Controversy Week: Abrupt Departures

Yuki Yajima’s departure from Bioman is a controversial issue. We don’t know why she left. We all get different stories and reasons from different sources.

From what we can tell is that it might have been abrupt. In her last episode. She isn’t seen at all. She is in her suit the whole time, and that might not have been her voice. Her death episode is glorified by a lot of fans, but for me it’s pretty abrupt and out of nowhere. It does introduce the Anti-Bioparticles, and it’s nice that the team didn’t immediately recover from it, but her death episode reminds me of how Poochie was killed off on “The Itchy and Scratchy Show” on the Simpsons.

Yuki Yajima has been off the radar ever since. There are many fan theories:

Contract disputes: Contracts are really important, and if it is not followed, an actor may leave.

Pay disputes: Same with contracts. There must be a reasonable pay that is negotiated. An actor can leave if the pay isn’t fair, or if they think they deserve more.

She’s pregnant: You can be with child while filming most TV shows, and they can adapt to that, by writing it in, adjusting the camera angles, or just saying that your character got fat. But, if you’re doing an action show, it’s not wise to do stunts when you’re preggers. And if you’re playing the more action oriented woman on a TV series (I’m not saying Hikaru didn’t do stunts, I’m saying that Mika and Jun were the action girls on the team, so their actresses had a lot more stunts to do) and don’t plan on getting rid of your baby, it’s not wise to jump on top of cars and duel with Farrah Cat.

She just quit: It’s hard working on a tokusatsu show. Like I said above, you do a lot of stunts, it can be cold since you work outside a lot. You have to go to work early, and leave work late. You might have a lot of fans bugging you as well, and it’s hard to live up to this idol standard. This can be hard for actors and actresses, and makes one question if they truly want to be in the business.

Another example of this is the departure of Yuriko Shiratori (Hana) from Kamen Rider Den-o. In the show, her character is affected by Yuto using his Zero cards (I think) and de-ages into a ten-year old, after she is missing from the train, after new train tracks are seen being built. Fortunately she retains her memories, and her maturity, so essentially she is a young adult trapped inside a child’s body. She still can kick the Taros’s butts, and she still treats Ryotaro like her little brother. Tamaki Matsumoto was able to pull this off. Originally people thought that she was a scrappy, but in the sequel movies, she gradually becomes more of a badass. This breaks, however, pretty much every law and role of time travel, and the rules that existed in Den-o’s world . Hana is a singularity point, and should not be affected by changes in time, yet she physically de-ages due to changes in her own time, and future. Breaking an in-universe rule shows that this was not planned, and Yuriko Shiratori’s departure remains a mystery along with Yuki Yajima’s.

Controversy Week: Violence in Tokusatsu

Once again, this falls under the category of values dissonance. A lot of tokusatsu can be violent. This violence is usually found in a darker season. Series usually alternate between darker and lighter seasons, so not every series is violent, although there is some comedic violence.

Violence and mortality is a great way to keep your older audiences, so not just kids will watch the show. However, it may lose younger audiences.

The violence depicted is often realistic, which can be a good thing. People do get injured, or killed, so they do show a risk.

Sometimes, edgy violence doesn’t work. To reboot the Kamen Rider franchise, we saw the gory Kamen Rider Shin, which to me was okay, not great, but okay. But it didn’t take off.

In early tokusatsu we saw a lot more violence. At the beginning of Go-ranger, JAKQ, Battle Fever J, and Denjiman, the villains would usually murder a lot of people, as kind of an intro to that villain, like they are making a mark, and a call to action.

In Kamen Rider V3, his family is murdered.

In Zubat, Ken’s friend is brutally murdered, and that same scene appears after he kills the villain of the week to determine if he killed his best friend.

Ken usually kills the villain of the week by strangling them with his whip, something harsh that we usually don’t see in modern tokusatsu.

In Japan, there haven’t been reports of kids imitating kamen riders, or akaranger and getting hurt, that we know of. The whole kids imitate violence from tv is still being challenged.

My opinions on violence. I’m against war, however, this is where I’m hypocritical, I don’t mind violence on TV, as long as I know it isn’t real, or if it is a kung fu movie.

One of my favorite Sentai seasons, Liveman, has possibly the highest death count in a sentai series. If you’re a guest star in an episode, and you are not a child, it’s highly likely you’re going to die. If you’re an alien child, however, you are going to die. I like dark series, but I like funny series too.

