Red Ranger Isekai Episode 1 Recap and Thoughts
Hello guys! So, I stumbled upon a clip of the show called “The Red Ranger Becomes An Adventurer in Another World” on Facebook, and it piqued my interest. I have already watched two seasons of Sentai, Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger and Avataro Sentai Donbrothers, and I really loved them both. What I loved most about these two seasons is the serialized nature of the story. As much as I like the concept, the many one-off episodes with wacky stuff such as the one episode of Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger where they played baseball to beat the MoTW really put me off. But I have high hopes for this season so I decided to watch it. By the way, it will be the first time watching an original animé series (that’s not an adaptation of any tokusatsu show) since the pandemic.
Recap
The show starts with a scene reminiscent of the final episode of any Sentai series. Break-up King, who pilots the Cosmic Fortress Shredskull, is now trying to bring despair to Earth by summoning troops to destroy the bonds of humans. However, the sentai team of this world, Banso Sentai Kizuna Five (Adhesive Sentai Kizuna Five), are trying their best to stop him. They summoned the Kizuna Beasts and combined them to form their mech, Maximum Kizuna Kaiser. The stylized text when any gadget/mech is summoned, with its unique design and animation, is a nice touch that adds to the visual appeal of the series. They also summoned their weapon, the Great Bond Sword. Fighting enemies with the power of bonds and friendship.
The fortress fired everything in its arsenal to destroy Maximum Kizuna Kaiser, but it managed to damage the head of the fortress. However, the fortress fired back, damaging the robot and making it unable to finish the job. Kizuna Red checks on everyone, but the damage made it unable for the robot to finish the job. The rest of the Kizuna Five entrusted Red to finish Break-Up King once and for all, wishing for him to return after the fight. Red leaves the mech, entrusting Kizuna Kaiser to keep the rest of the team safe.
Kizuna Red entered the fortress to defeat Break-Up King once and for all. While the king gloated that he’s physically alone despite his ranting about the power of bonds, he has his friends and the wishes of people who believe in the power of bonds. It’s a cheesy line, but that’s Sentai for you. Break-up King fired rainbow beams (which I overlooked when first watching the episode; interesting, they used rainbow and not the generic black, red, or purple for evil) at Kizuna Red as he tries to finish him. We get to see the cracked helmet shot as he gets hit by one of the beams, which happens sometimes in Super Sentai [1] and serves as a foreshadowing. Through his determination, Red lands the decisive blow to finish the threat of Break-Up King once and for all. The rest of the crew celebrated their victory against the invaders.
However, Kizuna Red also got hit by the explosion after the defeat, and it seemed that Kizuna Red’s journey was over. As he falls, he reflects on the journey that he went through as Kizuna Red. Only for him to hit his head as he got isekai’d to another world. Now, the isekai story starts. Overall, while the ending feels rushed, it still has the final episode feel to it, which I really liked.
Twelve days after Kizuna Red arrived, a huge commotion happened somewhere. A huge golem attacked two adventurers who were powerless to fight it. Seeing their situation, they gave up fighting it. It turns out that Yhidra tested the adventurers in fighting against the golem. First off, Yhidra was heavily sexualized in this show. While it’s not a complete turn-off, I wished that they would do away with this kind of sexualization, which is often seen in Japanese animé.
Due to the adventurers’ failures, Yhidra told the golem to escort them outside. It turns out that the test was part of Yhidra’s plan to return to the position of Royal Scepter. As the golem escorts the adventurers outside, they meet a mysterious figure in red who is expected to be the next adventurer to take on the test. The hooded figure thought the golem kidnapped the adventurers, so he fought it. It also resulted in Yhidra collapsing after she got hit by her golem. The guy told her to run for safety, however Yhidra told him that it was a familiar used to test candidates. This ‘familiar’ is a magical creature that is often used in tests and trials in this world. Yhidra realized after he started fighting the golem that it was the popular adventurer who was told to be a rising star. The guy managed to hold off the golem’s punch as he removed his hood, and it turns out it was Kizuna Red! Red then used the Bond Plate (which I thought was a USB stick, but it was actually an adhesive bandage), inserted it into his Kizuna Brace, and then transformed into Kizuna Red. Yhidra noticed the sounds made by the brace and his sharp moves as he did the pose before transforming. Yhidra and his butler were shocked that the mysterious device managed to transform him into Kizuna Red, complete with an explosion! The surprise of Kizuna Red’s transformation, the shock on the characters’ faces, and the classic Sentai tropes filled me with excitement and joy.
