. D's team manage to hold on to the key until the second day actually ends. Meanwhile, Peltrola and XX are still on their rampage but get confronted by Aizome, who manages to wound Peltrola with her replica Divine Artifact. Elsewhere, D goes around spying on his fellow trainees while the rest of his team recruit a fifth member. Renmaru runs into Peltrola, XX, and Aizome and is seemingly killed when he manages to get Aizome to safety. Peltrola flees to heal from his injuries and leaves XX to dispose of Renmaru's body. The remaining junior rangers team up to hunt Peltrola down. On the third and final day, the teams agree to one-on-one matches. With XX having disguised herself as Renmaru, D's team gain the advantage using a hidden third form of their gadgets called Burst Mode. D fights Shion and easily overwhelms him until Shion accidentally triggers the Burst Mode as well.
Aizome is badly injured when the Dragon Spirit Draggie comes to her aid. Meanwhile, D's team takes three of the keys while the fourth is surrendered to Shion's team. Shion and D continue to fight when XX steps in and pins Shion. Just then, the Blue Keeper arrives and uses his Divine Artifact to trap XX. He proceeds to torture her for information about Peltrola. D attempts to kill the Blue Keeper but he fails. D and XX then retreat while the Blue Keeper attacks with homing explosives and laser blasts from his Divine Artifact. While XX loses both of her arms, she rams a truck into him but the Blue Keeper is uninjured. As such, XX states she and D have no chance against him and apologizes to Peltrola. Hearing this provides confirmation to D that a boss monster is actually still alive.
10
"It's Showtime for Blue Keeper!" Transliteration: "Zenryoku Zenkai! Burū Kīpā!" (Japanese: 全力全開! ブルーキーパー!)
Given no other option, XX takes D and Blue Keeper to where Peltrola is hiding. Peltrola reveals he has evolved since then and produces a massive army of clones to fight the Blue Keeper. The Blue Keeper holds his own while XX brings D to meet Peltrola. Peltrola thanks D for his continued fighting and states that together they will have their goal of world domination and death of all humanity. However, after remembering the pain he and his fellow Dusters went through for thirteen years and all the new friends he has made, D betrays and kills the Peltrola clone. Besides resenting the boss monster for his long and torturous abandonment, D realizes his ideal world will never be possible if the boss monsters are still around as they would seek to destroy everything instead of ruling it. One of the Peltrola clones tries to escape to the surface but is confronted by the Junior Cadets. Another clone tries to escape through the pipes but is stopped by Shion and the other trainees. D joins them as he states to himself that the only side he is fighting for is himself.
11
"On the Road to My Justice!" Transliteration: "Chōsensha ON THE ROAD!" (Japanese: 挑戦者 ON THE ROAD!)
The cadets continue to fight against the Peltrola clone. Unfortunately, Yukino is held hostage after Ishikawa is wounded trying to save her. Elsewhere, it is revealed Suzukiri made a deal with Peltrola to allow one clone to escape, only for the escaped clone to be killed by the Pink Keeper. D convinces the others to surrender their Dragon Gadgets, which causes Akebayashi to run away. Ishikawa distracts Peltrola long enough for Yukino to land a blow on him, while Kurusu grabs one of the smaller clones trying to escape. Akebayashi soon returns with Shippō, who quickly kills the clones. Peltrola seemingly destroys everyone's gadgets. However, it is shown D faked them with his mimicry as Shion and Urabe land a fatal blow on Peltrola. Ishikawa succumbs to his injury following the battle. Blue Keeper's origin story is shown as he continues his fight. Konno sacrifices himself to save the Blue Keeper and gives the latter another cartridge for his Divine Artifact, which he uses to quickly destroy the remaining Peltrola clones just as D appears to challenge him.
A series of flashbacks show the day D was born, the day the Keepers defeated the boss monsters, and D's time in the Sunday Showdown. D reveals himself to the Blue Keeper and fights him but is unable to touch him due to the Divine Artifact. However, D finds an opening and rushes to stab him. Just then, a surviving Peltrola clone arrives and kills the Blue Keeper. D is upset at being robbed of his victory and moves to attack Peltrola but XX absorbs the clone and leaves. In the wake of the Blue Keeper's death, multiple revelations are shown: Renmaru is still alive but is in critical condition. D's team consisting of himself, Yukino, Shippō, Usukubo, and Kurusu is being promoted to full Rangers. A secret organization is working from within the Rangers to take them down. The Blue Keeper's Divine Artifact has gone missing. Tokita found out that Suzukiri stole the cartridge to the Red Keeper's missing Divine Artifact, but is unable to reveal it without implicating himself. D is now more determined than ever to complete his mission of killing the Dragon Keepers. Finally, Sakurama is shown hiding in a junkyard.
Stage play
On July 1, 2024, a stage play was announced. It ran at Theatre G-Rosso in Tokyo from September 11 to September 16, 2024.[72]
Reception
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2024)
In June 2021, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! was nominated for the seventh Next Manga Award in the Best Printed Manga category.[73]
In October 2023, the manga had 20 million copies in circulation.[74]
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