Toku Rant II: Why Do People Like Mako So Much? EDIT

So, when I went back and read this post I realized that I sound like a total social justice warrior idiot, which I'm not. I wrote this post a while back, and didn't publish it until last week. And sometimes when you go back and read something you wrote, you realize you made a mistake, like when you go through your old clothes and can't believe you wore some of that stuff. So I decided to edit my post, but my opinion stays the same: I don't like Mako. And remember, this is an editorial, so a lot of it is my own opinion. It's not fact.



Okay, I'm going to get something off my chest. Ready? I'm probably going to piss a lot of you off, just to warn you (Sean Akizuki and FireandHeaven27, I'm looking at you). Okay. (Takes Deep Breath). Remember in my last post, I said I didn't like the Boukengers? Well, there's another sentai character who I really hate: Mako aka Shinken Pink.

As with Sakura from Boukenger I don't hate the actress, I hate the character. Granted, a lot of the reasons why I don't like Mako is because of the fan response to the actress. They think she's the hottest thing ever, when really, she isn't as hot as they think she is--and this is coming from someone who is attracted to women as well as men. You want a beautiful sentai actress, look at Sayako Hagiwara, the actress who played DynaPink, or Ayumi Kinoshita, the actress who played DekaYellow.

Mako has done some of the meanest things ever, at least in my opinion. In addition to saying "she likes men she can fix," she dropped Shinken Blue like a hot potato as soon as he was "fixed." Also, for those of you who think that she's "good" for Takeru, that she is compatible with him, she would probably drop him as soon as he's "fixed." As well, when you look at their interactions, they seem to have a negative affect on Takeru: when you look at the episode where Takeru pushed her (which was actually kind of awesome, but remember, I'm biased). Takeru was practically catatonic in the next episodes--in fact, it was KOTOHA who got Takeru out of his funk. Hell, in the Lord Butler episode, even the narrator acknowledges that Kotoha holds a torch for Takeru. Why do people want to see Mako, who is, as FireandHeaven27 ironically says "a nosy bitch" together with someone who clearly enjoys his privacy?

But I'm not the only one who doesn't like Mako. According to susurro, a commentor on a blog post glorifying Mako:

"Also, Mako isn't as perfect as you keep saying here. Almost her only appeal as a character was her looks. If she weren't played by an attractive actress would people care how "badass" she was or want to see her get together with Takeru? No. She was only ever nice to Takeru, not the rest of her teammates - she was horrible to Ryuunosuke, hit Chiaki, ignored Genta and dismissed Kotoha when Kotoha was worried about Takeru. A tokusatsu hero is supposed to be someone exemplary, a role model to the audience - not someone who's really a horrible person but the fandom worships them just because they're 'hot.'"

But because Mako's "hot" isn't the only reason why the fandom likes her: particularly the male fandom. 

The idea occurred to me in my Genres in Television class. My professor asked us if there was anything on television today that could be considered "trash." My hand immediately shot up and said "Two and a Half Men," and everyone agreed with me. He asked the class why people watch it, then, as for a while, it was one of the highest rated shows. One of my other classmates replied "Because it's misogynistic, it has misogynistic humor. It makes men feel comfortable." Now, not all men are sexist pigs, but some of them are, and some would wish they could go back to the glory days--they do all the work, the wife greets them at home with a martini and a warm meal waiting, and doesn't complain about the fact she has no life outside being a baby-maker/mother/prisoner her own home whose only way out is bridge with the girls and going to the grocery store. Not now when women are more empowered, are making decisions not to have children and have the ability to control their bodies, wearing pants and suits, are going to colleges and using their degrees and are advancing more and more, and hold the same positions as men, and can be their bosses even.

The fact that you have a female character who wants to be a wife and mother, might entice some male viewers.

