Mako Shiraishi: Lovely As The Rose, Deadly As Its Thorns

Well I guess I'll do another character spotlight and it would be on one of my favorite pink rangers Mako Shiraishi, whom some consider to be the hottest Sentai heroine as of this decade. In a sense, she does remind me of Kimberly Hart in some ways of being ditzy at first but starts to reveal a different personality as the series progresses. Hee hee hee. So anyway where do I begin? If there was anybody quite interesting among the ladies, it was actually Mako Shiraishi is- pretty as a rose, deadly as its thorns especially in combat.

So I thought that she would always make a good match with Takeru Shiba since the beginning of the series- they always look so good together. So she starts of as a sweet girl who loves children and at the same time, destined to be a pink ranger. But strangely, she was brought up as a samurai but she manages to keep her sweet and simple self when need be, even if she has some painful thorns to deal with. She had a potential relationship with Ryunosuke Ikenami at first but she turned him down due to his being annoying to her. It was also that episode when the Shinkengers learn of her dreadful cooking, which Takeru Shiba can get pretty cruel to her in some ways. For some reason, she gets along with Takeru Shiba the most.

Instead, it seemed she would be with Takeru Shiba who by the way, is allergic to her extremely bad cooking (and so are the rest except Kotoha). She of course is never willing to give up and even if Takeru Shiba at times looked down at her, however she got encouragement from him most of the time. It was also with her that managed to repair the relationship of Genta Umemori and Takeru Shiba, trying to reveal the more noble side of Takeru Shiba. Think about the beauty taming the beast in the scenario. Well, it was amusing to see her and Takeru Shiba get into a series of training sessions together too. Another interesting factor was her rivalry with Dayu which was fun to watch.

I kind of liked about her parents' story too. Why? Well family members in Super Sentai do make characters interesting if written right. She had a tough decision to make- go back to Hawaii to live with her parents (her mother was the 17th Shinken Pink who got paralyzed in the lower body while in battle) or stay until the battle is over. She of course showed she had her own deadly thorns as a rose when she became the first ranger in the group to actually beat Akumaro in a sword fight while dressed up as Super Shinken Pink. But aside from that, she was also the one that managed to repair the relationship of Genta Umemori and Daigoyou showing her sweet scent as well. But again, her thorns are bound to show up anytime.

If there was anything admirable, it was also her true friendship with Takeru Shiba- liking him for who he was and not his status. She accepted Takeru Shiba as a kagemusha. She in fact, in the last part, happened to be the only one to get a vocal response from Takeru Shiba, a possible hint of a relationship could blossom. Sadly not even the V-Cinema ever had them hooking up.

Comments

  1. That's a nice write up about Mako.

    At any rate, this is probably you mispelling again, but... it's AKUMARO. Akomaru is in Dairanger, the kid being Kou's rival.

    You switch the O and U, and you get a different person already.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why do you insist that Mako is just like Momoko? Apart from being Pink Rangers they have basically nothing in common - Momoko had very little development as a character. If Mako is like one of the Maskman girls she'd be more like Haruka ...

    If you don't mind my saying so, this article was a bit repetitive. You frequently write "I wish Mako would become an excellent cook and marry Takeru! She's just like Momoko from Maskman!" So when you devote a whole article to it, it's boring for the reader. 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." It's bad enough that Kamen Rider has a character like this almost every year (Accel, Kaixa, IXA, Decade) but it's very bad when Sentai fans do it too. It goes against everything the genre stands for.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Okay, I'm going to be brave and admit this. I love your blog and everything Sean, but I prefer Kotoha over Mako. I also agree with what susurro said. Momoko and Mako aren't really the same at all. As well, I saw a mother-like chemistry between Takeru and Mako, not a romantic one. Mako is really overrated by Sentai fans, and poor Kotoha is underrated. Kotoha was raised as a samurai, and acts the most like one in the modern age. She really admires Takeru, and has more chemistry with him then Mako, romantic chemistry I mean. Yeah, Takeru made a response to Mako towards the end, but Kotoha makes him get this look on his face that some of us get when our crush says how beautiful we look, or gives us a compliment. Momoko had zero chemistry with Takeru as well. Now, Haruka and Takeru make a more interesting, fierce combination. I don't see how Momoko would be good with Takeru.

    Now, I admit, I'm biased. I prefer Kotoha over Mako any day. But this is overwhelming. I get so tired of Tako shippers, and Mako praisers. Are you sure you're not for Takeru/Mako, but are you for Sean/Mako?

    Sorry if this is harsh, but some of us are just tired. I love the rest of your blog, but I dare you to go ONE month without typing any Mako or Momoko articles, and instead write an articles about the Sentai chicks you never talk about. Watch Shinkenger and Maskman over again, and pay attention, you might see some stuff that you haven't paid attention to, through the Tako and Momokeru views.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Marielle-

    I've watched Maskman and Shinkenger, okay but here's one thing though- as of late being 25 years old, I'm watching too much Chinese movies as of late, I've even lost track of Sentai. Okay maybe my blog on Chinese movies isn't that plenty but... I've spent more time watching Chinese movies and soap operas with a lot of tissues near me more than reviewing Super Sentai as of current.

    Thanks for the advice and pointing out my defects. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Marielle- I'm a Takeru/Mako shipper and that's that. And yup, I can be very biased. Maybe because, Mako reminds me of two people- my younger sister who behaves like Mako A LOT but she's no samurai and some girl I went after, who is pretty much of a tough girl with a feminine side.

    ReplyDelete
  6. If you take Marielle up on her challenge, then may I also challenge you to go a month without writing about Sakura/Haruka Suenaga or Jasmine/Ayumi Kinoshita? Also don't write about the actresses who play Mako and Momoko. I'd like to see how that goes ;)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment