Now, I've played Hiryu and Ranger, I'm up to Lexington, and I just got Hiryu a few days ago, but I can already tell you that I LOVE the japanese Tier 7. Let me see if I can help explain the meta.
IJN CVs have more squadrons, more strike potential, and a metric asston of planes. They are more about overwhelming alpha strikes and big damage numbers. Hiryu is a dedicated Attack Aircraft Carrier. It suffers for this in the fact that its planes are extremely frail. It only gets Tier 6 TBs, same as on Zuiho, so if they're fighting anything Tier 8 and Up, they will get their strike off, but they will suffer a lot of plane losses for it.
USN CVs are all about Large Squadrons, more fighters, and a lot of reserves. While USN CVs don't have the big damage numbers until Lexington where you get 1k Bombs, they EXCEL at Air Superiority. Looking at the RAW numbers, no upgrades or anything, USN Fighters have ALWAYS been superior to IJN Fighters. US Aircraft Carriers, at least up to Tier 8 (Maybe 9 where you get more viable loadouts) are all about Support. You make your living by making life hell for the enemy CV. Your fighters are faster than anything the IJN Can throw at you, they are tougher, and they hit a lot harder. I can't count the amount of Clear Skies I got in Independence and Ranger from running AS Loadout and completely annihilating the enemy CV. Believe me, AS Ranger will piss a lot of CV Captains off, because seeing your fighters immediately puts them on the defensive. I speak from experience. I hate fighting AS Rangers, whereas I rejoice fighting Strike or even Balanced. If you want to win in a USN CV, go AS.
Hiryu's 2/2/2 Loadout is meant to DELAY Ranger. Not beat it. You will win in a Ranger, because your fighters are tougher and can outlast Hiryu's. Just requires patience and skill.
