Anime REVIEW: The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World is available to stream on Crunchyroll

There has been a steady increase in tokusatsu-inspired/adjacent superhero anime series in recent years, not just thanks to the likes of the Gridman and GARO anime adapations or Fuuto PI, but also manga adaptations like Love After World Domination, Miss Kuroitsu From the Monster Development Department and Go! Go! Loser Ranger!. Based on the number of series released each season, the popularity of Isekai-themed anime hasn't waned in the past few years either. So the two coming together in the lengthily titled (this is an Isekai series after all) The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World should pretty much be a match made in heaven. Animated by Satelight (the studio behind Symphogear as well as later instalments of the Macross franchise), the 12-episode series is an adaptation of the manga series of the same name by Koyoshi Nakayoshi - which began publication in 2020 and is currently still ongoing.

In their final battle against the Relationship Enders, Kizuna Red of the Bansou Sentai Kizuna Five bravely sacrificed himself in the climactic showdown with the Breakup King. However rather than perish, Tōgo Asagaki was instead transported to a fantastical world with no means of getting home. Following his instincts to help people, he eventually meets Yihdra Arvoln - a skilled mage who is extremely perplexed by his strange abilities.

Yihdra reveals that her dream is to become the Royal Scepter and use magic to make people happy, retaking the position after her father was defeated and her family kicked out of the capital. The pair form an adventuring party, with Tōgo looking to help Yihdra with her dream and she can study his powers whilst finding a way to get him home. During their adventures they join forces with Princess Teltina Liz Wagrel Alvarost and her bodyguard Lowji Mist, who aim to destroy the demonic seeds that are currently infecting people and amplifying their power.

Truth be told, I initially approached The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World with some trepidation. While I might have an immense love for both tokusatsu shows and superheroes in general, the same can't be said about the Isekai genre. For context, I've spent years writing anime reviews for other publications, and rarely did these shows ever stand out - instead all feeling like pretty much exactly the same thing with a slightly different hook or gimmick each time. So while throwing a Sentai-style hero into the mix would certainly get me interested to watch, it wouldn't necessarily be enough to win me over.

Thankfully though The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World actually proves to be quite the success, largely thanks to the fact that the titular character is more than just a gimmick. As one would expect much of the show's comedy stems from the use of numerous tokusatsu tropes (or more specifically, the rest of the cast's utter bewilderment at them), but it's quickly apparent that Nakayoshi really loves his tokusatsu. Jokes like having Kizuna Red's transformation explosions cause actual damage to enemies or summon the team's giant robot to a fight are easy laughs that anyone with a passing knowledge of the genre/medium can appreciate, but having his adventurers' guild skill tag play a video of his abilities like a magazine tie-in DVD? That's the kind of attention to detail you'd only see from a longtime fan. Even before the story gets into Tōgo's transportation to another world, the whole story of Bansou Sentai Kizuna Five has been fleshed out as though it were a full-length series - right down to developing a year's worth of episode titles complete with synopses and their own special nomenclature. Any tokusatsu fan interested in checking out the series would be won over by these elements alone - a story within a story so well crafted that not only is it repeatedly mined for backstory and additional context to the main plot, but could easily work as its own series as well.

But while much of this love can be found in the source material, tokusatsu is a televisual medium and so of course the anime uses that to its advantage. The remaining members of Kizuna Five are all voiced by Super Sentai alumni - including Masaya Matsukaze (Mega Blue), Mika Kikuchi (Deka Pink), Hiroshi Tsuchida (Ninja Blue), Arisa Komiya (Yellow Buster) and MAO (Gokai Yellow/Washi Pink). The voice homages don't just stop there either - Kizuna Red's gear is voiced by Tetsu Inada (Doggie Kruger), and when the second half of the series introduces a Kamen Rider-like character in the form of Amen, all of hers is by voiced by the instantly recognisable Mark Okita (interestingly using his more recent Legendriver voice rather than the Decadriver's). But perhaps the greatest treasure trove is found in episode eight of the series, which retells Tōgo's backstory and how he came to be Kizuna Red. In addition to just being a great episode in and of itself, it also features numerous background cameos from Super Sentai characters - as well as the legend himself Toshiki Inoue. While it would have been so easy to just do the bare minimum and still have the premise work, every inch of this series is pouring with love for tokusatsu and it is all the stronger for it.