Controversy Week: Drugs and Tokusatsu

Drugs are bad, m'kay. Okay, they aren't that bad. Anything in moderation is good. Well, most things. Anyway, despite the fact most tokusatsu productions are aimed at children, there are sometimes plots involving drugs on the show, or drug use. This can be value dissonance, as in Japan, they are a tiny bit more lax with what they put on TV for kids, and this can cause controversy for some fans. Me: well, they aren't glamorising it.

Gai Yuuki is badass. And, I know they didn't teach you this in school, but smoking makes you look badass. Or it can make you look intellectual, artsy, just ignore those commercials. So, who else but Gai to be probably one of the only Sentai characters who smokes. Oh, and he drinks too. It's a great characterization to describe a character. I don't see anything wrong with it, and in Japan they aren't as gung-ho about no smoking--I think at least.

Oh, and of course alcohol. Most of the notable times we see alcohol in tokusatsu is usually in a drunken boxing episode. (or in Shinkenger, in which Doukouku lives on that stuff). Two examples can be in Fiveman and in Dekaranger. In Fiveman, the Zone convert all of Earth's water supply to alcohol, causing people to get drunk. And not just adults, but children. You see children in drunken stupors. Oh, and not just humans. Drunken cars. Cars are drunk which puts a new meaning on drunken driving. So Remi falls into the water when fighting Zaza and then gets drunk herself, but then uses it to her advantage, and drinks even more, and defeats the MOW by using Drunken Kung Fu. She then has a big hangover. Umeko purposely gets herself drunk and uses the same Drunken Kung Fu techniques to counter an Alienizer's ability. She then has Doggie drive her Pat Signer, instead of her, and Doggie explains to the audience that drinking while driving is bad. It's especially bad if you're driving a giant robot!

There are other examples about alcohol, but I'm not going to list them all!

In JAKQ, Karen/Heart Queen is a narcotics officer. In an episode focusing on her, the brother of one of her friends, who was a martial artist, took what looked like steroids to help him win fights. At least that's what I think. Turns out the steroids actually brainwashed those who took them into joining CRIME.

A plot in an episode of Kaiketsu Zubat involved drug trade as well, at least I think.

So, is it wrong to include drugs in a series aimed for children? Tokusatsu is aimed at teenagers and adults as well, through different methods. So not just kids watch the show. And they aren't portrayed positively or glamorized. Nor are they used that often, maybe once per series. But they still cause controversy, as they would in any form of media.

Controversy Week: LGBT Issues in Tokusatsu

Before I begin this post, if you have read my blog and are familiar with my opinions and beliefs, I am for gay rights. Everyone deserves the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and who you love shouldn’t play a part in it. I’m not going to explain my own orientation, but just so you know, I’m surrounded each day with people of all orientations. I know that sounds cliché, like the awkward saying “some of my best friends are gay.” Which is what people say when they meet someone who is attracted to their same gender. It’s a really bad thing to say, but I actually study with people of all orientations, so I get pissed when someone says they “don’t like the gays.” And I’ve met people in the fandom who say that. One kid on fanfiction.net actually said that in his profile, but he favorited one of my stories, so I can’t mention his name.

If you are uncomfortable around gay people, you shouldn’t be. Homosexuality is not a germ. And if you meet someone who is gay, they aren’t going to flirt with you or grope you. Heterosexual people don’t do that either. And not all gay guys are effeminate. In fact, some straight guys are effeminate. And not all lesbians are man-like. And some girls can be manlike and not gay. And just because a person crossdresses does not mean they’re gay or they are transgender.

Many times on TV people will crossdress for comedic reasons (especially in sentai). Like the guys in Monty Python.

Like the rest of the world, Japan is still warming up to the idea of gay marriage. There are hate crime laws concerning gay people, and in some prefectures you can get a civil union. But gay marriage isn’t legalized (I think).

However, there are same-sex host clubs, and there is a famous one with girls who dress up as male hosts, some of whom are straight, some of whom are transgender, some of whom are gay. In the world of anime, there is the yaoi genre which has gay men, and there is another one with gay women.

There are openly gay characters in manga too. The best example is Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune in Sailor Moon, who are an “out” lesbian couple. Unfortunately, they still fill the stereotypical lesbian couple gender roles: One is masculine and the other one is feminine.

