Friday, February 14, 2014

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

    
     Since today is all about love, I thought why not take a look at some couples in Tokusatsu.  What’s that you are wondering why my title seems to indicate something negative?  Well the explanation is simple…I am full of negativity.  There are just some couples out there in the Toku universe that make you scratch your head, scream “What the hell!”, and just pull out your hair.  With that let’s take a look at 3 couples I didn't really like in a segment I like to call “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” (P.S. Spoilers will be involved)

1.) Daigo “King” and Amy- Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger

     
     Granted this is a more recent couple and there are worse couples out there but I just wanted it know that I think this couple is bad.  One problem with this couple is how last minute it felt.  Sure there was that one episode where Amy was jealous with Yayoi and unsure if she liked Daigo, but that was about it from what I remember.  Not only that she resolved the issue herself saying “Whatever, I just won’t think about at the moment” which is perfectly fine, until we get to the later episodes where that mindset of her and Daigo returns.  The D returns episode was just more about Mikoto (Meeko) and Daigo and Yayou talking love and the relationship with Daigo.  Amy is more shocked than anything else. Then we have the last three episodes where all the sudden Amy is like “Daigo-kun, let’s eat dessert together!”  

     As for Daigo’s perspective, he is treated like a generic shounen protagonist where he loves all his friends and is oblivious to people romantically interested in him.  And then we get the finale where he makes the statement that Amy and him are two of a kind.  Where did that come from, when did Daigo suddenly realize he liked Amy?  He never gave any rhyme or reason for it so why the sudden, “I will protect Amy because you are the most important person to me.” Come from?  And that is what a lot of fandom was saying, it just came out of nowhere and the writing never indicated that such an event would occur.  Not to say Yayoi or Meeko would have been any better because either woman would have resulted in the same complaint from me as bad couples but at least there was some kind of history and attraction from Meeko and Yayoi at least we knew she liked Daigo.  Also Daigo said "We're two of a kind" to Amy, where did he get that idea, throughout most of the series Amy is written as the token and generic girl of the group and didn't really do anything to have Daigo say this.  Again just bad writing and bad execution.

     If you want a comparison of Daigo, Amy, Yayoi, and Meeko love thing, it’s basically like Naruto.  Daigo is Naruto, Amy is Sakura, Yayoi is Hinata, and Meeko is Shion from the 1st Shippuden movie.  

So I guess that makes Riku Sanjo a Naruto and Sakura shipper?

(Would of been a better result lol)
     Another issue the lack of chemistry performers Ryo Ryusei and Ayuri Konno had.  Whenever they are interacting with each other it lacks very little dynamics and the image of them being together is hard to believe.  It also didn’t help that I thought the performers were bad to begin with but the lack of chesmistry hurt any kind of legitimacy that the two could have been together.  Want a good example of good chemistry and a relationship written by Riku Sanjo, watch Kamen Rider W, Ryu (Kamen Rider Accel) and Akiko.  
With the story not really handling the relationship well, the performers not doing a good job, and the fact that I don’t like either character as well, Daigo and Amy’s relationship is one of the worse I have seen in Sentai.

2.) Keisuke Nago and Megumi- Kamen Rider Kiva

     Yeah this one, I don’t even think Kiva fans understand.  I know Nate Strazor a huge Kiva fan didn’t understand it.  Kiva had a lot of problems and was a mess; one of those problems is its handling of love stories and romance.  In fact I could make an entire post about Kiva’s romance and how terrible they were but I want to focus on this in particular because it is just unexplainable.  Like Daigo and Amy the two performers Keisuke Kato and Nana Yanagisawa weren’t exactly good and also they lacked chemistry, but one of the main problems with these two is that they quite literally hated each throughout most of the series and then in the finale they get married.  What…why? It makes no sense, how can these two characters that are constantly at each other’s throats get married in the end?  Are they both into this kind of thing, is just out of desperation, or is because no one else will take, because those reason I can think to get these two married.
(Can't you see since we argue so much that means we are in Love!)
      I mean I like love-hate relationships but for that to work there has to be a give and take.  You have to show that they do care for one another even though they argue marry like a married couple.  Kiva did not do that, there was a lot more hate and anger both characters had towards one another but rarely any kind of care.  More often they were trying to one up each other than actually forming a bond.  The relationship would have been at least better had it only gone the friendship route and more about the two characters hating each to mutually respecting one another.

     It is just so forced and out of left field more so than Daigo and Amy and the show doesn’t even explain why this happen they just want you to accept and move on.  Well maybe if the writing built the relationship bette than maybe I can move on, but to go from “Idiot I hate” “Megumi you are not worthy of Ixa” to “I do!” Well you got a problem here.  
(More legit of a relationship. Thanks Takebe!)