Meanwhile despite the main story not straying to far away from the usual Isekai conventions, the melding of the two genres proves to work surprisingly well. The show is less of a case of the protagonist coming in with unparalleled abilities or talent that make him so much better than the rest of the world's inhabitants, and more how they're just utterly baffled by how different his powers are. It's a more tolerable take whilst still conveying the same general spirit. This also helps elevate the main story beats, which again seem to tick all the key boxes for a fantasy Isekai adventure. Forming an adventuring party, encountering royalty, battling demons - it's all fairly straightforward stuff. While as a comedy series it's arguably just as much a parody of Isekai as it is Super Sentai, following these plot beats doesn't feel like it comes from the same place as the tongue-in-cheek nature of the tokusatsu ones. The plot definitely picks up in the latter half of the series when the team travel to the Sun Forest to investigate the elves and "original hero" (encountering the aforementioned Amen in the process), but much of the intrigue comes from setup rather than elements fully explored in this set of episodes.

The success of the show also comes from the strength of the characters, particularly with how Tōgo fully leans into the "bonds" motif his Sentai is based on (which directly refers to relationship bonds but is cleverly visualised with adhesive bonds like band-aids). He's just a lovable idiot who wants to be friends with everyone whether they like it or not. Behind that cheery exterior is plenty of tragic backstory that gets teased out over the course of the series, but that's just par for the course for this kind of Red Sentai hero. Tōgo quickly finds his match in Yihdra though, who balances his endearing obliviousness out with a healthy dose of snark. The pair play off of each other well, with a chemistry that continues to go down a potentially romantic route - something that also feels refreshing when so many similar series are less overt about it. Tōgo and Yihdra definitely stand out as the stars of the series, making it a little more difficult for the rest of the party to grasp the spotlight. Teltina is likeable enough, with some great jokes and a far more wild-eyed view of Tōgo's powers, but tends to fall to the wayside more often that not. In comparison her bodyguard Lowji is less likeable in both his treatment of Tōgo and his cliche obsession love for Teltina, but that (hilariously one-sided) rivalry with Tōgo brings some good laughs with it. When they're later joined by Raniya/Amen, she feels slightly more fleshed out simply by merit of having a more significant character arc behind her. But regardless of how well they all stand out, much like a Sentai team the party compliment each other well - both in their personalities and abilities.

The series also has some good action on offer as well, once again leaning into all the tokusatsu tropes whilst also pulling in all the fantasy ones from both the other characters and the setting itself. The Kizuna Five have great suit designs - perhaps a little more detailed than they would be if this were a true Super Sentai series, but not so much that the homage is lost or that they wouldn't work as live-action suits (as proved by a live-action version of the suit joining the cast for a preview event). Similarly the luxury of not having to be a suit means Maximum Kizuna Kaiser can be a little more mobile than it would in live-action, but the same level of thought has been given towards it - breaking it down into individual components and understanding how it would combine/transform. If you want to make your Sentai seem like the real thing, making it so obviously merchandisable is exactly the way to go about it.

If there's one thing that brings the series down though, it's the possibility that it will suffer the same fate as so many seasonal anime (many of which are Isekai, let's be honest) and end unresolved - at least onscreen anyway. It's a sad truth anime fans have to accept quite quickly that more often than not shows like these simply adapt the first arc or two of their source material, acting as a taster to the full story rather than a proper adaptation. While currently there's nothing to say The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World won't get a second season, at the time of writing there's nothing to confirm it will either. Which is a shame, because if anything it felt like it had only really just got going. The party is fully formed, and the final episode leaves the show on a lot of great hooks (in both worlds no less). Hopefully it will prove popular enough for a second season because, although the manga may be there in the event it doesn't, the various tokusatsu tropes and references that will work so much better with sound and motion than they would on the page.

Despite my early reservations, The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World proves to be just as fun a watch as its silly premise suggests. Although the bones of the series may be a stock Isekai through and through, the tokusatsu skin covering it proves to be an ideal counterbalance - the Isekai and Henshin Hero tropes complimenting each other beautifully. Though the core story and largely likeable cast have plenty to offer in their own right, it's the huge amount of world-building that's gone into making Bansou Sentai Kizuna Five a reality that's truly impressive - bringing with it the kind of passion for tokusatsu you can't help but admire no matter how you feel about the rest of the series. Full of laughs that everyone from newcomers to seasoned fans can enjoy, it's a show with already plenty to give despite also feeling like it's only just begun. Fingers crossed a second season happens and it can show us what else it has to offer.