Toshiki Inoue and Yasuko Kobayashi: Things in Common With Them Writing Super Sentai

After doing a Kamen Rider version in my drama blog, I just thought that a Super Sentai version is also needed. For Toshiki Inoue the only headwriting job he did was my favorite Super Sentai, Chojin Sentai Jetman (despite its rather dumb epilogue and how Gai Yuki left us so soon in the lamest way possible), he later had some secondary writing jobs (again) but before Jetman he was involved with Maskman, Flashman, Turboranger, Liveman and Fiveman. For Yasuko Kobayashi, she wrote a quarter of Megaranger episodes16, 24-26, 31, 32, 35, 36, 40, 41, 44, 47, and 49 which is a quarter of the show then she became the headwriter of Gingaman, Timeranger, Shinkenger and Gobusters. So here's what I found to be their points in common:

Both of them seemed to like to retake past works of other writers and managed to create two great series namely Jetman and Gingaman. 

Yup Jetman had a lot of elements from the 80s Sentai while experimenting on the newer concepts. Yasuko Kobayashi with Gingaman also seemed to like retaking stuff and gave the audience a maximum satisfaction. Character development is also pretty fun to watch especially for the heroes. I haven't seen much of Gingaman so I can't really comment much but I hope I can soon see more of it. Shinkenger also had fun character development on the heroes. Jetman felt like live Gatchaman Trilogy (getting elements from the trilogy it was like Aya Odagiri from Sylvie Pandora and Count Radiguet from Count Egobossler) while Gingaman felt it had a lot of 80s-90s greatness in the past. Should I mention there's a lot of memorable characters too?

Cruel bitches

Jetman had Maria who was really a cruel enforcer for Vyram, Gingaman had Shelinda who Fantasy Leader considers a really cruel villain (a second Ahames), Timeranger had Lila who was also pretty much a bitch and Shinkenger had Dayu who was once human but fell into Gedou because of her misdeed of killing the man who never loved her back and Escape well I'd say she's the least significant one though but I hope Kobayashi writes her bitches like she did before. Though they are pretty different but they are cruel bitches.

Red rangers who never got the girl

Jetman had Ryu losing Maria which was really very sad. In Timeranger, it's understandable that Tatsuya can't get the girl considering the fact that Yuuri was 1,000 years from the future. Remember Timeranger had both Kobayashi and Inoue influence in it. One was a tragedy by death, the other was a separation by time itself. Both still teary eyed nonetheless.

Villains that tend to give a lot of awesomeness and nightmare fuel. 

Inoue and Kobayashi tend to like creating real conflict villains that will add a lot of reasons why they make the show rock. Radiguet is one incredibly badass awesome villain. I haven't seen much of Gingaman but Zahab is also pretty cruel himself. Too bad though Shinkenger's villains weren't all that good with nightmare fuel or being awesome like Doukoku tends to be funny with his tantrums and Shitari tends to be funny though Akumaro and Juzo do help balance an otherwise lighthearted samurai series. Along with these villains come in a series of heavy conflicts that tend to make the show really good (or bad) depending on how it's executed. In Timeranger, things were also pretty personal considering Dolnero hired the assassin that killed Yuuri's parents and two, Ryuya the manipulator of events just wanted to live. Even with Gobusters' lack of villains, Enter was a real troll.

Foreshadowing of events in a subtle or direct way. 

Timeranger had a few foreshadowing of events like the one above. Another example would be Jetman which had some hints Gai Yuki was going to die like the episode "Gai Dies" and some other scenes where he nearly dies, then he is killed in a rather stupid way in the finale. In Jetman, you might consider there are also foreshadows that Ryu will marry Kaori like when Gai called them a "couple" or Ako teasing Kaori about Ryu. In Shinkenger, there are hints that Takeru Shiba was a decoy to protect Kaoru so she can't be harmed while she practices the sealing technique or even in the first episode, the line, "I did't know the lord was a woman." was already a hint to Kaoru though it seemed like a joke.

Dealing with a jerk in your team. 

Toshiki Inoue had Gai Yuki who was a second-in-command but also a rebel. Yasuko Kobayashi had Chiaki though in her case, her rebel ranger was more of a typical rebellious teenager who didn't like his samurai heritage. Early on, Toshiki Inoue wrote Maskman's episode with X-1 Mask where he was also a jerk but that was more of an experiment to see where it goes.

Important relatives. 

In Jetman we see Ryu's grandmother, Kaori's parents and Raita's grandmother but none of Ako and Gai Yuki having their relatives shown at all as guest stars. In Gingaman, we have the important relative in Hyuga who while thought to be dead, became the second Bullblack. In Timeranger, we have Tatsuya's parents and Yuri's parents. In Shinkenger, we see Takeru Shiba's father, Ryunosuke's father, Mako's parents, Kotoha's older sister and Chiaki's father. In Gobusters, we see Hiromu's sister. They all play quite important roles.

Honorable rivalries. 