     Kiva was a mess of a series and the marriage and forced romance of Nago and Megumi is just one of those issues.  

3.) Ryu and Kaori- Chojin Sentai Jetman

     Now this one may surprise some people but I personally didn’t exactly like that in the end of Jetman that the two characters that got married were Ryu (Red Hawk) and Kaori (White Swan).  This one like the two couples I mentioned before just comes nowhere and feels very forced.  Granted three years past and so something could of happened that brought these two together but really even if that was the case it just feels unnecessary.  But then again the epilogue portion of Jetman’s finale is another topic for another day.

     Again like many problems of couples I mentioned before is that while Rika Kishida was decent, Kotaro Tanaka on the other hand I don’t think did a good job as Ryu.  I am not saying he’s the worst red actor in Sentai he just wasn’t one of the best I’ve seen.  With that I felt the two lacked the sort dynamic to make them look like a couple.  So when you see the two together it isn’t like you instantly think “Yeah these two together.”  
(Sorry I just can't buy it.)
     The real connecting moment the two had was when Kaori was helping Ryu over his grief of the death of Rie at the hands of Radiguet.  Now I personally did not see as some sort of romantic gesture but more in the line of a friend helping another who was feeling down.  Which would make sense in Jetman since that was one of its themes (Listen to the ending theme- Kokoro Wa Tamago).  But for that moment to spark a romance is quite insulting to the audience since that means that if a woman helps you through your grief she must love you romantically, not love and car for you as friend.  

     Plus I always felt Kaori should have been with Gai because she was kind of the balancing force that changed him for the better but I would been okay if that didn’t happen either.

 I think them being close friends with strong bonds is how Jetman should of approached it, and in the end it only gave us a forced marriage from forced romance.

     Jetman was a great series and I love it to death but Ryu with Kaori in the end was something I was not a big fan of.

     So that was the first year of my segment called “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places” I hoped you’ve enjoyed my little rants on love in Tokusatsu and if you liked I may do another one next year because there are a lot times when love in Tokusatsu isn’t handled very well, so watch out bad couples because just because I didn’t talk about you this year doesn’t mean I won’t next year.  So again thank you for reading and please comment with your thoughts on the article and some of the Tokusatsu couples that you didn’t like.  Thank you all and take care and remember I love you all.

18 comments:

  1. and here is "looking for love in the right place" http://tokuwarriors.blogspot.fr/2013/01/asuka-and-mahoro-couple-torn-by-war-and.html

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  2. Now do couples that deserve to be together ;)!

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  3. http://valsagfantasy.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-picks-for-top-toku-romances.html

    If we want "looking for love in the right place" ;-)

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  4. I absolutely DESPISE the writers shoving Amy and Daigo together at the last second. Like you pointed out, the characters just had no chemistry; suddenly, we're to believe that Amy's harbored feelings for Daigo all this time, and he's felt the same way about her? Please! Daigo seemed to like everyone equally, though I think Mikoto was a bit more special to him than most. I was definitely rooting for Daigo to get with either Yayoi or Mikoto simply because both of those potential pairings made a bit more sense to me, especially Mikoto; even if you didn't see the movie, it was obvious in Brave 39 that Daigo and Mikoto have history, and their interaction was believable.

    Early on, I thought that perhaps Amy and Utsusemimaru would get together; they were so close in that early going, but I guess that the writers thought that a Pink/Gold pair was too weird for them.

    First time in a while that there's a romance in Super Sentai, and it's the one that no one wanted. Ugh.

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  5. KING/AMY FOREVER YOU LITTLE S**TBAG!

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    1. He gave a lot of good reasons why he doesn't like them as a couple and I honestly have to agree. Those two really don't fit together personality-wise or interaction-wise.

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  6. Whether or not they shipped anyone this season, most viewers didn't support Daigo and Amy as a pairing. There was no good buildup or ship tease between them, and then, all of a sudden, Amy just gets jealous because Yayoi has a huge crush on Daigo? And then, after leaving that behind (and more Daigo/Yayoi and Daigo/Mikoto tease), Amy confesses her feelings? I don't buy it.

    And what I buy less is Daigo's reciprocation of Amy's feelings. This is a guy who seems to like everyone equally, regardless of gender. I did think that he might've liked Mikoto a bit more, because of how relieved he was that she was okay after they freed her from D's spell and how upset he was when Yayoi took Mikoto out shopping with her and Amy because he wanted to spend some time with Mikoto. Daigo/Mikoto had a heck of a lot more chemistry than Daigo and Amy will ever have.

