Monday, December 9, 2013

Super Sentai and family; part 3 : villains have families too, and if they are in opposite sides, it's even more difficult.



Of course, heroes and good guys aren't the only ones to have family : villains can have family as well, and of in a lot of cases, the relationship between villains belonging to a same family can be difficult. Of course, in other cases, despite being evil, the antagonists may be able to feel love and close feelings toward their family. In cases villains and their family are on opposite sides, the conflict might be very harsh.

1)  Villains having family fighting together against the heroes.

The first major example of a villainous family being regular antagonists in Super Sentai is of course the Jashinka empire in Dynaman, who were an evil empire of tailed people. The leader was the Emperor Aton, who had his son Prince Megiddo being the main general, and who was often fighting the Dynaman with mooks and the monsters (the evolution Beast). Soon, Megiddo lost one of his tails in a battle with Dynared, and he was joined by his cousin, Princess Chimera. While they often fought together, they still had some rivalry, often teasing each other, like when Megiddo laughed when her cousin had her clothes stolen by the Dynaman. However, when general Zenobia came, she had emperor Aton imprison his son as a failure, and all his tails cut. However, Megiddo escaped and decided to have his revenge by becoming a lone warrior, the Dark Knight, fighting both the Dynaman  and the Jashinka. He even ended up defeating his own father, but, then, Aton realized the worth of his son, and made him his heir before dying, and it's together with Princess Chimera that Megiddo would fight the last battle with the Dynaman, eventually dying with his cousin.

Grifforzer and Lamie were husband and wife in Zyuranger, and were dangerous enemies to the Zyuranger, especially when working together. They ended up having a son together.
In Kakuranger, Junior/ Gashadokuro was Daimaoh's son, and as a good son, he did everything to bring back his father to Earth. However, while he managed to bring his father back, he was killed in the process, and his father did absolutely not care about his son's death.

Another example is the Baranoia Machine Empire in Ohranger. Emperor Bacchuhund invaded Earth with his wife Empress Hysteria and their son, prince Buldont. While the Baranoia were cruel and heartless towards humans on Earth, they were a very loving family, often showing their deep family bond. When Bacchushund died at the hands of the Ohranger at episode 34, Hysteria and Buldont were overcome by grief, and when, soon after, Bomber the Great came and threatened them, mother and son soon stayed very close to try to protect each other from the arrogant new leader. However,  Hysteria couldn't stop Bomber from defeating her young son and send his remains in space, but still, she stayed with her son's remains until they've found the surviving head of Bacchushund. The Emperor knew he wouldn't last long, and he decided to bring back his son to life, even making him grow up and be more powerful, by giving him his last bit of energy, while Hysteria called on Earth her niece, Princess Multiwa. While Bacchushund was dead and Hysteria weakened by using so much power (from her golden shine, she turned into a white shade), they were able, trough their love, to bring back the Baranoia family on top, by disposing of Bomber the Great. Buldont and Multiwa then married and were ready to invade Earth and managed to have significant victories, even having their palace on Earth. However, the Ohranger, who had to leave Earth after a tough battle , came back to save Earth from the Machine empire, and Buldont and Multiwa fought together against them. At that time, the two young robots already had a baby kid, who was looked after by Hysteria. The evil couple would do everything to defeat the Ohranger, even taking a baby hostage, which appalled Hysteria, who could have empathy for the mother of the baby, since she herself had a baby she cared for, and knew about losing family. However Buldont and Multiwa were defeated by the Ohrangers, and in a last act of love,  Hysteria begged the Ohrangers to spare her baby granddaughter, eventually blowing herself up. The Baranoia are a good example of an evil clan, that, despite that, had a very strong family bond.

In Gingaman, Bucrates and his niece Illies had a very strong bond, and Bucrates would always help his niece in her plots to become the new general, notably by plttong against Budoh. When Illies was killed by Zeihab because the pirate captain discovered her involvement in Budoh's death, Bucrates was furious and, after surviving being thrown into the sea by the Balban, decided to take revenge against Zeihab, and used Hyuuga in his fight. He eventually was killed by Shelinda for his betrayal, but not before giving key info to Hyuuga about Zeihab. While he had been a loyal helper during centuries fro Zihab, the fact he had no hesitation to betray him because of his niece's death showed his deep family bond with Illies.

In part 1, I've developed the complex relationships in the Saima clan, who was a big family, but also a dysfunctional one.

