Biggest Shipping Mistakes

Some of the biggest mistakes fans make during shipping.

For those of you who don’t know, shipping is a term meaning the pairing of two characters together. It comes from the word relationship. Some pairings are canon, i.e., what the writers intended, like Ryu and Kaori in Jetman, and others are paired by fans, like Masumi and Natsuki from Boukenger. Some people have preferences. Some do slash pairings (same sex pairings), some only stick with hetero, some only pair red with pink and green with yellow, and some pair siblings.

However, there are big mistakes that shippers often make. These mistakes apply to fan pairings, not official ones. And some of these mistakes can affect a shipper’s own romantic life. Here are some of the most common mistakes.

They are opposites, that means they belong together.

For those of you guys outside the US, there was a horrible sitcom called Dharma and Greg that managed to run for more than two seasons. The premise was that Dharma and Greg are complete opposites, met on their first date, and then got married immediately afterwards. Dharma was a “free spirit” while Greg was straight-laced. 

Anyway, the premise sounds cute, but it gets boring after a while. And in real life, opposites attract has been disproven (not with magnets, with relationships). Relationship sites like eharmony match people based on similarities—and they aren’t scams, the relationships usually work out. Even in real life, matchmakers (they still exist) pair people off of similarities. If you go out of your way to date someone based off of the fact that he’s the yin to your yang, you’re going to get hurt. It won’t be a productive relationship, because you can’t relate to each other. You both want different things, and have different ways of dealing with life.

I’ll use the fan pairing (not canon) of Marvelous and Ahim in Gokaiger. The MarvexAhim pairing can be traced back to the dime-store romance novels that housewives read while they eat bonbons, in which a pirate and princess fall in love.

Marvelous and Ahim is not a canon pairing, but a few fans treat it like it is, and I think part of their evidence is the whole opposites attract thing. Other than being a pirate and a princess, Marvelous is impulsive and extroverted, while Ahim is polite and introverted. Marvelous and Ahim both have different morals. Marvelous and Ahim both have different goals in life. They both have different interests. If this relationship happened in real life, it would be over in a month. Because they would realize that they have nothing in common.

Some people think you need to find an opposite because they would balance you out, create synergy, and make you a better person. But do you really want to change for someone?

One of the best things about Sentai and Kamen Rider is that they usually don’t use this as a reason to pair people together.

Take a canon pairing: Kouichirou and Chisato from Megaranger. They both are extremely studious, intelligent, and are over-achievers. Chisato is a bit more down to Earth and less serious than Kouichirou, but you don’t have to be twins with your partner. It helps, though, to have a lot in common, which they do. And together, they kind of hold the team down to Earth. So their relationship not only benefits each other, but also benefits the team.

One of my pairings, Takeru and Kotoha, is based on this. Both are only comfortable on the battlefield, both have been withdrawn from the rest of the world, both have confidence issues (Takeru doesn’t reveal it, though, till later), both don’t like to let out their feelings, and they are comfortable with living an abnormal lifestyle (being Samurai instead of modern teenagers). That’s a lot in common if you ask me.

When you look at Mako, she has different goals than Takeru. She wants a normal life, she’s lived in the real world, she wants to start a family, and she’s more extroverted. This difference of goals would cause a relationship to fail in real life.

They hate each other, that means they belong together.

This goes all the way back to a Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalytical psychology (keep in mind, I know all this because if I wasn’t going to be a dramatic writer, I wanted to be a criminal psychologist).

Freud believed that unconscious thoughts and impulses controlled are day-to-day life, emotions, actions, and decisions. When deep inside ourselves, we secretly want something that our conscious is afraid of, and become anxious, we use defense mechanisms. Such as repression, when we repress feelings or a bad memory.

One of Freud’s defense mechanisms that are constantly used in pop culture is reaction formation. Reaction formation is when you want something, but believe it’s wrong, and then focus and display the opposite. I’ll use an example from Akibaranger. Mitsuki/Akibablue acts as if she is above anime/otaku culture, but she secretly likes it, and is afraid it will ruin her image.

This seeps into the romantic aspects in fictional works. Sometimes, people also use this as sexual tension, i.e., just hook up already! In Japan, they even have a term tsundere, which applies to reaction formation.

A contemporary example of this can be Helga from Hey Arnold! For those of you who don’t know, Hey Arnold! was part of the Golden Age of Nickelodeon in the 90s. I grew up with this. Like a lot of the Golden Age Nickelodeon shows, there was substance that made it watchable for people of any age. Helga is the female protagonist, an extremely creative and intelligent 9-year-old girl, who has the writing abilities of Lord Byron.

