Make no mistake that I'm a fan of Kamen Rider Drive but I never consider anything perfect. Nothing's perfect and no franchise gets better all the time. Next year may get better or worse depending on who's in charge. Here's what I call quite a huge step backwards for female sidekicks. In the past, we've got a lot of cool female sidekicks who either served as the brains behind the guy or those that fought on field. Junko in Winspector had no power suit but she's a badass gunner. Reiko in Solbrain served to help Daiki in rescuing civilians. Mimi in Gavan could pretty much hold on her own and served as Retsu's guide. I wonder did Oomori forget all that? Oh, I wonder if he intended Amy in Kyoryuger to be weak? I guess protests saved Amy from that fate but not Kiriko.
What's so sad is that Kiriko had a very strong introduction. You can't be part of the police force if you're just a person who kept needing to be rescued. She progressively suffered from damsel in distress syndrome which reminds me of...
Kimberly's character decay in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. I always find myself in a state of contradiction. I guess you know I usually prefer new school Kamen Rider (I just find most of the Showa era uninteresting for a reason) and old school Super Sentai (starting from the Soda era) and that I like Kimberly over Mei but I prefer Zyuranger over MMPR. Kimberly was pretty much a character on her own but later she just becomes a damsel in distress for Tommy. I don't blame Amy Jo Johnson for leaving the show. I support her for that and if she hated Power Rangers for some time I don't blame her.
The problem is that both Kiriko and Kimberly (both starting with a K) both got reduced to eye candy material as their shows progressed. Kimberly once fought pretty well and held to her own (and Wild West Rangers arc gave her temporary progress) but the show just got SOOOOO STUPID because Tommy gets overglorified. Worse, Douglas Sloan went as far as to give her a dirty finger by making her a slut who dumped Tommy just so the stupid Tommy/Kat pairing could be pushed through. I could also mention just how conveniently she was shoved aside. So good that Amy Jo left the set ran by Cake Boss. Her situation wasn't any different than Erika Satonaka in Kamen Rider OOO as an underpaid and overworked eye candy. That's why I dumped Power Rangers back then all because of that horrible incident. Today, I still have no reason to watch Power Rangers and I just watched Megafail for eye candy. But again, we know eye candy never saves a bad show!
What I'm afraid of is that the same treatment may happen to Asuna Karino in Kamen Rider EX-AID. It's no secret that I love the show but I'm afraid Asuna may not be so lucky. Maybe Asuna would go from useful nurse sidekick to damsel in distress as the show progresses. Like seriously Oomori? Only if Kiriko would just recruit every last new school female Toku heroine and shoot Oomori into oblivion. Right now, Kiriko can do the job alone. She's had her moments though it'd be more satisfying if all the girl characters under Oomori's watch blasted him out of existence.
I don't really care if Toei's Tokusatsu genres aren't as violent as they used to be. At least, don't make anybody a wussy character. Before Oomori, even weaker characters whether male or female still did something useful. Examples would be Sae and Kai in Gaoranger are the youngest but they still get the job done. Mako may be physically the weakest Shinkenger but she's not Takeru's damsel in distress. Sen and Umeko may be the weakest Dekarangers but they have their moments. Natsuki in Boukenger may be klutzy but she can still fight. Megumi in Kamen Rider Kiva kicked ass against Fangires especially the Spider Fangire who lusts after her. There's no room for wussery when it comes to Tokusatsu.
Oh, maybe it's time to ship Oomori out of Toei and he could work at either ABiaS-CBN or GMA-7 anyone?
Should I also mention this sexist also said the reason behind not having any Kyoryu Yellow is that yellow is now associated as a female color (much like pink)? KiNinger, Zyuoh Lion, and Kajiki Yellow need to teach this sexist a lesson. (And the fact that there are already three yellow males in a row in Sentai after Kyoryuger should already serve as an "In your face!" to him).
ReplyDeleteHow I wish he was one of those zombies whom Geeko Nokomura (aka the main character of "Chimamire Sukeban Chainsaw" who was played by Rio Uchida) has ripped to shreds. And I still can't forgive him for not giving my fave Kyoryuger (and #1 toku crush) any character development at all..... >.<
Curiously, though, Medic seems to have escaped the fate Kiriko suffered. I mean, compared to Kiriko, at least Medic seemed to have been more useful. I wonder if Niko Saiba in Ex-Aid will get the same fate. (And to some extent, compared to the Kyoryu Girls, Canderilla seemed to have gotten some development that she had her redemption in the end; so I'd like to think he may have bias towards the bad girls. :p )
Maybe Takahito Oomori is better off producing telebasuras than tokusatsu huh?
DeleteWell it's more of a cultural thing in japan more than sexism
ReplyDeleteI dunno but if you try to examine, a lot of Toku Heroines weren't gradually reduced to damsels in distress. I'm afraid Kiriko wasn't so lucky.
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