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Monday, December 9, 2013

Super Sentai and family part 2 : dealing with family and saving the world : an epic challenge for a hero.




In part 1, I've talked about teams having among them siblings; in that post, I'l talk about te situation when heroes or commanders have to deal with their family in a daily basis, while also being involved in the fight against evil. I'll also mention situations where the heroes are searching for their identity, notably, by finding out their origins, and as such, their family

1)  Heroes and allies and their family

a) Commanders and their family

In Sun Vulcan, Commander Daizaburou  Arashiyama was the one who was the Sun Vulcan's boss, and their main officer. He was very active in the fight against Black Magma, often involving himself in the investigations, and he was the one at the end to give the final blow to the evil army. Arashiyama had a daughter, Misa, who was also helping the heroes in her own way. She was very close to her father, and deeply loved him. Of course, that love was reciprocal, as many episodes showed the obvious complicity between father and daughter.  As such, attacking her was the most efficient way for Black Magma to hurt the Commander, and several episodes (notably episode 8 and the final arc) showed that Daizaburou would do everything to save his dear Misa. Of course the Sun Vulcan would gladly help him, since Misa was very important for them too.
Other example of commanders having family life include :
-  Hurricanger's Hinatas : Mugensai the father, leade rof the Hayate school and his daughter Oboro, the technology genius of the team who was dealing with the heroes's weapons and mechas. The fact that in most of the show, Mugensai was a hamster didn't make things easier. Oboro and Mugensai were often in conflict with each other, because Mugensai could be annoying with his pompous behaviour, and because Oboro felt his dad was hiding her stuff (his link with Gozen sama), but of course father and daughter deeply loved each other, as episode 12 showed very well.
-  Gekiranger's  Miki who has to deal with her teenage daughter Natsume as well as being an important staff member in SCRTC, the Gekiranger's headquarters. Mother and daughter would often argue, as both were hot blooded and stubborn. Once classic example is episode 39, when mother and daughter argued about a sweet treat. 

b) Rangers and their family 
Because rangers were the ones doing the most of the fighting, it's even harder for them to deal with a family life during the fight

The best example is of course Ryouga Hakua/ Abared, who not only had to fight as the leader of the Abarangers, but also had to raise and look after his niece and adoptive daughter Mai Hakua, a 5 year old girl. It was a very difficult task, because Ryouga wasn't ready to become a father, but had to be one after his brother's death, since Mai had only him. Being an Abaranger and be a good dad for Mai was somewhat very difficult, as seen in episode 3, when he couldn't stay with his daughter for Father's day in the child center where Mai was, because he had to fight and how Mai was suffering from it, or when she was victim of the influence of the evil song which made her rampage in the restaurant in episode 23. In all those times, Ryouga was suffering a lot, because he felt he wasn't a good father.  But despite those difficulties, he always did his best to raise Mai, by telling her how to be a good girl, but also having good times with her, like fishing, watching TV shows, playing together and  as such, making her feel happy. Ryouga and Mai had a very close relationship, and Mai would always cheer her dad when he was fighting. Ryouga of course could count on his friends to help him when necessary (for example, when Emiri brought her to the child center), and the advice of his partner Tyranno, who was a father but lost his wife and child.

In Kyoryuger, Nobuharu "Nossan"/ Kyoryublue had also a family to look after, his sister Yuko and her daughter Rika, and he had to leave his job to take over his deceased brother in law's job to help his family, and of course, protecting them as Kyoryublue against the Deboth. However, Yuko was able to deal with most of the family daily issues when Nossan was fighting.