Now, this part is extremely deep for a kids’ show. Helga has a horrible home life. Her father (voiced by the versatile Maurice LaMarche) is hinted to be a former Vietnam vet, who is a successful, and possibly corrupt businessman. He owns a successful Beeper store, Big Bob’s Beepers (remember Beepers? If they did a sequel to Hey Arnold! taking place now, Helga’s father would be out a job), and is extremely devoted to it. Her mother, Miriam, voiced by the lovely Kath Soucie (is it just me, or did Hey Arnold! have the best castmembers who played the adults?) was hinted to be an alcoholic, walked around in a drowsy daze, and was extremely irresponsible, and withdrawn from Helga’s life. Not only does Helga get no attention from her parents, but she has an older sister in her 20s, Olga, who is just as intelligent and creative as her, and who gets all her parents’ attention. Also, she doesn’t have a unibrow. It was shown in a flashback, that her parents were too occupied listening to Olga play the piano, that they forgot to walk Helga to preschool, leaving Helga to walk herself. So Helga’s homelife sucks. And so she has to put on a tough front, making her kind of a bully, and an unpleasant person to be around.

And she has a huge, obsessive crush on the title character, Arnold. But Helga is afraid to show love to Arnold, because the people who are supposed to give her involuntary love in her life don’t love her. Therefore, she’s mean to him. She bullies him. And she can’t control it. And it makes for a great case, but here’s the thing:

This is television. This isn’t real life. People don’t do this in real life. And Hey Arnold’s! approach to love, might have influenced my generation, and the writers that followed.

I used to like Freud back in high school. And people knew it. But then in college, on my first day of my Modern Theatre class which focused on theatre past 1860 (it was an English class, and it was before I officially declared my major. It was my first day of college too), my professor talked about how Freud went to the theatre. A lot. And this was before theatre started using realism. It was still melodramatic. And Freud took a lot of his theory from theatre. Now, I love theatre. I’m a theatre studies major. And certain shows (specifically ones written past 1860) you can take a lot of important lessons from that will help you in the long run. Other shows can actually give you some bad ideas.

So Freud saw these shows, where people were behaving like caricatures, with a woman always in distress and hysteric. He also saw some old Greek plays, like Oedipus Rex, a play when a young man, Oedipus is fated to kill his father and sleep with his mother. Guess what happens? And guess which Freudian theory it influenced? Gross, right?

So Freud was kind of misogynist, who believed that women were hysteric, and who based his theory off of some really old plays.

So some of Freud’s stuff is true, but some of it isn’t.

Reaction formation isn’t true. If it was, you’d be dating the girl who gives you swirlies. When a girl is mean to you, it doesn’t mean she secretly likes you. It means that she just doesn’t like you. And that’s true for guys, too.

So, and this is one of the ways shipping can actually ruin someone’s romantic life, if you like a guy or a girl, don’t give them wet willies, because they will assume you hate them, and think you’re weird if you tell them you like them, and don’t assume that the girl who’s giving you wet willies likes you, because she doesn’t. FYI, I fortunately never applied this to my life, but I can imagine what would happen if someone did.

Unfortunately some novice fan fic writers, and even professional writers still use this.

In Icarly (and I was pissed that they caved into this common cliché) Sam was mean to Freddie. Guess what happened later in the series? I was like “Aw, crap!” and my little sister was like “They hate each other, so they belong together” and my mom then sided with me and corrected her, and my sister got pissed, it was hilarious.

We like seeing characters argue with each other. And when they hook up, it kind of ruins it, and destroys a part of a show.

Now let’s take some fan shippings. Marvelous and Ahim shippers will usually ship Luka and Don together. These fans can be younger, so they are more influenced by some of the fictional stuff they see on tv or in the movies.

Luka doesn’t like being touched, or shaken. And Don frequently touches her, and shakes her, because he’s afraid of a lot of thing that are going on in the world of the Gokaigers. Or, and no one would like it if someone did this, he’ll hide behind Luka, making her kind of a human shield for him. Don gets on Luka’s nerves, and Luka will hit him or punch him. You can make a drinking game on how many times Luka punches Don. I wouldn’t say she hates him, but she gets pissed at him. Don’s the only person who Luka hits and treats the harshest, and sometimes for no reason. And fans assume that when she hits him, she wants to kiss him. Which is not true. There isn’t really anything other than friendship and Luka’s wrath between Luka and Don. In real life, this relationship wouldn’t work either. Other than not having a lot in common, he gets on Luka’s nerves. That’s why she hits him. Because he pisses her off.

Now, I’m not going to ignore the fact that there have been several tension-ridden relationships in both Sentai and Kamen Rider. But these usually have reasoning behind this, a non-romantic, non-Freudian reasoning.