Feminism is about choice. You can choose your own career, your own future. Mako wants to be a wife and mother, it's what she's passionate about. And I'm pretty sure she'd be a good wife and mother. Now, Shinkenger had two other female characters who some fans either ignore, blast, or hate.  First you have Kotoha, who is a freakin powerhouse. She isn't weak, at all, and she had to grow up really fast. She's awkward off the battlefield, though, and constantly suffers from crises of confidence which mirror Takeru's. She can be shy, but she overcomes it. Throughout these series, she comes of age, becomes stronger off of the battlefield, starts to deal with her feelings for Takeru, and finally acknowledges that she is the real Shinkenyellow and not a stand-in. It seems she enjoys being a samurai, though, as it's what she's good at. In my opinion, and this is my bias, as I like strong, daring, female characters who break social norms: she's a better positive role model than Mako. But fans refer to her as weak, or "junior", or "cute", or "inexperienced," and the little sister, or the other girl. And they ignore her.

And then there's Kaoru. Kaoru kicks ass. And people instantly hated her when she declared that she wants to fight, and that she will be ShinkenRed from now on. But people forget the reason why she wanted to reclaim her position: she was tired of hiding, she was tired of being the princess being protected, and she was tired of probably living with that asshole Tanba. She wanted to fight. I know, Takeru and the team took it extremely hard, but she didn't know this was going to happen. And they also forget that she constantly hits him with her fan for being an asshole. And at the end, she pulls an extremely ballsy move by adopting Takeru. She's an amazing fighter, made an amazing entrance, and is a pleasure to see whenever she returns in the vs. movie and in Gokaiger. And she was a nice princess, she wasn't a spoiled brat.

So Kotoha is a young woman who is coming of age and is becoming stronger and ballsier, yet has a lot of flaws which makes her a more fleshed-out and real character, and Kaoru is a freaking warrior princess in a kimono. But NOOOOO they aren't the beloved characters. It's Mako. Why? Because Mako wants to be a Yamato Nadeshiko--a traditional Japanese women, a housewife, a mother, subservient. At the time, I guess male viewers were getting tired of seeing women take charge in sentai, male viewers were getting tired of seeing women either reject them, emasculate them, or hold superior positions to them, and when they saw a woman who's dream was to take the big step backwards, they couldn't help but fall in love with her.


And it's not only that: they see Mako as perfect--A woman whose only flaw on the surface seems to be her bad cooking (she has a flaw as well: obsession and fixation, but none of the Mako lovers seem to acknowledge it). Mako's whole character song is about being a freaking bride and housewife. Kotoha's character song however, is called "Bushido Girl." See the difference?

Now, why do female fans, in particular a certain group of female fans worship Mako so much to a point where it is an obsession?  Maybe it's because they believe she's "perfect." And they want to be as "perfect" as her. And they would want to be like Kotoha because she's so awkward or like Kaoru because she's such a meanie. Or maybe because they have a crush on Takeru's actor and would rather see Mako as their surrogate.

Another factor is being a lemming. Remember in my shipping mistakes article where I said one of the biggest mistakes is being a lemming--assuming that because a non-canon ship is "popular" or considered the "fan preferred shipping " on TV tropes (which is usually added by just one troper), or that has vocal fans, is the most popular/canon ship. The same can be applied to characters as well. 

 A lot of new sentai fans who aren't familiar with the shows might look at other blogs for info, particularly well-known blogs that appear on the top of your google search, and believe that said "sentai expert" is objective, and believes his or her opinion to be true. So if a popular blogger who acts as if they are speaking for the rest of the fandom shills a character they like, the new fan might believe it to be the truth, which is sadly the case with Mako. I'm not saying that new fans aren't smart, but sometimes they assume that if someone is seemingly well-versed in sentai, then they are telling the truth.