In Go-onger, Yogoshimacritein (the final bass) was Yogostein's boss, but he obviously didn't care about his son, even after his death.

In Gokaiger, Warz Gil was the son of the Zangyac emperor, and it's obvious Akudos Gil wanted his son to get some glory by letting him be the one to invade Earth, and appointing Damaras to protect and help his son. Unfortunately, Warz Gil was killed in battle because of his incompetence and stupidity, and when Akudos learnt about that, he decided to come in Earth to deal himself with the invasion and avenge his deceased son. While he at first imprisoned Damaras for failing to protect his son, he soon realized the value of Damaras in battle and let him fight the Gokaiger. Akudos Gil however, was evenutally defeated in battle by the Gokaiger, which brought chaos into the Zangyac empire and weakened it. While Akudos was a cruel conqueror, he still cared for his son, despite Warz's stupidity. 

In some shows with mad scientists, ther creations may see their creator as their father, like with Nefel towards Keflen in Flashman and Shibolena with Hinelar in Megaranger (even made more complex in the latter case as Hinelar used his late daughter's appearance to make Shibolena)

2) Villains having family fighting against them : a difficult situation

A very classic drama in Super Sentai is when villains have relative who don't want to be associated with their evil actions, and even, fight against them.

A first example is of course in Bioman, when Dr Man meets his son Shuichi, who was looking for his father at that time. Dr Man wanted to have a heir for his empire, as shown when he built the robot Prince using his son's likeness. However, Shuichi didn't want to be involved in his father's evil plans, and instead, became the Bioman's friend, and worked with the Bioman, Gou Shiro/ Red One's father  to thwart Dr Man's evil plans. At the end, when Dr Man was already defeated, but was about to blow up Earth with his last forces, Shuichi did everything he could to make his dying father stop the bomb, and eventually managed to help the Bioman save Earth. While Dr Man was furious against his son's refual to follow him, he didn't lose all of his humanity, despite doing everything to do so.

In Changeman, Gator had a family who missed him a lot when he was fighting for the Gozma. At first , his wife Zori tried to help Gator defeat the Changeman to have Bazoo let Gator come home, but, soon after, she realized that the real way to stop to war and get her family back was to make Gator leave Gozma, especially by making him find out about his son Warajii's pain. Eventually, when Zori had her second child, Gator defected from Gozma and helped the Changeman defeat Bazoo and at the end, was able to live with his family in peace.

In Maskman, a key conflict was the one between the two Igam sisters, Igam who wanted to invade the surface world and defeat the Maskman to restore the Igam clan, and Iyal, who wanted peace between the surface people and the Underground people after falling in love with Takeru, who would later become Red Mask. While Iyal was frozen during most of the show, Igam was deeply hurt by her sister's betrayal. However, Igam would find out that she was deceived by Zeba who was in fact the child of the monster who was the worst enemy of her clan. At that time, Igam was completely lost, and she was so ashamed of herself that she wasn't able to hate her sister anymore, abd eventually helped her defeat Zeba. However, Igam wasn't able to live with her sister anymore and became a nun, leaving Iyal being the sovereign of the Underground world.

Other series had family play a key choice in some villains's choices.
In Liveman, Gou Omura/Dr Obler wanted to join Volt because he wanted to be the best, because his mother raised him telling him he was special, because he was a genius. After joining Volt, he lost his kind heart and turned himself into a monster. However, when Gou's mother realized what had happened with Gou and how she was partly responsible of that, she understood how misguided she had been in raising her son that way, without allowing him to play like other kids, and Gou, who at that time, was in a desperate situation, choose to save his mother when Volt attacked her, proving how his bond with his mother was more important than  conquering the world, and it's that choice that allowed him to go the path of redemption and be the lone survivor of Volt.
Likewise, in Turboranger, Sayoko Tsukikage/Kirika became the enemy of the Turboranger because she discovered her true identity as a half Boma, and felt she had to join Yamimaru's fight against Boma and humans. However, when she met her father, who was a Boma who had fallen in love with a human woman, and who longed for peace, she doubt the path she had chosen, and was able to her true heart, who didn't want to fight, and eventually, made peace with the Turboranger, notably Riki who was her friend a little before she became Kirika.
Another case is Zyuranger's Bandora, who became evil because her son Kai was killed by dinosaurs. The final arc involved her son being brought to life thanks to Dai Satan, and while she was happy to see her son again, and fought the Zyuranger in a cruel way with Dai Satan, her gang and her son, when her son was killed again by the Zyurangers, she was so struck with grief that she cried tears, and as such, lost her witch powers, which made Dazyujin able to seal her again.

