The Winter 2025 Anime Preview Guide

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World

During their final faceoff, Togo Asagaki, the Red Ranger, is defeated by the ultimate evil organization. He was sure he was about to die, but instead, he was reborn in a completely different world. There, he becomes an adventurer to help those in need, transforms into Kizuna Red, and continues his fight for justice.

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World is based on a manga series by Koyoshi Nakayoshi. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Sundays.

I don't want to give people the wrong expectations, but this show is giving me at least a few Bravern vibes. It's all due to the bombastic, ridiculously over-the-top antics of our eponymous ranger-turned-isekai-adventurer: Togo (but you can call him Red) is the absolute embodiment of a children's tokusatsu hero. He's loud, he's all-in on the Power of Friendship™, and he's always ready to charge in and save the day. And when he does? His theme music begins playing. I dare you not to crack a smile or chuckle at least a little when poor fantasy character Yihdra first sees him go into his transformation choreography and is completely flummoxed.

Therefore, the strength of this episode is how it takes modern isekai power fantasy and smashes it against classic Power Rangers-style tokusatsu's version of children's entertainment. The two genres have a few things in common, but ultimately, the latter is about hope and friendship, while the former is often more invested in male power fantasies or self-conscious darkness. Putting them together has happily resulted in a delightfully dissonant disconnect, like seeing the My Little Ponies show up in Game of Thrones, at least in this episode. Honestly, if Red can collect himself and another set of friends to help power his giant combination robot, Kizuna Kaiser, I think this could be a lot of fun going forward.

I am hesitant to say that this hasn't already shown us all its cards, though. After Red's been isekai'd by the Break-Up King, it doesn't take long before we see how his brand of science fiction looks to the residents of a fantasy world. (Hint: the answer is “insane.”) He's overpowered without really realizing it, Yihdra isn't sure what to make of things and is more than a little exasperated, and that's what the story is banking on. We don't see much of the fights Red engages in, and Yihdra's confusion and boob-centric outfit can only work for so long to hold our attention. Still, the premise has enough promise to make me think it's worth at least another episode to see how it handles things.

So sure, it may not be the best-looking premiere. It may only really have one trick right now. But it's still a good trick, and I got a kick out of the theme song gag every single time it happened, and the goofy-themed names of Red's attacks are pretty great. There's life in the old isekai genre yet, and I'm willing to give this one the benefit of the doubt.

One thing I occasionally have to remind folks of is that I call out all of the crappy isekai anime that come out every season not because of the fact that they all fall within the same genre tropes and cliches, but because so many of them are freaking godawful. When something that sticks to a tried and true formula is also good, I'm more than happy to give it its flowers. Case in point: The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World is charming, funny, creative, and entertaining throughout the entirety of its premiere episode. Also, it's a riff on Super Sentai, so I'm basically obligated to like it on a personal level. Zordon would never forgive me if I were to betray my beloved Rangers.

Yes, we all have those particular styles and genres that just speak to us on such a fundamental level that we're bound to enjoy anything that does a decent job of representing them, and I'm a fanatic for anything operating in the tokusatsu realm. Yes, I prefer my toku to be live action, since that's the only way you can appreciate the clash of plastic toy weapons on oversized, rubber-monster bodysuits, never mind all of the gloriously excessive explosions and superpower name callouts. Still, when an anime does a good job at poking fun at the decades' worth of in- jokes and references that franchises like Super Sentai and Ultraman have accumulated, I'm going to be a happy camper. My favorite aspect of The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World is that our hero Red brings all of the tokusatsu magic and absurdity with him into the new fantasy world he gets isekai'd to, and the show has a lot of fun using this stylistic class to spoof both genres at the same time.

Unlike most of his meager, potato-y competition, Red is a protagonist who is possibly too full of energy and personality, though it makes sense, since his whole shtick is being the leader of a relationship themed Super Sentai team that is very literally powered by friendship. I love the joke of his toyetic weapons being themed over any kind of bond that a person can have, such as his laser blaster that has firing modes all based on marriage puns. This doesn't just make Red a fun character to inject into an otherwise by-the-numbers RPG world, but it also gives his whole story some much needed purpose and direction. Yes, he needs to work with his new mage pal to find a way home, but he also needs to save every single person in this new world from despair and sadness. That, my friends, is a good hook for a comedy adventure cartoon. For her part, Yihdra does a good job of representing the isekai half of the equation, which mostly amounts to her trying not to be driven insane by the reality-breaking cartoon logic of Red's spontaneous explosion powers and giant, animal-themed mecha summoning abilities. Being the straight woman to a guy who is so inhumanly heroic and friendly could be a thankless roll, but

Yihdra holds her own by demonstrating just enough snark and bewilderment to stand out as an individual character. I like these two, and I am very excited to see where their new bond of friendship takes them. Could it eventually get old, seeing the usual cliches of tokusatsu and isekai stories called out and made fun of so directly? Maybe, but for now, I am having a grand time.