Kizuna Red swiftly defeated the golem with a series of punches before finishing with Burning Kizuna Punch, which Yhidra remarked is not a sophisticated attack naming scheme. Yhidra was shocked about the explosion after defeating the golem. Well, Yhidra, that’s Sentai for you.
Yhidra, still shocked by what she had seen, faltered when announcing that Kizuna Red had passed the test. We are then introduced to Kizuna Red’s real name, Asagaki Togo. Yhidra then introduced herself and her butler, Poseidon. Red then revealed that he came from another world. Seeing as the world Red was transported to didn’t have any tech yet, it’s safe to say that the shock that Yhidra felt was normal. However, documents about people from other worlds are plenty, which is interesting. There are also rumors that the Hero who sealed the Demon Queen came from another world. It’s interesting to point that out. This may come into play in a future episode.
Yhidra then asked about the red suit Togo was wearing, to which he remarked that the kids back home loved his look. Yes Red, totally not because the Sentai trope said so.
Then, Yhidra discussed her job for Togo. She asked Togo to find mana metal, a recently discovered ore formed when mana flowing along ley lines bursts from the ground in Wakenark Ruins. She plans to study it to see if she can use it for magic. If it’s dangerous, she would warn the royal family immediately. Togo, realizing that what she’s doing is protecting the bond between people and magic, immediately jumps out of Yhidra’s mansion to look for mana metal. The off-screen explosion when he transformed again into Kizuna Red is so funny. The explosion marks are also a nice touch. He then summoned the Turbo Huddle, which is basically a group of Reds huddled together. I also heard that there is a wordplay on this gadget. Huddle in Japanese is 円陣 (enjin), which forms a pun for the engine. It’s a nice wordplay. Yhidra was still shocked about the summoning and remarked that he was a bigger mystery than mana metal. Getting so excited, Red carried Yhidra to their destination using the huddle.
After arriving at the ruins, Togo remarked that they got here so quickly because they didn’t run into flying monsters. Except that the giant birds they smashed past were flying monsters. Man, Kizuna Red is so OP.
Going through the ruins, the duo encountered monsters. We get to see one of Yhidra’s abilities, Celsuis Spike, to freeze monsters. It’s good to see that the stylized text also extends to this attack. Meanwhile, Kizuna Red quickly defeats their enemies with the Cooperation Calibur and get this, Marriage Beam Gun. The latter was so funny because the theme of bonds also included marriage! It can fire attacks such as Lovers Snipe, Proposal Pot-Shot, and Engagement Gift Burst. The attacks made me crack up, but as a single guy as of writing this post, it hurts! While Yhidra was amazed by the speed of Red beating enemies, she still couldn’t help but notice the weird weapons and why they made lights and noise. And yes, the monsters still explode while Red turned behind the explosion like a badass. Unfortunately, that same explosion burnt the loot as well.
Kizuna Red remarked that the monsters they fought are about the same level as the Relationship Ender’s mooks. She was shocked though about how he called them cannon fodder. Togo explained that they fought Relationship Ender who robs people of their bonds and conquer the world. The evil team has an opposite theme to the bond theme of the protagonists, which is really cool as well.
He also told Yhidra that while he wanted to go back to his world, he realized that the world he currently resides also has a lot of problems so he thought that fate brought him back to this world. Thus, he opted to stay to know why he was sent there.
