My View of How Yasuko Kobayashi Writes Stuff for Super Sentai
Although Yasuko Kobayashi won first place in the polls, let's remember that she does have her mistakes too. No perfect series. So I guess I'll talk about her writing in Super Sentai than just her contributions. So how does it work for now?
Similar entry:http://orendsrange.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-write-tokusatsu-yasuko-kobayahi.html
Strong start, weaker middle, stronger end... it kinda shows how things work. Then again, I don't feel the weaker middle is considered horrible. So I guess if the middle of her series gets stronger, she must have been hiring competent writers to help her not to get the weaker middle to fail. See that face?!
A blast to the past with other Super Sentai series. Apparently that is what she does. I could compare Gingaman to Flashman (both good series).
There's some foreshadowing of the truth done throughout the series. Gingaman kinda foreshadowed how Hyuuga wasn't dead. Timeranger had some foreshadowing done towards the final truths that led to Ryuuya's demise. Shinkenger seems to be the best example with how a few events made Kaoru's arrival not so surprising. So in Gobusters I think there'll be a lot of foreshadowing.
Two reds or an anti-red in most of her series. In Gingaman, Hyuuga was supposed to be the first Ginga Red until he was thought to be dead. In Timeranger, Time Fire is also red in color but at a darker shade. In Shinkenger, there were literally two red rangers who could lead the team (Kaoru and Takeru) which I used the Gokaiger footage as a placeholder. Hopefully she doesn't do that in Gobusters and think of something new.
Just some memorable characters and solid character development. Looking at how things were, one can't forget how she developed everyone including guest characters. Shinkenger some may have mixed feelings on it, or maybe call it her least work but still, the character interaction was well done. Gobusters however fails at that area due to her burn out.
Important relatives- Gingaman had Hyuuga, Timeranger had Yuuri's parents and Tatsuya's parents (I REALLY didn't like Tatsuya's father!), the Shinkengers had their direct family members (ex. Takeru's dad who was a vassal to the 17th Shinken Red, Kotoha's sister and not her parents appeared instead except for Genta's dad who was just mentioned) and for Gobusters, Hiromu's father. They all contribute to the plot point. All these do add to drama.
Power Rangers references? Yes Super Sentai didn't only contribute material to Power Rangers but also eventually took Power Rangers' original ideas and used them in later series! IMO Gingaman had Moak and Bokku in a Zordon-Alpha relationship. Or one can see the use of the term "G-Zord" in Timeranger. For Shinkenger we had the Kamen Rider-Super Sentai crossover but it did happen in the Decade episode NOT in Shinkenger. Gobuster uses the term "Megazords" and "It's morphin' time" as a tagline (seriously that should have BEEN for Shinkenger IMO) or even "Messiah" as a virus is kinda like Venjix in Power Rangers RPM? I'm just playing my opinion here though.
Note: I might start making an opinionated view on Naruhisa Arakawa my other current favorite writer. I've done one for Hirohisa Soda the man who I believe is Sentai's revolutionist. Oh yeah, too bad there's not much to write of Toshiki Inoue but I'll try out of respect (and a guilt trip in the form of extreme favoritism) for Jetman!
Yahoo Kobayashi is the DC Fontana of tokusatsu and it's not uncommon for writers to recycle formulas. Though it's not the top 90's Sentai Gingaman was memmorable. The series was more Zyuranger then Flashman. Especially their civilian costume design and the 2 brothers in a team ,Hyuga and Ryoma was more Burai and Geki. Timeranger was a worthy series for the Millenium but it lacked the challenge that most series had, a big and complex group of villains. It was mostly a gang of 3 criminals who where just petty, the Alien Mofiosa in Blue Swat was much more complex and frightening as you saw there schemes unfold and you did not want to be there Gian was the surprise as he was insane in the end.
ReplyDeleteNot everything is perfect we can only enjoy them if we can.
Kobayashi's shows always drag in the middle. And yeah, I see that face. I don't get what you're trying to point out. Especially considering you haven't seen Kamen Rider OOO yet.
ReplyDeleteA blast to the past could pretty much be said about any writer. I doubt Kobayashi got inspirations from Flashman or Maskman. That's too big of an assumption.
Kobayashi didn't write that special Timeranger episode. Sean, please do your research.
Yeah, she does tons of foreshadowing.
Could you please go into more detail about how you see the way she writes her characters?
Sean, Kobayashi doesn't do Power Rangers references. In fact, it's probably the last thing she thinks about when writing sentai. And concepts like Moak, and Bokku were all the producer's doing, not the writer's.
"Kobayashi's shows always drag in the middle. And yeah, I see that face. I don't get what you're trying to point out. Especially considering you haven't seen Kamen Rider OOO yet."
DeleteWell I'm kinda using that funny face to emphasize that the show drags in the middle, that's how some people feel about it IMO.
"Kobayashi didn't write that special Timeranger episode. Sean, please do your research."
Can you give me a legitimate site or sites to do that research? Thanks.
"Sean, Kobayashi doesn't do Power Rangers references. In fact, it's probably the last thing she thinks about when writing sentai. And concepts like Moak, and Bokku were all the producer's doing, not the writer's."
Hmmm thanks for the advice again. I wish you can elaborate on how Sentai is written and done. I'd like to read that from your blog considering your powerful knowledge of Tokusatsu stuff and more.