The most important thing to remember is that Shinkenger is one of the best sentai ensemble series. A lot of people will dismiss the rest of the characters as annoying or comedic relief or "mean" sans Takeru and Mako. This is partly because of the example above, and another reason is that a popular blogger refers to Shinkenger as a tribute to the popular manga Rurouni Kenshin, and even based off of it, which like Shinkenger, is about samurais. Kenshin has both a male and female lead which said blogger believed Takeru and Mako to be based off of. However, if one actually reads the premise and character summaries to Rurouni Kenshin, they'd see that it is far different from Shinkenger. It's like saying Hurricanger is a tribute to Naruto. (Hell, the only manga that was incorporated into a sentai season would be One Piece as Gokaiger, mainly with the character archetypes, but Gokaiger was it's own series too). But because said popular bloggers assertions, along with someone (probably said blogger) writing it on TV Tropes some people come to believe it to be so. And therefore they forget that Shinkenger is an ensemble series.

I've stated how important Kotoha and Kaoru were for the series. Ryuu (I suck at spelling his name) will be blasted for being over-the-top and annoying or comedic relief. Okay, he can't help the over-the-top part. He's a kabuki actor. Even his pose is a kabuki pose. Kabuki can be over-the-top at times. Ryuu acts like a kabuki actor. And he is loyal. Really loyal. So loyal that you'd want him as your best friend or even as your boyfriend or partner. I've never seen a character that loyal before. And he kicks ass and is an amazing dancer.

Chiaki's journey is humbling. He learns about humility, he learns about being part of a team. He learns how to use his inexperience, his playfulness, his bravery, his unconventional way of looking at the world to his advantage. And he kicks ass. As well, I like his relationship with Kotoha. He acts like a protective older brother to her. A lot of people see it as romance, I see it as a guy who is protecting the youngest member of the team, who doesn't need protection, and as someone who owes it to her for being kind of a jerk to her.

Genta is extremely loyal as well, matching Ryuu's. He's creative like Chiaki. Sure he's a little too enthusiastic, but this guy loves being a samurai! He takes actual joy out of it. And he brings some positiveness to the team and allows Takeru to start to open up. Plus, he had to learn how to do modjikara (I'm spelling it wrong, I know) on his own, without having the ability, and was able to create his own henshin device. Yeah, he can be a little shrill but he's more than just "comedic relief."

Each character is the hero and heroine of the series. Remember that. Shinkenger did what sentai is at it's best: an ensemble series.

The more and more I think about it Yasuko Kobayashi is one of my favorite sentai writers, someone who I will go to the ends of the Earth to defend. She wrote Kamen Rider Den-O, my favorite Kamen Rider series. She is great with twists, suspense, characters, and yes, storytelling. And as someone who is studying to be a television writer, and is a woman, she's kind of a hero for me--especially in Japan, where the system is still patriarchal. In one article I read, women are forgoing marriage because people expect them to stop working (and some women still need to make a living) and be a full-time mom.

So those of you who know about my love of Yasuko Kobayashi might bring up the fact that Mako is her creation, so I need to like her. Well, some of my favorite writers have created characters that I've hated. Matthew Weiner, the creator of one of my favorite TV series Mad Men created the frigid unsympathetic bitch known as Betty Draper (later Francis).

At first you feel sympathy for Betty, her husband is cheating on her, and she has some issues of her own. But then, by season three, you lose all sympathy for her and are totally okay with the fact her husband is cheating on her, and Weiner wants you to be sympathetic towards her, so does her actress January Jones. Betty is a horrible mother to Sally, her and Don's oldest daughter who around that time was, like, nine. Betty is unpleasant period. You hate her more in season 4, and then kind of stop hating her in season five, and season six, because she undergoes a redemption--although she still is a crappy mother.

Ron D Moore wrote Battlestar Galactica, one of the best sci-fi series that proves that sci-fi isn't outdated, and can be used to explain modern issues and philosophy, especially on TV. It's an awesome show. With tons of awesome characters. Except one. Cally. A nebbish deckhand who, actually I can't tell you too much because it will spoil too much. But watch Battlestar Galactica, because it's awesome.