Another case is Tatsuya Asami/Timered, who had a difficult relationship with his father, a very powerful CEO who wants him to follow his steps and be the next head of the Asami company. Tatsuya didn't want to have his future decided for him, so he decided to leave by himself and have his own company, Tomorrow Research, to try to escape his fate. While their relationship were strained, especially when, as a Timeranger, Tatsuya was forced to cross his father's path, like in episode 6, when he had to use his Asami name to chase a Londarz thief or when his dad founded the City Guardians to protect the city from the Londarz, especially with Naoto, a former college friend, became Timefire and used the suit and the V-Rex for the City Guardians, it's obvious the father in fact loved the son. Despite being annoyed, he understood his son's struggles, since he was like him when he was younger, and when he discovered Tatsuya was Timered, he never did anything that would make stuff difficult for him. At last, Tatsuya would make peace with his dad, and follow his path in life.

c) Minor cases
 There are a few cases where regular characters which were neither commanders not heroes, but still regulars had family. The best exaples are Yuta from Gingaman and Nozomu from Goseiger, who were the child friend of the heroes, and had to deal with their bumbling, but well intentioned dad, who, at their son's request, would also help the heroes.

2) Heroes in quest for their family and identity

Sometimes, the heroes didn't know their family and an important theme was their quest for their identity, and finding their family.
The best example is of course Flashman, when the heroes were in fact young people who had been kidnapped when they were very young children, by Aliens hunters for the evil empire Mess,  but then, saved and raised by aliens in the Flash planets. When Mess decided to target their native planet, Earth, the Flashman came back to Earth to fight the evil empire. However at the same time, they hoped to find their real family, and as such know who they are. A few weeks after coming back to Earth, the Flashman met a family, the Tokimura, who had lost a child 20 years ago, when they were themselves kidnapped, and of course, the heroes felt that one of them could be their child, and they were all thrilled at the idea that one of them would indeed discover his family, if he or she was the lost child of the Tokimura. The Tokimura family were good friends with the Flashman, who saw them in a way as their family for all of them. , At the end, it has been revealed for both Flashman and the Tokimura family that Sara/Yellow Flash was indeed the Tokimura daughter. However, at that time, it was too late , since the Flashman were forced to leave Earth because of the Anti Flash effect, and Sara wouldn't be able to meet her family after knowing her true name, only having to say goodbye from her ship.

Other examples are Bioman's Red One, who had his father missing, and then, finding him as a fellow scientist who was trying to stop Doctor Man. Moreover, in Boukenger,  both Natsuki/Boukenyellow and Eiji/Boukensilver had an important arc about finding out about their origins and family (Natsuki, as a former Lemurian princess, Eiji as the son of an Ashu hunter and an Ashu) and dealing with them. In Gekiranger, Jan had an arc about finding out about his family, because, as a child, he couldn't remember anything, because he lost his family very young and was raised by animals. He ended up finding that his dad was Dan, a very famous Gekijyuken fighter, who was defeated long ago after a fight with the leader of the Rinjyuken, Rio (even if the one who really killed him was Long), and his Gekisoul put into a mindless Chimera monster, Suugu by the evil dragon Long, who also, killed his mother. Jan was however able to save his father from his cruel fate and free his soul from the beast.
In Go-Busters, Hiromu/Red Buster had his parents and Yoko/Yellow Buster had her mom trapped in the hyperspace 13 years after Messiah went berserk. Because they had to contain Messiah, they had to create that hyperspace and send their children out of the Energy Management Center (EMC) where they would be trapped with Messiah. The Go-Busters hoped to save their parents which were trapped in the hyperspace while fighting the Vaglass, even if Hiromu's sister, a child book author was very reluctant to see her younger brother fight and risk his life. Unfortunately, when the Go-Busters managed to go to the hyperspace, they realized that their parents were trapped within Messiah, forced to work for him with no hope to get back to normal. As a resukt, Hiromu was forced, at their request, to shut down Messiah, even if it meant finishing them off. Hiromu finally followed his parents's request and shut down Messiah, mercy killing his parents, Yoko's mother and the other workers at the EMC at the same time, and was left heartbroken after that ordeal.  


After part 2, part 3 is gonna be about villains and their family, with also a focus when villains and their families would be in opposite sides.

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