In prime-time drama, there are shows concerning LGBTQ issues. A great example is “Last Friends” in which one of the characters, Ruka, is in love with her friend from high school, Michiru. As well, Ruka can be considered transgender because she views herself as a man, and wants to begin the medical process, but is struggling to decide. Unfortunately, the couple doesn’t get together, and they fall into the same stereotypical couple roles: Michiru is feminine, and very docile, and Ruka is masculine, although Ruka may not fall into the L category and may fall instead into the T category.

There are still some negative attitudes. A great example would be the wrestler “Hard Gay” who dresses in a leather outfit. He is straight in real life, and is playing a negative gay stereotype in the wrestling ring.

In the world of tokusatsu, there are openly gay characters, bordering or ambiguous characters, and fan pairings.

In Kamen Rider there has been one openly gay character, Kyosui Izumi, from Kamen Rider W, a member of NEVER, and one of the villains. It is noted that he is played by Genki Sudo, a Japanese MMA who is married. So far there haven’t been any reports of openly gay actors in tokusatsu, unless I haven’t truly looked.

Speaking of Kamen Rider W, it can be seen with homosexual undertones: two men join together…

We have Kamen Rider Drake from Kamen Rider Kabuto, who is a make-up artist, but is straight.

As well, there are characters who may or may not be gay. And there are some effeminate characters who fans may consider to be gay. However, there hasn’t been any lesbian characters, or masculine female characters. I’m not sure if there has been a bi character either, but let me know if there is.

In sentai there hasn’t been an openly gay male or an openly gay female. The closest thing we have is Wolf and Kit from Flashman, who some say are lovers, although I haven’t seen their connection (Flashman hasn’t been fully subbed yet). But I welcome it. Although I’m bordering a bit because they are essentially a cat and a dog and that is bordering on a whole other topic that I will not get into.

There have been some effeminate males who some fans like to label as gay. I’m talking about our favorite hairdressers: Kyosuke/Battle France and Kazu/Kirinranger.

Men can be hairdressers. That doesn’t mean they’re gay. And men can be effeminate or stylish but that doesn’t mean they’re gay either. Although they can be considered metrosexual. I think my two examples border on that. Being a hairdresser is actually a great way to pick up chicks, and Battle France was often flirting with his customers. He’s also a total flirt. He would be flirting and hanging out with Diane during her tenure as Miss America.

I haven’t seen Kazu with women, but I think he’s a great example of a man who might border on metro. Metrosexual by the way is a relatively new term and doesn’t imply sexual orientation at all. Most metrosexual males are straight.

I can think of female characters who are man-like but haven’t been viewed as lesbian, so I don’t have to do a post for them.

If a character in a tokusatsu series crossdresses, its usually because it’s funny, men in dresses are funny, especially if they are extremely masculine, tall, muscular, or serious.

Now onto slash pairings. This is controversial regarding the fandom. Some are for it, some are against it. I’m for it as long as there is some proof. Unfortunately, some people will pair them together just as they do a straight pairing (because they’re cute together, or it would be funny, or they are opposites, therefore they should be together, or she is the pink one, she should be with red, instead of the yellow one). You’re wasting paper if you’re doing that. As well, people will jump to conclusions if there is one second of what they view as homoerotic interaction between them. As well, some are paired together if they have a brother-like relationship (Like Domon or Sion, Domon of which already has a canon ship, and his relationship with Sion is blatantly like a brother relationship, or Gunpei and Hanto)

The following are the most popular and viable (in my opinion) slash pairings that would work. Usually they are from the later sentai, and the ones from the earlier ones aren’t that viable.

Kakeru and Gaku: Hero and Lancer is one of the popular pairings. Now, this might apply to the whole opposite attracts BS which I denounced, but it doesn’t. They are Hero and Lancer, but that doesn’t mean they are total opposites. A major theme in the series is Kakeru and Gaku’s growing friendship. Gaku hated Kakeru at the beginning for stealing his role as the leader of the Gaorangers., a role that he has handled for a year, and now, he’s demoted to seconded in command. Gradually, he warmed up to the friendly and optimistic Kakeru, and Kakeru still valued Gaku greatly as his second-in-command. They frequently battled together against the Orgs. The last battle centered on the fact that they finally said their real names out loud. They previously had referred to themselves as their colors, and Gaku finally said, “It was my idea, but forget it, I am Gaku Washio!” and he gives into Kakeru’s idea. At the end, Gaku even gets a bird and takes it to Kakeru’s office. And the beginning shot during the ending credits is Kakeru and Gaku walking together, gradually the other members joining them. This tension can be seen as sexual tension sometimes, and they both are protective over each other, and gradually become partners. This slash pairing is viable and popular. There needs to be more pictures of them online, though.