I guess Yasuko wanted to show how women have a choice and balance out the motivation, or maybe she wanted to comment on how conservative values affect Japanese women, or maybe there was pressure from executives. But I still like her. She's made some other mistakes (Go-busters), but not every Sentai series is flawless, and not every writer is flawless. They sometimes have a bad season.

So why do people like Mako: because of looks, self-insertion, the fact she wants to be a wife and mother, and the swaying of a few vocal fans of her.

I can't really give any advice, to most of those fans, but to the new sentai fans: a popular blogger's opinion isn't set in stone, and my opinion isn't set in stone. Watch the series yourself and making your own opinions. You may like Mako or hate her.

Well, that's my post. I know, it's an extremely unpopular opinion, but sometimes, it's okay to have an opinion that's different than what some people believe to be the fandom consensus. So, go ahead, hate on me. But you Mako lovers have expressed why you love her so much. I have as much a right to discuss why I dislike her. But, hey, at least she's just a character. And I treat her like a character.

Behind The Helmet: My Interview with Jason Chan

I admit it: I enjoy some of the Power Rangers series. And Ninja Storm is among my favorites. And my love for toku, and this blog wouldn't exist without Ninja Storm.

When I was in high school, my senior year, I was flipping through channels and came upon a re-run of Ninja Storm. And I immediately liked it. It had me at the line: "What, you've never seen a chick in blue spandex walk on water before?" It didn't take itself seriously, it was a fun, entertaining series. And one of my favorite rangers on that show was Cam, who started out as the disgruntled techie, and then became the Green Samurai Ranger through an amazing journey.

As some of you know, I've been going to grad school in Singapore for the past few years, and Jason Chan, who played Cam currently lives and works here. I had the pleasure of meeting him for coffee, and interviewing him.

Here's the audio. I haven't used iMovie in a while, so it probably looks bad but it sounds good.

We talked about the audition process, stunt mishaps, guinea pig wrangling, elements, spandex.

Also, Jason has a production company in Singapore as well. Check it out:

http://bananamanafilms.com/

All and all, it was a fun interview, and Jason is an awesome person!

EDIT: Here is Jason's instagram. Be sure to follow him: @jasonchankk

Toku Rant I: The Boukengers are Jerks

Ah, Boukenger, one of the most overrated sentai series ever. Where do I begin:


1. There are too many mecha, and they are all BOOORING. I mean, in Gaoranger, we had a lot of mecha, but each mecha combination in Gaoranger was different and they had personality.

2. Way too many villains.

3. The alum cameos do nothing for the children watching the show. In Gokaiger, the former sentai warriors appeared, showing that super sentai is a series that has been going on for a long time, and that no matter how old you are, you can still fight and be a superhero. The children knew "hey, that guy who is my dad's age played OhRed. That's really cool." I guess the alum cameos in Boukenger are supposed to be a wink to the older fans, but first off, they are too subtle. You can't recognize the sentai actors--especially GaoBlue, considering his was a dragon abomination most of the time. Secondly, Super Sentai airs at 7:30 on Sunday morning. Kids are fine waking up early to watch their favorite show, but teenagers and adults want to sleep in.

4. The monster designs are supposed to be another "subtle" wink, as they are supposed to be homages to sentai mecha. But I can't tell that clusterf!ck monster A is a tribute to BioRobo. And the kids aren't obviously going to get it.

5. Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai>Boukenger vs. Super Sentai. I mean, in Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai, they got some recent actors, all who played lovable character who you'd want to see again (gentle giant Gouki, spunky cell phone addict Miku, and hellfire calcium-obsessed Daimon) and then they get Red F!cking Falcon, who does this amazing scene with GaoYellow, and BIG ONE who is in his 60s, and still kicks ass, and somehow gets cooler and likeable because he's older. Boukenger didn't even dig deep enough, and only got recent actors. Granted, AbareBlack is cool, but still.