Jetman had Gai Yuki vs. Gure. In Dairanger, consider the fact that Toshiki Inoue as a sub-writer wrote the whole Ryou vs. Jin rivalry which fortunately had a good wrap-up. Later Yasuko Kobayashi created the rivalry of Takeru Shiba against Juzo in Shinkenger which I wished Inoue was a sub-writer to Shinkenger though spare us the cooking battle! All three rivalries ended fair and square. Gure challenged Gai Yuki to the death having nothing to live for and Juzo for the heck of it.

Getting heroes to fall into the bodies of water or just getting them wet.

Toshiki Inoue had Ryu and Gai getting wet in Jetman. In Shinkenger as well as the Shinkenger vs. Go-onger movie, Takeru Shiba also got wet. Hiromu in Gobusters got wet but fortunately it was just a pool of water. They also tend to splash people into water in Kamen Rider series too.

Heroes that died in a rather unexpected way. 

Jetman had Gai Yuki's death by a thug at the series epilogue, in Timeranger we have Naoto dying because he was shot by a mere zenitto. In short, while we usually expect heroes to die in battle, they both wrote these deaths which make you want to slam your head on the wall. But at least for credit to Kobayashi, she did not write the lame death for shock value at all but rather to move the plot forward/ Still, what on Earth was she thinking when she killed Naoto the way he died? I'm just glad that Go-Busters' Jin Masato didn't die in the way these two did. Just made me think of what kind of conversation Gai Yuki and Naoto must-have in the afterlife now!

The final villain could have won if it wasn't for that wound!

In Jetman, Radiguet's final form could have destroyed the Jetmen if it wasn't for the wound that Rie inflicted on him. In Shinkenger, Doukoku had a wound after Kaoru's failed sealing symbol damaged him. Both the Shinkengers and the Jetmen took advantage of that wound to defeat an otherwise very powerful enemy. One thing noteworthy is that in both finales, the mecha were seriously damaged by the final enemy.

Moral dilemmas. 

In Jetman, Ryu discovers that Maria is his brainwashed girlfriend Rie who he thought was dead and it led him to his quest to save her, even to the point he must decide between revenge and justice after Radiguet kills her as well as Gai's crush on Kaori and how it will affect his relationship with his leader. In Gingaman, Shelinda loves to trigger moral dilemma events. In Timeranger, we have Yuuri and her desire for revenge against Dolnero for killing her family as well as between the year 3000 and the year 2000 when a lot of rules are made against the heroes from the future. In Shinkenger, everything goes into discovery when Takeru has to reveal why he had to act as the 18th head and why they had to hide Kaoru's existence until later, which in turn leads to the dilemma of those who fought with Takeru. In Gobusters, perhaps one good scene was that of Jin Masato's sacrifice so Enter can finally be destroyed.

Loads of science fact and fiction. 

Try checking out Chojin Sentai Jetman and you'll notice you get some mecha explanation, some "science" lessons then you might as well check out Timeranger and Gobusters. Shinkenger did have one physics lesson episode with the use of heat and cold to defeat a monster but it wasn't as much as Kobayashi's other works.

Bittwersweet finales. 

Woohoo, we won but wait, something bad happens again or we have lost something or somebody important. In Jetman, Gai Yuki gets mugged by a thug three years after the fall of Vyram while trying to recover a lady's purse (what a bad way to write a bittersweet finale) and the Jetmen didn't notice he was dying, which for me was very stupid to the point I had a hard time accepting he left us so soon, fortunately, Gai Ikari hasn't. In Timeranger, Tatsuya and Yuri can't be together because they are 1,000 years apart plus don't forget Naoto died thanks to a Zenitto's shot from a far distance which was fortunately not a last-minute thing. In Shinkenger, we see the team disband rather than be together even after the battle which can be a sad scene. In Go-Busters, Jin Masato sacrifices himself so Enter can be destroyed once and for all which also adds a moral dilemma issue. For me, the better Sentai finales were written by Yasuko Kobayashi who should be noteworthy for writing the worst finale for Kamen Rider, the Ryuki first ending though most of her finales are better than Inoue's but hey, at least the latter didn't write Ryuki's stupid finale! In terms of bittersweet finales, Kobayashi has more scores for not misusing shock values though Ryuki is where she failed hard at it.

A weird sense of humor. 

I dunno why they tend to like having weird humor which leads to shock value. Some Jetman episodes written by Toshiki Inoue had some humor like the arrival of Ryu's grandmother. In Megaranger, Kobayashi also had written some weird humor with Kenta Date and Miku thinking that Yuusuke/Megasilver was dying. In Shinkenger, sometimes the humor can be too focused on blatant silliness (ex. the running gag of the Gedoushu drying up) and even that whole Kaoru adopting Takeru part was just too stupid for shock value. In Gokaiger 28 where Toshiki Inoue was a guest writer, the whole Gai Ikari can't see Gai Yuki scenario written by Toshiki Inoue as a guest writer. Go-Busters... I think the humor there is really too blatant and not well timed no offense.