Sentai Rambling: What May Be Considered As Toei's Most Awkward Romances

Here's a list of couples in Toei's list of properties I felt really, really were so out-of-place and not to mention, makes you go WTF. One of my lessons in writing is that pairing without any development DOES. NOT. WORK. Now it's time to take a look at some of Toei's looking for love at the wrong places. Some of these are not necessarily in my bad list, it could have been better, I've learned some lessons from these and I could learn from them to improve my writing.

P.S. Spoilers will be involved so read at your own risk.


Ryu Tendo and Kaori Rokumeikan 

I'm a huge fan of Jetman, no questions asked and remember, Ryu could have fallen for Kaori anytime three years before the epilogue but there's really no explanation how they fell in love. I think it could have been acceptable if Gai Yuki died in the final battle giving a two-sided consolation to make the romance acceptable. But no, I thought that the whole pairing itself has me mixed. While watching Jetman, I felt like I wanted Ryu to get Rie and Gai to get Kaori to give everyone a happy ending but WTF was Toshiki Inoue thinking?

During the finale, I always felt like Gai might have been the type to recklessly put his life in the line. I mean, how many times has Gai not only risked himself to save Kaori but also the others? Ryu had done the same but he was less reckless. If Gai died in the finale, I think Kaori and Ryu may have consoled each other over their losses giving the pairing more sense. But no, I felt like Inoue wanted to shock us with how Gai died in the finale. For several years, I refused to accept it because that death made the Jetmen look like morons. It could have been easier to accept their marriage if both Ryu and Kaori had losses shortly after the fall of Vyram. IMO, my idea might have been better with how Jetman's death of Gai Yuki should have been wrapped up.

Plus, it would make more sense for Ryu and Kaori to name their child "Gai" in honor of a guy who died in battle, not someone who was killed by just a random mugger.


Tommy Oliver and Katherine Hillard

I guess I could never get over this one huh? I've always been a Tommy/Kimberly fan and that Christmas episode does not make any sense at all. In Power Rangers in Space, Zordon is officially good as dead so I guess that negates that special. Dino Thunder doesn't specify who Tommy marries but I could talk about how this whole thing is another bad pairing.

I have nothing against Katherine Hillard as a person. At first, she was given her own character but later, she ends up as a Kimberly substitute. After seeing Battle Fever J episode 24 (where Diane Martin is written off and Maria Nagisa is introduced), I always felt that depature was better handled. In trying to get Kat and Tommy together, I would imagine Douglas Sloan forged Kimberly's signature and sent a "Dear John" letter (the movie seemed to plot Jason x Kimberly together) to Tommy so he'll go with Kat instead. I just though what in the world was he thinking? Was it some act of revenge? I felt like that episode made me drop Power Rangers with utter contempt!


Skull and Kimberly (just intended but fortunately dropped)

I don't even know how this even started out and I heard that it was originally planned in Power Rangers Wild Force that Skull and Kimberly were to be a married couple. Later, I even felt like Kimberly gave birth to Spike though timeline logic (plus Bulk calling Spike his nephew) suggests that Spike's mother is not Kimberly but Bulk's sister. Bulk and Skull are close pals regardless of whatever character development they underwent so I don't think Bulk would mind Skull becoming family. I always thought trying to pair Skull and Kimberly would be a horrible, horrible thing to do.

I'll admit, I only watch the first 40 episodes of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers wishing the series ended as planned. Instead, both Toei and Saban may have gotten greedy so Zyu2 was produced plus I guess Power Rangers didn't have any idea on what to do yet due to cultural differences. During that time, Mighty Morphin' produced two more seasons and Kimberly left in season three. Now it's time just to think about how Kimberly and Skull just wouldn't work out.

Skull practically spends much time stalking Kimberly or two, I always felt like that episode where he tried to kiss her was so not funny until he kissed Bulk by mistake. Later, Kimberly ends up falling for Skull under the influence of a love potion. Skull later had possible pairings which could have worked better. I just thought Skull may have married Bulk's sister though I wanted to imagine Jonathan Tzachor may come up with something as silly as Skull marrying Dairanger's Rin with Spike as their son, Spike marries Mako Shiraishi and their daughter is Rin's granddaughter. That might surprise anybody if what I wrote were true. Good thing that it isn't!