6. The forced Red/Pink romance. I hate BoukenPink. The actress is okay, I don't hate her. I hate the character. She is a Mary Sue. And looking back at all of the female sentai characters, she is the only one I could think of that is a Mary Sue. She's a perfect fighter, she's the subleader of the team, she's smart, and every guy on the team wants to bang her, and she gets red in the end. It's so forced and thrown in. Most of you guys know I hate Red and Pink shipping (because it's lazy, amongst other reasons), and it's like the writers wanted to give me the middle finger before I even got into sentai (although I doubt they know me). So yeah, let's throw it in last minute. BoukenPink is soooo perfect but she has one flaw: she loves red. But he doesn't notice. Gollie Jee Wilickers! What's a girl to do?

But no, those all pale in comparison to this realization I had:

So, originally it was Satoru, Souta, and Sakura who were on the team. Then they hire Masumi and Natsuki. Now, I can understand Masumi, I mean, he's a treasure thief or whatever, but Natsuki. I know Masumi found Natsuki who was trapped under a rock or something, but she has no skills.

In fact, Natsuki shouldn't be on the team. She should be in a hospital, for rehabilitation as she's been unconscious for 3000 or so years! You know how when astronauts come back to earth, they need to do some physical therapy because they are adjusting to the increase in gravity, well, what Natsuki endured is more than a few years in zero gravity. She should be undergoing the process the Timerangers went through in the first episode of Time Ranger, when they had to watch 20th history really fast and absorb it all in before travelling to the past.

And because Natsuki didn't get any help, she is a trainwreck. And that's when I realized the real reason she was on the team: so they could feel better about themselves. And so they could look good in comparison to her. And that just makes them even more horrible people. Natsuki has nothing to offer the team despite the fact she gets random psychic visions sometimes--but she shouldn't be fighting. Satoru is all like "she has the soul of an adventurer" or something in the first episode--no, she doesn't, Satoru is really saying "hey, if we screw up, at least we aren't like her." At least she's a scapegoat.

And because of that, the Boukengers are horrible people.

A Gokaiger Fan Fic Challenge

Remember when you were watching Gokaiger, and you thought "Dang, I wish they did a tribute episode to (insert series here)."

Well, here's your chance to make that happen. Here is a list of the series they didn't cover, and whose heroes appeared as floating heads saying "here, take my power," or the ones who appeared after it (like Satoru from Boukenger, and still did a tribute episode)

Goranger
JAKQ
Denjiman
Sun Vulcan
Goggle V
Dynaman
Bioman
Changeman
Flashman
Maskman
Turboranger
Fiveman
Zyuuranger

Basically, my challenge is is to write the tribute episode that never was. I know some of my readers are fanfic writers, and we all have different styles. So it's basically this: chose a series (or two) and write through story format (you don't have to write a teleplay) a standard tribute episode for Gokaiger. This is our chance to be creative.

Here are some ground rules

1. The author must have written fanfics or stories in the past.

2. The author must have both familiarity with Gokaiger and the series they have chosen. No OOC-ness, and no BSing your way through it.

3. Remember the formula of each tribute episode, and use it as a cornerstone to help you write the fic.

4. If there's going to be pairing, canon-pairings only.

5. Fics must be in English, or translated to English. No gratuitous Japanese unless it's necessary.

6. First come, first serve. Comment on which series you want to do.

7. There's no deadline, it's a fun little challenge. And publish it on your blog, fanfiction.net, or your livejournal or whatever.

8. Remember to write with your own style.

9. Feel free to spread the word.

And before we start--DIBS ON JAKQ AND FIVEMAN!

A Holiday Surprise

Hello my dear readers.

I've had a busy year. I graduated from undergrad with a BFA in Theatre Studies, and I'm currently pursuing my MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch Asia, and it's been really busy. The good news is that I'm enjoying it, and my writing has improved. I'm learning lots of new skills, and I'm meeting a bunch of awesome filmmakers, writers, animators, and producers from all around the world.