In Kamen Rider Kiva, Megumi works for the Wonderful Blue Sky Organization, an organization that seeks to kill Fangires. An organization that her mother worked for, before dying. Megumi has been working her ass off so that she can have the honor of using the Ixa system, and to become Kamen Rider Ixa. She’s strong enough. However, her boss, Shima, gives the Ixa System to the over-righteous Nago, because he’s stronger than her (code for, this series is targeted towards boys, so the second Kamen Rider should be a boy). Can you imagine what would happen if it happened to you? You’d be pissed at Nago alright! But at the end of the series, Megumi gets over it (she even gets to use the Ixa system a few times), realizes that she does have feelings for Nago and vice versa, and they get married.

Another example is the slash fan pairing of Kakeru and Gaku in Gaoranger. This has quite a few shippers, and the show is a goldmine for evidence. I’m not sure if the writers intended this or not. So Gaku has been fighting the Orgs as Gaoyellow for a year by himself, sacrificing his career in the military and going AWOL, in order to do so. Then Sae, Kai, and Sotaro join, and Gaku, having the most experience in both fighting orgs, and as a soldier, is kind of their leader. Imagine what happens when a new guy comes, who has had no experience, but has something that you don’t have: he can communicate with animals. And now, he’s the leader, after all the hard work you did, and after what you sacrificed, considering you could be court martialed for going AWOL. You’d be kind of pissed at this guy, wouldn’t you? That’s what exactly happened to Gaku. But then they gradually warmed up to each other, Kakeru usually trusting Gaku, and Gaku retaining some leadership as second-in-command. And they become friends. But then the series progresses, and you can see that there is something that is evolving beyond friendship, whether intentional or not.

This goes to show that not all hate-based shippings are wrong, as long as they don’t simply hate the person or are annoyed by them, but if they have a reason consciously to hate them, and if they have chemistry.

They are standing next to each other, they belong together!

Look at this picture. This is what fans will actually do. Fans will grasp at straws sometimes. Sometimes, this is towards an ambiguous gesture, such as touching someone’s head, or a glance, or sometimes, it’s as banal as sitting next to each other.

Shippings such as Takeru and Momoko from Maskman are built on this. Shippings where nothing really happened.

We all will get a little desperate, however, building a shipping on trifles is ridiculous.

The double standard

This goes along with ambiguous gestures. It’s friendship if a character does it to another character, but its romance if the same character, or type of character does it to a different character.

I’ll use an example from Shinkenger. It’s the ambiguous forehead touch. So, in the “Lord Butler” episode, the episode where some of us believe that Kotoha realizes she has feelings for Takeru that are more than just loyalty and admiration.

So, Takeru’s pretending to be Kotoha’s butler, and she’s uncomfortable with it, because she feels that she needs to be the one serving him. These feelings come to surface, when Takeru is dining with Genta’s rich friend, who has become smitten with her.  Kotoha gets uncomfortable with Takeru serving her, and she leaves the room. Takeru catches up to her, and she tells him what’s wrong, and he tells her that just because she’s a vassal doesn’t mean she doesn’t have to question him once in a while. Kotoha says one of her “catchphrases” “Tono-sama is tono-sama,” and Takeru touches her forehead, and smiles.

So a few years later, we have episode 41 of Gokaiger, the episode which is like the bible for MarvexAhim shippers. So, Ahim is about to leave the ship, and possibly die fighting the man who destroyed her planet. So Marvelous, and the rest of the crew confront her, and say that they’re joining her too, and give her one of many pep talks that are in this episode alone. Marvelous touches Ahim’s forehead.

So, when Takeru touched Kotoha’s forehead, it was dismissed as he was being her “big brother,” by several fans. When Marvelous did the same thing to Ahim, it was considered romantic. So it’s a brother and sister relationship when a red does it to a yellow, but it’s a romantic relationship when a red does it to a pink. This double standard is extremely unfair.

Not only that, but a lot of fans say how awesome Luka is. But then they say that Ahim, not Luka, deserves Marvelous. So it’s okay to be tomboyish and kick butt, but you still aren’t good enough for the hero.

Assume that the ship that has the most fans, the most art, the most fanfics is the OTP (one true pairing) and canon.

I’m going to quote your parents. If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you do that? Come on, don’t be a lemming.

And don’t assume that a shipping is a fan-preferred shipping. And don’t assume that the fan-preferred shipping is the canon ship. Some fans don’t express themselves on the internet as much as other fans, or feel that they don’t need to. Some fans, however, are overbearing, and produce several videos, fanfics, and fanart. And sometimes people who are new to the media will assume that this is the dominant ship. And some of these videos focus on trifles from a few episodes.