Ban and Houji: It’s kind of the same as Kakeru and Gaku. Houji is usurped as his role of  team leader, and it is given to the hot-blooded Ban. Ban and Houji gradually become friends. “Aibo” is the important phrase here. Houji hated being Ban’s “Aibo” but then he warmed up to it. Houji then became extremely upset when Ban referred to Kai in the VS as his “aibo.” This is a popular and viable slash pairing, and more well-known.

Takeru and Ryuunosuke: Note: this has nothing to do Ryuunosuke dressing up as a woman. He is a kabuki dancer, and his specialty is female roles. That doesn’t influence this pairing. What influence it is Ryuunosuke’s devotion to Takeru, and his attitude when Genta came in. Ryuunosuke’s devotion to Takeru may be over the top, it may be loyalty, it might be humility, but it can appear as something more. This is a good stalemate to call during arguments between Takeru/Mako and Takeru/Kotoha fans. Fans of this will also use Chiaki and Takeru (which sounds somewhat viable) and Genta and Takeru as a factor in fics: a plot device or an obstacle for the Fire and water ship.

Mako and Kotoha: This is another stalemate I like to call during arguments. Kotoha looks up to Mako as a sister, and tries to be like her. She even asked if she could replace Mako in the infamous wedding episode. Takeru, Mako, and Chiaki all were extremely effected during the soul-stealer episode. But the best evidence for Kotoha’s admiration for Mako bordering on something more is the OV. The Shinkengers each revealed a bit of their unconscious in each of their movies (Chiaki wants to be the one to save Takeru, Ryuunosuke secretly wishes he was the Lord, Mako wants to be a singer, Genta is unconfident about his sushi). Kotoha’s sequence can be seen as a love for Mako, or an inspiration, or a love for Takeru (if you want to, I can explain how Kotoha’s movie sequence can be seen as evidence for her feelings for Takeru as well, or you can check out “I Trust You,” the Takeru/Kotoha community) One thing to note, the camera does linger on Takeru before panning to Mako as “the one she truly admires”. Kotoha’s sequence is a parody of the anime my sister likes (keep in mind, I’m familiar with the genre, but I’m not into it), teen anime. Girl goes to a boys’ school and disguises herself or vice versa. Kotoha wants to be with Shiraishi-kun. She’s about to tell her how much she admires “him.” This can be considered admiration, however, Kotoha starts to get little hearts in her eyes, and the screen becomes all fuzzy…. And then to Kotoha’s horror, the Shinkenguys reveal themselves as women. Now, Takeru and Chiaki are able to pull it off, but Ryuunosuke and Genta look hilarious because they are too tall, and have to wear turtlenecks to cover their Adams’ Apple. (Takeru does too, but he looks more feminine than them) and they disguised themselves to go to the boys only school to be with “Shiraishi-kun” as well. Kotoha looks visually disturbed, either because she’s shocked at the sight of the Shinkenguys in Drag, or because she realizes that everyone else loves Mako too. Despite that, Mako and Kotoha do have a subtle following, and this is the primary example of LesYay in sentai but it doesn’t compare too---

Gokaiger Hug Puddle: People have been shipping the Gokaigers since the beginning of the show. There are so many slash pairings. Marvelous/Joe, Marvelous/Don, Marvelous/Basco, Joe/Cid, Joe/Don (I don’t really see that one) and Luka/Ahim. Luka/Ahim is probably my favorite, and is a great stalemate to call again. (But Marvelous/Luka all the way!). There are many scenes that can be seen to have homosexual undertones. But really, the Gokaigers are probably one of the strongest sentai teams in terms of unity: they all truly love and care for each other, and whether the love is familiar or platonic can be ambiguous. So I guess all five of the team will date each other interchangeably, or have a friends with benefits thing, I’m not sure… okay, that sounded kind of weird, didn’t it?

