Ranger Reject is back everyone! Sports may have stolen our episode from us last episode, but I think that breather did the series good because this episode was much better than the previous one. Not perfect, and we’ll talk about why, but it’s nice to see Ranger Reject back on the upswing. So without further ado, lets dive into the episode!
So starting off, Ranger Reject slowed down a lot this week it felt like. Last episode we covered 5 or 6 chapters I believe, and you could feel it in the episode. We sprinted through content that, if we’re being honest, needed much more time to explore. And it looks like that’s what we’re getting this week as Ranger Reject circles back around on Hibiki’s past, how he got here and what his plans were. In fact, the only major issue I see with the episode is the sheer size of the cast it’s introducing. We got like… 9 new characters this week, none of which I’m going to bother remembering until they actually do something. Not because of any stubbornness on my part, I just have no idea which ones will end up being interesting so it’s up to Ranger Reject to make them worth remembering.
Luckily for Ranger Reject, it’s already succeeded with the as-of-yet unnamed Female Fighter, whom I will call Fighter F for now. Clever, I know. I don’t know what to make of this girl living in Hibiki’s closet but I absolutely love her. Not only is she another ally in Fighter D’s war against the Keepers, she’s also much more aggressive and skilled in combat than Fighter D. No doubt she’s going to be the one to train him up, teach him how to fight properly using his powers, constantly pushing him do shit rather than passively wait around. That’s not to say he needs it, Fighter D has accomplished a lot in a short time! But my hope is that Fighter F will prevent Ranger Reject from falling into a rut where Fighter D gets comfortable as Hibiki, always waiting for that “right moment”. Fighter F won’t accept that.
As for why she was in the closet, I have no idea! It was an interesting introduction though. Was Hibiki helping her escape the Nest? She was clearly happy to learn Hibiki was still alive, and she had a rather pronounced reaction when Fighter D tackled her to the ground while she still thought he was Hibiki. I wonder if, through her interactions with Fighter D, Hibiki and the others, she will like humans on some level. Her coming to understand humans alongside Fighter D would make for a nice little thematic parallel to Hibiki and some of the other rangers inevitably coming to respect and care for the Fighters. Anyways, whatever Ranger Reject does with her I’m sure it will be good. We’ve only known her for like 15 minutes but I already love her. Helps that she’s pretty cute too.
The other major revelation for the episode was in regards to Pink Keeper being Hibiki’s sister. Probably should have mentioned that my guy, Fighter D just narrowly avoided stepping on that landmine, and even that was mostly due to her bro-con goggles getting hazy when she thought Hibiki was finally growing a spine. I’m honestly not convinced she didn’t notice something was wrong, there were to many things in that scene for her to pick up on for her to not have. Is she trusting it because she trusts in Hibiki? Or is she just that blind when it comes to her brother? I have no idea, but it should be pretty interesting. Whatever happens, I’m happy Ranger Reject is letting us spend time with the main Keepers, letting us get to know them as people. That was a major complaint of mine last episode.
I’m also curious what’s going on with her wheelchair. She clearly doesn’t need it, she walked just fine in the early episodes and she beats up a bunch of punks at the end of this one. Is it a fake, something she puts on for Hibiki’s sake so he won’t guess she’s the Pink Keeper? If so, why fake it, surely he would be happy to learn his sister could walk? But what if it isn’t a fake and she has some like… cybernetic legs or something? There could even be cloning shenanigans or body doubles and shit, I have no idea. I’m confident Ranger Reject has an answer ready and waiting for us, it didn’t feel like a mistake with how clearly it was shown and used. I just hope it’s one we get before the season ends, you know?
Finally, on the topic of the Keepers and Hibiki, I want to talk a bit more about his past. I complained last episode that we had no idea how her survived, that because of the pacing that whole flashback felt awkward. And it still does! But this episode we learn that Hibiki and his sister were saved by the Blue Keeper, who then retired to raise them afterwards. This raises a lot of questions. Does the old Blue Keeper agree, or even know about, the current deal with the Fighters? If so, what does he think of it? And what about the current Blue Keeper, did he know the old, what was their relationship? This isn’t information you just drop and never use, it’s clearly going to be important. Just once again, I want it to be important this season, because it’s pretty cool.
So yeah, all in all this was a good return for Ranger Reject. It slowed things down and let the reveals breathe for once, but not so much that nothing happened. We got a lot of character interaction, introduced some new ones, took old ones and made them interesting, it’s a lot of solid setup for whatever arc is going to happen in this “White Dragons Nest”. I’m guessing some sort of tournament or exam arc since they have to fight each other and get chosen by one of the main squads to get out. Most likely it’s going to drive them together, creating a solid core group for Fighter D to interact with and slowly turn to his side. Or maybe they are all going to stay assholes and he will be the only one to get out! Should be fun either way.