Dairanger has one of the most dysfunctional families ever. Indeed, Shadam, a Gorma general, married a Dai woman and had twins with them, named Kou and Akomaru. However Gorma tradition demanded that when twins were born, one would be killed. The mother of the kids couldn't stand losing one of her kids, so she escaped with her young child, Kou leaving her other child with Shadam. While she did all she could to protect Kou, notably by doing everything to prevent him to become a Gorma, she later disappeared and was captured by Akomaru. Kou grew up alone afterwards, until meeting  Houhouranger Lin. Kou was a mischievous kid, and when he became Kibaranger, tried to enjoy the most he could his new status. However, he still missed his family a lot, hoping most of all to see his mother. Akomaru, who had captured his mother, used him cruelly to make him turn into a Gorma by increasing the hate in his heart. He even brought Kou's mother with him to show her to Kou, only to separate her from him again. Kou was furious and ended up killing Akomaru. While Akomaru knew that Shadam was his father, Shadam didn't care at all for his son, and treated him very cruelly, even if they were fighting on the same side.
Akomaru was resurrected by the Gorma emperor and once again, used the fact he held Kou's mom hostage to torment to young boy and make him become a Gorma. However, soon afterwards, Shadam discovered the identity of Kou's mother, and when Akomaru realized his dad knew Kou's mom, he was confused. At that time,  Kou's mom also realized that Akomaru was his son and, that her tormenter was none other than the son she abandoned. When Akomaru tried to make Kou become a Gouma, her mom told her about their parentage and how she was his mom and Kou was his brother. Akomaru was in such a shock that we wasn't able to do anything, and then, Shadam confirmed that Kou was indeed his brother, and, cruelly, killed him. At the same time, Kou's mom completed the ritual to prevent Kou from turning into a Gouma in a cave, but, soon afterwards, she ended up buried into the cave and died with her son Akomaru who at last reconciled with her mom in death. Poor Kou had lost both his mom and his brother, and the Dairanger decided that he would not know that Shadam was his dad. In the final fight, when Shadam tried to tell Kou of his family link to him, the Dairanger, who despised his cruelty, didn't let him tell Kou.
Shadam was probably one of the worst father ever in sentai, tormenting and even killing his own son out of pure sadism. Contrarywise, Kou's mother was a devoted mom who did everything to protect his family. While Akomaru was evil, he ended up mostly being a victim of his father's cruelty and the fact that he was abandoned by his mom. Kou managed to survive, mostly because he has the support of Byakko and the Dairangers.

Kakuranger is a special case. While Hakumenroh was seemingly working for the Yokai, and as a result, fought in duel the Kakuranger, especially his daughter Tsuruhime/Ninjawhite, he was in fact just pretending to be evil, because he only managed to save his daughter's adoptive brothers Taro and Jiro by agreeing to work for the Yokai. However, his real intent was to fight the Yokai, and while he still fought the Kakuranger, he was trying to protect them in secret, and even sometimes, sent them key info to defeat the Yokai. Unfortunately, Daimaoh learned about his treachery, and turned him into stone. In a very cruel twist, he decided to use the stone Hakumenroh to attack people to force Tsuruhime to kill her own father, in order to protect the wold from her manipulated dad. Fortunately, Sasuke/ NinjaRed managed to stop her and eventually, Taro and Jiro sacrificed themselves to save Hakumenroh and eventually, father and daughter were able to be back together.

Carranger, as a parody, had Zonnette, the main villainess, not only fall in love with Red Racer, the main hero, but also had a sister, Radieta Fanbelt, who was a fangirl of the Carranger. Despite being on opposite sides, Radieta was still close of her sister Zonnette, whose real identity was Vanity Fanbelt, and of course, when the Zonnette definitely turned good after seeing Kyousuke/Red Racer 's worth, the two sisters stayed close.