Meanwhile, Yhidra explained how she wanted to return to the title of Royal Scepter, a title given to mages who oversee sorcery at the behest of the royal family. She was inspired by his father, who was a Royal Scepter who studied magic to make people happy. However, he lost his title in a duel ten years ago. The new Royal Scepter then restricted the magic for the Order of Knights and aristocrats while using it for war and self-enrichment. Yhidra didn’t like that. Thus, she was determined to take the position back. She thought that Togo would laugh at her dream since it was childish and lacked realism, but he assured her that he loved how big her dream was.
As they continued into the dungeon, Yhidra stumbled upon a skull. She then saw a massive pile of bones, which she thought were the remains of the adventurers who went into the dungeon. Eventually, Red found a huge pile of mana metal. Yhidra noticed that it didn’t look like a frozen fountain, as if someone gathered them and left it there. Well, it turns out that she was right as a monster appeared behind her. And interestingly enough, it is CG. It is far from perfect, but it perfectly captures the tokusatsu feel.
The dragon attacked Yhidra, who was stunned in shock. Luckily, Togo jumped in to save her, sustaining injuries. The Remains Dragon tried to defend the mana metal from intruders who wanted to take it. Togo started transforming into Kizuna Red despite the injuries he sustained. Yhidra wanted to stop him, worrying about his safety. However, he was determined to make her dream come true. And once more, the explosion still happens after transforming. This time, Yhidra got caught in the explosion as she stood behind him, which was funny as heck. Go go pyrotechnics team!
Due to the size of the monster, Kizuna Red opted to use Maximum Kizuna Kaiser to deal with the dragon. However, a strong friendship is needed to do this. Despite her doubts, she had no choice but to trust him and their bond. Shockingly, the whole team of Kizuna Beasts managed to go to the other world—the beasts combined to form Maximum Kizuna Kaiser. Initially, Kaiser was having a hard time fighting the dragon as the bonds of two people weren’t enough to give enough power. Kizuna Red urged Yhidra to have faith in their bond as he used the Maximum Kizuna Blaster to defeat the dragon.
A few days later, Yhidra arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild to join the guild. Togo called Poseidon as Sebasdon, which the latter corrected. It’s interesting that naming the butler Sebastian is a pretty common trope in animé. Yhidra joined to study Togo’s powers up close to possibly create a new form of magic. She also wanted to join his party, to which the latter gets so touched. Yhidra also blushed because he told her that he might’ve come to this world to meet her.
Final Thoughts
Everything revolving around the Sentai theme is really good. From the weapons to even the OST as well. Some legendary tokusatsu people were also a part of this show. For example, the rest of the Kizuna Five were voiced by Sentai alumni such as Masaya Matsukaze (Kizuna Blue), Mika Kikuchi (Kizuna Yellow), Hiroshi Tsuchida (Kizuna Green), and Arisa Komiya (Kizuna Pink). The OST for Maximum Kizuna Kaiser was sung by Akira Kushida, who sang most of Kamen Rider OOO insert themes and other tokusatsu songs. I also enjoyed how the show includes standard Sentai tropes, such as the explosions and puns in the weapons and the attacks. The author took note of the tropes when writing the manga. Another interesting thing is the animé is written by Atsuhiro Tomioka, who also writes the screenplay for Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger, the Sentai season currently airing as of writing this blog. Man, I can’t wait for Red to create a new team who might help him pilot the Maximum Kizuna Kaiser!
I also loved how we were introduced to Yhidra. She normally is the straight woman to Togo’s antics, but sometimes, she couldn’t handle his shenanigans, saying that they gave her a heart attack. Sometimes, she faltered as she got overwhelmed by her new discoveries. Despite her flaws (mainly due to how the manga writer wrote and illustrated her), she’s a nice addition to the cast. I can’t wait to see more of this show!
Anyways, stay tuned for more recaps of this show! See you next week!