Like I said, there are no openly gay tokusatsu characters that I know of, however, that doesn’t mean that they deal with LGBTQ issues. Some of them have been in movies focusing on LGBTQ issues. A great example would be one of my favorite actors, Kei Horie (this has nothing to do with the slash pairing, BTW), who wrote and directed an indie movie entitled “Gay Lovers.” No, it’s not an adult movie, but it’s a movie about a person struggling with his sexual identity.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this, and I hope you learned something.

How I Got Into Sentai

Every blogger likes to write about how they got into sentai, so here's my story.

I admit it, as a child, I liked PR, I even had a Kimberly Barbie Doll (sadly, she lost her ranger uniform, so she only has her civilian clothes). I saw the movie, but I never really saw the series, and I had no idea who the original red, black, and yellow were.

My Junior year of high school, I was in an advanced theatre performance class where we had to do a thirty minute one person one act as our final projects. I played a variety of characters in mine, which was basically the main character's video diary, including the main character's friend, who did a monologue about how lost childhood innocence was similar to the loss of PR. One of the lines was, "I was flipping channels and I saw Mystic Force! Come on, Mystic Force!"

I got a lot of laughs, and when we talked about each others' plays, one kid was like "since when did Rangers wear capes?" "They don't make them like they used to." I really wish I could have said, "technically, it's sentai... so its not PR's fault." but I loved the whole "since when did rangers wear capes?" line someone said, because  I wikipedia-ed PR around this time and found out the dark, dark secret, and why the original yellow had a "special accessory."

I never really watched PR as a child, so, guilty pleasure, I watched a few episodes. They were okay, the ones made in New Zealand I could spot, because I know a bad accent when I hear it.

I realized people liked 90s nostalgia, so I incorporated PR into a play I wrote and directed my senior year... it's really confusing, but picture the writer's guild of America in makeshift PR uniforms, made out of under armor. (The play was written around the same time as the writer's guild strike, and during some censorship happening at other high schools in my area). Suffice to say, everyone loved it.

Anyway, in college, RPM came out, and I thought it was the best thing ever, and didn't feel guilt watching it, mainly because it was written for the older fans. It wasn't preachy, people died and stayed dead, there was no lesson of the week, very talented actors, and an actual plot line, and a post-apocalyptic setting. Oh, and they broke the forth wall "why do our zords have big anime eyes?" "Why do we have to shout 'RPM get in Gear' into the sky?" And I was pissed when Eddie Guizilian (is that how you spell his name?) was kicked off, and I was happy the rest of the cast was pissed too!

So, around the same time, I was curious about sentai, which I found out about a few years ago, and I started watching bits and pieces of Sentai. I watched Shinkenger, it was the first series I followed while it aired. As well, I watched the henshin sequences online, and opening sequences online, and was amazed at some of them (my all time favorite henshin was JAKQ), and I gradually fell in love with sentai, and tokusatsu in general. I love superheroes, I love giant robots. I loved watching the 70s and 80s stuff. And the series were amazing, good storylines, and they actually had realistic violence. And the characters were amazing. Although they were selling toys, they still had great plot lines. And not to mention the actors and actresses were gorgeous. And they gradually became more feminist, with strong female characters. When I watched Liveman and some of the older stuff, I was like "you know what? This is pretty cool, I'm sticking with this." I don't know why, but it clicked. And I didn't feel weird watching it. It was like the anime my sister likes, only the real deal.

So I abandoned PR after RPM ended, and stuck solely with sentai, and, as a writer, I realized that the writers were actually copying these great sentai storylines and watering them down (Timeranger was a great ensemble piece that had an important humanistic approach, that you can change your own future, that PR didn't use, and as well, they didn't use the juicy characters of Blue and Yellow as much)--they weren't giving the sentai writers enough credit as they deserved. And as a writer, I was pissed. RPM was really original, and well-written, and most of the PR series (not all of them) pale in comparison to that. So I'd rather watch the original stuff, and as well, the old stuff, from the seventies and eighties. And then, I got into the other tokusatsu: Kamen Rider, Zubat, etc.

Anyway, I hope this doesn't come across as an anti-PR rant. Although, I do hold onto the nostalgia--I have a PR ringtone, that little tune that goes off whenever someone's in trouble, and people think its cool.