Nago Keisuke and Megumi Aso

If pairing Tommy and Kat was already bad enough, I thought this was more awkward. I mean, if Tommy and Kat were given enough time, they could have developed. I felt like Toshiki Inoue here wanted to write this wedding for laughs. Kamen Rider Kiva spent its entire season mostly as a comical season using horror themes so I guess this is a bit acceptable. Wait a minute... am I just biased? The answer is really yes, considering I am personally a fan of Kamen Rider Kiva. Even if I'm a fan of Vegeta and Bulma's relationship, I always felt this was also funny. Don't get me wrong, I honestly find this pairing funny but as said, it was love in the wrong places.

Like Ryu and Kaori, there were several hints by Toshiki Inoue he ended to pair these two. In Jetman's case, Kaori had feelings for Ryu at that time. In the case of Kamen Rider Kiva, there was NOTHING to really suggest that they had feelings for each other. I felt like Nago and Megumi were pretty much like Vegeta and Bulma. I mean Nago is a jerk like Vegeta always trying to be better than the protagonist though Megumi is no spoiled brat like Bulma. But like Bulma, Megumi has the guts to face Nago's arrogant, self-centered, stuck-up attitude towards people which actually softens him up. So I felt like that it was really written for laughs.

How do I rate this pairing? I honestly felt mixed about it. It does feel stupid but considering Kiva leans towards silliness, I guess this one has a pretty good WTF but it was more on the laughs. I just couldn't hate this couple but I have to keep in mind... THIS DOESN'T WORK IN REAL LIFE.


Daigo Kiryu and Amy Yuzuki

Oh boy, I still can't forget how Kyoryuger tends to give me earaches with that annoying jingle. I was thinking this is another yet stupid pairing. While I'm a fan of Riku Sanjo with how he wrote Kamen Rider but unlike Tomari Shinnosuke and Kiriko Shijima, I always felt like this is so annoying. I guess it's because Daigo Kiryu has the tendency to steal the spotlight more than other Super Sentai reds that were plot driven.

So what's really wrong with this scenario? I felt like that there might be other reasons why Amy was angry to see Yayoi go near Daigo. A crush is possible but it wasn't all that developed. I mean, Daigo doesn't seem to be the guy to have a crush on Amy all of a sudden. What I felt about this scene is really, why are they forcing them together? UGH. It could have worked out if the two of them had slow development. Instead, it was just so forced I felt like I could learn from my mistake watching this scenario. I just hope this doesn't happen in Power Rangers Dino Charge.


Jake Holling and Gia Moran

Of course, this one should also be pretty stupid. I've been a Troy x Gia shipper but my ship was sunk at the end of the episode. For some time, Jake has a failure to impress Gia for what may look like 39 straight episodes. I couldn't name the whole statement by Noah telling Jake the latter doesn't stand a chance because Gia's the hottest girl in school. If there was a slow development of Gia getting impressed by Jake, it could have been acceptable. I wonder what Azim Rizk and Ciara Hanna have to say about the way they got paired up in the end?

So what's the huge problem with Jake and Gia? I felt like most of the time, she's just annoyed by him and in the finale, she decides to kiss him? Jake has only spent time annoying Gia for most of the run and suddenly they are dating at the end of the series? I always felt like the whole couple pairing was too sudden. Troy and Gia had better chemistry. I'm wondering how do everyone in Megaforce feel about this finale plus I felt like Jake's smile looks pretty forced. I dunno which is really weirder - this or the awkward ending of Megumi and Nago? But I think Jake marrying Gia isn't that much of a joke compared to Megumi marrying Nago.

I always thought that Troy and Gia should've been how the series turned out. But instead, we have Gia dating the guy she's shown disgust for too many episodes. She and Troy could've had better material.


Hikaru Hiwatari and Marika "Jasmine" Reimon

This had me mixed. So big deal that Hikaru Hiwatari is an ESPerer and he bonds with Jasmine. But looking at this, WTF was Naruhisa Arakawa thinking? I have enjoyed watching Dekaranger because of him but I'll admit, he does have a weird sense of humor. Maybe Arakawa's humor isn't that welcome to the American audience.

I'll admit at first I wanted to pair Jasmine with Tetsu and later, I thought she should go with Hoji. In my case, Hoji is my favorite Dekaranger and she's my favorite Deka girl. While the show does explain both Jasmine and Hikaru were drawn by their ESP abilities but getting them married felt so out of place. What do you think?