Don’t let other people who interpret actions their own way decide the ship for you. Watch for yourself.

And a lot of the works you see are usually made by one person, two people, or a very small group of like-minded individuals.

I’m going to use an example regarding a group of shippers on fanfiction.net. To the writers from this group who I am cordial with, please don’t get upset with me.

Starting around December/January, there was a sudden burst of MarvexAhim and DonxLuka fics on fanfiction.net. You’d think they’d be by a bunch of fans, but they were by two writers. These writers say they are in their teens, but from what I can tell from their writing, grammar, and interactions, they are probably in their tweens. They also use a lot of gratuitous Japanese, which isn’t spelled or used right, which has been corrected by writers who are fluent in Japanese. Within the past few months, this clique has grown to a bunch of writers who are probably within the same age range. They have changed their usernames to reflect that they are members of this ring of writers. And they refer to themselves as a family, and as “oneechans.” Even though some of them don’t know each other in real life.

They will usually say how great a fic is, and give it positive comments, even if it is an extremely horrible fic, if it has their favorite shipping.

And if someone gives a negative review, or a constructive review to a member of their “family,” they can go on the offensive.

This clique has also built up their egos. By getting constant positive reviews, and ignoring negative ones, as people attacking them, they don’t grow as writers.

The fics also reduce the characters to Marvelous’s girlfriend, or Ahim’s boyfriend, and nothing more.

Some members of the “family” I have encountered have been extremely nice. Others have been rude, to some other writers. These writers are older, and more mature, and they have pretty much become annoyed with the “family” being rude to writers who don’t write the ships that the approve of.

So there’s a war a-brewing.

So this “family” is comprised of tweens, who probably hadn’t have real world experience with romance, and who watch Sentai with blinders.

Do you want to take their word for it?

IRL Ship

Even if an actor is playing the love interest of a character, that doesn’t mean that they are going out in real life, or that they should be going out.

Some actors will hook up if they have been in a play, movie, or television show together, in which they play love interests.

For example, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie hooked up after playing husband and wife in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And they finally got engaged.

However, if an actor and actress do hook up, a lot of their feelings can be artificial. If they dive too much into a character, or are constantly together because of their filming schedule, they might develop artificial feelings for each other. Take Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. Both were in that deplorable High School Musical movie that effectively destroyed both the institutions of theatre, and the high school experience. And they were constantly together during filming, as they were the two romantic leads. And they hooked up. And they finally broke up last year.

So if an actor and actress are dating because they played a couple, it’s highly likely that the relationship will fizzle.

It’s one thing to ship actors IRL if they are playing a couple. It’s another thing, however, if they aren’t playing a couple, but are shipped by fans in real life. So you have these fans who are essentially demanding you get together.

You have no right to say that two real-life people deserve to be with each other. It’s their choice.

An example would be two facebook accounts that someone set up for both Ryota Ozawa and Yui Koike. This person was obviously (I’m guessing, but it’s likely that it’s true) a MarvexAhim shipper. The person who set up these accounts then made them “engaged.” Not only is that libel, but it’s a horrible thing to do. You can’t choose a real-life person’s destiny. They aren’t characters.

So a few of the MarvexAhim shippers want them to get together in real life, and I think a few believe they are a real couple.

Believe it or not, though, one of the more prominent TakeruxMako shippers has said that she doesn’t ship them in real life. It’s nice to hear that.

Apply these mistakes to real life.

Please don’t date someone because they are your opposite, or assume that someone likes you because they are mean to you, or that if someone is sitting next to you, or offers you a stick of gum, that they are in love with him.

Because that’s extremely delusional. You don’t live in a TV series. You live in the real world.

How SOPA Affects Us

For my American readers, a controversial, and detrimental bill is set to be voted on in the US congress next week. Now, if you've been reading the news, SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act, is, like it's called, a bill to stop online piracy. Read about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopa

SOPA has the potential to threaten free speech, and the Internet.

Now, as fans of a genre of media from Japan, it's pretty hard to enjoy it without some people uploading it onto the Internet. We have no other way of watching it, other than buying DVDs. But not all of us speak Japanese, so we need subbers to do their magic and sub them for us. So even if we buy the DVDs, we probably won't understand them, and won't enjoy them.