    I will gladly take Daigo/Yayoi or Daigo/Mikoto, Utsusemimaru/Amy, Nobuharu/Candelira, Souji/Amy, Souji/Rin, or even Aigaron/Candelira or Ian/Souji (and I HATE yaoi) over Daigo and Amy ANY DAY. The Kyoryuger writers had a wealth of good shipping possibilities this season, and they totally blew it by scrapping all those possible ships (I would have loved to see if anything more would have come of Souji/Rin) and forcing an unwarranted/unwanted/unpopular pairing on the viewers.

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  7. Whew, thank god I'm not alone with my thoughts on DaigoXAmy. I was hoping for an episode that focuses on Amy and Yayoi's rivalry over Daigo, most especially after Yayoi became the new Violet. Maybe I would have shipped DaigoXAmy had they done that episode. Yeah, you had that part in Brave 39 where Amy took a shot meant for Daigo, but did the latter show any signs of not wanting to lose Amy or whatever romantic feelings? No, 'cuz it was Meeko he wanted...

    As for Yayoi, I feel she's to young for Daigo.

    Therefore, I'm still for DaigoXMeeko... :P

    P.S. I guess I'd say my thoughts on DaigoXAmy was also because of my personal crush on Amy... :P

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    1. From what I can tell, Daigo and Amy shippers are very much in the minority. If the writers had intended for Amy to end up with Daigo all this time, then why the H-E-double hockey sticks did they not tease them more? Like I said, Daigo/Yayoi and Daigo/Mikoto got a lot more good tease than Daigo and Amy ever did.

      And I definitely agree with you that Daigo wanted Mikoto; he was so happy to see her (before Yayoi inadvertently revealed that Mikoto was not herself), and he was bound and determined to free her from D's control. Yes, he was concerned when Amy took that shot that was meant for him, but I didn't see it as him having extra concern for her because of love; I'll bet he would have reacted similarly had it been any of the other Kyoryugers. And the way Daigo took off like a rocket to hug Mikoto when she was free from D's influence and reaffirmed that she was his close friend and that he'd save her however many times he had to; you can't tell me that he didn't feel something for her. If the writers intended to use Mikoto's showing up as a way to advance a Daigo and Amy romance, they failed. If anything, I think it brought people to the Daigo/Mikoto ship and put the Daigo/Yayoi tease back on the front burner. Amy seemed to almost not care that here was this girl who Daigo obviously knew well and cared deeply about, and we're supposed to believe that she's harboring feelings for Daigo? And, despite having a very close rapport with Mikoto (practically bordering on romantic), we're supposed to believe that Daigo is developing romantic feelings for Amy? Again, not buying it.

      I had started out supporting Daigo/Yayoi, but after Brave 39, I became more of a Daigo/Mikoto shipper. I'm still okay with Daigo/Yayoi, but only because I think Yayoi's adorable. Yeah, she's probably a mite too young for Daigo, but I still think she'd be cute with him.

      I liked Amy at the start of the series; she was a strong girl who marched to the beat of her own drum. Thanks to that horrible pairing, not to mention how the writers totally took away her awesomeness and made her just another prissy whiny twit totally throwing herself at Daigo, I don't even want to look at her anymore.

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    2. Ian and Amy got teased in 2 episodes when Amy got captured with Souji Ian was the only one who said her name and in episode 26 she help him to get over his fear of losing his friends.

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  8. You know, I had absolutely no problem Daigo and Amy becoming a couple, because I'd for a long time thought they'd make a great couple. To me, they had very similar personalities, and had really good chemistry, so even if it wasn't hinted at much, that turn of events seemed natural to me

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    1. Finally, a DaigoxAmy shipper who has actually argued their point coherently and maturely! Even though I disagree with you, at least I can appreciate how you say why you think Daigo and Amy are a good pairing. Thank you for that.

      Most of the DaigoxAmy shippers that I've met have just screamed and name-called at the dissenters. I blocked one such shipper on FB when she insulted me just because I was angry at how the ships turned out. She's since apologized, but I want nothing to do with her. Before this happened, I would talk with one of my friends about the ships that we liked and if we ever said ANYTHING against DaigoxAmy, including lauding our preferred ships, this shipper would just jump in, screaming stuff like "NOOOO!!! KINGXAMY FOREVER!!!111!!!" like that one Anon above. So it's actually refreshing to finally come across a DaigoxAmy shipper who explains why they like the ship, as opposed to one who just screams at those who don't agree with them, hoping to win the battle with insults and just repeating their chosen ship like it was a mantra.

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  9. I love KingXAmy they are so cute. But its kinda like Jetman.
    1.The Red and Pink end up together at the final episode.
    2.The black is a flirt.
    3.Amy is rich like Kaori but Amy's not spoilt. Kaori was acting abit spoilt when she tried get Ryu to go out with her. Good think that Amy and King were good friends before they dated.

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  10. Oh another, Tommy and Kat could have been included for looking for love in the wrong places too....

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