Yasuko Kobayashi And Her Stand-In Red Rangers!

After watching Yasuko Kobayashi's headwriting works from start to end namely Gingaman, Timeranger (with Portugese subs so I had to read through synopsis to understand them so expect me to be wrong), Shinkenger, Gobusters and ToQGer... I noticed she had a habit of writing a substitute or stand-in red rangers.  Now it's time to go on to how they were carried out.

So just a warning, spoilers ahead so read at your own risk!


Ryoma/Ginga Red the 133rd

Gingaman was the first of Yasuko Kobayashi's major works in the Super Sentai series.  The entire series starts with Ryoma who was the younger brother and Hyuga who is the older brother.  By default, Hyuga was chosen over him because of age.  One day when Balban attacks, Hyuga supposedly dies as he falls into a cliff.  He picks up the Starbeast Sword, releases an unusual amount of Earth Power out of rage and becomes the 133rd Ginga Red!

Ryoma himself felt like he wasn't really worthy of carrying that legacy took the mantle that was supposedly for Hyuga.  However there were hints that Hyuga could still be alive especially after they had defeated Sanbash, Budo appears seeking to get the Lights of Ginga.  When the mysterious Bullblack appears for a good eighteen episodes of conflict, we later discover that Hyuga was really still alive and that Bullblack used the latter's body.  Ryoma tried to give back his Starbeast Sword to Hyuga.  However Hyuga was soon chosen by Bullblack to become the second Bullblack.  He woudl carry on the task with his brother as the sixth member of the Gingaman team, something he wasn't so ready to accept.


Tatsuya Asami/Time Red

If the stand-in red ranger didn't stop there, well you have Tatsuya Asami from the year 2000.  The other four Timerangers ended up in the past and they recruited Tatsuya Asami perhaps out of the knowledge he is Captain Ryuya's ancestor.  Sidenote, in Time Force, the morphers were DNA encoded and Wesley was able to use Alex's morpher due to the fact they were ancestor and descendant.

In the later part of Timeranger we have Captain Ryuya revealing the truth that a new era was coming and that he actually allowed the recurring villains to escape.  I guess the Timerangers had a hard time figuring out how a nice guy like Tatsuya would end up having a douchebag descendant in Captain Ryuya.  Captain Ryuya temporarily takes over as Time Red (this may explain why Time Fire's costume looked so alike) which proves that Tatsuya was just a stand-in.  Although Captain Ryuya allowed Tatsuya to continue the role of Time Red but there was a much bigger picture.  Captain Ryuya though he was the actual red ranger was also the actual Time Fire had sacrificed Naoto to die in his place and while he did change the future for the better, he was also considered by some fans to be the "main villain" though the show has Fate as the real villain.


Takeru Shiba/Shinken Red the 18th (Shadow)

The show did give a few hints that something wasn't right about Takeru like when he was called a "liar" or "something different" about him.  He already admitted he was different.  While Kotoha had looked up to him and did his best for him (shades of Ako's loyalty to Ryu in Jetman), Mako noticed something weird with Takeru.  The fact he just left the Shiba mansion or didn't want the others to risk themselves for him would have already shown something was different about him.  However times like when Mako decided to take a blow or Kotoha's undying devotion just kept showing which he felt guilty about.

Late in the series, we have what may not be such a surprise twist or not.  Considering that I did read some synopsis of Gingaman and Timeranger while watching raw so I wasn't all too surprised even with Kaoru Shiba the true head of the Shiba clan.  So he was really raised to be a shadow lord to protect his princess but he was also tasked not to tell the others until the time is right.  I felt like thought the way his status as a stand-in red ranger was handled wasn't so well.  I felt like Kaoru could have just sent Takeru to finish the job and she should have been the one to stay behind.  That is Takeru and the others bid farewell to Kaoru to get on with their regular lives since I felt like Takeru felt more like your traditional non-lord red ranger than a red ranger lord.=P

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