And I figured that I owed you guys a little treat for whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year.

First Annual Super Sentai Awards

I know, it's not award season yet, but I've been wanting to do this post for a while.

So I created some unique awards for some sentai characters. They each go to one male and one female. Enjoy!

Best Hair

For me, it's one thing to have good hair, it's another thing to be creative with your hair, and look good doing it, so the winners are.....


Mei/Ptera Ranger and Sion/Time Green


Mei is known for changing her hairstyle every other episode, and Sion's hair is a weird color not because he's an alien, but because he loves dying it, and we see many different colors throughout the season, which Sion rocks.

Best Footwear

I'm not a footwear person. I wear white socks, because they're easy to wash, and ordinary shoes. I have these Doc Martins with roses on them that I like, but I don't have them with me. But some people have extremely good taste in socks and shoes and are creative with it. You can tell a lot about a person by the shoes they wear, as it makes them a fun and unique individual. So the winners are...

Rei/DynaPink and Gai/GokaiSilver

When I watched the first episode of Dynaman, the first thing I noticed was Rei's socks, I don't know why... but she had these white socks with these pom-poms on the side, and they matched her wardrobe nicely. Fellow blogger Fantasy Leader and I were watching Gai's debut episode together (well, not physically together, but we were chatting via facebook), and I'm like "dude has great shoes and socks" and Fantasy Leader was like "totally." Gai has these silver shoes and these colorful socks that say a lot about his personality. Both of these winners not only have good taste in footwear, but they are good at kicking the villains' asses with them.

Best Bod

I know, I sound like a pig, but hey, Super Sentai has tons of eye candy. And all of them (well, most of them) are in great shape. But we don't really see that many revealing scenes. And as well, these two winners don't have to flaunt their bodies by showing them off constantly. You'll be surprised who these winners are. And the winners are...

Natsumi/Yellow Racer and Shirogane/GaoSilver

Natsumi is mostly seen in her not so revealing, baggy mechanics uniform, and for a while, Youko was the sole Carranger hottie (also Naoki too). But then, Youko and Natsumi went shopping and tried on swimsuits, and Natsumi tried on a bikini, and looked amazing in it, and Youko was extremely surprised, as she had never seen Natsumi in this light before. So surprised that she lost self-confidence and thought she herself was overweight. Before Shirogane made his formal appearance, Kakeru recalled, along the same time Rouki appeared, that he saw a man bathing naked in the river. That man, as we see in the flashback was Shirogane, and man, he left a great first impression. Although Gaku remarked in English "Dangerous and Strange!" the rest of us were thinking "Droool..."

James Dean Award

James Dean played the quintessential bad boy/anti-hero in the 1950s, before dying an untimely death. What really makes a sentai season interesting is if there are members on the team who aren't good-doers, and have a different set of morals. Rebels. These bad girls and bad boys add a juiciness to the team dynamics. And the winners are...

Luka/GokaiYellow and Gai/Black Condor

Okay, Gai's here, duh. I mean, he smokes, gambles (and cheats), rides a motorcycle, drinks, fights with his leader, yet somehow has a sense of justice and saves the day all while being a badass. This isn't what your usual sentai hero will do, but Gai pulls it off. Same with Luka. Although most of the Gokaigers aren't exactly heroes (cough, cough, Marvelous, cough cough, Joe, cough cough, Luka), Luka doesn't behave like your typical girl. Despite now having a home, and food, and clothing, Luka is still greedy, and still steals. She never changes, which is kind of refreshing. Like Gai, she gambles and cheats, has money as her top priority, and I'm pretty sure Don and Gai (Gokaiger's Gai, not Jetman Gai) are afraid of her, and she even joked about turning Marvelous in for his bounty. But hey, Marvelous accepts her, the rest of the team accepts her, and the fans love her because of it.

So, that's all there is for now. I hope to write more soon!

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.