So, let's say that possibly the juiciest episode of Gokaiger, or Gobusters comes out. And you need to watch it, because it looks epic. And not only that, but you probably need to have subs because there is a lot of dialogue and dramatic confrontations, so you need to understand Japanese to understand what they're saying, and why did Marvelous get so upset at what Joe just said. Well, you would usually download a sub from one of the more reliable sub sites. But, if SOPA is passed, you probably won't be able to access those sights. In fact, the bill could put the people behind the site in jeopardy. The bill poorly defines what they want to criminalize, that anyone could get penalized.

So the people who work so hard to upload, sub, time, and QC series could face penalties. And this goes for RAWs too.

And this doesn't just go for the current series. A bunch of the older series are really good. And the only way to get a hold of these series is, you guessed it, the internet.

And we, the viewers, could also get penalized as well.

So, if you have an urge to watch an episode of Battle Fever J, and you get hooked, so you download a half a season, and in a few months, there's a knock on your door, you're busted, and could be facing prison time. And all you wanted to do was to watch Battle Cossack (both ones) and Battle Kenya kick butts to disco music, because there was no other way to watch other than, you guessed it, downloading it.

So, for my American readers, sign this. Your zip-code is required, so you can't sign it if you don't live in the States:

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

And for my international readers, please support the actions of those protesting the bill, and protest the bill yourself. Because it affects not just us fans of an internationally obscure Japanese genre (come on, ask your neighbor if they're heard of Super Sentai) but pretty much everyone who enjoys using the internet.

Thank you!

Not Everything is a Shout-Out or Fan Service

Man, this post will piss people off...

I view Sentai and PR as two separate entities. Although if a season of PR is a blatant word-for-word adaptation of a Sentai season, that's different.

Toei and Sentai creators, as well as actors are aware that they have fans overseas, not just in America, but in Brazil, Indonesia, France, Thailand, Singapore, The Philippines, other parts of Europe, South Korea, and tons of more places. However, their target audience is the people of Japan. Series may be dubbed in certain countries (like in Brazil and in The Philippines or South Korea) but it's not like while writing the original series the writers

They don't write stuff for foreign fans, and they don't write stuff for PR fans. Although specials on Sentai have discussed PR, and they have dubbed a few of the series in Japanese, the main audience is Japanese children (and Japanese Sentai fans).

And Sentai series are written in advance before collaborating with Saban or Disney.

Don't act like a show owes you a shout-out. Because that's selfish.

And don't desperately scrounge each episode for something that might be a reference. Everyone's been trying to do that for Gokaiger.

If you see a Yellow Ranger in a skirt, especially if in PR they didn't have a skirt, they're not giving a shout out and saying "oh, in PR GoYellow and GaoYellow were girls, so we're having Gokaiyellow wear a skirt as GoYellow and GaoYellow because of that!" They are wearing skirts to make it more uniform-ic with what GokaiPink is wearing because essentially they are female versions of said warrior.

And wait until the subs come out before you jump to conclusions. I'll have to repeat myself again: Marvelous didn't know which key was ShinkenGold, and Gai told him it's the one with Kanji on it. KingRanger has Kanji on it for King. Then Gai said that it was the other one with Kanji on it, the shiny, sparkling one. It was a hilarious moment, but it was in no way a reference to the fact that in PR KingRanger was called Gold Ranger, and is no way referring to the fact that Saban has adapted Shinkenger into a PR series, and it is airing currently. In Japan, they are only vaguely publicizing it. They probably turned into Shinkenger because Shinkenger is a recent series, and they finally have ShinkenGold's Ranger Key and it is nice to see a whole team represented.

These moments are just coincidences. Not planned coincidences, but coincidences. And they can be what's called "hilarious in hindsight" but using this phrase (trope) to describe these certain nostalgic moments applies mainly to PR fans, unless it's referring to something else.

Using another TV Trope word, "Word of God" refers to something a creator, writer, director, producer, or actor on the show said, that is canon, or what will probably come up in the near future. If you are looking for PR references, then Koichi Sakamoto is God in this situation.

This is by far the only PR reference when Sakamoto (who was stunt coordinator and director on a lot of PR series, and is now directing some episodes of Gokaiger) said this on his blog.

And don't assume that Saban is going to adapt Gokaiger. A lot of the other bloggers have instead been saying "if Saban adapts it." which I like. But other people say that Saban will adapt it. Which, by the way PR Samurai is going, I hope they don't.

So, in conclusion, you can feel nostalgic about Gokaiger, with regards to either Sentai or PR, but don't try to scrounge for stuff you view as references and assume that Luka's purposely wearing a skirt as GingaYellow because Hikaru's counterpart was a female. Or if they turn into Zyuuranger it's not blatantly because Zyuuranger was the first series to be truly adapted in the US. The writers don't purposely do this as fan service. Don't think they owe you something, or be selfish.

And sorry if this offended some of you

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.