Abaranger was also a very complex case. During most of his life, Asuka fought the Evolian with two people very close to him : his friend Mizuho and Mizuho's sister Mahoro. Eventually, Asuka and Mahoro fell in love with each other and got married. Unfortunately, soon afterwards, Mizuho and Mahoro were captured by the Evolian and theur leader, the Evil God Dezumozorya and brainwashed into thinking that they have been abandoned by Asuka, even showing to Mahoro Asuka with another woman. Dezumozorya then forced Mahoro to take some of his essence in her body, and soon a little baby was born, who would become one of the evil god's hosts. Fuled with feelings of revenge, Mizuho and Mahoro joined the Evolian, Mizuho, as Messenger of Darkness Gairudon, and Mahoro as Messenger of Destruction Jeanne, and decided to take revenge on Asuka. Gairudon managed to take back the evil armor for himself, brainwashed Tyranno, Tricera and Ptera and attacked Earth. However, with Asuka's help, the Abaranger managed to defeat him in their first battle, eventually stopping the invasion. Gairudon was then killed by his own sister, Jeanne, who took the power of the armor for herself. At the same time, his daughter became the Messenger of Dawn Lije, and was the one through whom Dezumozorya would give his orders. Jeanne would often fight Asuka in very bitter battles, using the evil armor when she could.  Asuka suffered a lot during their fights, because he had to deal with an enemy who looked like his beloved wife whom he never had forgotten. The relationship between Jeanne and Lije was complex; while Lije was very cheerful with Jeanne, and behaved nicely with her, Jeanne didn't really care for the young girl, even if she was her daughter.
However, very soon, a mysterious girl looking like Lije appeared in front of Asuka and Jeanne and often came to make them stop fighting, especially when either Asuka or Jeanne were about to kill each other, and tried to make them remember their past. A few months later, Asuka and Jeanne had a decisive battle against each other, but, after the mysterious girl  making them both remember their past, Asuka realized that Jeanne was none other than Mahoro and Jeanne realized that her rage was linked to the fact she felt abandoned by Asuka. At the end, Asuka, instead of wanting to kill Jeanne, wanted to save Mahoro from herself and the power of the evil armor, and defeated her,  and took for himself the power of the armor. Jeanne survived, but had become back Mahoro and lost her memory. She soon became the friend of the Abarangers, but after seeing Asuka wearing the evil armor, she remembered her past, and after meeting the mysterious girl again,  tried to save her husband from the power of the armor, even pretending to be Jeanne again to manipulate Abarekiller into defeating Asuka with her, and destroy the evil armor by having two people defeating the weilder fo the armor. At that time, Mahoro knew that Asuka had never betrayed her, and her love for him was stronger than ever. However, by becoming Mahoro and having her heart free from the darkness, she also realized that she cared a lot for Lije, who had grown herself into a young woman named Lijewel, and who was in love with Abarekiller. Mahoro realized that the resurrection of Dezumozorya was putting her daughter in danger, and tried everything to save her. Unfortunately since she met Abarekiller, Lije was nastier than before, already ready to punish Jeanne when she didn't want to obey Abarekiller, and, when she came back, was jealous of her, because she saw her as a rival towards Abarekiller. However, Lijewel  ended up realizing that Dezumozorya's return would make his beloved Mikoto in danger, and ended up helping him, but soon, she was possessed by the evil God. Mahoro did everything she could to save her daughter, even risking her life, but she eventually managed to free her daughter from the evil god, with Lijewel/ Lije thanking her calling her "mother" and turning her into an innocent baby, thanks to the Abarangers and the mysterious girl. However, Mahoro was still the captive of the evil god, and during the final arc, Asuka did everything to save her, and it was at that time that Mahoro and Asuka learnt the truth: Lije was in fact their daughter, (the mysterious girl was in fact trying to help her parents) and it gave them the strength to survive and at the end, that family, which had so many twists in their lives, was able to be reunited at last, and go back to their native Dino Earth with their daughter.
Abaranger had some of the most complicated, but also one of the most touching sagas involving heroes and villains belonging to a same family (the images above show  Jeanne and Lije together (left), and Jeanne and Asuka fighting each other (right).

Lastly, in Kyoryuger, Chaos and Torin are in fact brothers, both born from Deboth. However, when Torin, touched by Earth and the dinosaur's beauty, didn't want anymore to be a entity of destruction, he became a traitor to the Deboth, and especially Chaos. During a fight, Torin cut one of Chaos's wings, and it even deepened the hate between the two brothers. Kyoryuger is basically a harsh fight between two brothers, Chaos trying to destroy Earth and Torin protecting it, and Chaos never hesitated to torture Torin as much as he could, brainwashing him into fighting the Kyoryuger, or cruelly teasing him for his failures.






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